Resource cycles and themes in the book of Judges during the postexilic period

¶ … Book of Judges defines the historical and period of events between the conclusion of Joshua and the commencement of the Prophet Samuel. The term "Judges" is in reference to the leaders raised by God to lead Israel in the early determinative years in Palestine. In times of crisis, these leaders arose and conserved the inexperienced nation. Although the leadership of Joshua led the people of Israel into the Land, there were not able to conquer all of the people at the time. Some of the people marked for destruction by God were conquered while making enemies of the ones who weren't.

The people of the Hebrew Tribes inhabited parts of the Land and began dwelling as a proto-nation that would later in time of the Monarchy, become Israel. The Book of Judges provides a somewhat vague synopsis a couple of key events during that period. The primary issue facing the Israelites of the time until the exile in Babylon was their inability to remain loyal and true to Yahweh. They succumbed to and engaged in idolatry of the nearby peoples. Compromise, Apostasy, and forgetfulness followed by God's allowance of neighbors pressuring and reminding Israel of their need led to conviction, renewal, and repentance. These three things would become a major and repeated theme through Judges.

The cycle can be best described as Laor, Hubbard, and Bush as-

The people perform evil acts through the serving of other gods.

By sending a nation to tyrannize them, Yahweh tests His people.

The beleaguered people cry out to Yahweh in repentance.

Yahweh advances up a deliverer during the people's frantic time of need.

The tyrant is defeated.

Period of rest

The cycle repeats itself due to the Israelites forgetfulness and continual fall into apostasy. In the last part of the cycle, the period of rest, they lose faith, removing them from this period and moving them into a more turbulent time. Development of the test occurred in several stages. The earliest form being a collection of deliverer tales, drawn from and accompanied the oral tradition. These tales were collected and systematized under early Prophetic leadership preceding to the rise of the Monarchy. The final rough form was then turned into a Book, most likely done during the Monarchy, and refined and conserved during the exile. The majority of the early Scripture took its form during the David-Solomon supremacies under their motivated supervision. This cycle is important to note as it has been represented in several sources of literature. Five of which will be summarized and related back to Judges in this paper.

The first source of literature discusses the alliance of Elam, Egypt, and Judea against the Medes rallying around Khshathrita who was the son of Daiukku. The Medes along with the Cimmerian allies and Persian vassals tried to attack Nineveh in 653 BC but failed and led to the killing of Khshathrita. The Scythians who at the time were not part of the conflict, then took full advantage of the opportunity by occupying and conquering the Medes for 28 years. It was only after a banquet that the next Median king, Cyaxares, murdered the then drunken Scythian chieftains recovered Median power. The prophet Nahum specified that the mounting hatred of the Assyrian nobility, priests, and other influential, was going to bring about the collapse of that empire. Through adoption of the specialized military units used by the Urartians and Assyrians for over 100 years, the Medes marched west and took Arrapkha in 615 BC (Lendering, 2010, p. 1).

Although the cycle was not as similar to the Israelites in respect to faith, they were oppressed at one point, fought to gain independence, later oppressed, and then gained independence thanks to the aid of the Babylonians. The tyrants that dominated them, the Scythians, were defeated. They had a period of rest, after which they fought with Lydia for five years. They stopped only when a solar eclipse stimulated them to agree to a truce (an act of God).

Counseled on by the war party ran by Mardonius, Xerxes combined an enormous army fashioned from 46 nations and instructed by 29 Persian generals to launch an attack against Greece. Gold clothing marked the 10,000 immortals, elite Persian and Median soldiers permitted to bring their concubines and domestics on the march. The navy of 1200 ships was mostly provided by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, and even some Greeks. Fifty percent of the Persian imperial army was used - around 180,000 men. However, the Persians grieved losses when they met strong-minded resistance from 300 Spartans at the Thermopylae pass, which eventually led to the defeat of the Persians later on (Donn & Donn, 2004, p. 103).

The second source relates to the hardship of the Israelites but also how loss of faith, a key aspect of the cycle within Judges exists. The Greeks lost faith in themselves, the structure of their society, and the strength of their people. In losing that faith, they lost their will to resist. Only after regaining faith in themselves were they able to rid themselves of the oppressive cloud of Persia. (The 300 Spartans)

Another story comes from the Israelites during the Hellenistic period. They adopted many of the customs of the Greeks during the reign of Alexander. So much so that they even adopted some of their traditions. Antiochus IV, a successor of Alexander, proved to be a ruthless oppressor of the Israelites, massacring them and desecrating their temple. It was only after instilling their faith in their beliefs and fighting for one of their temples, did they achieve any form of victory (Ganeri & Phillips, 2004, p. 84).

This story, the origins of Hanukah, explained how the Israelites suffered during the postexilic period. The cycle of faith lost and faith regained was especially seen in this story. It remarked on how oppressive the Greeks were. It also explained why the Israelites lost faith.

In a fourth source, the book discusses the aftermath of Mattathias death and the revolt led by his son Judas, or Judah Maccabee, as he was commonly known by. By the end of the war, Simon, the sole survivor, ushered in an 80-year period of Jewish independence in Judea, what the Israelites called their newly formed country. This period of "rest" was soon ended after the Hasmoneans claimed not only the throne of Judah, but also the post of High Priest (Bard, 1999, p. 46). This proclamation of religious power opposed with the tradition of the priests coming from the progenies of Moses' brother Aaron and the tribe of Levi.