a jog thru judges

How long has it been since you last read the Book of Judges? Did you find yourself asking, “Why?! Why, God, is it necessary to include a book in the Bible fraught with such grisly detail?” One answer might be for the junior high boy inside all of us! 🙂

I’m bringing my Discipleship Class from church on a jog with me through the Book of Judges over the next several Sundays. There are many sights along the way such as Judah’s role as primary tribe, the nature of war and its wretchedness in comparison to that of the nation, the importance of God’s presence and His Spirit empowering the judges, and an introduction to the angel of the Lord and learning about true worship in contrast to the idol worship all around. Of course there is the repeated statement towards the end of the book about “no king in Israel” and everyone doing whatever is “right in their own eyes.” And we can’t forget about the strongest man contest, a foolish vow which leads to family tragedy, the son of the man who would not be king who names his son “my father is king,” and the twelve putrid packages which lead to civil war, all ending in the Shiloh-shakedown (a wife-snatching dance for the mother-less kids of Benjamin, no kidding!).

The Book of Judges is a mess! Israel is mess . . . . we’re a mess! I heard it said many years ago by one of our Men of God speakers (Voddie Baucham in 2012), “Sin makes you stupid!” And it’s all on display through this book. As the nation slides through their cycle of downward doom, the book moves biblical readers from singular leadership to singular leadership, from Joshua to Samuel (and ultimately to King David). What they go through recounts their need for leadership that truly worships the one true God. The nation is lost without leadership; Israel needs its L-eader. Like them, we also are lost without our Leader. And part of the discovery is finding Jesus along the way!