Judges Concluded

The book of Judges can be simply summarized by the book's final sentence: "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Judges 21:25).  Throughout the book, we see Israel, God's chosen people, fall more and more into unbelief, disobedience, and apostasy.  Once Samson dies the descent away from God becomes complete.

First we see Micah, an Israelite of Ephraim, try to set up his own pagan religion.  He makes an idol, hires some Levites(!) to be the priests.  To which we see the tribe of Dan steal the idol and kidnap the priests in order to "own" the religion.

Then there is the issue with the Levite and the concubine, which culminates in the story of Gibeah, in which there is an old man whose concubine is viciously raped by the drunken townsfolk of Gibeah, to which he responds by taking her home, cutting her into twelve pieces, and sending those pieces throughout all Israel.

Israel then responds by riling up the eleven tribes to commit genocide against the tribe of Benjamin.  They are so effective in their attempt that by the time the tribes realize their sin, they had killed over 18,000 Benjaminites.  There response is to kidnap the daughter of Mizpah, their pagan neighbors.

In the end, the book of Judges represents a gritty and dark time in the history of Israel, but it is a necessary history because it informs much of what comes in Samuel and Kings.  And the stories of the judges reveal profound truths about people.  More so, though, the book of Judges reveals a God who is faithful to His promises despite the unfaithfulness and disobedience of His people.  This, in and of itself, is enough reason to spend some time studying this rich though challenging book.  Praise God that He is always true and always faithful!

Samson Pt. 3

The conclusion of Samson's story revolves around the famous vixen who renders him powerless.  Delilah is the third Philistine woman who enthralls Samson's heart and hands him over to her Philistine brethren.  Clearly, Samson fatal flaw is his passion for forbidden women.

More than that, though, Delilah reveals that Samson so misunderstood God that, except for in his death, Samson never truly knew where his strength actually came from.  Samson's strength did not come from the length of his hair or that they never touched a razor.  To miss this point would be to  miss the major point of his story.  Samson's strength came always and only from the Lord.

In regards to Delilah, she is a Philistine woman who exposes Samson's heart as unbelieving and unfaithful to the Lord.  When Delilah tricks Samson into, finally, telling her that his hair is the source of his strength, Samson unveils his heart that is far from the Lord.  God, then, removes Samson's strength when the Philistines cut his hair.  Know this: his hair never was the source of Samson's strength, but God removed his strength at the cutting of his hair because of his lack of faith.

In the end, Delilah betrays Samson over to the Philistines who gouge his eyes out, bind him in shackles, and bring him out to entertain them at their leisure.  The Philistines stand Samson between the two main pillars of the compound and laugh at him and his sorry state.  Samson cries out to God for one last bit of miraculous strength.  God grants Samson his dying request and Samson pulls down the pillars, crushing himself and everyone else under the rubble: "So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life." (Judges 16:30).

Samson exemplifies how utterly declined the best of Israel had become and, in the end, was worth more dead than he was alive.  He did his greatest good in dying.  This should tell us all we need to know about Samson.  He is far from a tragic hero but represents the apostasy and unfaithfulness of a whole nation.  But praise be to God who is faithful to save in spite of our least efforts!

Samson Pt. 2

The second major part of the Samson story deals with Samson's marriage to a Philistine, a repulsive thing for an Israelite to do.  However, God used the incident as an opportunity for Samson to wage war on the Philistines.  This part of Samson's narrative has Samson disobeying God in marrying a Philistine and disobeying his Nazirite oath in eating honey from the carcass of the slain lion.

Additionally, this section reveals Samson's fatal flaw: his lusting for untrustworthy women.  In this case, he marries a Philistine woman who betrays him to her Philistine brethren.  Basically, Samson tries to trick the Philistines into giving him some clothing and other resources by asking them a riddle that they cannot solve.  His new wife, having been threatened by the other Philistines, betrays Samson.

