the book of Judges so remember after
Joshua led the tribes of Israel into the
Promised Land he called them to be
faithful to their covenant with God by
obeying the commands of the Torah and if
they do this they will show all the
other nations what God is like so judges
begins with the death of Joshua and
basically tells the story of Israel's
total failure the books name comes from
the type of leaders Israel had in this
period before they had any kings the
tribes were all governed by these judges
now don't think of a courtroom these
were regional political military leaders
more like a tribal chieftain and you
need to be warned the book of Judges is
very disturbing and violent it tells the
tragic tale of Israel's moral corruption
of its bad leadership and basically how
they become no different than the
Canaanites but this sad story is also
meant to generate hope for the future
and you can see this in how the books
designed there's a large introduction
that sets the stage for Israel's failure
as they don't drive out the remaining
Canaanites then the large main section
of the book has stories about the
growing corruption of Israel's judges
and the progression here shows how
Israel's leaders go from pretty good -
okay to bad to worse the concluding
section is really disturbing and shows
the corruption of the people of Israel
as a whole so let's dive in and we can
explore each part a bit more the opening
section begins with the tribes of Israel
in their territories in the promised
land
and while Joshua defeated some key
Canaanite towns there was still a lot of
land to be taken and lots of Canaanites
living in those areas and so chapter 1
gives a long list of Canaanite groups
and towns that Israel just failed to
drive out from the land now remember the
whole point of driving out the
Canaanites was to avoid their moral
corruption and their way of worshipping
the gods through child sacrifice God had
called Israel to be a holy people and
that does not happen
chapter 2 describes how Israel just
moved in alongside the Canaanites and
adopted all their cultural and religious
practices and it's right here that the
story stops for nearly a whole chapter
the narrator gives us an overview
of everything that's about to happen in
the body of the book this part of
Israel's history the narrator says was a
series of cycles moving in a downward
spiral so Israel became like the
Canaanites and so they would sin against
God so God would allow them to be
conquered and oppressed by the
Canaanites and eventually the Israelites
would see the error of their ways and
repent so God would raise up a deliverer
a judge from among Israel who would
defeat the enemy and bring about an era
of peace but eventually Israel would sin
again and it would all start over this
cycle provides the literary design and
flow for the next main section of the
book it gets repeated for each of the
six main judges whose stories are told
here now the stories of the first three
judges both nail a hood and Deborah they
are epic adventures they're also
extremely bloody stories either the
judge themselves or people who help the
judge they defeat their enemies and
deliver the people of Israel the story
is about the next three judges are
longer and they focus in on the
character flaws of the judges which get
increasingly worse so Gideon
he begins pretty well he's a coward of a
man but he eventually comes to trust
that God can save Israel through him and
so he defeats a huge army of Midianites
with only 300 men carrying torches and
clay pots but Gideon has a nasty temper
and he murders a bunch of fellow
Israelites for not helping him in his
battle and then it all goes downhill
from there he makes an idol from the
gold that he won in his battles and then
after he dies all Israel worships the
idol as a god and the cycle begins again
the next main judge is Jaffa who's
something of a mafia thug living up in
the hills and when things get really bad
for Israel the elders come to him
begging for his help and Jephthah was a
very effective leader he won lots of
battles against the ammonites but he was
so unfamiliar with the God of Israel he
treats him like a Canaanite god he vows
to sacrifice his daughter if he wins the
battle this tragic story it shows just
how far Israel has fallen they no longer
know
the character of their own God which
leads to murder and a false worship the
last judge Sampson is by far the worst
his life begin full of promise but he
has no regard for the God of Israel he
was promiscuous violent and arrogant he
did win brutally strategic victories
over the Philistines but only at the
expense of his own integrity and his
life ends in a violent rush of mass
murder now a quick note here you'll
notice a repeated theme in the main
section of the book that at key moments
God's Spirit will empower each of these
judges to accomplish these great acts of
deliverance now the fact that God uses
these really screwed up people doesn't
mean he endorses all or even any of
their decisions God has committed first
and foremost to saving his people but
all he has to work with is these corrupt
leaders and so work with them he does
this whole section is designed to show
just how bad things have gotten you
can't even tell the Israelites and the
Canaanites apart anymore and that's just
the leaders the final section shows
Israel as a whole hitting bottom there
are two tragic stories here and they are
not for the faint of heart they're
structured by this key line that gets
repeated four times at the close of the
book in those days Israel had no king
and everyone did what was right in their
own eyes the first story is about an
Israelite named Micah who builds a
private temple to an idol and that gets
plundered by a private army sent from
the tribe of Dan so they come and they
steal everything and then they go and
burn down the peaceful city of La ish
and murder all of its inhabitants it's a
horrifying story when Israel forgets
it's God might makes right the final
story of the book is even worse it's a
shocking tale of sexual abuse and
violence which all leads to Israel's
first civil war it's very disturbing and
that's the point these stories are meant
to serve as a warning
Israel's descent into self-destruction
is the result of turning away from the
God who loves them
leave them out of slavery in Egypt and
now Israel needs to be delivered again
from themselves
the only glimmer of hope in this story
is found in this repeated line in the
last part of the book it actually forms
the last sentence of the story Israel
has no King and so the stage is set for
the following books to tell the origins
of King David's family the Book of Ruth
and also the origins of kingship itself
in Israel the book of 1st Samuel but the
story of Judges has value as a tragedy
it's a sobering explanation of the human
condition and ultimately it points out
the need for God's grace to send a king
who will rescue his people and that's
the book of Judges