- [Narrator] The majority of people
only remember the bowdlerized version of Judges,
which they learned in Sunday school.
Thomas Bowdler, didn't like some sections
of Williams Shakespeare's plays,
so he rewrote them leaving out the naughty bits,
and his name is now engraved in history.
Similarly, some of the less appealing components
of Judge's stories are omitted
such as concubines, murder, phallic symbolism, and so on.
As a result, while many people are familiar
with certain characters in the book,
such as Samson, Delilah, Deborah, and Gideon,
many are unfamiliar with the rest of it,
let alone its broader tone and purpose.
What were the judges?
Who were the judges exactly?
What did they do and who were they?
They are referred to as judges in English,
however, this term does not accurately reflect
the meaning of the word originally used to describe them.
When we read that Sampson or Gideon judged Israel,
the Hebrew word means that they were troubleshooters
who saved God's people from themselves and others.
They're never given a title,
but are described in terms of their accomplishments.
Indeed, God is the only person
to whom the term is applied throughout Judges.
He is the judge
and He is in charge of resolving their issues.
It would be more accurate to say that God is the savior
or troubleshooter who works through these heroes,
through His spirit, for the people's welfare.
They are concerned about justice within the nation,
but mostly with exterior issues
as the people are surrounded by hostile nations
who attack them at different times.
The Ammonites three times, the Amalekites twice,
the Moabites once, the Midianites once
and the Philistines three times.
The kings of Jericho, Moab and Joshua,
also mentioned specifically.
God's people had arrived in a densely populated area
among people who were mostly opposed to their presence.
They were seen as intruders.
The only reason they were in that area was
because God had given it to them and they were to use it
to punish the local population by wiping them out.
As a result, the book isn't simply about individual heroes
or the study of personalities,
but also about entire peoples.
The second level of history. Individual stories.
The book stories are surely engrossing.
There is a sparse use of words
yet there is plenty of interesting detail
in vivid descriptions that bring the characters
to life for the reader.
The quantity of space allotted
to each character varies a lot.
Gideon has three chapters to himself,
Deborah and Barak each have two,
yet some only have a single paragraph.
It seemed as if the more sensational they were,
the more room they were given.
Clearly the author's purpose
is not to give a balanced account of each hero.
It is easy, however, to get the impression
that the book is about a series of folk heroes
who saved the day in whatever situation they faced.
We read early in the book
of Caleb's younger brother Othniel.
Othniel was the first of the biblical judges.
Judges 3:8-11:
Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel
and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim,
King of Mesopotamia,
and the children of Israel
served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,
the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel
who delivered them even Othniel, the son of Kenaz,
Caleb's younger brother.
And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him
and he judged Israel and went out to war
and the Lord delivered Chushanrishathaim,
King of Mesopotamia, into his hand
and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim.
And the land had rest 40 years and Othniel,
the son of Kenaz died.
All we know about him is that he provided 40 years
of peace to his people.
We read about Ehud, the left-handed leader,
who strapped his 18-inch sword blade
to his right leg to conceal it.
Due to the fact
that the majority of people were right-handed,
it was common to search the left leg for weapons.
As a result, he was able to take his sword
into a secret meeting with Moab's king
and thrust it into the king's belly.
Again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,
and because they did this evil,
the Lord gave Eglon, King of Moab, power over Israel.
Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him,
Eglon came and attacked Israel,
and they took possession of the City of Palms.
The Israelites were subject
to Eglon, King of Moab, for 18 years.
Again, the Israelites cried out to the Lord
and He gave them a deliverer, Ehud, a left-handed man,
the son of Gara, the Benjamite.
Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon of Moab.
Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit long,
which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.
He presented the tribute to Eglon, King of Moab,
who was a very fat man.
After Ehud who had presented the tribute,
he sent on their way those who had carried it.
But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal,
he himself went back to Eglon and said,
"Your majesty, I have a secret message for you."
The king said to his attendance, "Leave us."
And they all left.
Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone
in the upper room of his palace and said,
"I have a message from God, for you."
As the king rose from his seat,
Ehud reached with his left hand,
drew the sword from his right thigh
and plunged it into the king's belly.
Even the handle sank in after the blade
and his bowels discharged.
Ehud did not pull the sword out
and the fat closed in over it.
Then Ehud went out to the porch.
He shut the doors of the upper room behind him
and locked them.
