Bible Survey: Judges

The theme of Judges is apostasy and judgment, and its key verse appears twice: In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6). That sounds a good deal like America today.

The writer is not named, though tradition has long held it was Samuel. There was no one to take Joshua's place, and after he died things went downhill fast. The judges God raised up were not judges in our sense of the word. They were deliverers who led Israel against its enemies.

The book goes around the same circle again and again: rebellion, retribution, repentance and restoration. Israel forsook the Lord, He delivered them into the hands of their enemies, they cried unto the Lord, and He raised up a judge. Then they would not hearken unto their judges (Judges 2:17), and it all began again. People still do that. They get in a tight spot and promise God they will be in church every Sunday, and once He brings them through, they go right back to their old ways.

Samson is the strangest of the judges — a carnal man, and yet the Spirit of the Lord came upon him more often than on any other judge, and Hebrews 11 counts him among the men of faith.

Then there is Jephthah's vow. Some believe he offered his daughter as a burnt offering, but Brother Barker was convinced he did not. God calls human sacrifice an abomination (Deuteronomy 12:31), the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and his daughter went to bewail her virginity, not her death. More likely he gave her to serve the Lord for the rest of her life. Either way the lesson is plain: I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back (Judges 11:35). A promise made to God must be kept.

Next in the series: Ruth.

Taught by Brother James Barker in Sunday School at Naples Independent Baptist Church, May 31, 2020. Watch the lesson.