Day 22, Judges 17-21, Ruth 1-4, 1 Samuel 1-2

There is a lot to cover today! Thankfully I am once again well-rested and enthused about the task at hand. Woohoo! The bible is so much fun!

The last five chapters of Judges are considered an epilogue, since they don't actually feature a specific judge. Chapter 17 opens with the tale of a young man named Micah, who steals eleven hundred pieces of silver from his mother. When she confronts him, he returns the money and uses it "to make a carved image and a cast idol" (Judges 17:3). I could have sworn this was totally against the rules, but Micah doesn't seem to suffer any divine retribution; to the contrary, he appoints one of his own sons to be a priest, and later in the chapter invites a Levite to come live with him, saying, "Now I know that the Lord will make me prosper, because I have a Levite as my priest" (Judges 17:13).

The intent of these chapters seems to be to illustrate how lost and pathetic the Israelites are without human leadership. Over and over again, it is repeated "in those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6).

I profess I had a bit of trouble making heads or tails of this strange saga, so I apologize if my summary is a bit hazy. In chapter 18, representatives from the tribe of Dan arrive at Micah's house; they are scouting out land to colonize, since they have somehow lost their tribal holding. After a brief discussion with the Levite priest about how he wound up living there, they continue onward and discover a demilitarized region called Laish, where the people are "quiet and carefree with nothing lacking in their country" (Judges 18:7). They decide to seize the land for themselves, and after reporting back to the rest of the tribe, make a return trip to begin the siege. On the way they stop at Micah's house, steal his altar, and convince the Levite priest to join them. Micah tries to stop them but is unsuccessful, and the Danites wind up killing off all the natives and inhabiting the area, setting up a shrine at Shiloh.

In chapter 19, the anarchy of the king-less Israel continues. Our new tale concerns a Levite priest, who takes up with a concubine and spends the beginning of the chapter being graciously hosted by her father for about a week. Actually, he kind of refuses to let the priest leave, but he has no fishy motives; he is just a nice guy and wants to give his daughter's boyfriend a lot of yummy food. Finally, the Levite and his gal-pal take off. They wind up at the Benjamite town of Gibeah around sunset, but are unable to find a place to stay. Finally, a nice old Ephraimite man welcomes them into his home, but soon after their arrival, "some of the most depraved scoundrels in the town [surround] the house, beating the door violently and shouting to the old man whose house it was, 'Bring out the man who has come to your house, for us to have intercourse with him'" (Judges 19:22). Whoa! Didn't this already happen way back in Genesis? Like Lot in Sodom, the old man offers up his virgin daughter and his guest's concubine, but rather unlike Lot, the priest responds to the rowdy men by throwing his concubine outside, where the men "[rape] and [abuse] her all night till the morning" (Judges 19:25). Oh geez. When the priest wakes up, he discovers her dead on the doorstep, so he -- get this -- CHOPS HER UP INTO LITTLE PIECES AND MAILS THEM TO ALL THE TRIBES. When they all receive their chunk of dead concubine, it becomes clear to everyone that Israel is corrupt.

In chapter 20, the tribes have a pow-wow and decide that the Benjamites must be punished. They wage war against their fellow tribe, killing off all the women and most of the men and setting all the towns on fire. They also make an oath that none of them will give their daughters in marriage to the Benjamites, but subsequently become concerned that the tribe will die out. They solve this problem in two ways. First, they notice that no one from the region of Jabesh-gilead had come to the meeting. They decide to "put to death every male person [from the region], and every woman who has had intercourse with a man, but spare any who are virgins" (Judges 21:11). However, there are still not enough wives for the surviving Benjamites, so they instruct the eligible bachelors to go to Shiloh during the yearly pilgrimages there and "hide in the vineyards...and when the girls of Shiloh come out to take part in the dance, come from the vineyards, and each of you seize one of them for his wife" (Judges 21:20-21). In other words, if you can't get a wife normally, just kidnap one! It's all okay!

The Book of Judges ends with the old refrain: "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

Indeed!

The Book of Ruth is a short one, only four chapters. It concerns a Moabite woman who travels to Israel with her mother-in-law, converts to Judaism, and eventually becomes the great-grandmother of David. I remember watching a claymation movie version of this story back in my Hebrew School days. The filmmakers were trying to pass it off as a love story, but it always seemed sort of eerie and depressing to me. I will provide a brief summary.

Our tale kicks off with a Judahite family forced to relocate to Moab land due to a famine. The husband dies, and his two sons die about ten years after, leaving behind three widows: Naomi and her daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. Incidentally, Oprah's name was originally intended to be Orpah, but the doctors spelled it wrong. At least, I've heard that story. I don't know why you would ever name your kid Orpah anyway, because it's not like she has any significance whatsoever in the bible!

Naomi decides to go back to Judah, and bids her daughters-in-law to stay behind with their families in Moab. Orpah consents, but Ruth is a big fan of her mother-in-law and insists on going, saying that "Your people will be my people, and your God my God" (Ruth 1:16).

When they arrive back in the holy land, they are initially pretty poor and Ruth sets off to glean from the fields. She winds up gleaning from the land of a semi-distant relative named Boaz, who is a solid guy and treats her with utmost kindness. Because of his familial tie to Naomi, he is eligible to fulfill the terms of the Levirite marriage, and the two eventually shack up. The book ends with a brief genealogy, notable mostly because it lists Boaz's father as a man named Salmon. HAHAH LIKE THE FISH!!! THAT'S FUNNY!

Today's reading ends with two chapters of 1 Samuel, the first in a series of four books that will keep us busy for some time. Samuel, along with Kings, were combined into one work in the ancient Greek Bible entitled "Concerning the Kingdoms." I'm not exactly sure what these books will contain, but I know we'll be meeting David, Solomon, Saul, and all those other cool kings you learned about in religious school. Awesome!

The first two chapters concern the birth and childhood of Samuel, who I think must be some kind of prophet. One of our favorite tropes from Genesis returns, because Samuel's father, Elkanah, has two wives, and the one he loves the most -- Hannah -- is barren. Peninnah, the unloved wife, gives Hannah such a hard time that she becomes super depressed, crying and moping all the time. When the family makes a pilgrimage to Shiloh, she stands in the temple and prays for a son, swearing that she will "give the child to the Lord for the whole of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head" (1 Sam 1:11). The priest, a fellow named Eli, sees her mouthing the words of her prayer and for some reason assumes she is drunk. "Enough of this drunken behavior!" he says to her (1 Sam 11:13), causing her to explain her situation. Eli comforts her and sends her on her way, and that night she conceives a son, Samuel. Once he is weaned, she takes him to Shiloh to offer a lengthy prayer of thanks to God, then leaves him with the priests and returns home.

Eli's sons are described as "scoundrels with little regard for the Lord" (1 Sam 2:12) who "lay with the women who [serve] at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting" (1 Sam 2:22). Eli reprimands his sons, but he is unable to make a dent, and after they completely botch an offering to God, he smites 'em down. God declares that he will "appoint for [himself] a priest who will be faithful, who will do what [he] ha[s] in [his] mind and in [his] heart" (1 Sam 2:35). The door is open for Samuel!

That's it for today. Tune in tomorrow for more of this exciting saga.