Introduction To The Book Of Judges

We are going to begin to study a new book of the Bible. To be honest, the book that we are going to study may not have been your first pick. In fact, when I say the name of this book you may inwardly moan and ask, “Of all the books that he could have picked, why this one?” We are going to begin to study the Book of Judges.

I’ll be honest, when people ask me what we would study next I found myself sheepishly, hesitantly, and almost apologetically saying, “Um, I think, perhaps, maybe, I haven’t decide yet, but I am leaning towards the Book of Judges.”

The book of Judges, however, seemed like a good Old Testament book to study since we just studied James. In that book we were challenged to be strong and steadfast in the faith. We were challenged to be doers of the word and not hearers only. We were challenged by James to seek God’s wisdom through prayer and careful study of the scriptures. We were also challenged by James to be devoted to the truth of God’s Word and to rescue those who begin to depart from it.

In a similar way as we come to the Book of Judges we will see that God’s people had been admonished by Moses and Joshua regarding similar things but they did not listen and obey. They had God’s Word but they did not live as though it was sufficient for every area of their life. They were God’s peculiar people but they often turned away from their King to worship idols. Because of this their faith was weak, they did not fully obey God, and they became entrapped in a 450 year vicious cycle in which two things happened.

First, 5 things happen over and over again throughout the Book of Judges.

1. One generation would serve the LORD faithfully but over time the next generation would turn away from God and His Word.

2. When this happened God would raise up an enemy and then hand His people over to them which causes great suffering and misery.

3. In their misery the people eventually cry out to God for deliverance. This cry for mercy also meant that they would confess their faithlessness towards God and return to Him.

4. In a display of God’s grace, mercy, and kindness God would raise up a judge to lead His people.

5. God would deliver his people by that judge and that generation would be faithful to the LORD.

Second, not only will we see this cycle played out over and over again, but we will also see that as the Book of Judges progresses the people become more estranged from God and do what seems right in their own eyes. In other words, we will see the opposite happen with regards to what Proverbs 15:24 says, “The path of life leads upward for the prudent, that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.”

In the Book of Judges God’s people, who have Him as their King and who have His Law, slowly degrade more and more as they fail to turn away from Sheol beneath. Because the people are so 'consistently inconsistent' towards God, their knowledge of God and His truth diminishes with every passing generation. Discipleship from one generation to the next becomes less and less what it was intended to be. As some of these foundational truths are lost they are not recovered. Even if one generation experienced a revival it did not produce more fruitfulness for the next generation.

(Reason #1 to study Judges) I am sure that you would agree with me that each of the sixty-six books of the Bible is the Word of God. As such they are all profitable to study and deserving of our careful attention and application to our lives. The Book of Judges, being part of our Cannon, has been preserved by the Holy Spirit and is, along with the other 65 books, sufficient, certain, and the infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. As such, the LORD was pleased to reveal Himself and His will in the Book of Judges to His people in every generation. The application of the truths of this book by the Holy Spirit to our hearts can aid against the corruption of the flesh, the malice of Satan, the deceitful influence of the world. (LBC 1.1)

(Reason #2) It is easy to say that we believe that every book of the bible is authoritative, inspired, and the sufficient Word of God, but it is often a sin of ours, as it is the sin of God’s people in the Book of Judges, not to obey and apply the Word of God to our lives as we should.

This will begin as early as the opening verses of Judges 1. This happens when God’s people make seemingly little and insignificant compromises that are easy to overlook, ignore, and be alarmed by. But these little shifts of faith will eventually lead God’s people to more and more problems. Even though God’s people remain unaware of the problem we will find that God sees it and is willing to address it. At the beginning of Judges 2 God comes to the people and says, “...You have not obeyed my voice”. Then the LORD says, “What is this you have done?” (2) Can't you hear the sorrow and disappointment of God in those words? By the way, these are the same words God spoke to Eve in Genesis 3:13 when she ate of the fruit and then gave it to her husband.

Unfortunately, over the span of 450 years, not much changes with God's people as generation after generation God would speak to His people saying, “You have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?” And in the end all of these little deviations of faith lead to utter disaster when we read these words at the end of the Book of Judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)

(Reason #3) We should be willing to ask ourselves, “Is there a danger for us to fall into some of these same sins as God’s people do in the Book of Judges?” The answer to this question is, ‘Yes’. Do you remember that as James came to the end of his letter he exhorted the church to go out and bring back a believer who has wandered away from the truth of God’s Word? He said, “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

 In James 5:19-20 James describes the danger that some believers are in because they have wandered away from the truth. The person who has wandered away from the truth is not necessarily the type of person that we might suspect. We might expect a weak, immature, irresponsible Christian to wander away from the truth and into trouble. However, James uses three ways to describe the person who can wandered off from the truth of God’s Word and into danger.

• First, this person is a genuine ‘brother or sister’ in Christ. They are believers who have repented of their sins, believed in Jesus Christ, and have borne fruit of righteousness as a result of these things.

• Secondly, this person is described as being ‘among’ the church. They were connected members of the church. The normal pattern of life for this person is to be among God’s people and they are not characterized as casual, occasional, fair weather members of the congregation. And yet, though they sit in the church each week bitterness overcomes them in some way and they begin to drift.

• Third, this person is also described as someone who had affirmed the ‘truth’. Through confession and by their actions they identified themselves with the teachings of Jesus Christ and His church. They were part of a congregation that sought doctrinal clarity and because of this when a member of that church began to deviate from the ‘truth’ it was quickly detected and lovingly and gently addressed.

