A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!” (Jud. 16:28) Realizing this final battle would
cost him his life, he added, “Let me die with the Philistines!” (v. 30)
With one last demonstration of the immense strength God had given him, Samson moved
the support pillars from their place causing the roof of the building to collapse and killing those
who were in the temple of Dagon. While there is no record of the total number of people killed in
the destruction of the temple of Dagon, there were about 3,000 men and women on the roof
alone at the time of the collapse. “So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had
killed in his life” (v. 30).
THIRTY-THREE
ELI:
The End of an Era
(Judges 17:1-21:25, 1 Samuel 1:1-4:22)
As the era of the Judges drew to a close, the history of Israel seemed to be progressing
toward increasing darkness. Each judge seemed weaker than his predecessor and each oppressor
more powerful. The twelve tribes each operated separately and God’s people were a loose
confederation. Their only center of authority was the tabernacle at Shiloh. And in the end, a
weak man, Eli the high priest„ was not able to hold his family together, much less the nation.
Both a judge (1 Sam. 4:18) and priest, he watched his life unravel before his eyes. Eli was
described as fat and each time he appears in Scripture, he is sitting or sleeping. He seems to be
sincere and gentle, but entirely lacking firmness to correct his sons or protect the priesthood.
While the Book of Judges recorded a limited degree of success in winning a degree of
liberty for the people, they rarely followed after the Lord beyond the life span of the judge.
Increasingly men were abandoning the authority of God as established in the Law and doing that
which seemed right in their own opinion (Jud. 17:6; 21:25). As the era drew to a close a series of
chaotic events served to demonstrate just how fragile the social fabric of Israelite society had
become.
Several of the events recorded in the final chapters of the Book of Judges occurred during
the historic narrative of the book but were collected at the end to demonstrate the character of the
nation during the final days of that era. Despite the prohibition of the Law regarding the making
of graven images for worship (idolatry), at least one mother in Israel took silver and had a
silversmith make an idol (17:4). Her son Micah became the owner of a number of gods and
established his son as a priest even though they were not Levites (v. 5). Later, he was able to hire
a Levite to be his personal priest in his syncretistic religion for the sum of ten shekels of silver
and a new suit annually. The arrangement, however, proved only to be temporary. When the
Levite was given money to be a priest to the migrating tribe of Dan, he gladly sold his services
for the more prestigious position.