The Book of Judges

If the Book of Judges were a person standing here beside me today, here’s how it would more than likely respond to following headlines...

You want to know what’s wrong with this world?

Evil aliens are threatening our galaxy! [slide]

There’s a battle raging between us (the good) and them (the evil).

As if life were a Marvel comic movie...

It’s not the boomers’ fault...

It’s like

Unsurprisingly, there are some problems with this mindset.

There is no broadly shared consensus as to who the us are and who the them — only suspicion, indignation, dehumanization.

Aliens are threatening our galaxy...

(Because we are not being attacked by aliens from another galaxy.)

It’s not the millennials’ fault.

It’s not

This is why everything is so screwed up!

And very little room for personal responsibility.

To which the Book of Judges, if it were able to speak to us directly down through the ages, would probably reply:

It’s not the aliens’ fault.

It’s not the celebrities.

It’s not the media.

[Smithsonian as only one to get it right.]

If the Book of Judges were a person standing here beside me today, here’s what it would say...

It’s not the Democrats.

It’s not the Republicans.

It’s not Donald Trump.

It’s not Nancy Pelosi.

It’s not the illegal immigrants.

It’s not the people pushing for immigration reform.

It’s not Blank’s fault. Or Blank’s fault.

What is this, everybody blaming everybody else?

It’s not Blank’s fault. Or Blank’s fault.

The Republicans didn’t kill the Glyptodon.

It’s like the Smithsonian magazine says...

We did.

We killed the glyptodon.

The problem is us — we are the ones to blame.

There is no pure evil.

We are the repoonsible party.

There’s only us — and we are the ones to blame for the situation in which we find ourselves.

It’s our fault.

Book of Judges - all about taking responsibility.

How it tells the story of the various times Israel, in its early pre-monarchic period, was ruled by foreign powers:

The Israelites forget God, worshipping Baal instead.

The Israelites forget God, and start worshipping Baal instead.

As punishment, God allows a foreign power to oppress the Israelites.

The Israelites cry out to God for help.

God raises up a judge or deliverer to rescue them from the Philistines or whomever.

The Moabites aren’t the problem: we are.

The judge leads Israel to freedom.

The land has rest — until the next time the Israelites forget God.

The way it characterizes its savior figures, the judges:

Which gets worse with each repetition:

Gideon’s son Abimelech and what he does to his half-brothers.

Jephthah’s oath.

The collateral damage associated with Samson.

The Philistine Lords aren’t the only violent ones: our leaders are just as bad!

Violence is not a foreign problem;

And then there’s the book’s shocking denouement: the Levite’s concubine.

The Levite’s concubine.

The story about the Levite’s concubine.

How she dies (father, husband’s role).

Who kills her (the people of Gibeah, who are Benjaminites).

How the situation gets “resolved.”

The Canaanites aren’t the only cruel ones: we are, too.

The morale of this book = there are no external enemies, only us.

We turn away from God to worship wealth and power: we suffer at the hands of the wealthy and powerful.

We want to be able to divide the world into two camps: evil oppressors versus innocent victim freedom fighters.

But it’s not that simple.

Longstanding cycles of violent conflict make people cruel, no matter what side they are on.

How else can you explain the way the last three judges and the Levite and his father-in-law all end up causing the deaths of the people who are supposed to be the closest to them?

Siblings…an only daughter (with her weird acquiescence)…a wife…a concubine and daughter.

“Give me the beat, boys, and soothe my soul. I want to get lost in your rock and roll, and drift away...”

What would they see that I don’t?

Michael witnessed this remarkable scene the other day at the Schnucks on Olive...

His basic argument:

What things would strike them as odd.

Or about our love affair with comic book heroes?

How might their perspective differ from mine?

What would occur to them that might not to me?

Judges as part of a strand of the Bible that emphasizes personal responsibility.

I think he’s on to something.

Which can at times seem harsh.

The idea that God tests those he loves is not something one person can say to another.

What would their diagnosis be?

But I would also add this:

On the other hand...

When it comes to Judges, I think the editor would have this to say: