Author
Today in our 66-week overview of the Bible we are looking at the book of Judges. Traditionally, Samuel is thought to be the author of the book of Judges. But even conservative scholars acknowledge that the authorship of the book of Judges is uncertain. It is certainly possible that Samuel assembled some of the accounts from the period of the judges and that prophets such as Nathan and Gad had a hand in shaping and editing the material later. (See 1 Chronicles 29:29.)
However, most modern Old Testament scholars view the book of Judges as the third book in the Deuteronomistic History which encompasses the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings.
Date
Even conservative Bible scholars acknowledge that the date of composition of the book of Judges is unknown. The frequent expression in Judges, “in those days Israel had no king”, suggests a date of composition after the monarchy was established. The observation that the Jebusites still controlled Jerusalem (1:21) has been taken by some scholars to indicate a date of composition before David’s capture of the city. (See 2 Samuel 5:6-10.) However, the new conditions in Israel alluded to in chapters 17 through 21 suggest a time after the Davidic dynasty had been well established.
Those scholars who view Judges as part of the Deuteronomistic History view the dating of this book as follows…
Four stages of development may be discerned in the book. First were various stories of local crises and leaders, classic examples of narrative artistry. The stories, rarely involving more than a few tribes, originated in highland villages that comprised immediate and extended families, the so-called fathers’ houses and clans. Israel had begun as a lineage system and developed over time to become an agrarian territorial state. Al older alignment of tribes worshiping God as “El” (“Israel” is Hebrew for “El governs”), mentioned in the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah’s inscription (ca. 1207 B.C.E.) and probably represented by the tribal roster in Gen 49, had fallen on hard times. But the tribal alignment had then been revived and reformed under the influence of those who brought the Sinai traditions into Canaan. Stories of the judges preserve memories of that tumultuous epoch. Scholars generally think that in the second stage these stories were collected for didactic purposes, perhaps by the mid-eighth century B.C. E., when both Israel and Judah were at a peak of national revival… In the third stage these stories were incorporated into the Deuteronomistic History. The hypothesis of such a history is well established. Stemming probably from the reign of the reforming king Josiah (640-609 B.C.E.), the Deuteronomistic History (Dtr 1) was composed to tell the story of life in the land… Finally, after the short-lived Judahite reform and revival under Josiah and the destruction of the nation, the historical work was updated for life in exile (Dtr 2). The era of the judges was set finally within a grimly tragicomic framework (see esp. 1.1-2.5; chs. 19-21). Robert G. Boling[1]
Themes
The title of the book describes the leaders after Joshua until the time of the monarchy in Israel (ca. 1200-1020 B.C.E.) The book is all about the Lord raising up judges who saved the Israelites out of the hands of raiders. But the Lord is Israel’s ultimate Judge and Deliverer.
Judges is an account of frequent apostasy on the part of Israel, followed by appeals to God in times of crisis and the Lord’s deliverance.
The continual lament in Judges is that “in those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit”. The implication is: when we reject the Lord’s kingship we do only as we see fit and life doesn’t go very well.
The Lord uses foreign oppression, thus implementing the covenant curses, to turn his people back to himself. Out of the continual round of apostasy, oppression, fervent prayer, and deliverance emerges the theme of the Lord’s faithfulness to his people.
The same Spirit poured out on the judges, who enabled them to defeat God’s enemies, is now poured out on us after the coming of the second Joshua (Jesus); the Spirit enables us to carry the good news of God’s victory to others.
The sequence we see in the book of Judges is: Rebellion, Retribution, Repentance, and Rescue.[2] Rebellion leads to Retribution. Retribution leads Israel to Repent (at least sort of). And Repentance leads to God’s Rescue.
Structure
- Prologue: Incomplete Conquest & Apostasy (1:1-3:6)
- Oppression & Deliverance (3:7-16:31)
- Epilogue: Religious & Moral Disorder (17-21)
Key Concept—Alter Your Altar
Altars are mentioned a whopping 384 times in the Bible. 361 of those references are in the Old Testament. So, it is safe to say that altars are a major topic in the Hebrew Scriptures. That is of course because animal sacrifice is a major theme. Animal sacrifice was something that the Israelites had in common with other ancient cultures even though they were worshipping very different gods.
At the beginning of Judges 2 we read…
The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’”
When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.
According to the book of Judges, it was a major failing on Israel’s part that she failed to drive the other nations out of the Promised Land and even more of a failure that Israel failed to break down the altars of those foreigners. This warning in chapter 2 is repeated in chapter 6. It is interesting to note that altars are mentioned ten times in the book of Judges. Seven of those references are in chapter six and they all have to do with the story of one man named Gideon.
