Judges Week 1

Israel has entered a new phase in its history.  No longer is it conquering land under a military leader.  Now they are settled in the land under the leadership of judges.  These judges aren't like judges today.  They would often sit in the city gate and settle disputes or help people work out their differences.  They also served as military leaders and were looked upon to rescue the people from their enemies.

The book of Judges begins by telling you what's going to happen.  Israel did not follow God's command to wipe out all the people in the land, so they are going to have to constantly defend themselves against their enemies.  God uses these enemies to publish the Israelites for their repeated sins, most of which can be summarized as idolatry.

As you read, notice two patterns.  The first is the pattern that happens with each judge: SIN-SERVITUDE-SUPPLICATION-SALVATION.  In other words, the people fall into sin, they are overtaken by their enemies, they cry out to God, and God rescues them through a judge.  The second pattern is the decline in the judges as the book goes on.  In the beginning, the judges, though sinful, are generally moral people.  As the book goes on, the judges are less and less virtuous.

Judges can be a difficult book to read.  As you read, be sure to see this through the lenses of Christ.  Where the judges fail, Christ is the perfect judge.  Only Christ can truly rescue us from our enemies, namely, sin.  Keep your eyes fixed on Christ as you read!

As you read, keep in mind our reading questions.  Use these as general questions to keep in mind as you read to help formulate your reflections, observations, and questions.

Our guiding questions are these:

• What stood out to you in the reading?

• Was there anything confusing or troubling?

• Did anything make you think differently about God?

• How might what you read change the way you live?

Please post a comment below with some of your questions, comments, and reflections from this week's reading.