Seder Olam: C22- Judges
- Albert Benhamou
- Mar 12
- 29 min read
Updated: Mar 20
BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY
Generation 22: Hebrew years 2520 to 2640 (1240-1120 BCE)
Introduction
After the partial conquest of Canaan and the death of Joshua and of the Elders, the Israelites deviate from God’s commandments. Oppression starts and judges are chosen to correct the path of the people.
Year 2536 – 1224 BCE – Death of Joshua
At the end of his life, Joshua addressed a tough warning to the tribes of Israel in Sichem (the city is Nablus today) saying:
"Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. Otherwise if you do in any way go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these [pagan] nations, even these that remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you; know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap unto you, and a scourge in your sides, and pricks in your eyes, until you will perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you. (Joshua 23:11-13)
Before he died, Joshua wrote the Book of Joshua, later named after him, which follows the Torah, the book of the law of God as mentioned in the following text:
So, Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and set them a statute and an ordinance in Sichem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone and set it up there under the Pistacia tree that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said unto all the people: "Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke unto us; it shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God." (Joshua 24:25-27)
Joshua died at the age of 110 years old (Joshua 24:29, Judges 2:8), at the same age as Joseph. As he was 30 years old at the time of the explorers, in year Hebrew 2456 (see document C21a), he thus died in Hebrew year 2536 (1224 BCE), which was 82 years after the Exodus (Hebrew year 2454), and 41 years from when he started the conquest of Canaan (Hebrew year 2495).
It is in Sichem that the Israelites also transported the remains of Joseph which they took out of Egypt. They buried him there, in the field that his father Jacob had bought, and raised a mausoleum.[2] Strangely the New Testament wrongly states that the tombs of the Patriarchs was in Sichem, instead of Hebron (Acts 7:15). The tomb of Joseph was destroyed in 2000 by a Palestinian mob during the Second Intifada despite vows from every side to preserve religious sites. Since then, despite restorations, it is regularly vandalized.
About Moses' taking the coffin of Joseph from Egypt, there is the following tradition about how he found where the coffin was:
R. Nathan says: He [Joseph] was buried in the sepulcher of the kings [the Valley of the Kings, where tombs were hidden from human eyes with their access covered with sand]; and Moses went and stood by the sepulcher of the kings and exclaimed. ‘Joseph! the time has arrived which the Holy One, blessed be He, swore "I will deliver you", and the oath which you did impose upon the Israelites has reached [the time of fulfilment]; if you will show yourself, well and good; otherwise, behold, we are free of your oath’. At that moment, Joseph's coffin shook, and Moses took it and carried it with him. (Talmud, Sotah 13a)
About Year 2540 – 1220 BCE – The Tribe of Dan
The Tribe of Dan was the last to receive its allotment which stretched from the Western edge of Judean Lowlands until the coastline. This was the smallest and most problematic territory because it had barely any hill where to defend themselves and was the antique "international" highway between Egypt and Mesopotamia via Aram. Besides, the powerful Philistines, who had chariots and mastered the use of iron in weaponry (instead of bronze) already controlled this coastal area.
So, as soon as Joshua died, part of the Danites decided to look for another territory elsewhere, obviously outside the boundaries of their Israelite brethren. The Bible tells us that the Danites sent 5 spies to find a place to settle in the North and they came back to report what they found:
Then the five men [of Dan] departed and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was none in the land, possessing authority, that might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians [of the coastal city of Sidon], and had no dealings with any man. And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol; and their brethren said unto them: 'What say you?' And they said: 'Arise and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good; and are you still? be not slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land. When you go, you shall come unto a people secure, and the land is large; for God has given it into your hand; a place where there is no want; it has everything that is on earth.' And there set forth from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men girt with weapons of war. (Judges 18:7-11)
The city of Laish seemed the perfect target. It was located at the source of a powerful river (later named the Dan), on very fertile land. But it was inhabited by people foreign to the region, remote from their core base (the kingdom of Sidon, Phoenicia), who could not expect any military support from distant Canaanite neighbors if attacked.
So, 600 Danites went north and took over Laish which they renamed the city "Dan". The rest of the Danites remained in their allotment and settled on some of the hills close to Judah, without any attempt to conquer the territory allocated to them.
