The Meaning and Purpose of Judges
Weekly Blog: September 18, 2009
Today’s discussion will focus on the book of Judges from the following prospective:
a. The author
b. Date of its writing
c. Background
d. Purpose
e. It’s content
f. Personal application
g. Christ revealed
h. How the Holy Spirit was at work during this time.
The reason for this approach is to highlight the leaders God chose for the nation of Israel after the death of Joshua, and to try and raise a question in the minds of today’s believers’ of what lesson did I learn from Israel and how can I refrain from making the same mistakes as Israel. Also, I am being led by the Holy Spirit as I move closer to my online teaching ministry.
Who is the author of Judges? The Talmud attributes the book of Judges to Samuel as 1 Samuel 10:25 records that he wrote many parts of the book of Judges. Judges covers a period in Israel’s history between Joshua’s death and the rise of the monarch system that ruled Israel for many years, and the dates covers a period of 1050-1000 B.C. Scripture supporting these dates are found in 17:6 when it records the words, “In those days there was no king in Israel”, as this was written when Israel was ruled by a king. The second supporting factor is recoded in Judges 1:21, which states that “the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day” as this point to the time before David conquered the city (2 Samuel 5:6, 7).
A bit of background on the book of Judges and Israel, we see the Judges covering a time in Israel’s history when there was chaos (1380-1050 B.C.). While under the leadership of Joshua, Israel’s history deals with the conquest and occupation of Canaan, but a large portion of Canaan were yet to be possessed by the individual tribes. Upon Joshua’s death and there were no king over Israel then “every man did what he thought was right in their eyes” (21:25). Sound familiar? Israel continued to do evil in the sight of the Lord, such as deliberately serving foreign gods. By doing so Israel broke their covenant relationship with God, their deliverer, and the results were God delivered them into the hands of oppressors. While suffering at the hands of their oppressors, Israel would call on the Lord and in His faithfulness He would raise up a Judge to deliver them. History tells of how the Lord would chose and anoint with His Spirit military and civil leaders. During the period of the Judges conditions was right for the establishment of the monarchy system of leadership in Israel. From the background of the book of Judges, let’s segway to the purpose of the book, and we will being by posing a question, what is the purpose of the book of Judges?
The book of Judges has a threefold purpose, which are (1) historical, (2) theological, and (3) spiritual. The historical purpose of the book of Judges is that it provides a link between the conquests of Canaan to the monarchy as it highlights the principles in the established law that obedience to the law brings peace and life, while disobedience brings oppression and death (spiritual) as Israel witnessed, so will believers today. Also, Judges provides the need for a centralized monarchy in Israel as they disobeyed God’s kingship throughout the time when God provided inspired leadership. The spiritual aspects of Judges show the faithfulness of God toward Israel and His covenant, as He remains faithful to believers today. Case in point when Israel would repent and turned from doing evil God forgave them and delivered them from the hands of their oppressors, and when believers today obey God blessing flow.
Our next segment of this discussion will be the content of Judges and how it is broken down and we will begin with this question, what are the sections of Judges? There are three main sections to the book of Judges and they are (a) the prologue (1:1-2:5) which establishes the historical scenes that describes Israel’s incomplete conquest of the Promised Land (1:1-39) and the Lord’s rebuking them for their unfaithfulness to His covenant (2:1-5). The main body encompasses chapters 3:7-16:31, which covers the time of Israel’s rebelliousness during their first century in the Promised Land while showing how the Lord dealt with Israel. One can see a cycle of apostasy, oppression, repentance, and deliverance. Also, in the body section of Judges, the Lord raised up judges in response to Israel’s cry for help when they were oppressed. There were six major judges who played vital roles in the deliverance of Israel and six minor judges who were mention briefly and the thirteenth judge Abimelech who is supplemental to the Gideon’s story. The epilogue section of Judges deals the religious and moral corruption that existed during this period in Israel’s history (17:1-21:25). It also, appears that the concluding section of Judges illustrates the consequences of Israel’s apostasy and anarchy when “there was no king in Israel.” The question that comes to mind is, how do we see ourselves and shouldn’t we (and Israel) remain focus on God, the true king/leader? This leads us the personal application of Judges.
What personal applicants can we make in our lives from the book of Judges? First, the book of Judges illustrates the disastrous consequences of a broken fellowship with God through idolatrous worship. An idol is anything we put before God, whether it is our houses, or wealth, for sin separates us from God. He says in His Word that “though should have no other god before me.” God requires total commitment to Him and when we sin a full and honest repentance is required and the Lord will chastise/punish His people until we repent. Second, we see the faithfulness of God for He faithfully responds to our cry, He forgives and delivers. Lastly, God is our Judge and deliverer for He is able to do the impossible. Case in point God took Gideon and made him “a mighty man of valor.” The most important personal application to be gained from the book of Judges is that God is faithful and His love is continuous regardless of how often we stray from Him. His outstretched arms are always open to welcome home His children. What a great God?
