1.- The epoch of the judges is an important step in Israel´s history. It is a period of time that goes from Joshua’s death to the apparition of the monarchy (1200 – 1030 b.C), about 170 years. Paul recalls to the jews that the Lord gave them Judges until Samuel the prophet (Acts 13,21). Further than this simple evocation, we ask ourselves the way the judges judge, which is their function and which is its meaning for us today.
2.- In judges time, the Egyptian domination was weakening and in evolution towards a decentralized tribal society, in which a pact or federation between different tribes is maintained. In the religious field, that generation did not know the Lord (Jdg 2, 7-10). It is not a simple ignorance, but revelry and disobedience: You have not listened my voice (Jdg 2,2). A God whose word is not listened, is forgotten and replaced: They soon left the way of their fathers who obeyed the commandments of Yahweh; they did not follow the way of their fathers. When Yahweh made a judge appear among his people, Yahweh was with him and saved them from their enemies… But when the judge died, they again became worse than their fathers, worshiping and serving other gods. (Jdg 2, 16-19). The judge goes through the country administering justice in the assemblies. He accomplishes the function of judging, that Moses had and shared with able persons. (Ex 18.22).
3.- It is ineffaceable Debra’s remembrance, prophetess and judge. She stayed sat under the palm tree between Ramah and Betel, at Ephraim´s mountain, and there attended the Israelites to solve their suits. Israel is oppressed by the Canaanites. Debra convenes Barak, on behalf of the Lord, to recruit ten thousand men at Tabor Mountain and to repel the adversary (Jdg 4, 1 foll.). Debra´s song is one of the oldest pieces of the Bible. It celebrates the victory over the Canaanite chief Sisera. It exalts the courage of the six tribes that participated in the combat. Ephraim, Benjamin, Machir (after Manasseh), Zebulun, Issachar and Naphtali. It reprehends the four who avoided joining the combat: Reuben, Galaad, Dan and Asher. It repeats once and again Israel´s name and the Lord´s name. The six tribes are conscious that they are the Lord´s people. The other tribes will join later on. Neither Judah nor Simeon are mentioned, perhaps like a consequence of their isolation in the south of Palestine (see Jacob’s sons: Gn 35, 23 – 26; Israel, surnamed Jacob: 32,29; Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph’s sons: 48,1; Machir, Manasseh´s son: 50,23).
4.- Israel was again oppressed. Now are the midianites. Numerous like locusts, they destroy all the fields and leave no provisions in Israel: neither sheep, nor oxen or ass. The Israelites claim to the Lord and the Lord addresses to Gideon, a farmer called to defend his people as a brave warrior. But Gideon tries to excuse himself: How can I save Israel. My family is the lowliest in my tribe and I am the least in the family of my father. The Lord answers him: I will be with you. There was something that aided to convince him. Gideon heard a man telling his neighbour: I had a dream: a big loaf of barley bread rolled down into the camp of Midian, until it came to a tent, bumped against it and overturned the tent. His neighbour answered: This cannot mean anything other than the sword of Gideon, the Israelite. God has given Midian and the whole camp into his hands. Gideon attacked by surprise and prosecuted the enemy further than the Jordan. The Israelites wanted to elect him as king, but he said no: Yahweh is our king! (Jdg 6,1-8,23).
5.- A great moral decadency appears in some book of the Judges passages, where terrible events are narrated, killings unheard of. They are, perhaps, the Bible cruelest facts. For instance, it is spoken about a crime of Benjamin’s tribe, which recalls those of Sodom and Gomorra, followed by a ferocious vengeance and extermination. Israel´s tribes destroy almost the whole Benjamin´s tribe in a civil and fratricide war, something never seen in Israel (19, 1- 20,48).
6.- Samuel is the top figure who closes the judges’ era. Born in the Ephraim´s tribe (1Sm 1,1), he is a priest, a prophet and a judge. His mother Ann, sterile and wife of a bigamous man, alleviates herself into the Lord in the Silo’s sanctuary, to where all the family peregrinate every year. Samuel is a God´s gift: I requested it to the Lord (1,20), says Ann. Her song, a Magnificat precedent, is a psalm expressing the poor people hope. (2, 1-11).
