https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/SurveyOfTheBibleJudges1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tSurvey of the Bible – Judges<\/h1>\n
\n
Text: Judges 2:8-23<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. The book of Judges continues with the history of Israel, starting from the death of Joshua\nup to a period just a few generations before Israel’s first earthly king.\n A. It lasted roughly 380 years (based on I Kings 6:1 which says it was 480 years from\nthe Exodus to the building of the temple).\n B. Unlike the time under Moses and Joshua, there was no single leader or\ngovernment of Israel – Judges 21:25\n 1. Instead, each tribe managed its own territory and at times aided\nneighboring tribes\n
C. It shows the cyclic nature of Israel’s faithfulness<\/p>\n 1. They started out strong, but because each generation passed on less to the\nfollowing generations, they would stray – Judges 2:6-10\n 2. God would allow a neighboring country to terrorize the worse offending\ntribes\n 3. They would suffer under the brutality of the nation for a number of years\nbefore they realized they needed to seek God again\n 4. God would raise up a judge – a leader to represent God to the people. The\njudge would lead the people to defeat the enemy and would rule over the\nregion for a period of time.\n
5. Then the cycle would start all over.<\/p>\n D. While it might seem as if these event were national events, they were actually\nlocal. Some of these events overlapped as different nations harassed different\nregions of Israel.\n
II. Outline<\/p>\n
A. Period just after Joshua’s death – Judges 1-2<\/p>\n 1. While Joshua took out the key cities of the occupants of Canaan, it was\nleft to each tribe to clear out their territory – Judges 1\n
a. This was as God commanded – Deuteronomy 7:1-9<\/p>\n b. In part this was done so Israel had time to grow enough to populate\nthe territory.\n c. But we learn that despite an initial “gung-ho” attitude, the work fell\noff and was never fully completed.\n
2. The overall cycle – Judges 2<\/p>\n
a. Judges 2:6-23 forms a summary of this entire period<\/p>\n
B. The testing of Israel: Cycles of Apostasy, Servitude, and Deliverance – Judges 3-16<\/p>\n
1. Mesopotamia – Othniel – Judges 3:1-11<\/p>\n a. Israel began intermarrying the Canaanite nations and serving their\ngods – Judges 3:5-7\n
b. God sent in Mesopotamia who ruled the area for 8 years<\/p>\n c. The Othniel, a nephew of Caleb raised an army to expel the enemy\nand the peace lasted 40 years.\n
2. Moab – Ehud – Judges 3:12-30<\/p>\n a. Israel returned to sin and was conquered by Moab, who ruled for\n18 years\n b. Ehud managed to sneak in a sword in the presence of the king\nbecause he was left-handed and no one thought to look for\nweapons on the wrong side of the body. He claimed he had a secret\nmessage for the king and when they were alone, he stabbed Eglon,\nthe king. Though it was an 18-inch blade, Ehud lost his sword\nbecause Eglon was so fat that sword went all the way in and could\nnot be pulled out.\n c. He then lead the tribe of Ephraim to drive Moab out. The peace\nlasted 80 years.\n
3. Philistines – Shamgar – Judges 3:31<\/p>\n a. Not much is stated about Shamgar other than that he killed 600\nPhilistines with an ox goad (a wooden stick).\n
b. No time periods are given<\/p>\n
4. Canaan – Deborah and Barak – Judges 4-5<\/p>\n a. When Israel sinned, this time an internal enemy, one of the nations\nthey had not conquered rose up. Jabin, king of Canaan, ruled for 20\nyears in northern Israel.\n b. This time God raised up a woman judge, Deborah, who ordered\nBarak to lead the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun into war.\n (1) Barak refused to go unless Deborah went with him – Judges\n4:8\n (2) She agreed, but told him that the decisive blow would come\nfrom the hand of a woman – Judges 4:9\n (3) It was a complete route, but the Canaanite general, Sisera,\nescaped. He stopped for rest at a Kenite ally’s tent, but\nwhile he slept the wife, Jael, an Israelite, pounded a tent\nstake through his head and killed him.\n
(4) The peace lasted 40 years.<\/p>\n
5. Midian – Gideon – Judges 6-8<\/p>\n a. Again Israel returned to sin and this time Midian conquered the\ncentral region of Israel. They held the territory for seven years.\n b. God picked Gideon who took a bit of convincing that this was\nreally what God wanted him to do. He gathered an army from\nManasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. But God told him it was\ntoo big and had him whittle the men down to only 300. The men\noutfitted themselves to make it appear they were a vastly larger\ngroup, snuck up on the Midianite army in the middle of the night\nand made it appear that the Midianites were being attacked in a\nsurprise raid. \n c. There was so much panic that the Midianites mostly killed\nthemselves. Then the rest of the army was summoned and drove\nMidian south. Word was sent ahead to Ephraim, who cut off their\nescape.\n d. The people wanted to make Gideon their king, but he refused. The\nland had peace for 40 years\n
6. Civil War – Abimelech – Judges 9<\/p>\n a. One of Gideon’s seventy sons, after Gideon’s death, decides to\nmake himself king. He starts by killing all his brothers, though he\nmissed the youngest. He ruled 3 years in Shechem.\n b. God stirred up a rebellion against Abimelech and while he was out\nof town, the city rebelled. \n c. Abimelech conquered the city, but some escaped to a tower.\nAbimelech ordered that it be burnt with the people inside, but\nwhile he approached the tower to light the fire, a woman threw a\nmilestone down and crushed his skull.\n
7. (Unknown) – Tola, and Jair – Judges 10:1-5<\/p>\n a. Little is known about these judges other than they ruled for 23 and\n22 years respectively.\n
8. Philistines and Ammon – Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon – Judges 10:6-12<\/p>\n a. Israel again did evil by worshiping numerous false gods – Judges\n10:6\n b. This time they were conquered by an alliance of the Philistines and\nAmmonites for 18 years.\n c. Jephthah was selected as God’s judge to drive the Ammonites out.\nHis selection is interesting because he was the illegitimate son of a\nharlot and was rejected by his own brothers.\n d. Jephthah is remembered for his rash vow before he set off to war,\nthe he would offer to God the first who greeted him when he\nreturned home from defeating the Ammonites. The one who\ngreeted him was his only child, his only daughter.\n e. Three other men followed after Jephthah to serve as judges, but\nnone served long: Jephthah – 6 years, Ibzan – 7 years, Elon – 10\nyears, and Abdon – 8 years.\n
