Lecture 30.docx

All right, we turn now to the book of Judges. The term in both the Hebrew and Septuagint once again is named after the major human characters in the book. The major human character in Joshua was Joshua. The major human characters in this next book were the judges that God raised up in Israel. And so...

All right, we turn now to the book of Judges. The term in both the Hebrew and Septuagint once again is named after the major human characters in the book. The major human character in Joshua was Joshua. The major human characters in this next book were the judges that God raised up in Israel. And so the book is named after these major characters introduced to us as a whole in Chapter 2 and then in Chapters 3 and 4. And then in Chapters 3 through 16 we see individual narratives, some lengthy and some not so lengthy of 12 judges. Now all of the judges of Israel are not in the book of Judges. The final two judges in Israel as far as the Old Testament narrative were Eli and Samuel and their narrative comes in the beginning of the book of Samuel. So the book of Judges, yes, is about the judges, but it's not about all of the judges. But certainly they are introduced and then there's a narrative and then we have an appendix that gives us in the book an insight into the conditions that were taking place during the generations that made up this historical epic. Now narrative time speeds up. Twenty-one chapters. But as you can see, approximately 325 to 350 years of narrative are covered in the book. Chapter 1, certainly there is a closing of the Joshua narrative that even though the narrative in Chapter 24 of Joshua continues after Joshua's death, nevertheless when we get to the book of Judges, the author of Judges begins the narrative with the death of Joshua, which we would put at approximately 1390 BC. In Chapter 2, he comes back to the death of Joshua, some of the final actions of Joshua and Joshua's death and also the elders who saw Joshua die. The elders who survived Joshua, the leaders. And so we don't get to the third generation and the beginning of God bringing judges to lead Israel until around 1375 to 1350 BC. So that's why we say the period of the Judges, broadly speaking, is probably more in around 300 to 325 years, although the narrative in Judges goes all the way back to the death of Joshua, fills in some of the details from the second generation's preparatory to what is going to take place in the third generation of Israel. And just like Joshua and Samuel and Kings to follow, we are reminded that certain situations continue. Same one we looked at actually in Joshua in Judges 1-21 and the fact that the Jebusites continued to live in Jerusalem. So the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. Which again assumes that the information that the author is using goes back and precedes David's conquest of Jerusalem as recorded in 2 Samuel Chapter 5 that occurred probably around 1000 BC. So whenever Judges was written, probably within a generation or two after the final judge, Samson, is seen within the text. Nevertheless, the author has materials that go further back and talk about the reality to this day, which is whenever that original material was given. Now when we come to the history of interpretation, it is probably no surprise that Judges is one of the most neglected books in the Old Testament. As far as the historical discussion of Judges is concerned, it's a book that was ignored. In fact, the earliest record of anything specifically from Judges comes from Philo in the first century AD, the time when the New Testament was being written. Even the New Testament has very few references back to what is in Judges. And as far as the rabbis were concerned, as far as later Jewish writers, as far as the Christian tradition, that of all of the books of the former prophets, Joshua Judges, Samuel Kings, Judges was the most ignored. In the preaching of the Church, of those four books of the former prophets, and if you want to expand it out to the historical books of the Septuagint, Vulgate, beginning with Joshua going all the way to Esther in our English canon, of all of those books from Joshua to Esther, the one least preached has been Judges. So this really is a dark hole as far as the study of the Old Testament is concerned. What has lifted it, and it's interesting that even in Hebrews 11, where the preacher gives great emphasis to the heroes of the faith, and tells about Abel and about Enoch, about Noah, about Abraham, about the Isaac, the patriarchs, Moses, even Joshua, and the surrounding of the walls of Jericho, and Rahab the harlot. In Hebrews 11, verses 30 and 31. So we begin in the beginning of the Torah, we go through the narrative culminating in Joshua and what happened at Jericho and with Rahab, and right when he gets to the era of the Judges, he says in Hebrews 11, 32, And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, and Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, of David, and Samuel, and the prophets. Did you just put four Judges in the same category as Samuel, David, and the prophets? Yes, he did. Same category