Judges
The Judges of Israel’s day were not like judges as we know them today. There was no king in Israel because God was meant to be King. The judges were more chief leaders over the Israelites that dealt with foreign affairs. They had nothing to do with the Law.
Deuteronomy 20:16-18 clearly states that the Israelites were to devote the nations they were taking over to complete destruction. God tells them it is so that the surrounding nations would not be a snare to them and draw them away from Him. Immediately at the beginning of Judges we see this go south. Each tribe leaves Canaanites in their land and sets them to forced labor. Though they were in a position of power over them, the Israelites were going against God’s word and opened themselves up to the evil practices of these other nations. God was quick to follow through with His side of the promise when they neglected Him. The Israelites were to learn what life without God would be like, but each time they cried out to Him, He was there for them just as He said He would be at the end of Deuteronomy.
The book of Judges follows cycles of the people of Israel sinning and God saving them through broken people. There are 12 judges in the book, six that have a more detailed story and six that are merely mentioned. The number 12 correlates to the number of tribes in Israel, and the number six is the number of judgement and symbolizes human weakness. Though God uses these judges to bring rest to Israel, they are often just as sinful as the rest of the nation. The first three written about in chapter 3, Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar are glimpses into what the role of the judge was like and how God used them to fight for Israel.
Deborah, a priestess who dealt with issues among the Israelites became the next judge. She urged Barak to fight against the Canaanite King Jabin and the Israelites defeated them because God was on their side. It is interesting to note that Barak would not go to war without her and that the victory was won by Jael, a woman who lured the king into her tent and killed him. There are a few women mentioned in Judges, each plays a role in changing the way Israel lived.
The song of Deborah is filled with imagery that you can pull out and observe. Ask why this would be how she described the events of the battle. The disturbing death of the king of Canaan is given and it calls out the Israelite tribes that did not fight with their brothers. Most repeated, however, is the fact that the Lord was with His people and that He fought for them. After years of disobeying God, when the people cried out He was quick to answer. God gave them rest but the cycle was soon to start over. The Israelites had let the evil practices of the surrounding nations draw them away from Him. Why would this song be included if the people were about to forget about God once again?
Mighty Man of Valor, Too Afraid of His Family
Gideon was the next judge to be raised up by God. The Lord appeared to him when Israel was being oppressed by Midian and had called out to Him. God called Gideon a “mighty man of valor” and told him he would save Israel. Gideon tested the Lord. After revealing His glory, God told Gideon to tear down the idols his father had and build an altar to Him. Gideon did it in the night for fear of what others would say or do. Throughout the Bible we see God use broken people. Here in Judges we see Him using people who barely had faith. Why would God call Gideon a Mighty Man of Valor when Gideon was too afraid to build Him an altar in daylight?
Gideon tested God and used divination to gain confidence. Divination is against God’s Law and was part of the reason He had told Israel not to live among other nations. Their gods and practices found their way into the Israelite’s lives and Gideon, though chosen by God, was no different. Instead of exhibiting the faith we would expect from a Biblical character called by God, Gideon shows that Israel was so far from the Lord’s heart that they would test Him and use their own means to determine whether they would trust His Word. In response, God shows Gideon that He doesn’t need testing and that He would move greater than they expected. See how God responded to all of Gideon’s faithlessness.
Another reoccurring theme through Judges is distrust and accusation among Israel. In Deborah’s song, the lyrics call out the nations that did not help Barak’s army. In chapter 8, the tribe of Ephraim gets upset that Gideon didn’t ask them to join the fight against Midian. This will continue to happen through the rest of the book, observe these moments and ask why they would be included in this preserved text.
Immediately after the great victory God brought to Israel, Gideon created an idol that drew Him away from the Lord and all of Israel began to sin once again. Notice the difference between Deborah’s response of worship and Gideon’s response of disobedience. Why would the author of Judges want to highlight all the wrong Israel did while the Lord followed through with their covenant?
Gideon left many descendants in Israel, most notably is Abimelech who killed his seventy brothers and made himself king of Israel. God had given instructions in Deuteronomy 17:15, saying He would appoint a king over the nation when they asked for one. No one had asked God at this point and Abimelech created a throne with force.
Abimelech’s only surviving brother, Jotham, used an analogy of trees. He told the people that if what they were doing was in good faith to carry on but if not they would be punished. God was against Abimelech though he reigned for three years. God was bringing justice to Abimelech and the people of Shechem. Why would Jotham use the imagery of trees to teach Israel a lesson here? Why would the author include this story and what significance would it have to the Israelites that read it?
After Abimelech there were more minor judges and God brought peace to Israel for years but the cycle continued. Israel would get too comfortable in their sin and completely turn away from God. God told them to trust the gods they had turned too but they knew those gods could do nothing for then. Once again the Israelites turned back to the Lord and abandoned all their false idols. What does it say about God’s character that He always fought for them the minute Israel cried out to Him again? How would this encourage later generations of Israelites?
