Bible Studies

THE BOOK OF JUDGES

by Henry Jaegers
03/09/19
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JUDGES

Theme: The Dark Ages of Israel’s History

Scriptural Definition:  In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 17:6)

This period of time, after the death of Joshua, lasted for about 350 years. After the death of Joshua, the people were left with no leader like Moses and Joshua. They began right, by calling on the Lord and asking for his direction. That is always the right thing to do when faced with a dilemma. God told them what to do and he gave them the promise that he would be with them just like he was with Moses and Joshua. They started out well until they faced the enemy in the land who had many horses and chariots and they began to lose their confidence in God. When they saw the iron chariots, they entertain the idea that God was not big enough to give them victory over these. God's command was to destroy the enemy completely and take over their land. Instead, Israel decided to capture them and make them slaves rather than destroy them. By doing this, they allowed their captives to live and become stronger and eventually, Israel became slaves to those they failed to conquer.

This is a message to us of dealing with temptation in its early stages. If we stay too long thinking about it, we will be overtaken by it and eventually become its slave, just like the nation of Israel did when they failed to claim victory over their enemies. Accommodation eventually becomes compromise and in its final stages sin is no longer manageable.

That is a spiritual problem demonstrated to us in the book of Judges. There was a reason why God allowed the enemies to remain in the land, for God use them as a means to try Israel's faith. During this period of time, a pattern began to develop in Israel which is not part of God's original plan of living in total victory. As the enemies of God became stronger, they began to conquer and rule over God's people. It always started with Israel falling away from God and eventually they came to the point of desperation where they cried out to God for help. That was a good thing. God heard their prayer and sent forth a deliver, called a judge, who conquered the enemies and gave Israel back their freedom. At this time, they lived in a period of relative peace but once again they fell into the problem of apostasy, then once again they called upon God; God sent a Judge to deliver them and once again they lived in peace.

Sometimes when we are not faithful to the Lord, the same patterns happen to us as well. We get into trouble and then call upon God and God in his mercy sends one of his messengers to deliver us.

During this period of time, God sent 14 different judges to deliver Israel from the enemies. Some of these judges we know well like Jephthah, Gideon, and Samson. These were given more place in this narrative but all of them were important because they were God's unique messengers, totally different from each other, being raised up by God for the time to which they were sent and prepared.

Despite the emphasis of Israel's failure, we are reminded of the never-ending love of God to people who were totally unworthy of such.

 


 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

 1. Read Joshua 1: 1-6.  What promises did God give to Joshua?

 2. What began as a promise of blessing wound up as the devastation in Judges the baton is passed on to Joshua? In Judges, the baton was dropped.

 3. Read Judges 2: 1-5.  This is the chronological setting for the book. What happened after the death of Joshua? Because of their disobedience, what did God say that He would do? When do you think that chapter 1 took place?

 4. Read Chapter 2:6-10 and discuss: What happened during the closing period of Joshua? What condition do we find present in the beginning period of the judges? Note verse 10. How could such a drastic problem occur? What could have to prevent this from happening?

 5. Read 2: 11-23.  Why did God not drive out all the heathen nations during the time of Joshua? Does this give us an idea of how God’s people should behave in a world that is hostile to Godliness? In this chapter, we discover some of the ways that God works.

6. Note the method God uses in these verses to bring about recovery when we are disobedient.

 7. Read verses Judges 17: 5, and Judges 21:25and discuss how these verses describe the need for Godly leaders and what happens when we don’t have them

 8. Read chapter one and determine how sin and disobedience affect and influences others?