Reading for January 8th

Read Judges 20.18-28
In verses 18-28: Benjamin's initial victories.
In verse 18: Nearby Bethel was the chief sanctuary of central Israel.
The answer comes either by the sacred lots or through an oracle delivered by a priest.
In verse 23-24: Before the Lord indicates that they returned to the sanctuary of Bethel to weep. (v. 26).
In verse 28: Only this third answer includes a promise of victory (contrast vv. 18, 23).
Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 7th

Read Judges 20.1-17
In 20.1-7: Israel assembles to attack Benjamin.
In verse 1: From Dan to Beer-sheba designates the north and south limits of Israel.
In verse 3: Because Gibeah is Benjaminite (19.16), the Ephraimite Levite's personal quarrel escalates into intertribal conflict.
In verse 5: The Levite's version omits important details in order to magnify the threat to himself and conceal his own culpability.
In verse 6: Vile outrage signifies an intentional affront to Israel's core values.
In verse 9: By lot refers to the way the ten percent of the next verse are to be chosen.
In verses 15-17: Although Israel has an overwhelming numerical advantage, Benjamin's contingent of crack marksmen (v. 16) suggests that things will not be so simple.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 6th

Read Judges 19.22-30

In verses 22-30: The rape of the Levite's concubine.

In verse 22: Their threat of homosexual rape is the popular opposite of suitable hospitality.

It parallels the behavior of the men of Sodom (Gen 19.5).

In verses 23-24: For the master of the house the obligations take precedence over family loyalties.

However, he does not extend the protection of hospitality to the concubine.

Vile thing denotes a loathsome and foolish act, especially a sexual crime.

In verses 25-26: The cowardly Levite acts to save himself.

The powerful description of rape and the poignant final scene at the door fuel the reader's outrage against Gibeah. 

Her husband (v. 3) is now called her master; he has treated her as a disposable object.

In verse 27-28: The affecting image of her hands on the threshold provides a sharp contrast to his brusque unconcern.

In verse 29: Her body is treated as an object, a signal to rally the nation (compare 1 Sam 11.7).

Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 5th

Read Judges 19.1-21
In verse 1-21: Spending the night in Gibeah.
In verse 1: In those days ... Israel: This refrain (17.6; 18.1; 21.25) suggests that a king would make such a horrifying lawlessness unlikely.
As a concubine she is recognized wife with inferior legal status.
In verse 2: She returns to her family of origin (father's house), but the circumstances as unclear.
In verse 4-9: The point of this prolonged account is that they left  much later in the afternoon than was wise.
In verse 12: The irony is sharp.
Jerusalem as a city of foreigners is rejected as in hospitable in favor of shelter with people of Israel.
In verse 15: That no one took them in would be considered outrageous; hospitality was an important civic virtue.
In verse 16: The old man is a fellow countryman (hill country of Ephraim; v. 1) living as a resident alien in Gibeah.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 4th

Read Judges 18.11-31
In verses 11-31: Dan establishes a sanctuary.
In verse 21: The most vulnerable members of the party are protected from pursuit.
In verse 25: Hot-tempered fellows: Dan had a reputation for belligerence (Gen 49.17; Deut 33.22).
In verse 30: Dan became a national shrine of the northern kingdom (1 Kings 12.29-30).
Jonathan is presumably the previously unnamed Levite.
The priestly family in charge of Dan descended from Moses.
Captivity refers to the results of the Assyrian conquests 92 Kings 15.29; 17.5-6).
In verse 31: the true house of God was at Shiloh (1 Sam 1-2).
The illegitimate background of the sanctuary of Dan has been emphasized at every turn: pilfered silver (17.2-3), stolen illicit image (17.5-6; 18.16-18,24), opportunistic priest (17.9;18.19-20).
Comments of Questions..

Reading for January 3rd

Read Judges 18.1-10

In 18.1-10: Dan searches for a new home.

In verse 2: Conquest stories typically begin with dispatch of spies (1.24; Josh 2).

In verse 3: Apparently they recognized his regional accent.

In verse 5: Part of a priest's job was to discover God's will.

Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 2nd

Read Judges 17.1-13
In 17.1-13: Micah builds a shrine and hires a priest.
In verse 2: Micah confesses to a theft that has put him under a curse.
His mother seeks to counteract the curse with a blessing.
NRSV considers the text scrambled and rearranges it.
In verses 3-4: She takes further action to nullify the curse, using part of the consecrated silver for an idol of cast metal.
In verse 5: This a private, family sanctuary (Heb., "house of God").
The ephod (a priestly garment) and teraphim (figurines) were utilized to discover God's will.
In verse 6: This editorial refrain (18.1; 19.1: 21.25) approves of kingship and communicates displeasure with Micah's actions.
In verse 7: He was of the clan of Judah in the sense of living with them as a resident alien.
In verse 10: Father is an honorific title (compare 5.7).
In verse 13: By virtue of his lineage, the Levite is preferable as priest to Micah's son (v. 5).
Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 1st

Read Judges 16.23-31
In verse 23-31: Samson's retaliation.
In verse 23: Dagon was a Canaanite grain god adopted by the Philistine (1 Sam 5.1-5).
In verse 26: The house is either Dagon's temple or a large hall.
In verse 28: This one act will avenge two wrongs.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 31st

Read Judges 16.1-22
In verses 1-22: Delilah betrays Samson.
In verse 1-3: Gaza was one of the five Philistine cities.
Hebron is about forty miles (sixty kilometers) up hill from Gaza.
In verse 4: Because she lives in the valley of Sorek, she is probably a Philistine.
In verse 7: Bowstrings were made of animal tendons.
They are to be fresh because new things were thought to have magical powers.
In verse 11: Specifying new ropes again points to magical notions.
In verse 13: The web and the pin were parts of a loom (v. 14).
Perhaps to entangle Samson is something so domestic as weaving would magically drain his warrior powers.
By involving his hair, Samson has revealed part of his secret.
In verse 20: The loss of his nazirite status (13.5) means the Lord had left him, so that the spirit would no longer empower his mighty feats. (14.6, 19;15.14).
In verse 21: Samson grinds grain with a hand mill, a menial task performed by women and slaves (compare Lam 5.13).
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 30th

Read Judges 15.9-20
In verses 9-20: Samson retaliates at Lehi.
In verse 11: The dispatch of three thousand men to capture a single individual is humorous.
In verse 13: That these are two new ropes adds to the wonder of his escape.
In verse 14: Shouting (Heb., "yelling a war cry") conveys their triumph and jubilation.
Two vivid images communicate the strength infused by the Spirit of the Lord.
In verse 16: The words for donkey and heap are the same in Hebrew.
In verse 17: The story of Samson's exploit was preserved by its attachment to two landmarks.
In verse 19: His spirit returned, that is his vigor and positive attitude.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 29th

Read Judges 15.1-8
In verses 1-8: Samson's revenge.
In verse 1: This may have been a form of marriage in which the woman continued to live with her parents.
In verse 2: That he rejected her (divorced her) was a reasonable conclusion in light of 14.19.
Ancient readers would have seen the offer of her younger sister as a sensible compromise.
In verse 4: The foxes are a way of spreading the fire widely and quickly.
In verse 6: This was precisely the fate Samson's wife had hoped to avoid (14.15).
In verse 8: The meaning of hip and thigh is uncertain, but implies ferocious physical combat.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 28th

Read Judges 14.1-20
In verses 1-20: Samson's riddle.
In verse 3: Their hesitation is fitting for intermarriage often leads to apostasy (Deut 7.3-4).
In verse 4: God works behind ordinary human events (compare 9.24).
In verse 5: The first trip to Timnah is for parental negotiations and a meeting of the couple (v. 7).
In verse 6: The spirit of the Lord gave other judges the ability to serve as military leaders (3.10; 6.34; 11.29), but infuses Samson with physical strength (v. 19).
In verses 8-9: Samson's second trip was to marry her.
Does he discover the honey or on his way back from Timnah?
In verse 10: Now his father arrives in Timnah, and Samson gives a feast.
In verse 11: Companions were standard feature of marriage celebrations (Ps 45.14).
In verse 14: Proposing and solving riddles was a favorite intellectual exercise in the ancient world.
In verses 16-17: Her persistence is akin to Delilah (16.6-17; compare to you do not really love me with 16.15).
In verse 18: Their solution sounds like a riddle itself.
Is "love" a more profound answer to their question?
Samson's response also occurs in riddle form.
By exploiting his wife, they have plowed with his heifer.
In verse 19: The people of Ashkelon were also Philistines.
Samson can pay off his wager and still not lose.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 27th

Read Judges 13.8-25
In verse 8.-25: The angel reappears.
In verses 13-14: Monoah discovers nothing new from the second appearance for which he has prayed.
In verses 15-16: Monoah offers the customary hospitality for important visitors (6.19; Gen 18.3-5).
He still has no idea who this is.
In verse 18: Wonderful implies that the name is beyond human understanding.
In verses 19-20: Gideon's experience was similar (6.20-21).
In verse 22: This is the standard reaction after experiencing a visible manifestation of God (6.22).
In verse 23: Throughout the narrative, she is more perceptive than her husband.
In verse 25: At this point, the spirit of the Lord is only a latent stirring or agitation (contrast 14.6).
Comment or Questions..

