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Judges 6

The Call of Gideon.

1The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, who therefore delivered them into the power of Midian for seven years,

2so that Midian held Israel subject. From fear of Midian the Israelites made dens in the mountains, the caves, and the strongholds.^a

3For it used to be that whenever the Israelites had completed sowing their crops, Midian, Amalek, and the Kedemites^* would come up,

4encamp against them, and lay waste the produce of the land as far as the outskirts of Gaza, leaving no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep, ox, or donkey.

5For they would come up with their livestock, and their tents would appear as thick as locusts. They would be too many to count when they came into the land to lay it waste.

6^b Israel was reduced to utter poverty by Midian, and so the Israelites cried out to the LORD.

7When Israel cried out to the LORD because of Midian,

8^c the LORD sent a prophet to the Israelites who said to them: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I am the one who brought you up from Egypt; I brought you out of the house of slavery.

9I rescued you from the power of Egypt and all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.

10And I said to you: I, the LORD, am your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are dwelling. But you did not listen to me.

11Then the messenger of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. Joash’s son Gideon^d was beating out wheat in the wine press to save it from the Midianites,

12and the messenger of the LORD appeared to him and said: The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior!

13“My lord,” Gideon said to him, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are his wondrous deeds about which our ancestors told us when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ For now the LORD has abandoned us and has delivered us into the power of Midian.”

14^e The LORD turned to him and said: Go with the strength you have, and save Israel from the power of Midian. Is it not I who send you?

15But he answered him, “Please, my Lord, how can I save Israel? My family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the most insignificant in my father’s house.”^f

16The LORD said to him: I will be with you,^* and you will cut down Midian to the last man.

17He answered him, “If you look on me with favor, give me a sign that you are the one speaking with me.

18Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my offering and set it before you.” He answered: I will await your return.

19So Gideon went off and prepared a young goat and an ephah^* of flour in the form of unleavened cakes. Putting the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, he brought them out to him under the terebinth and presented them.

20^g The messenger of God said to him: Take the meat and unleavened cakes and lay them on this rock; then pour out the broth. When he had done so,

21the messenger of the LORD stretched out the tip of the staff he held. When he touched the meat and unleavened cakes, a fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened cakes. Then the messenger of the LORD disappeared from sight.

22^* Gideon, now aware that it had been the messenger of the LORD, said, “Alas, Lord GOD, that I have seen the messenger of the LORD face to face!”^h

23The LORD answered him: You are safe. Do not fear. You shall not die.

24So Gideon built there an altar to the LORD and called it Yahweh-shalom.^{* i} To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25That same night the LORD said to him: Take your father’s bull, the bull fattened for seven years, and pull down your father’s altar to Baal. As for the asherah^* beside it, cut it down

26and build an altar to the LORD, your God, on top of this stronghold with the pile of wood. Then take the fattened bull and offer it as a whole-burnt sacrifice on the wood from the asherah you have cut down.

27So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD had commanded him. But he was too afraid of his family and of the townspeople to do it by day; he did it at night.

28Early the next morning the townspeople found that the altar of Baal had been dismantled, the asherah beside it cut down, and the fattened bull offered on the altar that was built.

29They asked one another, “Who did this?” They inquired and searched until they were told, “Gideon, son of Joash, did it.”

30So the townspeople said to Joash, “Bring out your son that he may die, for he has dismantled the altar of Baal and cut down the asherah that was beside it.”

31But Joash replied to all who were standing around him, “Is it for you to take action for Baal, or be his savior? Anyone who takes action for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him act for himself,^j since his altar has been dismantled!”

32So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal,^{* k} because of the words, “Let Baal take action against him, since he dismantled his altar.”

33Then all Midian and Amalek and the Kedemites mustered and crossed over into the valley of Jezreel, where they encamped.

34And Gideon was clothed with the spirit of the LORD,^{* l} and he blew the horn summoning Abiezer to follow him.

35He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they, too, were summoned to follow him; he also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they advanced to meet the others.

