Understanding the Old Testament: Book of Judges

It is a very touching love story….a story of a passionate Lover… seeking his beloved….His beloved initially falls in love the with the Lover; but after a time the beloved betrays Him.   Instead, she seeks out other lovers and lies with them.  In turn, the passionate Lover is broken hearted, and grieves his loss.  But the passionate Lover is ever faithful, and awaits her return.

After the adulterous beloved falls into ruin, she returns to the Lover she betrayed.  They reconcile, and the passionate Lover binds up the wounds of his believed; and nurses her back to health; and His love heals her.

But once she is on her feet, she has a wandering eye.  And before long, she succumbs to her lust; and the story is repeats over and over again.

What kind of man the passionate Lover?  To the unknowing, he might appear to be one of the greatest patsies of all times.

HOWEVER, this story is not a soap opera. Rather, I have just summarized the drama of the scriptures of the Old Testament, also called the Old Covenant. 3500 years ago, God made an agreement with his beloved people, who were our spiritual forebears, the ancient Israeli people.  The heart of this covenant is the 10 commandments, given to God’s people that they might live infused with shalom, which means peace, happiness, wellbeing, harmony,  health, and prosperity.

But like adulterous beloved in our story, they continually turned away from God, which led to disaster.

Today we are going to see how this love story gets played out by looking at the Old Covenant Book of Judges, which covers the history of God’s people in Israel time between 3400 to 3000 years ago.

• The background is this:  under General Joshua, who was Moses appointed successor, God’s people left the Sinai wilderness and invaded what we know as modern day Israel. This, they called, the Promised Land, because God had promised this land to the descendants of Abraham, one of the great spiritual heroes of their faith.
• Under Joshua, the invasion was successful and   God’s people obeyed the convent and lived together in relative Shalom.   But once Joshua died, everything fell apart.  God’s people began to turn away from God.  Anarchy descended as the many Canaanite people fought against God’s people, and divided them, and defeated them. Soon, God’s people rejected their religion in favor of the Canaanite religions and cults.

So, to best explain the theological and historical dynamics of this time period, I am going turn to my greatest invention, the Shalom machine.  The Shalom machine is a model, which helps us understand the workings of God’s covenant during the times of the Old Testament, and today.  EXPLAIN…..

1. God had blessed His people with His love and His laws, which was truly the framework of God’s love for them, because He was passionately in love with them. This frame works similar to the covenant of Christian marriage, when woman and man promise to love each other exclusively as long as they both shall live.  (TOSS)
2. Now, God’s Law demands a response—the response of obedience, to keep everything in harmony. (TOSS)
3. But time and time again, God’s people turned away from God and worshipped foreign gods and idols.  Now an idol is similar to our giraffe statutes, whom the Canaanites beloved to be actual gods.  So they would pray to blocks of wood. Idol worship was prevalent throughout the Middle East; and God’s people liked the idea of worshipping a God that they could see.
4. But that got them into trouble(TOSS) in two ways:

• First God commanded that they should worship no other Gods but him; and should not worship idols. 
• Secondly, when they began to worship other Gods, they began to forget and to disobey the 10 commandments, and the other laws of God.
  
  

1. So, what happened?  God withdrew his presence, protection, & provision from his people; and then turned them over to the oppressive Canaanite peoples, who defeated and enslaved them.  PAUSE
2. However, when God’s people repented of their sins and cried out for help, God raised up leaders called Judges, who delivered them from their oppressors. (TOSS)

So, here is the cycle than ran for the 400 years of the Judges, and throughout all the Old Testament. Please repeat after me:

Number 1: God’s people rebelled

Number 2: God disciplines His people

Number 3: God’s people repent

Number 4: God delivers his people//from their enemies.

There were 12 different judges, whom God raised up during this time.  Now these judges not only settled legal disputes between people, but they were magistrates, rulers, and even military leaders.  These judges were faithful to God and his covenant, so God used them as his instruments to liberate his people.

• Perhaps the most widely known Judge was Samson, who delivered his people from the tyranny of the Philistines.

Another Judge was a woman named Deborah, who led Israel 3235 year ago.  Deborah and her general made plans to defeat General Sisera of the Cainites.  Deborah received message from God, telling her that He alone would receive glory for this victory, and would demonstrate that by handing over General Sisera not over to a soldier, but into the hands of a woman.  Sure enough, their armies clashed, and the army  of General Sisera lost.  However, Sisera deserted his men & fled and sought refuge at an isolated mountain camp, where he met Jael, the mistress of the camp.  As we heard in today’s responsive reading, she waited until he was asleep; PAUSE and drove a spike through his head.  God’s word of prophecy came true.

Another famous Judge was named Gideon, who was a small man, and a quiet farmer.  However, he had been faithful to god’s covenant, so God called upon to Gideon to raise an army to defeat Israel’s enemies. At first Gideon refused, but God assured him that He would bring victory to Gideon.  The hostile Canaanite army numbered in the tens of thousands.  However, God wanted to glory for this victory. So, he had Gideon choose a select army of only 300 men.  One night Gideon’s army snuck up on the enemy camp, and they attacked in a manner that God had prescribed.  Instead of going in with swords and spears, God had all 300 men blow trumpets.  As the enemy was aroused, God inspired fear in the enemy; and the soldiers turn against one another, killing each other. The remnant of the enemy army soon ran in retreat, terrified by the Lord God almighty.  So God’s people were victorious, and they enjoyed peace in the land for the next 40 years.

Now, you might well ask what does this have to do with me.  Good questions.  We live in a day and a time which is similar to that of the time of the Book of Judges.

The Canaanite idols of wood and gold have been replaced by the idols of materialism. Christianity is the most materialistic of all the world religions.  God gave us our wealth from the earth so that we could enjoy it in a state of Shalom with Him.

  But too many people have forgotten about God.  They worship celebrities with more devotion than God.  They have made idols of fashion, technology, cars, sexual promiscuity, vanity, gluttony, narcotics, success, money, and much much more.  As such, too many people have chosen their own ways instead of God’s way; and they and our culture are all headed for trouble.

Faithful Christians are called to pray for those people who have turned away from God.   He is still seeking them, for He is a passionate lover.  May we, by the example of our faithfulness, by sharing the Good News, by opening our hearts, churches, and homes, together we  can point the way to the one who will deliver us like the Judges of old—the mighty general of the angel armies, Jesus Christ, our lover, redeemer, friend and Lord.  Amen.

--The Rev. John Donnelly