Role of a “judge”
The Chumash in Deut. 17:8
-12 states that if there is a serious or difficult matter under dispute,
then the parties are to go to the high priest or the judge of that day for a
decision as they are experts in Torah law. If anyone rejects that decision, he
is to be executed.
This role, as adjudicator,
was fulfilled by only one judge in the book of Judges, the female Deborah, a prophet and married woman
(Judges 4:4-5). She was so respected
that tribes came to her for arbitration and binding decisions.
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ד וּדְבוֹרָה אִשָּׁה נְבִיאָה, אֵשֶׁת לַפִּידוֹת--הִיא
שֹׁפְטָה אֶת-יִשְׂרָאֵל, בָּעֵת הַהִיא. |
4 Now
Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time. |
|
ה וְהִיא יוֹשֶׁבֶת תַּחַת-תֹּמֶר דְּבוֹרָה, בֵּין הָרָמָה
וּבֵין בֵּית-אֵל--בְּהַר אֶפְרָיִם; וַיַּעֲלוּ אֵלֶיהָ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל,
לַמִּשְׁפָּט. |
5 And
she sat under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in the
hill-country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for
judgment. |
And when she needed to
protect the tribes from an outside enemy, Jabin the Canaanite king of Hazor, she
chose Barak to lead an army and defeat Jabin’s general Sisera and his army.
(Judge 4: 6-24).
All the others eleven (11) ‘judges’[i] in the book of Judges were men of war, a role stated
near the start of the book of Judges.
Judges 2:16
|
טז וַיָּקֶם
יְהוָה, שֹׁפְטִים; וַיּוֹשִׁיעוּם, מִיַּד שֹׁסֵיהֶם. |
16 And the LORD
raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. |
Normally, they would receive
a Divine call to save the people who had suffering many years of subjugation to
a foreign ruler and his nation. Each
would rouse the people to form an army, and using his clever strategy, defeat
the enemy army in battle.
And after the great victory
he continued until his death as their leader or ‘judge’.
Now Ehud was somewhat of an
exception to this rule. He murdered the enemy Eglon, king of Moab when alone at
the latter’s palace on a visit – having secretly brought with a sword. (Judges
3: 15- 26). Then, after fleeing the palace he mustered the tribes and led them
to victory on the battlefield (Judges 3: 27 – 30).
And then there is Samson.
Samson was from the tribe of
Dan (Judges 13:2), whose lands were along the Mediterranean south of Jaffa,
west of Judah and touching the territoryof the Philistines.[ii]
Unlike all the other warrior
judges, Samson never mustered an army but always fought alone, relying
on his extra-human strength granted him by God the Eternal.
His story and feats begin
with Judges ch.13 (his miraculous
birth) and run an unprecedented four chapters until his heroic death: toppling
to the ground a Philistine temple filled with some 3,000 Philistines noblemen
and noblewomen, by pushing apart its two key support pillars with his
outstretched arms. (Judges 16: 27 -30)
The Philistines were the
overlord enemy who had oppressed Israel for 40 years (Judges 13:1) and Samson’s
exclusive target.
But the relations between
the Philistines and the Israelites were not black and white, evil vs good, but
very complex as Samson’s life attests.
As children we learn the
story of how Samson married a Philistine named Delilah and how she learned the
secret of his strength and betrayed him.
But she was not the first Philistine
female wife of Samson; only the last of three Philistine women he was attracted
to.
Samson’s
first wife
Samson first falls in love –
‘love at first sight’ no less – with a Philistine girl whose name is never
given.
Samson cajoles his father
and mother to go to the girl’s parents and arrange the marriage, and so he weds
the girl. (Judges 14: 2-3)
Now the custom in those days
was for the groom to host his own ‘bachelor party’ for seven (7) days and 30 young lords of the Philistines (from the
bride’s side) showed up (Judges 14: 10 – 11).
Samson, out of the blue, challenges
them with a riddle and if they cannot solve it in 7 days they owe him 30 linen garments[iii] and 30 other garments,
but if they solve the riddle, he, Samson, would pay them the same amount (Judges
14: 12-13).
