God's Mercy, Man's Rebellion - Judges
Notes
Transcript
Preliminary;
Preliminary;
Review - We are making our trip through the Bible and have made it to the History section of the Old Testament
Tonight we want to look at the book of Judges.
The key passage and our text will be found in Judges 2:16-17
16 Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
17 And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.
Introduction:
Introduction:
Judges tells the story of Israel’s history after Joshua’s death until the Samuel - the last judge of Israel.
God would raise up judges that ruled Israel during this period - who would deliver from their enemies.
The main theme of Judges is the cycle of sin, judgment, repentance, and deliverance.
It is named Judges based on the type of leadership of Israel during the time between Joshua and Saul
A judge was to stand by the side of the High Priest as supreme judge or leader with responsibilities included both military and religious affairs.
Generally they were called directly by God
The majority of the judges functioned in the role of deliverer and once deliverance was accomplished they became civil leaders.
The Babylonian Talmud claims that Samuel is the author of Judges although we don’t have conclusive or specific proof evidence.
We can infer that it was written sometime in the early days of the monarchy from
Judges 17:6;18:1;19:1;21:25 four times it says, “in those days there was no king in Israel”....
Major Themes:
on one hand the book of Judges is a commentary on the nature and characteristics of spiritual apostasy
Judges 17:6 “...every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”
For seven times we find the phrase “…did evil in the sight of the Lord”
On the other hand Judges also tells of urgent appeals to God in times of crisis, moving the Lord to raise up leaders to deliver in His mercy.
E. Stanley Jones said “If you do what is right you get results. If you do what is wrong you get consequences. The choice is yours.”
The time period of the Judges is from the time of the elders who outlived Joshua till the time of the monarchy.
Outline of Judges
The Pattern of Apostasy Judges 1-2.
Incomplete Conquest of land
Did not drive out the Canaanite groups
Rebuked by the Angel of the Lord - Listen to what the angel of the Lord says Judges 2:1-5
1 And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
2 And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?
3 Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.
4 And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
5 And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.
Bochim means “weeping”
Death of Joshua (Judges 2:6-10)
Israel served the Lord faithfully all the days of Joshua
but then “There arose a generation who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel”
Disobedience ad Defeat (Judges 2:11-3:6)
Forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Astoreths
Anger of the Lord was “hot against Israel”
it got to the point he ceased to call them “my people” in Judges 2:20 he calls them “this people”
He delivered them into the hands of enemies
The “hand of the Lord was against them”
In mercy he would raise up judges, but the people would fall again into apostasy
God allowed these nations to “test” Israel to know whether they would obey the commands of the Lord.
Cycles of Israel’s spiritual life
Faithfulness
Apostasy
Oppression
Repentance
Deliverance
Repeat
The Periods of Oppression Judges 3:7-16.
Twelve judges or leaders
Span of 325 years
More regional leadership than national
Some overlapped
First Period
Othniel (40 years)
Son-in-law of Caleb
Captured a powerful Canaanite city
Second Period
Ehud (80 years)
From tribe of Benjamin
Left-handed
Killed Eglon the “fat king”
Defeated the Moabites
Shamgar (?)
Killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad
An oxgoad was a long stick (approx 8 ft. long) with a small flat piece of iron on one side and a sharp point on the other
Third Period
Deborah & Barak (40 years)
Defeated armies of King Hazor and the Canaanites (Judges 4)
Captain Sisera was killed by Jael - drove a tent peg or nail through temple
Composed and sang a victory song (Judges 5)
Fourth Period
Gideon (40 Years)
Tribe of Manasseh
was called by an angel a “Mighty man of valor”
Destroyed the family idols
Famous for his “fleece”
Started with army of 32,000 ended with 300 and defeated the Midianite army of 135,000
Declined kingship
Made an ephod that became an object of worship
Had 70 songs
Tola (23 years)
jair (22 years)
Had 30 sons
Fifth Period
Jephthah (6 years)
An illegitimate child (son of a harlot)
Was a valiant warrior
Made a rash vow to God
Defeated the Ammonites
Ibzan (7 years)
Had 30 sons and 30 daughters
Elon (10 years)
Abdon (8 years)
Had 40 sons and 30 grandsons
each had his own donkey
Sixth Period
Samson (20 years)
Father was Manoah
Tribe of Dan
A Nazarite from the womb
Killed a lion with bare hands
Slew 1,000 Philistines with a donkey jawbone
Carried the gates of Gaza on shoulders
Betrayed by Delilah
Destroyed thousands of Philistines in his death
Proofs of Apostasy Judges 17-21.
Idolatry in Tribe of Dan
Micah, an Ephraimite, made an idol and then hired a young Levite (Jonathon) to be his priest
Tribe of Dan stole it and lured the Micah’s priest away
They establish idol worship throughout their land which will plague them all the days of their existence
Civil war Against Tribe of Benjamin
Men of Gibeah brutally raped the concubine of the Levite
The Levite cut her in 12 pieces and sent a piece to each tribe
Tribe of Benjamin refuses to punish the men of Gibeah for their evil
The other tribes went to battle against Benjamin and nearly annihilated them
Some important Take-Away’s from Judges
Failure to remember one’s spiritual roots will prove to be disastrous
When people turn from the law of the Lord and do what is right in their own eyes results in chaos and moral declension
God is faithful to raise up leaders even in the darkest of hours
When people turn to God in repentance, He will show mercy upon them