Journeyings in judges by lawrence duff forbes d d d litt

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JOURNEYINGS IN JUDGES

By Lawrence Duff-Forbes D. Litt., D.D.

Content 1.

A GLANCE AT THE GUIDEBOOK

2.

PENETRATING THE PATTERN

3.

THE DELINQUENT PEOPLE

4.

THE VICEGERENT OF THE NAME

5.

WOUNDED WORDS

6.

FROM GILGAL TO BOCHIM

7.

SPIRITUAL GEOMETRY

8.

CYCLES THAT SATISFY

9.

CYCLES THAT CERTIFY

10.

MEANINGFUL MARKERS

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A GLANCE AT THE GUIDEBOOK MY FRIENDS,

in these times of “tourism” when, as our Prophet Daniel predicted, “many shall run to

and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4), the port of Hong Kong becomes irresistible to the sightseer.

And who could say he has visited Hong Kong if he failed to view the incomparable presentations of the Tiger Balm Garden!

Embedded appropriately on a rugged hillside in exquisite natural setting, ancient Oriental history and legend has been represented by symbolic statuary and fearsome figures in an amazing blend of beauty and barbarism quite breathtaking to behold.

With each ascent or descent, with each turn of each corner, there is encounter with the unexpected.

Horrors from the halls of hell haphazard with halcyon havens, and all alike populated with painted pageantry.

I used the word “haphazard” intentionally for, being myself uninitiated and necessarily bound by time and circumstance to a superficial view, I could detect no actual processional PATTERN in the picturesque presentation.

But if I could detect no pattern in the display there was, nevertheless, an avowed PURPOSE in the whole exhibition. Remarkably enough, it is recorded in the official guidebook to the garden that it was – and I quote – “In the hope of purifying our sins the founder of this garden specially selected these statues and erected them.”

Sins and statuary are thus linked together in the purpose of the Tiger Balm Garden, where monstrous monuments are found in the midst of surroundings otherwise so sweet and salubrious.

Somehow this fantasy of the human imagination speeded my thoughts to another and much larger region otherwise sweet and salubrious but, unfortunately, likewise studded by monstrous monuments occasioned by sin and its sad sequence.

However, the larger region to which I now conduct you is not the outworking of human speculation, but the outbreathing of the Divine Spirit of God. I refer to that seventh book of Tenach (the socalled “Old Testament”) – the second book in the Nevi’im Rishonim or Early Prophets – known popularly in English as JUDGES, but more accurately in Hebrew as SHOPHETIM, a term which I will explain in later messages.

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When I discovered the purpose in the Tiger Balm Garden I can assure you it enhanced greatly its interest for me; and I know that when you discover with me in these messages the PURPOSE in the Book of Judges your interest in that book will be captured and abundantly satisfied.

But more. As we traverse together the ascents and descents of this sacred Scripture, and as we round each corner of each chapter of the Divine record, there will not only be encounter with the unexpected but – that which seems lacking in the Tiger Bal Garden – a clear presentation of PATTERN as well as of PURPOSE. Ere we pass beneath the portals of Judges and survey alike its monstrous monuments and its sweet salubrity, let us give ourselves the advantage of a glance at the guidebook.

Who was the human author of Shophetim, the Book of Judges? We ask this question because its author is not expressly mentioned within the inspired pages.

All modern archaeological and geographical evidence testifies to the antiquity and contemporary character of the records by whomsoever compiled, and we would do well to ignore the tedious historico-critical fantasies with which, unfortunately, so many of our Jewish commentaries and encyclopaedias have become tainted and which, consequently, render such compendiums most unreliable and misleading.

In this case, therefore, we prefer to trust ancient tradition and adhere to the ascription of substantial authorship to Samuel, the last judge and first in the regular succession of prophets, and the founder of the Israelitish monarchy.

“This view,” says Rabbi Dr. Judah J. Slotki, M.A., Ph.D., “dispenses with the mutually contradictory conclusions of modern scholars . . .”

The Talmud declares that “Samuel wrote the book which bears his name and the Book of Judges and Ruth.” (Baba Batra 14b-15a). So much for the human authorship of Judges. I allude to it only because of its interest.

Now a glance at the sweet and salubrious setting. In the final chapter of the Book of Joshua, which we have studied in immediate past messages, we read these heartening words: “And the people answered and said, ‘God forbid that we should forsake the Eternal, to serve other gods...’ And Israel served the Eternal all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua . . . ” (Joshua 24:16a, 31a)

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However, as soon as we enter the Book of Judges, the monstrous monuments appear upon the spiritual landscape; and, as we would expect, sin, is the occasion for their malevolent manifestation and their fearful form.

Before we take our first step into the dark and terrible terrain before us, let us floodlight the whole scene with a brief beam of Divine light and thus capture indelibly the true, the real, the basic perspective.

Actually, the area confronting us in Judges, as in Joshua, is the Divinely-selected battlefield between Religion and Revelation – Religion as conceived in the unenlightened minds of fallen man, Revelation as bestowed upon man by a gracious God. We see, then, the issues are vital ones. There can be neither compromise nor composure. Religion must be utterly conquered and eradicated by Revelation, and Israel is God’s weapon for the battle.

What, then, are the character and the consequence of the sin exposed to view in Shophetim?

Well, the battle-plan of God was precise and definite. The false religion was to be utterly uprooted and its debased devotees entirely expelled without compromise or covenant.

Garosh and Yarosh (  and  ) are prominent and repeated Hebrew word-roots in the Book of Judges, both of them meaning “to expel,” and the latter “strongly to dispossess.”

The character of Israel’s sin was both negative and positive. Negatively, he did not entirely expel nor did he utterly uproot. Positively, he did compromise and covenant with the Canaanites.

The consequence of Israel’s sin was also negative and positive. Negatively, he forsook the Eternal his God and thus forfeited the Divine protection and blessing. Positively, he plunged into idolatry and thus incurred the Divine punishment and displeasure.

Among the purposes of the book is the revelation of the manifold frailty of man and the manifest fidelity of God. With Israel, imperfect obedience led to apostasy and apostasy to idolatry. The outcome was debasement. With God, punishment upon Israel was poetic (Judges 2:3b), severe, yet remedial.

The outcome was deliverance.

The purpose of the book, therefore, could perhaps best be summarized in the words of Proverbs 14:34 of which I venture to give you my own paraphrase – “Integrity exalts a nation; but sin bows the neck of any people.”

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In succeeding messages we shall together make many Journeyings in Judges, and even though monstrous monuments confront us in the garden, yet there is a garden, and we shall spend not a few refreshing moments in it. You will come with me, won’t you?

Now, another glance at the guidebook to pre-familiarize ourselves with the whole stupendous landscape of Shophetim: 1) CONDITIONS THAT CONDEMN (Judges 1-3:6) a) THE DELINQUENT PEOPLE (Chapter 1) i) OUTWARD ACTIVITY (1) Conquest of Canaan Activity of Judah, Simeon and Joseph Relative inactivity of other Tribes (2) Unconquered Canaanite Peoples ii) INWARD ATTITUDE (1) Incomplete Obedience (2) Indifference to Objectionables b) THE DIVINE PROTEST (2:1-5) i) THE REBUKE OF THE MESSIAH ii) THE REMORSE OF THE MULTITUDE c) THE DETERMINED PURPOSE (2:3, 21-3:6) i) TO TEST OBEDIENCE ii) TO TEACH WARFARE d) THE DISTINCTIVE PATTERN (2:11-23) i) APOSTASY OF ISRAEL ii) ANGER OF GOD iii) ANGUISH OF ISRAEL iv) APPEAL TO GOD (cf. 3:9) v) ANSWER OF GOD 2) CYCLES THAT CERTIFY (Judges 3:7-16:11) a) ADVERSARIES AND SNARES (3:7-8:32) i) FIRST CYCLE – CUSHAN RISHATHAIM (3:7-11) (1) Sorrow (2) Saviour

8 years Othniel

(3) Surcease 40 Years ii) SECOND CYCLE – MOAB, AMMON, AMALEK (3:12-30) (1) Sorrow (2) Saviour

18 Years Ehud (Shamgar mentioned, verse 31)

(3) Surcease

80 Years

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iii) THIRD CYCLE – JABIN (4:1-5:31) (1) Sorrow (2) Saviour

20 Years Deborah (with Barak)

(3) Surcease 40 Years iv) FOURTH CYCLE – MIDIANITE HOST (6:1-8:32) (1) Sorrow (2) Saviour

7 Years Gideon

(3) Surcease 40 Years b) ANARCHY AND SILENCE (8:33-10:5) i) URSURPATION OF ABIMELECK (8:33-9:50) (1) Duration 3 Years ii) UNSUNG JUDGESHIPS (10:1-5) (1) Tola 23 Years (2) Jair 22 Years c) ADVERSARIES AND SNARES (10:6-11:40) i) FIFTH CYCLE – AMMON (10:6-11:33) (1) Sorrow 18 Years (2) Saviour (3) Jephthah’s

Jephthah 6 Years (12:7)

Judgeship d) ANARCHY AND SILENCE (12:1-15) i) UMBRAGE OF EPHRAIM (12:1-6) ii) UNSUNG JUDGESHIPS (12:8-15) (1) Ibzan (2) Elon

7 Years 10 Years

(3) Abdon 8 Years e) ADVERSARIES AND SNARES (13:1-16:31) i) SIXTH CYCLE – PHILISTINES (13:1 – I Samuel 7:17) (1) Sorrow 40 Years (2) Saviour Samuel (I Samuel 7:6-17) (Note: Samson only BEGAN the deliverance – Judges 13:5) (3) Samson’s Judgeship

20 Years (Included in Sixth Cycle)

3) CIRCUMSTANCES THAT CHILL (Judges 17:1-21:25) a) IMPURITY IN DEVOTIONS (17:1-18:31) i) LEVITES AND WORSHIP (1) Micah and the Levites (17:1-13) (2) Micah and the Danites (18:1-31) (3) Laish and the Danites (18:7-31)

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b) IMPURITY IN DEPORTMENT (19:1-21:25) i) LEWDNESS AND WANTONNESS (20:6) (1) The Levite and the Concubine (19:1-8) (2) Befoulment among Benjamites (19:9-30_ (3) Decimation of Benjamites (20:1-48) (4) Israel’s Fraternal Lament (21:1-7) (5) Israel’s Female Legacy (21:8-25)

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PENETRATING THE PATTERN MY DEAR FRIENDS,

about twenty years before the Common Era there was born, in the city of

Alexandria, Egypt, a Jewish philosopher whose name was Philo.

