Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 82:1 (Spring 2020)
Article: Controlled Chaos: Relevance Theory And Judges 20:29–48
Author: Bryan D. Estelle

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Controlled Chaos:
Relevance Theory And Judges 20:29–48

Bryan D. Estelle

Bryan D. Estelle is Professor of Old Testament at Westminster Seminary California. This article is adapted slightly from a paper presented at the international meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in the Relevance Theory and Biblical Interpretations section, Vienna, Austria, July 24, 2007.

Using an interdisciplinary method, this article argues that Judg 20:29–48 is a coherent account that has been misinterpreted by biblical scholars using mostly the tools of source criticism for explaining it. The article argues that the wayyiqtol form in Classical Biblical Hebrew Narrative can be used for synoptic resumptive technique, and that the lessons learned from a modern communication theory (i.e., Relevance Theory, which relies on linguistics and cognitive psychology) provide tools that have significant explanatory power for this elusive section of Scripture.

With the goal of being able to understand the theological message of this portion of Scripture in the context of the whole book of Judges as well as its contribution to the canonical context, this article demonstrates that the account of the Benjamite wars (20:29–48) is a well-organized account even though it is packaged in a syntax that is ostensibly in disarray.

The upshot of this conclusion for theological exegesis is that it makes more sense to take the passage as intentionally arranged in the manner in which it is and that it communicates a goal with an ethical bite to it: the audience is expected to untangle the difficult arrangement which begs the question of why these brothers are entangled in internecine warfare.

1. History Of Exegesis On The Passage: Uncontrolled Chaos

Reading the last chapters of Judges reminds me of the misadventures of the Batavia, the flagship of the Dutch East India Company, which in 1628 was shipwrecked with a huge load of gold, silver, and gems on her way to Java. It is a story of unthinkable atrocities and bloodshed recounted in a well-researched and well-written book by Mike Dash, and published by

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Crown in 2002.1 Jeronimus Corneliszoon and a group of sailors led the most infamous and bloody mutiny recorded in the annals of maritime history. Just as the ferocity of human depravity was unleashed there in modern times, a similar demonstration of the degradation of the human condition are vividly set forth at the end of the Book of Judges.

The meaning of the...