Chapter 1

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.

* The Israelite army kills a number of pagans.

* Adoni-Bezek loses his thumbs and big toes.  In verse 7, he says, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me."

1:6-7 - Do angels have sex? Yes, angels love sex (especially with pretty women).

* These verses do not refer to angels or sex.

1:12 - Caleb offers to give his daughter to anyone who conquers the city of Debir. Caleb's nephew wins the contest and is given his cousin for a prize.

* In ancient times, it was customary for the father to have absolute rights over his children.  This is how and why he could promise his daughter's hand in marriage.  It was also customary for a great man to award a great fighter or king with his daughter.

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.)

* God was judging some pagan people who rejected Him with the Israelite army.

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.

* This verse indicates that Judah could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley.  Incidentally, Judah simply perceived that they could not drive out these people.  God had already given them the land and told them that they would be victorious in battle.

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.

* Verse 21 indicates the tribe of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites.  They decided to cohabit with them.  There is no suggestion that God could not drive them out.

* God repeatedly told the Israelites that He would bring these pagans to them and they should conquer them.  However, the Israelites didn't always choose to conquer them.  In these verses, we see that they simply charged the Canaanites taxes for living on the Israelites' land (see verse 28).  Incidentally, since the Israelites charged them taxes, it is obvious that Israel owned the land (like God had promised them).

Chapter 2

2:12 - God gets angry when the Israelites reject him and decide to worship other Gods.

* This is correct.  God did not want Israel to worship false gods.

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.)

* God didn't literally sell them.  Nobody handed God cash for the Israelites.  However, since the Israelites rejected God, He removed His hand of protection and they were plundered and oppressed.

2:17 - They went a whoring after other gods...."

* This is true.  Since God is the one, true God, chasing after other gods is akin to whoredom.

Chapter 3

3:1-5 - 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 drive out the Canaanites.

* God told the Israelites that He would help them win their battles.  However, the Israelites wouldn't always fight against the pagan peoples.

* God didn't give a timetable to the Israelites.  For instance, He didn't tell them that all of the pagans would be gone in 10 years.  He gave the Israelites land, promised to deliver the pagans to them and told them that they were to conquer them.  Therefore, God upheld His part of the promise.

3:8 - God anger "was hot against Israel, and he sold them." Again -- See 2:14, 4:2 and 10:7

* God didn't literally sell them.  Nobody handed God cash for the Israelites.  However, since the Israelites rejected God, He removed His hand of protection and they were plundered and oppressed.

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).

* God has a multi-faceted character.  He is a just God, so His character contains peace, love, joy, wrath, justice, truth, etc.

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." Just another lovely Bible story.

* Ehud killed King Eglon.  He was the King of the Moabites and they were oppressing the Jews and making them pay taxes to live on their own land.  Incidentally, this was the beginning of a war that the Israelites won and were liberated.

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."

* This is correct.  They defeated 10,000 "stout men of valor."  These were obviously, trained soldiers.

3:31 - Shamgar kills 600 Philistines with an ox goad. Praise God.

* This is correct.  Shamgar used an ox goad to kill 600 Philistines.  This was part of God's judgment on some pagans who rejected Him.  According to the text, Shamgar helped deliver Israel.

Chapter 4

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.)

* Verse 1 tells us that the Israelites, "did evil in the sight of the Lord."  This is the cause of God's judgment.

* God didn't literally sell them.  Nobody handed God cash for the Israelites.  However, since the Israelites rejected God, He removed His hand of protection and they were plundered and oppressed.

4:3 - "The children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he [Sisera, not God] had nine hundred chariots of iron." Yet just a few verses ago (Jg.1:19) God was overpowered by chariots of iron.

* Judges 1:19 does not say that God was overpowered. It specifically says Judah could not (resolve) to drive out the inhabitants that had chariots of iron. We do not see them lose a battle to these chariots. Therefore, we can conclude that they were afraid and did not fight. God had promised them victory, but they still had to engage in battle. When they refused to fight, they did not win the battle.