Although we may not be much in his debit for his philosophy, yet we surely owe him a little thanks for this observation which I now quote: “Geometry gives us the sense of equality produced by proportion. It also heals by means of fine music all that is harsh and inharmonious or discordant in the soul, under the influence of rhythm, meter and melody.”(Cherubim, 30) In my last message, you will remember, we approached the seventh book of the Bible, known in English as Judges but more accurately in Hebrew as Shophetim. We found that the prime purpose of this portion of the Divine Revelation was to accent the abasement of apostasy and the reality of remedial retribution.

You may ask what has that to do with Philo, and I must answer – nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Except that I wish to make an application of his word to our present journeyings in Judges.

Since we are going to discover in its pages much that is harsh, inharmonious, and discordant, it will be wise for us to apply our own soul-balm in the knowledge that Shophetim also possesses a healing geometry – a fine metric music that has rhapsodic rhythm and magnetic melody.

It is at this point, therefore, whilst continuing to hold your attention firmly attached to the purpose aspect of the book, that I can now invite you to accompany me as we begin a penetration into the pattern aspect of the sacred record.

I have already had occasion to call attention to the spiritual significance of numbers throughout our Jewish Holy Scriptures, a fascinating phenomenon present in both Tenach and the New Covenant.

The Book of Judges is no exception to this absorbing feature. For the moment the numbers seven, six, two, and four claim attention.

The number seven denotes completion and is particularly Israel’s covenant number. It is, therefore, touching indeed that verses 6, 11, and 12 of chapter 10 of the Book of Judges introduce this feature in a twofold connotation replete with pathos.

The covenant-keeping God of Israel reminds His people of seven deliverances He wrought on their behalf; namely, the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Zidonians, the Malakites, and the Maonites.

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Set over in contrast to God’s perfection of covenant fidelity is Israel’s perfidious covenant faithlessness expressed in seven derelictions, when Israel forsook his God and turned to the idolatry of the surrounding nations and served the Baalim, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, and Zidon, and Moab, and of Ammon, and of the Philistines (Judges 10:6) – seven separate centres of spiritual venom and disease which, collectively expressed a fullness, a completion, of vileness and degradation in sad contrast to the sevenfold fidelity of the God of Israel.

Now note the appearance of the number six in this remarkable book. Six denotes the human number. Man, you will remember, was created on the sixth day. Six is just one short of the number of completion, fulfilment, perfection. Human experience and age-long history afford abundant evidence of Man’s inherent imperfection and melancholy failure to fulfil.

It comes as no surprise, then, to those of us acquainted with – shall I say? – this spiritual arithmetic, to discover that within the page-limits of the Book of Judges we find Israel’s common human frailty disclosed by the record of six apostasies.

The inevitable Divine retribution, as I have said, is alike poetic and remedial: poetic in that God employs the very same alien allurement to apostasy as His agent in Israel’s punishment, and the sorry sequence of six subjugations brings its intended remedy in Israel’s six cries to the Throne of Grace for deliverance.

Right here I think I have a delectable morsel for you. Earlier, I used the expression “within the page-limits of the Book of Judges.” Remember? This phrase was deliberate. Within those pagelimits we have the record of six Divine responses to Israel’s six cries. But six is not the number of completion. Has God failed to give complete answer? Surely not! There is yet a sweet seven to satisfy. But it is not within the page-limits of Shophetim, Judges. This, too, is eloquent as we shall now see.

The key to the character and condition of the age enclosed within the page-limits of Shophetim is numerically suggested by a meaningful interplay between the numbers two and four.

Two is the number of difference, but when in accord it becomes the number of conclusive testimony. Twice, therefore and in exact accord, we read in the Hebrew:

             6 “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” You will find that twin statement in chapters 17:6 and 21:25.

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Four is the terrestrial number pertaining to things

 “under the sun.”

Hence, viewed

terrestrially, that half of the formula relating to the absence of a king in Israel is twice more restated in chapters 18:1 and 19:1).

True – terrestrially – there was no king in Israel. But within the dark page-limits of Shophetim Israel had forgotten his Theocratic King, the One Who had delivered him for Egyptian bondage!

No wonder the times were parlous.

Now for the sweet seven to satisfy. The Theocratic Age of Israel’s history actually extends beyond the page-limits of Judges; it embraces the Book of Ruth and the first seven chapters of First Samuel.

However, in Judges, the history clusters around six major personalities and six minor personalities.

Of the six major personalities, five wrought deliverance for Israel; but of the sixth, Samson, it is recorded “he shall BEGIN to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” Had you noticed that?

I cannot escape the conclusion that it is a popular error to assume that Samson wrought a complete deliverance for Israel and I can find neither statement nor records of such within the page-limits of the Book of Judges. That Samson began “to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” is, however, an express statement as well as an historic record.

Is there not, then, a sense of sweet healing, “rhythm, meter and melody” when we discover that it was under the seventh deliverer, the godly Samuel, as recounted in First Samuel, chapter seven (vv 6-17), that Israel’s deliverance from the Philistines was completed through Divine response to Samuel’s sacrificial lamb and importunate prayer.

Truly my friends, we are penetrating into a most persuasive pattern, aren’t we?

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THE DELINQUENT PEOPLE MY DEAR FRIENDS,

five centuries before the Common Era, there lived a Greek dramatist and poet

named Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.E.) and I would love to have had a glance at his desk when he wrote these words: “Obedience is the mother of success, the wife of safety.” (Septem. Duces. 224) Why this desire to scan his desk? Because I might expect to find that he had been studying Shophetim, the Book of Judges, the seventh book of the Bible. Outside the Divine Revelation itself, I know of no words more capable of striking instantly right through to the very heart of the message of this most amazing book.

Any reader, opening the pages of Judges for the first time, and previously acquainted with the command the Eternal God had given Israel, would experience a sense of foreboding and alarm in the reading of the very first chapter.

The supreme Surgeon of the Universe had seen the malignant cancer in Canaan. It threatened the spiritual health of all humanity. Therefore, in His sovereign will, God had chosen Israel as His scalpel to cut out and to cast out utterly that perilous perversion which was making human life and welfare unhealthy and unsafe. Such was the constructive command of God and such the combative commission of Israel.

The curtain rises to a refrain similar to that which overtures the Book of Joshua. In Joshua’s first verse we read “after the death of Moses.” In Judge’s first verse we read “after the death of Joshua.” The first chapter then continues the record of the progress of that Divine surgery begun under the hand of the one whose death the first verse announces.

In the absence of single human leadership, Israel asks the Eternal God, “Who of us shall go up” to commence to fight against the Canaanites – a question that suggests the, then, sweet unity that bound together all the tribes of Israel in a common cause and intention.

Judah, the Messianic tribe, is Divinely selected as the spearhead. Judah then calls Simeon to partnership and the surgery on the Canaanite cancer is resumed.

And the outcome? The surgery was not completed and Israel, through his own wearying waywardness, was himself waylaid by the disease!

Now let me preface what I am about to disclose by saying that vast areas of Divine revelation are totally concealed from those who are infected with a careless or sceptical attitude to the Holy

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Scriptures; but, on the other hand, confidence in the integrity of God’s Word initiates the believer into innumerable secrets. Here is one such.

The intention of the first chapter of Judges is to focus the Divine spotlight accurately upon the origin of Israel’s infection with the Canaanite cancer; and imperfect obedience is disclosed as the fundamental, the bedrock, cause of the contagion.

This disclosure is supported by a most significant structural phenomenon which appears as a Divine watermark and – like a watermark – is not apparent unless and until held up by the hands of faith to the light of the Spirit of God. There is a Hebrew word-root  (yarosh) in which is embedded all the ideas of taking possession and inheriting by dispossessing and driving out the previous tenants.

This word-root appears exactly twelve times in this first chapter just as if it were a pertinent reminder to each of the twelve tribes of Israel to whom, both individually and collectively, the command with promise had come (Verses 19, 20, 21, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33).

The sequence and summary of the twelve occurrences are also quite revealing. In actual association with this root, ten tribes are expressly named – a gentle reminder, by association of ideas, of the Ten Commandments with the related connotation of obedience.

I have previously called your attention to the significance of the number six, the number of man and his failure to fulfil. Significantly, therefore, this number six reappears here as the word-root is employed six times to identify particularly six tribes for their utter non-observance of the Divine command (Benjamin, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali).

