In this book from the old testament the term “judges” is not a good translation of the Hebrew word (HSN 8199 – shaphat); “leader” is better. God raised up these heroes (and one heroine) to deliver local tribes of Israel from apostasy and then to govern them. After their conquest of the land of Canaan under Joshua, the people of Israel had become a much disorganized, loose confederacy.
Each tribe of Israel had become mostly isolated from the other tribes. Therefore, without leadership, they repeatedly fell into idolatry, foreign political domination, intermarriage with pagans, and other major sins. They were in a general state of spiritual confusion.
A key verse, says: “In those days there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” Judges.17:6. A king was the authority, or the law as we would say in our day. When we look at America and its institutions; it is plain to see this is what is needed today.
We have our King, His name is Jesus. What we need more of are men and women who will stand on God’s word without compromise; not yielding to their thoughts, opinions and emotions unless they are aligned with God’s will, word and purpose.
The Book of Judges is fragmentary, and it is not chronological. Many scholars believe that some of the events were concurrent. About 350 years of some of the blackest pages in the history of the sons of Israel are covered and portrays the nation in disarray, and in need of help from God. In effect, it was their Dark Ages. There were regular cycles of falling away, salvation, restoration, and falling away again.
We can decipher seven apostasies, seven bondages, and seven deliverances. Over and over they forgot who the true God was. They repeatedly disobeyed God’s command to drive out the inhabitants of the land when they went in to possess it. They adopted Baal worship, the local Canaanite religion, abandoning the spiritual purity which the Lord required.
Consequently, they were not only surrounded by hostile nations who wanted the land which the Israelites had taken, the land which God had promised to them as an inheritance, they allowed their enemy in their midst. They had lost their sense of national unity under God, and they were an easy prey for enemy invasion. The book begins with compromise and ends with anarchy.
Again, as look into the wows of our nation, we need to comprehend the depth of wisdom in the patterns and principles God gave in this book when it comes to the establishment of a nation. Our forefathers were faithful with the trust God had placed in them to do just that. They founded what has become the greatest and wealthiest nation in history. Look how far we have strayed from the foundation that was set a little over two hundred years ago.
Even in the pulpit many are advocating and encouraging such things as same sex marriages, abortion, illegal immigration, etc. Have we learned any of the lessons in Judges or is every man doing that which was right in his own eyes?