as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses. Time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah. I don't know about you, I get to this point and say, preacher, take the time. Explain to me the faith of these men. But because of Hebrews 11, 32, viewing these four primary Judges as men of faith, and of course if Samson gets there, we certainly got to put Othniel. If Barak gets there, well, we got to put Ehud. We got to get all six of the primary Judges. I mean if these four make it, we can't leave the first two off. So the preacher, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, is saying these were men of faith. Now that says something positive. And this has created the dilemma ever since. How do we find something that is this positive, this example of faith, that we should emulate as believers in Jesus, Jesus the Messiah, in a narrative that seems to be so extremely negative? And since exegetes and expositors have not known how to pull this together, the Judges and the book in which they've found continues to be neglected. Now based upon Hebrews, you probably will not be amazed that the early church, the medieval church, whenever they did preach Judges, communicate Judges in some way to Christian people, they would do it within a context that somehow these Judges were types of Christ. And you can see that from Hebrews 11. We have no problem with seeing Abraham, well Noah, Abraham, David, the prophets, seeing them as imperfect types of Christ. Certainly none of the men in the Old Testament, Moses, none of these men were sinless, but they were faithful men. Certainly with the extensive discussion in Hebrews 11 about Abraham, we can reflect back to Romans chapter 4 that Abraham is the father of the faithful. He is the father of those who have justifying faith, directed toward God. So certainly if the Judges are in that kind of context, then they too become imperfect types of Christ. And so for about a thousand years, whenever the Judges were spoken about or preached about, it would be within the context of how in some way they were saviors of Israel that prepared the way for the ultimate Savior of Israel who was Jesus Christ. A Christocentric hermeneutic, a Christocentric homiletic. It's very interesting in light of the return of many Reformed scholars of our own day back to a Christocentric hermeneutic and homiletic, that the individual who basically broke that mold of just preaching Judges as men who were types of Christ in their salvific work, their delivering work, and tried to fit them back into their historical context and try to draw examples for the faithful of their faith that was seen against the backdrop of their historical environment was none other than John Calvin. That one of the great men who moved away from a dominating Christocentric, typological type of a hermeneutic to a more historical grammatical hermeneutic was John Calvin himself. And it's very interesting today to see that some of those who say they're most strongly committed to John Calvin question the historical grammatical hermeneutic as being a hermeneutic that comes from the enlightenment that has cast aside the stronger, typological Christocentric hermeneutic that was practiced by the Holy Church. That's a big topic I can't deal any more with than that, but it's very interesting. Calvin himself was the one who called into question by his preaching on Judges, the very Christocentric hermeneutic homiletic based upon his historical grammatical interpretation of the text. So certainly you realize that Judges has been ignored. In fact, 22 years ago when he began teaching this class, there was not really a major exegetical commentary I could recommend on the book of Judges. In fact, the resources on Judges were very, very sparse, and we should praise the Lord that in the last 22 years there have been some outstanding works, both exegetically and homiletically, that have been produced on Judges. You can't say today, I can't preach Judges because I have no resources. Now 22 years ago you could say that. That's how the history of interpretation of Judges has really changed. And I've given you some pages in Webb's new work in the NICOT where he goes through the multitude of commentaries that have come out in the last 25 years from different perspectives on the book of Judges. So we can't say that Judges is a dark hole anymore. There has now been, from different theological perspectives, much work that has been done by men and women. By the way, would it amaze you to think that as women have become more involved in academic biblical studies, one of the books that they have latched onto is Judges? Interesting. And one of the narratives they have really spent a lot of time discussing is Jephthah's daughter. That's one of the major narratives, probably the major narrative, discussed in Judges in contemporary literature. Again, both evangelical and non-evangelical. So Judges has come into the light of day, finally, in our own generation. And if Dan Block is right on what is the major and your first buy as far as a resource on Judges is concerned, Dan Block believes that Judges needs to be one of the primary Old