Yesterday we looked at Eugene Peterson’s well-crafted introduction to the book of Judges. Today, let’s look at the summary of Judges written right in the text.
Chapter 1 starts well with the people of Judah and Simeon taking land followed by “the house of Joseph.” But things start to go downhill beginning with Judges 1.27:
But Manasseh never managed to drive out Beth Shan, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, and Megiddo with their territories...Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer… (Judges 1.27 – 29, MSG)
Chapter 2 contains one of the saddest verses in the Bible:
Eventually that entire generation died and was buried. Then another generation grew up that didn’t know anything of GOD or the work he had done for Israel. (Judges 2.10, MSG)
There follows a summary of the result of a generation “that didn’t know anything of GOD or the work he had done for Israel.”
The People of Israel did evil in GOD’s sight: they served Baal-gods; they deserted GOD, the God of their parents who had led them out of Egypt; they took up with other gods, gods of the peoples around them. They actually worshiped them! And oh, how they angered GOD as they worshiped god Baal and goddess Astarte! GOD’s anger was hot against Israel: He handed them off to plunderers who stripped them; he sold them cheap to enemies on all sides. They were helpless before their enemies. Every time they walked out the door GOD was with them—but for evil, just as GOD had said, just as he had sworn he would do. They were in a bad way.
But then GOD raised up judges who saved them from their plunderers. But they wouldn’t listen to their judges; they prostituted themselves to other gods—worshiped them! They lost no time leaving the road walked by their parents, the road of obedience to GOD’s commands. They refused to have anything to do with it.
When GOD was setting up judges for them, he would be right there with the judge: He would save them from their enemies’ oppression as long as the judge was alive, for GOD was moved to compassion when he heard their groaning because of those who afflicted and beat them. But when the judge died, the people went right back to their old ways—but even worse than their parents!—running after other gods, serving and worshiping them. Stubborn as mules, they didn’t drop a single evil practice. (Judges 2.11 – 18, MSG)
A standard outline of the cycle, repeated at least six times in detail in Judges goes like this:
- Sin
- Servitude (under a foreign power)
- Supplication (prayer for deliverance)
- Salvation (through a Judge – the savior)
- Serenity (e.g., “The land had peace for 40 years.”)
Rinse and repeat.
The story of the first judge illustrates this perfectly. Here is the text parsed out with the outline inserted:
- SIN The People of Israel did evil in GOD’s sight. They forgot their GOD and worshiped the Baal gods and Asherah goddesses.
- SERVITUDE GOD’s hot anger blazed against Israel. He sold them off to Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim. The People of Israel were in servitude to Cushan-Rishathaim for eight years.
- SUPPLICATION The People of Israel cried out to GOD and
- SALVATION GOD raised up a savior who rescued them: Caleb’s nephew Othniel, son of his younger brother Kenaz. The Spirit of GOD came on him and he rallied Israel. He went out to war and GOD gave him Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim. Othniel made short work of him.
- SERENITY The land was quiet for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died. (Judges 3.7 – 11, MSG)
So here we go through Judges. There were 13 of them, ending with Samson in chapters 13 – 16. I don’t promise to write about them all. It’s messy, but as Eugene Peterson said, essentially, God is working through the mess. Some of the judges are included in the Faith Hall of Fame:
I could go on and on, but I’ve run out of time. There are so many more—Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets… (Hebrews 11.32, MSG, people whose stories are in Judges are in bold, including Barak who was not a judge but led the army under Judge Deborah’s direction. Stay tuned.)