36Gideon said to God, “If indeed you are going to save Israel through me, as you have said,

37I am putting this woolen fleece on the threshing floor, and if dew is on the fleece alone, while all the ground is dry, I shall know that you will save Israel through me, as you have said.”

38That is what happened. Early the next morning when he wrung out the fleece, he squeezed enough dew from it to fill a bowl.

39Gideon then said to God, “Do not be angry with me if I speak once more. Let me make just one more test with the fleece. Let the fleece alone be dry, but let there be dew on all the ground.”

40That is what God did that night: the fleece alone was dry, but there was dew on all the ground.

Judges 7

Defeat of Midian.

1Early the next morning Jerubbaal^a (that is, Gideon) encamped by the spring of Harod with all his soldiers. The camp of Midian was north of him, beside the hill of Moreh in the valley.

2The LORD said to Gideon: You have too many soldiers with you for me to deliver Midian into their power, lest Israel vaunt itself against me and say, “My own power saved me.”^{* b}

3So announce in the hearing of the soldiers, “If anyone is afraid or fearful, let him leave!^c Let him depart from Mount Gilead!”^* Twenty-two thousand of the soldiers left, but ten thousand remained.

4The LORD said to Gideon: There are still too many soldiers. Lead them down to the water and I will test them for you there. If I tell you that a certain man is to go with you, he must go with you. But no one is to go if I tell you he must not.

5^* When Gideon led the soldiers down to the water, the LORD said to him: Everyone who laps up the water as a dog does with its tongue you shall set aside by himself; and everyone who kneels down to drink raising his hand to his mouth you shall set aside by himself.

6Those who lapped up the water with their tongues numbered three hundred, but all the rest of the soldiers knelt down to drink the water.

7The LORD said to Gideon: By means of the three hundred who lapped up the water I will save you and deliver Midian into your power. So let all the other soldiers go home.

8They took up such supplies as the soldiers had with them, as well as their horns, and Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents, but kept the three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

9That night the LORD said to Gideon: Go, descend on the camp, for I have delivered it into your power.

10If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your aide Purah

11and listen to what they are saying. After that you will have the courage to descend on the camp. So he went down with his aide Purah to the outposts of the armed men in the camp.

12^d The Midianites, Amalekites, and all the Kedemites were lying in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could not be counted, for they were as many as the sands on the seashore.

13^* When Gideon arrived, one man was telling another about a dream. “I had a dream,” he said, “that a round loaf of barley bread was rolling into the camp of Midian. It came to a certain tent and struck it and turned it upside down, and the tent collapsed.”

14“This can only be the sword of the Israelite Gideon, son of Joash,” the other replied. “God has delivered Midian and all the camp into his power.”

15When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its explanation, he bowed down. Then returning to the camp of Israel, he said, “Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your power.”

16He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and provided them all with horns and with empty jars and torches inside the jars.

17“Watch me and follow my lead,” he told them. “I shall go to the edge of the camp, and as I do, you must do also.

18When I and those with me blow horns, you too must blow horns all around the camp and cry out, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’”

19So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch,^* just after the posting of the guards. They blew the horns and broke the jars they were holding.

20When the three companies had blown their horns and broken their jars, they took the torches in their left hands, and in their right the horns they had been blowing, and cried out, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

21They all remained standing in place around the camp, while the whole camp began to run and shout and flee.

22When they blew the three hundred horns, the LORD set the sword of one against another throughout the camp, and they fled as far as Beth-shittah in the direction of Zeredah, near the border of Abel-meholah at Tabbath.

23^e The Israelites were called to arms from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

24Gideon also sent messengers throughout the mountain region of Ephraim to say, “Go down to intercept Midian, and seize the water courses against them as far as Beth-barah, as well as the Jordan.” So all the Ephraimites were called to arms, and they seized the water courses as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan as well.

25^f They captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, killing Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian, but they had the heads of Oreb and Zeeb brought to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

Judges 8

1^a But the Ephraimites said to him, “What have you done to us, not summoning us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they quarreled bitterly with him.

2But he answered them, “What have I done in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?^b

3It was into your power God delivered the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb.^c What have I been able to do in comparison with you?” When he said this, their anger against him subsided.

