 We're in Judges and tonight's just an introduction to Judges. We used Judges Chapter 2 verses 11 to 23 as a basis for that introduction and we'll see that more as we work through that text some. But tonight just to give you some background on the book and then we'll get into more of the details of the book beginning next week. So Judges Chapter 2, 11 to 23, a good overview of the book of Judges and the Old Testament account of the nation of Israel as they begin to settle in the land of Canaan. This book covers about 350 years of Israel's history in a transitional period between the conquest of Canaan under Joshua and then the monarchy that begins with the appointment of Saul in 1 Samuel Chapter 9. It's about 350 years of history between the conquest of Canaan and the monarchy. Though the author of the book is not stated, there's overwhelming evidence, and we won't get much into tonight, that it was written by the prophet Samuel. The prophet Samuel writes at the outset of the monarchy looking back on this transitional period of the Judges. Just preceding the period of the Judges, you have the emancipation generation, that first generation that had been delivered by God out of Egypt, and that generation has died in the wilderness. They rebelled against God, they refused, didn't put their faith and trust in God, refused to go in and take the land. Hebrews Chapter 4 tells us that the word of the gospel, which was preached to them, was not mixed with faith in their hearing, and so it didn't profit them. They did not respond in faith. They didn't entrust themselves to him who had delivered them, and their corpses fell in the wilderness. Now, after the emancipation generation, you have the inheritance generation. The inheritance generation follows, and the children of Israel take the land. They begin the conquest of the land and begin to settle in the land under the leadership of Joshua. Now, as they settle in the land, Joshua gathers the tribes together in Joshua 24, and he gives them a clear mandate beginning in verse 14, look at Joshua 24, verse 14 with me, where Joshua tells the children of Israel at Shechem, now therefore fear the Lord, serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river in Egypt, serve the Lord. Now, this is the mandate to the children of Israel as they go into the land together. Very important, they are to put away their idols, put away the pagan gods that their fathers serve, and they are to serve the Lord their God. Verse 15, if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, and choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites and whose lands you dwell, but as for me in my house, Joshua says, we will serve the Lord. Now, the people answered and said in verse 16, far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for the Lord our God is he who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land, so we also will serve the Lord for he is our God. So that generation now coming out of Egypt knew what the Lord had done for them. They knew that the generation that preceded them had been brought out of Egypt by God's mighty right hand, and that God did signs and wonders before them, fed them with manna out of heaven. I'd fed them with water out of the rock, and God had done signs and wonders, and this second generation was completely aware of that, right? But verse 19, Joshua then said to the people, you cannot serve the Lord for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forget your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you after he has done you good. And the people said to Joshua, no, but we will serve the Lord. And this is a bold boast in verse 21 from a chronically stiff neck and rebellious people. The history for Israel has not been good, right? Already up to this point, they're given over to their sin. They are a stiff necked people. But considering that this is the generation now that is taking the land, settling in the land, they're not far removed from that generation that saw all the signs and wonders that took place in Egypt before their eyes. They're not far from that generation that was rescued out of the bondage, out of the iron furnace by God. And so their history now in the land begins pretty well. Look down at verse 31, Israel then, now settling in the land, Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the Lord which he had done for Israel. But then, what foreshadows the book of Judges, another generation arises, a generation that would ominously foreshadow the period of the Judges. Look at Judges chapter 2 now, beginning in verse 7. Judges chapter 2 in verse 7. So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which he had done for Israel. Sound familiar? Like same words we just heard in Joshua, right? Now in verse 8, now Joshua, the son of none, the servant of the Lord died when he was 110 years old. They buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Harris in the mountains of Ephraim on the north side of Mount Gaash. Verse 10, when all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, now another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which he had done for Israel. You know, it's interesting that Joshua had written all the words of the covenant in the book of the law, right? And that book of the law was placed in the Ark of the Covenant. He wrote all the words of the covenant in a book. He had set up a memorial stone with the children of Israel as a witness to future generations to remind them of the words of the covenant. We have the words of the covenant saying in the song of Moses, right? Many reminders of what the God of Israel had done for the children of Israel, the works that he had done. He told them at Shechem, if you forsake the Lord, if you serve foreign gods, he will turn and do you harm and consume you after he has done you good. And in spite of all this, in spite of the memorial stones that had been set up and in spite of all the reminders, in spite of the book of the covenant being written, nevertheless, the next generation forgets the Lord who brought them out of the land of Egypt and they fall into disobedience. Falling into disobedience, they bring the covenant curses home to roost. It's exactly what Moses warned them would happen multiple times. He warned them in Leviticus. He warned them in Deuteronomy. Now he warns them again in Joshua. In Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 29, Moses says, For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt. Evil will befall you in the latter days because you will do evil on the side of the Lord to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands. In multiple places, we see that warning given in the book of Deuteronomy and we see that come to fruition now in the period of the judges. Look at verse 11, Judges chapter 2 verse 11. Then this second generation now, this generation that arose after that first that inherited the land, the children of Israel, verse 11, did evil in the side of the Lord and served the Baals. They pursued the Lord