Title
The name of the book (Judges) refers to the leaders
Israel had from the time of the elders who outlived
Joshua until the time of the monarchy, whose principal
purpose is best expressed in 2:16: “Then the Lord raised
up judges, who saved them out of the hands of . . .
raiders.”
I guess you
could say they were a little like Winston Churchill, the
man of the hour.
Author and Date
Although tradition ascribes the book to Samuel,
the author is actually unknown. It is possible that
Samuel assembled some of the accounts from the period of
the judges and that such prophets as Nathan and Gad,
both of whom were associated with David’s court, had a
hand in shaping and editing the material.
The date of composition is also unknown but it was
undoubtedly during the monarchy. The frequent expression
“In those days Israel had no king” (17:6; 18:1; 19:1;
21:25) suggests a date after the establishment of the
monarchy, probably after the Davidic dynasty had been
effectively established in the tenth century BC.
So
then, what is it all about?
The book of Judges depicts the life of Israel in the
promised land from the death of Joshua to the rise of
the monarchy. On the one hand it is an account of
frequent apostasy, provoking divine chastening. On the
other hand, it tells of urgent appeals to God in times
of crisis, moving the Lord to raise up leaders (judges)
through whom he throws off foreign oppressors and
restores the land to peace.
At the start of the book of Judges we find that, through
the leadership of Joshua, many of the covenant promises
God had made to their ancestors were fulfilled (see Jos
21:43–45).
The Lord’s land, where Israel was to enter into rest,
lay under their feet; it now only remained for them to
occupy it, to displace the Canaanites and to cleanse it
of paganism.
The time had come for Israel to be the kingdom of God in
the form of an established commonwealth on earth.
But in Canaan Israel quickly forgot the acts of God that
had given them birth and had established them in the
land. Consequently they lost sight of their unique
identity as God’s people, chosen and called to be his
army and the loyal citizens of his emerging kingdom.
Instead, they settled down and attached themselves to
Canaan’s peoples together with Canaanite morals, gods,
and religious beliefs and practices.
And because of this we find that throughout the book of
Judges the fundamental issue is the lordship of God in
Israel, especially Israel’s acknowledgement of and
loyalty to his rule.
Consequently then, we find that throughout Judges the
author accuses Israel of having rejected the kingship of
the Lord again and again.
They stopped fighting the Lord’s battles, turned to the
gods of Canaan to secure the blessings of family, flocks
and fields, and abandoned God’s laws for daily living.
Even Gideon had to remind Israel that the Lord was their
King
(Judges 8:23).
But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor
shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over
you.”
The recurring lament, and indictment, in this book then
is: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did
as he saw fit”
Of course the primary reference here is doubtless to the
earthly kings, but the implicit charge is that Israel
did not truly acknowledge or obey her heavenly King
either.
Only by the Lord’s use of foreign oppression to chasten
his people — thereby implementing the covenant curses
(see Lev 26:14–45; Dt 28:15–68) — and by his raising up
deliverers when his people cried out to him did he
maintain his kingship in Israel and preserve his
embryonic kingdom from extinction.
Nevertheless, out of the recurring cycles of
disobedience, foreign oppression, cries of distress, and
deliverance emerges another important theme — the
covenant faithfulness of the Lord.
The amazing patience and long-suffering of God are no
better demonstrated than during this unsettled period.
It is also interesting to note that this age of Israel’s
failure, followed directly after all the redemptive
events that came through Moses and Joshua, remind us
today to be on our guard especially after we have been
blessed or God has done a great work in our lives.
Another thing that is noteworthy in Judges is the
special way in which God’s Spirit enabled people to
accomplish feats of victory in the Lord’s war against
the powers that threatened his kingdom (see 3:10; 6:34;
11:29; 13:25; 14:6,19; 15:14; see also 1Sa 10:6,10;
11:6; 16:13).
And it is this same Spirit that was poured out on the
church following Pentecost that empowered the people of
the Lord to begin the task of preaching the gospel to
all nations and of advancing the kingdom of God (see
notes on Ac 1:2,8).
Conclusion
How then does all this apply to us today?
-
God keeps his promises. The promises God had made to
their ancestors were fulfilled, and the promises he
has made to us he will fulfil.
-
We need to occupy the land God has given us just
like Israel should have done.
-
It is easy for us to lose sight of our unique
identity as God’s people, chosen and called to be
his army and the loyal citizens of his emerging
kingdom.
-
They settled down and attached themselves to
Canaan’s peoples together with Canaanite morals,
gods, and religious beliefs and practices, we often
do the same.