Testament books that is preached in evangelical churches today because he believes that our culture is more like Judges, that we are dealing with as believers, as Israel, the faithful in Israel had to deal with a dark and a depraved society that created havoc in the confessing people of God. He would say the evangelical culture church today finds itself in an analogous situation to Israel in the period of Judges more than any other of the eras of Israel's history in the Old Testament. That there is a book that's crying out to be preached to contemporary churches, it is Judges. So there you go, gentlemen, there's your mantle. There's your charge. The church needs Judges who will rise up and take the challenge and devote themselves to understanding, exegeting, and expositing the book for our generation. So the Book of Judges. Now the themes are fairly straightforward. The major theme of Judges is obviously once again Yahweh. He is the one in chapter one of whom the sons of Israel inquired, the sons of Israel inquired of Yahweh saying, who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight against them? It is a significance that when you get to chapter 20, you hear almost an echo of what is in chapter one. Chapter 20 verse 18, now the sons of Israel arose went to Bethel and inquired of God and said, who shall go up first for us to battle not now against the Canaanites, but against the sons of Benjamin? Here's one of the major echoes from chapter one. That's repeated in chapters 19 to 21. And Yahweh said, Judah shall go up first. Go back to Joshua, Judges 1-2, and the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I have given the land into his hand. So Israel inquires of Yahweh. And of course ultimately as we go through the book of Judges, we see generation by generation the Lord is the one who is raising up the judges. So certainly the major character of the book of Judges is Yahweh. But the central human characters are the judges. Now the judges are introduced to us in chapter two six times. They are referred to in verses 16 to 19. They are the judges. And then significantly that title is not given to them. We know who the judges are because it's no longer the noun. It's now the verb that is used. Here is a man who judged Israel. And so the judges are tied in historically to the judges that God had given to the people. The judges are the judges that God had given to Israel previously. First and foremost, a judge is to judge. Now where did this institution of judgeship of men who were judges arise in Israel? Well, go back to Exodus chapter 18. To Moses after the Exodus. A narrative proceeding, Israel's sojourn at Sinai and God's giving of the law, God's giving of legislation in the covenants. It was to guide Israel but also guide their judges. This concept is introduced because the original judge of Israel was Moses. And so he tells Jethro, his father-in-law, verse 15, Why do you sit alone and all the people stand before you from morning till evening? Verse 15, Because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a dispute it comes to me and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and his laws. And Jethro says, Moses, you're going to wear yourself out. This task is too heavy for you. You can't do it alone. Let me give you counsel. Verse 19, You be the people represented before God and you bring the disputes to God. Then teach them the statutes and laws and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do. Furthermore, you shall select out of your people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain, and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, tens, and let them judge the people at all times. And let it be that every major dispute they bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure and all the people also will go to their place in peace. So Jethro gives the counsel and says, well, you think this through and inquire of God to see if this is what God would want you to do. By the way, that's the backdrop to what took place at Sinai. Moses inquires of Yahweh, and Yahweh does give him legislation. He does teach the laws, the statutes that Moses could teach the people, and then those who were responsible for making sure that the people kept the law in, adjudicated disputes between the people based upon the laws that God had given were these judges. And notice the judges basically function within the families, within the clans, within the tribes. They are over fifties and tens. They are over hundreds and thousands. All right, so they are basically family leaders, clan leaders, that is families who made up a clan, within a greater tribe, the thousands. And significantly not only do we have this counsel given by Jethro, but it does become institutionalized. Certainly these judges are mentioned in the narrative of Numbers 11 and Deuteronomy 1, but in the statutes and judgments which was laid before Israel in Deuteronomy, take a look at Chapter 16 and Chapter 17. Chapter 16, verses 8 to 20, 18 to 20. It says, Moses speaking to Israel, you shall appoint for yourself judges and offices in all your towns, literally at your gates, the