Judah, the Messianic tribe, was the most active and nearly rendered a full obedience; but the root is twice used of Judah, one positively and one – alas! – negatively. Judah, too, fell short of complete obedience. (v19) In one verse (v28) our word-root appears twice in such a way that five usages precede and five follow; moreover, this central employment thus constitutes a poetic apex which pyramids the gravamen of the complaint in these accusing words: “And it came to pass, when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to taskwork; but drive them out – they certainly did not drive them out.”

This twenty-eighth verse is a key-verse for it unlocks and releases the understanding of all that follows, not only in the book we are currently exploring, but also throughout the whole history of

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Israel as a nation; and in addition it relates to all individual human beings, whether Jewish or Gentile. “Obedience is the mother of success, the wife of safety.”

Yes, Judah, the Messianic tribe, failed! Israel, the Messianic nation, failed! This is admittedly depressing. But hold! The Holy Spirit is not only the Spirit of jarring truth but also the Spirit of joyous hope, and He uses our word-root yet again to usher before our wistful eyes an individual, a representative individual, who did not fail!

  ,

better know in English as Caleb, did expel as Divinely ordered (v20). This

eminent man was one of the twelve  (rulers) or  (heads) of Israel and was one of those who hazarded the prior reconnaissance of the land of Canaan. Caleb brought good report of it and, in face of adverse popular opinion and in face of threatening opposition, urged the performance of the command of God to enter the land forthwith in reliance upon the Divine assurance. Adorning his high social and political rank were his superior moral qualities. He passed to his eternal reward full of honours and full of days.

Caleb has a most distinguished record throughout the twenty-eight Scripture passages that bring him to our notice. His life and service are characterized by faith, loyalty, courage, and obedience that won him frequent and special mention in the dispatches of heaven. (E.g. Numbers 14:24) The son of Yephunneh represented the tribe of Judah (Numbers 13:6). However, in the particular sequence in which we currently view him, his representation is surely wider and greater than could be allotted to him by a single tribe. He is part of a ladder of representation, the rungs of which lead up to the Throne of God. The partial failure of the Messianic tribe Judah has another side to it. Judah had a distinguished representative in Caleb who, as representative, fulfilled that in which Judah failed. Moreover, the whole tribe was thus bathed in the beams of glory won by that representative.

Come up the ladder and behold the Messianic nation Israel! The partial failure of the Messianic nation also has another side to it. It is far too little realized that Israel has a distinguished Representative Who utterly fulfilled that in which Israel failed. And not only is the Messianic nation yet bathed in the beams of eternal glory won by that Representative, but that same nation will “offer themselves willingly” in the day of His power, as indicated – among other Scriptures – in Psalm 110.

Neither polemics nor perversity can alter the obvious Messianic connotation of that Psalm 110 from which I have just quoted; and it is interesting to observe that the Psalm is linked to the Book of Judges by the distinctive Hebrew root  (nadov), which appears in the famous Song of Deborah.

The word means voluntary action in contradistinction to constraint or compulsion.

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This was the type of action and attitude which characterized Caleb; this was the type of action and attitude which characterized Messiah. This will be the type of action and attitude which will characterize Israel as a nation when, through the atoning merits of his Representative, the Messiah, the faithful God of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31) will restore the Messianic nation once more to a last day instrumentality which will not fail. Israel will obey, not in a dead reluctance, grudgingly, but in a delightful exuberance which will be wholesomely contagious and which, by the power of God, will favourably impregnate the world. Judges in reverse! Maybe that day is not so very far away!

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THE VICEGERENT OF THE NAME MY FRIENDS,

in the year 1687 Isaac Newton published what we now designate “Newton’s Law of

Universal Gravitation.” Science gave Newton’s law its acclaim and its recognition and erected on its foundations a beautiful Castle of Classical Physics which, even after two and a half centuries, had all the comfortable appearance of eternal duration and absolute impregnability.

But the year 1879 saw the birth of a man whose inherent disposition and indefatigable labours struck at the very foundations of the accepted scientific structure and sent it toppling over. That man was Albert Einstein.

It has now been admitted by science that his revolutionary theory of relativity was born of – and here I quote – “stubborn facts that emerged constantly from experimental research and that just wouldn’t fit into the classical picture . . . ” I am convinced that Einstein would have followed courageously any path blazed before him by stubborn facts born of experimental research. These facts led him into the Theory of Relativity.

That the same facts could – had they beckoned in that direction – just as easily have led him out again is evidenced by his very own words which I quote – “No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment may at any time prove me wrong.”

Now, my friends, since my intention toward you is sincerely constructive, please allow me liberty to ask you a frank question. What would you do with stubborn facts, born of experimental research, and which will not fit into the classical picture? What would you counsel me to do under such circumstances?

I ask because I have personally conducted intensive research into our Hebrew Scriptures, and as a result I have been confronted with some stubborn facts which emerge constantly and which just will not fit into the current classical picture. I invite you now to share part of the experiment with me.

I am going to quote in succession four specimen Scriptures from the Torah, the Law of Moses. The speaker in each case is the same. Will you please identify him as I read the Scriptures? Here is the first Scripture: “I will greatly multiply your descendants; they will be so numerous that they will be beyond computation.” (Genesis 16:10)

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These words were spoken to Sarah’s handmaid, Hagar.

Here is the second Scripture: “Do not lay your hand upon the lad; do absolutely nothing to him; for now I know you are a God-fearing man, seeing that you have not held back your son, your only son, from Me.” (Genesis 22:12) These words were spoken to our father Abraham with reference to the offering of Isaac. It seems only fair to mention that our Jewish translators have written the pronoun “Me” with a capitalized letter “M.” Here is the third Scripture, also from Genesis, and the words are spoken to our father Jacob: “I am the God of Beth-el where you anointed a memorial pillar and where you vowed a vow to Me.” (Genesis 31:13) Once again our Jewish translators have capitalized the letter “M” in the pronoun “Me.” Our great teacher Moses is addressed in this fourth specimen Scripture, and the speaker utters his words from a fiery flame in the midst of a thornbush. It will aid you in your identification if I give the verse in Hebrew, followed by a literal translation:



                

“ . . . I am the Deity of thy father, the Deity of Abraham, the Deity of Isaac, the Deity of Jacob.”

(Exodus 3:6) Naturally, your impartiality and your open-mindedness have brought you to a speedy decision as to the identity of the speaker in all four instances. I imagine you would be able to announce your verdict in one word – “God.” Well! You will be strengthened to know that in making this selection you have Hagar, Abraham, Jacob, and Moses on your side.

The experiment has been a simple one. Indeed, so simple that I wouldn’t blame you if, at this point, you felt I had led you into some sort of anticlimax. But, my friends, it is at this point that our stubborn facts begin to emerge!

And it is at this point I must begin to prepare you for a surprise which, initially, may cause you an Einsteinium jolt!

Beyond all reasonable doubt the Speaker in these and many other similar Scriptures is Deity, Deity appearing throughout our entire Jewish Sacred Writings as a most dominant Figure, compelling attention and provoking our most serious enquiry.

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This wondrous and eternal Presence bears the Ineffable Name of Revealed Deity, the Memorial Name of the Godhead, the Sacred Tetragrammaton. The Ineffable Memorial Name is written in the Hebrew Bible by the four consonants Yad, Hay, Vav, Hay. I shall refer to it simply as “The Name” – in Hebrew, 



It is not commonly realized that many important Hebrew names are actually verbs expressed in the imperfect form, such well-known names as Isaac, and Jacob being cases in point.

So, to, THE Name appears as a verb in the imperfect and has, therefore, been translated “I am that I am” or “I will be that which I will be” (Exodus 3:14); or, should it be in the Hiphil causative conjugation of the verb, “He shall cause it to be.” In short – the Creator.

Now the particular Presence you correctly and rightly identified from the specimen Scriptures as Deity not only bears THE Name in His title but – and note this very carefully, please – He bears it in His essential Being; for our great teacher Moses, speaking as the mouthpiece of Revealed Deity, warns Israel of this same Being in these words which I now quote: “Take heed of him, and hearken unto his voice; be not rebellious against him; for he will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in him.”

You might care to examine this remarkable Scripture in the Torah at Exodus, chapter twenty-three, verse twenty-one. Obviously, the unstrained meaning of these words indicates that this Being with the Name, the Essence, of Deity in Him has power to pardon or to withhold pardon.

Now, it should not be necessary to remind my Jewish congregation of the importance of names in Biblical and, indeed, in all Hebrew usage. This significance of nomenclature is, perhaps, well illustrated by the observation of the famous Rabbi Sforno when, commenting on Bereshith (Genesis), chapter thirty-two relative to this very same Presence with Whom our father Jacob wrestled at Jabbok, he remarks – “In asking his name, Jacob wanted to know his essence and character.”

Jacob soon found out! He dubbed the place of the encounter “Peniel” and declared, “I have seen God face to face . . . ” In this Jacob was not mistaken.

We see, therefore, that in Biblical Hebrew thought one’s very essence, one’s character, is equated with one’s name.

It is now fitting to revert back to our first experimental Scripture and note Hagar’s reaction to her dialogue with this same Presence:

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. . .        Let me give you a literal translation: “And she called the Name of the Tetragrammaton, the Speaker unto her, ‘Thou God seest me . . . ’” Believe me, Hagar was not mistaken either.

Now, my friends, for the promised surprise.

The Being correctly identified by you as Deity, and “constantly emerging” throughout Biblical Revelation as a very “stubborn Fact” that will not fit into the “classical picture” of rabbinic unitarianism, is also called , a title which I translate for you as “THE VICEGERENT OF THE NAME,” because I wish to avoid using the misleading word “angel” commonly used in English.