The conquerors of Laish destroyed the city and burned it down. They kept part of the city walls and gate as protection for the new city of Dan they built there. This land was so far away from the center of the Israelite life that these Danites set up their own cult. To do so, they employed a Levite called Micah to make a graven image:
And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel [Jacob]; howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first. And the children of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land [at the time of the Assyrian conquest]. So, they set up Micah's graven image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh. (Judges 18:29-31)
Today Tel Dan is an important archaeological site of the Land of Israel and a national park. Excavations there have unearthed many items with Phoenician and Aegean influences thus confirming the narrative of the Bible that this city was previously inhabited by Phoenician people before the Danite conquest.
Year 2552 – 1208 BCE – The Merneptah Stele
When the Israelites started to deviate from the paths of God, He started to send them some threats that became more and more severe over time. The first of these threats came from Egypt itself, the nation their ancestors had been freed from. Pharaoh Merneptah, the son of Ramses II, led military campaigns in Libya but also in Canaan between 1208 and 1203 BCE, although he was already an old Pharaoh at that time, about 60 or 70 years of age. At his death in 1203 BCE, a stele of victory had been created to relate his military achievements. It was discovered in 1896 in Thebes and is acknowledged to bear the first archaeological proof of the name "Israel". Indeed, one of the last lines of the stele (line 27) mentions:
The princes are prostrate, saying, "Peace!"
Not one is raising his head among the Nine Bows.
Now that Tehenu (Libya) has come to ruin; Hatti is pacified;
The Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe:
Ashkelon has been overcome. Gezer has been captured.
Yano'am is made non-existent.
Israel is laid waste, and his seed is not;
Hurru is become a widow because of Egypt.
(Merneptah Stele, transcription in Wikipedia)
This campaign was mostly made along the coastal plain of Canaan and its southern region, attacking the Philistine land and some of the Israelite tribes who lived in the area, such as Simeon and Dan.
This campaign in Canaan is factual, and there is no doubt that some Israelites lived in the regions that were attacked by Merneptah. The word Israel is written in hieroglyphs as i-s-r-a-a-r, which has been transcribed as Israel, assuming the last 'r' should have been an 'l'.
Beside the name Israar/Israel, the text also mentions that they were a ‘people’ and not a ‘city-state’ such as the ones named on the stele (Gezer, Ashkelon, etc.) or not a land either (such as Canaan). Because the ancient languages, and modern Hebrew, uses feminine forms to mention cities, lands, or countries. But the form used for ‘Israel’ is masculine which refers to a people. This points that Israar were a people of foreign settlers, not locals established in cities, and this was indeed the case for the Israelite tribes in these times, the time of the Judges.
The stele also mentions Canaan as 'Kanana, an enemy of foreign land':
So, this stele gives an additional important proof: Canaan and Israel were considered two different people in these ancient times. This contradicts theories that Israelites were Canaanites, or even Egyptians! So, in summary, the Merneptah stele provides 3 important points:
The first archaeological evidence of the name ‘Israel’
Israel was a people, not a city-state or a defined realm
Israel was distinct from Canaan
Year 2558 – 1202 BCE – Death of Eleazar the Priest
Joshua was the first of the Elders to die, and Eleazar son of Aaron was the last one (Joshua 24:33). There is a parallel with the sons of Jacob when they died in Egypt: the first to die was Joseph in Hebrew year 2309 and the last was Levi in Hebrew year 2331: there is a difference of 21 or 23 years between the two events, based on the assumption about the birth year of Levi. So, we can assume a difference of 22 years, although this does not affect the main details of the chronology. Here again, Joshua had Joseph as ancestor and Eleazar had Levi, so the same difference of 22 years between their deaths may be applied for Joshua and Eleazar. In other words, Eleazar died 22 years after Joshua, in Hebrew year 2558.
Note that the number 22 has a relation with the Hebrews in Egypt because the word for Pesach is פסח which has a numerical value of 8+60+80; but the small count, which only takes the numbers from 0 to 9, gives 8+6+8= 22; 22 also represents the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, which was given to the Hebrews along with the Torah.