A truly unusual and very
high stakes gamble.
The 30 Philistines solve the
riddle as they had threated Samson’s new wife so she would get Samson to tell
her the secret solution.
They had threatened to burn
her to death and to do the same to her entire family. (Judges 14:15)
As Samson was not rich and
had no such expensive garments, he went down to the Philistine city of
Ashkelon, murdered 30 wealthy Philistines and stole all their clothing to given to the 30 young Philistines (Judges
14:19).
As for the new wife, he ‘divorces’
her and she returns to live with her father and family (See Judges 15: 1).
Now after a while, Samson
had a change of heart and returned to the home of his ex-wife and again asked
her father for her as his wife. However, the father tells him he had already arranged
for her to marry another, but he would be very pleased if Samson takes to wife his
younger, prettier daughter. (Judges 15: 1 – 2).
Instead of accepting this
friendly offer, Samson goes on a rampage.
He catches 300 foxes, lights
their tails on fire and unleashes them to run through – and torch - all the
ripe corn fields, olive groves and vineyards[iv] of that Philistine
community (Judges 15; 4 -5).
A massive and devastating
blow to their annual food supply, wine production and olive tree harvest –
though olive trees will regrow and easiy survive fires.[v]
In retaliation, the Philistines
lock Samson’s ex-father-in-law, his ex-wife (still at home, just betrothed to
another) and all their family in their home and burn them alive. (Judges
15: 6)
In turn, Samson retaliates
and somehow – no details are given – kills many of the Philistines involved
(Judges 15: 8).
This story ends with Samson
retreating to a mountain cleft, to live as a recluse (Judges 15: 8).
Second
Philistine liaison
Sometime later, Samson
visits the Philistine city of Gezer and has a one night ‘romance’ with a
Philistine harlot. (Judges 16:1).
News of his presence spreads
quickly and the men of the city lay in wait intending to catch and kill him
when he would arise and try to leave in the morning (Judges 16:2).
But Samson got out of bed at
midnight and somehow left unharmed, taking the town’s two gates and their posts
as a trophy: carrying them on his shoulders (and back) all the way to Hebron
(Judges 16: 3) – some 56 km away![vi]
Number
3, Delilah
Samson, some time later,
sees the Philistine Delilah and falls in love with her (Judges 16:5).
The details of their wedding
and any negotiations beforehand are left out this time.
Samson’s parents are
probably dead by now as he is in his 40’’s or early 50’s (see below), but
custom is custom and so the marriage of Samson and Delilah would have followed the
pattern of Samson’s first marriage.
This time, there was no
riddle challenge, no threat to kill Delilah and her family if she refused to
aid the Philistines.
But, in exchange for a
promise of 1100 pieces of silver, she agreed to learn the secret of Samson’s
strength – so he could be captured, tortured and killed by her people (Judges
16: 5).
And each time she pestered
him for his secret, Samson lies to her saying that if I am tied up with such
and such or if my hair is braided and pinned, I cannot escape. And each time she
would herself – yes, herself – then bind him or pin his hair at night while he
slept. And each time when she called out and the Philistines in wait arrive to
take him, he easily breaks free and kills them. This cycle repeated itself 3 times
until Samson finally gave in and told her the truth: that it was his long,
never cut hair that gave him his strength.
And so, she gets him to fall
asleep on her lap, has a barber cut off his hair while he slept on her lap, and
turned him over to the Philistines – who paid her her blood money (Judges 16:
17 – 20).
The Philistines gouge out
his eyes, bind Samson with brass handcuffs and foot chains, and throw him into
a prison dungeon. (Judges 16: 21).
Then, one day many days
later, the Philistines had the blind Samson brought to their temple of Dagon to
mock and possibly abuse him.
He was led to the middle of
the temple in front of some 3000 nobles and others – male and female – and now
that his hair had grown again – and with Divine consent – his super-human
strength returned one last time.
Long enough for him to push
the two key support pillars out of alignment and cause the entire roof and
balconies to collapse upon him and crush all the 3000 Philistines in
attendance.
