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Book of Judges, chapter 8 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Judges 8 is the eighth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible.[1] According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel,[2][3] but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE.[3][4] This chapter records the activities of judge Gideon,[5] belonging to a section comprising Judges 6 to 9 and a bigger section of Judges 6:1 to 16:31.[6]
| Judges 8 | |
|---|---|
 The pages containing the Book of Judges in Leningrad Codex (1008 CE). | |
| Book | Book of Judges |
| Hebrew Bible part | Nevi'im |
| Order in the Hebrew part | 2 |
| Category | Former Prophets |
| Christian Bible part | Old Testament (Heptateuch) |
| Order in the Christian part | 7 |
This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 35 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).[7] Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including 1Q6 (1QJudg; < 68 BCE) with extant verse 1.[8][9][10][11]
Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century).[12][lower-alpha 1]
A linguistic study by Chisholm reveals that the central part in the Book of Judges (Judges 3:7–16:31) can be divided into two panels based on the six refrains that state that the Israelites did evil in Yahweh's eyes:[14]
Panel One
Panel Two
Furthermore from the linguistic evidence, the verbs used to describe the Lord's response to Israel's sin have chiastic patterns and can be grouped to fit the division above:[16]
Panel One
Panel Two
Chapters 6 to 9 record the Gideon/Abimelech Cycle, which has two major parts:
The Abimelech account is really a sequel of the Gideon account, resolving a number of complications originated in the Gideon narrative.[17]
In this narrative, for the first time Israel's appeal to Yahweh was met with a stern rebuke rather than immediate deliverence, and the whole cycle addresses the issue of infidelity and religious deterioration.[17]
The Gideon Narrative (Judges 6:1–8:32) consists of five sections along concentric lines — thematic parallels exist between the first (A) and fifth (A') sections as well as between the second (B) and fourth (B') sections, whereas the third section (C) stands alone — forming a symmetrical pattern as follows:[18]
The Abimelech Narrative (Judges 8:33–9:5), as the sequel (and conclusion) to the Gideon Narrative (6:1–8:32), contains a prologue (8:33–35), followed by two parts:[19]
Each of these two parts has a threefold division with interlinks between the divisions, so it displays the following structure:[19]
Verses 1–3 in this chapter should be one section with (and serves as an epilogue to) 7:19–25.[20] The confrontation with the Ephraimites was a dangerous moment for Gideon, because the Ephraimites were not included in the initial call-up but once called they were able to capture and kill two Midianites leaders (Oreb and Zeeb), and it seemed to reflect a rivalry between the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the two leading northerner Israel tribes.[21] Gideon's successful diplomatic way to handle the provocations by the Ephraimites contrasts Jephthah's lack of diplomacy in Judges 12:1–6.[22][23] Gideon used a double metaphor from the motif of 'winepress': "gleanings" ('what is gathered after harvest') which are generally more than the "vintage" ('the grape harvest itself'), to placate the Ephraimites that the capture and execution of enemy leaders are more glorious than the early rout by Gideon.[24][25]
Gideon's interactions with the people of Succoth and Penuel show similarities to David's interactions with Nabal, the first husband of Abigail (1 Samuel 25), and Ahimelech, the priest of Nob (1 Samuel 21), that a popular hero asks for logistic support for his fighting men.[25] As in case of David and Nabal, Gideon's requests were denied (even accompanied with taunts; verses 6, 8) and threats ensued.[25] Gideon did succeed to capture the Midianite kings Zebah and Zalmunna, then he made good his threat to punish those cities (verses 10–17).[25] Verses 13–14 are often cited as proof of Israelite literacy at that period of time, that an ordinary young man from Succoth was literate to write down names of the officers in his town.[25] Verses 18–21 show Gideon's motivation to pursue the two kings of Midianites, that is, a personal vendetta for the killing of Gideon's brothers by the Midianites.[26] Warriors expect to face their equals in battle (cf. Goliath's disdain for the lad David in 1 Samuel 17:42–43; also 2 Samuel 2:20–23), so when the inexperienced son of Gideon was not able to show his courage, the kings, quoting a proverb, requested that Gideon himself, as the leader, killed them as an appropriate death of a king.[25]
The introduction of Gideon's son shortly followed the mention of kingship – that the enemies saw Gideon's brother like "sons of the king" (Hebrew: ha-melekh) – and would be followed by the offer from the Israelites to Gideon "and his son and his grandson" to be their king (verse 22).[33] The hesitancy of Jether, Gideon's firstborn son, to kill two "real" foreign kings would contrast to the determination of Abimelech, Gideon's last-mentioned son, to kill all his brothers in the next episode.[26]
The Gideon Narrative formally ends at Judges 8:28 with the statement that Israel's enemies were subdued and the land had rest for 40 years. Gideon wisely rejected the hereditary kingship offered by the people of Israel (cf. 1 Samuel 8) with the theologically correct answer (verse 23).[25][34] However, Gideon did not stop there, as recounted in verses 24–27, he proceeded with requesting the people to give him gold and with that he made an ephod which would become a local cultic object (just like the golden calf episode in Exodus 32) and this tarnishes the positive assessment of Gideon,[25]
Verses 29–32 serve as a transitional paragraph to introduce Abimelech's humble origins (verse 31; cf. 9:1), pointing a distinction between him as "one" against "seventy" previously mentioned sons of Gideon.[37] Verses 33–35 resume the conventionalized pattern of the judges: after the death of a God-fearing leader, Israel wandered off the covenant with YHWH, worshipping Canaanite deities, and abandoning loyalty to YHWH and the house of Gideon.[25]
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