Judges, Ruth: Revised Edition (The NIV Application Commentary)

by K. Lawson Younger

In the same way, there is an imbalance in the difference in Israel’s implementation of the herem. The herem is executed with a greater determination and more thoroughly than in any of Israel’s wars with the Canaanites as narrated at the beginning of Judges. In other words, they are willing to follow God more in destroying other Israelites than they are in destroying Canaanites! One of the greatest ironies of this book is that it is a nameless Levite, so self-centered and callous, who gets the greatest response from the Israelites. The Israelites are incited to almost a frenzy level by this Levite—they are willing to sacrifice their sons in a war to revenge a man whose testimony is false and motivated by self-interest. In contrast, at the end of Introduction 1 (1:1–2:5, esp. 2:1–5), the Israelite assembly is moved to tears by the angel of Yahweh’s speech (God’s special envoy), which is fully true and accurate, yet the people quickly depart from God’s way. There is little real resolve to follow God.