DESERTING THE KING

THE BOOK OF JUDGES

TRANSFORMATIVE WORD

DAVID J. H. BELDMAN

Edited by Craig G. Bartholomew

Deserting the King: The Book of Judges

Transformative Word

Copyright 2017 David J. H. Beldman

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225 LexhamPress.com

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are the author’s own translation or are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Print ISBN 9781577997764

Digital ISBN 9781577997771

Series Editor: Craig G. Bartholomew

Lexham Editorial: Sarah Awa, Abby Salinger, Lynnea Smoyer, Abigail Stocker, Elizabeth Vince

Cover Design: Quincy Rouse

CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Judges in the Context of the Grand Story

3. Cycles, Spirals, and Circles: The Structure of Judges

4. “No King in Israel”: The Regicide of Yahweh

5. The Canaanization of a Holy Nation

6. Violence in the Book of Judges

7. The Enduring Testimony of Judges

8. Conclusion

Recommended Reading

“God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him! How can we console ourselves, the murderers of all murderers! The holiest and mightiest thing the world has ever possessed has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood from us? With what water could we clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what holy games will we have to invent for ourselves? Is the magnitude of this deed not too great for us? Do we not ourselves have to become gods merely to appear worthy of it? There was never a greater deed—and whoever is born after us will on account of this deed belong to a higher history than all history up to now!… What then are these churches now if not the tombs and sepulchres of God?”

—Nietzsche’s Madman1

1

INTRODUCTION

Imagine that a friend comes to you. Her marriage of ten years has disintegrated, and she doesn’t know what to do. She first noticed little warning signs about two years into the marriage. It was the way he looked at other women. He didn’t know that she noticed, and she initially tried to ignore it. Eventually, she confronted her husband—and he didn’t deny it. He apologized and promised to change, and things were better for a while. A number of years later, the woman noticed her husband flirting with a longtime friend at a birthday party. When she confronted him, he attributed his poor behavior to the multiple drinks he had consumed. Again, he apologized, and things went well for a while. In the last year, the husband’s business consistently kept him busy, and he spent more time at the office and on short trips away from home. A few weeks ago, the woman found some texts on her husband’s phone from one of his female employees. It was undeniable: Her husband ...