As the text states:
Judges 16: 30
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וַיִּהְיוּ הַמֵּתִים, אֲשֶׁר הֵמִית בְּמוֹתוֹ,
רַבִּים, מֵאֲשֶׁר הֵמִית בְּחַיָּיו. |
30 ….
So the dead that he slew at his death were more than they that he slew in his
life. |
Both wives betraying him: the first out of fear for
herself and her family (which one might understand) and Delilah who did so out
of greed and the love of money.
Now one might conclude Samson was simply a romantic
fool, but Judges 14:4 states that
these relationships and harm they did to the Philistines, was all a Divine
plan.
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ד וְאָבִיו וְאִמּוֹ לֹא יָדְעוּ, כִּי מֵיְהוָה הִיא--כִּי-תֹאֲנָה הוּא-מְבַקֵּשׁ, מִפְּלִשְׁתִּים;
וּבָעֵת הַהִיא, פְּלִשְׁתִּים
מֹשְׁלִים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל. |
4 But his father and
his mother knew not that
it was of the LORD; for he sought an occasion against the Philistines.
Now at that time the Philistines had rule over Israel. |
The
non-romance exception
Judges
records one confrontation that Samson had with the Philistines which was not related
to his wives or the harlot: Judges 15:
9 -17.
After he became a recluse, the Philistines overran Judah
and threatened its people if they did not surrender Samson to them.
When 3,000 men of Judah approached Samson and explained the
situation, he agreed to be tied up and taken to the Philistines.
Once he faced the Philistines, he easily snapped off his
bonds, picked up a nearby jaw of a dead ass and, using it as a weapon, killed 1,000
Philistines.
There is also one final
mini-tale in these chapters that attests to Samson’s bravery and strength.
On the way to meet the
family of his future first wife, he is confronted by a young lion who attacks
him. Bare handed, he grabs the lion’s open jaws and tears them apart – thereby killing
the lion (Judges 14: 5– 6).
Age
of Samson at his death
As to how old was Samson at his death, he must have been
in his 40’s.
He was still living with his parents when marrying wife
#1 came up, and the text twice notes in Judges
15:20 and at his death in Judges 16:
31, that he judged or protected the tribes of Israel for 20 years.
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וְהוּא שָׁפַט אֶת-יִשְׂרָאֵל, עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה. |
31 …
And he judged Israel twenty years. |
|
|
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ISSUES
· The numbers
That Samson and the young Philistine nobles could have
made a wager of some 60 pieces of clothing is possible -- if reckless.
But other numbers seem suspect and may have been
exaggerated to make Samson appear extra powerful.
The foxes
The capture of 300 foxes would be remarkable to say the
least. Could there even have been 300
foxes in a single area? Could he have
captures so many quickly? And how could
he physically manage to hold two at a time to set their tales aflame and do so
quickly to150 pair?
3,000 and
1,000 men
According to Judges
15:11, 3,000 men of Judah came to the cleft were
Samson was living. Their leaders convinced Samson to voluntarily allow himself
to be bound and taken to the Philistines, otherwise the 3,000 men of Judah were
all there to fight and subdue him. So, did they really need 3,000 men to
overcome one Samson?
And when he came before the Philistines, Judges 15:15-16, did Samson really kill
1,000 men with the jaw of an ass?
Asses have long and strong boned jaws, but their teeth
are not sharp like a shark’s nor do they have any canines like a lion or tiger
the tear flesh. An ass’s teeth are all
molars and flat surfaced. But the end of its jaws are pointy and hooked, and
this may make it a powerful weapon.
But killing 1,000 Philistine warriors? Troops who would have weapons?
Even with the element of surprise, even with Divine
inspiration and help (Judges 15:15)
the number seems unreal and inflated.
Temple with 3,000 Philistines
The last number in the story of Samson, the 3,000 nobles
and others who gathered in the great Temple of Dagon to mock the blinded
Samson, is well within the realm of truth.
Greek semi-circular theatres such as the Athenian theatre
of Dionysius could hold some 25,000 people.[vii] And Rome’s Colosseum could hold between
50,000 and 80,000 attendees.[viii]
So 3,000 people in a major temple – especially with
balconies -- is realistic.
