his past misdeeds (Jdg 1:7), but those evidently were not misdeeds directed against the Israelites. In other words, the Israelites were doing exactly what their Canaanite enemy had done, but without provocation, except for the fact that he was an enemy ruler. This was not a tit-for-tat, at least not for any mutilation or gross violation Adoni-bezek had perpetrated against the Israelites. There is also the oddity of Adoni-bezek being allowed to live post-mutilation till he was taken to Jerusalem. If he was not to be killed immediately, why was he mutilated? In fact, the text does not even tell us that he was later executed by the Israelites, but simply that “he died there” (1:6, 7). In contrast, the original Jerusalemites were utterly destroyed by the Israelites (1:8). The treatment of Adoni-bezek sounds like the beginning of the “Canaanization” of Israel, further suggested by the subsequent degradation of its military endeavor, cohabitation with Canaanites, and involvement in idolatry found in rest of this pericope (see above). In the large scheme of the book, Adoni-bezek, the Canaanite who killed seventy kings, foreshadows Abimelech, the only other “king” in Judges, an Israelite, who also killed seventy (9:5).90 This Israelite “Adoni-bezek” turned out to be worse than his Canaanite counterpart, killing in cold blood his own brothers, with retribution also mentioned twice in his story (9:24, 56, as opposed to only once in 1:7): Adoni-bezek’s thumbs and toes for those of the seventy kings he had killed; and Abimelech killed by a stone for the seventy siblings he had killed on a stone. “[H]e [Abimelech] may have even out-Canaanised the Canaanites.”91 Israel was not just in Canaan now; Canaan was in Israel!
Another anecdotal “interpolation” occurs in 1:12–15. In Joshua, Kiriath-arba/Hebron was given to Caleb in Joshua’s day (Josh 15:13; and see 14:6–15); in Judges, it is Judah that gets Hebron, and this after Joshua’s day (Jdg 1:10–11).92 In Joshua, Caleb was the one who defeated the three Anakites, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai (Josh 15:14–15); in Jdg 1:10 it is Judah who does so.93 The very presence of the similarly named Anakites in these early days of Judges is itself reflective of the dogged persistence of these peoples and the failure of the Israelites to drive them out until now. While a victory is described here, there is a hint that these Canaanites as a whole are hard to dislodge from the Promised Land. Judah proceeds to attack Kiriath-sepher, and Caleb promises to give his daughter to the one who captures it (1:11–12). Othniel, Caleb’s nephew, performs the honors, captures a town, and wins a wife (1:13).
Achsah, Caleb’s daughter, however, is not satisfied with Kiriath-sepher—she calls it the “land of the Negev” because of its desert-like nature (1:15). Hence the request to her father by this enterprising lady for additional “springs of water,” which is granted.94 This episode might be a priming of the pump for another father-daughter story later in Judges 11—a pejorative account of the father who also made a vow before a battle and sacrificed his daughter (Pericope 9: Jdg 10:6—12:15). Here, however, the father finds his daughter a valiant husband (1:12–13), and rewards her initiative and resourcefulness with what she requested him for—a blessing (1:14–15).95 It also is a preparation for the presentation of Othniel as the first and paradigmatic judge in 3:7–11. Incidentally, all of the characters in this anecdote are Kenizzites—descendants of Kenaz an Edomite leader (Gen 15:19; 36:11, 15, 42; Jdg 1:13)—who joined up with the Israelites (Num 32:12; Josh 14:6, 14).96 So much so, Caleb is the proud face of the tribe of Judah, an exemplar of a Yahweh-worshiper. Thus the endogamy practiced is also subtly being held up, in contrast to the Israelites’ interest in non-Israelite women, pointed out in Jdg 3:6 and exemplified in the stories of Gideon (who had a Canaannite concubine) and Samson (who went after Philistine women all his life).97
