Texts in Conversation
In Deuteronomy 12, Israel is told to stop doing what is right in each person’s own eyes once they reach the place God chooses. Judges 21 ends with that same language describing a lawless age with no king. Both echo the language of Eve in Genesis 3.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 12:8
Hebrew Bible
7 Both you and your families must feast there before the Lord your God and rejoice in all the output of your labor with which he has blessed you. 8 You must not do as we are doing here today, with everyone doing what is right in their eyes, 9 for you have not yet come to the final stop and inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. 10 When you do go across the Jordan River and settle in the land he is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety.
Judges 21:25
Hebrew Bible
22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, we’ll say to them, ‘Do us a favor and let them be, for we could not get each one a wife through battle. Don’t worry about breaking your oath! You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’” 23 The Benjaminites did as instructed. They abducted 200 of the dancing girls to be their wives. They went home to their own territory, rebuilt their cities, and settled down. 24 Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property. 25 In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.
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Notes and References
"... This analogy may be used beside the argument, from biblical usage, that to do right in one’s own eyes (Deuteronomy 12:8) is, ipso facto, not to do right in the eyes of YHWH (Deuteronomy 6:18a; 12:25b, 28b; 13:19b; 21:9b; compare, antithetically, 4:25b; 9:18b; 17:2b; 31:29b). Judges motifs A1a and A1b should be interpreted in the light of their usage in Deuteronomy, contra Boling, who said that Judges 21:25 meant, "the time had arrived once again for every man to do what was right before Yahweh without any sacral political apparatus to get in the way" ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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