-
Do we acknowledge Gods Kingship over our lives?
-
God is patient and long-suffering.
-
We can do amazing things for God because of the
power of God
in us.
Judges 7 and 8
Gideon
Introduction
Gideon, if I was to be honest, was a person with a lot
of problems, the biggest being his lack of faith.
In
fact if you were to read the rest of his life story you
will note that Gideon goes on to lead Israel into idol
worship because he wanted the comforts of victory
without any of the responsibility of it.
And yet despite this God worked through him to achieve
an amazing victory, as we heard in our bible reading
this morning.
I
cannot help but see a parallel between Gideon’s life and
modern day Christianity. Many want all the trappings of
Christianity but not the responsibility or the sacrifice
that comes with it. So many Christians seem to want a
pick and mix kind of Christianity that fits into their
life style or meets their needs not the other way round.
They want to appear holy but not have to apply the
teachings of Jesus to their every day lives.
Added to this I think we sometimes just want the kind of
God we can put into some kind of little box, that fits
with the kind of God we want. We want to control him. We
want him to give us the kind of blessings and help that
benefits us but what we often don’t want is the
responsibility that comes with following Jesus.
So
then back to the story of Gideon’s life.
Chapter 6 ends with the famous story of Gideon testing
God two times with the fleece.
Chapter 7 starts with a reversal of this as God tests
Gideon to see if he will trust Him to go into battle
with the Midianites.
In
perhaps one of Gideon’s better moments he seems pretty
willing to go along with God’s plan as the numbers of
his army are reduced and reduced even more to an amount
so small that any victory they obtain will surely be
because of God. Perhaps this is why the New Testament
remembers Gideon’s faith.
However, having said that verses 13-15 in Chapter 7 tell
about how Gideon overhears an enemy’s dream predicting
Israel’s victory and how at this point he finally
believes.
Unbelievably it seems then that an Angel of the Lord,
fire from a rock and the test with the fleece wasn’t
quite enough proof for Gideon to take God at his word.
So
with 300 men, some smashed clay pots, good timing, fire
and yelling Israel, led by Gideon, defeats the evil
Midianites. Israel never has to draw their swords
because the Midianites end up killing each other.
So
at first glance this stunning victory seems like it
would be at the centre of Gideon’s life and ministry.
This story then could be taken as the defining moment of
his life, the moment when everything fell into place and
Gideon never looked back spiritually. It is the moment
when his faith forever becomes strong. And we today can
look back at his life and say here is a man of God whose
faith is un-wavering, an example to us all!
Or
can we?
The sad fact is when we look closer at his life story it
seems that we find a man of unbelief.
This is simply because the story of Gideon's life,
begins and ends with Israel worshipping idols and not
God.
To
illustrate this let me continue with the story.
Let me read to you Chapter 8, verses 22-27.
Gideon's Ephod
The Israelites said to Gideon, "Rule over us—you, your
son and your grandson—because you have saved us out of
the hand of Midian."
But Gideon told them, "I will not rule over you, nor
will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you."
And he said, "I do have one request, that each of you
give me an earring from your share of the plunder." (It
was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold
earrings.)
They answered, "We'll be glad to give them." So they
spread out a garment, and each man threw a ring from his
plunder onto it. The weight of the gold rings he asked
for came to seventeen hundred shekels, not counting the
ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by
the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their
camels' necks.
Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in
Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by
worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and
his family.
Verses 30-31
He
had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives. His
concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son,
whom he named Abimelech.
In
verse 22 Israel asks Gideon to rule over them. Gideon is
a mighty warrior, filled with the Spirit of God who has
just led them to an amazing victory over their enemies,
so it’s obvious why the Israelites are willing to follow
him.
However Gideon is unwilling which may at first glance
appear to be out of humility.
And yet, by looking more closely at the story, it
becomes obvious that this isn’t the case. For example:-
1.
In verse 22 when the people of Israel credit
Gideon with the miraculous victory he does nothing to
correct them when obviously it was God’s victory.
2.
When the people ask him to rule over them he
refuses but asks for some share of the plunder, which is
the wealth taken from the Midianites. He wants none of
the responsibility of leadership but all the benefits of
it.
3.
The story continues with Gideon taking the
plunder and forming it into an idol so that Israel could
worship it. This brings to mind the incident with the
Golden Calf that Aaron made while Moses was up on the
mountain talking to God.
4.
As if taking the plunder from a victory that was
obviously God’s and forming it into an idol wasn’t bad
enough, the place Gideon chose to set up the idol is
quite revealing as well. God had chosen Shiloh as the
place of worship but Gideon sets up the idol in his
hometown bringing glory to himself.