Is Christ revealed in Judges? Christ is revealed in the book of Judges as it portrays the Lord’s character in dealing with His people as He does with modern day believes and all humanity’s need for a Savior. God’s love, righteousness and His mercy is displayed in the book of Judges. Also, it depicts His punishment for sin as He judges and one day He will “judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31), for He is the righteous judge (2 Timothy 4:8).
Our final look at Judges is the Holy Spirit at work as the Holy Spirit enabled the deliverers to do extraordinary tasks in fulfilling the Lord’s plans and purposes. “God wants to bring deliverance to His people and He is looking for consecrated men and women whom He can empower with His Holy Spirit” (The Spirit filled Bible). God has the same desire for His people today as He did during Israel’s time. Are you willing to be empowered with the Holy Spirit for the Lord?
This discourse on Judges was to depict the different leaders God chose in this quarter’s lessons concerning the covenant community, the church/God’s people. As each of God’s chosen leaders had one thing in common; they were devout in their faith, they trusted God and obeyed His commands, and they were all successful in leading God’s people back to Him. The lesson from this is that any sacred mission requires the guiding hand of the Lord.
In concluding today’s discussion, it can be concluded that just as the book of Judges shows the spiritual apostasy of Israel and believers today as believers today have an example of obedience to God’s moral laws is essential, if we disobey and turn form God what the consequences are. God always has a remnant that is faithful to Him regardless of their surrounding. Second, God always has a chosen leader to lead His people back to Him and third, intercessory prayer is necessary as Ezra made intercessory prayer to God for the people. Lastly, believer’s belief and repentance are interconnected, but the first step in this process is the confession of ones sins and acknowledged that ones sins are against God.
Acknowledge your sins and return to God----He is waiting with open arms to welcome you back.
Note: Hopefully my discussions are being helpful as I follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit in my writings. If you would like to have more explanation on the Sunday school’s lessons, just send me an email to wwhite@goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com, and I will oblidge.
Today’s discussion will focus on the book of Judges from the following prospective:
a. The author
b. Date of its writing
c. Background
d. Purpose
e. It’s content
f. Personal application
g. Christ revealed
h. How the Holy Spirit was at work during this time.
The reason for this approach is to highlight the leaders God chose for the nation of Israel after the death of Joshua, and to try and raise a question in the minds of today’s believers’ of what lesson did I learn from Israel and how can I refrain from making the same mistakes as Israel. Also, I am being led by the Holy Spirit as I move closer to my online teaching ministry.
Who is the author of Judges? The Talmud attributes the book of Judges to Samuel as 1 Samuel 10:25 records that he wrote many parts of the book of Judges. Judges covers a period in Israel’s history between Joshua’s death and the rise of the monarch system that ruled Israel for many years, and the dates covers a period of 1050-1000 B.C. Scripture supporting these dates are found in 17:6 when it records the words, “In those days there was no king in Israel”, as this was written when Israel was ruled by a king. The second supporting factor is recoded in Judges 1:21, which states that “the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day” as this point to the time before David conquered the city (2 Samuel 5:6, 7).
A bit of background on the book of Judges and Israel, we see the Judges covering a time in Israel’s history when there was chaos (1380-1050 B.C.). While under the leadership of Joshua, Israel’s history deals with the conquest and occupation of Canaan, but a large portion of Canaan were yet to be possessed by the individual tribes. Upon Joshua’s death and there were no king over Israel then “every man did what he thought was right in their eyes” (21:25). Sound familiar? Israel continued to do evil in the sight of the Lord, such as deliberately serving foreign gods. By doing so Israel broke their covenant relationship with God, their deliverer, and the results were God delivered them into the hands of oppressors. While suffering at the hands of their oppressors, Israel would call on the Lord and in His faithfulness He would raise up a Judge to deliver them. History tells of how the Lord would chose and anoint with His Spirit military and civil leaders. During the period of the Judges conditions was right for the establishment of the monarchy system of leadership in Israel. From the background of the book of Judges, let’s segway to the purpose of the book, and we will being by posing a question, what is the purpose of the book of Judges?