- Ethics
Delilah
Delilah is not a very good or loyal wife. She agreed to marry Samson but at the first
opportunity, she was ready and willing to betray him to the Philistines who
wished him dead.
All for the sake of money.
Now 1100 pieces of silver is a fortune but a faithful
wife would have resisted.
Even Samson’s first Philistine wife only gave up a secret
for a bet when threatened with death for her and her family – by being burned
alive.
So any movie or TV shows that portrays Delilah as
anything other than a very attractive but vicious, money grubbing deceiver is
distorting history and the Bible.
Samson himself
1. Delilah
repetitive questioning
What
do we make of Samson who stays with a wife who repeatedly pesters him for the
secret of his strength -- to make him
open to Philistine soldier attack?
This
happens 4 times in close succession.
Samson
‘divorced’ his newlywed bride immediately after she tricked him – just once -- over
a bet, so why stay with Delilah when her four efforts where to get him into
Philistine hands and a brutal, torturous death?
The
narrator can justify this as ‘God’s will’, but an ordinary person seeing this
would conclude Samson is insanely in love with Delilah and a total fool.,
2. Two
actions by Samson seem to me at least to be of questionable ethics.
- Bet pay off
To pay off a bet, Samson
goes down to Ashkelon and murders and robs 30 Philistines – chosen for their
wealth and nothing else.
If you or I did the same, we
would be arrested, charged with robbery and wanton murder – 30 times over. The sentence would be life in prison at best,
and depending on the jurisdiction, death.
But Samson faces no
consequences and more importantly, he robs and kills 30 people without any
remorse, without any real justification for targeting them.
Put simply, in his eyes,
robbing and killing any Philistine is fine.
·
The foxes
Today, what Samson did to
300 foxes – setting their tails aflame – would be deemed animal cruelty, even if
he did this to just one or two foxes. To
do so to 300 foxes would have many people up in arms and wanting the death
penalty or a minimum life in prison sentence.
But in the Bible text, Judges 15: 4-5, no criticism or
punishment is mentioned. Only that it
was a clever, clever plan that worked.
Consequently, the moral
standard by which the text holds Samson is not what we would accept today.
They reflect a mindset that the only good Philistine is a
dead one, and who cares about wild animals.
God’s
Divine plan
The above ethical issues and other aspects of the life of
Samson and his deeds are here and there justified by a reference to a Divine
plan.
That is, Samson’s strength and what he did, is regularly
ascribed in the Bible as the will of God and due
to Divine involvement.
Judges ch
14
- First marriage
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ד וְאָבִיו וְאִמּוֹ לֹא יָדְעוּ, כִּי מֵיְהוָה הִיא--כִּי-תֹאֲנָה
הוּא-מְבַקֵּשׁ, מִפְּלִשְׁתִּים; וּבָעֵת הַהִיא, פְּלִשְׁתִּים מֹשְׁלִים
בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל. |
4 But his father and
his mother knew not that it was of the LORD; for he sought an occasion
against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines had rule over
Israel. |
Judges ch. 15
- Kill 1,000
Philistine troops
|
יד הוּא-בָא עַד-לֶחִי, וּפְלִשְׁתִּים הֵרִיעוּ לִקְרָאתוֹ;
וַתִּצְלַח עָלָיו רוּחַ יְהוָה, וַתִּהְיֶינָה הָעֲבֹתִים אֲשֶׁר
עַל-זְרוֹעוֹתָיו כַּפִּשְׁתִּים אֲשֶׁר בָּעֲרוּ בָאֵשׁ, וַיִּמַּסּוּ
אֱסוּרָיו, מֵעַל יָדָיו. |
14 When he came unto
Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him; and the spirit of the LORD
came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms became as flax
that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands. |
Judges
ch.16
- Destroying the
Temple and 3,000 Philistines
|
כח וַיִּקְרָא שִׁמְשׁוֹן אֶל-יְהוָה, וַיֹּאמַר:
אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה זָכְרֵנִי נָא וְחַזְּקֵנִי נָא אַךְ הַפַּעַם הַזֶּה,
הָאֱלֹהִים, וְאִנָּקְמָה נְקַם-אַחַת מִשְּׁתֵי עֵינַי, מִפְּלִשְׁתִּים. |
28 And Samson called
unto the LORD, and said: 'O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray Thee, and
strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once, O God, that I may be this once
avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.' |
Even his being able to kill the attacking lion is thanks
to God the Eternal.