7.- Consecrated to the Lord from his youngest age (2,11), Samuel lives in the Silo´s sanctuary. The priest Eli practices there. His sons, also priests, neither know the Lord nor follow any of the rules that direct the roll of the priests (2, 12-17). Things so, a God´s man came to Eli and told him: The days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of all your relatives. No one will live to a ripe old age…. What will happen to your sons Hophni and Phinehas shall be a sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day. I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who shall be just the one I love in heart and in mind. I will give him a lasting succession (2,31-35). Samuel´s vocation is born in this context.
8.- The circumstances do not favour God´s word listening: At that time Lord´s word was strange (3,1). The child Samuel is lying in bed and he is awakened three times, believing that it is the priest Eli the one calling him. The third time Eli realizes that it was the Lord the one calling the boy, and he tells him: If he calls you again, answer: Speak, Yahweh, your servant listens. (1Sam 3,1). Samuel awakes again and he hears this word: Look, I am about to do something in Israel, which will scare everyone who hears about it. On that day I will carry out what I told Eli regarding his family. For I told him that I was about to sentence his family forever. He himself knew that his sons were blaspheming God, but he did not stop them (1Sam 3,11-13). Samuel is afraid, he has to announce a judgement word to who is like his father. Nevertheless, he manifests everything. The word was accomplished. A messenger brought the news. Israel fled before the Philistines. There has been a disaster for our men; your sons, Hophni and Phinehas are among the dead and the ark of God has been taken. (1Sam 4,17). When the Ark of the Covenant, where the tables of the Law were kept, was mentioned Eli fell back and died.
9.- What did it happen with the temple of Shiloh?. It looks like it was destroyed by the Philistines and became a proverb for all Israel. Psalm 78 is recalled: When the Lord heard this, filled with wrath, God rejected Israel. He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among men (59-60). It is also recalled in Lord´s word received by prophet Jeremiah: What I did in Shiloh, I will do to this temple that houses my Name (Jer 7,14). If Israel continues stealing, killing, committing adultery, taking God´s name in vain, running behind other gods, Jerusalem temple will run same way than that of Shiloh.
10.- Samuel promotes a deep moral and religious reform. His prophetic call is addressed to all Israel´s people: If you turn back to Yahweh in all sincerity, get rid of the foreign gods… he will deliver you from the Philistines (1Sam 7, 3-4). The judging function is born from the prophetic function, which is performed in the God´s word light: Samuel was judge in Israel for the rest of his life. Every year he went around to Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah, and judged Israel in all these places. After that he returned to Ramah for his home was there. And there he built an altar to Yahweh. (1Sam 7, 15-17).
11.- Samuel perceives the monarchy´s inconveniences, but the Israelites desire to be like the rest of the peoples. The prophet listen God´s word and anoints Saul like Israel´s king, saying: Yahweh has anointed you to rule over and to lead his people Israel, and you will free them from the hands of the enemies that surrounds you (1Sam 10,1).
12.- In the Sirach we find this portrait of Samuel: Samuel was a prophet and beloved of the Lord, he established the kingdom and anointed rulers to govern his people, he was accepted as prophet because of his faithfulness. He called on the Almighty Lord when the enemy pressed from all directions and the Lord thundered from heaven. Before his time came for eternal rest, called men to witness before the Lord: I have not taken anyone’s belongings; after he died he prophesied and revealed to the king his death. (Sir 46, 13-20).
13.- Upon a colt, judges mount, Jesus enters Jerusalem and denounces the temple, which had been turned into a den of thieves. (Mk 11,17). He does not impose himself in force, but he announces the peace to the nations (Zec 9,9-10), accomplishing the prophetic hopes: They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. (Is 2,4; Mic 4,3). We could say: they will beat their tanks into tractors and their bombs into hospitals. The war should be confronted to the hunger, the illness, the death and the injustice.
14.- February 2003. According to the estimates of the ONU´s Emergency Committee, the war in preparation against Iraq may sacrifice half a million persons, wound two million and provoke three million refugees. The second reading of sunday the 16th says: Give no offence to the Jews, or the Greeks or the Church of God. Nevertheless, the world manifestation against the war is a hope global signal.
15.- We cannot look at other side. Like Jesus disciples, we must see, judge and act. We do it at the light of his word. The Lord judges history (Dn 7), already in the present. We can participate in that judgement, according to this writing: You will sit on twelve thrones to rule the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt 19,28).
* Dialogue: yesterday’s lessons and to-day’s experiences:
- the Lord is not known
- his Word is rare
- there are other gods, other practices
- unheard of killings
- a great moral decadency
- to judge is a civil business
- we judge at the Word´s light
- according to the Decalogue
- according to the Gospel.