How old was Eleazar when he died? Although the text does not mention it, we can make some assumptions. In the desert, at the time of the explorers, Eleazar was younger than 30 years old otherwise he would have been part of the divine service like his two older brothers, Nadab and Abihu, because the minimum age of priesthood was 30 years:
And unto Moses He said: "Come up unto the Lord, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship you afar off; and Moses alone shall come near unto the Lord; but they shall not come near; neither shall the people go up with him." (Exodus 24:1-2)
So, if we assume that Eleazar was aged a bit below 30 years old in Hebrew year 2456, he would have been born a bit earlier than year 2425, making him a man of a bit more than 133 years of age when he died in year 2558. This was longer life than most of the rest of the people because God decreed than human life was not to exceed 120 years. However, at that time, God blessed the priests, the Levites, by granting them longer human life. This will however change at a later generation, after the death of Eli the Priest.
But the age of Eleazar at the time of death has no incidence on the chronology. If he indeed died at the age of 137, it would have been at the same age as his ancestor Levi (Exodus 6:16).
After Eleazar, his son Phinehas became the High Priest. He moved the Ark of Covenant from Shiloh to Beth-El, a city where he had settled (Judges 20:26-28), at the border of the territories of Benjamin and Manasseh (Joshua 18:13), on Benjamin’s side (Joshua 18:22). To read more about Beth-El, click here.
In Hebrew year 2558, a total of 104 years had passed since the Exodus. The Israelites were at their third generation of family since this event: the first generation left Egypt and died in the desert, the second generation entered and conquered Canaan and died before Eleazer and the Elders, and the third generation is the one who commenced the period of the Judges. Meanwhile, during this time, Egypt went through a succession of troubles, either caused by foreign invaders or by internal power struggles, and this ended up with divisions within their country. No Pharaoh stepped foot in the land of Canaan during these troubled times although many of the territories conquered by the Israelites had been vassals to Egypt since the time of the military campaigns of Seti I and Ramses II in the region.
Year 2558 – 1202 BCE – The Period of the Judges
The generation that followed Joshua and Eleazar's deaths started to sin immediately:
And also, all that generation were gathered unto their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, that knew not the Lord, nor yet the work which He had wrought for Israel. (Judges 2:10)
The above text is striking of similarity with what was said of Egypt at the time after the sons of Jacob died, Joseph first and Levi last.
And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. (Exodus 1:6-8)
The similitude that all previous generation died and that a new generation rose who knew not of the past is a warning of God’s forthcoming anger at His people.
As a first sin, this generation took spouses among the Canaanites women and Israelite women married Canaanite men (this included Samson the judge who famously took a Philistine woman for wife and who later had a relation with Dalila another Philistine). This was caused by the fact that the Israelites did not finish their conquest and left many Canaanite peoples to dwell in their territories, sometimes in exchange of a levy. These intermarriages caused the Israelites to adopt the rites of their neighbors’ pagan gods. This infuriated God and He decided to punish His people by causing disruptions to the peace that they had enjoyed thus far.
The first form of punishment would come from foreign people who came to spoil the Israelites, and then the second form of punishment would be the oppression exerted by the Israelites’ neighbors themselves, who had not been driven out of Canaan as Joshua had wanted, as it is said:
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and He gave them over into the hands of their enemies around, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. (Judges 2:14)
But, at the same time, God had offered them the choice for repentance by raising Judges among them, to guide them back into the right ways. And thus started the period of Judges: 12 of them, one from each tribe, presided in turn over the destiny of the Israelites, until the time of their unified Kingdom.
And the Lord raised up judges who saved them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they hearkened not unto their judges, for they went astray after other gods, and worshipped them; they turned aside quickly out of the way wherein their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not so. And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it repented the Lord because of their groaning by reason of them that oppressed them and crushed them. But it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to worship them; they left nothing undone of their practices, nor of their stubborn way. (Judges 2:16-19)
After the foreign spoilers, the Israelites were oppressed by their neighbors. Because, seeing the bad behavior of the Israelites, God did not allow them to completely drive out the rest of the Canaanite people after Joshua. Rather He allowed them to remain where Joshua had left them, so that they could oppress the Israelites at times:
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel; and He said: "Because this nation have transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and have not hearkened unto My voice, I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died; that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not."