4:11 - Moses' father-in-law was Hobab -- or was it Jethro as is said in Exodus?

* Reuel, Jethro and Hobab are the same person.  Moses called him by different names, though.

* When Moses escaped from Pharaoh, Reuel gave him a home.  He also helped Moses grow and mature for 40 years.  Reul means "friend of God."

* Moses cared for his sheep and they multiplied.  This is why we see his father-in-law called "Jethro," next.  "Jethro" means "abundance."

* After some time, Moses really enjoys his new family and desires his father-in-law's presence.  Therefore, he is called "Hobab."  "Hobab" means "cherished."

4:15-16 - "The Lord discomfited Sisera ... with the edge of the sword ... and there was not a man left." Someone should take the big guy's sword away.

* God aided the Israelites in defeating their pagan oppressors.

4:17-23 - Jael (our heroine) offers food and shelter to a traveler (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."

* Sisera was the commander of the army that was oppressing the Israelites.  He was killed by Jael's tent stake.

Chapter 5

5:20 - Does the Bible condemn astrology?

* These "stars" that fought Sisera are referring to angels. This has nothing to do with astrology.

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....?)

* Jael helped the Israelites overcome their oppressors.  Therefore, they praised her.

5:30 - "Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two?"

* This Hebrew word that was translated "prey" in the KJV is also translated "spoil" or "booty."  This phrase of the song is talking about the spoils being given to the women.

5:31 - "So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord." (Let them all have their temples pierced by blessed women.)

* Judges 5:31 reads, "Thus let all Your enemies perish, O LORD!  But let those who love Him be like the sun when it comes out in full strength."  God's enemies will perish and the righteous will be rewarded.

Chapter 6

6:1-2, 5 - Did the Israelites kill every male Midian? No.

* Judges 6 took place many years after Numbers 31.  Therefore, these male Midianites were probably the offspring of the female virgin Midianites that were spared.

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."

* 207 years are specifically mentioned between the time of Moses and Judges 6.  However, there were likely a few more years, too.  This was plenty of time for the Midianites to multiply. 

* Incidentally, this Hebrew word that was translated "males" in the KJV also means "men."  The Israelites likely killed only the Midianite men, in battle, and not the women and children.

6:34-40 - Is it ok to test (or tempt) God? Yes, you can give God the wet/dry wool test.

* In verse 34, we see the Holy Spirit come upon Gideon and Gideon sought an answer from God.  He did not test or tempt God, though.

6:36-40 - Gideon needs some signs to convince him that God isn't lying to him. So he puts down some wool on the ground and asks God to make it wet, while keeping the surrounding ground dry. And God does it, no sweat. But Gideon is still not sure he can trust God, so he asks him to reverse the trick, and make the ground wet and the wool dry. "And God did so ..." Gideon must have been impressed by a God that could do such great things.

* Gideon doubted, but God had plans for him and the Israelites, so He did some miracles.

Chapter 7

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.

* This is correct.  Perhaps God chose the "lappers" because lapping indicated their caution while the ones that bowed to the water and drank displayed their carelessness.

7:12 -  The Midianites and Amelekites had an infinite number of camels -- well, maybe not quite, but at least as many "as the sand by the sea shore."

* This is simply a simile for: "a lot of camels."

7:22 - When Gideon and his water-lapping companions blow their trumpets, God forces all the enemy soldiers to kill each other.

* This is correct.  God helped the Israelites when this battle without having them fight.

7:25 - Two princes are killed and their heads are brought to Gideon.

* This is correct.  This is the historical record.

Chapter 8

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.

* The elders of Succoth refused to feed Gideon and his army, so they were judged for it.

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.

* Gideon's son was too young to effectively wield a sword, so Gideon killed Zebah and Zalmunna.

8:27 - Gideon made an Ephod out of camel necklaces that caused "all Israel" to "go a whoring after it."

