King James Version · The judges
Judges 10
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And after there arose to defend Israel the son of , the son of , a man of ; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount . 2And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and , and was buried in Shamir. And after him arose , a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years. And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth–jair unto this day, which are in the land of . 5And , and was buried in Camon. And the did evil again in the sight of , and , and , and the gods of , and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of , and the gods of , and the gods of the , and forsook , and not him. And the of was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the , and into the hands of . And that year they vexed and oppressed the : eighteen years, all the that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the , which is in . Moreover passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against , and against the house of ; so that Israel was sore distressed. And the cried unto , saying, We have against thee, both because we have forsaken our , and also . And said unto the , Did not I you from the , and from the , from , and from the ? The also, and , and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and other gods: wherefore I will you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them you in the time of your tribulation. And the said unto , We have : do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; us only, we thee, this day. And they the strange gods from among them, and : and his was grieved for the misery of Israel. Then were gathered together, and encamped in . And the assembled themselves together, and encamped in . And the people and princes of said one to another, What man is he that will begin to fight against ? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.