The story of Gideon begins with the Lord sending an angel to speak to Gideon, and the angel says, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
Now, I don’t know how you would respond if an angel spoke to you. But often in Scripture, human beings respond in fear when they encounter an angel. Not so, Gideon. He responds saying,
Pardon me, my lord, but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.
What a way to talk to an angel! “Pardon me.” I love it. Gideon is bold. He is not afraid of the angel, but rather begins with a complaint against God, right out of the chute. If God is with us, why are we suffering under the hand of a foreign oppressor? Israel asked that question many times throughout ancient history.
I love the Lord’s response to Gideon…
The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
The Lord turns the tables on Gideon and in effect says, “OK, if Israel is in trouble, why don’t you do something about it?”
Suddenly, Gideon turns a bit sheepish, perhaps with a bit of mock humility he says…
Pardon me, my lord, but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.
Of course, Gideon is not the only one in Israel’s history who responds this way to the Lord’s call. Even Moses responded in a similar fashion. When God called Moses to save Israel, Moses pleaded with God to send someone else. Perhaps the only person in the Old Testament to respond positively to God’s call was Isaiah who said, “Here am I, send me!” (Isaiah 6)
But the Lord doesn’t give up on Gideon, just like he doesn’t give up on us. The Lord says to Gideon, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
The Lord’s persistence leads Gideon to say ok…
If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.
This is familiar ground we are covering here. How many people have asked for a sign from God? Gideon was probably not the first and certainly not the last. What is unusual is how the Lord responds to this request. He says, “OK. I will wait until you return.”
So, Gideon goes away and prepares his sacrifice to the Lord and brings it back. Then the angel says to him…
“Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared.
At this point Gideon finally realizes that it’s the angel of the Lord who has been talking to him and he exclaims, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
But the Lord reassures Gideon saying, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
So, Gideon builds an altar to the Lord in that spot, and he calls it, “The Lord is Peace.”
That same night the Lord gives Gideon further instructions…
Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.
Basically, God tells Gideon to alter his altar. This is one of the great invitations of the Bible. I believe God extends this same invitation to us today. He calls on us to alter our altars.
Now, you might be tempted to ask, “What are you talking about, Will? I don’t have any altars.”
You and I may not have an altar in the traditional sense of being a pedestal of wood or stone on which we offer an animal sacrifice. But I think we all have things or people we worship other than the one true God. By worship I mean: To what do you ascribe worth? If you ascribe greater worth to anything or anyone above God and his Son Jesus Christ, I would say that you are worshipping that thing or that person.
Some people worship money, sex, power, family. Some people worship their house. “A man’s home is his castle,” right? I wonder, what is it or who is it that you and I are worshipping today above all else? To what or to whom do we give highest priority?
The amazing thing is that Gideon was willing to obey the Lord and alter his father’s altar. We read in Judges 6, beginning with verse 27…
So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
Do you identify with Gideon? Perhaps you are willing to alter your altars, but you want to do it secretly. You don’t want anyone to find out. You know, God is amazingly gracious. He will accept us even on such terms as Gideon offered himself to God.
Do you remember the story of Nicodemus who came to visit Jesus by night? Nicodemus was like Gideon. He was interested in Jesus, but he didn’t want anyone to find out about his interest. He was afraid of what other people might say. But Jesus received Nicodemus anyway. And eventually, Nicodemus became a bold, public follower of Jesus.
Here is the bottom line… Jesus loves you completely. He loves you right where you are. But he loves you too much to leave you where you are. Jesus will accept you as a secret follower, at first. But eventually, either that secrecy is going to kill your discipleship, or discipleship will kill the secrecy.
“So, what happened with Gideon?” you might ask. The story continues…
In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!
They asked each other, “Who did this?”
When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal[f] that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”
Gideon did not get into as much trouble as he thought he would at first. There were no immediate repercussions for altering his father’s altar. His father apparently respected Gideon for his decision. Sometimes life goes like that. When you take a stand for God and for his Son Jesus Christ, support for that stand may come from unexpected places.
As many of you know, when my father committed his life to follow Jesus Christ, he left organized crime. I am sure that at the time my father thought some of his organized crime buddies would retaliate. My father’s life insurance company certainly thought that would be the case. They cancelled his policy!
But that’s not what happened. Instead of retaliating, my father’s boss, Mickey Cohen, respected him for his decision, just like Gideon’s father respected him.
Still, sometimes we do pay a price for following Christ. And that is why Jesus calls on us to count the cost before we follow him. But Jesus’ call is clear. He says to us today, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:24) Perhaps today is the day we need to alter our altars.
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