The Twelve Shophtim

Part 1

The number twelve was decided upon to give satisfaction to each of the Twelve Tribes of Yisrael. Sometimes indeed the scribe was in obvious difficulties in placing certain vague personages; in that case he took refuge in a brief summary; at other times he was in possession of full sources of information and could give reign to his literary abilities. Among the twelve Shophtim mentioned in the Bible there were only four great national heroes: Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. These enable us to penetrate a little into the historical situation and the lives of the Yisraelites during this period known as the 'Conquest'.

Deborah: The Greatest Leader In The Book Of Shophtim (About 1125)

After the vigorous but very brief interventions of the three first Shophtim -Othniel (3:7-11), Ehud (3:12-30), and Shamgar (3:31) -there appears the brilliant personality of Deborah ('the bee'), prophetess and liberator. We can here follow Fr Lagrange and see the four stages of development within the context of Deborah's judgeship.

First stage: the Sin.

Once again the Yisraelites [this is the term used in the Bible but it was, as a matter of fact, the tribe of Ephraim] began to do what displeases YAHWEH (Shophtim 4:1). Once again it was a case of the worship of Canaanite idols or compromising with the rulers of the country.

Second stage: Punishment.

YAHWEH handed them over [that is, after being vanquished in battle] to Jabin one of the kings of Canaan who reigned at Hazor (south-west of Lake Huleh). For twenty years Ephraim was reduced to a state of vassalage by this ruler.

Third stage: Repentance.

Then the Yisraelites cried to YAHWEH. In other words, they acknowledged their serious infractions of the Law and expressed their repentance before YAHWEH.

Fourth stage: Forgiveness.

YAHWEH raised up a Judge -in this case, Deborah -who delivered the unfortunate Yisraelites from their vassal state.

At this time Deborah..., a prophetess, ...used to sit under Deborah's Palm between Ramah and Bethel in the highlands of Ephraim, and the Yisraelites would come to her to have their disputes decided (Shophtim 4:4-5).

Two preliminary remarks are necessary here. In the first place, it should be pointed out that this office of 'judge' (chieftain) assumed by Deborah had nothing in common with the lofty mission of 'Judge in Yisrael' with which she was subsequently invested. Then, it seems a little surprising to find a woman occupying such an important position; usually in the East women were relegated to material tasks. But there can be no doubt about the truth of the matter here.

With this in mind we can examine the situation more closely. It appears that the real issue at stake was the Plain of Jezreel (or Esdraelon, sometimes called the Plain of Megiddo), a large area of red and black clay. On it were situated the fine farms belonging to the Canaanite landed proprietors. A line of forts defended this cultivated land against possible incursions of nomads from the east, known as the 'Sons of the East', who were invariably attracted by the harvest and raided the region. In the strong points, securely perched on the hills, the 'feudal' overlords kept watch and, in return for a tax on the harvests, guaranteed the peasants peace and tranquility in the region.

The Yisraelite tribes of the north and centre, pushed back into the mountains, may well have looked enviously on these rich farms on which fine crops of wheat barley, oats and millet were grown. Some clans managed to settle quietly in the plain (Shophtim 1:27-34), and established themselves on a modest scale, though they did not dare a frontal attack on the chariots and troops guarding the country. Eventually this peaceful infiltration was bound to attract the attention of the Canaanite proprietors. A collision was inevitable before long.

Deborah, the Bible tells us, then received from YAHWEH the order to proclaim war. Only six tribes answered the call of this new Judge: Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, Zebulun, Issachar and Naphtali. Reuben and Gad, settled in TransYardenia, preferred to remain with their flocks; Dan and Asher, probably reduced to slavery by the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon were obliged to stay where they were. The defection, or rather the absence, of Yahudah and Simeon can be understood; these two tribes were settled far away to the south in the Negeb and were not in regular touch with their kinsmen. Thus only a half of Yisrael took part in the campaign launched by Deborah. To lead the Yisraelite troops into battle she chose one Barak, (lightning), a native of Kedesh in Naphtali. In YAHWEH's name she ordered him to attack. He accepted the position on condition that Deborah accompanied him to the battlefield, probably because he felt that he might need the inspirations of the prophetess during the fighting.

The action took place at the foot of Mount Tabor on the Plain of Jezreel to the south of Mount Carmel near the Kishon, a small fast-flowing coastal river.3 Sisera, the leader of the Canaanite troops, brought out his chariots which terrified the Yisraelite infantry.

But Deborah encouraged her men and imbued them with such enthusiasm as to ensure victory. Barak was camping with his troops on Mount Tabor. 'Up!' she commanded him, 'For today is the day YAHWEH has put Sisera into your power. Yes, YAHWEH marches at your head.' The Yisraelites rushed down the hillside; panic-stricken, the enemy fled; part of the Canaanites fell by the edge of the sword; another part drowned in trying to cross the Kishon, at that time swollen as the result of a terrible but providential storm.4

Sisera Leapt From His Chariot And Fled On Foot.

