This lively book recounts incidents that took place during a particularly violent time in Israel’s history.
Some of the champions that the book portrays, such as Gideon and Samson, are well known even in the world around us. In fact, these judges can still be found at the heart of theatrical plays or everyday allusions.
In our own community, many of the judges are rightly celebrated as heroic figures of faith. They are often used in Sunday school lessons, as their struggle with the enemy excites young students. The youngster can visualize the judge courageously delivering his area of Israel. Yet there is much more than mere excitement to be gained from a study of these individuals.
Exhortation for believers
All scripture deserves our continued attention, for we are instructed: “For whatsoever things were written afore-time were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4).
As we note in Hebrews, Gideon, Samson, Barak and Jephthah are specifically numbered among the faithful (Heb. 11:32). Thus, an appreciation of the lives of these judges should carry us well beyond the early excitement of our Sunday school days. By learning about them and their faith, we should more easily fashion our lives confident in the hope “that they without us should not be made perfect” (Heb. 11:40).
General background
The English title “Judges” was given to this book because the major personalities it describes are said to have judged Israel. The exact title “Judge,” however, appears only once and there it is used of the Lord (11:27). Judges is, nevertheless, an appropriate title for the victors who, on occasion, brought Israel back to their senses (2:19).
The book of Judges can be conveniently divided into four sections:
- A brief description of the invasion of Canaan and the failure of many tribes to drive the existing inhabitants from the land (1:1-2:10).
- The consequences of this failure, followed by a brief summary of the cycle of corruption and deliverance in Israel (2:11-3:6).
- Accounts of judges the Lord raised up. Some are brief (e.g. Othniel, Shamgar) while others (e.g. Jephthah, Samson) contain more detail (3:7-16:31).
- Events that portray the appalling condition that life in Israel had reached (17:1-21:25).
A wasted opportunity
At the waters of Marah, God promised the children of Israel that, if they would do right in His sight by giving ear to His commandments and keeping His statutes, they would be spared the diseases He brought on Egypt (Ex. 15:26). Once in the promised land, the children of Israel had an unparalleled opportunity to serve the Lord their God instead of an Egyptian pharaoh. Yet instead of enjoying the benefits it could obtain, Israel was continually oppressed because of its failure to obey God.
The book of Judges recounts the cycle of sin, punishment, repentance and deliverance the tribes experienced: “…The LORD raised them up judges…and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge…and it came to pass, when the judge was dead…they corrupted themselves more than their fathers…they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way” (Jud. 2:18,19). The ability to reach the potential God desired for them seemed beyond them.
Insight into daily life
The last chapters of Judges provide selected portraits of a society that had gone its own way. We are told, “In those days, there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (17:6; 21:25). This saying summarizes an attitude that is increasingly true of modern society. With the distinction between right and wrong being constantly blurred, most individuals feel that they are free to decide for themselves what is acceptable behavior. If we wish to please God, our decisions cannot be made in this manner. Our attitudes and actions must be shaped by scriptural principles, not by the whims of public opinion.
In the final section of Judges, we see how Canaanitish influence had permeated Israel’s thinking. The story of Micah illustrates the utter confusion that resulted (Jud. 17).
Micah, a man of Ephraim, stole a large sum of money from his mother. She cursed the thief without knowing his identity. When Micah confessed the crime and restored the money, she said, “Blessed be thou of the LORD, my son…I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD…for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee” (Jud. 17:2,3). So with these images and other accessories of worship in his possession, Micah established a sanctuary outside the Law in his own house.
Consider the sins committed in this incident. By taking the silver from his mother, Micah broke the eighth commandment, “Thou shalt not steal” (Ex. 20:15). The mother sinfully utters a careless curse and compounds matters when she counters it by condoning her son’s act of stealing.
The mother then pays to have an image made and gives it to Micah. Thus mother, son and image-maker all conspire to break the second command, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image” (Ex. 20:4). Incredibly, the mother wrongly believes that by sponsoring the image, she has dedicated her silver to the Lord.
By appointing his son as priest and establishing a private sanctuary in his house, Micah broke two more commandments (Num. 3:9,10; Deut. 12:13).
But this was not the end. Later, a young Levite, formerly living in Bethlehem of Judah, came to Micah. Micah hired and consecrated him to be a priest in his house (17:7-12). The Levite was now implicated in the flagrant disobedience. He, too, broke the second commandment.
Again we read in amazement of Micah’s confidence that once he had the young Levite as his priest, the Lord would do him good (17:13), thus displaying his utter ignorance of what God really desired.
Where had Micah and his mother gotten such ideas? Obviously they had not come from the word of God which declared, “The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire…for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it: for it is a cursed thing” (Deut. 7:25,26).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One