Judges

Welcom to larom.org. This section of Bible studies continues our look at Bible pictures of God's character. It is amazing how this study helps you see what a loving God we have. He was willing to take risks to win our love and admiration. He is honored by our love and faithfulness even during poverty and sickness. He treasures His children and hears every cry for help.

Click here to hear the Song: Don't Be Discouraged, Expect God to Act Psalms 41:11

The book of judges covers a time of history where the Jewish nation was having many spiritual troubles. So many of them were too busy for personal time with God. Joshua had pointed out to them that they needed to memorize the words of God. (Joshua 1:8) This is a daily experience. A relationship with God can only be kept alive by daily spending time with Your FOREVER FRIEND Jesus. When you do this, your desires and priorities change to the way He looks at things. If these people had done that, there would not have been the trouble they experienced. They had turned from God and worshipped idols.

God is Full of Mercy and Grace

His eyes are searching for remedies to the sin problem which causes so much unhappiness.

This theme is woven into the whole book of Judges

Chapter two and three of Judges describes a people who deserved no protection or gifts from God. They offended God by serving Baal instead of God. When they cried out to God for help, in mercy He responded. Yet He knew they would soon be worshiping Satan again. They were faithful as long as they had someone to lead them that loved God.

Joshua's last words written in the book of Joshua were: calling to gratitude, humility, and separation. If this warning had been heeded they could have avoided all the disasters which came on them. Look at the Scriptures which show what went wrong.

2:1 And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

2:2 And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

2:7 And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.
2:8 And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, [being] an hundred and ten years old.

2:13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
2:14 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
2:15 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.
2:16 Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
2:17 And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; [but] they did not so.
2:18 And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.
2:19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, [that] they returned, and corrupted [themselves] more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

God's Mighty Power is pointed out by Deborah

The story of Deborah shows God found a woman who trusted in Him so much, He could pour out His Holy Spirit on her and gave her wisdom to judge Israel. Her "office" was under a palm tree. This story paints a picture of God that is fantastic. Since power comes from God, it does not matter if God chooses a child or a woman to accomplish a great big task. In fact, if people are extremely proud, God raises up children and women to show that more can be done if you have simple trust. It is God's power that does the work. It is not done in the pride of human power. The whole book of Joshua pointed that out.

If Deborah would go on the God appointed mission, Barak was willing to do battle with the vicious army of Sisera with his chariots that had two edged swords protruding from the chariot wheels.

Amazing displays of God's power were exhibited as the earth quakes made all the horses nervous which pulled the dangerous chariots. Heavy rain came out of the sky and the tiny Kishon creek flooded. Soon all chariots were stuck and breaking up. Angels helped fight as is noted in the verse saying "They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera". David says in Psalms 68:17, that the chariots of heaven are numbered at 20,000. (Judges 4:7, 5:4, and 5:20, 5:21)

In her mind, she is not the leader, she is the visible one to the people yet in her heart she knows who is in front of her in the battle. It is none other than the CAPTAIN OF THE HOSTS of HEAVEN.

The dangerous army crumbled before the faith of God's people led by a woman who was secure in her trust in the ALMIGHTY POWERFUL GOD, THE CAPTAIN OF THE HOSTS that Joshua saw. This is the same Jesus who leads us today. This is the same Jesus who will come soon in the clouds of the sky for those who obey and trust in Him.

Deborah made a song about God's deliverance of them. This planted in the hearts of the nation the desire to give God the glory for all He had done.

Story of Gideon shows the great power of God and also His humor.

Judges Ch. 6-8

God showed Gideon (of the tribe of Manasseh) an extremely important point about where the victory over the enemy was coming from. God spoke to a man who was not respected in his family. This man was hiding in a wine press threshing grain. He was a loser. He had always been the least in his house. The angel spoke to him as a "mighty man of valor". This seemed funny to a hiding man. The angel spoken of in this text was greater than an angel. It was Jesus Himself.

God does not always choose the one with the greatest talents to do a job. He does not always choose the qualified, but qualifies those He chooses. Often no one even knows who they are. God watches their faithfulness and at His moment, He calls them to do His work. The timid Gideon still needed to put out his fleece test and changed the request to make sure he understood. God honored his request. Gideon had been the loser so many times in family relations that he was extremely afraid he would be scorned again.

