The Recurring Pattern

Judges 2:11-3:6

Before introducing us to the individual judges of this period, the writer sets the history in context with this important introduction, and particularly the important summary of the whole record: 'the Lord raised up judges, who saved them...' (Judges 2:16). There are some preliminary matters that are important to look at before embarking on the study of the individuals involved.

Dates

First is the matter of the chronology. If we take the judges who are mentioned in this book and add up the total number of years for which they governed, the number comes to 410 years. However, this creates difficulties in the light of other passages, which leads commentators to suppose that some of the judges overlapped in their governance of Israel.

We can, therefore, only speak in general terms of a period of approximately four centuries during which these judges were raised by God for the good of his people, from about 1400BC to about 1050BC, the year of Samuel's death.

Names

Before Samuel, the last of the great judges, there were twelve men and one woman who occupied this particular office and fulfilled the role of judge in Israel. If we take the judgeship of Gideon and his son Abimelech together, that gives us 6 greater judges: Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson; and 6 lesser judges, about whom considerably less information is given: Shamgar, Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon and Abdon.

Office

More important than the names is the office they occupied. What was a judge? What did a judge do? To ask that question today would invariably lead to us saying that a judge adminsters justice. And while there is evidence that they did so (see the reference to Deborah in Judges 4:5), the office is much more broad than that.

For one thing, the Hebrew word for 'judge' is used explicitly of God himself in 11:27. 'The Lord himself, the Judge,' says Jephthah, 'decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon'. God is acknowledge as one who judges, and one who exercises sovereign control and dominion.

For another thing, the word for 'judge' is closely paralleled with the word 'king', especially in the Hebrew parallelism so characteristic of the Old Testament Psalter. For example, Psalm 2:10 says 'Now therefore, O kings, be wise: be warned O rulers (=judges) of the earth'. Similarly Psalm 96:13 says of God, the king (see verse 10 of the psalm) that 'he comes to judge the earth'. So too, Psalm 98 describes God as 'the King, the Lord' in verse 6, and the one who comes to judge the earth in verse 9. Psalm 148:11 sends out its word to 'Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and rulers (=judges) of the earth'.

In these references, the office of judge is closely linked to kingship and sovereignty. That is made explicit in 1 Samuel 8:5, with the demand of Israel to Samuel: 'Give us a king to judge us". So we cannot think of the office as being purely adminstrative of justice, presiding over cases of law. It is more akin to a kingly office of government. Those whom God raised up to be judges were the first kings of Israel.

Need

Which brings us to the final introductory consideration: that there was a need for such an office. That need is what is explored in the surrounding context, but the point I wish to emphasise here is simply that the judges were neither self-appointed nor given a popular mandate: they were 'raised up by God'.

In other words, the office they occupied, as well as the persons who held it, was a provision of divine, sovereign grace to enable God's people to overcome the difficulties of the situations in which they found themselves. The provision of the judges is a mark of covenant faithfulness on the part of God. He always looks after his people, never leaving them, nor forsaking them.

From that perspective we must see each of the judges as in some sense representing the great Deliverer who was to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Judge, who has stepped in to help us in our time of need. Despite all of our sin and rebellion, he remains loyal, and has shown his love for us by giving us his son as our deliverer. As we read of the individual judges, we have to say 'A greater than the judges is here'.

The Recurring Cycle of Events

Judges 2:11-3:6 prepares us for the storyline of this book, by outlining the pattern of events which occurs time and again throughout the book. Five main elements of experience are identified.

Abandoning God -- V12

The first is the sin of abandoning the God of the covenant, and its corollary of going after other gods. In spite of the history and the tradition, the testimony to Jehovah's power and faithfulness, and the reminders of all that God had been and had done in the past, the people found it relatively easy to apostasise and to stray.

