Judges 10:8-18

2. Oppression under the Ammonites 10:8-18

The Israelites felt the main influence of the Ammonites on the east side of the Jordan River that bordered Ammon (Judges 10:8). However the Ammonites also attacked the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim west of the Jordan (Judges 10:9).

The Ammonite oppression lasted 18 years (Judges 10:8; evidently about 1123-1105 B.C.). Finally the Israelites confessed their sin of apostasy and cried out to God for deliverance (Judges 10:10; cf. Judges 3:9; cf. Judges 3:15; Judges 4:3; Judges 6:6). They had waited only seven years before appealing for His help against the Midianites (Judges 6:6). This may indicate that their hearts had become even harder toward Yahweh. Judges 6:1-6 gives the most detailed description of Israel’s oppression and of Israel’s response to their oppression. For the first time in the book, the Israelites confessed that they had sinned, but it seems that their change of heart had come too late.

The Lord reminded them, presumably through a prophet, that their behavior had fallen into a pattern of apostasy, oppression, confession, and deliverance (Judges 10:11-12). God had delivered Israel from many enemies. They were the Egyptians (cf. Exodus 1-14), Amorites (also known in Scripture as Midianites, cf. Numbers 31:3), Ammonites (Judges 3:12-30), Philistines (Judges 3:31), Sidonians (ch. 4?), Amalekites (cf. Exodus 17:8-16), and Maunites. The Maunites were probably the Midianites (chs. 6-8), according to the Septuagint. Possibly Israel had defeated each of these nations already during the amphictyony.

We need to understand God’s promise to deliver the Israelites "no more" (Judges 10:13) as conditional. He did deliver the nation later (ch. 11; cf. Exodus 32:14). Judges 10:13-14 reveal God’s "tough love" for Israel (cf. Judges 2:3; Judges 6:8-10).

". . . the emphatic declaration, ’I will deliver you no more,’ is to be understood conditionally, in case their idols were kept among them; for the divine threatenings always imply a reserve of mercy to the truly repentant." [Note: Bush, p. 140. Cf. Jeremiah 18:5-12; Jonah 3:4.]

The genuine confession and repentance of the Israelites and God’s compassion for them combined to secure Israel’s deliverance eventually (Judges 10:16). God’s wayward son, Israel, had broken His heart. These verses illustrate the tension God felt as He loved Israel loyally and yet found it necessary to discipline His first-born.

"The greatness of Jehovah and His intense love for His people is nowhere more evident than in this particular situation [Judges 10:13-16]." [Note: Davis and Whitcomb, p. 121.]

The writer introduced the battle in which God provided deliverance for His people in Judges 10:17-18. The Ammonites advanced into Gilead from the east, and the Israelites in that area congregated not far from them anticipating conflict. Even though the Israelites had confessed their sin and repented genuinely, they approached this battle carnally. Rather than inquiring of God for strategy, the Israelites looked among themselves for a human leader whom they could persuade to lead them, by promising him kingship as a reward (cf. Judges 1:1). They were rejecting Yahweh’s authority over them by doing this (cf. 1 Samuel 8:7). They soon learned that the man they chose had some glaring weaknesses (cf. King Saul).