"Those who can be bribed, or seduced, discouraged, or terrified, will be of no service in the Christian warfare. Those who set their affections on worldly treasures or worldly honors, will not push the battle against...spiritual wickedness in high places." Signs of the Times, June 30, 1881 by Ellen White

Finally convinced of being chosen by God, he began the job of calling people to help. God stirred their hearts. The large numbers made Gideon feel good. Slowly, God took away those who would not follow heaven's directions. These men whom God sent home would have argued with the simple plan God had set up. They were left with only 300. These men were the kind God could trust to obey HIS directions and not come up with their own plans. Again God needed to help poor Gideon have enough courage for the job. Everything looked totally humanly impossible. At such times, God's miracle is more dramatic and memorable in teaching faith.

God's humor is exhibited in the fact that he sent Gideon into the camp of the enemy during the night, awakened the soldiers in a tent with a wild dream that delighted the listening ear of Gideon.

Imagine how Gideon felt when he heard about a dream of a barley loaf rolling into camp and knocking down tents. The soldiers interpreted the dream as a prophecy of Gideon who would destroy them

Here is some more insights into the call of Gideon

"When convinced that he had looked upon the Son of God, Gideon was filled with fear, and exclaimed, "Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face." {TA 114.3}
Then the Lord graciously appeared to Gideon a second time and said, "Peace be unto thee, fear not, thou shalt not die." These gracious words were spoken by the same compassionate Saviour who said to the tempted disciples upon the stormy sea, "It is I; be not afraid"--He who appeared to those sorrowing ones in the upper chamber, and spoke the selfsame words addressed to Gideon, "Peace be unto you."--ST June 23, 1881. {TA 114.4}

Three hundred men divided into three groups each with a trumpet in hand and a torch inside pitchers presents quite a handful. There could be no temptation to use the sword with their hands filled with trumpet, pitcher and fire. The ridiculous battle plan had to be explicitly obeyed or God would not fight for them. These three hundred men had to have faith. What a humorous way to make an army look huge. It was assumed there were thousands behind them. Actually with the troops of heaven, there was. The frightened enemy turned on each other. Those who escaped were caught by a sudden group of helpers from the tribe of Ephraim (the other descendent of Joseph). It was obvious that the CAPTAIN OF THE HOSTS of heaven caused the victory.

When you look at what sort of a character Gideon was, you realize that during the time of the judges God had few to choose from who could represent Him. When God called Gideon, he leaned on God. After his victory, Gideon led Israel for 40 years. However during that time he had many wives, seventy sons and caused an ephod to be made and worshipped. His seventy sons were murdered by a son Abimelech who was then set up as a king. God had a rebellious people to work with. In mercy He kept helping them when they cried out to HIM.

Jephthah

God is Slow to Anger

This man was a child of a harlot and sons of his father threw him out of their house. He became a fighting man and later they called him to be a captain when enemies attacked. He knew the history of what God had done for the nation. He repeated it carefully to the people rising up against Israel. It was pointed out that God was slow to anger. The Israelites had evidence of this themselves. Yet those who broke God's laws advanced in wickedness. The Ammonites warred against Israel and were rude to them many years before. God waited to punish them. Finally in the time of the Judges when they were cruel to Israel, God raised up Jephthah and blessed him in bringing the victory over the Ammonites.

"Children would inherit the rebellious spirit of their parents and do worse than their fathers before them until God's wrath would fall upon them. The punishment was not less because it was deferred." MS 58, 1900

Sampson the Strongest Weakling

Judges 13-16

A man God called at birth brings trouble on himself due to lusts of the flesh

God is looking for remedies. He is merciful and slow to anger

Since God knows the end from the beginning, the question comes to mind, was the nation so full of idol worship that this was the best man God could find?

An angel came to the barren parents and told them they would have a son. The angel instructed how to eat while the baby Sampson was developing in the womb. Every possible thing was done for this little one to enable him to live a pure life. That is God's grace. What more could God do to raise up a godly person to lead His people?

Again like Gideon's visitor, this angel visitor was Christ HIMSELF. (Judges 13:22) "we have seen God."