5.
And finally we find in verses 30 and 31 Gideon
now has a harem, with many wives.
Its shocking isn’t it really!
Can you image what it must have been like in heaven at
this moment.
Instead of choosing God Gideon chose the things of this
world. Instead of encouraging the people to worship God
he made an idol
Gideon wanted the comforts of victory without any of the
responsibility of it. The worst part about it is that
Gideon seems to have taken most of the credit for the
victory.
Sometimes when I look at some forms of so called
Christianity it seems to me that people want a faith
that they can take credit for.
I
did it my way faith
- you know the kind I mean. The kind of faith that is
often more about what God can do for you or the kind
that says if you follow a set of rules or worship in a
certain way then you are a Christian and God is going to
bless you.
The bigger things like justice, mercy, acceptance for
who you are, grace, forgiveness and love sadly often get
ignored.
Just recently I have been challenged about Christian
unity and what things divide us, and one area sadly is
Holy Communion
The problem is that when it starts to become about
religion and not about relationship with Jesus then we
are in big trouble.
You will either end up feeling guilty because you can't
measure up or you will be filled with pride thinking
that your form of Christianity is better than any one
else’s.
But the truth is that we're all sinners.
God in the Old Testament was looking for people who
would simply worship and follow Him, in obedience and
faith. Jesus today is looking for people who will simply
worship and follow Him, in obedience and faith.
Is
that you?
What kind of faith are you looking for - the real stuff!
Or
are you looking for the kind of religion and faith that
Gideon left Gods people with after he died - the fake
kind of faith?
Judges 15
Samson defeats the Philistines
Introduction
Ø
I am sure we all have a favourite super hero
Ø
But as much as we like them, or even maybe wish we had
their powers, they are not real people!
Ø
So what about Samson? Was he a real person? The simple
answer is yes he was. You see once you start to doubt
that he was real and did the things he did then you are
on a slippery slope which in the end undermines the
whole Bible. Simply put if you cannot believe the Bible
in one part how do you know you can trust the rest of
it?
Ø
However, the Bible has been proven to be trustworthy
time and time again despite what some so called experts
might say.
The story so far chapters 14-15
o
Samson went down to Tim-nah to get a wife from one of
the Philistine women
o
His mum and dad were not happy about this. But it was of
the Lord. He was looking for an opportunity to confront
the Philistines
o
Samson kills a lion on his way to meet his future bride.
o
He likes her and so he returns a few weeks later to
marry her. On his journey he sees that a swarm of bees
has made some honey in the carcass of the lion so he
eats the honey.
o
He uses this as a riddle to confound the Philistines.
They cannot answer it so they ask his wife to find out
the answer and after much nagging (7 days) he tells her
and in turn she tells her people
o
Samson is not happy about this because he has to give
them thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.
o
Which he does by killing 30 Philistines and giving their
clothes to them.
o
Samson then returns home
o
Meanwhile the Philistines give Samson’s wife away to
another man
o
Later Samson returns to find his wife in bed with
another man and his father-in-law trying to offer him
his wife’s sister
o
So in true Samson fashion he caught 300 foxes and tied
them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to
every pair of tails lit the torches and set them free in
the Philistines corn
o
Samson’s wife and her father are killed because of what
Samson did.
o
Samson takes out his vengeance and anger upon those who
killed his wife by killing many of them
o
Samson then goes to a cave
o
Whilst Samson is in his cave the Philistine army comes
up against the Israelites to do battle.
o
So we find Samson's own people tying him up and handing
him over to the Philistines
o
Samson kills 1000 Philistines with a donkeys jaw-bone.
Well, as you can see much has happened in these last 2
chapters and there is much we can learn and apply to our
lives today. But for me there are 3 things that stand
out.
1. Revenge (11)
Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave
in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, 'Don't you
realise that the Philistines are rulers over us? What
have you done to us?' He answered 'I merely did to them
what they did to me.'
Revenge is an uncontrollable monster.
Ø
Each act of retaliation brings another.
Ø
It is a boomerang that cannot be thrown without cost to
the thrower.
Ø
The revenge cycle can only be halted by forgiveness and
peace makers.
2. Pride (16)
Then Samson said 'With a donkey's jaw-bone I have made
donkeys of them. With a donkey's jaw-bone I have killed
a thousand men.'
Ø
Samson was full of self important pride, and in the end
it aided his downfall, just like pride brought about the
down fall of Lucifer.
