Judges 1:1-8: a reflection

1After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of the LORD, saying, “Who should go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 2The LORD said, “Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.” 3Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot.” So Simeon went with him. 4Judah went up, and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. They struck ten thousand men in Bezek. 5They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and they fought against him. They struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6But Adoni-Bezek fled. They pursued him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. 7Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their big toes cut off, scavenged under my table. As I have done, so God has done to me.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there. 8The children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, took it, struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

After Joshua's death, Israel asks the Lord who should lead the way against their enemies, and God answers, Judah shall go up; I have given the land into his hand. It is a good beginning, a people seeking God's direction before they act and receiving his assurance. Judah goes forward with his brother Simeon, trusting the promise that God has already given the victory.

The chapter also records a sobering episode. A captured enemy king, Adoni-Bezek, had cruelly maimed seventy kings he had defeated, forcing them to scavenge under his table, and now he suffers the same fate at Israel's hands. His own words are the moral of the scene: as I have done, so God has repaid me. The cruelty he had dealt out came back upon him. Scripture records it plainly, without relish, as a stark illustration that the way we treat others has a way of returning to us.

Two things to carry from this. First, like Israel, begin by seeking God's direction and trusting his promise before you go forward; do not presume to act without asking him. Second, take Adoni-Bezek's confession as a warning: the harshness or mercy you deal out to others tends to circle back. Sow cruelty and you may reap it; sow kindness and mercy, and you plant something better for your own future. Treat others as you would want God to treat you.

Lord, teach me to seek your direction before I act, as Israel did, trusting the victory into your hands. And let Adoni-Bezek's confession warn me: the way I treat others has a way of returning to me. Keep me from cruelty and hardness, and make me one who sows kindness and mercy, treating others as I would want you to treat me. Amen.