4When Gideon reached the Jordan and crossed it, he and his three hundred men were exhausted and famished.

5So he said to the people of Succoth, “Will you give my followers some loaves of bread? They are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.”

6But the princes of Succoth replied, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give food to your army?”^*

7Gideon said, “Very well; when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my power, I will thrash your bodies with desert thorns and briers.”

8He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request of them, but the people of Penuel answered him as had the people of Succoth.

9So to the people of Penuel, too, he said, “When I return in peace, I will demolish this tower.”

10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their force of about fifteen thousand men; these were all who were left of the whole Kedemite army, a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen having fallen.

11Gideon went up by the route of the tent-dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the force when it felt secure.

12Zebah and Zalmunna fled and Gideon pursued them. He captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, terrifying the entire force.

13Then Gideon, son of Joash, returned from battle by the pass of Heres.

14He captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him, and he wrote down for him the seventy-seven princes and elders of Succoth.

15So he went to the princes of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom you taunted me, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give food to your weary men?’”

16He seized the elders of the city, and with desert thorns and briers he thrashed the people of Succoth.

17He also demolished the tower of Penuel and killed the people of the city.

18Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What about the men you killed at Tabor?” “They were all like you,” they replied. “They appeared to be princes.”

19“They were my brothers, my mother’s sons,” he said. “As the LORD lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you.”

20Then he said to his firstborn, Jether, “Go, kill them.” But the boy did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, for he was still a boy.

21^d Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Come, kill us yourself, for as a man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon stepped forward and killed Zebah and Zalmunna. He also took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.

22^e The Israelites then said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son, and your son’s son—for you saved us from the power of Midian.”

23But Gideon answered them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you. The LORD must rule over you.”^f

24Gideon went on to say, “Let me make a request of you. Give me, each of you, a ring from his spoils.” (Since they were Ishmaelites,^* the enemy had gold rings.)

25“We will certainly give them,” they replied, and they spread out a cloak into which everyone threw a ring from his spoils.

26The gold rings he had requested weighed seventeen hundred gold shekels, apart from the crescents and pendants, the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and apart from the trappings that were on the necks of their camels.

27^g Gideon made an ephod out of the gold and placed it in his city, Ophrah. All Israel prostituted themselves there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

28Midian was brought into subjection by the Israelites; they no longer held their heads high, and the land had rest for forty years,^h during the lifetime of Gideon.

Gideon’s Son Abimelech.

29Then Jerubbaal, son of Joash, went to live in his house.

30ⁱ Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.

31His concubine^* who lived in Shechem also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech.

32At a good old age Gideon, son of Joash, died and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

33^j But after Gideon was dead, the Israelites again prostituted themselves by following the Baals, making Baal-berith^* their god.

34The Israelites did not remember the LORD, their God, who had delivered them from the power of their enemies all around them.

35Nor were they loyal to the house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel.

1 Corinthians 4

Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.^a

2Now it is of course required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.

3It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal; I do not even pass judgment on myself;

4I am not conscious of anything against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted; the one who judges me is the Lord.^b

5Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise from God.

Paul’s Life as Pattern.^*

6I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written,^* so that none of you will be inflated with pride in favor of one person over against another.

7Who confers distinction upon you? What do you possess that you have not received? But if you have received it, why are you boasting as if you did not receive it?

8You are already satisfied; you have already grown rich; you have become kings^* without us! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we also might become kings with you.

9^* For as I see it, God has exhibited us apostles as the last of all, like people sentenced to death, since we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and human beings alike.^c

10We are fools on Christ’s account, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are held in honor, but we in disrepute.^d

11To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clad and roughly treated, we wander about homeless^e

12and we toil, working with our own hands. When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;^f

13when slandered, we respond gently. We have become like the world’s rubbish, the scum of all, to this very moment.

14I am writing you this not to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.^*

15Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.^g

16Therefore, I urge you, be imitators of me.^h

17For this reason I am sending you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord; he will remind you of my ways in Christ [Jesus], just as I teach them everywhere in every church.ⁱ

18^* Some have become inflated with pride, as if I were not coming to you.

