Today we shall begin the study of the Book of Judges of the Old Testament.
Background:
Samuel is usually named as the one who wrote the Book of Judges—military leaders rather than spiritual leaders who delivered the people of God from their enemies. It covers a period of 350 years (some estimate it to be 300 years) and was likely written during the lifetime of Samuel when Israel had a king. This is based on these facts:
- It refers to “In those days Israel had no king” (Jdg. 21:25).
- The Canaanites had yet to be driven out of Gezer; this eventually took place in Solomon’s reign (Jdg. 1:29; 1 Ki. 9:16).
- It was likely before David conquered Jerusalem (Jdg. 1:21; 1 Chr. 11:4-7).
- Sidon rather than Tyre was still considered the capital of Phoenicia (Jdg. 1:31, 3:3, 10:6, 18:28; 2 Sam. 5:11).
In contrast to the Book of Joshua, it was a period of apostasy which marked a vicious cycle in which God punished the Israelites with defeat in the hands of their enemies, and delivered them again by raising up judges when they repented only to see them fall again into apostasy. This period of history of God’s people could be summed up by the last verse of the book, “In those days Israel had no king, everyone did as he saw fit” (21:25).
There were 15 judges in all, 13 of whom were mentioned in this book, with Eli and Samuel being mentioned in the Book of 1 Samuel.
(1) Compare the beginning of the Book of Judges with that of the Book of Joshua:
a. What are the similarities between the beginning of the two books, and thus the two periods of Israel’s history?
b. What are their dissimilarities as well?
(2) Has God’s promise to Moses and to Joshua come to pass? Why or why not?
(3) What does their inquiry in 1:1 signify, as far as God’s promise to them is concerned?
(4) Why did they have to inquire? Shouldn’t each tribe seek to capture whatever land allotted to them still remained “unclaimed”?
(5) Some opine that Judah’s request signified their lack of faith; others think that it was the proper and prudent thing to do. What do you think and why?
(6) Why was this campaign successful? What does the Bible attribute this success to?
(7) What does the Biblical writer seek to teach through the mouth of Adoni-Bezek (literally, the lord of Bezek)?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, 'Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?'.” (Jdg. 1:1)
Why didn’t God appoint a successor to Joshua? He appointed Joshua to
succeed Moses, didn’t He? Then was He not setting the people up to ask
for a king?
The fact that they did ask for a king (1 Sam. 8:5), and that God told Samuel that they were not rejecting Him, but were rejecting God as their king (1 Sam. 8:7), clearly points to God's intended national polity for Israel, and that was a Theocracy.
True, Moses was almost god-like to them, and they revered him till these days. But the appointment of Joshua was meant to be a transition to theocracy. The fact that they did not revere Joshua to the same extent showed that Joshua did his job successfully, providing leadership as God's mouth-piece, and yet uniting the people to depend on Yahweh as one people under Him.
Now, they had the land; they had a complete set of laws which they had practiced for a while; they had the tabernacle to worship in; they had the High Priest to inquire through “Urim and Thummim” (Exod. 28:30); and they had their elders. In other words, they had all that was needed to be a people under God. That was demonstrated by what they did right after the death of Joshua:
They really did not need a king, if they did what was taught in the law, sought after the Lord in all their ways, and if the priests did their duty.
By the way, as sad as this period of their history turned out to be, Eli’s story in the beginning of the Book of Samuel reveals that the High Priest was still their last resort for spiritual and national direction, but it also clearly shows that the High Priests had not been doing their job. That was perhaps, the main reason for their demise, as everyone did as he saw fit (Jdg. 21:25). The High Priests themselves had abandoned their spiritual leadership and they themselves did not fear God. Yes, spiritual decadence always begins at the top.
(1) Can you name the cities successfully conquered by Judah in this passage?
(2) We know the historical significance of Jerusalem. Do you know how important Hebron (Kiriath Sepher/Arba) was at that time? (See Gen. 23:2; 35:27)
(3) The author of Judges gives a bit more detail of Caleb’s capture of Hebron (Kiriath Sepher/Arba) than the account in Joshua 15:13-19:
a. Why did Caleb give his daughter land in Negev without the springs?
b. What did Acsah tell her husband to do?
c. Why did she have to ask Caleb herself instead?
d. What might be the reason for the insertion of this story into this book, apart from historicity (i.e. what would you not have learned if this incident was not recorded in the Bible)?
(4) What does the inclusion of a non-Israel people group, the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenites, signify?
(5) If “the Lord was with the men of Judah”, why could they not drive the people from the plains, just because the enemies had iron chariots?
(6) Why did the Benjamites fail to dislodge the Jebusites in Jerusalem?
