Beware of my donkey jaw bone!

Judges

First impression: finding the context

What do you see in this book that tells you about the original reader?

According to the very last verse in the book of Judges “in those days Israel had no king…” (Judges 21:25) Which gives a clue that the book is written later than when the actual accounts happened. The other that line thing it suggests is that in the time the book is written, they did have a king. So, the original readers should then be the people of Israel in the time of the Kings, some 380 years after the events occurred.

What do you see in this book that tells you about the author?

Tradition says that Samuel, the prophet, is the author of this book, but it is not know for sure. If Samuel wrote it, we can tell that he gathered this book from oral accounts. He was a prophet of God for the people of Israel. And he appointed two of the most important Kings for Israel: King Saul and King David!

What are the main themes, and repeated ideas in this book, and what is a one sentence summary of the “main idea”?

There’s a few repeated ideas:

·      The tribes of Israel failed to drive the other people groups away (Judges 1:21, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33)

·      God burned with anger (Judges 2:14, 2:20, 3:8, 10:7)

·      The Israelites did evil things and praised other gods (Judges 2:11 & 3:7)

·      Due to their wickedness the Israelites were turned over to other empires’ Kings (Judges 3:8, 12, 4:1, 6:1) And every time they fell into slavery or oppression they would cry to the Lord and He would raise up a rescuer to save them!

Therefore, I feel that the main idea is that the people of Israel kept failing because of their lack of obedience and faith (Judges 2:1-3)

What is the primary reason this book was written?

This book was written because the people living in the time of the Kings needed to be assured that the Kingship is a good thing. All you had to do was to compare it to the era of the Judges with the era of the Kings, and there you had it easy!

In the time of the Judges, Israel did not seem to be doing too good, so Samuel seemed to want people to see that having a King is so much better that having Judges. But we’ll see what’s better when I get to read the books of Kings… I promise, I’ll come back to this and compare both eras when I have more info.

Theme tracing

What does this book show about the character and nature of God?

For me, this book shows that God is temperamental yet merciful. There’s several references to God “burning with anger” and turning the Israelites to other people groups as slaves, but as soon as they cried out to Him, He would come back, raise a hero to deliver them and give a new chance! But as soon as the Judge dies, they go back to their wicked ways and the cycle starts again.

He is also a jealous God (Judges 6:24,25), He commands Gideon to destroy Baal’s temple and use it as fuel to give Him a bull as a burnt offering.

He is Just, as He tells the people of Israel that they have abandoned Him, so He will abandon them as well, He even tells them to go cry out to their other gods and to see if they will rescue them in their distress! (Judges 10:13,14)

Jephthah claims that God is a righteous judge and He will judge between him and king Ammon (Judges 11:27) who is stating that the Israelites stole his land.

What does this book show about God’s redemptive plan for mankind?

Time and time again God gives the Israelites another opportunity… just to turn around and find them sinning again. We start the book with a conquest and God side by side with His people! Then, right on the first chapter, they fail to drive out the people living in their allotted land, and then, they intermarry… we need to rewind a little bit here. Remember when God said: to kill everyone and NOT TO INTERMARRY (Deuteronomy 7:3,4 & Joshua 23:12,13) because those marriages would make them sin against Him by sacrificing and adoring their gods? Well, this is that day!

Right after Joshua dies, at the young age of 110 years old, and his generation died as well, “another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things He had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). Yet God was good to them and “…raised up a judge, He was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime. For the Lord took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering.” (Judges 2:18)

Personal application

Is there a timeless truth, or maybe a specific verse, or perhaps the main idea of the book you are studying that is challenging you in your life?

Failure can be used as a lesson and not all failure is bad. In the case of the Israelites we can see that they failed (a lot!) in the Bible times. However, God did not just killed them, He redeemed their actions, and made it all work out in the end. The book of Judges really goes south fast, and is in this book that we find the first reference to the people of God completely abandoning Him!

What area of your life is God encouraging you, convincing you or empowering you in through this book?

God can use anyone and turn them into great warriors for His Kingdom. This idea is played out throughout the whole book, but specially with Samson. In his case I see that it was all about him, all the time. But God used his actions to eliminate the Philistines! So, I feel very hopeful, that if God was able to use Samson and gave him great strength and helped him succeed even in his darkest hour, he can use my actions as well. I like the idea of God redeeming the “bad” people and their wicked actions to make it all work in the end.

All I can hope is that God will choose me and use me for good purposes.

Point of passion

Whether it is a people group or a sphere of society, God’s word can speak into all areas of life. Share in a paragraph or two how the message of this book, or a truth from this book relates to your  point of passion, and how your ministry to this area can use the message from this book to share Christ in your passion.

I think that the cycle that the people of Israel experienced was similar to an addiction. First of all the people are fine with God; then they turn away from Him; after that, God judges them by letting their enemies conquer them and oppress them; after that the people of Israel turn back to God! And cry for help!; God sends a Judge to deliver them; there is a period of peace; the Judge dies and the cycle restarts…

As part of the food truck ministry we want to help people break from their addictions! And I know that is way easier said than done, but thanks to the book of Judges I know that  God can free anyone and redeem them for His kingdom! I hope that the food trucks will be able to create a very long period of peace for people of the streets and for poor people. I don’t pretend to be a “judge” or a “hero” to these people, but a help to step out of the place they are at into a better, safer place, where they can start a conversation and a relationship with God.