Who was Adoni-Bezek?

[Adoni-be'zek] King of Bezek, as the name implies, a Canaanitish city. He was taken captive by Judah, and they cut off his thumbs and great toes. He confessed that this was a righteous judgement upon him, because he had done the same to seventy kings, whom he made to gather their food under his table. Judges 1:5-7.

Such things are not, however, always at once discovered. Judah and Simeon go together, and the Canaanites and Perizzites are delivered into their hand: they smite in Bezek a host ten thousand strong. In Bezek they find, also, Adoni-bezek, whom they pursue and maim, inflicting the judgment of God upon him for cruelties of this kind inflicted upon others. He himself owns it as this, — a remarkable witness to Israel of how and why God was against the Canaanites; and that He whose judgments they were executing was over all. His name goes with the lesson: Bezek means "fettered," and so were these hosts that they destroyed; Adonibezek, "lord of Bezek," it being doubtless his chief city, but thus also and literally, "a lord in fetters." So it is with the freest, when in opposition to God, and with the mightiest, in His hand.

In the succeeding verses, it is Judah who gains the victories, and Simeon is mentioned only in verse 17 as accompanying Judah. The Lord delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into Judah's hand and 10,000 of them were killed in battle (v. 4). Bezek, meaning "lightning" seems a formidable foe, but the power of God is greater. They captured its king, Adoni-Bezek ("lord of Bezek") as he was fleeing, but instead of putting him to death, as God had ordered, they compromised by cutting off his thumbs and big toes (vv. 5-6). His own words in verse 7 are his condemnation. He had done the same to 70 kings whom he had put under subjection to him, and now he says that God had repaid him in kind. We maybe sure he had no righteous reason for maiming those kings, though Israel had serious reason for killing him. God had decreed this because of the demon worship to which these Canaanites had given themselves up. That demon influence would not be stamped out by merely maiming the ungodly king. These things teach us that we are to show no mercy to sin, but to "putto death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (Col. 3:5).Yet Adoni-Bezek died, so God intervened to carry out the proper sentence against him.

In ancient times the special place and usefulness of the thumb of the hand and the great toe of the foot were fully recognised. We read in the Bible of a great king, Adoni-bezek, who was defeated in battle, and in attempting to escape was captured, and his thumbs and great toes were cut off. When he was thus mutilated, he exclaimed, “Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me” (Judges 1:7). Without the thumbs and great toes a warrior would be unable to fight, and escape from the enemy would be made most difficult.

In Judges 1:5-9 we have a further mention of the city, and here we learn the third outstanding fact in the history of Jerusalem and its people, namely, that in them has been and will yet be exemplified that stern law, "What a man sows that shall he also reap." We read that "Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes." Such treatment of a fallen foe seems both unchivalrous and cruel, but the reason of it is not hidden from us, as he had served others so was he served. He immediately acknowledges the justice of his punishment, and in that state of self-judgment is brought to Jerusalem.

But there were great victories, the blessed assurance that Jehovah is with His people, if they go but forward. Adoni-Bezek is punished in the same manner as he in his wickedness had done to others. Infidels have often found fault with the extermination of the Canaanites. The confession of Adoni-Bezek answers these objections. "As I have done, so God hath requited me." Their punishment was just and well deserved.

What must have been the feelings of that wicked warrior, Adoni-bezek, when he said, “Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there be died” (Judges 1:7). Note, when Adoni-bezek went through the ordeal of having his thumbs and his great toes cut off, thereby being greatly crippled, he ascribed what had happened to him to God, “God has requited me.” The boomerang, that he had often flung at others, had hit himself. This is ever so.

The result of this combined action was apparently magnificent. We learn from Joshua 19:9 that "the part of the children of Judah was too much for them." But the inheritance of the children of Simeon was not the best, for it was taken from what Judah could not keep; thus they received their portion out of that which was superfluous to another, at the southern limit of the land of Israel, in the border which looked towards the desert. It was not that God disowned either tribe, for it is written (v. 4), "the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand;" but warfare undertaken on the footing of a human alliance, bears more or less the imprint of its origin. The allies seize upon Adoni-bezek and "cut off his thumbs and his great toes." (v. 6) This was not what God commanded of old, nor what Joshua did to the kings of Jericho, of Ai, of Jerusalem, of Makkedah, and all the kings of the mountain and of the plain. To mutilate the enemy was simply human retaliation. It had been, likewise, the custom of Adoni-bezek thus to humble his enemies; keeping them, however, at his court, as their presence served to increase his glory as conqueror. We see similar things in the church's history. How many times she has made a show of past victories to exalt herself in her own eyes and those of others. The conscience of a humbled foe is often more accessible than that of the people of God in prosperity. Adoni-bezek smitten by Judah, acknowledges having acted wrongly towards the vanquished kings, and bows to the judgment of God.

The result of this combined action was apparently magnificent. We learn from Joshua 19: 9 that "the part of the children of Judah was too much for them." But the inheritance of the children of Simeon was not the best, for it was taken from what Judah could not keep; thus they received their portion out of that which was superfluous to another, at the southern limit of the land of Israel, in the border which looked towards the desert. It was not that God disowned either tribe, for it is written (v. 4), "the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand;" but warfare undertaken on the footing of a human alliance, bears more or less the imprint of its origin. The allies seize upon Adoni‑bezek and "cut off his thumbs and his great toes." (v. 6) This was not what God commanded of old, nor what Joshua did to the kings of Jericho, of Ai, of Jerusalem, of Makkedah, and all the kings of the mountain and of the plain. To mutilate the enemy was simply human retaliation. It had been, likewise, the custom of Adoni‑bezek thus to humble his enemies; keeping them, however, at his court, as their presence served to increase his glory as conqueror. We see similar things in the church's history. How many times she has made a show of past victories to exalt herself in her own eyes and those of others. The conscience of a humbled foe is often more accessible than that of the people of God in prosperity. Adoni‑bezek smitten by Judah, acknowledges having acted wrongly towards the vanquished kings, and bows to the judgment of God.

While permitting sin, and indeed allowing its reign, God keeps it in check. "Hitherto shalt thou come but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." It merits His condemnation, and must be punished, both in the unit, and in the aggregate. In the former "Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting," and in the latter, "Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, etc." (Dan. 5:25-31). In the individual dealings, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap " — In the national, the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. Pharaoh and his host were destroyed at the Red Sea; Assyria fell before Babylon, they in turn before Persia, who had to give way to Alexander, and so on, till Rome, under whom our Lord was crucified. God may use men in these governmental judgments, or Nature herself may serve His purpose. The Assyrian was "the rod of His anger" (Isa. 10:5); the king of Babylon His servant (Jer. 25:9), and Cyrus His shepherd and anointed. (Isa. 44:28; Isa. 45:1); while Israel is His battle axe (Jer. 51:20). In His use of nature, He may deluge the earth with rain, or withhold it. He may use fire, as in the case of Sodom, or He may cause the earth to open and swallow men up, as in the case of certain in Israel (Num. 16:31-33). Israel were the people of God's choice, and their sin was in the presence of much greater light, and consequently the government had to be borne in greater severity, for with God there can be no respect of persons. "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. … and fell in one day three and twenty thousand" (1 Cor. 10:7-8). "Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile" (Rom. 2:9). Nor is it different with the individual. Jacob deceived his father, and was deceived by his sons; David passes sentence on the offender, saying that he would have to pay four-fold, and had to suffer the loss of four of his sons. Adoni-bezek cut off the thumbs and great toes of threescore and ten, and then found himself under the same suffering (Judges 1:6-7).