So, the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered He them into the hand of Joshua. (Judges 2:20-23)
Concerning the Philistines, they would oppress the Israelites during several years of conflicts, principally towards the end of the Judges period and until the time of King David who put an end to their oppression. The Philistines were difficult to defeat because their cities were protected by impressive fortified walls and city gates, and they had chariots of iron for warfare which were suitable to bring in battles in the valleys. On their side, the Israelites would find shelter in the hilly countries of Judea and Samaria where the chariots of the enemies could not easily venture (Judges 1:19).
The Israelites had succeeded in conquering all the cities in the hills except for the one of the Jebusites, on a southern side of present-day Jerusalem, which had been under the responsibility of the Tribe of Benjamin to conquer (Judges 1:20).
The period of the Judges may roughly be divided in three periods, each one starting with the text saying that the children of Israel […] served the Baals [the idols].
In the first occurrence (Judges 3:7), God sent foreign spoilers against the Israelites, which were the Arameans. And then He sent the enemies around them. Five judges were raised to redress Israel in the good path: Othniel of Judah, Ehud of Benjamin, Shamgar of Naphtali, Deborah of Ephraim and Gideon of Manasseh. This first period lasted 84 years, from the death of Eleazar until the death of Gideon.
In the second occurrence (Judges 8:33), God put Israel in the hand of their direct neighbors but to a degree lesser than before, because this time the text says that Israel “went astray after” the Baals rather than “they served” the Baals. In other words, the Israelites did not sin as badly in this second phase, so their punishment was not as harsh. God raised two judges to redress Israel: Tola of Issachar and Jair of Manasseh. This second period only lasted 26 years.
Then came the third occurrence (Judges 10:6) when the Israelites from nearly all the tribes “served all the Baals” from all their neighbors, as if the contact with them during the previous period, even if it occurred in the context of war, ultimately resulted in bad influence over the Israelites. This time God put most of tribes of Israel into trouble, but raised five Judges to contain the yoke of their enemies: Yiftah of Gilead, Ibzan of Judah, Elon of Zebulun, Avdon of Ephraim, Samson of Dan. And this period lasted 31 years until the first king of Israel was anointed.
In total the period of the Judges lasted about 141 years. However, the Seder Olam considered that the period of the Judges lasted about 352 years, because it added the period of each judge in a continuous manner, one back to the other. This approach is debatable, even among religious scholars, because the judges were from different tribes and acted in different parts of the land without correlation. So, they acted at different times and, sometimes, in parallel on different part of the land of Israel. As it is mentioned in the last verse of the book of the Judges:
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25)
A second consideration of the Seder Olam’s approach is that, as it gives the period of judges such a lengthy period of 350 years, it conflicts with the period of the kings, which came next, putting the times of the kingdoms at odds with archaeological findings and other historical sources from neighboring nations.
A last consideration is the generations that are described in the Book of Chronicles. If we look at the genealogy of the future King David, starting from his ancestor Nahshon, the head of the tribe of Judah who left Egypt at the Exodus. The succession was as follows: Nahshon (generation 3) => Salma (who participated to the conquest of Canaan, generation 4) => Boaz (who married Ruth the Moabite) => Obed => Jesse => David (generation 8, David was also his 8th son according to the book of Samuel) (to read about the Jewish symbolism of the numbers, click here). And the period of the Judges ended with the rule of Prophet Samuel and King Saul. In other words, David was of the 5th human generation from the conquest until the end of the period of Judges. Assuming an average of 25-30 years per human generation (before the birth of the next child and generation), this would add up to 125-150 years for this period, which falls into the window of 141 years but is no match with the 352 years assumed by the Seder Olam.
After three attempts to redress the Israelites, it became clear that the method of sending judges would not suffice. The lack of central command and policy caused the various tribes of Israelites to go astray in turn, and one judge from one tribe or another was never enough to have an impact over the entire nation of 12 tribes.
So, even if God was initially reluctant to allow His people to have a king, it became a necessity to form a unified nation around a king, chosen by God Himself, who would impose his authority and, hopefully, guide the people into His divine laws.
