Lecture Notes

Israel as a Tribal Confederation

World / Ancient / Biblical History

When the Israelites first settled Canaan, they were not a unified nation, but a confederation of twelve allied tribes.  A can best be described as a permanent alliance with minimal centralized government authority, placing most of the power in the hands of the individual tribes or states that are members.

Before the adoption of the Constitution, the United States functioned as a confederation.  The Articles of Confederation, which formed a central government that only had power over foreign policy and had no authority to tax or place any demands on the individual states.  At the time, the United States were weak and unable to stand up to foreign countries, such as the British, who refused to vacate forts in our territory.  The United States had failed to assert sovereignty - complete control - over their territory.

Similarly, the Israelites, lacking a central government, had not become sovereign over the Promised Land.  Joshua’s conquest was incomplete and at the time of his death, foreign nations continued to exist and control city-states in the area.  As a loosely-knit confederation, the Israelites were not only unable to become sovereign, but found themselves contending with several foreign nations and tribes.

While the Twelve Tribes of Israel were tied together by common cultural and religious practices, they didn’t have any form of permanent central government.  Israel functioned as a decentralized theocracy, with local tribal leaders, known as judges, exercising authority on behalf of Yahweh, the God of Israel.  These judges served on an ad hoc^[1] basis, leading a tribe or a collection of tribe in response to a particular crisis.  It is noted multiple times in the Book of Judges that “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.”  This statement can be read in two ways:

1. Israelite society before the monarchy was chaotic and anarchic, or
2. Israelites were nostalgic about the days before the monarchy when their ancestors enjoyed more freedom.

During the period of the tribal confederation (c. 1200-1000 B.C.), Israelites experienced alternating periods of peace and foreign domination.  The Book of Judges explains this as a recurring “cycle” of events that begins with the Israelites turning away from Yahweh, which causes Yahweh to deliver Israel into the hands of its enemies.  The Israelites then call upon Yahweh for help and He sends a judge to deliver them from bondage.  After enjoying some years of peace, the Israelites forget Yahweh again and the cycle continues several times.

The Israelite leadership viewed these cycles of peace and foreign domination as being caused by divine intervention, which was typical of societies in the ancient Near East.  For example, in the Mesha Stele, a Moabite^[2] king praises his national god, Chemosh, for helping him drive the Israelites out of his territory.  However, looking at Israel’s situation with a more modern exposes a key flaw in Israel’s defenses:  they did not have any central governmental authority to coordinate resistance to foreign invasions.  Instead, the Israelites had to rely on whatever leader would step up and claim authority from Yahweh to lead the resistance.  A few of the more prominent judges are Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, and Samson.

Ehud (Judges 3:12-30)                [Brick Testament]

When Israel was being oppressed by the Moabites, Ehud hatched a plan to kill the Moabite king and rally the Israelite resistance in the wake of the good news.  Ehud took advantage of his lefty status to trick the Moabite king, placing his dagger on his right hip where a right-handed person couldn’t draw it.  After getting the Moabite king to grant him a private audience, Ehud stabbed him in the stomach.  The Moabite king was said to be so fat that Ehud could not pull his dagger out of the man’s belly.  Ehud then led the Israelites to a victory over the Moabites, ending the period of oppression.

Deborah (Judges 4-5)                [Brick Testament]

The lack of a formal, established government in Israel occasionally allowed women to wield power.  Deborah, a prophetess who judged disputes between Israelites, led the Israelite resistance against a Canaanite king.  While Deborah was respected as a judge, she asked a man, Barak, to lead Israel’s army.  When Barak hesitated, she told him that a woman would get the glory.  Sure enough, when the Canaanite commander was fleeing after being defeated by the Israelites, he sought shelter in a woman’s tent, who killed him by hammering a tent peg through his head once he fell asleep.  The story of Deborah portrays Israelite women as fierce and independent.

Gideon (Judges 6-8)                

The Tribes of Israel were in such a disorganized state that they soon found themselves under the dominance of the Midianites, a group of nomadic shepherds who did not even have a centralized government, themselves!  Gideon, of the Tribe of Manasseh, assembled an army after “putting out a fleece” to confirm his encounter with Yahweh.  Initially, 32,000 men assembled to fight the Midianites, but Gideon whittled this force down to 300 elite troops.  Gideon and the “Original 300” routed the Midianites in a carefully planned night attack.  After his victory, the Israelites offered to make him king of a hereditary dynasty, but Gideon refused, citing Yahweh’s kingship over Israel.  Once again, everyone returned home to enjoy a period of peace before Israel’s enemies attacked again.

Samson (Judges 13-16)                [Brick Testament]

While most of the Judges of Israel stepped up at the spur of the moment, Samson was different.  According to the Book of Judges, his birth was foretold and he was to be set apart for divine service as a Nazarite.  Nazarites were not allowed to cut their hair or drink wine.  Samson’s long hair and his superhuman strength were his defining characteristics.

In Samson’s time, Israel was being oppressed by its archenemy, the Philistines.  The Philistines were constantly at war with Israel not only during the confederation period, but also in the early days of the monarchy.  Samson launched a personal war against the Philistines.  In one account of Samson, he was said to have killed 1,000 Philistines armed with nothing but a donkey’s jawbone.  However, like the Greek mythological hero, Achilles, Samson had one vulnerability:  his hair.  Samson falls in love with Delilah, who is bribed by the Philistines into trying to find out Samson’s weakness.  After many failed attempts (followed by a whole lot of nagging), Delilah finally learns Samson’s secret.  The Philistines shave Samson’s head, gouge out his eyes, and put him to work as a slave.  At the end of the Samson story, Samson is given one last burst of strength, which he uses to kill himself and thousands of Philistines by pushing apart the pillars holding up the temple of Dagon, a Philistine deity.  In this, he was said to have killed even more Philistines in his death than he had while he had lived.

The story of Samson is not only the story of a folk hero resisting foreign oppression, but it also served as a cautionary tale for Israelites about the dangers of being ensnared by the wrong sort of woman.

While the Judges were successful now and then at delivering Israel from its enemies, the Israelite tribes eventually became more willing to give up some of their autonomy in order to establish a central government that would be strong enough to repel invaders.  When wars with the Philistines became ongoing and desperate, the Israelites would ask for a king.

NEXT LECTURE:        Israel Asks for a King