The Period Of The Judges

by Chris Simmons

Following the conquest of the promised land, and the fulfillment of the land promise, over approximately a 350 year period (1400 to 1050 BC) a total of 13 judges (Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Abimelech (a usurper), Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson) provided leadership in Israel. Their responsibilities including delivery of God’s messages, delivery of the people from oppression and providing spiritual, political and military leadership of the Israelite nation during some of the more turbulent years of Israel’s history. One scholar noted that the word “judge” in Hebrew denotes “the activity of governance, including warfare” and that the word “is not used like our modern concept of holding court, or hearing complaints and rendering legal decisions.”

The primary defining attribute of the period of the judges was a constant vacillation between obedience and apostasy. It was a repetitious cycle that is described in Judges 2:13-19, “So they forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. And the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken and as the Lord had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed. Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them … And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered 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 oppressed and afflicted them. But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.” A legitimate question is, shouldn’t they have been able to learn from their mistakes and once they were “delivered,” continue with their humble obedience and corresponding prosperity? Why did they continue to repeat this vicious cycle?

Scripture reveals to us that this vicious cycle could be directly linked to three key points.

First, that the children of Israel disobeyed and failed to drive out all of the inhabitants of the promised land as they had been told to do. In Judges chapter one (verses 19-33), it is repeatedly said of the tribes of Israel that they did not completely drive out the inhabitants of whatever portion of the land they were given as an inheritance. Whether out of laziness or out of selfishness (so they could use the inhabitants as forced laborers, verses 30, 33) the Israelites disobeyed and let the inhabitants continue to live among them. God had warned them, “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land in which you live” (Numbers 33:55). Just as God warned, so it happened. Judges 2:1-3, “And he said, ‘I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, “I will never break My covenant with you, and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.” But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done?” Therefore I also said, “I will not drive them out before you; but they shall become as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”’” The responsibility to finish driving out the inhabitants of the promised land belonged to the Israelites. God surely would’ve supported and blessed them in all their efforts to “dispossess” the nations inhabiting the land as He commanded (Deuteronomy 31:3). But when they failed to do what God said, God told them that He would not do the work that He had assigned to them. “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 it as their fathers did, or not” Judges 2:21-22. The period of the judges is simply an account of the repeated failings by Israel of God’s tests.

There’s a parallel application for us to make in our lives today. When we fail to completely drive out (repent of) the sinful influences in our life, we can be assured that they will come back to be thorns in our sides and pricks in our eyes just as the inhabitants of the land were to the Israelites. Repeatedly in Paul’s epistles we read of God’s command to put aside or put away those things that separate man from God (Ephesians 4:31-32; Colossians 3:5-11; Romans 13:12-14). Rest assured, if we fail to completely drive out those sinful thoughts, deeds and the associated influences and temptations, they will also be the thorns in our side like the heathen nations were to the Israelites.

We also need to learn the lesson that the challenges of “peer pressure” are not relegated only to the young. At every stage of life, we need to heed the warning of Jeremiah who said “do not learn the way of the nations” (Jeremiah 10:2). By bringing the Israelites into the promised land, He was also bringing judgment upon the nations inhabiting the land for their sinful conduct (Leviticus 18:25) and He warned Moses “you shall not do … what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you” (Leviticus 18:3) lest the land “spew you out” (Leviticus 18:28) as it did to the nations before them. Who we choose to associate with and allow into our inner circle of companions will certainly have an impact on us at whatever stage of life we may find ourselves. The influence of the world we live in can be tremendous and Satan seeks to impose the “way of the nations” on the church and our individual lives continuously today. We must beware and be vigilant against his efforts.

Second was the lack of leadership in the home and a failure to provide teaching that parents needed to provide to their children. Judges 2:10 simply notes that “all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.” Knowledge of “all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel” (verse 7) lasted only as long as the generation of Joshua and the elders. The next generation didn’t know God or the mighty works He had performed for their nation – why is that? There was no excuse for children to grow up in Jewish homes in the days of the judges, or for children to grow up in the homes of Christians today and NOT KNOW about what God has done (God’s scheme of redemption) or what His will for us is. It was God’s expectation that parents would daily teach and communicate with their children about the “words which I am commanding you today” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Paul communicated God’s expectation that fathers “bring them (your children) up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Is there any realistic hope of doing that if our teaching and instruction is random, haphazard and anything but a daily part of our lives? Every generation of parents has but one chance to teach their children of the “great work of the Lord” – we can’t waste it. The period of the judges teaches us that it only takes one generation of parents who are negligent in their responsibilities to teach to bring about devastating and far-reaching consequences.

Third, was the lack of spiritual leadership in Israel. Characteristic of this time period was the statement “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). God was their king but where were the priests? It was their responsibility to teach the law of the Lord throughout the land and to provide sound instruction that would turn them from their sin. Perhaps more importantly they failed to provide the right example. They had failed in their God-given mission. Malachi specifically addressed the duties and responsibilities of priests in Malachi 2:7-9 when he said, “‘For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,’ says the Lord of hosts.” In the church today, we need teachers, evangelists and elders who speak only the “utterances of God” (I Peter 4:11), who are committed to abiding in the doctrine of Christ (II John 9) and who have the courage and conviction to “reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction” (II Tim. 4:2). Without such, the church today will be destined to the same consequences the nation of Israel faced.

A study of the period of the judges is a study of a permissive society lacking any concern for divine authority and clearly illustrates the contrast between the righteousness, faithfulness and lovingkindness of God and the consequences of a society without regard to divine law.