Year 2558 – 1202 BCE – The Arameans
Soon after the death of Eleazar, the Israelite tribes in the valleys were subjugated during 8 years by a foreign king called Kushan-Rishatayim of Aram-Naharayim. Aram-Naharayim was already mentioned in Genesis when Eliezer, Abraham's old servant, went north to Charan 470 years earlier to find a wife for Isaac (see document C18). This is the land of Aram, between in former Northern Mesopotamia. At this time, the Arameans formed themselves as a kingdom which we do not know much about, because the kingdom was later destroyed by the Assyrians.
The name of this king Kushan-Rishatayim contains the work shatayim meaning “two”. This could refer to one of the kings with a name as "the Second", such as one called Pahir-Ishshan II, but History knowns little about the early kings of Aram. Another possibility is that this king became the king of the alliance of two peoples, the Aramaeans and the "Ahlamû", the existence of the latter being testified in inscriptions dating from the reign the Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria (around 1100 BCE), while the former would be the dominant people of the region in the centuries that followed. The name Ahlamû means wanderers, which assumes that they were a nomadic tribe that settled in Aram-Naharayim. The name has possible Semitic and Hebrew root to say Ahel-amû which means “People of the tent”, suitable for nomadic people indeed. Whoever this king was, he came with a vast army and with many chariots, to enable them to attack all valleys lands during their campaign in Canaan. His invasion, however, did not affect much the tribes located in the hill countries, including the main part of Judah.
Year 2576 – 1184 BCE – Judge Othniel of Judah
After 8 years of Arameans yoke, in year 2566, the Israelites of the valleys were delivered by Judge Othniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, from the tribe of Judah, who had been judge for his tribe from the death of Joshua. At the time, the Israelites asked God for a new leader and God designated the tribe of Judah for this role (Judges 1:1-2). Othniel was already the heir of Caleb in leading the war to conquer the Judean hills, and he married his first cousin Achsah, Caleb’s daughter (Judges 1:11-13).
Othniel had been judge of Judah for 40 years, after Joshua’s death in 2536, when he died in year 2576. The fact that Othniel was the head of the tribe of Judah instead of one of the sons of Nahshon, who was described as the Prince of Judah at the time of the Exodus and in the desert, may be an indication of the reason why one of Nahshon's son, Elimelech, left his tribe, maybe out of bitterness, and settled in Moab with his wife Naomi and his two sons. However Elimelech's brother, Salma or Salmon, remained in the territory of Judah and had a son called Boaz.
Year 2576 – 1184 BCE – Civil war against the Tribe of Benjamin
It is after the death of Othniel that one of the worst events in Jewish history took place. The story is told at the end of the book of Judges, but it happened at the beginning of that period, after the death of Judge Othniel, when no other judge from Judah would be judging over the tribes. The only person who could have had any influence over the events to unfold was the High Priest Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron. But he lived in Beth-El, at the border with Benjamin’s territory, so probably could not feel in a position to initially take side against his hosts. As a reminder, the Levites did not have a territory of their own but were living among the different tribes, in cities designated for them.
The story was that a Levite was on his way back from Bethlehem with his new wife who had a bad reputation of being like a harlot there. When the couple was on their way to the territory of Ephraim, where the Levite was from, they had to cross the territory of Benjamin, and found shelter overnight in the house of an old man in the town of Gibeah. The behavior of the people of the town was reminiscent to what Sodom did to Loth’s visitors in Abraham’s time (the similarity of the two behaviors is emphasized by the fact that both texts are in the same chapter number: Genesis 22 for Sodom and Judges 22 for Gibeah):
"Bring forth the man that came into your house that we may know him." (Judges 19:22)
Their evil deeds ultimately led to the rape and death of the wife of the Levite in a most atrocious manner. He sought to inform the tribes of Israel of this city’s deeds, and this caused their revulsion against the people of Gibeah. A total of 400,000 men assembled to decide that the culprits should be put to death so that, as they stated, we would put away evil from Israel (Judges 20:13).
But there was no judge over Israel at the time, each tribe acted as they saw right. In this case, the tribe of Benjamin would not condemn their city and a civil war started. Their forces totaled 26,000 men, in addition to the 700 men from Gibeah. Although outnumbered, the people of Benjamin were skilled in the use of slings, as they rarely missed, and they were left-handed, as was Benjamin son of Jacob, their ancestor. According to scientific research from Oxford University's Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, being left-handed is an advantage in physical combat; to read about it, click here.
