The Judge's Speaking Out of Two Sides of His Mouth

I think that the judge keeps goading him and saying that he'd never fully committed. He doesn't understand the philosophy of violence and war. What the judge wants is for the kid to kill him or try to kill him anyway. So ultimately, the judge is wagering in a very real way, his existence. And because he's winning by not annihilating In some sense his opponent, although we know he eventually does. But it's like he's giving the kid multiple, multiple chances to validate his thesis and become an autonomous individual.