Spiritual and
Ethical Issues in the Historical Books of Tanach;
JOSHUA, JUDGES, SAMUEL, KINGS (Nevi’im Rishonim) These four books ostensibly are merely the history of Israel from the entry into the Promised Land until the destruction of the Temple and the temporary loss of independent statehood. In fact they are actually, in a specifically Jewish sense, the most deeply religious and spiritual books of the Bible. One does not have to be specifically Jewish to see or feel the religion and spirituality in the revelations of the prophetic writings or in the words of the Tehillim. They speak to all people, as evidenced by the fact that the Bible is still the world's bestseller and there are millions of non-Jews who regularly recite the Psalms. However, it is specifically and intrinsically Jewish to understand that G-d is revealed in the prosaic material, in the political, social and military events in the lives of ordinary men and women, kings and leaders that are described in the Nevim Rishonim. Here are described the ideology and religious thoughts in Judaism, while in Chronicles we have the purely historical. The War Against Idolatry (Shoftim
6:33-7:6) The sign that Gideon requested was very much in keeping with the spiritual, albeit also national, nature of the pending war with Midian. Its purpose was to show that the dew and rain, like everything else, were neither the result of natural phenomena nor the accident of chance, rather both were dependent on G-d. While rain He gives or withholds according to the spiritual and moral actions of men [e.g. the 2nd paragraph of Kri’at Sh’ma], dew is the free gift of G-d; that is why the first blessing of Yitzchak to whom he supposed was Eisav, was dew, in consideration of his lack of good deeds. Of the two signs requested, the second was granted completely as the text clearly states, “And G-d did so... and it was dry on the fleece and there was dew on the ground” (6:40). However, Chazal taught that the first one was only partially fulfilled, as the text simply says ‘and it was so’. There, while the fleece was indeed wet as requested, the ground was not dry, since Man does not have the right to withhold what is actually a Divine gift. Now when Midian was camped on the slopes of Giv’at HaMoreh [a hill adjacent to present day Afula] and Gideon and his 32,000 men were pitched around Ein Harod below in the Jezreel Valley, [historically, the international trade route and the battlefield of E. Yisrael], the battle should have begun. However, because Israel’s religious problem was so strong and pervasive, there was still the necessity to wean Israel away from their obsession with idolatry. So there was still another lesson to be taught, namely that military victory also was not the result of human ability as idolaters would believe, but in essence was dependent on the will of G-d. Despite any considerations of having an efficient and slimmed down army, it seems reasonable that any commander-in-chief would have been pleased were he to be presented with the problem that Gideon had, of the army being too big (7:2), even if only to allow for risks and emergencies. Yet, solely in order that Israel should understand that not their numbers nor their own bravery and skill – a belief easily evolving into idolatry – was responsible for any victory, but that only G-d was, he was commanded to release soldiers. In language reminiscent of D’varim 8:17, Gideon was told to announce that everyone who was afraid and of weak spirit could go home. There is a pragmatic reason for this, as the Rambam explains; “that they should not weaken the hearts of their fellow soldiers” (Hikhot Melachim 7:3). Chazal, however, saw an additional and spiritual reason for sending them away. The wars of Israel were mitzvot and like any other mitzva, they too required holiness, kavana, and had to be unswervingly only for G-d’s sake. So, those had to go home [22,000], who were afraid that their sins [even only those of a rabbinic nature] rendered them unsuitable for the mitzva; “They had interrupted between tefilin shel yad and tefilin shel rosh” (Sota 44b). Yet still the army was too large for the real purpose of the battle, so another test had to be applied (4-5). Today, we can easily walk to the spring of Harod in the fields of the kibbutz of that name, to which Gideon was to take his troops to drink. Their chosen method of drinking was the sign whereby the idolaters could be separated. There were many varia- tions in the way that the multitudes of idols were worshipped; and human sacrifices, fertility rites, kneeling and prostrating oneself and physical mutilation were some of them. Chazal tell us that either those who knelt to drink were used to doing so in their idol worship, while others used to worship their own reflection in the water and their way of drinking was a symbol of that. What is not acceptable is the interpretation of secular Israelis that the way of drinking separated the physically fit, well-trained soldiers who could drink without relinquishing their weapons, only possible if they lay down and lapped water like the dogs. Neither is the explanation of Josephus Flavius (Antiquities of the Jews V 6:3, written 2000 years ago) who wrote that the victory would be magnified if it was achieved by the least fit from a military point of view, rather than by those who were of such physical strength and so fearless that they could drink unhurriedly while kneeling. Such explanations based on military
considerations, would be contrary to the whole story and would reduce
Gideon’s war to merely another ancient saga of national liberation,
indistinguishable from the many hundreds of a similar nature throughout
human history. David’s answer to Goliath clearly echoed this: “And all
this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with the sword or
spear; for the battle is the Lord’s” (Samuel Alef 17:47). [The
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