Reading for December 26th

Read Judges 13.1-7
In 13.1-7: Samson's birth foretold.
In verse 3: The angel of the Lord represents the Lord's visible presence.
In verse 4: Wine or strong drink (Num 6.3) were forbidden to a nazirite.
She was to keep away from these because her unborn son must be untouched by them.
In verse 5: A nazirite lived a special life style dedicated to God's purposes (Num 6.1-21;1 Sam 1.11).
Normally nazirites took a temporary vow of dedication: Samson was to be a permanent nazirite from birth.
In verse 6: She supposes she has encountered a man of God, that is a prophet, but from his striking appearance she comes close to sensing the actual truth- that he was a divine messenger.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 25th

Read Judges 12.1-15
In verses 1-5: War between Ephraim and Gilead.
In verses 1-3: The reader does not know which side to believe.
No such appeal to Ephraim by Jephthah has been reported.
In verse 4: Ephraim insults Gilead as being nothing but fugitives or refugees from Ephraim, insisting that Gilead is really only a part of Ephraim and Manasseh.
In verse 5: Gilead blocks the way back across the Jordan and uses a difference in local dialect as a password.
The phrase fugitives of Ephraim grimly echoes their earlier taunt (v. 4).
In verse 7: This information seems to derive from the list of minor judges (10.1-5; 12.8-15).
In verses 8-15: Minor Judges: Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon.
In verse 12: Elon is remembered as a clan ancestor in Zebulun (Gen 46.4).
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 24th

Read Judges 11.29-40
In 11.29-40: Jephthah's vow.
In verse 29: Only now the spirit of the lord empowers Jephthah, perhaps reflecting the Lord's earlier reluctance to deliver Israel (10.13-16).
In verse 30: Another example of a war vow can be found in Num 21.2.
In verse 31: His vow is rash. careless, and egocentric.
The language does not necessarily specify that this will be a human sacrifice (NRSV whoever could also be "whatever").
Israelites shared their houses with farm animals.
Burnt offerings suggests an animal., although human sacrifice was not unknown to Israel.
In verse 34: She is doing an expected and predictable thing.
Israelite women customarily celebrated victories with timbrels and with dancing (Ex 15.20-21; 1 Sam 18.6-7).
In verse 35: He is distraught (tore his clothes), but also sounds as though he is blaming her.
Every ancient reader would agree that his vow was irrevocable.
In verse 36-37: She is courageous and suitably devout, but also seizes control of how she will spend her last months of her life.
Bewail my virginity: To die without the possibility of motherhood was a dreadful tragedy in Israelite culture (reemphasized in v. 39).
Jephthah too is now childless (v. 34).
In verse 40: This annual commemoration may have preserved her story for later generations.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 23rd

Read Judges 11.11-28

In 11.12-28: Jephthah's diplomacy fails.

In verse 13: The king asserts that Israel has unlawfully occupied land north of the Arnon River and south of the Jabbok, directly west of the Ammonite homeland.

Later statements indicate that Ammon is claiming this territory on the basis that it once belong to Moab.

In verse 15: Jephthah's position is that Israel did not take the territory from either Moab or the Ammonites, but rather obtained in 300 years ago (v. 26) by conquering the Amorite king Sihon (vv. 21-22).

In verse 18: He emphasizes that Israel did not go into Moab.

Even at that time Aron was the boundary of Moab.

In verse 24: Early Israel believed that the gods of other nations existed and legitimately guarded the interests of their own people.

Chemosh, the god of Moab, was associated with the territory under dispute.

Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 22nd

Read Judges 11.1-11
In 11.1-11: Jephthah becomes leader of Gilead.
Jephthah's career as a brigand parallels David's early history (1 Sam 22.2).
In verse 6: The elders fist offer the apparently temporary position of military commander.
In verse 8: Jephthah holds out for a better offer: permanent head or ruler over all the inhabitants of Gilead (10.18).
In verse 11: He validates the agreement by reciting it in the witnessing presence of the Lord at the shrine at Mispah.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 21st

Read Judges 10.1-18
In verses 1-5: Minor judges: Tola and Jair.
In verse 1-2: Tola is the only minor judge credited with a military role (rose to deliver Israel).
Tradition preserves the names Tola and Puah (as Puvah) as clans of Issachar (Gen 46.13).
In verses 3-5: Jair was remembered as a pioneer in the settlement of Gilead (Josh 13.30; 1 Kings 4.13).
Hav-voth-jair means "tent villages of Jair."
In verses 6-18: Oppression by Ammon.
In verse 6: A long catalog of gods emphasizes the magnitude of Israel's infidelity.
In verses 7-8: The Ammonites lived to the east and south of Israel's territory in Gilead.
In verse 12: Traditions of deliverance from the Sidonians or the otherwise known Maonites are not preserved elsewhere.
In verse 13:The Lord has fulfilled the threat made in 2.3.
In verse 16: To put away the foreign gods may reflect an established ceremony (Gen 35.2-4; Josh 24.23).
The Lord's relationship to Israel is described as an emotional attachment.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 20th

Read Judges 9.50-57

In 9.50-57: The death of Abimelech.

In verses 51-52: This narrative begins as a replay of his assault on Shechem.

In verse 53: An upper millstone was commonly used by women.

It was of a size to be picked up in two hands and thrown.

In verse 54: Although Abimelech seeks to avoid the notoriety of being killed by a woman (compare 4.9), he became a proverbial example of such a death (2 Sam 11.21).

In verses 56-57: God's retributive justice (v. 24) and Jotham's curse (v. 20) have worked together to achieve a satisfying conclusion.

Comments or Question's

Reading for December 19th

Read Judges 9.34-49
In 9.34-49: Abimelech defeats Shechem.
In verse 34: By dividing his troops into four companies, Abimelech improves their chance of approaching unobserved.
In verse 39: Gaal leads out Shechem's aristocrats (the lords of Shechem), who are driven back into the city with heavy losses.
In verse 41: Although Abimlech does not storm the city at this point, Zebul, is able to expel Gaal and his supporters.
In verse 42: The ordinary farmers go out to work their fields, perhaps to harvest (v. 27).
In verse 44: The detachment under Abimelech's direct command blocks escape back into Shechem, while the other two contingents trap and slaughter the common folk.
In verse 45: This is total war.
Abimelech pulls down buildings and blocks resettlement by sowing Shechem with salt as a symbolic curse.
Inverse 46: Although the identity of the lords of the Tower or Shechem in unclear, they are an aristocratic group who seek safety in the city's last citadel.
Ancient temples were often constructed as strongholds.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 18th

Read Judges 9.22-33
In 9,22-33: The plot against Abimelech.
In verse 23: An evil spirit creates a relationship of mutual mistrust (1 Sam 16.14).
In verse 24: Israel believed that evil deeds spontaneously brought on their own appropriate penalty.
Violence and blood (bloodshed) would naturally rebound on the culprits.
In verse 25: A breakdown in civil order (compare 5.6) undermines Abimlech's authority and diminishes the collection of royal tolls.
In verse 26: Gaal and his relatives relocate to Shechem, but his nationalistic rhetoric (vv. 28-29).
In verse 27: Talk would be loose and emotions would run high at this celebration of the wine harvest.
In verse 28: Gaal's argument appeals to ethic pride: Abimelech is an upstart outsider.
Both Jerubbaal and Zebul (Abimelech's deputy, v. 30) once served the authentic native leadership of Shechem, the men of Humor.
Hamor was a renowned character from Shechem's past (Gen 33.19).
In verse 33: Zebul intends to make sure that Gaal and his troops come out against Abimelech (v. 38).
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 17th

Read Judges 9.7-21
In 9.7-21: Jotham's fable.
This fable displays a cynicism about kingship similar to 1 Samuel 8.
The useful plants (representing Gideon; 8.22-23) refuse kingship as a waste of their valuable aptitudes.
In verses 14-15: The worthless bramble (Abimelech) accepts.
But beware!
The bramble's shade  is prickly and meager, and its potential for fire threatens.
In verse 16: The rest of Jotham's speech is an extended curse that culminates in vv. 19-20.
In verses 17-18: The curse is interrupted to demonstrate that the leaders of Shechem have not acted fairly.
In verse 20: Fire represents the dissension that is soon to unfold..
Jotham's curse matches fulfillment in vv. 56-57.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 16th

Read Judges 9.1-6

In 9.1-6: Abimelech seizes royal power.