In the first day, Benjamin killed 22,000 Israelites, and then 18,000 in the second day. Before the engagement of the third day, Phinehas the High Priest passed the word that God will deliver the sons of Benjamin to the hand of Israel:
And the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty and five thousand and a hundred men; all these drew the sword. (Judges 20:35)
This was a great slaughter for the tribe of Benjamin which counted 26,700 men in total, because 25,100 of them had died on that day. The tribe was nearly entirely wiped out except for 1600 remaining men who were doing a last stand at the “Rock of Rimmon”. This rocky formation in the hills of Samaria still exists today (location 31o56'43N 35o17'12E), although very eroded after 3000 years.
But, in the evening, the tribes of Israel felt sorrow for having nearly exterminated one of their brethren and could not come to terms that one of the 12 Tribes of Israel would be utterly wiped out. So, they spared the life of the last men of Benjamin. But, as they had sworn not to ever give their daughters as wives to Benjamin, they went into an expedition to an Israelite city called Jabesh-Gilead (at the east from the Jordan River) who didn’t respond to the call to arms against Benjamin and didn’t suffer the casualties of war. As a punishment, they killed everyone in that city except for the young women: they found 400 of them and brought them to Shiloh for the sons of Benjamin to repopulate their tribe.
These 400 wives were however not sufficient for all 1600 men, so another manner was sought for the remaining 1200 men:
And they said: “Behold, there is the feast of the Lord from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Beth-El, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beth-El to Sichem, and on the south of Lebonah.” And they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying: “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; and see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come you out of the vineyards and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come to strive with us that we will say unto them: Grant them graciously unto us; because we took not for each man of them his wife in battle; neither did you give them unto them, that you should now be guilty [of the previous oath given].”
And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they carried off; and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in them. (Judges 21:19:23)
The reason for choosing the city of Shiloh was because it used to be a city of priests, before the Ark was moved by Phinehas to Beth-El. And these priests could not participate in any war. So, as a result, they did not endure the losses of war against Benjamin. Their tribute was to provide young maidens for the men of Benjamin.
After this event, the Ark of Covenant was moved back from Beth-El to Shiloh. According to Tradition, the rest of the Benjamin people who could not take a wife decided to leave the land of Israel after this war. They would have found sea passage with the early Phoenicians and moved to a place where they founded a city, which will become a military power some centuries later: Rome. There are details about the birth of Rome that fit into the theory of an origin from Benjamin:
The brothers Romulus and Remus were abandoned, as newborn babies, on a river before being saved by a she-wolf; this is reminiscent of the birth of Moses, a story that only finds its origin in the Bible
The symbol of Rome is the she-wolf: the wolf was also the symbol for Benjamin who was described by his father Jacob as “a predatory wolf” (Genesis 49:27); this verse is the only place in the entire Torah where the word “wolf” is mentioned.
The founding of Rome by Romulus occurred after he had killed his own brother Remus in a feud; this is reminiscent of the tribes of Israel fighting their own brethren, the Benjamin tribe, in a civil brotherly war
Rome was founded in a hilly region, like Benjamin’s territory in Canaan, which may explain why Benjamin men had selected that location to settle down as it reminded them their fatherland
The city was named Roma, which is like Ramah, which means “height” in Hebrew, identical to names or prefixes of cities in the hilly territory of Benjamin
The "rape" (or abduction) of the Sabines during a festival, to help populate Rome, is reminiscent to the girls of Shiloh also taken during a festival
Year 2577 – 1183 BCE – The Moabites – Boaz and Ruth
The expedition of the Israelites into the other side of the Jordan River, against the city of Jabesh-Gilead, gave a pretext for Eglon king of Moab to act against them after their civil war. Because he knew that, without the skillful men of the Benjamin tribe, their territory on the western side of the Jordan River was no longer defended. It was a good opportunity for the enemies of the tribes of Israel to seek revenge. Eglon formed a coalition with the Ammonites in the north and the Amalekites in the south and submitted the land of Canaan to their yoke for 18 years (Judges 3:14).
