Introduction to Judges

Disappointment is the word that comes to mind when trying to sum up the book of Judges.  The book starts with the statement that the children of Israel failed to drive the other nations out of the Promised Land.  As promised by God, that failure led the people into a repeated cycle of idolatry which was punished by God in the form of oppression from these same nations.  God graciously raised up judges who were used by God to liberate the people from oppression and call the people back to Himself.  When the judge died, the cycle would start over again with the people returning to their idolatrous ways.  The book ends with a tragic description of the idolatry and immorality in Israel that led to a civil war in the nation.  The theme that is repeated throughout the book is that the people were doing what was right in their own eyes.  Man’s heart is corrupt and evil.  Apart from divine intervention, man will worship false gods and rebel against the commandments of the Lord.  Judges illustrates this truth over and over again.  Rather than outline the book chronologically going through each of the judges; I have decided to simply describe the cycle that is repeated throughout the book.  It is disappointing to see this nation that had so much potential rebel against God and then repeatedly refuse to learn from the mistakes of the past.

DISOBEDIENCE AGAINST GOD: The first act of disobedience on the part of the children of Israel was their refusal to drive out the inhabitants of the land.  God had warned them repeatedly about finishing the job and He promised to give them the victory.  However, when they refused to obey and decided to make peace and cohabitate with these deprived nations that God wanted to judge; God decided to use them as a means of judging Israel instead.  Many times in life we will find that God punishes sin with more sin.  We never intend to become enslaved to sin.  Our desire is usually just to enjoy a little dabble with sin.  It just does not work that way.  God calls His children to be holy as He is holy and to have a hatred for sin.  As predicted, these nations that should have been annihilated soon became a source of temptation to the people and as they shared the same land and give their children to one another in marriage; they began to worship their many gods.  Idolatry and all sorts of immorality began to proliferate in the nation and the people would forget all about the Lord.  God would discipline the people through oppression and war.  The people would cry out the Lord for deliverance and God would answer by sending a judge to set the people free and to call them back to worshiping Him.  Then the cycle of disobedience would happen all over again.  Time after time the people would fall back into the same old sins and suffer the same consequences that the previous generation had experienced.  Their refusal to learn from history cursed them into repeating that history.  It is easy to point fingers at the people’s stupidity, but it is important to remember for us to evaluate ourselves.  We too continue to fall into the same traps of sin over and over again.  Before we become too critical of the cycle of disobedience in the lives of the people of Israel; we must examine the cycles of disobedience in so many areas of our own hearts.   

DISCIPLINE FROM GOD: None of us like the idea of discipline.  We like to think that we can dabble with sin without becoming enslaved to that sin or having to face the consequences of sin.  This type of rationalization is delusional.  Because God loves us, He disciplines us so that we can be restored to a right relationship with Him.  The very people the children of Israel became so desirous of making peace with turned against them and began to oppress and enslave them.  Sinfulness gives of an illusion of liberty but it actually enslaves us and drives us into the depths of despair.  The people wanted to enjoy the pleasures of sin and experience the prosperity that God had promised would come from the land.  It simply does not work that way.  God cannot bless those who are worshiping idols and rebelling against His will.  One nation after another would rise up and dominate the people of Israel and oppress them within their own land.  They would take away their crops, slaughter their sons and daughters and force the people to work as slaves.  This is not what the people had in mind but it is how God works.  We must constantly remind ourselves that there is no such thing as sinning without consequence.  If we are truly God’s children, He will discipline us.  It is part of being a loving father and it is also what God uses to reconcile us to Him once again.  God’s discipline is never about spoiling our fun.  It is about bringing us back to Him so that that we can enjoy the true joy of being rightly related to Him.

DELIVERANCE BY GOD: The purpose of God’s discipline is always to bring about restoration.  Our disobedience separates us from God.  His discipline brings us to a point of repentance so that our sins might be forgiven as we cry out to the Lord to save us.  The Lord responds to the cries of His people for help.  He is able to deliver in amazing and astounding ways.  We are perplexed by the continual sin of the children of Israel.  However, man’s propensity to sin is only overshadowed by God’s ability and willingness to deliver.  When the people were hopeless and helpless before their enemies their only chance was divine intervention and God showed up time and time again.  He brought the people to their knees so that they were in the proper position to be delivered.  Israel’s small army was under equipped and under manned but with God on their side massive armies fell into chaos and ended up fighting themselves.  One man was given the strength to bring an entire nation to its knees because of God’s divine enabling. We must always remember that no matter how dark our path may seem and how difficult our lives become because of our disobedience; if we will repent and call out to the Lord, He is willing and able to deliver.  When we feel trapped by sin or powerless before temptation, we must remember to trust the Lord and turn our lives over to Him.  His deliverance is always able to overcome our disobedience.