place where judicial decisions were made in a town. In all your gates which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. Notice that the judges first and foremost were associated with their tribe. Now what they did in adjudicating and leading their tribe in the way of the Lord as given under the statutes, the ordinances that were part of the legislation within the Torah, obviously this is going to have an impact upon all Israel. It's going to lead to justice, it's going to lead to justice. It's going to lead to God's will being accomplished throughout the land. It's very important to note how the judges were connected with the tribes and not with all Israel. This is going to be a distinction between the tribes and the king. It's also going to be a distinction between the tribes and Moses and Joshua, who acted king-like in Israel before there was a king. Because Moses and Joshua spoke to all the people. All the people were commanded to obey Moses and Joshua as they represented the Lord. Now with the judges it's going to be very significant that every one of the judges is going to be associated first and foremost with his tribe. Yet what he does for his tribe is going to have an impact upon all Israel. But just like these judicial judges, these military judicial judges that God is going to raise up during this era of Israel's history recorded in Judges, are going to have their first and primary association with the tribes from which they come. And again by functioning even as judges in this Torah context will have their first and primary influence on the tribes, which is going to impact all Israel. So here it is, Deuteronomy 16, 18, they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not distort justice, you shall not be partial, you shall not take a bribe. So reiterates what Jathro said about these men are to be judges, that are to be men of highest integrity. Justice and only justice you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you. They are the arbitrators to seek to make sure that Israel follows the commandments that God has given to them. So when someone is in defiance of an ordinance that God has given to Israel, that individual is hauled to the town gate, and at the town gate there will be the judges who will adjudicate the matter. Are they not in compliance with the law? And if they are not, they will bring the proper penalties to bear against them. An individual believes that he's gotten lack of justice. Going back to Exodus chapter 18, what Jathro said is, well, alright, they can appeal. You know, you don't like what happened at the town, which is basically, you know, families who make up a clan, then you can go to the tribe. If you don't like what the tribe, then you can appeal it in Moses' day to the Supreme Court, which was Moses. And we don't know who the ultimate Supreme Court was, but it does seem, from what Moses says later on in Deuteronomy chapter 17, that it does become the high priest. And so 17, 8 to 13 gives basically how, you know, adjudication can pass through, if I might put this way, the Israelite judicial system that's established, you know, beginning with the gates, with the judges that are there, associated with the families and the clans, all the way to the tribe and ultimately to the priest, the priest who comes from Levi. And all of this was to bring justice and God's judgment to bear upon the activities of Israel. By the very fact that now God raises up these leaders and refers to them as judges, the implication is that not only does Israel need a savior, they need a salvation, and the Lord raising up a deliverer, which was first and foremost what these judges accomplished, but then these judges, after the salvation was accomplished, needed to adjudicate and bring the law once to bear again upon the Israelites, because why did they need deliverance? Because they were Torah breakers. So it's significant that these judges, in judges, even though they first will have a salvific function, a military function, really the majority of their ministry, the majority of their life was directed toward adjudication, and seeking to make Torah once again the standard by which Israel lived, because judges obviously were the line of defense to make sure, alright, that the law is followed. And of course here becomes the problem as we take a look at the men, that the men themselves, particularly as we get into the later judges, seem to be somewhat lawless characters themselves. Would you call Samson an expert in Torah? If he was, he certainly sinned with a high hand on a number of occasions. But here are the judges, and this gives you some of their background. Again, they come before us in Joshua, again, as representative of the tribes. The judges and elders were those who were the tribal leaders of Israel. And so God is going to use an already established leadership function that has been developed in the Torah. And all he is going to do during this 300-some years of Israel's history is going to intensify what has already been established as far as these men in Israel. Now, as you go through the text, after chapter 2 introduces us to the judges