Shoftim Chapter 10 | And He Could Not Bear Israel’s Misery Any Longer

In this chapter, something has shaken - the people of Israel cry out, but God is unwilling to listen. After God sells the Israelites into the hands of the Amonites and the Philistines — the enemy from the northeast and the enemy from the southwest — the people of Israel cry out and confess, and instead of introducing the next judge, the Tanakh presents God's harsh response: "And the Lord said to the children of Israel, ‘Indeed Egypt and the Amorites and the Amonites and the Philistines and the Sidonians and Amalek and Maon oppressed you, then you cried out to Me, and I saved you from their hands. But you abandoned Me and served other gods; I will save you no longer. Go and cry out to the other gods you chose — let them save you in your times of trouble.’"

The credit of the Israelites has run out. God has saved them too many times without genuine repentance, and so He declares He will no longer deliver them. In response to this despairing decision conveyed by the prophet, the people of Israel begin a process of repentance and add abandoning sin to their confession: "'We have sinned’, the Israelites said to the Lord, ‘Do to us as You see fit, but please save us this very day.' They purged the alien gods from their midst and worshiped the Lord" and the prophet describes God's response with an ambiguous phrase: "וַתִּקְצַר נַפְשׁוֹ בַּעֲמַל יִשְׂרָאֵל."

There are two ways to understand the meaning of the word "עמל," each leading to a different interpretation of the narrative. Some commentators interpret 'עמל' as toil and suffering, leading to an understanding that God could no longer bear Israel's suffering and, in conjunction with their repentance, relented and decided to forgive and deliver them. This interpretation brings us to Yiftach, the judge who will deliver Israel from the Amonites in the next chapter.

The second possibility is the more common biblical understanding of 'עמל' — falsehood or evil deeds (often paralleled with ‘אוון’ which can be understood as iniquity, as in "לא הביט און ביעקב ולא ראה עמל בישראל", "ורהבם עמל ואוון"). According to this, God was tired of witnessing Israel's superficial repentance, pretending to return but soon reverting to sin. With this reading, our chapter marks a turning point in Israel's history, and God does not send a savior to resolve the current problem: Yiftach will succeed in subduing the Amonites in the east, but they will reappear during Sha’ul’s time. And Shimshon will not manage to subdue the Philistines in the south, only "begin to save Israel," and they will continue to be present throughout the Book of Shmuel, in wars involving Eli, Shmuel, Sha’ul, and David.

The use of the ambiguous word "עמל" may be intentional, designed to make us read the rest of the story with uncertainty — did the Isrealites' repentance succeed? Will God send a redeemer?