The book of Judges opens with some detail on events that were outlined in Joshua 15-19. And note that these opening chapters are not strictly chronological with Joshua. If they were, we have Joshua dying 3 separate times in Joshua 24:30, Judges 1:1, and 2:8.
He didn’t die 3 times. ☠️☠️☠️ He died once. And there are 3 separate accounts.
But the book of Judges – which is traditionally believed to have been compiled and put together by the Prophet Samuel 🙂 – opens with a narrative not mentioned in Joshua – the defeat of the lord of Bezek. Apparently he had conquered 70 kings. This immediately makes my eyebrows go up because “70 kings” is very similar to dividing up the 70 nations according to the number of the sons of God in Deut. 32:8. So Adoni (lord) Bezek had conquered, captured, and imprisoned 70 kings and had cut off their thumbs 👍🏻 and big toes 🦶🏼and fed them (the kings, that is, not the amputated appendages) from his table scraps as a form of humiliation. Then this Canaanite king was captured by Judah and Simeon and they cut off his thumbs and big toes before dragging him to Jerusalem where he died. 😵 This is not “karma.” Karma is as Hindu 🕉️ belief. Please don’t ever use that word. This is reaping what you have sown.
About Jerusalem… It’s honestly a bit tricky trying to piece together the chronology of the history. Remember that it had other names in the past. In Genesis 14 it’s called “Salem” which means “Peace.” In Joshua it’s mostly called “Jebus” which means threshing floor.
Which came first, the Jebus or the Jebusite?
God talks about Jebusites all the way back in Genesis 10! And they’re mentioned constantly through Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Jebusites were among the oldest tribes on earth. They came from Canaan, son of Ham (probably by Mrs. Noah in that whole “nakedness-of-his-father” incident back in Genesis 9).
I’d make a wild guess that the Jebusites came first, then they settled on Mount Moriah at some point and happened to get associated with the jebus (threshing floor) there. Maybe they even built it. Maybe their ancestor invented the whole idea of a threshing floor and that’s where it got its name. 🐓🥚🐣
Anyway – we get mixed signals about Jebus/Jerusalem. Judges 1:8 says that the tribe of Judah captures Jerusalem and kills the inhabitants and burns down the city. But, verse 21 says,
“But the descendants of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived among the descendants of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.” Judges 1:21 LEB
I would assume that both are true. Israel kinda had its hands full during the conquest. I suspect that conquering the Canaanites was a bit like the game Whack-A-Mole. Judah had whacked the Jebusites once, but they popped back up. They moved back to the city while Judah was busy whacking the other Canaanite moles in their massive territory.
In this chapter we also get the account of Caleb and his tribe (Judah) capturing Kiriath Arba and taking out the 3 giants, descendants of Anak. This is followed by a recap of Othniel capturing Debir which we talked about back in Joshua 15.
At verse 16 we get new material. The descendants of Jethro (Reuel) and his son Jobob, I mean Hobab (sounds like kho-bob, kinda like that stick with meat and veggies that you grill) joined in with Israel.
As an aside – Jethro & Jobob sounds like a good name for a bluegrass duo.
They’re called the Kenites… because… I honestly haven’t the foggiest idea. All I can find is that the name “Kenite” should be understood as Cain-ite. It’s the same as Cain. As in, Cain and Abel. Only, not actually connected to the Cain of Genesis 4. Jethro was the “Priest of Midian.” Midian was one of Abraham’s sons by his second wife, Keturah. He had a land named after him. Jethro was the priest. Moses married one of Jethro’s 7 daughters, Zipporah.
The Midianites end up becoming trouble for Israel. Maybe Midian had a descendant named Cain (Qayin) and that branch of the family took to calling themselves Qayinites (Kenites). And that’s the branch Jethro and Jobob – I mean Hobab – were from.
And it seems the Kenites kind of “peeled off” at this point and settled in the desert of southern Judah. Don’t forget about them. They’re going to pop up in a future story.
The Conquest of Bethel narrative is also new. Recall that Bethel is the place where Jacob slept on a stone pillow when he fled from Esau. And he dreamed about the stairway to heaven. Before Jacob named it Beth-El (house of God) it was called Luz (pronounced like lose). The meaning of Luz is uncertain but it’s probably some kind of nut tree (almond or hazel) because the word is used alongside other trees in Genesis 30:37.
☝🏼😀 Hey – that’ll preach.
🧐 What? What are you talking about?
😏 You don’t see it?
🧐 See what?
😏 Wow. Let me just drink this in for a moment. Is this how you feel all the time? Knowing stuff I don’t know?
🧐 All I know is that I was explaining the meaning of the name Luz and how it was changed to Bethel, and apparently you think there is some deep theological gem in that.
🤩 There is.
😑 Do go on…
☝🏼😀 I think it’s a picture of the Church.
🧐 Oh?… Really…. How?
☝🏼😄 The good Lord takes a tree full of nuts and turns it into the House of God.
🙄
The remainder of chapter one is rather depressing. It’s all the places where Israel failed to drive out the Canaanites.
Some of them taxed the Canaanites.
If you read this bit and think “sin” every time you read the word “Canaanites” or “inhabitants” it’s rather illuminating.
For example:
“so the Asherites lived in the midst of the Canaanites (SIN), the inhabitants (SIN) of the land, for they did not drive them out.”
Judges 1:32 LEB
“Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants (SIN) of Beth Shemesh or Beth-anath, but lived in the midst of the Canaanites (SIN), the inhabitants (SIN) of the land; the inhabitants (SIN) of Beth Shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.”
Judges 1:33 LEB
Living in the midst of sin and trying to make money off it. Not too different from some of the “Church” today, huh?
I hate to tell ya, but the book of Judges doesn’t get any better. Not really. The next couple weeks are gonna be kinda rough.
At least we get a few heroes to brighten things up. And the first one is a guy we already know.
That knight in shining armor who conquered Debir to win the hand of Achsah, the fair daughter of Caleb – Othniel. 🗡️🤨🥰
To The Reader 