Judges
Everyone Did What Was Right In His Own Eyes
Old Testament · History
Summary
Joshua died leaving each tribe to govern its own affairs and eliminate remaining Canaanites. There was no strong national leadership. Two major failures produced rapid spiritual degeneration: 1) They failed to obey God's orders to eliminate totally the Canaanites. 2) They failed to teach their children about Yahweh. Another generation arose that didn't know Yahweh. The same cycle was repeated throughout the period of the judges: rebellion, oppression, repentance, salvation. Judges reveals the development of Israel from the death of Joshua to the reformation and unification movement under Samuel.
Outline
Failure Produced By Partial Obedience
Chapters 1-3:6| Partial conquest of God's land | 1-2:5 | Judah and Simeon's conquests - 1:1-20 Partial failure by tribes - 1:21-36 Resulting thorns and snares - 2:1-5 |
| Occasional obedience of God's law | 2:6-3:6 | Initial faithfulness - 2:6-9 Ignorant generation - 2:10 Idolatrous disobedience - 2:11-13 Corrective punishment - 2:14-15 Liberating leadership - 2:16-18 Repetitious rebellion - 2:19 Oppressing nations - 2:20-3:6 |
Failure Produced Oppression
Chapters 3:7-16:31| Othniel's liberation from Mesopotamia | 3:7-11 | |
| Ehud's liberation from Moab | 3:12-30 | |
| Shamgar's liberation from Philistines | 3:31 | |
| Deborah's liberation from Canaan | 4-5 | |
| Gideon's liberation from Midian | 6-8 | |
| Abimelech's tyranny over Israel | 9 | |
| Tola and Jair's liberating leadership | 10:1-5 | |
| Jephthah's liberation from Ammonites | 10:6-12:7 | |
| Ibzan, Elon and Abdon's leadership | 12:8-15 | |
| Samson's liberation from Philistines | 13-16 | His birth and promise - 13 His carnality - 14-16:20a His defeat - 16:20b-22 His victory - 16:23-31 |
Failure Produced Perversion
Chapters 17-21| Infidelity: Micah, the priest, and the Danites | 17-18 | |
| Immorality: A girl, the Levite, and the Benjaminites | 19-21 | Atrocity committed - 19 Offenders attacked - 20 Wives provided - 21 |
Resources
Audio Lessons
Part 1: judges