The Book of Judges

Judges is a very difficult book for me to read. In a lot of ways, when I read this book, parts of it mirror my life while other parts mirror the lives of people that I previously had served God with.

Moses has died. Joshua has died. The two strong leaders that the people had looked for in order to understand what God wanted them to do were no longer around. It's as if the people never had to worry about inquiring about God for themselves because they had strong leaders who were there to tell them and correct them.

With the death of these two iconic figures, and a new land things begin to fall apart.

God pleads with the people to be obedient. He tells them that if they will just serve Him, He will honor His promises, but warns them of the consequences of disobedience:

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.
(Judges 2:1-5 ESV)

God asks for obedience, instead - they give a sacrifice. The result of not wanting to invest personally, a whole generation arises that doesn't even know who God is!

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.
(Judges 2:10 ESV)

That's when the cycle begins. When people are oppressed, the cry out and God brings a judge to bring peace. As long as there is a judge in the land, the people seem to try to follow God.

The thing I like about the book of Judges is that God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary thing. Just like today - if we just listen to what God is asking us to do, we - just like the judges can do wonderful things to advance the kingdom of God!

The people in the book of Judges struggle just like the people today. They can't see God - they need someone to "stand in His place" and hold them accountable.  An example of this is with a judge named Gideon. The people begged him to rule over it. Gideon realized what the true problem was and told the people:

 “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you.”
(Judges 8:23 ESV)

Too many times, we as Christians look at our Pastors, Evangelists, and Ministers like we want them to rule over us - to tell us what to do. God desires to lead and to rule over each of us.


Judges is a pivotal book in the Bible, because from this point on people no longer think of God first. God still is true to His promises, but the people no longer serve God or pursue Him on their own.


Judges ends with this verse:


"In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." Judges 21:25


Honestly, that's no different than what we see on a regular basis - everyone is doing what's right in their own eyes.


Let us struggle to learn the lessons that have been taught in the Bible, and let's not live a life wandering in circles looking for the next great speaker or writer to stir our hearts to follow after them... I mean God. Let us understand that we have a priest and a king, named Jesus and let us do what's right in His eyes.


Amen