Judges 17-21: An Overview of the Appendix of the Book of Judges

As we come to this part of the book of Judges it will be helpful to understand that Judges 17-21 is an appendix to the Book of Judges. As such, the two stories at the end of this book are not necessarily chronological to what has come before. In other words, these two last stories do not necessarily take place after the story of Samson takes place.

You may recall that the Book of Judges began with two introductions. (Judges 1-2:5; 2:6-3:6) After those introductions we were told about 14 of Israel’s judges. And now after that we come to the appendix of the book which gives us more insight into the culture of God’s people during the time of the judges. This time can be summarized with a phrase that shows up in both of these last two stories, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (17:6;21:25)

I have come to believe that these two stories are events that took place somewhere around the beginning of this book. Perhaps they took place somewhere around the time of Joshua’s death and the elders who lived after him. We will see evidence for this as we look at these stories but let me give you a couple of the main verses that would lead someone to conclude this.

• Consider what is said at the end of the first story in Judges 18:30, “And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land.” Apparently the apostate Levite at the center of this first story, Jonathan, was the son of Gershom who was the son of Moses. It is Moses’ grandson who is the critical figure who leads the whole tribe of Dan into faithlessness and apostasy.

• Similarly, consider Judges 20:27-28 which says, “And the people of Israel inquired of the LORD (for the ark of the covenant of God was there (Bethel) in those days, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, ministered before it in those days)…”. In the second story Phinehas is the priest who served before the LORD in those days.

I will confess that the structure of this book was hard to grasp at times. This was because throughout the book of Judges we’ve seen Israel slide farther into faithlessness and apostasy. Therefore, when we come to these stories they seem to describe just how far things have become in Israel after Samson. We have seen that Israel has been continually caught up in a downward cycle. (described in 2:11-23)

• Israel was blessed by God,

• Israel would fall away and not repent so God disciplined them,

• Israel would eventually cry out to the LORD,

• God would raise up a judge who would deliver them

• Israel would be blessed for a time, however, they would quickly fall away again and the cycle would begin again.

This book has mentioned 14 judges that were part of these cycles and every time this cycle took place we’ve seen Israel decline farther into apostasy. Did you know that there was not one time when Israel was rescued by God and the next generation continued to be faithful? Every time the judge died the next generation fell away! This has given me a greater respect for those few times in history (the Reformers and the Puritans for example) who broke this cycle.

Because of the corruption that is described in these last two stories, I thought they described what Israel was like after Samson. Surprisingly, these last two stories do not happen at the end, but near the beginning of this book! How quickly God’s people turned away and did evil in the eyes of the LORD. (2:11;3:7,12;4:1;6:1;10:6:13:1) From a distance Israel might have looked pretty good at times, but the when you look closely you see that is not the case.

In Deuteronomy 31 Moses, who is about to die, is speaking to Joshua. Moses gives a copy of the law to the priests, saying, “Assemble the people, men, women, and the little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” (31:12-13)

Because God had revealed Himself to Moses the people of Israel knew what the LORD demanded of them and they also knew that this would require faith. In Deuteronomy 30:11-14 we read these words, “For this commandment that I command (The command is the statutes that were written in the Book of the Law {v.10}) of you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the Word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” The LORD had given Israel His Word and they were to receive it with faith and then obey it in faith.

Moses would not long continue to be with Israel and they would be going into the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership. Israel would need the Word of God to guide them throughout every generation.

The Baptist Confession speaks of the great blessing it is to have the Word of God written down for His people. In chapter 1.1 of the section entitled ‘The Holy Scriptures’ it says, “The LORD was pleased at different times and in various ways to reveal Himself and to declare His will to His church. To preserve and propagate the truth better and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and the world, the LORD put this revelation completely in writing. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures are absolutely necessary, because God’s former ways of revealing His will to His people have now ceased.” In these last two stories we see just how quickly the corruption of the flesh, the malice of Satan, and the world can begin to affect God’s people if the Word of God is neglected.

