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Abimelech, the Northern Monarchy, and the Final Form of Judges

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Abimelech, the Northern Monarchy, and the Final Form of Judges JBL 131, no. 3 (2012): 443–454 Not Just Any King: Abimelech, the Northern Monarchy, and the Final Form of Judges brian p. irwin [email protected] Knox College, Toronto, ON M5S 2E6, Canada I. Theme and Structure in the Book of Judges Over the past two and a half decades a number of significant studies have altered the way in which the book of Judges is studied and understood. In 1987, Samuel Dragga drew attention to elements in the book that highlight the failure of Saul.1 A short while later in this journal, Mark Zvi Brettler advanced the view that a major theme in Judges is the promotion of Judah, often at the expense of Ben- jamin and the northern tribes. From this, Brettler suggested that much in the book should be read as allegory in which the Davidic dynasty is elevated at the expense of the house of Saul and the northern monarchy.2 Recently, others have built on the work of these scholars to argue persuasively and at greater length for the pres- ence of anti-Saulide polemic throughout the book.3 An earlier version of this paper was delivered at the annual meeting of the Canadian Soci- ety of Biblical Studies, June 1–3, 2008, at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. My thanks go to Ehud Ben Zvi for his comments and helpful suggestions made at that time. Thanks are also owed to the JBL reviewers, whose helpful comments led to many further revisions. 1 Dragga, “In the Shadow of the Judges: The Failure of Saul,” JSOT 38 (1987): 39–46. 2 Brettler, “The Book of Judges: Literature as Politics,” JBL 108 (1989): 395–418. See recently the critique of this position by Gregory Wong (“Is There a Direct Pro-Judah Polemic in Judges?” SJOT 19 [2005]: 84–110) and the response by Serge Frolov (“Fire, Smoke, and Judah in Judges: A Response to Gregory Wong,” SJOT 21 [2007]: 127–38). 3 Robert H. O’Connell, The Rhetoric of the Book of Judges (VTSup 63; Leiden: Brill, 1996); Yairah Amit, “The Saul Polemic in the Persian Period,” in Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period (ed. Oded Lipschits and Manfred Oeming; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006), 647–61. 443 This article was published in JBL 131/3 (2012) 443–54, copyright © 2012 by the Society of Biblical Literature. To purchase copies of this issue or to subscribe to JBL, please contact SBL Customer Service by phone at 866-727-9955 [toll-free in North America] or 404-727-9498, by fax at 404-727-2419, or visit the online SBL Store at www.sbl-site.org. 444 Journal of Biblical Literature 131, no. 3 (2012) Alongside the thematic studies already mentioned have been others that have focused on structure.4 The result of this is that today the consensus among schol- ars sees Judges as having a tripartite structure consisting of Prologue/Introduction (1:1–3:6),5 Body (3:7–16:31), and Epilogue/Appendix/Conclusion (chs. 17–21).6 The central section of Judges consists of narratives and notices covering the careers of twelve charismatic leaders of Israel. In both structure and content the final form of the book depicts the system of judges as providing failed leadership. In the final form of the book, the judges are divided into two groups—five preceding Abi - melech and seven following him. Within this schema, the first group (3:7–8:28) is portrayed as having been effective. Of these judges, all but Shamgar receive the commendation that, as a result of their work, “the land was at peace” (3:11, 30; 5:31; 8:28). Of Shamgar, it is positively noted that “he saved Israel” (3:31). Following Abimelech, seven judges are listed (10:1–16:31). This larger block of judges differs from the first in that nowhere in this section does the statement that the “land was at peace” appear. Individually and as a whole, the judges in the second group rule for shorter periods than those of the first group.7 The greater number of judges in this second group (seven versus five in the first group), along with their lack of suc- cess and shorter tenures, contributes to the sense that the system of judges is break- ing down. While even the “successful” judges are portrayed as falling short,8 the failure 4 J. P. U. Lilley, “A Literary Appreciation of the Book of Judges,” TynBul 18 (1967): 94–102; David W. Gooding, “The Composition of the Book of Judges,” in Eretz-Israel, Archaeological, His- torical and Geographical Studies: H. M. Orlinsky Volume (ErIsr 16; Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1982), 70–79. 