Otniel
d. c. 1200 BCE · Biblical era · Debir (Kiryat Sefer)
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Otniel son of Kenaz is the first of the 'judges', the tribal deliverers who led Israel before the monarchy. He first appears as Kalev's younger kinsman. Kalev promised his daughter Achsah to whoever captured Kiryat Sefer (Debir); Otniel took the city and married her (Joshua 15:15-17; Judges 1:11-13). The Book of Judges then tells how Israel was subjected for eight years to Cushan-rishathaim, king of Aram-naharaim. When the people cried out, God raised up Otniel. 'The spirit of the LORD' came upon him, he defeated the foreign king, and the land had peace for forty years (Judges 3:8-11). This brief account sets the pattern that recurs throughout Judges: sin, oppression, a cry for help, a deliverer, and rest. The Talmud (Temurah 16a) adds that after Moshe's death many laws were forgotten during the mourning period, and Otniel restored them through his sharp reasoning. A baraita there also identifies him with Yabetz of 1 Chronicles 4.
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Debir (Kiryat Sefer)Southern Judean hills, south-west of Hebron
What they did here
He captured Kiryat Sefer, also called Debir, and won Achsah, Kalev's daughter (Joshua 15:15-17; Judges 1:11-13). The site is uncertain: Khirbet Rabud is the common modern proposal, Tell Beit Mirsim the older one. The battle with Cushan-rishathaim (Judges 3:10) is unlocated and not pinned.
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Otniel’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn from recorded birth and death years (reign years for rulers whose lives are undated); where only one end of a life is known, a span of about 70 years is assumed.
Jewish world
- Yehoshua bin Nun (Joshua son of Nun)· 1355 BCE–1245 BCE
- Betzalel ben Uri (Bezalel, builder of the Mishkan)· b. 1326 BCE
- The Seventy Elders of Israel (the Sanhedrin appointed by Moshe)· 1310 BCE–1240 BCE
- Pinchas ben Elazar HaKohen· 1280 BCE–1180 BCE
- Devorah (the Judge-Prophetess)· 1200 BCE–1124 BCE
- Ehud ben Gera (the left-handed Judge)· d. 1150 BCE
Egyptian world
Hindu world
Mesopotamian world
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.