But the key aspect of this cameo is the contrast it makes with the story of fathers and daughters in Epilogue II (particularly Pericope 14: Jdg 20:1—21:25). The giving of daughters as wives is mentioned six times in Judges, each time with the words “give,” “daughter,” and “wife” in proximity: 1:12, 13; 3:6; 21:1, 7, 18. Except for 3:6, the others deal with Israelite endogamy, and are all found in Prologue I (Pericope 1: Jdg 1:1—2:5) and Epilogue II (specifically, Pericope 14: Jdg 20:1—21:25), as part of a war narrative: Caleb, a tribal leader, finding a wife for his daughter; and the Israelite leaders finding wives for the depleted Benjaminites. Pre-war pledges also characterize each of these stories, the first a “blessing” to “give” a daughter as wife (1:12, 13, 15), the second a “curse” “not to give” daughters as wives (21:1, 18). “[W]hile Caleb’s pre-war promise to give his daughter in marriage to the one who succeeds in taking Kiriath Sepher seems to represent a wise move that merged concern for the fulfillment of YHWH’s promise with concern for his daughter’s welfare, the pre-war oath of Israel’s leadership not to give their daughters in marriage to any Benjaminite seems to represent a rash and foolish decision made out of muddled thinking and excessive vindictiveness.”98 The contrast between a benevolent father in Judges 1 and malevolent fathers in Judges 19–21 is obvious (see both Pericope 13: Jdg 19:1–30 and Pericope 14: Jdg 20:1—21:25). Caleb not only gives his daughter to an intrepid warrior of his own tribe (endogamy), he also acquiesces to her enthusiastic request. The other fathers not only are involved in curses, the negligence of their daughters, and the murder of most of the men in an Israelite tribe, they also resort to deceptive and highly questionable practices to procure females for the remaining Benjaminite males. The contrast is also being made of a leader of the Joshua generation who appreciates and respects women, and leaders of the Judges generation who oppress and objectify and murder them. The former is keen on fulfilling the promises of Yahweh in the land and is concerned for, and protective of, his daughter’s (and her husband’s) welfare, unlike the latter who are rash, self-focused, and vindictive. The presence of this anecdote in Judges 1, then, points to the well-disposed, magnanimous, and bountiful nature of the leaders in a prior generation of Israel.99
So here is the first woman in the book of Judges, a remarkable lady keen on obtaining the best for her inheritance, family, and posterity within the community of Israel! She is asking for more than a gift; she wants land, the tangible sign of divine blessing in the OT. And thus “Achsah emerges as an image of ideal Yahwist womanhood,” and becomes the standard by which all other women in the book will be judged.100 This sense of fruitfulness in the presence of Yahweh depicted for the first time in Judges—by a woman—is significant; unfortunately this prosperity will only decline and drop henceforth as the book of Judges unfolds.
The third anecdotal “interpolation” in Pericope 1 deals with the capture of Bethel by the Joseph league (and their failure to keep it—it was rebuilt as Luz, a Canaanite city), and is described in greater detail than are the other campaigns of 1:22–36. The presence of Yahweh with the house of Joseph is noted in 1:22, and we anticipate another relatively successful takeover as in 1:4–20. In retrospect, one sees that unlike in 1:4, where Yahweh “gave” the victory, here we are only told that Yahweh was with the Israelite army. And that is borne out in the human strategy that the latter engages in, in their taking of Bethel. Besides, in 1:4–20 and in 1:22–36, an individual Canaanite is highlighted: Adoni-bezek and the Bethel informant, respectively. The former, a named ruler, is found, fought against, pursued, caught, mutilated, transferred, and probably killed (1:5–7). The latter, an anonymous man, is seen, spoken to, negotiated with, and shown ds,x, (khesed) and freed, family and all. And he promptly rebuilds Luz (1:24–26). The presence of Yahweh with the house of Joseph should have rendered all humanly contrived strategies unnecessary; indeed, there was to be no covenant made with the Canaanites (2:2; also see Deut 7:2). Tragically, there is no mention of Yahweh being present with the campaigns of any of