as a category, then in chapters 3 to 16 we see the individual narratives of 12 judges. Now these are usually categorized as major and minor, but it's kind of like the major and minor prophets. What makes one a minor judge? He only gets a few verses. It's going to be significant in some of their cases. They judged Israel for as long as some of the major judges. So can we really say that they are minor as far as their life historically? And the answer seems to be, well, no. But from a narrative perspective, certainly the author is led by the Holy Spirit to concentrate upon six men. And by the way, notice, give progressively longer narratives of what Dan Bloch says, and I think is a better term, rather than major judges, primary judges. They're the primary characters that are concentrated on by the author. There's something about these men, something about these men and their ministries, which we might put it this way, is paradigmic, is indicative, is a pattern of what is taking place during this time period. I can't say everything. I've got 300 years. I've just got a few chapters. I just got a few words. And so the Holy Spirit directs me to concentrate upon these men, because what these men did was of primary importance for later generations to know. Now in their own day, these secondary judges from Shamgar through Abdon, men you're probably not quite as familiar with. And the reason is because they get very few verses, very little is said about them. But again, every indication is, with Shamgar, he brought about a mighty deliverance in his day, and others were used of God to in some way regulate and bring more Torah obedience in their day, as they ruled, as they led at least a portion of Israel. But at least for further generations, for later generations, something about their life was not as vital as important to know as the primary judges. And it is, as I said, significant that actually the two that have the longest narratives are Gideon and Samson. Frankly, I'd like to know a little bit about some of the others. But the Holy Spirit didn't give us that option. He said, you will learn of Gideon and you will learn of Samson, because of the primary judges, they are the most primary that you need to know about. And by the way, remember they both make Hebrews 11.32. By the way, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson are going to start to introduce us to the same dilemma we're going to have with Saul and Solomon. And that is, how do we really evaluate them? Gideon has some good qualities, but. By the way, that's the reason he gets his name on all the Bibles put in hotel rooms. Think about, I mean, of all the judges, he's got the most, I mean, more people know about Gideon than anybody else. All these Bibles put by the Gideonites. And then you've got Samson. If there's one judge you remember from Sunday school, it was Samson. In fact, more movies have been made on Samson than most any other biblical character in the Old Testament. Hollywood loves Samson. Gideon gets a Bible, Samson gets a movie. The rest of the judges get nothing. And along with Jephthah, there are three pretty interesting characters, to say the least. But we know from Hebrews 11, men of faith. Faith directed toward Yahweh, the same company, you know, with the mighty heroes of faith in the Old Testament. So here are the judges, and they just don't appear. They're already part of Israel's narrative. They're already part of Israel's experience. And now God lifts them up and makes them prominent for approximately 300 years of Israel's existence. Second great theme, and certainly chapters one and two, which begin with the second generation, begin with the generation Joshua led into the land. And we see their incomplete obedience. Chapter one, their incomplete obedience in a military sense. The second generation of Israel, we already know this from Joshua, did not complete the conquest. The Canaanite power, as we saw last week, was broken. The kings were defeated and died. The armies were neutralized. And then it was the responsibility of the individual tribes to complete the driving out of the Canaanites, destroying their paraphernalia, putting them to death, and wiping out once and for all Canaanite abominable idolatrous worship from the face of the land. Chapter one reminds us, militarily, that was not completed. The tribes started out well, and then slowly but surely were neutralized by the perceived power of the Canaanites militarily. And then second of all, also recognizing that the Canaanites could make, could be better used as servants alive than being dead. That lack of military obedience in chapter two led to religious consequences. God, because Israel had not driven out the Canaanites, because Tutu, you have not obeyed me, not driven them out, but made covenants and allowed their altars to stand, then God said he would no longer drive them out, but instead the peoples become a snare to them, which is exactly what took place. Further incomplete obedience, the second generation does not follow Deuteronomy chapter six. They do not pass on instruction concerning Yahweh to the next generation, 2 10, that after that generation of Joshua and the elders who came after him, there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which he had done for Israel. That failure is directly put back to the second generation again, incomplete obedience. So they didn't obey Deuteronomy chapter seven, and they didn't obey Deuteronomy chapter six. That's incomplete obedience, and the consequences were disastrous. And that consequence is introduced to us in chapter two, and then comes back in the individual narratives. And we have this fourfold cycle that the author introduces us to in chapter two, and then shows us working out in Israel's history in the narrative of the front line. The narrative of the primary judges. It's introduced to us beginning in chapter two, verse 11. Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. Rather than worshipping Yahweh, they started to worship the gods, the Canaanites. They forsook Yahweh, the god of their fathers. Verse 13, they forsook Yahweh and served Baal and the Ashtarahs. Baal, the leading Canaanite god and his consort, his mistress, sister, mistress, the Ashtarahs. And of course, not only Baal, but notice in verse 11, served the Baals, plural, that there was one Baal in Canaanite mythology, but then there were many local representations of Baal, the Baals, and the Ashtarahs. And once again, the emphasis is that no matter where you went in Israel, down to each tribe, each town, you would find the worship of the Canaanite gods. They forsook Yahweh and turned to the Baals, turned to the Ashtarahs. And the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, verse 14, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them and sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so they could no longer stand before their enemies. That is, they'll become thorns in your signs and their gods will be a snare for you. And the consequence was, as they find themselves ensnared in Canaanite religion and Canaanite practices, that God brought enemies against them, not only the Canaanites themselves, but other nations from around the circumference of the land as well. So the Israelites found themselves severely distressed. And the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges. There was deliverance, and then when the judges judged them, when the judges sought to lead them back to the way of Torah, they rebelled against their judges. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked and obeyed the commandments of the Lord. They did not do as their fathers. They were out and out, idolaters and rebels against Yahweh, no matter what deliverance, no matter what leadership was given to them by the judges. They were wholeheartedly devoted to sin, even more than the first and second generation of Israel. This was the characterization. Now, why did God raise up these judges? Well, the Lord was moved, verse 18, to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. God, in His anger, would give them over to these plunderers, who would literally just take them for everything they were worth. I mean, they would grow crops, and the crops would be taken. It was a desperate time to live. So as the Israelites found themselves, the consequences of their sin being, rather than blessing from Yahweh curses that came, the fact that they could not enjoy their crops, they did not have victory in battle, etc., etc., they were groan and moan because of their afflictions. And God, who gave them the consequences of their sin because of His anger, then was moved to pity and had compassion and raised up the judge to deliver them. But verse 19, it came about when the judge died, they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, and following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them so they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel. He said, Because this nation has transgressed my covenant, which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to my voice, I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in their fathers as their fathers did or not. So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not drive them out quickly, and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua. By the way, notice again, it began even during the time of Joshua. Notice the inclusio, that as chapter 2 began, with God saying, I'm not going to drive them out, I'm going to leave the people of snares. That's exactly how chapter 2 ends. He left them of snares because even during the period of the judges, there was no improvement. Now if I take a look at what the author has said, all right, Israel would sin. God, and I put S's here so you can kind of remember it, that Israel would become slaves, they would be in servitude to those whom Yahweh sold them into these plunderous hands. There would be a groaning because of the affliction, there'd be supplication, a crying out to the Lord. God would raise up the judge. The judge would bring a military victory over that people that were afflicting them. And then the land would have rest, that is, they would not come under military attack and affliction during the time when the judge ruled. There was security