Samson responds to his wife's betrayal by killing everyone and then leaves the area, apparently leaving his wife behind.  When he goes back to retrieve his wife he finds out that she has been given to other men.  Samson responds by tying 300 foxes into 150 pairs, ties a lit torch to their bound tails, and releases them into the Philistine camp.  Needless to say, the whole camp is utterly consumed in fire.

Finally, the Philistines encircle the Judeans, in which the Judeans respond by finding Samson hidden in the cleft of a rock, they ask him to deliver them from the Philistines and he refuses.  In a turn of events, the Judeans bind Samson and deliver him over to the Philistines themselves.  This shows just how little the Israelites thought of Samson.  However, upon Samson's arriving at the Philistine camp, the Spirit of the Lord descends upon him and he kills 1,000 men with the jawbone of a donkey.

This brings us to the famous story of Delilah and Samson's fatal end, to be discussed tomorrow.  However, up to this point Samson is clearly to be seen as a despicable man who, in spite of his putrid character and complete disregard for the things of the Lord, was used by God to deliver the Israelites.  But to be sure, he is not to be emulated for his flaws.  Rather, God is to be exalted and praised for His unyielding faithfulness to His people and His covenant promises.

Ibzan, Elon, Abdan: More Bad Judges

We are getting near the conclusion of our study of the book of Judges.  And the narrative pace is quickening in preparation for the book's final, and arguably worst, judge, Samson.  But before we get to the long-haired brute, there are three seemingly negligible judges: Ibzan, Elon, and Abdan.  The whole of their narratives combined is seven verses, Judges 12:8-15.

The first, Ibzan, is noted for marrying all 60 of his children to foreigners and judging Israel for a meager 7 years.  He did what was expressly forbidden in the Law, which was to intermarry at all.  His judgeship was marred by continued disobedience to the covenants of God and blatant disregard for the things of the Lord.

The second, Elon, has far less.  The only information to be discerned about Elon is that he was a Zebulunite that judged Israel for ten years and, upon his death, was buried at Aijalon.  This is it.  What it implies, however, is that Elon was not remarkable enough, good or bad, to make any real difference or impact during his tenure as judge.

As for the third, Abdan, there is nothing told us about his judgeship, only that he had forty sons and thirty grandsons and each rode a donkey.  While this may seem of little consequence, what it implies is that Abdan was a man whose position as judge was used to garner wealth for himself and his family.  Again, not a great example of leadership.

These three judges, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdan, all represent a dark time in history.  As Israel continued in their decline, nothing good could be said about their would-be leaders aside from their burial grounds and offspring.  To be sure, this is an indictment upon entire generations who lack faith and leadership, which is a recipe for obsolescence and debauchery.  Let us then heed to the examples of what happens when generations fail to teach the next in the ways of the Lord.  Faithlessness and sin grow exponentially with each passing age.  Is it, then, any wonder why the world is in the disorder that it is?

9th Judge: Jephthah

Continuing with our study of the judges of Israel, today we take a look at Jephthah, the mighty warrior who desired to be king.  His story is an interesting one because it shows that Israel had ceased to cry out to God for His deliverance, but tried to prop Jephthah up as their judge without consulting the Lord in faith.

Additionally, Jephthah is a character of some interest because he was the illegitimate son of a prostitute, rendering him unfit to judge.  Yet, because of his apparent skill as a warrior, the country turns to him to be their judge.  He acquiesces to their request and determines to save the Israelites from the Ammonites.

Jephthah is canonized, though, for his tragic, ill-conceived vow to the Lord that cost him the life of his only child, his daughter.  Essentially, Jephthah vowed that if the Lord gave the Ammonites into his hand in victory, then whatever comes out of the door of his house to meet him when he returns will be offered as a burnt offering to God.  Yet, when Jephthah returns from victorious battle, his beautiful, only daughter runs out of the door to greet him and, because of his vow, he determined to offer her as a burnt offering.

