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    Judges: A 12-Week Study
    Judges: A 12-Week Study
    Judges: A 12-Week Study
    Ebook127 pages1 hour

    Judges: A 12-Week Study

    By Miles V. Van Pelt

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    About this ebook

    The book of Judges describes a time in the life of the nation of Israel between the prophetic leadership of Moses and Joshua and the establishment of the monarchy. During that time, "everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6).
    The most shocking feature in the book of Judges, however, is not the horror of Israel's sin, but the glory of salvation from that sin. The darkness of Israel's sin is overcome only by the wonder of God's salvation worked through a series of memorable judges, who ultimately point us to Jesus Christ.
    Part of the Knowing the Bible series.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrossway Books
    Release dateMar 15, 2018
    ISBN9781433557323
    Judges: A 12-Week Study
    Author

    Miles V. Van Pelt

    Miles V. Van Pelt (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the Alan Belcher Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages, academic dean, and director of the Summer Institute for Biblical Languages at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson. He also serves on the pastoral staff of Grace Reformed Church in Madison, Mississippi. He and his wife, Laurie, have four children.

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      Book preview

      Judges - Miles V. Van Pelt

      WEEK 1: OVERVIEW

      Getting Acquainted

      Why would Christians study a book like Judges, a book that would easily be rated R for its content if produced for the modern screen? Death and slaughter, human sacrifice and betrayal, illicit sex and scandal saturate the pages of this book. Ehud murders Eglon and leaves him to rot in his own fecal matter. Jephthah sacrifices his only daughter as a burnt offering because of a vow he has made to the Lord. Samson spends a night with a prostitute. A Levite cuts up his concubine, who has been brutally raped to death, and sends her dismembered body throughout Israel in order to incite war. In the book of Judges, we observe clearly that life is messy and foul and complicated, and that it is the cycle of our own sin that creates these problems.

      Because of the startling nature of these narratives, it might seem like the book of Judges lacks a content filter, but this is not true. In John 5:39, we are taught that Jesus is the filter through which we must read the book of Judges. Christ states, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they [the Old Testament Scriptures] that bear witness about me. The narratives contained in the book of Judges were written to bear witness or testify" to the person and work of Jesus and the great salvation he has achieved for his people.

      The most shocking feature in the book of Judges, therefore, is not the horror of the people’s sin depicted in these narratives but the glory of salvation from that sin, accomplished by the God of patience, mercy, compassion, steadfast love, and faithfulness (Ex. 34:6). The terror of sin is outshone only by the glory of God’s salvation worked through these judges, who then point us to Jesus Christ. This is just how the book of Hebrews teaches us to read the book of Judges:

      And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. (Heb. 11:32–34)

      These judges were commended through their faith (Heb. 11:39) and are now part of that great . . . cloud of witnesses that calls us to [look] to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:1–2). And so, we are moved to study this often-neglected book of the Bible because it teaches us about God’s great salvation in Christ for his people from our incessant inclination to forget him, his promises, and all of the good blessings encountered in covenant life.

      Placing Judges in the Larger Story

      The book of Judges describes a period in the life of the nation of Israel between the prophetic leadership of Moses and Joshua and the establishment of the monarchy. The nature of this time period is described on four different occasions in the book: In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judg. 17:6; compare 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). This brief summary statement teaches us two important facts about the period of the judges in Israel: (1) there was a crisis of leadership; and (2) there was, consequently, a crisis in Israel’s faithfulness to their covenant with the Lord.

      The wilderness generation of Moses and the generation of conquest under Joshua had been eyewitnesses of God’s great signs and wonders to save and deliver. But then there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel (Judg. 2:10). In the generations between Joshua and the kings, Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD (v. 11). The evil described in the book of Judges should be understood as Israel’s progressive decline into idolatry. The nation of Israel was originally called by God to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Ex. 19:6), but by the end of the book of Judges, Israel has become like all the other nations around them and, even worse, like Sodom and Gomorrah (see Judges 19; compare Genesis 19).

      By the end of the book, like the author himself we find ourselves looking for the king who will be able finally to deliver God’s people from sin and corruption, who will give rest to God’s people, and who will establish their inheritance in the land forever. The judges in the book of Judges, like the kings after them, cause us to look forward to the coming of the King of kings. Together, we look for that king who does not do what is right in his own eyes but who delights to do the will of his Father in heaven (John

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