militarily, but when the judge sought to lead Israel in the way of righteousness according to Torah, the people would rebel so that when the judge died, the next generation would be even more corrupt than the fathers who went before them. So as Webb brings out in his NIC, and I'm glad to see this because I've used this picture, obviously there is a cycle, let me put it on this sheet, all right, and you can have the sin that leads to the servitude, that leads to the salvation, that then led, the servitude led to the supplication, led to the salvation, that brought the security until that judge died and then the cycle all began again. Let me get into where you can see it there. We've got to realize this is not just a vicious cycle. It was, but we should also picture it in this way. It was also that which was spiraling further and further out of control. You see, the sin, the second, third, fourth time was always greater than previous, which meant the servitude became more intense, crying out, the salvation and the rest, but the people were just more and more stubborn so that it cycles downward. Now chapter two has introduced us to really the basic theme of the judges from Yahweh's perspective. That is what I call the provocation and protection of Yahweh. Yahweh is provoked to anger, but he's moved to salvation. Provoked to anger by the sin, in particular the deepening idolatry with the greater abominable practices generation by generation. Provoked to anger, and yet he's moved ultimately to pity and protection. And the amazing thing is, gentlemen, do you realize this? You come to Judges chapter 21 and here's the amazing thing. Israel is still surviving as a nation. I don't know whether you came to chapter 21 and realized I have just read a miracle. Humanly speaking, there is no reason that Israel would have survived the period of the judges. The social disintegration, the religious stubbornness. I mean, when you think through Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, the blessings for obedience, the curses for disobedience, and the ultimate curse for disobedience is the fact that there will be total and utter military defeat and you're going to be scattered among the nations. The amazing thing is, at the end of Judges, Israel is still in the land. They have suffered these military and social reversals brought about by Yahweh because of their sin and yet they still survive. That is a miracle of God's grace. And so we have to ask a reason. The author hints at it, but later scripture makes it clear. It's very, very interesting that the Old Testament, when it looks back on the period of the judges, looks back in a negative sense. That's why we're amazed when we come to Hebrews to hear the judges themselves spoken about in a positive light. If you go through the rest of the Old Testament, every time the period of the judges is mentioned, it's mentioned in a negative way. Take a look at Psalm 106. Psalm 106 verses 43 to 45. Let's get the context. Actually, the context is tied into one of Psalm 105 and 106 is talking about the splendor of the Abrahamic covenant and God's loyalty to the Abrahamic covenant. And how is it loyal to the covenant? He worked in the lives of the fathers. He protected Israel in Egypt. He brought them out of the land, brought them through the wilderness, gave them land. You can pick up at verse 34 of Psalm 106. Remember, this is in the context of Yahweh's loyalty to the Abrahamic covenant. They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord commanded them, but they mingled with the nations and learned their practices and served their idols, which became a snare to them. Do you hear an echo here of judges? Judges chapter 2. How bad did it get, gentlemen? They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons. By the way, that's not in Judges. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. And the land was polluted with the blood, and they became unclean in their practices and played the harlot in their deeds. Do you realize that Judges is sanitized? The narrative is not as bad as it could have been. By the way, Judges is PG-13, if not R. Judges is best delivered at a men's conference. Because some of the narrative, and this is why Hollywood loves it, is PG-13 R, in fact, even some of our English translations, are sanitized. Because this would be read in church, where women and children are present. And you know what? The narrative we read in Judges is not as bad as it could have been. By the way, that says also something, gentlemen, about to what extent. We need to have portrayed in writing and in visualization the practice of sin in its depths. See, we have a society that says, be realistic. Tell it like it is. The author of Judges was led by the Holy Spirit to say some pretty intense things because of sin, but not as bad as what the actual historical events were. Therefore the anger, verse 40, of the Lord was kindled against His people. He abhorred His inheritance. He gave them into the hand of the nations. Their enemies oppressed them. And yet, verse 43, many times He would deliver them. They, however, were rebellious in their counsel, and