Political Dimensions

Judges and 2 Samuel carry a foundational narrative that expresses and helps to create a national identity, roles often ascribed to epic. ‘‘Us’’ is frequently defined over against ‘‘them.’’ The Philistines, for example, are the uncircumcised ‘‘Other,’’ the Midianites, oppressors. As is the case with comparable material from other traditions, the tales of Israel’s early heroes are not, however, ideologically monochromatic. The narratives wrestle in complex ways with defining Israelite political and cultural identity. Supportive of Davidic kingship, tales in 1 and 2 Samuel nevertheless reveal the leader’s shortcomings, such failings again being typical of a cross-cultural range of so-called epic heroes. Tales of the Judges are particularly critical of monarchical, centralized leadership. While Israel has no kings in Judges, enemy kings are oppressors. The hero Gideon refuses kingship, stating that the Lord is the only king. His son Abimelech attempts to establish a monarchy by murdering his kin, other contenders for leadership. The mashal of the surviving brother, Jotham, compares the man who would be king to a useless bramble. Judges-2 Samuel, moreover, reveal political tensions between two models of polity, one based in kinship and the other in the state. This tension is explored in the civil war narrative of Judg. 19-21 but continues in the narratives of the monarchy in which Benjaminites and northerners chaff under the rule of a Judahite king. The subversive quality and potential ‘‘political explosiveness’’ of these tales are thus apparent.

Shaping the political and ideological dimension of Judges-2 Samuel, as the works now stand in the Hebrew Bible, is the guiding force of God. It is his relationship with Israel and the hero that determines the outcome of events. The deity of Israel, however, is not merely the hero’s divine helper. In a set of narrative traditions that scholars frequently consider within the category of ‘‘epic,’’ the deity is himself the protagonist, and we cannot conclude our study of the challenge of Israelite epic without some attention to such biblical material.