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Logos Ministries Incorporated
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THERE WAS NO KING IN ISRAEL This is an Inductive Study of the book of Judges. The author leads the reader through an inductive study of this Old Testament book. Particular attention is paid to the message about God in this book INTRODUCTION It is not unusual to hear non-Christians, new believers and, on occasion, believers who have been long-term members of God's family say they cannot or will not read the book of Judges. The reasons are varied, but some seem to be repeated again and again. Some are repulsed by the repeated reports of brutal killings and gory details. To make matters worse, God is involved in some of these episodes. Such reports offend their sensibilities. They cannot believe a loving God would send thousands of men into battle to be slaughtered. We must affirm that there are a number of gory episodes in the text. In the text, God did send thousands of men into battle and it was predictable that they would be killed. This is a problem that is involved in one's understanding of the nature of God. Some people do not believe that divine judgment is a biblical concept. At this point, therefore, they would question whether the book of Judges belongs in the Biblical canon. There are several instances in the text where God pronounced judgment both upon Israel and the pagan nations who lived in and around the Promised Land. Again, some people are offended by this judgment because they believe that this contradicts the New Testament picture of a loving and merciful God. There are those who name the name of Christ who do not believe in spiritual warfare. One must admit that there are repeated instances in this book which carefully describe the intense warfare between the kingdom of God and the forces of evil. Further, the struggle described in Judges is a life or death encounter between the forces of God and idolatry. We must admit that these issues are quite real for those who are offended by them. This study will attempt to deal directly with each of these issues. In the matter of the brutal killings and gory details, one must make some clear distinctions whether this is a flaw in the divine nature or the consequence of the sinfulness of people, their thoughts and actions. Rather than a flaw in the divine nature, this study will attempt to point out that this is a picture of just how flagrant the sinfulness of mankind had become. There is no doubt that there are repeated instances of divine judgment upon both Israel and their idolatrous neighbors. Judgment, even divine judgment, must deal with abject sinful thought and action. This is not the only place in Scripture where the issue of judgment is addressed. The prophets wrote about it. Jesus preached about it in the Gospel records. It is illustrated in the Torah. Paul, Peter and John all wrote about the judgment of sin and the blessing of God upon the righteous. At this point, then, the issue becomes whether one accepts the Biblical record as authentic or not. There is another issue concerning judgment. Some believe that the judgment found in the book of Judges is contrary to the loving and merciful picture of God in the New Testament. It is the position of this study that there is a loving purpose in the divine judgment. This study will attempt to demonstrate that the instances of divine judgment, particularly those dealing with Israel, were intended to bring Israel back into fellowship with their God. If you will look at these instances in the text, you will find that on each occasion, God punished Israel and almost immediately the people cried to God for help and promised to serve Him again. It is the position of this study that these experiences of judgment were expressions of God's love and mercy rather of His anger and abuse. There are those who do not believe that there is such a thing as spiritual warfare. It should be affirmed that there are many expressions of spiritual warfare in this text. Further, most of the New Testament describes instances of spiritual warfare that have taken place. The New Testament also deals with spiritual warfare that is yet to take place. Here, again, the issue appears to be one's understanding of the validity of Scripture. The author of this work has found the book of Judges to be a source of comfort rather than a source of frustration and fear. Seeing how patient God was with Israel and knowing that God never changes gives him hope for his own failures to be all that God wants him to be. It has also been his experience that when people discover the mercy of God in judges, their fear of the book is greatly diminished. This is an inductive study of the book of Judges. It is designed to allow the text to present its clear message to our hearts. This is the way God reveals Himself and His will for our lives in the Scriptures. The format is designed so that a person can approach the study in one of two ways: One can answer the questions which precede each chapter and then compare their study with that of the author. On the other hand, one can go directly to the study recorded by this author. It is the fond hope of the author that in this study you will sense the presence of a loving, merciful and patient God on every page. Further, it is hoped that the reader will discover, anew, a deeper understanding of his/her relationship with God and how to live that relationship in a world that is as hostile to salt and light as the pagan neighbors of Israel were in the time of the judges. |
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