3:18 After Ehud brought the tribute payment, he dismissed the people who had carried it. 2
9:30 When Zebul, the city commissioner, heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, he was furious. 5
10:3 Jair the Gileadite rose up after him; he led Israel for twenty-two years.
13:6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God 7 came to me! He looked like God’s angelic messenger – he was very awesome. 8 I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.
1 tn Heb “they gave to Caleb.”
2 tn Heb “the tribute payment.”
3 sn A concubine was a slave woman in ancient Near Eastern societies who was the legal property of her master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with her master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. After the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (2 Sam 21:10-14; 1 Kgs 11:3).
4 sn The name Abimelech means “my father is king.”
5 tn Heb “his anger burned.”
6 tn Traditionally, “judged.”
7 tn Heb “The man of God.”
8 tn Heb “His appearance was like the appearance of the messenger of God, very awesome.”
9 tn Heb “forced him with her words.”
10 tn Heb “and his spirit was short [i.e., impatient] to the point of death.”
11 tn Heb “Each was doing what was right in his [own] eyes.”
12 tn Heb “Each was doing what was right in his [own] eyes.”
sn Each man did what he considered to be right. The Book of Judges closes with this note, which summarizes the situation of the Israelite tribes during this period.