9. Philistines – Samson – Judges 13-16<\/p>\n a. When Israel sinned again, this time God allowed the Philistines to\nrule over them for 40 years.\n b. A boy was selected to be the next judge before he was born. He\nwas to live his life under a Nazarite vow.\n c. There isn’t much way to describe Samson, but that he was a\nspoiled brat of a young man, who was incredibly strong. He kept\nhaving disagreements with the Philistines his whole life and he\ntook his arguments out on them, waging what was basically a one\nman war.\n d. The problem was that he didn’t take his Nazarite vow seriously and\nGod left him when he broke the terms.\n e. In the end he repented in his death managed to kill about 3,000 of\nthe leading Philistines.\n
C. Period of Anarchy – Judges 17-21<\/p>\n
1. How a false religion was started and is supported by Dan – Judges 17-18<\/p>\n
a. The story shows how superstitious the people had become<\/p>\n
2. How homosexuality is tolerated by Benjamin – Judges 19-21<\/p>\n a. The events lead to a civil war where Benjamin is almost wiped out.\nOnly 600 men survived the battles.\n
III. There are so many lessons to be found in Judges<\/p>\n
A. It illustrates human nature to go from bad to worse<\/p>\n
B. It shows how quickly people forget the lessons of history<\/p>\n
C. It shows how God can use both the good and the evil to accomplish His will.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoshua\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSurvey of the Bible\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRuth\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Survey of the Bible – Judges Text: Judges 2:8-23 I. The book of Judges continues with the history of Israel, starting from the death of Joshua up to a period just a few generations before Israel’s first earthly king. A. It lasted roughly 380 years (based on I Kings 6:1 which says it was 480 years…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":16880,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-22402","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22397,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/survey-of-the-bible\/survey-of-the-bible-joshua\/","url_meta":{"origin":22402,"position":0},"title":"Survey of the Bible – Joshua","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Survey of the Bible - Joshua Text: Joshua 1:1-9 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Joshua begins the section of the Old Testament generally called \u201cthe Prophets\u201d because each book was written by one or more prophets (other than Moses) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In our Bibles, this section is also know as \u201cHistory\u201d because these books deal mostly\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16880,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/survey-of-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":22402,"position":1},"title":"Survey of the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Survey of the Bible by Jeffery W. Hamilton Old Testament Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth I Samuel II Samuel I Kings II Kings I Chronicles II Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67639,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/overview-of-bible-history\/forming-the-nation-of-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":22402,"position":2},"title":"Forming the Nation of Israel","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Forming the Nation of Israel Before we continue to add periods of history, let's see how well you can remember the six periods we have studied so far: \u00a0 1) ___________________________________________________________________________ \u00a0 \u00a0 2) ___________________________________________________________________________ \u00a0 \u00a0 3) ___________________________________________________________________________ \u00a0 \u00a0 4) ___________________________________________________________________________ \u00a0 \u00a0 5) ___________________________________________________________________________ \u00a0 \u00a0 6)\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12837,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/gallery\/treasures-of-the-bible\/treasures-of-the-bible-chapters-10-14\/","url_meta":{"origin":22402,"position":3},"title":"Treasures of the Bible – Chapters 10-14","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Treasures of the Bible by Henry Davenport Northrop, D.D. published by International Publishing Company, 1894 Chapters 10-14 Joshua and the Judges Treasures of the Bible","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Scan0001-210x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19851,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-ruth\/background-to-the-book-of-ruth\/","url_meta":{"origin":22402,"position":4},"title":"Background to the Book of Ruth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Background to the Book of Ruth Assignment: Read the entire Book of Ruth as a story. Understanding What You Read: List out the people mentioned in Ruth and what you know about them. What do you think is the purpose of this book? Why did God see fit to include\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22391,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/survey-of-the-bible\/survey-of-the-bible-deuteronomy\/","url_meta":{"origin":22402,"position":5},"title":"Survey of the Bible – Deuteronomy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Survey of the Bible - Deuteronomy Text: Deuteronomy 6:4-9 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The book of Deuteronomy is the last book in the section of the Old Testament that is known as the Law \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This book is mostly a collection of four sermons which Moses presented to the people just before he died\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22402\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}