The point of this story is to highlight, or lowlight, the necessity of seeking God and His counsel at every step.  Also, one should never make vows to the Lord that are not sanctioned or desired by His will.  These two principles from the story of Jephthah have immediate application for the life of Christians.  Let us then always look to God and seek after His will for every decision that we make so as to not trap ourselves by our own idiocy!

7th & 8th Judges:Tola & Jair

The stories of Tola and Jair, the seventh and eighth judges of Israel, are both brief and shallow.  In fact, the whole breadth of their lives is chronicled in a mere five verses (Judges 10:1-5).  To be sure, the apparent absence of information about these two judges points as much to their periphery status in canon as it speaks to their insufficiency in delivering Israel from their growing inclinations to pagan worship and immorality.

In fact, the most striking thing about their narratives is the depth, or lack there of.  God is not mentioned in their narratives, and the only thing that marks them as judges is that the Scripture tells us that they did judge Israel, Tola for thirty years and Jair for twenty two.  The pace of the narrative rapidly moves on past these two judges to the ever-growing apostasy, corruption, and disbelief of Israel that is presented throughout the rest of chapter ten.

The apex of this section actually occurs when, as the people have already grown in their disobedient apostasy and have cried out to God for deliverance, the Lord replies: "Have I not already saved you!" Essentially, God says, "Why should I save you when all you do is turn to foreign gods?"  To which the Israelites respond by putting away all the foreign gods and idols, in order to repent in faith to the Lord Almighty, thus bringing us to the story of the next judge, Jephthah.

At the final analysis, the story of Tola and Jair is, basically, inconsequential in that it is narrative "filler" to explain how, historically, Israel had been constantly descending in a downward spiral of disobedience and apostasy.  Over and again, the story of Judges is one in which each generation fails to teach and train the next in the ways of the Lord, that results in growing faithlessness and sin.  This is what we need to learn from this story as well as the rest of the book.  But praise be to God who is always faithful to those who seek after Him!

Abimelech: the Wanna-Be King

Because Gideon has been discussed at some length, the next major figure in the book of Judges that will be looked at is Abimelech, the son of Gidean and the wanna-be king of Israel.  His story exemplifies two major epochs of Israelite history: their increasing decline into disobedience and apostasy, which carries forward to their eventual desire to herald a king to rule over them.

Abimelech's story is chronicled in Judges 9.  An all-too-brief summary of Abimelech: Abimelech is one of 70 of Gideon's sons.  He tries to prop himself up as king over all Israel by killing all but one, Jotham, of his brothers.  Thus the kingdom of Israel is in his hands, not by the will of God but by his own bloody volition.  His brief reign, just three years, was marked with continual warring and death.  He died drenched in blood and his end came just as his reign had: by the sword.

The story of Abimelech points to the downward spiral of disobedience and apostasy.  Essentially, Abimelech is a product of his environment, but more so, he represents more of what can happen when good, godly men fail to stand up and lead their people.  In this case, Gideon, the previous judge and Abimelech's father failed to train his son in the way of the Lord, and the whole nation suffered for it.

This is a major turning point in the story of the judges as each subsequent judge is more sinful than the last and less sufficient in their delivering while offering fewer years of peace and rest for the people.  Abimelech also serves to foreshadow the story of Saul, in the Israelites' earnest desire for a king.  His story serves as a literary marker in the narrative of Israelite history and an important testimony that man should not seek to assert himself as the leader for selfish ambitions, but needs to wait for God's prompting.

Fourth Judge: Deborah

For lack of information, I will be skipping Shamgar, the third judge, and moving right to Deborah.  Shamgar's entire judgeship is summed-up in a single verse, but the narrative moves speedily to the story of Deborah, Israel's fourth and only female judge.  Her story fill all of chapter four of Judges, while chapter five is comprised of Deborah's song, a beautiful testimony of God and how He has worked through her and through Jael, the other major character in her story.