The book of Judges has a threefold purpose, which are (1) historical, (2) theological, and (3) spiritual. The historical purpose of the book of Judges is that it provides a link between the conquests of Canaan to the monarchy as it highlights the principles in the established law that obedience to the law brings peace and life, while disobedience brings oppression and death (spiritual) as Israel witnessed, so will believers today. Also, Judges provides the need for a centralized monarchy in Israel as they disobeyed God’s kingship throughout the time when God provided inspired leadership. The spiritual aspects of Judges show the faithfulness of God toward Israel and His covenant, as He remains faithful to believers today. Case in point when Israel would repent and turned from doing evil God forgave them and delivered them from the hands of their oppressors, and when believers today obey God blessing flow.
Our next segment of this discussion will be the content of Judges and how it is broken down and we will begin with this question, what are the sections of Judges? There are three main sections to the book of Judges and they are (a) the prologue (1:1-2:5) which establishes the historical scenes that describes Israel’s incomplete conquest of the Promised Land (1:1-39) and the Lord’s rebuking them for their unfaithfulness to His covenant (2:1-5). The main body encompasses chapters 3:7-16:31, which covers the time of Israel’s rebelliousness during their first century in the Promised Land while showing how the Lord dealt with Israel. One can see a cycle of apostasy, oppression, repentance, and deliverance. Also, in the body section of Judges, the Lord raised up judges in response to Israel’s cry for help when they were oppressed. There were six major judges who played vital roles in the deliverance of Israel and six minor judges who were mention briefly and the thirteenth judge Abimelech who is supplemental to the Gideon’s story. The epilogue section of Judges deals the religious and moral corruption that existed during this period in Israel’s history (17:1-21:25). It also, appears that the concluding section of Judges illustrates the consequences of Israel’s apostasy and anarchy when “there was no king in Israel.” The question that comes to mind is, how do we see ourselves and shouldn’t we (and Israel) remain focus on God, the true king/leader? This leads us the personal application of Judges.
What personal applicants can we make in our lives from the book of Judges? First, the book of Judges illustrates the disastrous consequences of a broken fellowship with God through idolatrous worship. An idol is anything we put before God, whether it is our houses, or wealth, for sin separates us from God. He says in His Word that “though should have no other god before me.” God requires total commitment to Him and when we sin a full and honest repentance is required and the Lord will chastise/punish His people until we repent. Second, we see the faithfulness of God for He faithfully responds to our cry, He forgives and delivers. Lastly, God is our Judge and deliverer for He is able to do the impossible. Case in point God took Gideon and made him “a mighty man of valor.” The most important personal application to be gained from the book of Judges is that God is faithful and His love is continuous regardless of how often we stray from Him. His outstretched arms are always open to welcome home His children. What a great God?
Is Christ revealed in Judges? Christ is revealed in the book of Judges as it portrays the Lord’s character in dealing with His people as He does with modern day believes and all humanity’s need for a Savior. God’s love, righteousness and His mercy is displayed in the book of Judges. Also, it depicts His punishment for sin as He judges and one day He will “judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31), for He is the righteous judge (2 Timothy 4:8).
Our final look at Judges is the Holy Spirit at work as the Holy Spirit enabled the deliverers to do extraordinary tasks in fulfilling the Lord’s plans and purposes. “God wants to bring deliverance to His people and He is looking for consecrated men and women whom He can empower with His Holy Spirit” (The Spirit filled Bible). God has the same desire for His people today as He did during Israel’s time. Are you willing to be empowered with the Holy Spirit for the Lord?
This discourse on Judges was to depict the different leaders God chose in this quarter’s lessons concerning the covenant community, the church/God’s people. As each of God’s chosen leaders had one thing in common; they were devout in their faith, they trusted God and obeyed His commands, and they were all successful in leading God’s people back to Him. The lesson from this is that any sacred mission requires the guiding hand of the Lord.
In concluding today’s discussion, it can be concluded that just as the book of Judges shows the spiritual apostasy of Israel and believers today as believers today have an example of obedience to God’s moral laws is essential, if we disobey and turn form God what the consequences are. God always has a remnant that is faithful to Him regardless of their surrounding. Second, God always has a chosen leader to lead His people back to Him and third, intercessory prayer is necessary as Ezra made intercessory prayer to God for the people. Lastly, believer’s belief and repentance are interconnected, but the first step in this process is the confession of ones sins and acknowledged that ones sins are against God.
Acknowledge your sins and return to God----He is waiting with open arms to welcome you back.
Note: Hopefully my discussions are being helpful as I follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit in my writings. If you would like to have more explanation on the Sunday school’s lessons, just send me an email to wwhite@goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com, and I will oblidge.
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