Shoftim 01 - Summary
(Text) - The book of Shoftim (Judges) begins immediately after the death of Yehoshua. The national situation is that all tribes have been promised sections of the Land of Israel, with borders defined and delineated. Some of this land has already been conquered, and some of it remains in the hands of the Canaanites.
Lacking a leader, the Jewish people ask “who will go first to wage war against the Canaanites?”. The tribe of Yehuda takes the lead. Accompanied by the tribe of Shimon (with whom they make an I’ll-fight-for-you-if-you-fight-for-me deal), they emerge victorious against the Perizim in Bezek, killing ten thousand men. After the battle, they capture Adoni-Bezek (the king), and cut off his thumbs and big toes (Adoni-Bezek explains that he had done this to seventy other kings). He is brought to Yerushalayim where he dies.
Yehuda (and Shimon) continue on to Yerushalayim, where they burn the city. They then went on to attack the Canaanites who lived in the mountains, lowlands and the desert. In Hevron, they kill Sheshai, Achiman and Talmai. At Kiryat Sefer, Calev offers his daughter to whomever can conquer the city. His brother Otniel ben Kenaz does this (this incident is repeated almost word-for-word from Yehoshua 15). After this, the Bnei Keini (Yitro) can from “the city of dates” (עיר התמרים) to join the tribe of Yehuda living in the the desert of Arad.
The tribes of Yehuda and Shimon continue on to conquer the Canaanites living in Tzefat (which they renamed Charma), Aza, Ashkelon and Ekron (in the Gaza area).
The tribe of Binyamin was unable to conquer the Yevussim (Jebusites) living in their section Yerushalayim, and had to coexist with them.
The tribes of Yosef went up to spy out Beit El (also known as Luz). They convince a man to tell them about the hidden entrances to the city. They then enter the city through these entrances, and kill everyone other than the man who helped them (he then goes on to the land of the Chitim and makes another city called Luz).
Up until this point we have a read a list of the successes enjoyed by some of the tribes of Israel in conquering the land. Now we read of some of the failures:
- Menashe could not conquer Beit She’an, Ta’nach, Dor, Meggido, and had to coexist with the Canaanites (eventually forcing them to pay taxes)
- Efrayim could not conqeur Gazer and had to coexist with the Canaanites there.
- Zevulun could not conquer Kitron and Nahalol, and had to coexist with the Canaanites there, forcing them to pay a tax.
- Asher could not conquer Akko, Tzidon, Achlav, Achziv, Chelba, Apeek and Rechov, and had to coexist with the Canaanites there.
- Naftali could not conquer Beit Shemesh, Beit Anat, and had to coexist with the Canaanites there, forcing them to pay a tax.
- Dan had to stay in the mountains, for the Emoriim did not allow them to descend into the valley.
Review: This chapter serves as a segue between the books of Shoftim and Yehoshua. It mainly recounts the efforts of various tribes to conquer their allotted portions of the Land of Israel. Some of these events took place during Yehoshua’s lifetime, some after. Some were successful and some not. The lasting message is that while some of the Land was conquered, overall Bnei Yisrael were not successful in following God’s command to drive out the Canaanites. This sets the stage for the next chapter.
Posted in Chapter 01, Shoftim - Judges, Summaries by Yaakov Ellis on November 18, 2007 |
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