Judges: Better than the OC

I'm on a self-guided program to read the Bible in one year. I've done this before, but find that the text is more valuable the better one knows it. Right now (having been through the tedium of the Law) I am entering the time of the Judges in Old Testament Israel. In so doing, I've rediscovered some storylines which rival prime time.

If you know the Bible through the end of Joshua, you know that the Law has been handed down through Moses, he's died, Joshua is leading the people, they've finally stepped into the Promised Land, taken down Jericho (and just about anyone else who gets in their way), and have split the land up according to tribe. They're fat and happy and the last leader to witness the miracles of the Lord, Joshua, has just asked Israel to take an strict oath to follow God. They've agreed and even set up a stone in remembrance of their oath. Everything is going well until the second generation grows up. Apparently, their parents were too busy being serious about their God that they forgot to teach their children about Him. The result? A second generation who didn't know or follow God and instead got friendly with the surrounding nations and their gods instead:

Judges 3:1-11 --
1 These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): 3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD 's commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses.
5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
Othniel
7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD ; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. 9 But when they cried out to the LORD , he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, who saved them. 10 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, so that he became Israel's judge and went to war. The LORD gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.

11 So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

Notice the incredible patience and grace of God. Make no mistake, Israel wasn't merely going astray, becoming lukewarm or apathetic, they were literally worshipping other gods. But still, when they cried out for help, God rescued them.

Judges 3:12-14 --
Ehud
12 Once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD , and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. 13 Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. 14 The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.

Again, making their own choices not to follow the Lord and His decrees (which are sound and good and beneficial) they subjected themselves to the natural consequences of their choices. And God took His hands off, letting them reap the consequences of their evil. "Oh, you don't want to follow me? You think I'm too hard on you? Fine! Here -- live under this dictator. Is that better?"

Judges 3:15-25 --
15 Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD , and he gave them a deliverer-Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

16 Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. 17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. 18 After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way the men who had carried it. 19 At the idols near Gilgal he himself turned back and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king."

The king said, "Quiet!" And all his attendants left him.
20 Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his summer palace and said, "I have a message from God for you." As the king rose from his seat, 21 Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly. 22 Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. 23 Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

24 After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, "He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the house." 25 They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their Lord fallen to the floor, dead.

This reminds me of the scene in The Godfather II where young Vito Corleone finally vindicates the honor of his family by taking down the man who killed his father, mother and brothers. Who says the Bible is boring?

Judges 3:26-31 --
26 While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.
28 "Follow me," he ordered, "for the LORD has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands." So they followed him down and, taking possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab, they allowed no one to cross over. 29 At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not a man escaped. 30 That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.
Shamgar
31 After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.

So, recap: we've had a major coup, peace in the land for over eighty years and (apparently) a rekindling of Israel's love of their Lord. And then, as if they hadn't already learned their lesson:

Judges 4:1-3 --
1 After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD . 2 So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3 Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help.

Okay, the Israelites are subject to... let's see... Jabin the king and his evil general Sisera...

*Sigh*

I don't know how the Lord felt about this one. Just as I can't imagine how He feels every time I ask forgiveness for the sins I commit. But I know in human terms, I would be pretty sick of helping these people out yet again for the SAME STINKING THING. Again, we are poised for God to deliver the people, we assume it's going to be a warrior or general. But wait! What's this?

Judges 4:4-7 --
4 Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided. 6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "The LORD , the God of Israel, commands you: 'Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. 7 I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.' "

I'm sorry, what? I thought only men were allowed to have any power in the Bible. Well, maybe in the New Testament where Jesus proclaimed us all equal and women were allowed to teach and heal, but in the Old Testament?! I wonder where the feminists stand on this one... Hmm... And notice the job description of a Judge of Israel: she was a settler of disputes and a prophetess, which gave her sway as a sort of informal commander. Oh, and by the way, she was a WIFE as well, though her husband is mentioned only in name. Wonder what he thought about her position?

Judges 4:8-11 --
8 Barak said to her, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go."
9 "Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh, 10 where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

This guy has so much regard for her power that he's scared to go to battle without her! But notice her reaction. She doesn't get up on a high horse and expound on the equal rights of women in combat. She rebukes him for his fear. His regard should be for God's power, not hers.
God has, in essence, offered him the chance to lead Israel in battle and become a leader in his own right. This is proper and fitting if we remember our Mosaic Law. Women and men are dependent upon each other, but they were both made for specific roles. Neither role negates the power or the importance of the other. We cannot exist without one other. Deborah warns Barak that his request upsets this balance and brings the men of Israel under the leadership of a woman. It makes the men (who are built and called to protect and fight) look like mamma's boys cowering beneath the kitchen table.

Judges 4:11-24 --
11 Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses' brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
12 When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River.
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, "Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?" So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by ten thousand men. 15 At Barak's advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot. 16 But Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. All the troops of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left.
17 Sisera, however, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there were friendly relations between Jabin king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, "Come, my Lord , come right in. Don't be afraid." So he entered her tent, and she put a covering over him.
19 "I'm thirsty," he said. "Please give me some water." She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.
20 "Stand in the doorway of the tent," he told her. "If someone comes by and asks you, 'Is anyone here?' say 'No.' "
21 But Jael, Heber's wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
22 Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. "Come," she said, "I will show you the man you're looking for." So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple-dead.
23 On that day God subdued Jabin, the Canaanite king, before the Israelites. 24 And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin, the Canaanite king, until they destroyed him.

Again, a man let his guard down and cowered in fear behind a woman. This time, a woman with strong and deadly intention. Again I ask: the Bible? Boring?

In Judges 5, we hear The Song of Deborah, a tradition of nearly every ancient oraliterate culture. If you've read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, you know this form. But what is noticeable, is how many tribes of Israel came to fight and how many didn't. Deborah alludes to the already weakening state of the nation of Israel which will lead to their eventual collapse and exile.