so sank in their iniquity. Nevertheless, He looked upon their distress when He heard their cry, and He remembered His covenant for their sake, and relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness. He also made them objects of compassion in the presence of their captives. Gentlemen, there's the key. You read Judges and say, how did they survive? And the answer is, God's loyal with the Abrahamic covenant. If there was no covenant with Abraham, Israel would not have survived the period of Judges. What moved Him to pity? What moved Him to compassion? His covenant with Abraham. By the way, because of what happened in the period of Judges, Psalm 106, Save us, O Lord, gather us from among the nations, give thanks to Thy name. By the way, the period of Judges was great encouragement to Israel in exile. When Israel finally, Judah, was finally scattered among the nations, went into exile. We'll talk about this with the movement that takes place in the book of Psalms. How God has judged His people as the Davidic covenant come to an end. Will God be faithful? And in the midst of their ultimate calamities, scattered among the nations, Israel, Israel in exile, Israel on the day of the Lord's tribulation, judgments of Yahweh will gain their greatest encouragement from what part of the Old Testament? Judges. If God could deliver us during the period of Judges, He will have compassion upon us. And so they call for salvation. Nehemiah 9, but you just don't have time. Once again, context is Israel's disobedience to the Mosaic covenant, but God's continuing faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant. Israel's covenant disloyalty, which by the way continued on into Nehemiah's day. And yet God's continuing loyalty to the Abrahamic covenant. That's why the exile was not the end. That's why a remnant has returned to Jerusalem in Nehemiah's day. It's all because of the Lord's loyalty to the Abrahamic covenant that was also shown during the period of the Judges. So gentlemen, this latest scripture, beginning and end, before chapter 1, it's the beginning of the first chapter. Beginning and end before before chapter one, right? Abrahamic covenant end of chapter 21, verse 25, right? Abrahamic covenant. Make sure you read judges realizing his envelope with God's loyalty to the Abrahamic covenant. That's that's the solution to how God could have. Confession, how he could protect and deliver his people when they provoked him to intense and generation by generation more intense anger because of their idolatry that led to these abominable practices. It just got worse and worse and worse. We see in the judges, we're going to come back to this with the spirit's enablement, with the kings as well. But what enabled these judges to do their exploits to bring these military deliverances? The Spirit of the Lord came upon them. The enablement of the Holy Spirit. They were just mere men. But they became theocratic warriors, impaled by the Holy Spirit. Again, again, it's the Lord communicates through his messenger, the angel of Yahweh, particularly in Chapter 13 in the same some birth narrative. And of course, the angel, the messenger of Yahweh is Yahweh himself. I won't say any more about it, but certainly as you read through the book, it's it's pretty brutal. Gentlemen, you're going to you're going to read your Hebrew and you're going to get ready to preach and say, how do I say this to a mixed congregation? I used to read the passage, but you can do that yourself. And once again, realize you're reading the sanitized version. The narrative is not speaking out with narratives of deeds even more abominable than what is in the book. More could be said. You read chapters 17 to 21 and you say. These are Sunday School lessons. And you say, yeah, and that that was about as good of bad examples as could be brought up. There were many worse than that. In the kingship. Interesting Gideon. Gideon is able to withstand the temptation to become a king. Too bad he couldn't also become a priest. A Bimalak has on the board of a tent. To take what his father had turned down. But. But certainly Israel had no human king. There was no ultimate authority in Israel. Now, once again, these are judges. Who were called to adjudicate based upon Torah. If they adjudicated and the people would follow, they'd be following whose authority? Yahweh as the king. If Israel disobeys Torah, they are not responding to Yahweh as king. And so there is no king. In Israel. Not only no human king, but no king. If you're stubborn and stiff necked against what Yahweh has said, there is no king. The result is what everyone does according to his own ways. Everyone does what is right in his own eyes. This off God is going to reassert his authority over his people. Because. Of. Of this utter sinfulness on their part is going to have to be through a human king. A king over all Israel because the judges over the individual tribes. Were because of the stubbornness of Israel. And the stubbornness of the people, the stiff neckedness of the people. There was no change taking place. So the issue of kingship is behind the narrative of judges as well.