Judges – General
The book of Judges is about the same, nothing but war and bloodshed; the horrible story of Jael and Sisera; of Gideon and his trumpets and pitchers; of Jephtha and his daughter, whom he murdered to please Jehovah. Here we find the story of Samson, in which a sun-god is changed to a Hebrew giant.
Judges 1:2-7 - God appoints Judah to succeed Joshua. The Lord delivers his foes into his hands and another 10,000 are slain. In the process, they capture Adonibezek and "cut off his thumbs and great toes." Nice guys.
Judges 1:17, 19 - "They slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it ... And the Lord was with Judah." (You can tell by the number of innocent people he killed.)
Judges 1:19 - "The Lord ... could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron." So I guess God can't do everything.
Judges 1:21, 27-30 - God promised many times that he would drive out all the inhabitants of the lands they encountered. But these verses show that God failed to keep his promise since he was unable to driver out the Canaanites.
Judges 2:12 - God gets angry when the Israelites reject him and decide to worship other gods.
Judges 2:14 - God anger "was hot against Israel, and he sold them." Well, I hope he got a good price. (See 3:8, 4:2, and 10:7 where he sells them again.)
Judges 3:10 - The spirit of the Lord comes upon Othniel and causes him to go to war. This is the same spirit that is said to bring joy, peace, and gentleness (Gal.5:22-23).
Judges 3:15-22 - Ehud delivers a "message from God" to the king of Moab. God's message consists of a knife thrust so deeply into the king's belly that it could not be extracted, "and the dirt came out." This is just another lovely Bible story.
Judges 3:28-29 - God "delivers" more folks into the hands of his chosen people. "And they slew of Moab ... about 10,000 men ... and their escaped not a man."
Judges 4:2 - God gets angry and sells the Israelites again. (He had already sold them to another king in 2:14 and 3:8 and he sells them again in 10:7.)
Judges 4:17-23 Jael (our heroine) offers food and shelter to a traveller (Sisera, Jabin's captain), saying "turn in my Lord ... fear not." Then after giving him a glass of milk and tucking him in, she drives a tent stake through his head. "So God subdued on that day Jabin by Jael". – Through deceit and trickery.
Judges 5:20 - "The stars in their courses fought against Sisera." Unless astrology is true, how can the stars affect the outcome of a battle?
Judges 5:24 - For murdering her guest while he slept, Jael is "blessed above women." (Hail Jael, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women....?)
Judges 6:1-6 - Every male Midianite was killed during the time of Moses (Num.31:7), and yet just a few years later they flourish like grasshoppers "without number."
Judges 7:4-7 - God picks the men to fight in Gideon's army by the way they drink water. Only those that lap water with their tongues, "as a dog lappeth," shall fight.
Judges 8:7, 16 - God refusing to feed him and his army, Gideon tears the flesh off the elders of Succoth and kills the men of the city.
Judges 8:20 - Gideon orders his son to kill two kings, but he refuses. So Gideon has to do it himself since his son isn't "man" enough to do it.
Judges 8:30-31 - Gideon had 70 sons (no one knows how many daughters) "for he had many wives." And God did not have a problem with it.
Judges 9:13 - "Wine ... cheereth God and man." So God drinks wine and it makes him happy.
Judges 9:23-24 - God sends evil spirits that cause humans to deal treacherously with each other.
Judges 10:7 - God is angry at Israel so he sells them to the Philistines. He had previously sold them to the kings of Mesopotamia (3:8) and Canaan (4:2).
Judges 11:21 - God smites Sihon and all his people and gives their land to Israel.
Judges 11:29-39 - When "the spirit of the Lord" comes upon Jephthah, he makes a deal with God: If God will help him kill the Ammonites, then he (Jephthah) will offer to God as a burnt offering whatever comes out of his house to greet him. God keeps his end of the deal by providing Jephthah with "a very great slaughter." But when Jephthah returns, his nameless daughter comes out to greet him (who'd he expect, his son?). Well, a deal's a deal, so he delivers her to God as a burnt offering, after letting her spend a couple of months going up and down on the mountains bewailing her virginity. God does like his sacrifices, even if they are human.
Judges 12:6 - 42,000 men are killed because someone mispronounces "shibboleth."
Judges 13:5 - Samson is not to cut his hair because he is a Nazarite unto God. But Paul (1 Cor.11:14) considers it shameful for a man to have long hair.
Judges 13:22 - "And Manoah said unto his wife, we shall surely die, because we have seen God." They saw God, contrary to many Bible verses that insist that no one has ever seen God.
Judges 13:24 - "And the child [Samson] grew, and the Lord blessed him." Samson was one of the vilest of all the vile Bible heroes; yet he was especially blessed by God.
Judges 14:19 - "And the spirit of the Lord came upon him [Samson], and he ... slew thirty men." (Samson might have been a decent person if he could have kept the spirit of the Lord off him.) Can this be the same "spirit of the Lord" whose fruit is love, peace, gentleness, goodness and meekness? (Gal.5:22-23)
Judges 15:14-15 - "The spirit of the Lord came mightily upon Samson and he found a new jawbone of an ass ... and took it, and slew 1000 men therewith." This is just another display of the fruits of the spirit described in Gal.5:22-23.
Judges 16:1 - "Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in unto her." Did Samson do this because the spirit of the Lord came upon him again? Or does Samson only sin when he is possessed by God?
Judges 16:3 - Samson, after "going in unto" a harlot, takes the doors, gate, and posts of the city and carries them to the top of a hill. Why did he do this? Did God make him do it or was he just showing off? The Bible doesn't say.
Judges 16:17 - Samson reveals the secret of his strength to Delilah: "If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me." (And I thought his strength was from God.)
Judges 16:28-30 Samson, with God's help, kills himself and 3000 Philistine men and women by causing a roof to collapse.
Judges 19:22-30 - After taking in a travelling Levite, the host offers his virgin daughter and his guest's concubine to a mob of perverts (who want to have sex with his guest). The mob refuses the daughter, but accepts the concubine and they "abuse her all night." The next morning she crawls back to the doorstep and dies. The Levite puts her dead body on an ass and takes her home. Then he chops her body up into twelve pieces and sends them to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. The story, which must be one of the most disgusting stories ever told, ends with: "consider of it, take advice, and speak your mind." Those who do consider it will immediately reject the idea that the Bible is inspired by God. Hopefully, they then will speak their mind.
Judges 20:18, 21 - God tells the Israelites to send the tribe of Judah into battle and 22,000 men were killed by the Benjamites.
Judges 20:23, 25 - God tells them to go to battle again and another 18,000 are killed.
Judges 20:35, 37 - Finally, God enters the fray and kills 25,100 Benjamites.
Judges 21:7-23 - To find wives for the Benjamites (they were unwilling to use their own daughters), the other tribes attacked and killed all occupants of a city except for the young virgins. These virgins were then given to the Benjamites for wives.
