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1After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the LORD, "Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?" 2The LORD said, "Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand." 3And Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will go with you into the territory allotted to you." So Simeon went with him. 4Then Judah went up and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek. 5They found Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. 7And Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
The report of Israel's military exploits is punctured by three short stories. They don't seem to have any other function than to shift the focus from national to personal endeavors and to spice up the pedestrian military record. But there is more than meets the eye. These episodes, blended into the initial chapter, are intended to support the overall message. They are case studies that anticipate the direction in which the narrative pendulum will swing.
We have first of all the fascinating account of Adoni-Bezek. Here is a man who used to delight himself in his own royal freak show. He had 70 rulers with their thumbs and big toes cut off forage for food under his table! This form of amputation was a practice known from other cultures in the Ancient Near East. It was not only a sign of disablement but of personal humiliation, reducing royalty to less than a complete human being. "As I have done, so God has repaid me" (1:7), these are the words of the Lord of Bezek after the tables have turned, and he himself has become the star of the freak show. His comment sounds like good old eye-for-eye retribution straight from the Mosaic law. One might be tempted to say, "A job well done, Judah!"
But take a closer look! There are hints here that all is not well in Judah. The message is subtle and must be read between the lines, since the narrator describes the mutilation without comment. Nevertheless, the scenario is brimming with irony. The recent Israelite intruders have quickly adopted Canaanite ethics. Instead of looking to Yahweh for guidance, they use Canaanite policies in dealing with captives. God never spoke of mutilation in connection with Holy War. The question is, why is the noble Lord not among the slain of Bezek? He, along with the rest of the population, was under the sentence of death. Deut. 7:1-2 and 20:16-17 clearly state that there were to be no survivors among conquered Canaanites.
The closing statement of 1:7 notes that the king was brought to Jerusalem, where he eventually died. Whatever the circumstances of Adoni- Bezek's death, the language hardly points to execution. They let the mutilated king live with his handicap and die on his own. So what seems to be a matter of justice is in reality the first hint at Israel adopting Canaanite ways.
In making decisions and reacting to changing situations we often take our cue from what others do. Societal conventions are not all bad, but there is considerable peer pressure to conform to the image of the world. In what ways have we failed to image Christ and have become complacent with being like everyone else? How does Christ make a difference in your life?
The author of these devotionals, the Rev. Martin Emmrich, is an ordained OPC minister (Westminster OPC, Corvallis, Oregon) as well as the author of Pneumatological Concepts in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a book on the teaching of Hebrews on the Holy Spirit. We are happy to make these devotionals on Ecclesiastes and other passages of Scripture available to you.
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