As God raised up Jephthah to be the next judge of Israel, He used him as an example of the Israelite’s relationship with Him. Jephthah was rejected by his family and people but when they were in trouble they called on him to help save them. This is the cycle we’ve been seeing happen with the Lord. Jephthah confronts the Ammonites giving them the history of how Israel dealt with their country and surrounding nations then tells them to trust their god. If their god was going to save them it would. Jephthah had confidence that God was the true judge and would move on the behalf of Israel. Immediately after this, though, Jephthah made a vow to God that was similar to those of the pagan nations and not Israel’s Law. He offered his only daughter as his “payment” to the Lord for bringing them victory. This is something God specifically speaks against in Leviticus 18:21 and Deuteronomy 12:31. Why would it be significant here in the story to show that Jephthah was not following the Law after just promoting God’s justice?
Once again there were disputes among the tribes of Israel. Ephraim and Gilead went head to head because they didn’t communicate or fight with each other. This continues to happen through the book of Judges. Keep and eye out for what this meant for Israel and why it would be happening.
Even in the darkest times in Israel, the people saw God do incredible things. As Israel sinned and forgot the Lord who had given them everything they had, God continued to give them deliverance from their enemies. He chose people who did not have their lives together, who didn’t even fully believe in Him, and did wonderful things through them. Why would God use these judges to protect Israel when they did not follow His word or worship Him? Why would God pick a man and woman to have a son dedicated to Him even though years of sin had passed in Israel? Why would this judge be different in the way he was born into a special position? What would this mean to Israel?
Samson broke God’s laws at the beginning of chapter 14. In Deuteronomy 7:3-4 He prohibits the Israelites from marrying people from other nations because He knew they would be drawn away from Him. Samson demands to be married to a Philistine. In Leviticus 5:2 it says that a person that touches a carcass of a beast would be unclean and Leviticus 17:15 it says that if a person did touch a corpse of an animal they must clean their clothes and bodies and would remain unclean the entire day. Samson killed a lion then days later ate the honey from its carcass. Then in chapter 15 he once again grabs a bone from a dead animal and uses it against the Philistines as a weapon. This shows that he either did not know the Law or did not care to follow it. Though he was disobeying God’s word, the Lord was still working through his life to defeat the Philistines on behalf of Israel. What does this say about who God is and what He does for people? Why would it be significant to the Israelites reading this story to know Samson hadn’t been keeping the Law?
Once Samson fell in love with another woman and the Philistines convinced her to learn his secret they fell into a cycle. She would ask him where his strength came from, he would lie, she would try what he said and the Philistines would ambush him but he would prevail. This continued to happen until Samson, getting too annoyed to lie any longer, told Delilah the whole truth. He told her the vow he had made to God and how he was dedicated to Him from birth. This was meant to be holy and personal but Samson let it slip because Delilah wore him down. Why would God leave Samson after his hair was cut? What does this have to do with the Nazarite vow? Once Samson had another chance, God gave him his strength back and he killed many more Philistines. Notice that he called on the Lord and asked Him to remember him. Why would God remember him? How did this fit into what God was doing for Israel at the time?
By the end of the book of Judges we read the repeated phrase “there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” over and over. The people were far from following the Law. They were disobedient and had a warped view of God. Micah’s mother wanted to dedicate idols to the Lord. This is the exact thing God told them not to do, it is the third command in the Ten Commandments. He created his own priest and believed the Lord would cause him to prosper because of this. Why would he believe this would help them in the sight of the Lord? Why would the author of Judges want to remind the reader that there was no king? Why would this phrase be repeated through these last chapters? After this account it goes on to describe how the tribe of Dan came and stole the carved images and the priest for themselves and brought them to a new land they had conquered. They were coveting Micah’s sinful belongings, also showing disregard for the Law. The tribe of Dan went against a man from another tribe of Israel which is another repeated theme throughout Judges. The people were becoming more lawless, selfish, and sinful as they continued to forget the Lord and His desire to be close to them.
Chapter 19 comes to a crazy ending that moves Israel into complete chaos. This moment with the man and his concubine calls back to the beginning of Judges when Caleb’s daughter asks for land. She comes to him on a donkey asking for land and Caleb blesses her. Here, the woman is kept safe at her father’s house until her husband takes her away then she’s brutally raped and murdered and sent out in pieces on a donkey. Why would these stories of women on donkeys be important at the beginning and end of the book? What would the father (Caleb and the concubine’s) have to do with the message being shared? Why would it be significant to the Israelite readers that the man whose Concubine this happened to was a Levite? If this book was written during the exile of Israel, why would it be significant that Caleb was from the tribe of Judah? The people in Gibeah, the tribe of Benjamin were just like the people in Sodom and Gomorrah. Why would this parallel be included in the text and preserved for later Israelites to be reminded of?
The book of Judges ends in a civil war. Eleven tribes against the tribe of Benjamin. The people had fallen so far from the Lord that they had begun to harm and hate each other. Why would the author of this book want to preserve the memory of their civil war? Right after this, the tribes take it upon themselves to find wives for the men of Benjamin, rejoining the twelve tribes but disregarding the Law once more. The wives they found were from an outside nation, against God’s word. This steady decline had been in the works and the book properly ends by saying “there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” This also sets up the future of Israel. From the text we come to understand that the author is writing from (or after) a time where kings were established in Israel. After Ruth, a story of obedience in the time of great disregard and lawlessness, we will begin the story of Israel establishing a king over themselves and where this leads.
You Finished Judges!
Now that you have finished observing and interpreting, I would encourage you to reflect on the timeless truths you have found in the Word and to apply it to your life. Here are some questions to help bring Judges home.