Judges 12
Judges 12 | |
---|---|
Book | Book of Judges |
Hebrew Bible part | Nevi'im |
Order in the Hebrew part | 2 |
Category | Former Prophets |
Christian Bible part | Old Testament (Heptateuch) |
Order in the Christian part | 7 |
Judges 12 is the twelfth
Text
This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 15 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).[7]
Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century).[8][a]
Analysis
A linguistic study by Chisholm reveals that the central part in the Book of Judges (Judges 3:7–16:31) can be divided into two panels based on the six refrains that state that the Israelites did evil in Yahweh's eyes:[10]
Panel One
- A 3:7 ויעשו בני ישראל את הרע בעיני יהוה
- And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD (KJV)[11]
- B 3:12 ויספו בני ישראל לעשות הרע בעיני יהוה
- And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD
- B 4:1 ויספו בני ישראל לעשות הרע בעיני יהוה
- And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD
Panel Two
- A 6:1 ויעשו בני ישראל הרע בעיני יהוה
- And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD
- B 10:6 ויספו בני ישראל לעשות הרע בעיני יהוה
- And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD
- B 13:1 ויספו בני ישראל לעשות הרע בעיני יהוה
- And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD
Furthermore from the linguistic evidence, the verbs used to describe the Lord's response to Israel's sin have chiastic patterns and can be grouped to fit the division above:[12]
Panel One
- 3:8 וימכרם, "and he sold them," from the root מָכַר, makar
- 3:12 ויחזק, "and he strengthened," from the root חָזַק, khazaq
- 4:2 וימכרם, "and he sold them," from the root מָכַר, makar
Panel Two
- 6:1 ויתנם, "and he gave them," from the root נָתַן, nathan
- 10:7 וימכרם, "and he sold them," from the root מָכַר, makar
- 13:1 ויתנם, "and he gave them," from the root נָתַן, nathan
This chapter contains the Jephthah's Narrative, which can be divided into 5 episodes, each with a distinct dialogue, as follows:[13][14]
Episode | Verses | Dialogue | Verses |
---|---|---|---|
A. | 10:6–16 | Israel and Yahweh | 10–15 |
B. The Ammonite threat | 10:17–11:11 | The elders and Jephthah | 5–11 |
C. | 11:12–28 | Jephthah and the Ammonite king | 12–28 |
B'. The Ammonite defeat | 11:29–40 | Jephthah and his daughter | 34–38 |
A'. | 12:1–7 | Jephthah and the Ephraimites | 1–4a |
Jephthah and the Ephraimites (12:1–7)
This section contains the fifth (the final) episode in the Jephthah Narrative.[13][14] As with Gideon in Judges 8:1–3, the Ephraimites complained that they had not been asked to join in the battle (so they could also enjoy the spoils), but this time it ended in a civil war, which the Gileadites, unified by Jephthah, had upperhand.[5] The Gileadites used the pronunciation of the Hebrew word "Shibboleth" to distinguish the Ephraimites, so they could kill them.[15]
Ibzan (12:8–10)
Jephthah was succeeded by Ibzan as the judge of Israel for seven years. He had thirty sons and thirty daughters, and when he died, he was buried in his native town, "Bethlehem", which is not followed by "Ephratah" or by "Judah" so it could be the Bethlehem in the territory of Zebulun (Joshua 19:15).[16]
Elon (12:11–12)
Ibzan was succeeded by the tenth judge, Elon, who was given very few statistics and with no historical exploits, other than he was from the tribe of Zebulun, succeeded Ibzan to judge Israel for ten years. When he died, he was buried in Aijalon in the territory of Zebulun.[17]
Abdon (12:13–15)
Elon was succeeded by
See also
- Aijalon
- Amalekites
- Ammonites
- Bethlehem
- Children of Israel
- Gileadites
- Hillel
- Jordan River
- Pirathon
- Shibboleth
- Tribe of Ephraim
- Tribe of Manasseh
- Tribe of Zebulun
Notes
- ^ The whole book of Judges is missing from the extant Codex Sinaiticus.[9]
References
- ^ Halley 1965, p. 173.
- ^ Talmud, Baba Bathra 14b-15a)
- ^ a b Gilad, Elon. Who Really Wrote the Biblical Books of Kings and the Prophets? Haaretz, June 25, 2015. Summary: The paean to King Josiah and exalted descriptions of the ancient Israelite empires beg the thought that he and his scribes lie behind the Deuteronomistic History.
- ^ Niditch 2007, p. 177.
- ^ a b Niditch 2007, p. 185.
- ^ Chisholm 2009, pp. 251–252.
- ^ Würthwein 1995, pp. 35–37.
- ^ Würthwein 1995, pp. 73–74.
- ^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Codex Sinaiticus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Chisholm 2009, p. 251.
- ^ Judges 3:7 Hebrew Text Analysis. Biblehub
- ^ Chisholm 2009, p. 252.
- ^ a b Webb 2012, p. 302.
- ^ a b Younger 2002, p. 241.
- ISBN 978-0-310-52759-6.
- ^ Hirsch, Emil G.; Seligsohn, M. "Ibzan". Jewish Encyclopedia. 1906.
- ^ Jastrow, Morris, Jr.; Mendelsohn, Charles J.; Barton, George A. "Elon". Jewish Encyclopedia. 1906.
- ^ McCurdy, J. Frederic. "Abdon". Jewish Encyclopedia. 1906.
Sources
- Chisholm, Robert B. Jr. (2009). "The Chronology of the Book of Judges: A Linguistic Clue to Solving a Pesky Problem" (PDF). Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. 52 (2): 247–55.
- ISBN 978-0-19-528881-0.
- ISBN 0-310-25720-4.
- Hayes, Christine (2015). Introduction to the Bible. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-18827-1.
- Niditch, Susan (2007). "10. Judges". In ISBN 978-0-19-927718-6. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-8028-2628-2.
- ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
- Younger, K. Lawson (2002). Judges and Ruth. The NIV Application Commentary. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0-310-20636-1.
External links
- Jewish translations:
- Shoftim - Judges - Chapter 12 (Judaica Press). Hebrew text and English translation [with Rashi's commentary] at Chabad.org
- Christian translations:
- Online Bible at GospelHall.org (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
- Judges chapter 12. Bible Gateway