Dan and Benjamin
In a previous article (May 1997) evidence was presented that Samson pictured the church. The narrative of his experiences appears in Judges chapters 13-16. Following this appear two other narratives which close this book. The first is about the tribe of Dan, explaining how a large portion of this tribe fell into a form of idolatry which continued “until the day of the captivity of the land” many centuries later (Judges 18:30). The second is about the tribe of Benjamin, explaining how an uncorrected sin nearly led to the death of the tribe.
We understand that these two episodes are pictures of the other parts of the spirit begotten class, those who enter into the second death (Dan) and those who become the Great Company (Benjamin). The purpose of this article is to examine these narratives with this view in mind.
DAN
It is well known that in Revelation 7 there is a list of the 12 tribes of spiritual Israel, the church, from which Dan is omitted. It is largely supposed – we think correctly – that he is omitted because he represents that portion of spiritual Israel which fails to gain life on the spirit plane: the second death class. As Paul, Peter and John all pointed out, it is possible for the spirit begotten to fall away completely. Paul says of these “it is impossible .. . to renew them again unto repentance,’ for “if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26-29). Peter says “it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment,” “to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever” (2 Peter 2:21,17). John affirmed, “There is a sin unto death” (John 5:16).
Of course we are speaking here not of saints who slip, or are detracted, or are repentant of their sins. Those who fall into the second death are those who after experiencing the benefits of the holy Spirit then turn away and walk contrary to the Lord and his goodness, and frowardly continue in this path.
Probably the tribe of Dan represents this class because of their turn to perpetual idolatry. This apostasy, and its evil influence among others in Israel, was intimated in the predictive words of Jacob, “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward” (Genesis 49:17).
THE BEGINNING OF THE APOSTASY
Not all of the tribe of Dan fell away. Samson, for example, was a Danite. But this tribe had learned to fear the might of their Philistine enemy, and unlike Samson most of them did not have the courage or the will to resist. Instead of leaning by faith on the “everlasting arms” as Samson did, they gave up. They abandoned the fight, left the land apportioned by God, and sought a place far to the north, more attractive to their tastes, and easier to obtain.
It is a lesson for us not to abandon our fight of faith, or be drawn away of earthly lusts to things attractive to the natural senses, and easy to obtain. We should keep our sight focused on our God-given inheritance beyond the vail, and pursue it daily in our thoughts, our studies, our fellowship with others. We are called to a glorious and wonderful inheritance beyond the vail, so wonderful, so magnificent, it is beyond all description of words to express. If we could but draw back the vail and glimpse for a moment the treasures beyond, no doubt it would change us forever. No longer would a comfortable life and worldly pleasures so readily captivate our affections. “At thy right hand there are pleasures forever more,” and they will be rich, satisfying, wholesome and pure. Let us never lose sight of our goal.
For the present we see these things only by faith, and this is for the best. The Lord is looking for those who trust Him and who desire first what is righteous and good and holy, irrespective of present comfort or advantage. “Love, so proved, is sweeter far, than all the trophies won by pride.”
THE PARTICULARS OF THE STORY
There was a man of Ephraim named Micah whose mother had a sum of money she set aside “to make a graven image and a molten image.” Ostensibly she had “wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord,” but it was seriously misused. It reminds us of the “mother church” ostensibly dedicated to the service of the Lord which through apostasy became “the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit” (Revelation 18:2). The sum of money involved was 1100 shekels of silver, and our sense of foreboding is alerted when we recall this was the same sum collected by Delilah from each of the Philistine Lords for betraying Samson (Judges 16:5).
The result was that “the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and seraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became a priest” He subsequently had the opportunity to hire the services of an actual Levite for this position, and though the whole arrangement was perverse, apparently this made it seem more respectable.
About this time the tribe of Dan sent out five men “from Zorah and from Eshtaol” (the range of Samson’s early exploits, Judges 13:25), to spy out a better land northward. Five is a number which identifies the new creation. But just as there were five wise virgins, so her companions the Great Company are pictured also by five (foolish) virgins, and here the Danites are represented by five (very foolish!) men, representing the apostates among the spirit begotten.
As they passed northward they became acquainted with the house of Micah and the Levite priest he had hired. They passed further north and found a land which seemed lovely and unprotected. They reported back to the Danites, who on this news sent a contingent of 600 (cf. Revelation 13:18) men with weapons to take the territory. On their way they stopped by Micah’s house, stole his “graven image, and the ephod, and the seraphim, and the molten image” and influenced the Levite, to his delight, to become priest for all of them. “And they set up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh” So began the apostasy of Dan. It is a picture of the spiritual apostasy of the Christian age which was begun by “them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
BENJAMIN’S SAD STORY
The next narrative, and the one which closes out the book of Judges (chapters 19-21), is about a serious crime committed in the tribe of Benjamin. The crime is detailed in chapter 19. Chapter 20 explains that when this crime was formally brought to the attention of the tribal leaders, they refused to deliver over the offenders and do justice for the offense. As a result there was a civil war in which many lost their lives, until the tribe of Benjamin was almost exterminated. Benjamin lost 25,100 men who “drew the sword” (Judges 20:35), and the remnant who escaped numbered only in the hundreds (Judges 20:47). The Israelites then realized that the future of Benjamin was at peril, and devised a plan to ensure enough wives to repopulate the tribe (Judges 21).
