Bible

Today, in the Bible room, we step into the next stage of the history of God’s People, reading about the era of the Judges. Due to the amount of detail included here, we will read the book in two sessions: Part 1 includes chapters 1 through 9.

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Judges – Part 1

Introduction to Judges:

Writer: The prophet, Samuel, is considered by many to have written the book of Judges. He is looking backward through the more than three centuries directly preceding his own generation when kings began to rule in Israel. However, there remains a degree of uncertainty as to the writer of this book.

Scope: The decades following Israel’s conquest and possession of Canaan could be characterized as ‘mixed’ both societally and spiritually. The passing of Joshua has thrust the new nation into an era of alternating war and peace, and an equally uneven relationship with the God of their forefathers, to whom they had solemnly pledged their worship and obedience. It was a time during which there was no leader in Israel: every man “did what was right in his own eyes” as the Bible says. Then there comes a time when Israel falls into such severe oppression by the Canaanites that the Lord has to rescue His People, so he sends them leaders to deliver them. At various times during the centuries that follow, several individuals would assume the multi-vocational role of Israel’s judicial, spiritual, and military leader. This is the era of the Judges: we have a record of twelve who are presented in this book.

Chapter 1. Challenges

God had told Joshua there remained an area of unsettled land in Canaan that needed to be taken by force as part of their inheritance:

• Leadership is needed: God calls Judah for this task;
• The tribe of Judah assembles some of the other Israelites to war against the remaining Canaanites;
• Many cities are destroyed; some are forced into slave labor.

Chapter 2. Judges

The entire generation of Israelites born during Joshua’s leadership have all died off now and Israel has no leader:

• Israel sinks into disobedience, apostasy, defeat;
• They also fall victim to Canaanite marauders, vandals;
• The Lord honors his Agreement, will save his people;
• By divine decree, the era of the Judges begins.

Chapter 3. Leaders

The Lord allows many Canaanites to remain to test His Chosen People:

• Living with, intermarrying Canaanites leads rapidly to failure, obviates the need for leaders:
• Othniel, nephew of Caleb, emerges as the first Judge, ordained to lead Israel back to God;
• He immediately goes to war, defeats pagan enemies;
• There follows forty years of peace;
• His death emboldens Israel’s enemies once again;
• Eighteen years of evil and failure, oppression follow;
• A new judge, Ehud, is the answer to Israel’s prayer;
• The oppressor is the obese king of Moab, named Eglon;
• Ehud conceals a sword under his clothes, goes to see Eglon;
• A private meeting with the two men, and the sword is embedded through Eglon’s oversized body;
• Ehud leads the demise of 10,000 enemy soldiers, releases his people from Moab’s oppression;
• Eighty years of peace in Canaan under Ehud;
• Shamgar follows Ehud, is an ineffective judge for twenty years, allows the rise of an evil Canaanite ruler named Jabin.

Chapter 4. Victories

The Lord calls a woman, Deborah, to lead Israel’s resurgence:

• Spiritual decline under Shamgar is accompanied by the rise to power of a Canaanite ruler named Jabin, an evil man, and his military leader, Sisera, a cruel oppressor;
• Deborah, a prophetess and spiritual leader, is called by the Lord to lead Israel’s army against Jabin and Sisera;
• Sisera’s large army has nine hundred iron chariots;
• Deborah instructs Barak, a leader in Israel’s army, to gather a force of ten thousand soldiers to challenge Sisera;
• Barak insists that Deborah go with him for the attack;
• She advises him that a woman will get the credit for victory;
• He does not object; he knows God is with her;
• The enemy army is routed, but Sisera escapes;
• He hides in the tent of a woman named Jael;
• She gives Sisera a drink of warm milk, he falls asleep;
• She drives a tent peg through his temple into the ground;
• Victory over Sisera leads to the overthrow of Jabin;
• There is peace again in Israel, thanks to two strong women.

Chapter 5. Praise

Deborah and Barak sing a song of praise for the Lord’s great victory:

• She praises those Israelites who joined Barak in the army;
• She chides those tribes who did not participate;
• She sings how the Lord used the river Kishon to sweep the chariots away in the mud of the valley;
• Forty years of peace under Deborah;
• And then Israel backslides, again.

Chapter 6. Verification

Israel is oppressed by Midian, needs help, the Lord calls a man:

• There has been seven years under Midianite oppression;
• They overrun Israel’s land, trample crops, kill herds;
• The people hide from the Midianite army;
• Israel’s prayer for the Lord’s help is answered;
• Gideon, a prophet, is threshing his wheat in a wine press pit to hide it from the Midianites;
• The Lord appears, calls Gideon to be their deliverer;
• The Lord gives his promise of victory with a fiery sign;
• Gideon hesitates, pleads incompetence, asks for assurance:
• He lays out a fleece:  Wet one night, dry the next, as he asked;
• He has verification from the Lord.

Chapter 7. Strategy

Gideon is to lead an army of 300 against thousands of Midianites: 

• He has a strategy:
• At the brook, he cuts down his 22,000-man army to 300;
• The Lord wants all to know it will be the Lord’s victory;
• Some lights, jars and horns surprise the enemy at night;
• The Midianites are confused, attack each other, flee;
• Other Israelite tribes join Gideon’s 300 to block the river escape.

Chapter 8. Determined

Gideon determines to execute every soldier of the Midianite army: 

• 15,000 remaining enemy fighters run ahead of Gideon;
• Exhausted, Gideon and his men need rest and food;
• Some eastern tribes along the way refuse to help Gideon;
• He determines to punish them on his way back home;
• In a surprise attack, Gideon kills the enemy army;
• Later, he destroys the unhelpful towns and people;
• Plunder from Gideon’s victories yields much gold;
• Mistakenly, he forms nearly 50 pounds of gold into an ornament, it becomes an idol of worship by many;
• After destroying the Midianites, Gideon rules in Israel for forty years of peace;
• After his death, Israel does not respect Gideon’s family;
• Soon, the Israelites have taken up Baal worship.

Chapter 9. Murders

Gideon has many wives, seventy sons, one wants to be leader:

• Abimelech is chosen to be a leader, but not a Judge;
• He hires thugs to kill sixty-eight of his brothers, one escapes;
• Jotham hides out, warns the people about his brother;
• The people rise up against Abimelech, plot his overthrow;
• He attacks, kills several thousand people, burns cities;
• At Thebez, Jotham warns the people, they hide in a tower;
• A woman drops a millstone on Abimelech, cracks his skull;
• He dies by his servant’s sword, rather than die by a woman;
• Abimelech ‘rules’ for three years, never as a Judge.

END OF PART 1 OF THE BOOK OF JUDGES