Judges

Book: Judges

Aug 24

Since Genesis 1:26, and 3:15 the narrative has looked for the Ruler. In Genesis 12:1-3, the Ruler was to Rule from within Israel. In Genesis 15, God promised Israel the land as their inheritance. Yet the book is, as its place in the Biblical narrative, a tragedy. The hope of conquering the land falls to a civil war rather than eliminating the enemy, and the people have no hope, having changed depravity and superstition to the level of the Law, and the Law itself has been forgotten. The only hope is the anticipation of the coming King.

Then beginning in Exodus, God had begun to equip the nation to represent Him. The deliverance from Egypt, the Law, the dwelling in the tabernacle, and finally the land under Joshua. Now God moves to install Judges (Deuteronomy 16--17) who will anticipate His King, by possessing the land. These Judges, while not kings (“there was no king in Israel”), will demonstrate the problem of the lack of the proper heart. The judge will ultimately glorify himself, not God, through his decisions, making God in his image. God will serve the judge, instead of the other way around.

The “cycles” of the Judges continually go downhill, demonstrating the depravity of the heart of the leadership and the nation. Israel continues in these cycles and will decline until she goes into captivity. It will only be the new heart (Jeremiah 31:31-34) that will come with the ultimate Judge/Ruler that will change Israel, yet she will reject it when the ultimate “Judge/King” appears in Jesus.

“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)