Now don’t panic, neither be mistaken! Let us continue clinging ruggedly to our precious Jewish heritage of the Divine Revelation of the UNITY of the Godhead. But, donning the admirable disposition of Einstein, let us also cling courageously to the “stubborn Fact” we have now grasped.

If we do this we shall be led by the Spirit of God into the light, life, and liberty of the promised and prophesied Messianic redemption.

Join me again, won’t you, as we continue our explorations in succeeding messages and let me conclude this one with the blessing our father Israel:

                   15        . . . (Genesis 48:15, 16) . . .        16 “The Godhead before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked themselves, the Godhead shepherding me all my life long unto this day, the vicegerent redeeming me from all evil...”

(Genesis 48:15, 16) ... bless you!

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WOUNDED WORDS MY FRIENDS,

I have entitled this message “Wounded Words” and although you may require a little

effort to follow me, believe me, you will find the exercise well worth your while.

May I tell you of one of my very early ventures into the culinary art? One day, when quite a youngster, I felt I would like to surprise my mother by cooking the beets for her. So, seizing these delectable vegetables, I carefully peeled each beet-root just as I had seen potatoes being peeled.

Then, with equal care I sliced them thinly into a pot of water and boiled them for quite an extended period.

As you can imagine, I achieved my objective in surprising my mother. I also surprised everyone else! Few dreamed that water could be so rosy red and beets so ashen white! I had drained those unfortunate beet-roots of every vestige of their original and intended colour!

So it is, I find, with some words. Erroneous handling has drained from them so much of their original and intended flavour that they are neither palatable, nor capable of being healthfully digested. My friends, such a word is the English word “angel.”

In my last message, and to which I must here refer you, I conducted you into the August Presence of a Figure known in our Hebrew Bible as . With only four specimen Scriptures from the Torah you speedily and correctly ascribed Deity to this unique Entity.

He not only bears the Ineffable Four-lettered Name, the sacred Tetragrammaton, in His title, but also in His essential Being (Exodus 23:20). That Divine titles are ascribed to Him is frankly acknowledged by some of our most prominent rabbis, including Rashbam (Rabbi Shemuel ben Meir, 1085-1174, grandson of Rashi) and Abraham Ibn Ezra. He is .

But – you protest – that’s Hebrew; please say it in English! Ah! My friends! That’s just my dilemma! The English language hands me back my beets! That wounded, bleached and blooddrained word “angel”!

Heine observes that, “If the word lives, dwarfs may carry it; if it is dead, no giant can uphold it.”

(Germany from Luther to Kant) My friends, I’m no giant! Therefore, ere we proceed, it is absolutely essential that we be rescued from the peril of popular perversions induced into the English-speaking mind by that word “angel.” For the moment, then, let us adhere to the Hebrew word  (malach) and let us examine it.

The root of the word is

 (la’och) and it means “to execute,” “to perform,” “to make,” “to

accomplish,” “to be active,” “to work,” “to do” (in general). Hence, both in Hebrew and in Chaldee

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the basic meaning of the masculine noun “malach” is “an executive,” “a doer,” one who works or does something in general.

Unless my Hebrew concordances have deceived me, the word “malach,” in its various forms, appears 214 times in Hebrew (including the Ktiv at II Samuel 11:1) and two times in Chaldee. This is a total of 216 occurrences, every one of which I have personally examined and classified. It is my privilege, therefore, to lay at your feet now the fruit of this extensive labour.

Our examination demonstrates that the root-meaning I have already given you inheres consistently in the word “malach,” which is variously translated into English by such words as “ambassador,” “king,” “archangel,” “angel,” “messenger.” Ordinary human beings are described by the word “malach,” but where this occurs the English translation is usually “messenger.” Celestial beings are also described by the word “malach,” but where this occurs the English translation is usually “angel.” (cf. E.g. Genesis 32:2, 4, 7; English tr. Genesis 32:1, 2, 6) Basically, then, a “malach” is a human being or a superhuman being who does something or works something. Very frequently that human being or superhuman being does or works something for someone else. Sometimes for God; sometimes for man.

Now, kicking the legs of our minds free from popular confusions, and dismissing all the vagaries of the angelology embedded in Talmudic and Midrashic literature, and also avoiding the pitfalls of the evolutionary concepts associated with the specious “historico-critical” systems, we are mentally liberated to allow scripture itself to impress its full beneficial revelation upon our receptive collective consciousness.

Distinct from the many “malachs,” human and superhuman, which we find in Scripture, there is one all-compelling, particularly eminent Malach, and it seems to me that the English language is bankrupt of any terms capable of conveying to us any really satisfactory concept of Him. Certainly none already supplied satisfies me.

Strangely enough, it is the Midrash Bemidbar Rebba (10.5 ed. Wilna, 1887) which carries a closer implication when it suggests this particular Malach as “The Shadow of God.” Perhaps the little-used English title “Vicegerent” might be helpful. A vicegerent is one having or exercising delegated power. This Malach of The Name possesses and exercises the full power of the Godhead. Indeed He frequently speaks and acts more as the Gerent than the Vicegerent!

Anyway, the wounded word “angel” is far too unfitting for Him. Out of the 216 Biblical occurrences of the words “malach,” I feel I must appropriate 99 of them as pertaining to Him. These express themselves in 16 different forms of the word and range through eighteen books of the English Bible.

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Of the sixteen different forms, ten point to what He is, and six to what He does. In this latter category He appears in the varying roles of Speaker, Destroyer, Smiter, Mediator, and Redeemer.

Whilst it is true, therefore, that by derivation the Biblical word “malach” possesses the simple meaning “messenger”, yet the Jewish Encyclopaedia (Vol. 1, page 583) correctly affirms that the word acquires a deeper meaning – and here I quote – “through the addition of God’s Name.”

Suffer another quotation from the same source: “In the earlier Biblical writings the term ‘Malak YHVH’ (Messenger of the Lord) occurs chiefly in the singular, and signifies a special self-manifestation of God.” (Ibid. Vol. 1, page 589) Here, then, is a Biblical Being, Scripturally known – among other titles – as THE Malach of THE Name, and Whose appearing signifies a special self-manifestation of Deity. How could I introduce you to such a Being with such wounded words as “angel,” or “messenger”?

Let it not be imagined that our rabbis have overlooked or ignored this Divine Being. On the contrary, many of our rabbis and teachers have honestly recognized Him, and they have struggled to fit Him, into the Jewish theology of their times.

Unfortunately, they were hopelessly handicapped by the rabbinic Unitarianism into which Israel, under pressure of polemics and persecutions, had unwisely retreated in the early centuries of the Common Era. This theological retreat into unitarianism inevitably resulted in an erroneous view of the Godhead which could not be reasonably expected to do full justice to the Biblical Revelation.

Nevertheless, in spite of this sore handicap, some of our rabbis have expressed themselves very boldly indeed. Let me give you an instance.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth verses of the forty-eighth chapter of Genesis, our father Israel bestows his blessing on the sons of Joseph in remarkable words which I will translate for you as follows: “The Godhead before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked themselves; the Godhead shepherding me all my life long unto this day, the Malach (Angel) redeeming me from all evil, bless the lads.”

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Rabbi Meir Ben Gabai (b.1480) writing on this Scripture says: “The truth that this Angel is not one of those (created) intelligences is corroborated through the words ‘Bless the lads.’ Be it far from our holy patriarch that he should have sought a blessing for his children from a created angel, because no blessing may be sought except from Him Who has the power and authority to bless. Whosoever seeks a blessing from any other has no God.” (Book III, page 95, Lemberg edition) Further on Ben Gabai says that it was this same Malach Who gave the Ten Words. (Compare Acts 7:38 in the New Testament.)

We shall meet with this Divine Malach again in future messages, and if a cultivated unitarianism obstructs the Biblical view of Him, at least genuine Jewish monotheism, as expressed in Messianic Judaism, ascribes to Him that recognition and homage which our Hebrew Scriptures undoubtedly demand.

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FROM GILGAL TO BOCHIM MY DEAR FRIENDS,

it is not my personal choice that I should open this message with “words that

weep and tears that speak” (Abraham Cowley – The Prophet); yet, since our Tenach explorations have brought us to the second chapter of the Book of Judges, I really have no alternative because in this section tears leak down the faces of our people Israel, and tears lurk in the very name Bochim, bestowed upon the place where the weeping happened. Let us discover the poetry and the pathos behind these human tears.

You will remember that during my last two preceding messages we conducted a most revealing experiment in identification, the fruit of which certainly put us on our mettle. Let us now continue the experiment and, at the same time, tap the wellspring of the tears.

Please identify the following speaker: “I lifted you up out of Egypt and I have brought you into the land which I promised your fathers by oath; and I said I will not break my covenant with you through eternity; and you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall pull to pieces their altars. But you have not listened unto My voice; what is this you have done? Wherefore I also said: I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be unto you as snares and their elohim (gods) shall be a trap unto you.”

It was when the speaker had completed this reproachful announcement to “all the children of Israel,” that they lifted up their voice and wept. The weepers we now know; but who was the Speaker?

I could assist you in the identification by mentioning that our Jewish translation into English uses the capital letter “M” in the pronouns “Me” and “My.” However, no Jewish person, reasonably acquainted with our Hebrew Scriptures, could possibly fail to make an accurate identification. The Speaker is undoubtedly Deity, but bears in this particular Scripture the title .

Before you make request for the English translation of this title, I must again impress upon you the importance of a careful consideration of my last two messages. Without them you are deprived of a valuable background against which to view this Divine Presence so linked to Israel’s heritage and destiny, and Whose words already quoted caused the tears to flow.

