Today’s passage: Judges 4:1-24

Helpful thoughts:

• Israel again returned to idolatry and evil.  On the one hand, we can wonder how they could continue to fall into the same traps over and over.  On the other hand, the nation had rest for two generations…much has changed in our culture since 1939.
• The Kenites were the descendants of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law (Judges 1:16).  However, Heber had allied himself with Israel’s enemy.  This partnership only confuses the situation further as Heber’s wife ends up being the killer of his ally’s top general.
• There were 10,000 soldiers there that day, but the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army (Verse 15).

Questions to consider:

1. What had God told Barak would happen?  Why do you think he wanted Deborah to go so badly?  What might this say about his view of God?
2. Were those 900 iron chariots a match for the Lord?  Why could Barak have gone into that battle with full confidence?
3. How many components of this narrative seem out of order (Especially within the social customs of that day)?  Who seems to be in control of the situation and the outcome?

Today’s passage: Judges 3:12-31

Helpful thoughts:

• The Benjamites trained many of their warriors to be left handed, perhaps giving them a unique advantage and element of surprise.
• When Ehud told King Eglon he had a “message from the Lord” he was using a play on words.  The word for “message” in the Hebrew can also mean “thing”.  So Ehud either had a message or a secret thing for Eglon…
  • King Eglon’s name means, “Round calf” or “Round bull”.  The pun was intended.  The king of Moab had become the fattened calf, ready for slaughter.
• Since Ehud locked the doors behind him and went out another way without being seen, and since there was a rest room in this private chamber for the king.  Ehud may very well have escaped through the plumbing system.
  • Ehud, after having scurried through the fattened calf’s restroom plumbing, called the troops together for battle.  Quite the impressive scene…
• The name Shamgar (And possibly the name of His father Anath) do not come from Hebrew/Jewish origins at all.  Shamgar was either not a Jew or he and his father were named after other peoples and other gods.

Questions to consider:

1. How many things can you find in this narrative that sound embarrassing (e.g. smells, names, etc.)?  What kind of impression do these things leave on this war story?
2. What might Shamgar’s background information communicate concerning the condition of Israel?
3. Who remained steady, faithful, unchanging through these narratives?  Who can God use to bring about His will?

Today’s passage: Judges 3:7-11

Helpful thoughts:

• This is the beginning of the downward spiral of Israel’s history through the period of the judges.
• Cushan-Rishathaim’s name means, “Cushan the doubly wicked one.”
• In many Old Testament passages, when the “Spirit of the Lord” or the “hand of the Lord” comes upon or prevails over a person, it does not automatically apply to an increase in that person’s godliness.  It is simply a way to say that God the Spirit accomplished His will through that person at a specific time for a specific purpose.
• Not much “bad” happened for forty years, until Othniel died.

Questions to consider:

1. What parts of the pattern from 2:16-19 can you see in this episode?  What do you see coming after the death of Othniel?
2. Did God use a righteous king to discipline Israel?  If God could only use righteous people to test and discipline, who could He use?
3. When “bad” things are happening in our lives, is it ever angry punishment or negligence from God?  In times when we would be tempted to be angry with God, what should we step back and think about?  What might God be doing for our good?

Today’s passage: Judges 2:16-3:6

Helpful thoughts:

• Bad things happened as Israel worshiped false gods.  When things got “bad” they complained to the true God.  Then, when God showed mercy and intervened, after things got “better” again, Israel went back to worshiping false gods more corruptly than they had before.
  • This downward spiral will be the pattern of every narrative in the book of Judges.
• God used the sin of Israel and their surrounding neighbors for Israel’s good.  Our sovereign God wastes nothing.
• Israel directly disobeyed God on three counts (at least…):
  • They lived among the peoples of the land instead of destroying them.
  • They intermarried with the people (Deuteronomy 7:3-4).
    • Remember, this had nothing to do with their ethnicity and everything to do with their worship.  There were Canaanites who converted and were welcomed into Israel (e.g. Rahab).
  • They worshiped false gods.