Judges ch 14
Samson did not during his 20 years as ‘judge’ ever rouse
and lead an army of the people. He acted alone, relying on his Divinely given
super strength.
The ‘enemy' in Samson's case was the Philistines, who had
been overlords of the Israelites for some 40 years already.
But during his time, unlike that of King Saul and David thereafter
- when open war was the case with armies and pitched battles (with the famous David
vs Goliath brief exception), no open warfare existed between the Philistines
and the tribes of Israel. In fact Samson regularly visited
Philistine territory and had in fact three relationships with Philistine women
two of which were proper marriages.
The Philistines and Israelite -- based on the Samson
chapters -- were neighbours who coexisted in a state of mutual dislike and
with Philistine overlordship, but not open, organized hostilities.
In the eyes of his contemporary Israelites and later
history, in the longstanding challenge of Philistine hegemony and superior
military iron weaponry, Samson’s
Hercules-like actions would make all of his anti-Philistine acts seem
worthy and heroic -- not just his final death.
In the eyes of the Philistines, Samson was a lone wolf who had no remorse about
robbing and killing wealthy Philistines to pay off a bet, and who in
retaliation for the murder if his first ex-wife and her family destroyed an
entire village’s harvest crops olive orchards and vineyards by setting their
fields ablaze via foxes with burning tails.
This strategy -- which the writer of the Judges account lauds for its
cleverness -- would today be seen by many as extreme, multiple animal
cruelty.
Also, Samson had a habit of falling for beautiful
Philistine women. Three of his four confrontations and struggles with Philistine
men directly resulted from these romantic events.
Samson felt no regret in robbing and killing Philistines
or of taking mass revenge by abusing wild foxes.
When, in the end, his third wife Delilah tried repeatedly
to uncover the secret of his strength, her plot failed three times -- until his hair was cut. And he stayed with her all the while.
His final act, of pushing apart the pillars that
supported the Philistine temple filled with those who came to rejoice and curse
the now blinded and chained ‘thorn in the Philistine’s side’ of some 20 years,
was, I suggest, his most noble, self-less act.
A most unusual and complex hero.
PS:
PS
Samson is the last ‘judge’ described in the book of Judges, but he was not the very last
one.
Four (4) others are
named as ‘judges’ and all were in the Deborah model.
Eli the high priest who supervised the Tabernacle (Hebrew
Mishkan) at Shiloh for decades is
called a ‘judge’ in 1 Samuel 4:18. As a Kohen or priest, he was barred from military action and would
have been a ‘judge’ as a respected spiritual leader and (probably) adjudicator
(though no details are mentioned). He did so for 40 years (1 Samuel 4:18) until
his sudden death at age 98 (1Samuel 4:15).
Eli’s protégé and servant, the prophet Samuel is also named
as a ‘judge’ in 1 Samuel 7:15 and like Deborah was ‘judge’ as an adjudicator of
legal disputes. While Deborah judged at one spot, Samuel travelled all over the
country to give decisions. And his rulings were always accepted as he was –
like Deborah – recognized as a prophet of God the Eternal (Judges 3:20).
Also, like Deborah, he was not a military leader but
found such men in King Saul and King David.
The two final judges were his sons, Joel and Abijah, whom
he appointed in his place in old age (Judges 8: 1-2).
But they were not trusted and accused of taking bribes
and “perverting justice” (1 Samuel 8:2-3).
And it was at this point that the tribes of Israel ask
Samuel to find them a KING.