An all-too brief summary of the narrative of Deborah: the people did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gives the people over to the hand of a Canaanite king, who rules oppressively over the Israelites for some twenty years.  The people then cry out to God for a deliverer, in the form of Deborah, who leads the army with Barak to overcome the Canaanites.  Simultaneously, Jael, the wife of a Kenite, hides the fleeing king in her tent and stabs him in the head with a tent peg.  Thus, the story of Deborah is actually about two woman: Deborah & Jael.

The story of Deborah and Jael is often employed to make a case for women in leadership; however, it must be said unequivocally that this story is more of a severe indictment on the absence of able-bodied, obediently-faithful, and courageous men to take the reigns of leadership in delivering Israel from their oppressors.  

This is really the key to this story.  As much as feminist and liberal theologians would like to make this a story about egalitarian leadership in the Church, this is really a story about God saving His people in spite of their doubting and courage-lacking faith.  This is, in reality, a story of admonishment to vacant men to grab the scepters and lead.  

Needless to say, both Deborah and Jael are more-than admirable women who stood up with courage and faith, believing that God would deliver Israel through the actions of their hands.  Deborah, in leading Barak and the army, and Jael, in murdering the king, both represent the dire time of the judges as well as the means necessary to garner peace in overcoming oppression and sin.  Let us then take the lessons of Deborah and Jael to heart, and step up to the plate when God asks us to take the reigns and lead in faith.  But praise be to God, who delivers us!

Second Judge: Ehud

The story of Ehud keeps in step with the literary cycle of the book of Judges: sin, judgement, people cry out for deliverance, God raises a deliverer (judge), the judge delivers the people from their oppressors, and there is peace in Israel all the days of the judges life.

In the case of Ehud, the people had done evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord responded to their disobedience by empowering Eglon, the Moabite king to the east, to form a coalition and conquer Israel, demanding yearly tribute for some eighteen years until the Israelites cry out to God for a deliverer to save them from the oppressive king.  Enter Ehud.

Ehud is chosen, or chooses, to bring the tribute to Eglon.  While delivering the tribute, Ehud takes advantage of the situation, claiming to have a secret message for the king.  The king, desiring privacy to hear the secret message, sends out all of his servants.  Ehud, seizing the opportunity, pulls out a cubits-length sword that was strapped to his right thigh and stabs the obese Eglon.  Ehud then escapes and leads the Israelites to victory over the Moabites, killing some 10,000 men and overcoming their oppressors.

The two essentials to Ehud are that he is left-handed and that he is chosen to bring tribute on behalf of the Israelites.  His left-handedness, is important for a couple reasons.  First of all, to be left-handed at that time in history was thought to be a disability and if you were left-handed, you would be considered a second-hand citizen.  Because of this, no one would have checked his right side for a sword as any normal person would put their sword on the left side.  Thus, his left-handedness was one of the primary reasons he was chosen to be the judge.

Additionally, only one person would have had the opportunity to be close to the king while bringing the tribute.  In other words, Ehud seized the opportunity when it was presented to him.  Moreover, God utilized a "supposed" disability for His will and to serve His purposes.

Similarly, each one of us has disabilities and weaknesses that the world would look at and see as useless flaws.  But God desires to use those things for His purposes but He asks us to, in faith and obedience, seize those opportunities that are in front of us.  This is what we can take from Ehud.  Also, the book of Judges is replete with entire generations growing up that lack knowledge of the Lord, so an implied teaching of Judges is that it is necessary for older generations to raise up the next generations to know the Lord.  This is another key to the book.

When we look at Ehud, we see a left-handed Benjaminite who took advantage of the situation that was put before him.  We should take this same mind among ourselves: to remember that God has made us for specific purposes that will present themselves at certain times and places.  Our job, as faithful children, is to seek out when those purposes may come to fruition and to seize them as such.  But praise be to God who always has a will and a way for every one of His children!