Shortly after Moses says this, the LORD summons Moses and Joshua to the tent of meeting and says to them, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them.” (31:16)

Notice how the LORD confirms that Moses is about to die and that the people will almost immediately arise and whore after the foreign gods. The LORD says, “Your about to die...then this people will arise and whore after the foreign gods among them and break my covenant.”

This will happen as quickly as...

• ...we saw Samson stray from the LORD in Judges 13:24-14:5.

• ...Adam and Eve sinned in the garden.

• ...quickly as Achan sinned when the people came into the Promised Land at Jericho.

Israel will do this as quickly as they sinned against the LORD in Exodus 32. When Moses was up on the mountain getting the 10 Commandments the people came to Aaron and said, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, we do not know what has become of him.” (32:1) The LORD’s own testimony to Moses about what the people were doing was, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them.” (32:7-8)

Because the LORD knows what Israel will do when Moses dies He tells Moses to compose a song that will be a witness before the people. Moses is to teach Israel this song and it is to be past down from generation to generation as a witness against them throughout all the generations. Notice what the LORD says in 31:21, “For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.”

In Deuteronomy 31:24-29 we read that Moses wrote the law down in a book and he gave it to the Levites, saying, “Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death!” (26-27)

Israel had been given the Law of God and they were to be diligent to obey everything in it by faith. However, they were a rebellious and stubborn people who did what was right in their own eyes. The LORD had testified to Moses that the people were sinful and now Moses testifies to the people the same thing, saying, “Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death!”

Moses was saying, ‘If you acted like this when I was with you, how much more will you cast off all restraints once I am gone.’ It is bad enough that the faithless nations do this (Psalm 2), but God’s own people who were given so many blessings were also going to do this. (Isaiah 1; Romans 9:1-5)

We read these words in v.28-29, “Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

Now look at Deuteronomy 32:44-47 where we read the very last words of Moses before he died (48-52), “Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. And when Moses had finished speaking all the words to all these words to Israel, he said to them, ‘Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.’”

In Judges 17-21 we are NOT given two stories to consider which will show us how bad things had become by the end of Judges (although they most assuredly had gotten this bad), but they describe how bad things HAD ALREADY become shortly after Israel had entered into the Promised Land. This happened because they did not receive God’s Word and apply it with faith. The Word of God was scattered among God’s people but they did not receive it. In these stories we see that everything that Moses had warned Israel about in Deuteronomy 31 had come to pass just as quickly as he had said.

What was going on in Israel at that time is not unique to that generation. No, Psalm 81:11-14 says, “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways. I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.” (Hebrews 2-3)

Contrast the sinful things we have seen with faithless Israel to the what David says in Psalm 18:20-24, “The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His rules were before me, and His statutes I did not put away from me. I was blameless before Him, and I kept myself from my guilt. So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.” David’s faithful response to the Word of God kept David from departing from His God. David also says in Psalm 37:30-31 these words, “The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice. The Law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip.”

As we look at Judges 17-21 we will not see anyone who resembles what we see in David. No, we will see examples of how foolish it is to forget God’s Word and neglect God’s Truth. It is a very foolish thing to do what is right in our own eyes. Therefore, let us strive to be as noble (princely) as the Berean’s who searched the Scriptures daily; therefore, many of them believed.

Two Applications:

1. The appendix of this book will keep us from looking back and saying, ‘Those were the glory days of my life and or of this church!’ No, like Paul, we ought to always say, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward for what lies ahead, I press on toward the goalfor the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Those of us who are mature think this way…”. (Philippians 3:1215a)

2. This appendix to the Book of Judges should be a wake up call to all of us that our families and our churches can so easily drift away from God’s Word and into faithlessness and apostasy. My friends, can we say that we are one of those few generations who have broken the vicious cycle and built upon the faith of the last generation and recovered some of what has been lost? What do we need to do to be one of those very rare groups of people who truly do see biblical reformation and revival that is past on to the world and to the next generation?