19But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I shall ascertain not the talk of these inflated people but their power.

20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.^j

21Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a gentle spirit?^k

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The complete Book of Joshua

THE BOOK OF JUDGES

THE BOOK OF JUDGES

The Hebrew word translated “Judges” in the English title of the book refers not to specialized judicial officers or magistrates but to leaders in general. According to the biblical narrative these judges led Israel from the end of the conquest of Canaan until the beginning of the monarchy. The period of the Judges, therefore, extended from the death of Joshua (Jos 24:29–31; cf. Jgs 1:1) until the installation of Saul as Israel’s first king by the prophet Samuel, who was also the last judge (see 1 Sm 7:15–17).

The Book of Judges begins with two introductory passages. The first (chap. 1) gives a description of the situation in Canaan after the Israelite conquest. It emphasizes the continued existence of the indigenous inhabitants of Canaan in many parts of the land because of Israel’s inability to drive them out completely. The second passage (2:1–3:6) is a thematic introduction to the period of the Judges, describing a cyclical pattern of infidelity, oppression, “crying out,” and deliverance (see note on 2:10–19).

The main part of the book (3:7–16:31) consists of a series of stories about thirteen leaders whose careers are described in greater or lesser detail. The exploits of six of these—Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson—are related at length, and all are shown to have delivered Israel from oppression or danger. They are customarily called “major judges,” whereas the other six—Shamgar, Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon—who appear only in brief notices, are designated “minor judges.” The thirteenth, Abimelech, is included in neither group, since his story is essentially a continuation of that of Gideon and his career is presented as deplorable, a cautionary tale of royal ambition.

The final section of the book consists of two episodes, one about the migration of the tribe of Dan (chaps. 17–18) and the other about an intertribal war directed against the tribe of Benjamin (chaps. 19–21). These stories illustrate the religious and political disorder that prevailed at the time when, as yet, “there was no king in Israel” (see note on 17:6).

The principal contribution of the Deuteronomistic historian to the Book of Judges is the thematic introduction to—and theological evaluation of—the period of the Judges in 2:1–3:6, as well as editorial comments structuring the narrative throughout, e.g., 3:7; 4:1; etc. The historian drew the stories of the judges themselves from older sources, which could have existed in written form but derive ultimately from oral tradition.

Thus the principal divisions of the book in outline are as follows:

1. The Situation in Canaan Following the Israelite Conquest (1:1–3:6)
2. Stories of the Judges (3:7–16:31)
3. Further Stories of the Tribes of Dan and Benjamin (17:1–21:25)

The book of 1 Corinthians

THE FIRST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

Paul’s first letter to the church of Corinth provides us with a fuller insight into the life of an early Christian community of the first generation than any other book of the New Testament. Through it we can glimpse both the strengths and the weaknesses of this small group in a great city of the ancient world, men and women who had accepted the good news of Christ and were now trying to realize in their lives the implications of their baptism. Paul, who had founded the community and continued to look after it as a father, responds both to questions addressed to him and to situations of which he had been informed. In doing so, he reveals much about himself, his teaching, and the way in which he conducted his work of apostleship. Some things are puzzling because we have the correspondence only in one direction. For the person studying this letter, it seems to raise as many questions as it answers, but without it our knowledge of church life in the middle of the first century would be much poorer.

Paul established a Christian community in Corinth about the year 51, on his second missionary journey. The city, a commercial crossroads, was a melting pot full of devotees of various pagan cults and marked by a measure of moral depravity not unusual in a great seaport. The Acts of the Apostles suggests that moderate success attended Paul’s efforts among the Jews in Corinth at first, but that they soon turned against him (Acts 18:1–8). More fruitful was his year and a half spent among the Gentiles (Acts 18:11), which won to the faith many of the city’s poor and underprivileged (1 Cor 1:26). After his departure the eloquent Apollos, an Alexandrian Jewish Christian, rendered great service to the community, expounding “from the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus” (Acts 18:24–28).