(Reason#4) When I told you this morning that we were going to study the Book of Judges you probably had some reaction. Some of you were excited. Others may have been a little disappointed. And then there are some who are somewhere in between. If you are one of those people who inwardly groaned, like me, I would like to give us a reason to be excited about studying the Book of Judges. I know we can do this because I have seen other authors of scripture find great encouragement when they considered the stories that are contained in this book.

To do this I would like to look at Psalm 83. We want to notice the superscription, “A song. A psalm of Asaph.” From this we learn that Psalm 83 serves two purposes. It is a song to be sung by God’s people and as this is done it is a song that teaches God’s people good biblical knowledge and instruction. Part of this good and godly instruction will include a reflection upon the events recorded in the Book of Judges. (I would challenge our worship team to pray and compose a song or two regarding this book as we study it.)

Psalm 83 begins with these words, “O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!” With these words, the psalmist is asking God to speak and to act on behalf of His people. It seems that when Asaph penned this psalm the LORD seemed quiet and unresponsive. This can happen for many reasons. For example, this may happen if the people have sinned and they need to repent. Or this can happen because God is using this situation to test the faith of His people. Or it can happen because God is gathering together all of His enemies so that He can defeat them and display His glory.

There are two things about this opening words of this psalm that may relate to the Book of Judges. First, this psalm is teaching God’s people that they can look to God and trust Him at all times as their King as they face the strongest and loudest enemies. Secondly, this psalm teaches God’s people that we have a King who has spoken, decreed, and declared His Word for all to hear. Therefore, Psalm 83 is helping us to not fall into the same sin that the people in the Book of Judges did when we read, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (21:25)

Next, we see why God’s people must live intentionally towards God in obedience to what He has spoken. We read in v. 2-4, “For (because) Your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads. They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones. They say, ‘Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!’”

God, who is King, has very real enemies in this world. Their hatred of God and His people is fueled by load boasting and prideful hearts. They come together and devise crafty plans against God’s people, His treasured ones. They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”

In this psalm there are many conspirators who are involved in this uprising against God and His people. We read of this in v.5-8, “For they conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant – the tents of Edom and the Ishamaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, Gebal, and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah.”

As we read these words we see that not much has changed over the centuries. Even today these same descendants of Lot continue to chant similar threats against God and His people. In Psalm 83, unlike Israel today, God’s people are turning to the LORD for help and for their deliverance. This is the proper thing for God’s people to do any situation and we ought to pray that God’s people would follow the instruction of this psalm.

This is hard to do when you are staring down such a diverse and unified enemy that has assembled against you on every side. In Psalm 83 there are 10 faithless and godless nations who have gathered together and are declaring the end of God’s people, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”

The psalmist has just identified the threat that God’s people are facing and now he can either allow his faith to decline into fear and hopelessness. Or he can strengthen his faith and look to the LORD. What would you do in a moment like this to strengthen your faith in God so that you would trust Him with an unshakable heart?

In this critical moment, when God’s people need their faith strengthened, Psalm 83 teaches us to apply some truths that are seen in the Book of Judges concerning God. As the psalmist considers these enemies and their taunts he considers the faithfulness and power of God that is seen in the Book of Judges when God powerfully delivered His people. We read, “Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the river of Kishon, who were destroyed En-dor, who became dung for the ground. Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, who said, ‘Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God.’” (9-12)

All of these examples that the psalmist uses in this section are from the Book of Judges. Now just imagine if the psalmist did not know of these events that are recorded in this book. How would he strengthen his faith. And if the church does not know about these stories in the Book of Judges how will a psalm like this one encourage us. We would come to sections like this and assume we get the full picture that is being conveyed but it would elude us.

Verses 9-12 should encourage you and I as we begin our study of the Book of Judges. Yes, as we study the Book of Judges we will have plenty of opportunities to see our propensity to pursue idols and sinful things. We will read stories that will make us shrink back in bewilderment and even disdain. And yet, we will see in all of this that God is faithful to His covenant people. Our faithlessness and sin can cause many problems for us and bring upon us God’s discipline. But if we will repent and turn to the LORD in these times He will deliver us from the strongest enemies and the most entrenched sins.

If you and I were facing an army that was made up of 10 nations who were unified against us we would pray as the psalmist does in verses 13-18, “O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind. As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze, so may you pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your hurricane! Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord. Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace, that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.”

Yes, if we faced an enemy such as this we would indeed pray the same way. And yet, we are facing such an enemy: indwelling sin, sin in the world, and Satan. And even though we are facing these enemies we do not pray with the clarity that Psalm 83 teaches us to have. Instead we we ignore sin, excuse sin, live next to sin, flirt with sin, appease sin, justify our sin, let sin have the upper hand, let sin grow stronger, let sin conquer more ground, etc. If we allow this to happen then the same thing will be said of us that was said of the people of God during the days of the Judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)

May this never be said of each of our individual lives or of the life of this church! No, we ought to daily pray as Psalm 83 teaches us, “O my God, make these sins be like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind. As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze, so may you overcome these sins with your tempest and destroy them with your hurricane! Let these enemies be be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace, that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth. You are my King and it is my pleasure with the empowerment of Your Spirit to obey your will. You are our King and we desire to obey you throughout all the generations. Amen.”