The fleshly, worldly attractions of the Baals and Ashtaroth won out over the theology of the God of Israel, so the people went over to these gods and bowed down to them. They are characterised as 'the gods of the peoples who were around them' (v12), which shows us how their circumstances proved a point of temptation and of sin. God's people have been called to be separate, to be a people apart, and to show their commitment to Jehovah. Yet they stray so readily.

Perhaps the most solemn aspect of all of this is that Joshua's death has been one reason for the declension and the apostasy. While he lived, they served God well (v7), but his death removed that restraint and leadership which they so much needed. How thankful we should be for godly leaders and influences on our lives. Without Joshua's courageous example and wise counsel, the people slipped into ways of lust and sin. In all this, they provoked God to anger, and he became their enemy, not their friend.

Defeated by their enemies (v14)

As a consequence of their actions, God 'sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies' (v14). They knew that Canaan was a place of hostility and enmity, and their call was to possess the land for God. But now they are unable to make progress. They appear powerless and hopeless in the face of the Canaanite opposition.

It is important for us to realise that defeat in battle was not the primary problem; it was only symptomatic of a much deeper problem, the evidence that things had gone wrong spiritually. The fact that they could not withstand their foes was as a result of the spiritual apostasy.

God was in their battles, but not to give them victory. His hand was against them (v15), and he strengthened the hand of their foes. Our attention is drawn to the fact that they ought to have realised this: he had warned them that this would be the consequence of disobedience and rebellion.

Delivered by the judge (v16)

Precisely at the point of their greatest distress, God stepped in to raise up judges. Verse 18 summarises what happened here:

Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.

So the Lord provided refuge, out of pity and through the judge. Covenant love was still in evidence, and still in action. Faithfulness to the covenant led to God's being against the people and giving them to the hand of the enemy; yet covenant faithfulness also meant that God would not abandon his own.

Through human instrumentality, God delivers his people time and time again. He is with the judge, as he was with Moses and as he was with Joshua (cf. Joshua 1:5). God is free to do his work without any such instrumentality, yet he uses things and people that the world despises and considers to be nothing, to bring down the greatest powers of the world (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).

It is in this way that we approach the histories of Gideon, Samson, Deborah, and the other judges of Israel. They are the provision of God, born out of love and pity for his sinful people, and strengthened by his power for the deliverance of his own.

Hardened by their success (v19)

The tragedy of the situation, however, is that, once freed from the tyranny and oppression of their enemies, the people soon forget that they owe their victory to God. When the danger is over, and the judge is dead, the people become even worse. They imagine that they have obtained the victory by themselves and for themselves, and they turn away from God again.

The reality is that they become even worse than a previous generation was. Ralph Davis calls this 'generation degeneration': rising up in place of a wicked generation is an even more rebellious one, hardened to God and ready to forget what they owe him.

So the wheel of their experience and providence turns again to the point of departure from God, apostasy and rebellion. They heap sin upon sin, and God is not in their thoughts at all.

Afflicted by the nations (v23)

The fifth element of the cycle is that there are some nations destined to be constant thorns in the side of God's people. They are named at 3:3 -- 'Philistines ... Canaanaites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath'.

God did not allow Israel to overcome these nations. Their presence, as a reminder of what might have been, was a testing presence: would Israel obey God or not? Would they do what God commanded them?

They would never be free from the malign influences of these Canaanite peoples. Their influence over the lives of the covenant people would be very great (3:6). Sowing to the flesh, the people of God reap only corruption. They went after other gods, and come into bondage to them.

What are the lessons for us today?

Is this just a bypath of history? Not at all. Christ portrays his church as being in alien territory, as being in the world, though not of the world. All around us are influences that, if we allow them to develop and grow, will threaten, choke and harm us. We are called to set our minds on high things (Colossians 3:1), yet must face sin, temptation and the flesh every day.

The question for us is: will we obey the voice of God in his word, or not? Will we have the courage to strengthen ourselves in God and live the lives he would have us live? Disobedience can lead to sin, to compromise, and to defeat. But following the Lord faithfully will enable us to experience victory and power in our lives.