Shownotes Transcript
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Judges is a book full of bloody and wicked stories. I tell you that not only so you can prepare your own heart for it, but in case you're concerned about little ears listening in. Depending on who's counting, this book covers anywhere from 160 to 410 years in its 21 chapters.
Some people think some of the judges overlapped, so this is just a high-level account of what happened with each of the 12 judges in this time period. By the way, we have to reframe our understanding of the word judge in accordance with this book and time period. For the most part, these aren't courtroom judges. These are civil and military leaders, more like a very hands-on president who enacts laws and commands the army.
Of all the judges in this book, the one who sticks the closest to what God has ordered is a woman named Deborah. But you're probably more familiar with the bad judges like Samson or the mediocre judges like Gideon. At this point in its history, Israel is still a theocratic nation-state. Being a theocracy means God rules the country, not a king or a president. There is no separation of church and state.
This kind of system may sound like a great idea, but having God as your leader doesn't mean you follow him. The problem is the human heart. It doesn't respond to laws. It responds to what it loves. And if you don't love God, you will find his rules repugnant and irrational, and you'll rebel against him. You may recall from yesterday that even though Israel is dwelling in the Promised Land, they still haven't conquered the land completely. There were pockets of Canaanites throughout the land and in major cities.
This was the result of Israel's sin and failure to obey God's covenant and commands. And God warned them repeatedly about the consequences, which are, the Canaanites will become a snare and lead them away into apostasy, and then they will become oppressed and dragged away. So today we set out for a long ride on the apostasy express.
For the Israelites, this train runs in a loop, and it looks something like this. Israel sins, they fall into oppression, then they cry out to God who delivers them, then they repent and enjoy peace for a while before deciding again that they like sin more than peace. You'll see the pattern pretty often in this book.
The Israelites were enticed by the sophistication of the Canaanites. Think about it. Their parents had lived in Egypt as slaves, so they came from nothing, and they'd spent their entire lives in tents in the desert. Now here they are in cities with art and architecture and literature and ports of trade. This was an aspirational lifestyle for them.
Not only that, but it seemed like the way the Canaanites acquired this lifestyle was by worshiping their god through having sex with the so-called sacred prostitutes of the Temple of Baal. So according to Canaanite culture, all you have to do is sleep around and you become rich and powerful. Oh, and worship a god besides Yahweh and also sacrifice your children. The Israelites made concession after concession until their hearts had fully turned away from God. Here's an interesting question to ponder as we read through this book.
Does Israel fall away because they have no strong leadership or because they're among the Canaanites? Moses' concern was always about them being among the Canaanites because he knew their hearts. But they rebelled even against him, and he was considered one of Israel's three strongest leaders of all time. No matter which way you slice it, whether it's sinful neighbors or poor leadership, it's still a heart issue. We follow what we love. We're about to find out what the Israelites love.
In Judges 1:1, Israel starts out strong after Joshua's death by inquiring of God. And they want to eradicate the Canaanites, just like God commanded. Hooray! We're off to a great start. God tells them that the tribe of Judah, the largest tribe, should lead the charge to drive out the Canaanites. Judah calls on the tribe of Simeon for help, possibly because they were their closest relatives, or maybe because Simeon's land was in the middle of Judah's land, like a donut hole, so it made sense that they would fight together.
They had some initial victory, even in Jerusalem. But as the chapter progresses, we see that it was short-lived. By the time we hit verse 21, they've lost the city again. And even though we mostly see victories in chapter 1, we see tiny hedges here and there where they allow the Canaanites to remain for one reason or another. It only takes them 19 verses to get off track.
By the time we wrap up chapter 1, 9 of the 9.5 tribes in the original promised land west of the Jordan River still have Canaanites living among them. The only exception is Issachar. We also see that they kept some of the Canaanites alive and made them into slaves, which was expressly forbidden by God. In chapter 2, God shows up in the form of the angel of the Lord to rebuke them for not driving out the Canaanites and tearing down their altars as they had agreed to do in response to his command and covenant with them.
He tells them the consequences of their actions. The Canaanites will be a thorn in their flesh and they will fall into idolatry. The people are devastated by this news and they weep and offer sacrifices to God, but their repentance is short-lived. There were two points in today's reading where we had flashbacks to previous readings in Joshua, the death of Joshua, and the allotment of springs to Caleb's daughter and her cousin Othniel when he won her hand in marriage.
Don't let those flashbacks confuse you. The books of Joshua and Judges were written by different authors, so to them, it didn't feel redundant or confusing. They were just giving important details that applied to what they were currently explaining. In chapter 2, when we flashback to Joshua's death, it's a reminder of a time when Israel was following God more closely.
But even that great generation failed as leaders because they didn't appoint new leaders. And they didn't tell God's story to the following generation. They only led with the present in mind, and their legacy failed to continue. So the people begin to worship the gods of Baal and Ashtaroth, male and female gods of the Canaanites. God is furious, of course, and brings on the very thing he promised, discipline, in the form of being plundered and conquered.
At the end of today's reading, we get an overview of the whole book. God raises up judges from among them to help lead them, but they reject the leaders and Yahweh himself and continue in wickedness. So God promises not to drive out their enemies since they've broken the covenant, and it will serve as a test to them. Will they repent? Will they turn back to him? Stay tuned to find out.
Where did you see God's character on display today? What was your God shot? I saw so many things. His faithfulness to his covenant with them, which included both blessings for obedience and curses for rebellion. And I saw his patience with them, his willingness to forgive, his compassion toward them. But above all, I see how much he loves them. He's not just trying to force obedience without relationship. He's after their hearts. Nothing changes unless hearts change.
Yesterday, we saw Joshua tell people to incline their hearts toward God. And today we see that his heart is inclined toward them as well. I'm so grateful. His love for me has prompted my heart to love him back because he's where the joy is. Israel is my second home and I want to help everyone see just how stunning it is. So a few years ago, I spent five weeks there alongside an incredible photographer, Richard Vandewater.
We gathered an amazing collection of photos and we put them together for you in a stunning coffee table book called Israel, Beauty, Light, and Luxury. It's a 256-page hardback, full-color, luxury coffee table book. And it not only has all those beautiful photos, but I've also written 30 devotionals to go alongside some of my favorite biblical sites in the book.
This book is different from anything I've ever made. The Holy Land is full of life and color and delicious food and incredible people, all stacked alongside some of the places where Jesus lived and died and rose again. You can find the book in our bookstore at thebiblerecap.com forward slash store. Now, hear me out. Seeing pictures of a place is great, but going there is even better. After
After a long wait, our team is returning to Israel and we want to take you with us. Our partner ministry, Israelux, takes you on a teaching tour of Israel where you can see the beauty of Israel alongside other Bible readers. If you want to learn more about these trips, visit Israelux.com. That's I-S-R-A-E-L-U-X dot com or click the link in the show notes.