After he had gone, the servants came
and found the doors of the upper room locked.
They said, "He must be relieving himself
in the inner room of the palace."
They waited to the point of embarrassment.
But when he did not open the doors of the room,
they took a key and unlocked them.
There they saw their Lord fallen to the floor dead.
While they waited, Ehud got away.
He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah.
When he arrived there,
he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim.
And the Israelites went down with him
from the hills with him leading them.
"Follow me," he ordered,
"For the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands."
So they followed him down and took possession
of the Fords of the Jordan that led to Moab.
They allowed no one to crossover.
At that time, they struck down about 10,000 Moabites,
all vigorous and strong, not one escaped.
That day Moab was made subject to Israel
and the land had peace for 80 years.
We read of Shamgar who killed 600 Philistines
with an ox goad.
Judges 3:31:
And after him was Shamgar, the son of Anath,
which slew of the Philistine 600 men with an ox goad.
And he also delivered Israel.
We read of Deborah and Barak.
Deborah was a prophetess married to Lapidoth.
Her name means busy bee and Lapidoth means flash in Hebrew.
Deborah would settle disputes by hearing the answer
from the Lord and on an occasion recorded in Judges,
she told Barak to lead the people into battle.
Barack was adamant about not going into combat without her.
Senior officers in Israel always lead the army into battle,
both then and now.
God was enraged a Barak's reluctance
and told him that the enemy Sisera would be humiliated.
And so it turned out.
Judges 4:4-9:
Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lapidoth
was leading Israel at that time.
She held court under the Palm of Deborah,
between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim
and the Israelites went up to her
to have their disputes decided.
She sent for Barak, son of Abinoam, from Kedesh in Naphtali
and said to him, "The Lord, the God of Israel commands you.
Go take with you 10,000 men of Naphtali and Zebulun
and lead them up to Mount Tabor.
I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army,
with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon river
and give him into your hands."
Barak said to her, "If you go with me, I will go.
But if you don't go with me, I won't go."
"Certainly I will go with you," said Deborah,
"But because of the course you are taking,
the honor will not be yours
for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman."
So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.
The following story is about Gideon,
one of the most fearful men in the Bible.
He placed a meat on an altar
and the meat was consumed by divine fire.
As if the fire wasn't enough,
he then sought the Lord for a sign from heaven.
God delivered another sign in the form of a fleece
that was dry one day and wet the next.
Gideon had to learn that conflicts are won
by God's might and strategy.
Gideon learned not to place his confidence
in human resources when God reduced his army
from 300,000 to 300.
"The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
And for seven years, he gave them into the hands
of the Midianites.
Because the power of Midian was so oppressive,
the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves
in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.
Whenever the Israelites planted their crops,
the Midianites, Amalekites,
and other Eastern peoples invaded the country.
They camped on the land and ruined the crops
all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing
for Israel, neither sheep, nor cattle, nor donkeys.
They came up with their livestock
and their tents like swarms of locusts.
It was impossible to count them or their camels.
They invaded the land to ravage it.
Midian so impoverished the Israelites
that they cried out to the Lord for help.
When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian,
he sent them a prophet who said,
'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says.
"'I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians
and I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors.
I drove them out before you and gave you their land.
I said to you, I am the Lord your God.
Do not worship the God of the Amorites
in whose land you live,
but you have not listened to me.'"
The angel of the Lord came and sat down
under the oak of Ophrah that belonged
to Joash the Abiezrite,
where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press
to keep it from the Midianites.
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said,
"The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."
"Pardon me, my Lord," Gideon replied.
"But if the Lord is with us, why is all this happened to us?
Where are all His wonders that our ancestors told us about
when they said, "Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?"
But now the Lord has abandoned us
and given us into the hand of Midian."
The Lord turned to him and said,
"Go in the strength you have
and save Israel out of Midian's hand.
Am I not sending?"
"Pardon me, my Lord," Gideon replied,
"But how can I save Israel?
My clan is the weakest in Manasseh
and I am the least in my family."
The Lord answered,
"I will be with you and you will strike down
all the Midianites, leaving none alive."
Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes,
give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.
Please do not go away until I come back
and bring my offering and set it before you."
And the Lord said, "I will wait until you return."
Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat
and from an ephah of flour, he made bread without yeast.