5 Where variation exists, it is around the point at which the introduction ends. Arthur Ernest Cundall is typical of an older view in ending the introduction at 2:5 (“Judges—An Apology for the Monarchy,” ExpTim 81 [1969–70]: 178–81; cf. George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Com- mentary on Judges [ICC; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1895], xiii–xv). Brettler (“Book of Judges: Liter- ature as Politics,” 396) ends the introduction at 2:10, understanding it to provide the background of the conquest of Canaan. On the basis of syntax and content, Trent C. Butler ends the intro- duction at 2:23 (Judges [WBC 8; Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009], 9–12). 6 Marvin A. Sweeney acknowledges that the three-part structure is the consensus view, but he argues instead for a two-part structural schema consisting of chs. 1–2 and 3–21 (“Davidic Polemics in the Book of Judges,” VT 47 [1997]: 517–29). 7 The years given for the judges of the first group refer to the years of peace that resulted from their work and so provides a measure of their effectiveness. Within this group, Othniel brings forty years of peace, Ehud eighty years, Deborah forty years, and Gideon forty years. No chronological data are given for Shamgar (3:31). With the judges of the second group, the chrono- logical data describe the length of time they led Israel with no reference to years of peace: Tola (twenty-three years), Jair (twenty-two years), Jephthah (six years), Ibzan (seven years), Elon (ten years), Abdon (eight years), and Samson (twenty years). On the whole, the dates allotted to the first group amount to two hundred years, while those of the second group total only ninety-seven years. 8 The theme of the failure of the judges is anticipated even in the section on Gideon, the last of the first group of effective judges. During his time, “rebellion” by the tribe of Ephraim was only This article was published in JBL 131/3 (2012) 443–54, copyright © 2012 by the Society of Biblical Literature. To purchase copies of this issue or to subscribe to JBL, please contact SBL Customer Service by phone at 866-727-9955 [toll-free in North America] or 404-727-9498, by fax at 404-727-2419, or visit the online SBL Store at www.sbl-site.org. Irwin: Te Final Form of Judges 445 of the system of judges is most spectacularly demonstrated in the careers of the final two major judges—Jephthah and Samson. In 12:1–6, the rash behavior of Jephthah results in the sacrifice of his daughter. Further, in the time of Jephthah (12:1–6), tribal solidarity breaks down and civil war erupts with Ephraim. In 14:1, the nazirite Samson treats his vows with disdain by seeking to marry a Philistine woman. Later, he defiles himself (and also his parents) by eating honey from the carcass of an unclean beast (14:8–9), and in 16:1 he visits a prostitute. Far from lib- erating the people of Israel, Samson’s activity leads to his rejection and the collec- tive admission by the people of Judah that “the Philistines are rulers over us” (Judg 15:11). In light of the above, the following outline may be proposed based on the con- tent and key formulae9 found in the book. Within this outline, the Abimelech nar- rative occupies a central place in the structure of the final form of the book. I. Introduction (1:1–3:6) II. The Judges of Peace (3:7–8:28) III. The Abimelech Incident (8:29–9:57) IV. The Judges of Decline (10:1–16:31) V. Conclusion: The Collapse of the System and the Need for a King (17:1–21:25) From the foregoing assessment of structure, and particularly from the work of Brettler and others cited above,10 it is clear that the book of Judges exists to address the issue of leadership in Israel. The juxtaposition of an initial, successful group of judges with a second, and larger, unsuccessful group shows that the system of judges failed to meet the need for which it was created. This point is forcefully under- scored in the conclusion of the book (17:1–21:25) with its twin examples of moral and covenant failure and emphasis on the need for alternative leadership.11 Each story in the conclusion demonstrates that unless the current system is changed the narrowly averted (8:1–3), while at the end of his life an ephod of his own construction becomes a snare for himself, his family, and all Israel (8:22–27). On how a progressively disrupted narra- tive framework reflects the collapse of the judges, see Susanne Gillmayr-Bucher, “Framework and Discourse in the Book of Judges,” JBL 128 (2009): 687–703. 9 The account of each judge (save Shamgar, Ibzan, Elon, and Tolah) is introduced with some variation on the basic formula “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of Yahweh” (3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 13:1).
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