That first Hebrew expression is



and we found no English word currently capable of

conveying to us a meaning adequate to the status of the Speaker identified as Deity. You will remember we were forced to set aside such wounded words as “angel” and “messenger” as being, in these days, both unworthy and decidedly misleading. We suggested, instead, the unhackneyed but

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little-known word “Vicegerent,” or perhaps, better still, “Gerent” – one who possesses and exercises full power.

Thus the Speaker I quoted and you, I am sure, correctly identified as Deity is One possessing and exercising the full power of the Godhead.

 is in juxtaposition (i.e. construct form) is the Sacred and Supreme Four-Lettered Name, . Because of its four characters or letters it is called the The second Hebrew word with which

Tetragrammaton. It is the revealed Memorial Name of the Godhead, and is incorrectly pronounced in English as “Jehovah.”

The Tetragrammaton is said to occur 6,823 times throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. It always has reference to the Godhead and never has the article “the” before it.

By contrast, the title



is masculine plural in form and properly, inherently, basically,

pertains to the Godhead as the sole origin of all power. Elohim is said to occur 2,570 times throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. It does not always have reference to the Godhead and it frequently has the article “the” before it. I repeat, Elohim is a plural word which, if the English language provided adequate verbal safeguard against polytheism, could be translated “Gods.”

Let it be grasped with gratitude that the nature and character of Deity is gradually acquired only through the study of our Jewish Scriptures, and not from the varied human manifestations and articulations originating from the inherent religious tendency common to mankind.

If we are wise we shall look neither to the fertile fancies of philosophy, nor to the tendentious tractates of the Talmud. The Scriptures alone convey the unadulterated and liberating truth.

Revelation – not evolution – is the answer.

Our Hebrew Scriptures, therefore, reveal that  (YeHoVaH) is our  (Elohim) and, by this revelation, rebut Unitarianism and affirm monotheism.

Monotheism correctly declares that there is only one Deity and that that Deity is unity.

Unitarianism incorrectly declares that Deity is one only and that that Deity is singularity.

Monotheism uses the word “one”  as applied to Deity in the very same sense that our great teacher Moses employs it in our Shema. (Deuteronomy 6:4)

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Unitarianism uses the word “one” as applied to Deity in the perverted sense



that Moses

Maimonides uses it in the Thirteen Articles (Authorized Daily Prayer Book, ed. Singer, 1912, p.

89).

It is essential that we follow the right Moses in a matter so vitally important as the one before us.

Monotheism reveals and endears the Divine Godhead and is consonant with Scripture.

Unitarianism, on the other hand, conceals and estranges the Divine Godhead and is contrary to Scripture.

To the monotheist Scripture like the Deity is a unity and its redemptive message gloriously intelligible.

To the unitarian, however, the same Scriptures are largely enigmatic, particularly such passages of Divine Revelation as we are here now considering relating to THE Malach of the Godhead.

As you will presently discern, this has not been a digression from the theme of tears; on the contrary, it has been a necessary contribution towards the better understanding of the many Theophanies recorded throughout the Scripture. Whenever the Deity condescends to emerge into visibility before man we call such manifestation a “Theophany.”

The second chapter of Judges opens with the account of just such a Theophany and records the reproach uttered by The Malach Whom you correctly identified as Deity. His words already quoted caused the people to weep.

There is a poignant depth of meaning packed into the sentence with which the second chapter of Judges commences:

      1 “And The Malach of YeHoVaH came up from Gilgal to Bochim.” (Shophetim – Judges – 2:1) It was in the days when Israel was camped at Gilgal that this August Presence had previously appeared. This Vicegerent of the Godhead announced Himself to Joshua as  , Prince of YeHoVaH’s army, and commanded Joshua to remove the shoe from his foot because the place was holy. (Joshua 5:14-15. See Journeying With Joshua, Book One, p.50). These words parallel the command given by the same Being when He appeared to our teacher Moses from the midst of the fiery thornbush (Exodus 3:5). Fire is the well-known symbol of Deity. (See Excursions into Exodus, p.33)

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Our rabbis have singled out this distinctive Being by several distinguishing titles, some of which will grip your attention dramatically. He is dubbed , Prince of the Universe. It will be acknowledge that this is indeed a very distinguished title to bear.

Another appellation accorded Him by our rabbis, derived from the Scriptures themselves and packed with meaning, is the term , literally Prince of the Faces, that is, Prince of the Faces of the Godhead, Prince pertaining to the Presence of Deity.

Perhaps the most startling title our rabbis have bestowed upon this YeHoVaH”!



is “the lesser

Scripture – as distinct from human tradition – fully justifies the inclusion of the Sacred Tetragrammaton in relation to His Name and His Nature; but the adjective “lesser” is – to put it mildly – very much out of place.

This, then, is the Manifestation of Deity Who “came up from Gilgal to Bochim.”

Gilgal was so named because a reproach had been rolled away from off Israel (Joshua 5:9). The word has the connotation of a circle or wheel, hence the idea of “rolling”.

Bochim means “weepers.” This new generation of Israel now confronted by the Malach had a reproach rolled back upon them because of which “the people lifted up their voice and wept.”

(Judges 2:4) That the “weepers” also recognized the Malach, the “Angel,” as Deity is evidenced by the fact that they followed their tears with a sacrifice and the Law decreed that wherever YeHoVaH manifested His Presence, there a sacrifice might be offered. (Deuteronomy 12:5, 6; Judges 6:20, 26, 28; 13:16; II Samuel 24:16, 17, 25) There is a Yiddish proverb that says, “Tears are no payment on debts.”

We shall find this to be abundantly true as we penetrate further into the palpitating pages of Shophetim – so, keep listening.

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SPIRITUAL GEOMETRY MY FRIENDS,

that noted satirist and man of letters, Jonathan Swift, (1667-1745) propounds the

following conundrum: “I’m up and down and round about, Yet all the world can’t find me out; Through hundreds have employed their leisure, They never yet could find my measure.” (On a Circle) The answer embedded in this metrical mystery is, of course, a circle.

We all know that if we have a perfectly circular disk and desire to rotate it faultlessly, we must locate is pivot in the exact centre of the circle.

Please be assured that it is not my intention to give you a lesson in physical geometry, even if I were competent to do so. Nevertheless, it is my ambition to employ the idea of the physical as a rotator by means of which I hope to spiral your minds to a higher and even more valuable geometry – that which I shall dub “spiritual geometry.”

That portion of our Hebrew Bible known as  (Shophetim) and in English as Judges, possesses quite an arresting under-layer of spiritual geometry. I use that term “under-layer” advisedly. An under-layer implies the presence of something not apparent on the surface; something for which one has to dig if one desires the possession and enjoyment of it.

Believe me, our Scriptures abound in treasure embedded in the Sacred Writings by the Spirit of God; but it yields its wealth and nourishment only to the God-hungry soul.

It is an inner voice of Divine Revelation breathing out from the Scripture its confidential, confirmatory, and comforting whisper to those whose ears are sincerely eager to hear the redeeming Word of God. Believe me, neither the intellectually arrogant nor the carelessly indifferent will ever hear, know, or possess it.

Now, the particular revelation of Shophetim presents two severely contrasting aspects: man-wards – that is, towards man – it is most disturbing and admittedly unhappy; God-wards – it is most reassuring and hopeful.

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In order that its Divine message may rotate faultlessly in our understanding, and that its full measure may be found in spite of Jonathan Swift, let us make a somewhat unusual experiment in order to locate and capture the physical pivot of the Book of Judges.

The Hebrew text of Shophetim contains 618 verses; therefore, the physical pivot, the dead centre of the entire Book, is the 309th verse which happens to be verse seven of chapter ten. This verse will be found to supply not only the physical pivot but also the spiritual pivot. Let me read it to you: . . .          7 “And the anger of YeHoVaH was kindled against Israel, and He sold them . . . ” The Hebrew word translated “anger” is an interesting one. It comes from a root meaning to breathe heavily through the nose – even to snort in indignation. It is also interesting to observe that this Hebrew word appears exactly seven times in the Book of Judges: four times in association with the Godhead (2:14, 20; 3:8; 10:7); twice as an emotion experienced by Zevul and Samson respectively (9:30; 14:19); and once in words of entreaty upon the lips of Gideon (6:39). As my congregation already know, the number seven carries its own spiritual significance. (See “The Significance of Seven.” in the book entitled, THE PAGEANTS THAT PROPHESY, Page 38).

We again find this significant number seven submerged beneath the surface in what we may call the Melancholy Motif of the Book and which appears in a five-fold formulary fully stated as follows: “And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of YeHoVaH. Therefore the anger of YeHoVah was kindled against Israel. And He sold them – or gave them – into the hand of . . . their enemies. And the children of Israel cried – in their distress – unto YeHoVaH. And YeHoVaH raised up a saviour . . . who saved them.” (3:7-9) This formulary, or its equivalent in phrase or function, occurs seven times in this dramatic history (Judges 3:7-11; 3:12-30; 3:31-5:31; 6:1-8:32; 8:33-10:5; 10:6-12:15; 13:1-16:30).

What was the evil that ignited the indignation of the Godhead? What was the specific and repetitious sin that sold Israel into sorrow and servitude? That hydra sin was apostasy in its worst form. It was a two-fold turning. Not only did Israel turn from – almost defy – the God Who had been his Deliverer, his Protector, and his Benefactor, and Who had given him his national homeland, but Israel actually turned to and embraced the worship of the many pagan no-gods with which he was surrounded. (cf. Jeremiah 2:13) This is an arresting phenomenon; it is also an appalling one. The sober-minded of Israel today –

 – will be unable to resist the impulse to inquire into it.