While Paul was in Ephesus on his third journey (1 Cor 16:8; Acts 19:1–20), he received disquieting news about Corinth. The community there was displaying open factionalism, as certain members were identifying themselves exclusively with individual Christian leaders and interpreting Christian teaching as a superior wisdom for the initiated few (1 Cor 1:10–4:21). The community lacked the decisiveness to take appropriate action against one of its members who was living publicly in an incestuous union (1 Cor 5:1–13). Other members engaged in legal conflicts in pagan courts of law (1 Cor 6:1–11); still others may have participated in religious prostitution (1 Cor 6:12–20) or temple sacrifices (1 Cor 10:14–22).

The community’s ills were reflected in its liturgy. In the celebration of the Eucharist certain members discriminated against others, drank too freely at the agape, or fellowship meal, and denied Christian social courtesies to the poor among the membership (1 Cor 11:17–22). Charisms such as ecstatic prayer, attributed freely to the impulse of the holy Spirit, were more highly prized than works of charity (1 Cor 13:1–2, 8), and were used at times in a disorderly way (1 Cor 14:1–40). Women appeared at the assembly without the customary head-covering (1 Cor 11:3–16), and perhaps were quarreling over their right to address the assembly (1 Cor 14:34–35).

Still other problems with which Paul had to deal concerned matters of conscience discussed among the faithful members of the community: the eating of meat that had been sacrificed to idols (1 Cor 8:1–13), the use of sex in marriage (1 Cor 7:1–7), and the attitude to be taken by the unmarried toward marriage in view of the possible proximity of Christ’s second coming (1 Cor 7:25–40). There was also a doctrinal matter that called for Paul’s attention, for some members of the community, despite their belief in the resurrection of Christ, were denying the possibility of general bodily resurrection.

To treat this wide spectrum of questions, Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus about the year 56. The majority of the Corinthian Christians may well have been quite faithful. Paul writes on their behalf to guard against the threats posed to the community by the views and conduct of various minorities. He writes with confidence in the authority of his apostolic mission, and he presumes that the Corinthians, despite their deficiencies, will recognize and accept it. On the other hand, he does not hesitate to exercise his authority as his judgment dictates in each situation, even going so far as to promise a direct confrontation with recalcitrants, should the abuses he scores remain uncorrected (1 Cor 4:18–21).

The letter illustrates well the mind and character of Paul. Although he is impelled to insist on his office as founder of the community, he recognizes that he is only one servant of God among many and generously acknowledges the labors of Apollos (1 Cor 3:5–8). He provides us in this letter with many valuable examples of his method of theological reflection and exposition. He always treats the questions at issue on the level of the purity of Christian teaching and conduct. Certain passages of the letter are of the greatest importance for the understanding of early Christian teaching on the Eucharist (1 Cor 10:14–22; 11:17–34) and on the resurrection of the body (1 Cor 15:1–58).

Paul’s authorship of 1 Corinthians, apart from a few verses that some regard as later interpolations, has never been seriously questioned. Some scholars have proposed, however, that the letter as we have it contains portions of more than one original Pauline letter. We know that Paul wrote at least two other letters to Corinth (see 1 Cor 5:9; 2 Cor 2:3–4) in addition to the two that we now have; this theory holds that the additional letters are actually contained within the two canonical ones. Most commentators, however, find 1 Corinthians quite understandable as a single coherent work.

The principal divisions of the First Letter to the Corinthians are the following:

1. Address (1:1–9)
2. Disorders in the Corinthian Community (1:10–6:20)
   1. Divisions in the Church (1:10–4:21)
   2. Moral Disorders (5:1–6:20)
3. Answers to the Corinthians’ Questions (7:1–11:1)
   1. Marriage and Virginity (7:1–40)
   2. Offerings to Idols (8:1–11:1)
4. Problems in Liturgical Assemblies (11:2–14:40)
   1. Women’s Headdresses (11:3–16)
   2. The Lord’s Supper (11:17–34)
   3. Spiritual Gifts (12:1–14:40)
5. The Resurrection (15:1–58)
   1. The Resurrection of Christ (15:1–11)
   2. The Resurrection of the Dead (15:12–34)
   3. The Manner of the Resurrection (15:35–58)
6. Conclusion (16:1–24)