Ø
We have no right to claim the glory for anything we do
or have as all comes from God. We would not exist if it
were not for God.
Ø
God sees fit to uses us for his purposes – we sow the
seed but it is he who gives the increase.
Ø
Samson should have given all the glory to God for his
victory and so should we give all the glory to God for
all that we have, especially our salvation.
3. Vulnerability (18)
Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the LORD,
'You have given your servant this great victory. Must I
now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the
uncircumcised?'
Ø
We can be very vulnerable after a great victory as a
church or as an individual
Ø
Therefore we should always be on our guard
So as I conclude let us not be
Judges
16
Introduction
Today in our Bible reading we read about the tragic end
of Samson who lost his power, his position and his
testimony because he valued the sin in his life more
than he valued God.
The story so far
Ø
Last week we left Samson tired out after defeating 1000
Philistines in battle
Ø
Chapter 16 begins with Samson going to a place called
Gaza to have sex with a prostitute. When he woke up in
the middle of the night he found the gates to the city
locked, which he lifts off their hinges and carries up
to the top of a nearby hill and leaves them there for
all to see.
Ø
We then come to that famous story about Delilah, and how
she tries to find the secret to his strength. Samson is
reluctant to tell her. In fact her deceives her 3 times
by telling her that
1.
Bowstrings that have not yet been dried will make
me weak.
2.
New ropes that have never been used will make me
like other men.
3.
If she weaves his hair into seven braids into the
fabric on Delilah’s loom and tighten it with the loom
shuttle, he will become weak.
However Delilah keeps on for days and in the end he
gives in and tells her
Like Superman Samson had his weakness. For Superman it
is kryptonite, for Samson it was his hair. Though I
think his real weakness was the lust of his eyes, not
his hair.
Whilst we may not be Supermen or Superwomen we all have
our weakness!
And they come in different shapes and sizes.
The problem with sin is if it is left unchecked then it
grows and gets a stronger hold on our lives. Small sins
can lead to bigger and more harmful sin, which in turn
can cause great harm to our lives, our family’s and
friends.
For Samson it was
Sexual Lust!
We in churches don’t like to talk about sex.
Yet it can be a very destructive force within our
churches.
How many ministers can you think of who have fallen prey
to some form of sexual sin. Or for that matter how many
Christians have given in to sexual temptation and I am
not just thinking about Adultery!
In a book called searching for Intimacy it comes up with
so interesting facts about sex/porn on the internet.
For example:
Ø
The world sex is the most popular search term used
Ø
The US porn industry nets 15 billion dollars annually
Ø
It releases 10,000 new titles a year (compared to 400
mainstream Hollywood movies)
Ø
A third of UK internet users access porn online
Ø
A quarter of all UK internet traffic goes to porn sites
and 70 per cent of this occurs at work
Ø
One in five had been exposed to unwanted online sexual
advances
Ø
Four out of ten pastors in a USA survey admitted
visiting porn sites.
Now you may be thinking well that’s not me vicar, and
maybe even have a smug feeling about the fact that you
have not fallen prey to that kind of sinfulness.
But if I were to invite you to come up here and tell
everyone what sins you have committed in your heart and
mind would you tell everyone?
The fact is we all have sin in us and what we should not
do is feed it or put ourselves in harms way
Because if we do, in the end it will come back to haunt
us. What is more it will sap us of our spiritual
strength!
Samson played with fire and he got burnt, and if we
don’t want to be burnt then the simple answer is to stop
playing with fire!
However if you are struggling with porn or some issue in
your life then don’t make the mistake of not doing
anything about it. Pray about it even if you don’t want
to, fill your mind with things that are good, stay away
from temptation, get into good habits, talk with someone
you can trust, or if things are getting out of hand then
you may need to seek some professional help.
But more importantly don’t fall for the lie that you are
the only person who has these issues in their life.
Conclusion
Well as we conclude lets look at what happened to Samson
in the end.
Please read (Judges 16: 23-31)
So what can we learn from this last part of the story
Well for me it tells that with the God in whom I trust I
will always find that there is always hope, forgiveness
and restoration
Ø
Despite all that Samson had done God listened to his
final prayer
Ø
In the end Samson had his greatest victory after all he
had done.
Ø
It is often after the trial of temptation that we do
some of our greatest work
Ø
This also teaches us that we should not give up on
people – or treat them as outcasts when they fail,
particularly church leaders.
So let us not give into temptation or put ourselves in
it’s way and never give up even when we fall into sin,
because there is always (so long as we are truly
repentant) forgiveness and restoration available to us.