The Moabites were the descendants of Moab, the son born from the incestuous intercourse between one of Lot's daughters and her father (see document C18). King David will be a descendant of Ruth the Moabite, who married Boaz from Judah. How did this occur? A man called Elimelech from Bethlehem, in the territory of Judah, left his Tribe on the pretext of a famine and settled down in the land of Moab with his wife Naomi and his two sons. They stayed there about 10 years during which the two sons got married to two Moabite women, one of them being called Ruth. But all three men died, the father and his two sons, probably out of divine punishment to have abandoned their land and married out to foreign women. When Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, Ruth her daughter-in-law decided not to abandon her by saying the famous response:
And Ruth said: 'Entreat me not to leave you, and to return from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, only death will separate you and me.' (Ruth 1: 16-17)
So, Ruth followed Naomi into Judah and ultimately met and married Boaz, who was the nephew of Elimelech. Boaz and Ruth became the grandparents of Jesse, the father of future Kind David:
Now these are the generations of Perez [son of Judah and Tamar]: Perez begot Hezron; and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab; and Amminadab begot Nahshon [generation of the Exodus], and Nahshon begot Salmon [generation who was born in the desert and who entered Canaan]; and Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed; and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David. (Ruth 4:18-22)
As mentioned earlier in this document, this genealogy confirms that there were only 5 human generations from the conquest of Canaan until the start of the Kingdom period. Therefore, the Judges period spun over a smaller number of years as generally assumed by historians and by Jewish tradition.
Ruth and Jesse are both buried in the same location, in Hebron.
Year 2595 – 1165 BCE – Judges Ehud of Benjamin and Shamgar of Naphtali
Against all odds, and despite the evil plan of Eglon, the salvation against the yoke of the Moabites came from the Benjamin tribe itself, with Ehud son of Gera. This judge went to Eglon place of stay in Jericho and assassinated him. This bold act of courage triggered a general revolt by the Israelites living in the hill countries against the oppressors.
While Ehud acted against the Moabites in the hill countries, another judge followed aimed to raise the Israelites against the yoke of the Philistines in the low countries. It was Shamgar, son of Anath (Judges 3:31). Who was Anath? The name is mentioned in the Bible as being Beth-Anath (Joshua 19:38) meaning the “House of Anath”, a city of the Tribe of Naphtali, whose territory was in Lower Galilee. This is how we can learn that Shamgar was a judge from the tribe of Naphtali.
After Ehud and Shamgar died, the hill countries remained at peace for the next 80 years (Judges 3:30), until Biblical year 2675. But the low countries started to sin again (Judges 4:1), so the next calamities fell upon them from both the north and the south of the land.
Year 2595 – 1165 BCE – The Hazorites and the Midianites
Against the Israelites of the low countries, God raised Jabin, king of Hazor, a major Canaanite city-state in the north of the land of Israel. He was a powerful leader who had nine hundred chariots of iron. His charioted army could be effective in the low countries, but not in the hill countries. The tribes of the hills were walking in the path of God since Judge Ehud. The Hazorites oppressed the Israelites of the low countries for the next 20 years (Judges 4:3). Excavations in Tel Hazor have found cuneiform tablets mentioning a monarch called Ibni Addi, where Ibni seems to be the Biblical name Jabin/Yabin.
And from the south came the Midianites, a nomadic people settled in the deserts who moved north in a multitude, like locusts, to encamp themselves in the land of Canaan. Their yoke lasted 7 years (Judges 6:1-5). Their presence drove many Israelites to leave and hide in mountain caves of the hill countries.
Year 2602 – 1158 BCE – Gideon the Prophet, of Manasseh
God inspired Gideon to raise an army against the Midianites who had allied their forces with the Amalekites in the valley of Jezreel, in Northern Israel. But God was not happy with Gideon’s army as it was too numerous. Instead, He wanted to smite the pagans with a clear sign of His power. So, He asked Gideon to reduce his army and it came down to a mere 300 men (Judges 7:7). Then God put a dream in the mind of one of the Midianites, a dream which, when told and echoed in their camp, grew their fear before the forthcoming battle:
Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand which is upon the seashore for multitude. And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man telling a dream unto his follow, and saying: 'Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came unto the tent, and smote it that it fell, and turned it upside down, that the tent lay flat.'