"Manoah and his wife knew not (at first) that the One thus addressing them was Jesus Christ...they knew that they had looked upon the Holy One, Who, veiling His glory in the cloudy pillar, had been the Guide and Helper of Israel in the desert." ST Sept. 29, 1881

Sampson demanded a wife from among the idol worshipers, the Philistines. His parents were not happy with his demands. In mercy, God gave the warning not to choose as companions those who do not treasure God's Word. This had been strictly forbidden in the words of Joshua. (Joshua Ch. 23:12) These principles were well known to this man who was a judge in Israel for 20 years. He knew the law of God. (Judges 15:20)

"As a rule, those who choose for their friends and companions, persons who reject Christ and trample upon God's law, eventually become of the same mind and spirit....we can safely choose for our friends only those who are the friends of God." ST May 19, 1881

"a worldly wife or a worldly friend is a spy in the camp, who will watch every opportunity to betray the servant of Christ, and expose him to the enemy's attacks (ST Sept. 27, 1910) Signs of the Times by Ellen White

In spite of his great mistakes, when Sampson prayed, God helped him do amazing things with his strength. That shows God's mercy and how slow He is to anger.

In the society of the harlot Delilah, the judge wasted hours that should have been devoted to helping his people. His passions of lust degraded him. Satan worked through this woman to cause the destruction of a man God had better plans for.

The Philistines knew the law of God and that this judge was breaking it. They worked through Delilah to destroy the man who was supposed to be a leader. They knew his strength came from God and that if he did enough wickedness, God would give up on him.

"It was the influence of this bold woman that separated him from God, her artifices that proved his ruin. The love and service which God claims, Samson gave to this woman. This was idolatry. He lost all sense of the sacred character and work of God, and sacrificed honor, conscience, and every valuable interest to base passion." ST July 1, 1903

After his eyes were put out, and his hair shaved, and he was assigned the job of walking in circles grinding grain like an animal while people laughed at him, he repented. At a party which was to celebrate the power of Satan represented by their god Dagon, people gathered to make fun of the God in heaven. This poor ambassador of heaven had fallen into sin and ruined the noble work God had for him. The Philistines came to scoff at God. Finally, God stepped in and showed HIMSELF STRONG. Satan had ruined another noble gifted man and scorned God. One last time as Sampson prayed, God, THE CAPTAIN OF THE HOSTS, worked knocking down the building to destroy His enemies.

The saga of wickedness goes on as described in Judges. It just seems to get worse. How can God put up with all that is going on? When will He exert justice? How low will he allow His people to fall?

With leaders like this, you can imagine what was happening with the whole nation. It is summed up briefly in Judges 17:6. Everyone did whatever he thought was right. There are stories of theft, and all kinds of crime. In chapter 19 there is a horrible crime of abuse that was so bad it even offended all the nation. I wept over how the poor woman must have felt. Imagine how the pure angels in heaven must have wanted to rescue her. There was a war among the tribes as a result of the loss of many more lives. What a mess God had on His hands. How could he provide a remedy?

Chapter 19 shows the ultimate worst story of crime. I began weeping. I had to lay the Bible down and do something else for awhile. The details are not for children to read. The children who have been hurt must know that God sees it all. It is not their fault and God will punish those who sin this way. The shock waves of grief that shook heaven must have been tough on God and the universe. I continued in my grief realizing that this world right now is doing crimes just like this. Any time someone sits back like that Levite and allows a woman or child to be abused mentally or physically, they have the same spirit in them. They would behave the same as this Levite did in this story. The crime is just as terrible in the eyes of our tender hearted God. When church leaders stand by and watch other leaders beat on others emotionally, God sees it all.

Remember that those who are neutral in such cases of persecution are in WORST HOSTILITY toward God. 3T280

In mercy He did not keep the lady living. Just like in the days of Lot, when the angels came to visit, this Levite was taken into an old mans home as guest. They treated the lady so bad that she died. The Levite who was supposed to be working for God allowed it. He was just as wrong. It was such an ugly thing that it made all the people go to war fighting their relatives until 100,000 had died. God sees all the crime and cruelty that happens on this earth. It is all written down and in the judgment, He knows who can be safe to put in heaven. He will not put people there who are still cruel. If they did not give their hearts to God and change, He does not perform surgery on their brains and put them in heaven anyway.

The next book of the Bible on the story of Ruth is a bright spot in this time of sad turning away from God. This story is like sunshine to encourage the reader that even when things are really bad, Jesus does still have HIS friends that are kind and loving. In all times on this earth there are a few who really love and obey God.