(7) How did the story of the conquering of Bethel resemble that of Jericho in Joshua 2? What is the message in both stories?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, 'What can I do for you?'.” (Jdg. 1:14)
The insertion of this little episode in both the Book of Joshua (Jos. 15:13-19) and the Book of Judges seems to be rather irrelevant. The truth is, if this story is not included, no one would really care. However, as the Bible is the Word of God, I do think that this little episode carries its meaning.
This period of Jewish history is marked by one of the lowest points in their faith in Yahweh. As we have already mentioned in the introduction, the last verse of the book very much sums up the mark of the period in that “everyone did as he saw fit”. There was no regard for the Law of Moses, there was no fear of the Lord and there was no respect for authority even within the family. This little episode gives us a sense of the latter condition.
Caleb was as a man of faith, being one of the only two of the twelve spies who had faith to conquer the Promised Land, and his faith did not appear to waver a bit even at the old age of 85 (Jos. 14:10). And yet this episode gives us a hint of change as shown through his family life in these ways:
- Perhaps it was not unusual in the Ancient Near East to have the tribal leader offer his daughter as a reward (or bait) to recruit young men to fight for them. But given Caleb’s self-proclaimed faith and strength, it does appear odd that he did not want to fight on his own, but to recruit others to fight for him.
- Yes, he did honor his words and give his now son-in-law, Othniel, a piece of land (which perhaps was assumed as dowry for the marriage), but surprisingly he did not give the land together with the control of the springs without which the land was not of much value in those days.
- That did not sit well with his daughter, Acsah who, in the beginning was urging her husband to demand for control of the springs. Not surprisingly, the son-in-law did not dare to ask and she took the matter into her own hands. The author of Judges vividly paints a picture of confrontation when he writes, “When she got off her donkey…” (1:14)—a sign of impatience, but more than that, a gesture of lack of respect for her father.
As I said, this episode is not accidental, it gives us a clue to the spiritual decline of this period and it clearly shows that such a decline begins at home.
(1) The list of tribes failing to drive out their enemies as commanded by the Lord increases—apart from Judah and Benjamin, it now includes Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali and Dan. The following chapters give us more details to the reasons, but at this point, can you imagine ...
a. ... what the Canaanites might think of the Israelites and their God whom they once feared with melted hearts (Jos. 2:9)?
b. ... what the Israelites think of God and His promise?
c. ... what about the Lord—how would He feel seeing His people fail to drive out their enemies when He had promised them victory?
(2) However, the conditions under which some of these tribes failed to drive out their enemies appear to be rather different:
a. What is the reason given for Manasseh’s failure (and for that matter, Zebulun’s and Naphtali’s)?
b. If they were strong enough to press them into forced labor, how could they not have driven them out completely? Whose fault was it?
c. What was the danger for the Ephraimites to co-exist with the Canaanites (and for that matter the tribe of Asher too)?
d. But the most pitiful of all were the Danites, won’t you agree? Why?
(3) These failures to drive out enemies is one of the most
precious spiritual lessons we can learn in terms of our failures or victories
over our sins. What lessons can be learned from the failures of these below?
a. Manasseh, Zebulun and Naphtali
b. Ephraim and Asher
c. Dan
(4) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“…for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.” (Jdg. 1:27-28)
The failure of the Israelites to drive out their enemies is a very vivid picture of the carnality and failures of our Christian life. The parallels are hard to miss.
For example, repeatedly the Bible talks about the determination of the Canaanites to hold out in the land, but not once does it say the same of the Israelites to drive out their enemies.
To not be able to drive out the Canaanites is one thing, but to be able to press them into forced labor without driving them out is another. If they were strong enough to press the enemies into forced labor, why could they not drive them out? Clearly it was a lack of determination on the part of the Israelites.
So it is with our desire to resist certain temptations. It is often not because we do not have the strength to resist them, but we lack the determination to get rid of them. Years ago, someone in my small group knew it was wrong to watch pornography. He did desire to live a holy life, so one day, he asked the group to pray for him. As we met the next week, we asked him how he was doing in getting rid of those pornographic magazines. He said with a smile, “Oh, I have put them away.” And as we pressed him to tell us where he put those magazines, he said, “I put them away in the closet.” We all sighed, knowing that he was not determined to get rid of them.
Steve Farrar said something very insightful and humorous about the need to have determination in dealing with temptation. He said, “Do not leave a forwarding address!”
By not driving out the Canaanites completely, and merely forcing them into the closet of hard labor, the Israelites did not only leave a forwarding address, they allowed them to co-exist with them in their backyard which eventually led to mixed marriage and the worship of their idols.
