Jef Eifert, 1305 BIBL 1200-04 02/06/2014 The Rhetorical Function of the Book of Judges
The Book of Judges is a difficult book to read in light of our modern understanding understanding of God, grace, morality, and plain decency. It can cause confusion and alarm due to its blunt telling of the events during that time. However upon a closer reading and examination one will find that the author of Judges crafted an intelligent, albeit unobvious, narrative that exposes wonderful truth through the lens of hardship and oppression. There are several ways the author presents Gods purpose in the the writing of these terrible terrible stories. stories. First, the author uses uses literary literary technique technique to reveal reveal his commentary. Second, he uses shocking descriptions and horrifying horrifyi ng narratives weighed against the commands and instructions that God had previously revealed in the Pentateuch. Finally, the author exposes the value in the narrative by exposing the character of the judges themselves. Judges is a book of alarming alarming horror, subtle truth, truth, and obscure obscure hope; hope; however, hope hope is there there and truth is profound when discovered. discovered. The literary style of the Book of Judges is not immediately obvious. Upon a cursory reading one is left feeling shocked. It is primarily due to the fact the stories are so crazy that the literary genius is completely missed. In the case of Judges the author does not seem to offer a discernable opinion opinion on the narrative. He relates story after story in a straight forward “just the facts“ facts“ manner . All the while the reader is craving an explanation which denounces the actions of the judges. The closest the author gets to a denouncement of the judges actions and character is in Judges 17:6 “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his
own eyes.” eyes.” While this is not an outright denouncement, denoun cement, it is a bit of an explanation. Why
did the people act like animals? an imals? Due to the fact that the Israelites “had no king”, they did what seemed good to themselves, or “what was right in their own eyes.” The literary technique the author uses the help h elp expose the divine is in his use of repetitive ideas and phrases. For example a variation of the aforementioned verse v erse in judges 17:6 appears no less than four times. Via repetition he is making a point, while not an outright condemnation, it serves the purpose of re vealing that God is not behind the actions of His people. Another example of literary technique is that the author sets up a cycle of behavior that the Jews continuously go through. That cycle is set up in the narrative of the first judge, Othniel, where the cycle is revealed: Israel commits idolatry, Israel is oppressed for their sin, Israel Cries for help, God sends help, a nd finally Israel rests. What plays out as the narrative unfolds is aspects of the c ycle are omitted and or changed in an effort to illustrate Israel’s problems. For example, ex ample, a time of rest is part of the c ycle but with incident of judicial intervention this time of rest gets shorter and ultimately omitted. Likewise Israel ceases to call out to God for aid and the oppression get longer and more pronounced. All of these examples are literary allusions that surmount to the commentary the author is trying to make. Israel is getting worse and the rest is getting shorter while the depravity of the nation is overwhelming it. The second way the author autho r attempts to clarify the events of the time is b y contrasting the events with known truth form the P entateuch. The people of the time would have been knowledgeable of the laws. The first commandment was completely and willfully ignored. Jephthah in his “text of terror” sacrifices the first the first thing to come out his door upon returning home from battle. Jephthah could have redeemed his daughter under
Levitical law but he did not. n ot. He chose instead to kill her. he r. These occasions and others would have been clear to Jews in exile and serve them as forewarning to behave in accordance with the law. Finally in judges 19 and 11 (the narrative of Jephthah) we have two examples of “texts “texts of ter ror” ror” these examples highlight Isarels highlight Isarels depravity. Chapter 19 illustrates a Levite, who is supposed to be a religious leader, effectively offering his prohibited concubine to homosexual rapists in order to save himself. The Levites behavior is despicable, cold and selfish. Shock is the intended affect with these stories. The very nature of them is supposed to make you realize how far away from God Israel had become. Additionally, he exposes the judges as more contempt as he progresses through their stories. He does this intentionally, as is revealed when you realize Judges is not in chronological order. To clarify, Judges starts with the earlier judges being less bad than the later judges. The narrative on the judges ends in chapter 16 with Samson a judge who never delivers Israel. The last five chapters reveal crazy craz y Levites, intended to reveal their estrangement from Yahweh, rogue tribes and civil war. Complete and total devastation of all God had intended for them. Judges begins with a summary in chapter 2:17 2:17 “…Israel prostituted themselves …how quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lords commands” co mmands” the next 22 chapters play pla y out that summary. It seems fitting the final statement in Judges is “In “ In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” eyes.” That is the commentary we desire.
