The Fellowship Residency Program has introduced me to the idea of reading commentaries alongside scripture. By next August, I will have read through the entire Bible as well as The King in His Beauty, our selected commentary. As I am reading, I am writing a little bit about each of the books of the Bible so you and I can have a more thorough understanding of the scriptures. I invite you to follow along with me as we learn the Bible in its entirety from Genesis to Revelation. This summary does NOT encompass the entire book, but it is a good place to start. I encourage you to read for yourself and begin your own Biblical journal along the way. To read any of my other Residency related posts, click here.
Introduction – We pick up in Judges with a new generation and open the book with anticipation as to if Israel will remain faithful to their part of the Lord’s covenant reaffirmed at the end of Joshua. Unfortunately, Judges emphasizes that worldwide blessing would not happen anytime soon for the people of Israel.
Israel Needs a King – Israel needing a king is continuously evident in the book of Judges. Of course, the author at this time is thinking of a human king as it was promised that the conqueror of evil will be from the offspring of the woman (Genesis 3:15). Israel is depicted as deteriorating rapidly throughout the book of Judges and therefore point again towards the necessity of Jesus’s coming. The book also points to the faithfulness of the Lord, because he follows through on His promise and grants His people the Holy Land. Judah immediately takes the lead (a foreshadowing that the King will descend from the line of Judah). Victory is initially given to Israel, but it quickly is taken down as no leader arose after Joshua and the nation’s unity suffered as a result. God has always desired for His creation to be restored. He called Israel, like Adam in Eden, to care for the land of glory and remove the Canaanites from the land. The Israelites failed to do so, and there begin to live among and like the Canaanites. Chapter 2 introduces the narrative of the rest of the book. An angel reminds Israel of the Lord’s covenant love and asks for obedience. Because they did not follow through on their part of the covenant, they are promised consequences. They weep, but only shortly as they quickly “did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.” God responded in anger and allowed Israel’s enemies to take control. Even so, He did not abandon His people. Instead, he sent judges to save them. There was a cycle of judgment seen throughout the book of Judges where Israelites would sin through idolatry --> God would respond in anger to His people --> His people would become oppressed by their enemies and in distress --> They would cry out for deliverance --> The Lord would then raise up a military deliver or “Judge” --> and then there would be temporary rest before the cycle would begin all over again. Each time the cycle repeated itself, the cycle of disobedience would continue and worsen.
The Judges of Saviors of Israel – In the book, the Judges function as saviors and deliverers. Their role is more soteriological rather than legal or judicial as we think of judges today. The cycles shown in Judges highlights the mercy of Yahweh as Israel’s disobedience deserves harsh punishment. However, the Lord continues to mercifully deliver His people when they seek Him and cry out in repentance. God used “unexpected saviors” for the role of Judges. Ehud was a left-handed, Deborah was a woman, and Barak lacked courage. Still, the focus was on the victorious mercy of God. We also see God raise us Gideon who was from a weak clan and least honored of his family. His faith was weak and needed multiple signs from God to feel secure. His strength came from the Spirit alone. The army of Gideon dwindled from 22,000 to 300 to show that the victory was by the Lord’s power alone. The inadequacies of the judges become apparent and highlight the needs for a king after God’s heart to be raised up. Gideon’s son, Abimelech does just that. He is easily drug into evil and takes the nation of Israel with him. God’s anger leads Him to turn over Israel to the Philistines and Ammonites. When they beg for deliverance, He tells them to ask the gods they have been worshiping. Yet again, “he became impatient over the misery of Israel,” and raised up Jephthah, the son of a prostitute and yet again another unexpected savior. He too was flawed, so God raised up Samson and put his favor on Him through the gift of supernatural strength. However, Samson had a weakness towards foreign women who were apart from the chosen people. His sinful nature leads to him disclosing the secret behind his power (his hair), and Delilah strips him of his power. Like Israel falling for foreign gods, Samson falls. But God is not done with him. God’s grace allows Samson’s hair to grow back and Samson ultimately dies destroying the Philistines. It can be tempting to remember the judges as broken sinners (as they are), but the New Testament refers to them as men and women of faith. They trust in God, act on their trust, and deliver Israel from their enemies. However, the judges are clearly not the perfect savior for the Israelites and the book, like all others, points to the need of a perfect yet equally unexpected savior.
The End of the Matter – The final chapters of Judges discuss the evil that is rampant in Israel and the need for a King to rule over the people. The tribe of Benjamin was almost completely wiped put as a result of their disastrous sin. Though the tribe is highlighted, it is clear that the entire people of Israel are doing “what was right in his own eyes” and something desperately needed to change.
Conclusion – 2/3 of God’s promise to Abraham have come to fruition. They are a great people and they have received the holy land. Unfortunately, things are not right. When Israel would become desperate, they would seek God. However, when things are comfortable they would fall into the habit of idolatry and resemble the descendant of the serpent. Today, we as believers can still struggle with this same cycle if we are not careful. In order to rest in the promises of God, Israel needed a King just as we today desperately need Jesus.
Themes: God is faithful. God is merciful. God is righteous both in His anger and His mercy. God uses the unexpected, the unlikely, and the broken.
I read the book of Judges when I first had Jaxon and I was up at night nursing him. These were takeaways from each chapter of the book when I was able to do a “deep dive.” Eventually, I would like to do this for each book of the Bible. Unfortunately, this year is not the year for that.
Judges
1 - Seek God in the unknown transitions
2 - Disobedience leads to suffering
3 - Obedience makes your legacy count. I love that God’s hand is never limited by what we have in ours
4 - Wisdom doesn’t need to come from a place of authority to be respected
Lord, what are you trying to teach me in this season of life?
Lord, what is something new I can discover about You in this time of transition?
Lord, what is Your purpose for me right now?
5 - We can experience the same victories as Deborah did. It is important we worship God in those moments
6 - Just do the next thing
7 - Are you giving God the credit?
8 - Don’t let the pride of victory become your precursor for the fall
9 - God will reap what he sows
10 - God knows when we use empty words so don’t even try
11 - Be cautious with what you promise God. Sometimes it is best to silently trust Him. He wants our obedience not our promises
12 - Wrong assumptions can have catastrophic consequences
13 - God knows our biggest struggles and can make the impossible possible
14 - God uses us despite our failures
15 - Don't place emotions over truth
16 - God should not be our last resort in life
17 - A life without God will not lead to prospering.