1 Samuel ch 8
____________________________
Book of Judges:
|
Verse |
Solo or army |
Name |
Enemy |
How long
subjugated |
Peace
and return to God |
|
Ch
3:8-11 |
army |
Othniel
the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. Judge
for 40 years (Ch 3: 9-11 ) |
king
of Aram |
8
years |
40
years (Ch 3: 11 ) |
|
Ch
3: 15-26 27-30 |
Solo,
then
army |
Ehud |
Eglon
the king of Moab |
the
children of Israel served 18 years |
80
years (verse 30) |
|
Ch
3:31 |
solo |
Shamgar the son of Anath, |
Philistines smote of the six hundred men with
an ox-goad |
|
|
|
Ch
4: all |
army |
Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth,
she judged Israel at that time. ·
BARAK (General) |
Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor;
general Sisera |
20
years (verse3 ) |
|
|
Ch
6 -8: all |
army |
Gideon Judge
for 40 years (Ch 8:28) |
Midian Also overrun by Amalek and others (v3-4-5) |
7
years (verse 11) |
40
years (Ch 8:28 |
|
Ch
10: 1-2 |
|
Tola the son of Puah Judge 23 years (Ch 10:2) |
|
|
23 years (Ch 10:2) |
|
Ch
10;3 |
|
Jair, the Gileadite Judge for 22 years (Ch 10: 3) |
|
|
22 years (Ch 10: 3) |
|
Ch
10-11-12 |
army |
Jephthah the Gileadite Judge for 6 years (ch 12:7) |
PHILISTINE & Ammon 18 years Ch 10: 8 but only fight with Ammon |
|
6
years (ch 12:7) |
|
Ch
12:8-9 |
|
Ibzan of Beth-lehem Judge for 7 years (Ch
12:9) |
|
|
7
years (Ch
12:9) |
|
Ch
12:11 |
|
Elon the Zebulunite Judge for 10 years (Ch
12:11) |
|
|
10
years (Ch
12:11) |
|
Ch
12:13-14 |
|
Abdon the son of Hillel Judge for 8 years (Ch 12: 14) |
|
|
8
years (Ch 12: 14) |
|
Ch
13 - 16 |
|
SAMSON Judge
for 20 years (Ch 16:31) |
|
|
20
years (Ch 16:31) |
|
1 Samuel |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
Samuel 4:15. 18 |
|
Eli the priest Judge
for 40 years (Ch 4: 18) |
Only Philistines are mentioned |
|
40
years (Ch 4: 18) |
|
1
Samuel 7: 15 |
|
Samuel Judge starting at Mizpeh (Ch 7:6) and thereafter all the days of his life (Ch 7: 15) |
Philistines,
Amalek |
40
years under Philistines |
|
|
1
Samuel 8:1-2 |
|
JOEL and ABIJAH - Samuels sons as corrupt judges: reside in
Beer-sheba |
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[i] I do not consider Abimelech as a ‘judge’
as he was a brutal fratricidal leader who murder 69 of his half-brothers, was
made “king” of Shechem (Judges 9: 6) and
fought against other Israelite tribes to try and make himself “king of all Israel”. See Judges ch. 9.
based on https://www.google.com/search?q=mqaop+of+tribe+of+dan+in+the+bible&rlz=1C1RAEH_enCA867CA867&sxsrf=APwXEddrybNB7CXmvY1VvLiBPlqtgYHQPQ%3A1687385214746&ei=fnSTZIqcLZWnptQP3d6YmAI&ved=0ahUKEwiK08vir9X_A
[iii] This is the standard translation
both in Jewish and Christian Bible texts.
However, the original KJV (`1611)
had “linen (bed) sheets. See https://biblehub.com/judges/14-12.htm , Judges 14 / Hebrew - English Bible / Mechon-Mamre and Judges 14:13 with Targum Jonathan on Judges
(sefaria.org)
[iv] The Hebrew text literally states “vineyard
olives”. This has led to some
translations interpreting it as “grape vineyard and olive grove” or just “olive
tree orchard”. The ancient Targum
Jonathan interpreted it as the former while the Babylonian Talmud in Berachot
35a:14 and Bava Metzia 87b:10 understood the verse’s wording as only referring
to an olive grove. See right side bar at
Judges 15:5 with Bava Metzia (sefaria.org)
Christian translations go both ways. See https://biblehub.com/judges/15-5.htm