Let me, then,

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supply the clue provided in the second chapter of the particular book of Tenach we are currently exploring: “And Yehoshua ben-Nun (Joshua), the servant of the Eternal died . . . and also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, that knew not the Eternal, nor yet the work which He had wrought for Israel.” (vv 8-10) There, my friends, you have it in a nutshell. Lack of light plus lack of leadership. Here was an unenlightened generation deprived of the boon of sustained leadership such as had been enjoyed under Moses and Joshua.

It is well and wise to note that the events recorded in Shophetim (Judges) fall within the THEOCRATIC regime of Israel’s history. The Eternal Godhead of the Universe – blessed be He! – had taken upon Himself the regal function of King of Israel!

Well may we pause today to consider such Divine condescension, for methinks the day of the active resumption of the Theocracy may not be very far distant!

Call to mind the enviable and promising position enjoyed by Israel at the time we are considering.

Divinely chosen, call, and commissioned, Israel had already received abundant demonstration both of the power and the fidelity of his great King. Moreover there was no lack of assurance of the abiding purpose and Presence of the Divine Monarch.

Such, then, are the promise-packed circumstances preluding the pages of Shophetim. Frankly, what shall we expect to find within its inspired record?

Surely, with such Divine assurance and overshading, a history rosy with record of national progress, prosperity, priority, and ultimate peace long enjoyed by an adoring, trusting, and obedient people!

But is this the case?

Instead of firmly and gradually expelling the corrupt nations of Canaan according to the Divine instruction, Israel tendered his Divine King only a compromised and partial obedience which ultimately led to complicity in the darkest idolatries.

Of course, it is readily admitted that any other nation would have behaved just as badly – perhaps worse. I have only to point to Christendom as a sorry example in this regard. But that doesn’t lessen the tragedy of human failure, does it? It only magnifies it. Humanity at large is surely tarred with the same brush!

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Who of us, whether Jew or Gentile, whether nationally or individually, has not been painfully aware of the presence and pressure of those twisted twins – Distrust and Disobedience!

Israel, at that time, merely followed the persistent pattern of all peoples dismally discernible even in this our own time. And the outcome? Instead of “peace like a river” flowing in tranquil continuity throughout the years from the death of Yehoshua (Joshua) to the accession of Saul, we find a series of sad cycles enclosing periods pressed with foreign oppression and domestic disquiet.

These are cycles that Divinely certify the sure sorrows of apostasy. Tragic indeed are the pages of Shophetim; lurid indeed are its deathless lessons!

The nation’s sheer perversity wilted and considerably nullified that Divine beneficence implicit in government on Theocratic principles. As a consequence the people reduced themselves to a state of spiritual impoverishment which had its tragic manifestations in tribal segregations and national disunity couped with much general deterioration and declension of the gravest character.

Displayed against the background of such a priceless patrimony Divinely bestowed, the poor performance of Israel drives us to explore the very limits of our vocabulary in an effort to discover words adequate to describe it.

What bitter and deleterious fruit grows upon the tree of apostasy! Planted in the rank soil of rejection of Divine Revelation, it grows up into the unbending trunk of disobedience to the Divine Will and ultimately yields the poisonous produce that sickens all who partake of it.

Israel ate much of this fruit and grossly displayed the sorry symptoms of the diet. Why, then, contemplate it? Why pause over the pages of such a chronic chronicle?

Because the Divine Light blazing forth from the scroll of Shophetim is a Divine Red Light! A Divine Danger Signal currently sending forth its warning red rays to Israel today and to you and to me as individuals.

Truly, The Universal Jewish Encyclopaedia sums up a specific objective of the Book of Judges when it observes that it “is designed to show to a later generation how its remote ancestors continually defected from the will of God and were continually chastised through the agency of foreign aggressors.”

Our erring ancestors may indeed be remote, but the malady from which they suffered is a peril only too present.

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The seven cycles of Shophetim are cycles that certify an inevitable course – APOSTASY, ANGER, ANGUISH, APPEAL, ANSWER. How fortunate that it is a CYCLE! A cycle finding its completion in Divine answer to repentant prayer, rather than an ARC ending in sustained human anguish. How good and gracious is the Divine dealing with Israel and with all mankind – “Not willing that any should perish.”

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CYCLES THAT SATISFY MY FRIENDS,

among the twenty or so available definitions of a circle is one which declares that a

circle is “a series ending where it began.” Being a series it is prone to repeat itself. Such a circle becomes a cycle, a round of operations or events, a series that returns upon itself.

In that branch of mathematics known as geometry, we are very familiar with the figure of a circle.

Emerson in his essay “Circles” says: “The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end. It is the highest emblem in the cipher of the world.”

We might add to Emersons’ observations the phenomenon of a circle or cycle in animated gyration whenever we observe the antics of the eager puppy dog bent upon the capture and exploration of its own tail.

But there is another cycle, not at all amusing, to be detected in the history of Israel as Divinely recorded in the Bible, and found in that book known in Hebrew as Shophetim, and in English as Judges, together with the relevant section of First Samuel.

This sad cycle returns upon itself seven times in a sort of spiritual geometry leaving behind a pattern startling in the extreme; for it reflects, among other features, the spiritual frailty of man and the superlative faithfulness of God. Our previous studies have already impressed us with the fact of the futility and fruitlessness of a life lived outside the will of God. I believe the cycles of Shophetim will certify this feature also in a most vivid manner.

Now let us take another brief side-glance at the character of the era, the age, the period covered by Judges – Shophetim. You will find it well, wise, and illuminating to do so; and we are not left guessing, for the Book itself significantly declares no less than four times that “in those days there was no king in Israel.” (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) No king in Israel? True, no human king. But Israel was not kingless! The Eternal God, He had taken upon Himself the might and majesty of monarchy, and God was King in Israel! Hence the tragic events record in Shophetim fall within the THEOCRATIC regime of Israel’s history.

To save you the trouble of possible inquiry, I may mention that the word “Theocracy,” as relating to Israel, was first employed by our own Jewish historian Josephus, and it really means absolute government of the nation in all matters, whether civil or religious, by God and by God alone.

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Having thus discovered the character of the time, let us now discern the character of the times.

Again we get our clue from the Book itself. Twice we hear the declaration: “... every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (17:6; 21:25) What a weight of woe was hauled into history in just those four English words – “in his own eyes”!

If only the Divine affirmation could have been “and every man did that which was right,” doubtless the annals of the entire world would have been inscribed in sequences less sorrowful.

However, since every man was a law unto himself there existed an intense condition of lawlessness.

“Woe to the generation that judges its judges!” the Talmud rather aptly observes (Yohanan b.

Nappaha, Baba Bathra, 15b), taking its cue, of course, from the Book of Ruth (1:1).

The Song of Deborah in the fifth chapter of Judges (5:7, 11) is clear evidence that Israel entered the Promised Land as a whole entity, acting unitedly, and serving the Eternal God as one nation; but Shophetim brings its tragic testimony that this happy condition did not persist. Tribal divisions appear and recur, and a general state of disorder and disruption, anarchy and apostasy, violence and vendetta stain the times with dark and lurid pigments.

But – and here’s the point we must not miss – it is this very condition of religious corruption (vide chapters 17-18), moral deterioration (e.g. chapters 19-21), and national disunity, that lays bare before us the disposition of man and the dispensation of God, and renders invaluable and timeless the Divine revelation and illumination that shines all the more brilliantly from the annals of Shophetim because of the sombre background from which they are beamed.

Those times are past but their lessons linger, and there emerges from the intricate pages of Judges, for our present advantage and instruction, a two-fold discovery. First, the fixing of special goals specifically recounted; and, secondly, the formulary of a spiritual geometry seven times repeated.

Glance at the goals. There is a trio of them. Moreover, they will be revealed as objectives sought in three differing spheres – the moral, the spiritual, and the political.

In the moral realm, Israel had disobeyed God by failing to drive out fully the corrupt nations of Canaan. The Godhead now takes these very nations and weaves them into a lash with which to chastise Israel and teach him obedience.

The continued presence of Canaanitish people in the Promised Land meant also that the deadly menace of idolatry, with all its hideous implications and practices, remained like a cancer to threaten the spiritual health of Israel. God used this very circumstance to prove and test the fidelity of His people and their attachment to the great revelation of Himself that He had vouchsafed them.

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These, then, were the moral and spiritual goals, God-initiated, and expressly declared in the second chapter of Judges (2:20-23).

The author of Judges himself discloses the political objective in his third chapter (3:1-4). Sin spawns strife; therefore, as a consequence of Israel’s sin, he would be compelled to learn the art of war that he might maintain his place among the nations and thus keep burning the eternal light of Revealed Monotheism as an advancing conqueror of the surrounding darkness of heathenism with its twin theological perils of polytheism and unitarianism.

There is current consolation in these disclosures. Somehow, it seems good to know, doesn’t it, that adverse experiences which may befall us, and sorry circumstances which may envelop us, are deprived of sheer pointlessness and utter wastage when taken up into the hands of the sovereign Lord of the Universe and employed by Him for purposes ultimately beneficent, and thus Divinely redirected towards constructive, and not destructive, goals.

Let us cling to this comfort as we now survey the seven cycles of sorrow that certify its validity.

