“The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous— you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.”
(Psalm 7:8-11 ESV)
Intro to Judges
Where we Stand...
# We’ve spent 400 years in Egyptian slavery before crossing the Red Sea and making into the wilderness. # There we spent 40 years wandering around because we chose to listen to ten “bad apples” who gave us a bad report about the Promised Land. # In the wilderness Moses gave us the law that the Lord gave to him. # Right before we left the wilderness the great man Moses died and left his assistant, Joshua, to lead us on. # Joshua led us across the Jordan River and with him in control we took down the walls of Jericho, watched the sun stand still, and took control of the Promised Land. # A common theme so far has been that Israel always has a leader to look to in order to show them the Lord’s will- Jacob, Joseph, Moses, or Joshua there always seemed to be that one person. Now Joshua dies and he leaves a void that is not filled. # Enter the Judges- you may think about the guy in a court who strikes a gavel and makes decisions but that’s not what these Judges are. These Judges are deliverers that rescue Israel from a foreign power. # The cycle of this book is as follows: Israel falls into sin & idolatry, Israel is oppressed, Israel cries out, Yahweh raises a Judge, Israel is delivered, Israel serves Yahweh. Repeat. |
Where we Stand Finale
# The author of the book of Judges is unknown. The book was written some time after Saul was crowned the first king because it offers a retrospective of the Judges period. This book covers roughly 300ish years.
# When the book begins Canaan land had been conquered but all of the Canaanite groups and peoples had not been destroyed yet, it was up to the individual tribes to accomplish this task.
# The purpose of the book of Judges is to show that obedience to the law and to the Lord will provide peace and stability and that even during a time when it seems that no one is obeying the Lord he will always listen to us and show us a way through.
# The author of the book of Judges is unknown. The book was written some time after Saul was crowned the first king because it offers a retrospective of the Judges period. This book covers roughly 300ish years.
# When the book begins Canaan land had been conquered but all of the Canaanite groups and peoples had not been destroyed yet, it was up to the individual tribes to accomplish this task.
# The purpose of the book of Judges is to show that obedience to the law and to the Lord will provide peace and stability and that even during a time when it seems that no one is obeying the Lord he will always listen to us and show us a way through.
Judges 1
Political Background
# Since the nation of Israel is left without a leader they inquire of the Lord who will be the first tribe to go fight the Canaanites.
# They might have possibly used the Urim and the Thummim of the High Priest although it does not expressly say this in the text.
# The tribe of Judah would be the first tribe to go and fight and since the territory of the Simeonites basically was inside of Judah the Simeonites went to fight with them.
# The first power that Judah went up against was called Bezek. They had a leader named Adoni-Bezek (most likely a title) which means “Lord of Lightning.”
# Apparently Adoni-Bezek took out 70 other Canaanite kings and cut off their thumbs and toes and they lived in his palace begging for scraps so the Israelites cut off Adoni-Bezek’s thumbs and toes.
# Ephraim and Manasseh were working in central Israel and asked a man for the way into Bethel- he showed them in, they let the man live, and they destroyed the city.
# The other tribes of Israel didn’t fair as well as Judah, Simeon, Ephraim, and Manasseh- there is quite the list of Canaanite cities that did not get fully destroyed so that those Canaanites would end up living with the Israelites.
# Since the nation of Israel is left without a leader they inquire of the Lord who will be the first tribe to go fight the Canaanites.
# They might have possibly used the Urim and the Thummim of the High Priest although it does not expressly say this in the text.
# The tribe of Judah would be the first tribe to go and fight and since the territory of the Simeonites basically was inside of Judah the Simeonites went to fight with them.
# The first power that Judah went up against was called Bezek. They had a leader named Adoni-Bezek (most likely a title) which means “Lord of Lightning.”
# Apparently Adoni-Bezek took out 70 other Canaanite kings and cut off their thumbs and toes and they lived in his palace begging for scraps so the Israelites cut off Adoni-Bezek’s thumbs and toes.
# Ephraim and Manasseh were working in central Israel and asked a man for the way into Bethel- he showed them in, they let the man live, and they destroyed the city.
# The other tribes of Israel didn’t fair as well as Judah, Simeon, Ephraim, and Manasseh- there is quite the list of Canaanite cities that did not get fully destroyed so that those Canaanites would end up living with the Israelites.
Judges 2
Spiritual Background
# Here we have another Old Testament appearance of this very important character: the Angel of the Lord.
# We know him as Jesus of the New Testament, but here Jesus voices his displeasure with the poor job that the Israelites have done with clearing the land of Canaanites. Bochim means “weeping”.
# The Angel says that the covenant will never be broken but the Canaanites will be left in the land so they can irritate the Israelites and be pests.
# This generation that did not take out the Canaanites ended up worshiping Baal and Ashtaroth of the Canaanites (the two main gods of the Canaanites who will factor prominently into Israeli history).
# Verses 18-19 of chapter 2 are a perfect summary of the entire book of Judges.
# “Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.”
# "But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.”
# Here we have another Old Testament appearance of this very important character: the Angel of the Lord.
# We know him as Jesus of the New Testament, but here Jesus voices his displeasure with the poor job that the Israelites have done with clearing the land of Canaanites. Bochim means “weeping”.
# The Angel says that the covenant will never be broken but the Canaanites will be left in the land so they can irritate the Israelites and be pests.
# This generation that did not take out the Canaanites ended up worshiping Baal and Ashtaroth of the Canaanites (the two main gods of the Canaanites who will factor prominently into Israeli history).
# Verses 18-19 of chapter 2 are a perfect summary of the entire book of Judges.
# “Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.”
# "But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.”