First Judge: Othniel

Carrying forward from yesterday's discussion, which laid the contextual groundwork of the book of Judges, today will be a brief look into the first Judge Othniel.  His story sets the narrative in motion and also gives us the literary framework for each subsequent judge.  That is to say that Othniel is the first in a pattern of judges.

Each judge story begins with a simple marker, "And the people did did what was evil in the sight of the Lord."  This is the key that opens the door to the judge.  The people do evil, and God disciplines the people for their disobedience and sin by giving them over to the hand of their enemies.  And as Israel is crushed in war and subjugation, they cry out for God to raise a deliverer to save the people.

These deliverers were called judges.  And although they did perform judicial functions, their primary role was as a warrior, a champion who could lead the Israelites to military victory over their oppressors.  This is how we find Othniel.

The Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord, turning from His Law and forgetting all that He had done for them in the previous generation(s).  As a result, God judges the Israelites by giving them over into the hand of the warring Mesopotamians to the immediate east.  The oppressive king, Cushan-rishathaim, had ruled over Israel for some eight years, demanding allegiance and tribute.

After those eight years, the cry arose within Israel to the Lord for a deliverer, a judge to redeem the people from the oppressive Mesopotamians.  God, then, responding to the cry of the people, raised Othniel who, with the Spirit of the Lord to empower him, turned weapons to the Mesopotamians and destroyed them.

The section ends as all the other judge stories, "The land had peace for..."  In the case, Othniel's judgeship lasted 40 years.  This story highlights, among other things, the necessity for people to train the next generations in the way of the Lord.  Otherwise, there will arise entire generations that do not know nor please the Lord.  But praise be to God who always raises up champions to fight for the people and to care for them in His power.  Obviously, the time of the judges has long past and will remain so, but we should never forget or neglect to look at that time so as to inform us still today!

Intro to the Book of Judges

The book of Judges is one of the richest books of the Bible.  However, aside from the story of Samson, many of the books more prominent characters are largely unknown if not outright neglected.  Yet, as it is apart of the canon of Scripture because of God's will and design, and therefore, it warrants as equally an energetic examination as the epistles of Paul.

At the onset, the book of Judges comes after the book of Joshua, both canonically and chronologically.  This is the relavant starting place because the book of Joshua sets the stage for the events of Judges, which set the context for the coming of Samuel, Saul, and David.  Therefore, a basic understanding of the events of Joshua are in order so as to prepare us for thinking about the world of Judges.

Following Moses' death (Deut. 34:5-7), the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, began to disposess the Canaanites and inhabit the land.  God gave the Israelites very specific instructions in that regard, instructions that can seem harsh if we read our 21st century context into them.  God commanded the Israelites, uneqivocally, to utterly destroy the peoples that lived in the Promised Land.  They were not to let anyone live.  They weren't to make any treaty with the people and they were certainly not to marry with them.

However, despite the Lord's explicit instructions for the Israelites to sieze the Promised Land, they failed in almost every regard.  They did intermarry, they did let some live, they did make treaties, et al.  And as a result of such blatant disobedience on the part of God, who always knows what He is talking about and always has reasons for His instructions to people, the previous inhabitants of Canaan continually led the Israelites into ever-increasing debauchery and paganism. 

Thus, they did not receive the fulness of the Promised Land and certainly not the Promised Rest that was to accompany the Land.  The net effect was that the Israelites had whole generations that were far more pagan than they were Hebrew in their faith, meaning that they did not believe in the true and living God who had brought them out of Egypt by the power of His mighty outstreched hand, but they fell into Canaanite paganism and turned away from the God who is.

This is the historical context that we find ourselves in as we open the book of Judges and read, following the death of Joshua and his generation, "And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work He had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served Baals.  And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them.  And they provoked the Lord to anger (Judges 2:10-12)."

This is the context when we look at the book of Judges and should serve as the starting point for our continued examination into the major characters of the book.  The major things to take from this are: when God commands to do something, do it utterly without swerving.  But praise be to God who is to be glorified at every turn!