In verse 1-3: Abimelech's mother belong to a clan of Shechem (8.31).

In verse 5: On one stone may indicate a parody of sacrifice (1 Sam 14.33-34), but clearly communicates that the killing was deliberate and cold-blooded.

In verse 6: Beth-millo indicates a building (literally "House on Filled-Up Ground"), but here must refer to a group in Shechem's system of government (v. 20; compare "White House").

Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 15th

Read Judges 8. 22-35

In 8.22-35: Israel offers Gideon heredity rule.

In verse 23: The Lord will rule over you expresses the traditional notion that choosing human kings violates the Lord's kingship (1 Sam 8.7).

In verse 24: Ishmaelites were similar in culture to the Midianites, but these were distinct nationalities (Gen 16; 25.1-4).

In verse 27: Ephod usually describes a priestly vestment, which could be used for divination.

Perhaps this gold ephod was used to robe an idol.

In verse 31: A concubine was a subordinate wife with lower legal status.

In verse 33: Baal-berith (Baal of the Covenant; 9.4) was a god worshiped in Shechem, probably the same as El-berith (9.46).

Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 14th

Read Judges 8.4-21

In 8.4-21: Pursuit and vengeance.

In verse 5: Zebah and Zalmunna represent a different story-telling tradition from that featuring Oreb and Zeeb (7.25).

In verse 6: The hands of the enemy could be cut off to serve as evidence of their capture or death.

In verse 19: Gideon demands personal blood vengeance.

Sons of my mother indicates these were his full brothers, an important consideration in a polygamous society.

In verses 20-21: To have a mere boy kill them would be a grave insult.

Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 13th

Read Judges 7.15-8.3
In 7.15-8.3: Victory over Midian.
In verse 16: The torches remain inside the jars to preserve the element of surprise.
In verse 19: The beginning of the middle watch is a psychologically appropriate moment to attack.
In verses 21-22: The result is panic, the classic weapon of the divine warrior (4.15).
This victory became a proverbial example (Ps 83.9-11; Isa 9.4).
In 8. 1-2: The Ephraimites resent being left out of the original summons (6.35; 7.23), but Gideon responds wisely with a soothing compliment: the dregs of Ephraim are better than the very best of my clan has to offer.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 12th

Read Judges 7.1-14
In 7.1-14: preparing for battle.
In verse 2: In holy war, the Lord alone wins the victory.
In verse 3: Sending home the fearful accords with Deut 20.8.
In verses 4-6: The Hebrew text of the second test is perplexing, and the point of preferring those who lap over those who kneel (v. 5) is baffling.
Few Israelites lap water, so that only a fraction of the original ten thousand remain.
In verse 8: Those who stay take the provisions of those who are leaving.
In verse 10: That Gideon would still fear to attack after the Lord's word of assurance in v. 9 typifies his character.
In verses 13-14: Dreams were regarded as premonitions of the future.
The symbols are appropriate: a tent for Midianite nomads and barely bread for Israelite farmers.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 11th

Read Judges 6.33-40
In 6.33-40: Assembling troops and seeking a sign.
In verses 34-35: The dynamic power of the spirit of the Lord inspires an unexpected act of leadership.
Beginning with his own clan, the Abiezrites, Gideon attracts  his own tribe and three neighboring ones.
In verses 36-40: Gideon's repeated quest for certainty corresponds to his ambivalent character (6.15, 17, 27), but is not actually condemned by the narrative.
Assurance of victory was an important element in holy war tradition.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 10th

Read Judges 6.25-32

In 6.25-32: Gideon pulls down Baal's altar.

The sacred pole was a symbol of the goddess Asherah.

Using it as firewood would be a calculated desecration.

In verse 27: Gideon is an ambivalent hero (v. 15, 17); he prefers to act by night.

In verse 31: If he is a god: A god unable to defend its own interests is not really a god at all.

In verse 32: Gideon's other name, Jerubbaal ('let Baal contend"), would have been offensive to later believers.

Here is receives an orthodox interpretation as a reminder of Baal's humiliation.

Comments or Questions..

Reading for December 9th

Read Judges 6.11-24

In 6.11-24: The call of Gideon.

In verse 11: The angel of the Lord is a visible manifestation of the Lord's presence (compare v.14).

Wheat would normally be beaten or threshed on a windy hilltop, not in the confined space of a wine press.

In verse 15: Objections are a standard element of call stories (Ex 3. 10-12).

In verse 24: One purpose of this traditional story was to authenticate a local altar of sacrifice.

Comments or Questions..