In six of these sad cycles it is the hand of Deity that touches off each rotation through the instrumentality of foreign oppressors. Each of the six cycles is stamped with the same impressive sequence which I have summarized in the five words: APOSTASY, ANGER, ANQUISH, APPEAL, ANSWER. Israel’s six specifically recorded lapses into APOSTASY are all introduced by the fateful formula, “And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Eternal.” This formula was varied only by the use of the adverb “again” in four out of the six rueful refrains (3:7; 3:12 “again”; 4:1 “again”; 6:1; 10:6 “again”; 13:1 “again”). Actually the accusation occurs eight times in the Book. At chapter 2:11 it appears the general gravamen of Divine complaint, and at chapter 3:12 we have it twice in the one verse.

The consequent ANGER of the Eternal results in six advents of ANGUISH for Israel. Let me tabulate the device and the duration of each Divine chastisement: 1) Eight years servitude to Cushan-rishathaim, king of Arammaharaim (3:7-11); 2) Eighteen years servitude to Eglon, king of Moab (3:12-30); 3) Twenty years oppression to Yavin, the Canaanite king (4:1-5:31); 4) Seven years depredation by the Midianites (6:1-8:32); 5) Eighteen years oppression by Ammonites and Philistines (10:6-12:15); 6) Forty years oppression by Philistines (13:1-16:31).

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Thus Israel’s apostasy cost him 111 years of anguish. But there is yet another very sad cycle to be included, a cycle different in character from the six I have just enumerated in that it sprang from within and there is no record that it was initiated by the Almighty.

Chronologically it fell between the fourth and fifth cycle of foreign oppression and its duration was only three years, but it was packed with grief and bloodshed (8:33-10:5). The chief actor was an upstart named Abimelech, the son of a concubine of Gideon. This usurper arrogated to himself the title of king and established his rule by violence. He himself came to a violent end and it is recorded, “Thus God requited the wickedness of Abimelech” (9:56).

Each round of wretchedness returned erring Israel to the Eternal and wrung from the lips of the afflicted people an APPEAL for deliverance. The formula becomes dismally familiar – “ . . . the children of Israel cried unto the Eternal . . . ” We read these words in relation to each of the foreign oppressions except the last of the series (3:9; 3:15; 4:3: 6:6, 7; 10:10).

This apparent lack in the last of the customary prescription may yield a touching overtone to the entire series. Let me call your attention to it. Following the “breaking” and “crushing” of Israel during the fifth foreign repression (10:8), Israel had uttered his customary cry (10:10); however, we read of a merited reproach uttered by the Eternal in these terms: “ . . . you cried unto Me, and I saved you . . . yet you have forsaken Me . . . Go and cry unto the Gods (elohim) which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.” (10:12-14) Nevertheless, the covenant-keeping Godhead did grant yet another ANSWER to His people and did deliver Israel, not only from the Ammonites, but also from the sixth subservience – that of the Philistines – but the action is recorded in another book of the Bible, that known as First Samuel. Of Samson, the thorn in the side of the Philistines in the Book of Judges, it is significantly said – I wonder have you noticed this! – that he only “began” to deliver Israel.

These seven sorrowful cycles are nevertheless cycles that satisfy because they guarantee to all Israel that neither the failure not the frailty of the people will set aside the Divine pledges of future blessing and security for the Chosen People. Perhaps the very present generation has already seen the first beams of that blessed sunrising.

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CYCLES THAT CERTIFY MY DEAR FRIENDS,

I have entitled this message CYCLES THAT CERTIFY. Chronology, that science of

arranging time in periods and ascertaining the dates and historical order of past events, may at first sight appear to have a desert atmosphere of dust and dryness. Nevertheless, I know of one individual who has written a substantial volume bearing – and I think justifiably – the title The Romance of Bible Chronology (Martin Anstey).

Please be assured that the maturing chronology of my own person does not preclude me from having warm understanding of the roseate emotions conjured in the bosom of ardent youth by that word “romance.” Romance is a magic switch that lights the eyes with starry brightness. Does it not seem paradoxical, then, to use the word “romance” in association with chronology?

By no means! Particularly if we gently lift the word from love-enkindled lips and liberate it to the wider horizons of connotation which are its own.

Heroic and marvellous achievements; colourful events and scenes; chivalrous devotion; unusual, even supernatural, experiences; matters to fire the imagination; all these are the inherent possessions of that word “romance.” And neither the Biblical Book of Judges which we are currently exploring together, nor the chronology associated with it, will be found lacking in any of these alluring elements I have enumerated.

Since the avowed design of the author Shophetim (Judges) was not to give a complete and sequential history of the period between Yehoshua (Joshua) and the human kings of Israel, it is difficult to achieve chronological exactitude from the dates supplied by the book itself. The narrative includes the span of time from the death of Yehoshua (Joshua) to the birth of Samuel.

Considerable time, scholarship, and ingenuity have been expended upon the problem of the chronology of the period during which Israel was under the human leadership of “saviour-judges.”

Both the existence and magnitude of the chronological problem will be better appreciated when it is realized that quite fifty different systems of chronology have been advanced for this period of Israel’s history covered by the books of Judges, Ruth, and the first seven chapters of First Samuel.

Of its chronology, about the only point of general agreement reached is that there is no general agreement!

But I have a surprise for you: a romance of Biblical chronology! I titled my last message “Cycles that Satisfy.” I shall title this one “Cycles that Certify.” In order that my reason for doing so may become apparent, and the promised romance surprisingly manifest, let us return to the so-called chronological problem.

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One of our splendid Jewish commentators, Dr. Judah Slotki, has observed that: “There is general agreement that the problem of harmonizing the chronological data presents insurmountable difficulty.”

The historian Henry Milman withdrew his two chronological schemes for this period because of his conviction that there was nothing trustworthy upon which to attempt reliable computation. He also appears to be satisfied, with Marsham, that some recorded events were not successive, but contemporaneous.

Yet Dr. Judah Slotki declares that: “The synchronistic theory may be dismissed on the grounds that the chronology of Judges is evidently intended by the author to be taken as continuous, and nowhere does he give the slightest indication of a contrary intention.”

But, my friends, is this apparent chronological obscurity itself a clue? Does it conceal a romance?

A matter to fire the imagination?

Someone has said, “If history without chronology is dark and confused, chronology without history is dry and insipid” (A. Holmes).

I am fully persuaded that in the Book of Judges we shall find such a perfect mating between history and chronology, and such a pointed purpose in that mating, that instead of darkness and confusion, dryness and insipidity, we may well be blinded by the light, amazed at the orderliness, arrested by the disclosure, and stimulated by the flavour!

Let us recognize, then, that the clear intent of all our God-breathed Scriptures is primarily spiritual.

If there is history, it is recorded for its spiritual value and content, rather than for is mere historicalness. If there is chronology, it is inscribed for its spiritual worth and enlightenment, as much as for its mere measurement.

Is the chronological obscurity in Shophetim itself a chronological revelation? I believe it to be so; I also believe we will find this provoking paradox capable of demonstration in a manner that will grip your attention. Will you be patient and come with me to explore this?

We have two specific chronological Biblical statements bearing upon the time-span of Israel’s judges. The first is in First Kings, chapter six, verse one. Now, let me read it to you:

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“And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Eternal.”

Now, here is a clear statement that between the Exodus from Egypt and the beginning of the construction of Solomon’s Temple, in the 4 th year of Solomon’s reign, was a period of exactly 480 years. No less than 300 years of this period must be allotted to the period of the judges (cf. Judges 11:26).

The second chronological statement is an important one taken from that equally Jewish body of Scripture known as  , commonly referred to in English as the New Testament or Covenant.

Messianic Judaism recognizes this essential deposit of Divine Revelation as being an integral part of Israel’s spiritual heritage; and no apology is made for the acknowledgement, since it has Tenach (Old Testament) authority for it. I refer to Jeremiah, chapter 31, for the mandate.

In describing the Eternal’s dealings with Israel, that brilliant pupil of the distinguished Rabbi Gamaliel, Rabbi Saul of Tarsus, the selected , Envoy, of the Godhead, declares: “Fellow Israelites, and all you who reverence the Eternal, listen! The Godhead of this people Israel selected our forefathers and made this people important, when they sojourned as strangers in the land of Egypt; and then with an uplifted arm He led them out of it. For about forty years He bare them as a nursing-father in the wilderness, then destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land by lot. And after these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet – all of which took about four hundred and fifty years.” (Acts of the Envoys 13:16-20) Now just a little more patience and the “romance” will appear!

In my judgment, Rabbi Saul’s statement just quoted does not provide material for chronological dogmatism. For instance, does his “until Samuel” include or exclude Samuel’s period of authority?

It certainly includes that of Samuel’s predecessor Eli whose rule lasted 40 years.

This is something of what our Jewish historian Josephus tells us of Samuel – “Now he governed and presided over the people alone, after the death of Eli the high priest, twelve years, and eighteen years together with Saul the King.” (Antiquities vi. xiii.5.)

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– although it is obviously unfair to demand an exact reconciliation between the two Biblical statements when Rabbi Saul’s, at least, declares its time reference to be not necessarily exact, but only “about.”

Nevertheless, in spite of this, the critical sceptics declare discrepancy and press for precision.

With gloomy satisfaction – it seems to me – in good keeping with their moribund credence, they proclaim that these twin Scripture statements not only apparently fall short of mutual coincidence, but also lack agreement with the sum of individual single chronological records ascribed to this period elsewhere in Scripture.

Do they then, justly or unjustly, press for precision?

My friends, I believe adequate precision can be provided, and with a mighty lesson to boot! We shall find the lesson quite startling and please allow me to add the suggestion that the boot has been rather well placed!