* Gideon took the large amount of gold and booty and used it to make an ephod.  The children of Israel worshiped it and it became an idol to them.  Since they were supposed to be set apart for God, this was akin to whoredom.

8:30-31 - Gideon had 70 sons (no one knows how many daughters) "for he had many wives."

* This is correct.  Incidentally, these verses do not praise him for his multiple wives or concubine.

Chapter 9

9:5 - Abimelech kills 70 brothers "upon one stone." (He was trying to get in the Guinness Book of World Records.)

* Abimelech killed his brothers because he wanted full rights to the throne.  This was tragic.  However, many nations of the world have experienced similar tragedies.

9:13 - "Wine ... cheereth God and man." So God drinks wine and it makes him happy. But elsewhere, the bible condemns drinking alcohol.

* This is a highly symbolic poem.  These are the words of Jotham and not a command from God.

* Jotham said, "But the vine said to them, 'Should I cease my new wine, which cheers both God and men, and go to sway over the trees?'"  In this poem, the vine is speaking!  At any rate, this isn't a command to get drunk or drink strong wine.

9:23-24 - God sends evil spirits that cause humans to deal treacherously with each other.

* Evil spirits are at God's disposal.  He can use them to enact His judgment (and for a variety of other reasons).

9:53-54 - After being hit in the head with a millstone thrown by a woman, a soldier orders his armor bearer to kill him so that no one would say that a woman had killed him.

* This is how Abimelech died.

Chapter 10

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). I guess he's a pretty shrewd businessman!

* God didn't literally sell them.  Nobody handed God cash for the Israelites.  However, since the Israelites rejected God, He removed His hand of protection and they were plundered and oppressed.

Chapter 11

11:21 - God smites Sihon and all his people and gives their land to Israel.

* Judges 11:21 reads, "And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country."  This verse indicates that God delivered these people into the hands of the Israelites and they defeated them.  Incidentally, God had already given the Israelites this land, so it belonged to them.

11:24 - "Whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we [the Israelites] possess."

* This is correct.  However, this can also be translated, "So whatever the Lord our God takes possession of before us, we will possess."  This statement is repeating the promise of God to give the inhabitants of the Israelite's land into their hands for them to conquer.

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 wife?). 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.

* This is correct.  This is the tragic account of the foolishness of making a rash promise to God.

11:32 - How should the Ammonites be treated? Kill them and take their land.

* This verse shows how Jephthah defeated the Ammonites.  Jephthah was a descendant of Lot, so this perfectly correlates with Deuteronomy 2:19.  God allowed the Ammonites to maintain their land for a time, so they would keep it up and prepare it for Lot's descendants to inhabit.

11:34 - Is dancing a sin?

* Jephthah's daughter was dancing when he came home from battle. This form of dancing was acceptable.

Chapter 12

12:6 - 42,000 men are killed because someone mispronounces "shibboleth."

* Jephthah and his men used this crafty identification system to discover whether or not these people were Ephraimites.  If they couldn't pronounce "Shibboleth" correctly, then they knew these people were their lying, trespassing enemies.

Chapter 13

13:1 - The Israelites "did evil in thesight of the Lord," so he "delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years."

* The perfect Creator holds the right to judge His creation as they turn to sin and reject Him.

13:2-3, 6, 9 - Manoah's nameless wife, like so many biblical women, is barren. But an angel fixes that, and Samson is born.

* This is correct.  God did a miracle and Samson was born.

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.

* Samson was following the traditions of the Nazarites.  This was correct for him

* Paul is speaking to men in a different culture.  For Paul's audience, it was shameful for these men to have long hair.

13:22 - "And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God." I'm not sure who they thought was God, but I guess it was the "man of God" or "angel" that came in unto her. Or maybe it was God himself. Hard to tell. In any case, they saw God, contrary to many Bible verses that insist that no one has ever seen God.

* Verse 9 indicates that they saw the "Angel of God."  This is referring to Jesus Christ.

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.

* Like the majority of biblical characters, the Bible records Samson's strengths and weaknesses.

Chapter 14

14:1-3 - Samson sees a Philistine woman and tells his parents to "get her for me; for she pleaseth me well."

* This is correct.  Samson saw a Philistine woman and wanted to marry her.  Therefore, he told this to his parents.

14:5-8 - Samson rips up a young lion when "the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him." Later, when going to "take" his Philistine wife he notices a swarm of bees and honey in the lion's carcass (a Divine miracle -- or just rotting flesh and maggots?).

* Samson received supernatural strength from God.  He was able to do mighty things.

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)

* God has a multi-faceted character.  He isn't one dimensional.  God's character includes peace, love, justice, wrath, patience, judgment, etc.

* In the Old Testament, the "spirit of the Lord" came upon people and gave them power.  This was generally a temporary infilling.  After Pentecost, all believers receive God's Holy Spirit and it dwells within them.

Chapter 15

15:2 - Samson's father-in-law gives Samson's wife away to a friend, since he thought Samson "hated" her. He suggests that Samson take his younger daughter instead, saying the younger one's prettier anyway.

* This is correct.  Samson's father-in-law gave his wife to his companion.

15:4-8 - Samson catches 300 foxes, ties their tails together, and sets them on fire; the Philistines burn Samson's' ex-wife and father-in-law; and Samson smites them "hip and thigh with a great slaughter" -- all in five action-packed verses! Don't you just love the Bible.

* Samson inflicts pain on the Philistines because of his loss.  Incidentally, verse 4 indicates that Samson lit the hair on the foxes' tails on fire (not their actual bodies, like this commentary implies).

* God desired for the Philistines to be conquered by the Israelites.  Therefore, Samson was an instrument of His judgment on them.  The Philistines were wicked pagans and rejected God.  They were also oppressing the Israelites.

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.

* Once again, Samson was an instrument of God's judgment.

Chapter 16

16:1 - "Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her." Did Samson do this because the spirit of the Lord came upon him again? Or does Samson only kill things when he is possessed by God?

* Samson's action was very inappropriate.  The scriptures surely do not indicate that his action was ordained by God.

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.

* Verse 2 indicates that many people were hiding and waiting to kill Samson.  Perhaps Samson removed the city's gate and took it in order to scare them.

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.)

* God gave Samson his strength.  However, his long hair symbolized the covenant he had with God.

16:28-30 - Samson, with God's help, kills himself and 3000 Philistine men and women by causing a roof to collapse.

* This is correct.  Samson was a tool of God's judgment one last time.

Chapter 19

19:22-30 - After taking in a traveling 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 (Parcel Post?). 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.

* This is a sad and disgusting story.  However, many biblical stories are historical records and history isn't always pretty.

* It was tragic that the concubine was killed.  It was gross how she was mutilated.  However, her death and the subsequent "delivery" caused the Israelites to realize they needed to unify, fight, and conquer the people who killed her.

Chapter 20

20:18, 21 - God tells the Israelites to send the tribe of Judah into battle and 22,000 men were killed by the Benjamites.

* Judah lost this battle.  It is possible that they hadn't consecrated themselves, fasted, prayed, and prepared.

20:23, 25 - God tells them to go to battle again and another 18,000 are killed.

* Once again, the Israelites lost to the Benjamites.  It is possible that they hadn't consecrated themselves, fasted, prayed, and prepared.

20:35, 37 - Finally, God enters the fray and kills 25,100 Benjamites.

* After they fast, pray, and consecrate themselves to God, they destroy the Benjamites for raping the concubine and refusing to hand over the rapists.

Chapter 21

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.

* The Israelites wanted to find wives for the 600 Benjamite men that fled and did not fight them.  Therefore, they destroyed some people who did not help them fight against the Benjamites and their virgins were offered to the 600 Benjamites that fled.