Our failures
III. Consequences
Worsening of situation with Canaanites (1:3–21, 21–30, 31–33, 34–36)
Indictment by God (2:1–3)
Move-to-relevance: Consequences for the church and the Christian
IV. Live godly! 118
How we lose divine blessings today with an ungodly lifestyle
Start to live godly: repentance (weeping: 2:4–5)119
A Problem–Solution–Application outline is given below120:
I. PROBLEM: Loss of Blessing
Worsening of situation with Canaanites (1:3–21, 21–30, 31–33, 34–36)
Indictment by God (2:1–3)
Move-to-relevance: Consequences for the church and the Christian
II. SOLUTION: Uncompromising Godliness121
Judah’s inclusion of Simeon (1:3)
Iron chariots and Benjamin (1:19–21); yet Caleb’s success (1:20)
Joseph’s abortive effort (1:22–26)
Failure of the rest of the tribes (1:27–36)
Move-to-relevance: Our failures
III. APPLICATION: Live godly!
How we lose divine blessings today with an ungodly lifestyle
Start to live godly: repentance (weeping: 2:4–5)
69. Prologue I comprises Pericope 1 (Jdg 1:1–2:5); and Prologue II, Pericope 2 (Jdg 2:6—3:11)—this also includes the Othniel narrative (3:7–11). Epilogue I comprises Pericope 12: Jdg 17:1—18:31; and Epilogue II, Pericope 13: Jdg 19:1–30 and Pericope 14: Jdg 20:1—21:25.
70. However, the sequence of waw-consecutive verb forms that commence Judges 2 moves undisturbed throughout 2:1–23. While this—as well as the similarities between the divine speech in 2:20–22 and the angelic utterance in 2:1–3 (“fathers,” “covenant,” “obey/listen,” and “drive them out” are shared)—may incline one to treat chapter 2 as an integral whole, the notion of a pericope that is espoused here is more pragmatic: separating 1:1—2:5 from 2:6—3:6 (and including the account of Othniel, 3:7–11 to comprise Pericope 2), enables the preacher to derive fairly distinct theological thrusts from each of the two pericopes, keeping the resulting sermons also distinct.
71. Polzin, Moses and the Deuteronomist, 148.
72. From O’Connell, The Rhetoric of the Book of Judges, 62.
73. “House of Joseph” (1:22, 23, 35) is a league that indicates the northern tribes.
74. Ibid., 60–61.
75. Block, Judges, Ruth, 83. This is certainly a stylized and schematized arrangement of reality that is rarely so neat. But, of course, such author’s doings serve a theological agenda.
76. Ibid., 83–84.
77. As the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, whose descendants formed the two largest northern tribes (Gen 41:50–52), “Joseph” was a convenient designation for all the northern tribes (see Josh 18:5; Ezek 37:15, 19; Zech 10:6).
78. See Deut 7:1–5, 16, 25–26 for Yahweh’s similar warning to the exodus generation.
79. Marais, Representation in Old Testament Narrative Texts, 75.
80. Perhaps it was because Simeon’s land allotment was within that designated for Judah (Josh 19:1–9)?
81. Klein, The Triumph of Irony, 23–24. “Hormah” is a play on ~r'x' (kharam, “utter destruction”). On “utter destruction,” see Deut 2:34; 3:6; 7:2; 20:17; Josh 2:10; 6:17–21. While the issue of such violence may need to be addressed some time in one’s pastoral ministry, my recommendation for the preacher is not to get bogged down by it in the pulpit. Employing another occasion to deal with it (Sunday School class? Adult Bible Fellowship?), or even writing a white paper on the topic, would be a better alternative. In a sermon, the preacher needs to maintain focus on the theological thrust of the text. As Younger notes, “[~r'x'] was not concerned with the eradication of . . . particular cultural preferences. But it was deeply concerned with the eradication of the Canaanite religion: its gods/idols, altars, rituals, divinatory practices, uses of magic, worldview, and so on” (Judges, Ruth, 77).
82. Not to mention the chariots of Pharaoh (Exod 14:23–28; 15:4; also see Josh 11:4–9) that were no match for Yahweh’s might. Drews suggests that it was the iron tires attached to wooden rims that are being referred to here. The weight of fully iron-clad chariots was likely too prohibitive for any kind of martial use; besides, the widespread use of iron occurs only later in history (“The ‘Chariots of Iron,’” 19–20).
83. Webb, Judges, 110.
84. Thus Caleb’s success (1:20) is enclosed on either side by failures: Judah’s (1:19) and the Benjaminites’ (1:21).
85. That Jerusalem shows up again in 1:21 makes it likely that the Judahites’ exertions described in 1:8 were against the Jebusite fortress on the southern hill of the city; the Benjaminites likely directed their attention to the citadel further north.
86. Issachar’s absence is inexplicable, though Chisholm notes that this may be to reduce the more complete number seven (= tribes involved in the inheritance lists in Joshua 18–19) to an incomplete six (= tribes involved in Judges 1: Judah, Joseph [= Ephraim + Manasseh], Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan) (Judges, Ruth, 135–36). Reuben and Gad lived outside the boundaries of the Promised Land, where the Amorites had already been taken care of (Numbers 21). Levi, of course, did not have a land inheritance.
87.