We were asking the question yesterday about how God would feel about the failures of the Israelites to drive out their enemies when He had promised them victory. The answer is now being given here by the angel of the Lord (whom, according to Keil and Delitzsch, “is essentially one with Jehovah”, i.e. the 2nd person of the Trinity):
(1) What reason did the angel of the Lord give for God not keeping His covenant?
(2) While the Israelites had totally broken their covenant, did God’s action in return signify His total breach of His covenant as well? Why or why not?
(3) List the sins committed by the people in their breach of their covenant with God. Why would they willfully sin against God?
(4) What was God’s punishment as a result of their sins?
(5) Was it really God’s punishment or a natural consequence of their action or both?
(6) As we sin willfully against God and bring disastrous results on ourselves, how can you tell that it is God’s punishment or a natural consequence of our own action?
(7) Why did the people react to the words of the angel of the Lord with weeping? Did it represent repentance? Why or why not?
(8) What did their action of offering sacrifices signify?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?,
“The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said….” (Jdg. 2:1)
Many scholars, especially liberal scholars, dismiss the “angel of the Lord” as merely a human messenger and at most a prophet sent by God as His mouth-piece. But the famous commentators, Keil and Delitzsch, have this to say about this angel of the Lord:
“In the simple historical narrative a prophet is never called Maleach Jehovah. The prophets are always called (by other names) or else, 'man of God,' as in 1 Kings 12:22; 13:1, etc. ... Moreover, no prophet ever identifies himself so entirely with God as the angel of Jehovah does here. The prophets always distinguish between themselves and Jehovah, by introducing their words with the declaration: 'thus saith Jehovah', as the prophet mentioned in ch. 6:8 is said to have done…On the other hand, it does follow from the sacrifice at Bochim, where there was no sanctuary of Jehovah, that the person who appeared to the people was not a prophet, nor even an ordinary angel, but the angel of the Lord who is essentially one with Jehovah.”
(Keil & Delitzsch, vol. 2, 192-4)
Here is a recap or summary of basically the entire history of Israel during the period of the judges:
(1) How does the Bible describe their land? What is the importance of such a description?
(2) In a spiritual sense, what is our inheritance as Christians? Have we truly possessed and enjoyed our inheritance?
(3) 2:10 says, “…another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord, nor what He had done for Israel.”
a. How could this new generation not know what the Lord had done for Israel? Whose fault was it?
b. What is meant by the word “know”?
(4) What important lesson(s) can we learn about passing the “knowledge” of the Lord to the next generation?
(5) Vv. 11-13 describes the first “Act” of this recurring
downward spiral of the period, beginning always with the sins of the people
during the time of the judges. Try to highlight
or list all the “verbs” used in these verses that denote the sinful deeds of
the people, and
a. Compare them to the deeds of present-day Israel, and
b. Compare them to the deeds of the post-Christian western world.
Who might be “provoking” God to even greater anger? Why?
(6) What might be the most fitting word to describe the sin of God’s people in this passage: Rebellious? Disobedient? Unfaithful? Betrayal? Evil? Or…?
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord...” (Jdg. 2:11)
As we read of the vicious cycle (or perhaps, the downward spiral) of the sad history of the Israelites during this period of the Judges, it is interesting to read Charles Swindoll’s observation in this respect:
“I was interested to discover from one historian that the average age of most world civilizations is a duration of about 200 years. Almost without exception, each civilization passed through a similar sequence of events:
From bondage to spiritual faith…
From spiritual faith to great courage…
From great courage to liberty…
From liberty to abundance…
From Abundance to Leisure…
From leisure to selfishness…
From selfishness to complacency…
From complacency to apathy…
From apathy to dependency…
From dependency to weakness…
From weakness BACK TO BONDAGE…”
(The Insight for Living Study Bible, 234)
I wonder which stage within this cycle America and Canada are in.
(1) Vv. 14-15 describes the 2nd “Act” of this recurring downward spiral of the period and that is God’s punishment or chastisement:
a. Again, like yesterday’s reflection, try to highlight or list all the “verbs” used to denote God’s punishment of His people.
b. Among these verbs, which one stands out to be most tragic of all and why?
c. It is one thing to be up against human enemies; it is another thing to be up against God. Which is worse and why?
d. Have you felt that you have been up against God? How would you describe such a feeling? (Is “great distress” a fitting description? Is there any way out?)
(2) What is the 3rd “Act” of this recurring cycle?
a. What were the judges for?
b. In spite of deliverance from the hands of the raiders, did they contribute to the repentance of the people? Why or why not?
c. Why then would God care to deliver them?