Questions to consider:

1. What emotion motivated the Lord to help Israel during their times of greatest distress?
2. If Israel was being “Canaanized”, what would it look like for a Christian in our culture to be “Americanized” or for a European Christian to be “Europeanized”, etc.?  What blind spots might we have that feel so right to us but are so wrong according to God’s Word?
3. How does God’s promise to use all things (even our own sin!) for good give you comfort and encouragement to press on (Romans 8:28-30)?

Today’s passage: Judges 2:6-15

Helpful thoughts:

• Verses 6-10 go back in time a bit to show how in just one generation, Israel “did not know the Lord.”
• Israel worshiped the very gods (Fake mythological gods) of the very people they had just defeated, abandoning the God that brought them there.  This is the heart of man.
• We are worshipers.  If we do not worship the Lord, we will worship someone/something else.
  • Matthew 12:30 – “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

Questions to consider:

1. How many generations did it take for Israel to move from worship of the Lord to these local fake gods?
2. Why do you worship the Lord?  Do you worship Him alone?
3. Is it possible to be neutral?  Why or why not?  Who gets to decide that?  How can you “gather” with Jesus Christ today?

Today’s passage: Judges 2:1-5

Helpful thoughts:

• God told Moses this was going to happen (Deuteronomy 31:16) and warned Israel (Numbers 33:50-56, Joshua 23:13).  God remained faithful, Israel broke her covenant.
• The town of Bochim was named after the weeping of the people of Israel.
• The weeping and offering of a sacrifice seem to look like a change of direction.  But, time (What we see as we continue to read) will tell.

Questions to consider:

1. If Israel was truly repentant, what would have been the reason/motivation for their weeping and sacrifice?
2. If Israel was not truly repentant, what could have been the reason/motivation for their weeping and sacrifice?
3. Emotions are good.  They help to reveal what is in our hearts.  But, why can’t we measure the maturity and sincerity of a person based on emotionalism?  Where do we truly see the fruit of the Spirit in a believer?

Today’s passage: Judges 1:27-36

Helpful thoughts:

• Israel was commanded to destroy everything and everyone in the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 20:16-18).
  • This destruction was for the judgment of those inhabitants (Genesis 15:16, 1 Samuel 15:2-3).
  • This destruction was for the future holiness of Israel.
• Dan seems to have fared the worst even though they had the second largest number of troops (Numbers 2).
• The chapter pointedly ends with a description of the land of the Amorites instead of a description of the land of Israel.

Questions to consider:

1. What seems to be the theme of this passage? What didn’t Israel do?
2. Are God’s commands contingent on our ability?  Are there things that God has commanded you to do, that you can not obey?
3. What keeps us from doing the things we know God has told us to do?  What could you do today in obedience to Him?

Today’s passage: Judges 1:1-26

Helpful thoughts:

• The period of the Judges in Israel happens in between the death of Joshua (Moses’ successor) and the first king of Israel (Saul).
• After Joshua’s death, the people ask God for another leader.
  • The book starts and ends with the reminder that there was no king in Israel.
  • God had already told the nation what they were to do in the book of Joshua.
  • God graciously told Judah (The whole tribe) to go possess their land, just as they had already been commanded.
• There is some interesting foreshadowing going on in this first passage to set the stage for the book as a whole. For example:
  • Asking God for information He has already given
  • Incomplete victory
  • An impetuous vow
  • A woman speaking up when a man wouldn’t

Questions to consider:

1. Was Israel left without direction and leadership during this period?  Who was their commander and what was their law?  What direction and guidance has God already given you?
2. Were the chariots of iron really the reason Judah could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain?  Was that above God’s ability and promise? Or, were those chariots of iron the reason Judah chose not to continue their conquest?
3. What kinds of patterns do we already see forming in this first chapter of Judges?  What should we expect to see as we continue to read through this book?