Worn out he came to a camp of Kenites (the picturesque metalworkers of the desert whom we have already encountered at the time of Mosheh). They were Semites, kinsmen of the Yisraelites, but not at that time at war with the Canaanites. There were no men in the camp as they were all at work, guarding the flocks on the plain nearby. The fugitive appealed to Jael, wife of Heber, chieftain of the clan, and asked her for a drink of water; she gave him a bowl of leben, a kind of sour milk and, as if to hide him from the searchers, she covered him with a rug. 'Do not be afraid,' she said. Then, when she thought that Sisera was asleep, she took a tent-peg and a mallet, crept up to the Canaanite leader and drove the peg through his tabernacle. And so he died. Shortly afterwards Barak arrived in pursuit of his rival. 'Come in,' Jael said to him, 'and I will show you the man you are looking for.' It was a particularly despicable murder, directly contrary to the set apart laws of hospitality. And yet the Bible has not one word of blame for Jael, indeed she is called 'blessed among women'. The scribe who wrote this account probably regarded her as an instrument of the justice of YAHWEH.

Such was the first attempt at unity on the part of the Yisraelite tribes. It had a twofold result. In the first place there was the political victory which gained the Yisraelites relative independence from the Canaanites in the northern part of the country. Then there was the moral victory by which thenceforward the house of Yacob could feel sure that YAHWEH would enable it to meet even the most formidable ordeals. Nationalism and faith were combined in a single ideal. This was the first taste of victories in the not too distant future.

This memorable battle for the capture of the Plain of Jezreel is described by the Book of Shophtim in two versions, one in prose and the other poetical. The prose account is regarded by modern Scriptural scholars as the work of a Yahwistic scribe of the southern part of the country; they consider it to have been composed at a later period (seventh century). The poetic version, on the other hand, goes back to ancient times; it might even be contemporary with the events described. In any case, by general agreement it is regarded as being one of the most beautiful literary masterpieces of the Old Covenant. Certain statements and several allusions tend to show that it is the work of a woman and poetess who experienced the events described at first hand, and there is good reason to think that the author of the celebrated 'Song' was, in fact, Deborah herself.

Whatever the truth of the matter this magnificent poem brings out clearly the cosmic dimension that some of the more advanced Yisraelites were beginning to attribute to YAHWEH; he was no longer merely a tribal Sovereign (the idea very generally held hitherto by Abraham's descendants) but a universal Sovereign Ruler, master of heaven and earth. And in response to this loving protection with which the 'YAHWEH of Sinai' was pleased to surround HIS chosen people -so long, at least, as they kept the Law -there can be observed on the human side, that is, in the Song of Deborah, a very moving feeling of genuine love; it was still rudimentary perhaps, but it marked a definite stage in the spiritual history of humanity.

'You are a large population and one of great strength…a mountain shall be yours; it is covered with woods, but you must clear it, and Its boundaries shall be yours, since you cannot drive out the Canaanite because of his iron chariots and his superior strength.' Yahshua Ben Nun 17:18

 

JUDGESHIP OF DEBORAH.

THE VICTORIOUS CAMPAIGN OF CERTAIN TRIBES OF ISRAEL AT THE KISHON (about 1125)

Certain Canaanite leaders planned a campaign against the Yisraelite tribes who were beginning to settle in the fertile plain of Jezreel. Deborah, who gave her oracles beneath an oak tree between Ramah and Bethel, called the Twelve Tribes to arms. Only six of them answered the summons. Yisrael's army was under the orders of Barak, a native of Kedesh in Naphtali. The Canaanites were commanded by Sisera (he lived at Harosheth-ha-goiim), head of the army of Jabin, king of Hazar

Barak drew up his plan of battle in agreement with Deborah at Kedesh in Issachar. Barak came down from the north with the Yisraelite troops that he managed to gather together and lay in wait on Mount Tabor. The battle took place on both sides of the Kishon: at Tanak, Megiddo, across the Kishon and as far as Harosheth-ha-goiim.

 

3 This plain, about twenty-four miles wide and sixteen long. was the normal battlefield of Palestine. On several occasions the Egyptian and Assyrian armies confronted each other there as did the Yisraelites and Canaanites; in the Middle Ages the Crusaders fought there against the Saracens. Bonaparte's decisive victory over the Turks occurred at Mount Tabor (1799).

  4 The Kishon is formed by the junction of several streams which wind their way across the valley. Its mouth is in the bay of Haifa. The Kishon is not more than about thirty feet wide, but it flows between two steep cliffs, at places as much as twelve to sixteen feet high. In the immediate neighbourhood of Mount Tabor, where the battle took place, the various streams transform this part of the plain into marshland at the time of the floods.

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