And his fellow answered and said: 'this is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: into his hand God has delivered Midian, and the entire army.' (Judges 7:12-14)
At once, Gideon assembled and divided his 300 men into small groups to form an attack from multiple directions. Each of his men was to carry a horn to blow into and a torch to light a fire. This surprise attack at night spread fear and panic among the enemy, causing them to run away from their camp.
Maybe the legend of Leonidas of his 300 Spartans fighting a much greater enemy at the battle of the Thermopylae was borrowed from the tale of Gideon and his 300 men. In any case, never again would Midian raise against Israel (Judges 8:28). But more future trouble was on its way because of Gideon’s final act:
And Gideon said unto them: 'I would make a request of you, that you would give me every man the earrings of his spoil.' (For they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites). And they answered: 'We will willingly give them.' And they spread a garment and did cast therein every man the earrings of his spoil. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks.
And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah; and all Israel went astray after it there; and it became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house. (Judges 8:24-27)
Nonetheless Israel was at peace for the next 40 years, during the lifetime of Gideon.
Year 2615– 1145 BCE – Deborah the Prophetess, of Ephraim
On the other side of the land, Deborah, a prophetess, of Ephraim, started the revolt against Hazor. She raised a coalition of Israelites from the northern tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, Naphtali, and Zebulun, and gathered them near Mount Tabor under the military command of Barak son of Abinoam, of Naphtali. They vanquished the Hazorites, and the region had peace for the next 40 years (Judges 5:31).
We know that the tribe of Manasseh was involved because Machir the son of Manasseh (Numbers 27:1) is mentioned in Judges 5:14.
The Talmud gives a tradition that God won this war. The commander of the enemy army, Sisera, had gathered a huge army with 900 chariots against the Israelites (in comparison, Pharaoh pursued the Hebrews at the sea with his 600 chariots). But God intervened:
When Sisera came [to fight Israel] he advanced against them with iron staves. Thereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, brought forth the stars out of their orbits against them, as it is written, “The stars in their courses fought against Sisera” [Judges 5:20]. As soon as the stars of heaven descended upon them, they heated those iron staves. So, they [the soldiers] went down to cool them and to refresh themselves in the brook of Kishon. Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to the brook of Kishon, 'Go and deliver your pledge.' Straightway the brook of Kishon swept them out and cast them into the sea, as it is said, “The brook Kishon swept them away, that ancient brook” [Judges 5:21]. What does ‘that ancient brook’ mean? The brook that became a surety in ancient times. In that hour the fish in the sea opened [their mouths] and exclaimed, ‘and the truth of the Lord endures forever.’ (Talmud, Pesachim 118b)
In 2010, Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal (z”l) found the location of the military base of Canaanite general Sisera. The location is called Harosheth-goyim (Judges 4-5) near Wadi Ara (Nahal Iron). It has been claimed that Sisera was not a Canaanite name, so his family was originally foreign, from Sardinia (there is a town called Sassari there which seems a name close to Sisera). His ancestors must have come to Canaan from one of the waves of Sea Peoples in the Levant: these people became mercenaries called Shardana (name close to Sardinia) to the pharaohs and then, when Egypt stopped campaigning in Canaan, the mercenaries offered their service to Canaanite kings such as Jabin of powerful Hatzor (to read more about this intriguing subject, click here).
The camp of the Shardana in Wadi Ara means that they ruled the passages to Megiddo and Taanach, as these cities must have been abandoned or vanquished before these times. This explains why the Biblical text does not cite these cities at the time of Deborah:
The [invading] kings came, they fought; then fought the kings of Canaan, in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. (Judges 5:19)
There is archaeological evidence found about the utter destruction of these cities at the time of Deborah:
Substantial houses with numerous installations on both of the south... and west edges date to the 12th century and were completely destroyed in about 1125 BCE. (Encyclopedia of archaeological excavations in the Holy Land, entry for "Taanach", Jerusalem, 1978)
As the Biblical text mentions, these cities were not conquered by the time of Joshua, but they were later abandoned by the time of the Judges. They will be revived as Judean cities by the time of King Salomon.
To return to the list of chronological generations from Seder Olam Revisited, click here.
Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Adar 5785 - March 2025