(3) What is the 4th “Act” of this recurring cycle upon the death of the presiding judge? Do you agree with me in calling this recurring cycle a “downward spiral”? Why or why not?
(4) Pause and examine yourself: Does your walk with God resemble this pattern of the Israelites during the time of the Judges?
(5) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshipping them…” (Jdg. 2:19)
From 2:10-19, the author of the Book of Judges basically gives us a summary of the vicious cycle, one of the most pitiful pictures in the history of God’s people that marks the time of the Judges.
The cycle runs something like a play:
Act I: Rebellion against Yahweh – Some call this period a time of disobedience, but I prefer to call it a time of rebellion, because disobedience can simply be not complying with the law of God. But, they turned away from Him, “serving and worshipping” other gods. They no longer considered themselves a people under God. They have forsaken their identity.
Act II: Chastisement or Discipline – Yes, instead of not being able to drive out the Canaanites and having to co-exist with them, the table had turned. The Israelites were plundered and raided, and lived in constant oppression and fear. Some call this period a time of punishment, but I would call it a time of chastisement or discipline, because punishment might imply a severance of relationship, but God has remained faithful, even though they were faithless (2 Tim. 2:13).
Act III: Deliverance – The fact that “as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them” (Jdg. 2:18), the Lord would raise up a judge to deliver them. This was certainly a testimony of God’s compassion. Although the Israelites had breached their covenant with the Lord, the Lord kept His part of the covenant, giving them chance after chance to repent and return to Him.
Act IV: Rebellion – Unfortunately, no sooner had they found relief from their distress, than they turned ever so quickly away from the Lord, like a swine which is bent on returning to the pool of mud. The reason that I call this recurring cycle a “downward spiral” is because of 2:19 which charges the people with these words, “But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers…”. The Bible is not comparing them with their forefathers in the desert, but just the generation before them under a former judge. V. 2:22 testifies that in fact, they could not even be compared with their forefathers at all!
If the lives of their forefathers in the desert serve as a warning for us (1 Co. 10:11), how much more do these generations of Israelites under the judges!
(1) Here (in 2:20-23) is an interesting explanation of why the Lord allowed the nations to remain without driving them out “at once” even in the time of Joshua. Why would allowing the nations to remain be a test for Israel? I thought it was their doing? How could you reconcile these two apparently contradicting notions?
(2) Since it was a test, the implication is that Israel did have the ability to pass the test. Do you agree? If so, how could they pass such a test?
(3) At least one of the purposes for leaving the nations among them was to “teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had precious battle experience” (3:2). Do you think this purpose was a little odd? Why or why not?
(4) How did the Israelites, especially under Joshua, learn the way of warfare and how different was it from that of the nations?
(5) In stating that the nations “were left to test” them, what is the emphasis of the Bible?
(6) According to v. 5, what was the result of the test?
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan.” (Jdg. 3:1)
The way the Biblical writer explains why God allowed the nations to remain among the Israelites without driving them out at first appears to be rather odd. For one, it is very clear that it was the Israelites who failed to dislodge and drive out their enemies. But in Judges 2:20–3:4, we have come to understand that in fact, God’s hand was in it:
(1) It is certainly true that while the Canaanites were determined to stay put, the Israelites lacked the same determination to drive them out, which was the clear command of the Lord. However, “if” God so wished, He could have intervened to make sure that their enemies would all be driven out. He did not.
(2) While accepting their weaknesses and failures, God had chosen to use the opportunity to test them, to see if they, in spite of their weaknesses and failures, “will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their forefathers did” (2:22). In other words, God had faith in them. Their forefathers under Joshua did walk in God’s way, did not intermarry the daughters of the surrounding nations, and did not serve and worship their gods. Therefore, they could not blame their circumstances which were exactly the same as during the time of Joshua.
(3) However, the most interesting remark comes in 3:1-4, and that is the other purpose of leaving the nations around: It was “to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience”. At first glance, it appears to be more than absurd. However, we forget that the way of warfare for the people of God is completely different from that of the nations. For the people of God, especially under the leadership of Joshua, the Lord is the “commander of the army of the Lord” (Jos. 5:14). Their battle always belongs to the Lord, and therefore victory comes, “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zech. 4:6). Therefore the presence of the nations around them was a chance to learn to trust in God.
This is such a great spiritual truth even for us today. As God’s children, even our weaknesses and failures can be used by God as a test for us to repent and return to Him. But more than that, even within the pit of distress that we have dug for ourselves, we are not forsaken by God, and we can even grow stronger and rebound in learning to trust in Him. That’s how compassionate and good the God and Savior we have.