I have prepared a chart of the contents and cycles of Shophetim and it will be available in print when these current messages join my other messages already printed in book form.1 However, I can give you here a summarized classification of the chronological data of Judges; here it is: Total of Foreign Oppressions . . . . . . . .

111 years Usurpation of Abimelech . . . . . . . . . .

Total of Judgeship & Land Sabbaths . .

Grand Total

3 276

years years2

390

years

To this 390 years we add 40 years for the judgeship of Eli recorded in First Samuel 4:18, and 20 years for the judgeship of Samuel coinciding with the period during which the ark was at Kiriathjearim. Now we have a total of 450 years which compares quite concordantly with Rabbi Saul’s “about four hundred and fifty years.”

But hold on! Has too much been proved! Do we hear an eager affirmative from the sceptics?

Because, to the 450 years we must add, nolens volens, 40 for the wilderness, 40 for the reign of Saul, 40 for the reign of David, 4 to the “fourth year of Solomon,” and to this new total of 574 years another 6 for the Canaan conquest period and 14 from the close of the Wars to the First Servitude in Judges.

Now where are we? We have vindicated Rabbi Saul’s chronological statement, but have we unseated that of First Kings? The former yields 594 years, the latter only 480!

1 2

See chart opposite Chapter One. Judgeship of Samson concurrent with oppression by Philistines. See Judges 15:20

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A Biblical error? Nay, say rather a Biblical euphony, a romance of Biblical chronology!

What is the alleged discrepancy? Exactly 114 years. Now your patient incursion into the realms of chronology – perhaps otherwise not so interesting – is about to be rewarded.

Rabbi Dr. Slotki refers to “Oriental Chronology” in which “years of oppression . . . are usually not counted in.” My friends, 111 years of foreign oppression plus 3 years of internal usurpation are exactly 114 years!

No mere “Oriental Chronology” this. It is Divine Chronology. It is Divine Revelation provided by Divine Obscurity.

I call it  time! For time spent out of the will of God is not worth computing. Futility, failure, and fruitlessness is not worth of chronicle! And the Cycles of Shophetim are Cycles that Certify this fateful factor.

Not discrepancy of clock ticks, but declaration of Divine time computation! In the Divine chronological reckoning, the clock stops and makes no record of one single minute spent out of the will of God. What a striking and awe-inspiring lesson Biblical chronology has taught us.

Let me add that the wonderful phenomenon presented in this message “CYCLES THAT CERTIFY” can be demonstrated whether we assume, with some, that the 18 years Ammonite oppression was contemporaneous with that of the 40 years Philistine oppression, or whether we assume these periods to be successive, which is more probable.

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MEANINGFUL MARKERS MY DEAR FRIENDS,

I have entitled this “Meaningful Markers.” One day I watched casually the

mechanized progress of some incredibly efficient highway maintenance officers. The driver steered a motor vehicle on an amazingly straight course whilst his companion, operating from the rear of the conveyance, with equal accuracy and dexterity, adroitly aligned cone-shaped markers by dropping them along the roadway at regular intervals.

As the men faded into the distance, the particular thoroughfare over which they had operated was thus marked off by this sequence of carefully placed objects, markers purposively located with deliberate intent a definite intervals. They stood, like faithful sentinels, investing that particular strip of road with every obvious evidence of plan and purpose.

Suddenly, this whole sequence and consequence of materialized modern life, limited in latitude and prosaic in performance, burst into my impressionable mind with a transforming symbolical significance which elevated this mere roadway routine into spacious dimensions and endued it with a power of spiritual illustration at once arresting and absorbing.

I saw before me not a ribbon of road but a reach of time; not an impersonal highway but an informative history; not a sequence of inanimate indicators but a succession of illustrious individuals! My mind had entered, and was now moving over, that amazing and exciting ribbon of time which extends from the death of Moses’ successor Joshua to the accession of Israel’s first monarch Saul.

The road map consists of the seventh book of Tenach known popularly as Judges, and it extends through the seventh chapter of First Samuel. Along this portentous chronological highway the Almighty God of the Universe had dropped human beings, as markers, into the typological history of Israel, studding those crisis-pressed years with saviour-judges, individuals Divinely endowed and Heaven-empowered to meet those exigencies which protruded, in unhappy succession, into the life and circumstance of the people of Israel.

It is from the timely advent and exploits of these saviour-judges that the second book of the Earlier Prophets derives its name: in the Hebrew, SHOPHETIM, translated into the English by the word JUDGES. However, I must warn English-speaking people not to confine the Hebrew term “shophet” within the narrower implications of the English noun “judge.” The Hebrew has a wider connotation and embraces a vindicatory, as well as a judicatory, function.

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Hence, the Hebrew judges – Shophetim – of this period were national vindicators, not in regular lineal succession but raised up occasionally by God in gracious response to Israel’s national supplication in time of dire distress.

“There are some who have left a name behind them,” says Ben Sira (44.8 Apoc.), and who is there among us unacquainted with such names as Samson, Gideon, Deborah – Divine markers dropped from heaven upon history’s human highway!

Before I introduce you personally to each in turn of these pivotal personages and, consequently, to the specific segment of scene and circumstance marked off by their superimposed sway, let us take a total view of the punctuated highway extending from Joshua to Saul.

Our great teacher Moses had passed on to Israel a revealed body of religious law which adequately penetrated into civil life, but anything in the nature of a political constitution was blessedly missing.

The elder of each related group of families was the hereditary ruler of his particular tribal group and each tribe normally acted independently. There was manifold wisdom in this lack of centralized political authority. Israel was largely spared the inevitable self-seeking and corruption of politics and, in addition, the absence of complete national cohesion under a supreme human political “boss” impressed upon him the fact that the Eternal Godhead was not only King of Israel but indeed King in Israel.

Moreover, under the tribal regime Israel was granted a better opportunity to escape the dangerous heathen idolatry with which he was surrounded and into which a centralized authority, humanly appointed by political expediency, would have undoubtedly led the entire people – as, indeed, it did in later history. Even in the times we are here considering, it was this very disease of idolatry to which Israel repeatedly succumbed and which gave actual occasion for the rise of these very same “saviour-judges.” It should also be noted that these delivering individuals did not necessarily hold rule over all the twelve tribes at once – at least not until the period of Eli and Samuel.

Whenever God’s time arrived to break a foreign oppression by the hand of one of these ‘saviourjudges,’ the temporary union of tribes passed away as being no longer necessary. The major factor that endured was the personal fame and presence of the liberator which commanded respect and acted as a guarantee of peace. The people themselves – including the “saviour-judge” – returned to their homes and their varying tribal and personal affairs. It is interesting to note that these “saviourjudges,” as a class, are unique in the history of the world.

Here is the scripture statement relating to their incidence:

      16

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“And the Eternal raised up judges who saved them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.”

(Judges 2:16) The Scriptures call attention to sixteen individuals between the death of Joshua and the accession of Saul, but it is not recorded that all were shophetim (judges); indeed one, Abimelech, was a usurper duly punished for his usurpation (Judges 9:56).

Following the English pronunciation, here are the persons in their probable order: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, Eli and Samuel.

Of these individuals those actually named in the Scripture as shophetim, or of whom it is expressly stated that they “judged” Israel, are the following nine persons: Othniel, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, and Deborah. To complete the period the names of Eli (I Samuel 4:18) and Samuel (I Samuel 7:15) must be added from the book known as First Samuel.

Those not actually named as “shophetim” but rather as “saviours” are Ehud, Gideon, and Shamgar.

Othniel is designated as both “shophet” and “moshiah”, “saviour.” Jephthah is described

as  (head) and  (captain), in addition to it being said of him that he “judged” in Israel.

In the light of the words of Deborah, the prophetess, as recorded in Judges 4:6-9, it is noteworthy that Barak is not named either as a judge or as a saviour, although he bore a prominent role in the victory over the Canaanites; nor is it stated that he either judged or saved Israel. He forfeited that honour to Deborah.

Of fourteen specified individuals – since we must omit Barak and Abimelech in this category of designation – we find eight receive quite a full mention in Scripture. These are Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Eli and Samuel. However, only six of these appear in the Book of Judges. It is therefore interesting to note that it is also six persons who receive but scant mention in Judges: namely, Shambar, Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon and Abdon.

Now this two-fold six-list within the pages of Shophetim is, to me, quite a striking feature. I have previously called attention to the spiritual lessons embedded in the numbers of Scripture. Six is the human number associated with man and the doings, aspirations, and pretensions of man. Man, you will remember, was created on the sixth day.

In Judges this two-fold “sixness” – if I may coin the expression – is an appropriate spiritual impress upon a book in which it is twice recorded that “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (17:6; 21:25). In other words, each man was his own government!

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Yet, on the other hand, it is a two-fold “sixness.” Thus twelve, the number denoting Divine government, quietly emerges to indicate the overruling providence of the covenant-keeping Godhead, and this in spite of the inburst of the usurping Abimelech pushing the total, with intrusive hands, to thirteen, the number of rebellion and defection. After all, this number is equally appropriate for a book which records six defections (3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1) and six foreign oppressions in consequence. Thirteen, significantly, is the sixth prime or indivisible number.

A final point. It may be asked since Eli and Samuel were judges (I Samuel 4:18; 1 Samuel 7:15) why were they not included in the Book of Judges? I suggest as a good reason that each of these two individuals had his judgeship linked to another function – Eli’s to that of priest (I Samuel 1:9) and Samuel’s to that of prophet (II Chronicles 35:18; Acts 13:20) – thus indicating steps related to the decline in Israel’s history from the Theocracy to a mere human monarchy.