Elsewhere in scripture Benjamin represents the Great Company, as for example when he was born through the great pain and finally death of his mother Rachel. Rachel’s two children represent the spiritual seed, Joseph standing for Christ and the saints, and Benjamin the Great Company who come “out of great tribulation” (Revelation 7:14) just as the spiritual call of the Abrahamic Covenant expires at the end of the Gospel Age.
Probably the tribe of Benjamin represents the Great Company in this picture in Judges also. The Great Company is a class of those who fail to rectify the failings and sins apparent before them, until they are purged with fiery trials in order to spare their life. “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15). It is of note that the purging experience of the tribe of Benjamin was also, literally, a purging by fire. “When the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the flame of the city ascended up to heaven. And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them … also they set on fire all the cities that they came to” (Judges 20:40, 41, 48).
THE BROADER PICTURE
Judges closes with the three narratives of Samson, Dan and Benjamin. Respectively they represent the three spirit-begotten classes of the Gospel Age: the Church Class, Second Death Class, and Great Company.
When we note that the historical period of the Judges preceded the Kings of Israel, we observe a certain sense to why these pictures appear where they do, for the Gospel Age is the period which precedes the Kingdom Age.
But if this is the right view, do any of the other narratives in Judges also fit the Gospel Age? Evidently they do. The stories of Barak, Gideon and Abimelech (Judges 4-5, 6-8, 9) all narrate episodes in which the enemies of Israel are destroyed, and represent the demise of the great institutional oppressors of the saints. In Revelation these are designated the “dragon .. . beast and … false prophet” (Revelation 16:13) which fall during Armageddon. These are the governments of Christendom, Papacy, and the Protestant denominations, respectively (The Battle of Armageddon, 1912 foreword, page xi). We propose that one each of these enemies is specially represented in the three narratives of Judges 4-9.
(1) The enemy of Barak was King Jabin of Hazor, whose general was Sisera. Their forces included the formidable “900 chariots of iron” which seemed invincible until bogged down in a quagmire by the Lord’s providence. They were defeated near “the waters of Megiddo,” reminding us that Revelation uses Armageddon as a picture of the final demise of the institutions of this world. The 900 chariots of iron emphasize the strength of civil government, just as the iron in the 10 toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image represents the strength of civil government.
(2) The enemies of Gideon were the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunnah, and the two princes Zeeb and Oreb. The dual leadership in each case reminds us of the false prophet, composed of two parts: (a) the church of England and (b) her protestant allies. Gideon’s attack is memorable for the breaking of the pitchers and the sounding of the trumpets which threw the Midianites into disarray. The light from the pitchers represents the truth shining from the broken represents the truth shining from the broken vessels of the saints as they give themselves in the service of the truth, and the trumpet blasts picture the judgments of our conquering leader Jesus. The “Midianites” most upset by the truths of the Divine Plan scattered through Christendom have been the Protestants. (Psalm 83:9,11 connects the battles of Barak and Gideon to the final struggle of this age.)
(3) Abimelech was a usurper. He reigned for three years as a king when no kings were authorized, during the period of the Judges. At the end of three years there was a rebellion among his subjects. At first he was able to overcome the resistance, but irrespective of some stunning victories his base of power was collapsing, and he finally perished by a millstone thrown onto his head. Likewise Papacy usurped dominion at a time when no earthly dominion was authorized for the church. At the end of 3 1/2 times of Papacy’s rule there was a rebellion among her subjects during the French Revolution, and irrespective of their recovery their base of power was dissolving Finally great Papacy will be overthrown “like a great millstone” (Revelation 18:21), ruined forever.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The book of Judges contains many faith strengthening examples of valor and noble struggle in the cause of God and his people. It is even more encouraging to recognize that these experiences represent the struggles of faith in the Gospel Age. We must be overcomers like Samson was. We must “keep [ourselves] from idols” (1 John 5:21), which Dan failed to do. We must be diligent to root out each sin which presents its ugly face before us, which Benjamin refused to do. And like Gideon’s band we should be engaged in the struggle of truth against darkness by letting the light of truth shine out from us to others.
As the period of Judges preceded the period of the typical Kingdom, so the struggles of the present time are but preliminary to the glorious Kingdom of righteousness. Already that kingdom is coming into executive power, and this will be complete when the last member passes beyond. Then that kingdom, whose power is even now felt in the breaking up of the kingdoms of this world, will extend its influence for right and truth to every corner of the globe.
– David Rice