Putting the meat in a basket in its broth in a pot,
he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
The angel of God said to him,
"Take the meat and the unleavened bread,
place them on this rock and pour out the broth."
And Gideon did so.
Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat
and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff
that was in his hand.
Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread.
And the angel of the Lord disappeared.
When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord,
he exclaimed, "Alas, Sovereign Lord!
I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!"
But the Lord said to him, "Peace, do not be afraid.
You're not going to die."
So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there
and called it, The Lord is Peace.
To this day it stands at Ophrah of the Abiezrites."
Judges 6:1-24.
Gideon is offered the kingship by his troops,
following his triumph over the Midianites
and Abimelech is the next figure we read about.
The people request that he establish a dynasty.
Some say that he should have accepted,
but this is clearly not God's time to choose a king.
"The people's problem," Gideon says,
"Is that they haven't looked to God as their king."
Following Gideon, the leadership is in the hands
of a number of people.
Abimelech asked the people
whether they would prefer his sole leadership
to leadership by Gideon's 70 sons as a group.
He is duly installed and proceeds to murder his brothers.
Things worsened as his thirst for power reveals
that he is unconcerned about the welfare of the people,
and he is eventually killed in combat.
Then comes Tola, who receives only the brief comment
that he led Israel for 23 years.
Judges 10:1:
And after Abimelech,
there arose to defend Israel, Tola,
the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar.
And he dwelt in Shamir in Mount Ephraim
and he judged Israel 20 and three years and died
and was buried in Shamir.
After him, Jair led Israel for 22 years and had 30 sons
who we are told, rode 30 donkeys and controlled 30 towns.
Judges 10:3-5:
And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite,
and judged Israel 20 and two years.
He had 30 sons that wrote on 30 ass colts
and they had 30 cities,
which are called Havothjair unto this day,
which are in the land of Gilead.
And Jair died and was buried in Camon.
Ibzan of Bethlehem had 30 daughters and 30 sons
who all married outside the clan of Judah.
Elon led Israel for 10 years.
Abdon, who came after him,
had 40 sons, 30 grand sons and 70 donkeys.
Again, no more details are given.
However, when we visit Samson,
we discover a great deal more.
His given name literally translates to sunshine.
He was raised as a Nazarene,
which prohibited him
from drinking alcohol or cutting his hair.
It's a remarkable story of a man who had issues with women.
He married, but he ended before the honeymoon.
He then went on to an unidentified prostitute
before finally settling down with Delilah, a mistress.
Samson was actually a weak guy, despite his physical power.
His problem was not so much with his relationships
as it was with his character.
His charismatic anointing enabled him
to perform many incredible feats of strength
but the Lord's spirit ultimately left him.
The Philistines kidnapped him, blinded him
and put him on a treadmill,
making him the laughingstock of the Philistines.
The blind Samson was led by the little boy
to the pillars of the temple,
where he pulled the whole temple down.
In his last five minutes,
Samson did more for his people
than he had done in all the years of his life.
Human weakness.
Judges is no exception to the Bible's honesty
about the flaws and inadequacies of the people it describes.
The book's characters have a number of flaws.
Gideon was fearful, continually asking for signs
and made a gold ephod, a priestly pullover,
which subsequently proved to be a snare to Israel,
a relic that had become an object of devotion.
Jephthah was the son of a prostitute
who made a reckless vow.
Samson treated his wife poorly,
slept with a prostitute and took a mistress.
They were not strong characters, nor were they holy people
yet God used them.
Divine strength.
How did these less than ideal people accomplish so much?
It was not due to their own efforts.
Their secret was that the holy spirit came on them.
They were all charismatic people.
As we read about how these people were able
to execute extraordinary acts,
Judges gives us vivid illustrations
of heavenly strength acting through weak people.
The most famous example of this is probably Samson,
but there are many other incredible stories.
This is particularly crucial to remember
because the Holy Spirit only anoints a few people
in the old Testament.
Only 12 persons out of the 2 million people
who lived in Israel at the period received such anointing,
according to Judges.
We should also notice that the Holy Spirit only comes
on people for a short time, not permanently.
The text, for example,
says that the Holy Spirit departed Samson.
An anointing spirit touched people
for a while in the Old Testament,
rather than an indwelling spirit who stayed with them.
However, the Bible also speaks
of a woman of great character called Esther.
To watch how she was ready
to perish for her people, click here.