Gideon -- What is a Judge?
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joshua 10:
And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.
Gideon’s entrance into the story...
Gideon’s entrance into the story...
The domination and devastations of the Midianites and Amalekites on the Israelites...
1 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4 They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.
God sends an unnamed prophet to prophesy to and against the Israelites...
7 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”
The Book of Judges… and Judges… beginning with the conquest.
The Book of Judges… and Judges… beginning with the conquest.
Judges
And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.
These victories were more like hit-and-runs than like conquest
Cannot say the early days of the conquest of the promised land went awesome and lacked challenges.
Also cannot say that the early days of the conquest of the promised land went horrible.
Either extreme is too extreme.
But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”
Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim. And they sacrificed there to the Lord.
It was not until David’s day that the conquest of the promised land happened and every hostile power was run out of the promised land.
It was not until David’s day that the conquest of the promised land happened and every hostile power was run out of the promised land.
It was not until David’s day that the conquest of the promised land happened and every hostile power was run out of the promised land.
The book of Judges is a desperate struggle for the Hebrews to hold onto the promised land as enemy after enemy tries to take it away from them.
The book of Judges is a desperate struggle for the Hebrews to hold onto the promised land as enemy after enemy tries to take it away from them.
Book lasts from the death of Joshua thru the birth of Samuel
Judges is a book of decline: military, moral, spiritual and religious
12 Judges in the book, 6 of them are considered “major” judges: Othniel, Ehud, Debrah, Gideon, Jephtha, and Samson
The judges were localized — Samson wasn’t leading anyone. Gideon was leading _____________.
The Cycle of the Judges and Kings… lasts for 1000 years...
By the way — do you have any “barbs in your eyes and thorns in your flesh” that exist because you have approached key parts of your spiritual life as hit and run rather than something that has to be driven out?
Sexual Addictions Anonymous…
You can’t sing and sermon yourself into a new life...
7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. 8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. 9 And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. 14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. 18 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. 19 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.
The People of God were faithful and free (2.7-9)
The People of God would turn away from the Lord (2:10-12)
God would become angry with his people (2.12-15)
The people would then experience oppression (2.14-15)
The people of God would cry out for help (2.18)
God rescues his people with a judge (2.16-18)
The people of God are faithful and free (2.16-18)
The people of God turn away from the Lord (2.19)
The End of the book...
The End of the book...
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
What God might be saying to us today...
What God might be saying to us today...
The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”
Jesus is priest, king, prophet, temple, law, patriarch, promised land, mighty conquerer… and the judge who walks into the specifics of our lives and rescues us.
Jesus is priest, king, prophet, temple, law, patriarch, promised land, mighty conquerer… and the judge who walks into the specifics of our lives and rescues us.
Not a judge who condemns… but a judge who restores and conquers.
But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”
By the way — do you have any “barbs in your eyes and thorns in your flesh” that exist because you have approached key parts of your spiritual life as hit and run rather than something that has to be driven out?
Sexual Addictions Anonymous…
You can’t sing and sermon yourself into a new life...
What do you need to be rescued from today?
The terrible end of the book…
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
The people of Isra
The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.