God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them and they bowed down to them and they provoked the Lord to anger. They pursued the Lord and they served Baal and the asterisks and the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and so in judgment now, in judgment against their sin, in the judgment that God promised he would pour out on them if they fell into disobedience, God delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity as the Lord had said and as the Lord had sworn to them and they were greatly distressed. So what we find out now as the children of Israel begin to go in and settle the land of Canaan, we find out that the people proved to be too weak, too faithless, to occupy the land. They simply can't take it. They can't occupy it and the period of the judges that precedes the Mararchy can best be described as a period of anarchy. Anarchy begins to reign. Under Moses, we saw the giving of the law. Right under Moses, we saw the establishment of an ordered theocracy. We saw the rule of law. We saw swift punishment against sin. We saw ordered worship. And then under the monarchy, there's the rule and reign of the kings and not all of them righteous kings, but they ruled and reign. We saw structured government, a rule of law. We saw the center of worship in Jerusalem. But the period of the judges, this transitional period between the conquests, the settlement, and the monarchy can best be described by the repeated refrain in the book. In those days, there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. As a result, the book of judges is violent. The book of judges is graphic. Death, murder, dismemberment, rape, outright slaughter, rape. Even by today's standards, the movie we get an R rating. No question. The book is dark. The book is foreboding. There's a near constant sense of how hopelessly mired the people are in moral compromise, apart from the grace of God. There is moral chaos and God demands covenant faithfulness. Now the people though, as they inhabit the land are unwilling, unable to drive out the Canaanites. The people play the whore with the gods of the Canaanites and what we see then is the canonization of the professed people of God. They become like those nations. It's shocking. And it's a shocking picture of apostasy and the depths to which man's sin and depravity can sink him and not only sink him, but sink those around him. So the book opens with a generation that forgets the Lord. Now think about this with me. The book opens with a generation that forgets the Lord. The book ends after 350 years with horrendous wickedness and the nation plunged into civil war and the virtual extermination of a tribe of Israel. It's pretty amazing the downfall, the downward spiral. And the book ends on that common theme again. In those days, there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Now as much as this is a warning, this book is a warning against apostasy, it's a warning against compromise with the gods of this age. It's also a tremendous testimony of the covenant faithfulness and the covenant patience of God, our deliverer. From the death of Joshua in roughly 1390 B.C., to the birth of Samson in roughly 1050 B.C., God demonstrates divine patience, divine longsuffering as he sends one judge after another to deliver the people. Look at chapter 2, verse 16. Nevertheless, verse 16, right? That word nevertheless is rich with God's patience, right? Filled up with God's longsuffering, nevertheless. What verse 16 could have said was then God consumed them, right? But it doesn't say that, it says nevertheless, right? Nevertheless, nevertheless, patience, forbearance, mercy. The Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Now the root word for the verb to judge there is really a word that means to govern or rule. It doesn't refer to judge or to judgment the way that we would conceive of that word today, okay? This understanding means really, it means a word to govern or to rule. The understanding works well with the function of the judges in the book as we come to understand the work and the function of each of the judges. The judges didn't always judge in the traditional sense the way that we understand that term like a civil magistrate. In that sense, God is the one who judges, right? God is the one who is called the judge of all the earth. There is one judge in the book who specifically is referenced by that form of the word that judges in that sense, but the judges also didn't rule over the whole of the country. They didn't have rule of the whole country. They didn't govern the whole country. They really were tribal chiefs, so to speak. What would come later would be a king that would rule the whole of the country. So the judges then were raised up. They were tribal territorial governors. They were territorial leaders. They were also fighters. They were warriors. And one commentator says that a good way to understand the use of this word would be to define the judges as warlords. I think that's good, right? The judges were warlords. This then is the book of the warlords. Now continuing, we can derive three facts about these judges, these warlords, from verse 16. Look at verse 16. One of the facts we understand about the judges is that the Lord raised them up. The Lord raised them up. You look at verse 16. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. That means that the source of their authority comes from God. The work that the judge accomplished was from God himself. It was a sanctioned work, so to speak. And they are endued with power from God himself, endued with power from the Holy Spirit. There are frequent references in the book to the judges and the Holy Spirit coming upon them, right? That means that was an ordained work by God. God sent His Spirit in a unique, in a special way, on the judge to accomplish His work. This is the Lord raising them up to deliver His people. Secondly, verse 16. Their work was not primarily judicial, the way that we understand the term. The Lord raised up judges who delivered them. Notice that, right? He delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. In other words, the judges were the Lord's deliverers. In fact, the term that is ascribed occasionally in the book of Judges to a judge is the term Messiah, which means Savior. It's where we get our word Messiah from, right? They are called often in the book of Judges, Savior or a Deliverer. And then thirdly, they were sent to deliver the people from those who plundered them. So weren't set up by God to primarily resolve disputes internally within the country They weren't necessarily going to camp out in the city gates like a king and judge matters between people inside the nation of Israel. These judges were raised up by God to deal with external enemies, those who oppressed the people of God from outside. So now, God sends them judges to deliver them out of the hand of those oppressors who oppressed them or plundered them, those who just spoiled them. How did the people then respond under God's gracious provision of a judge? How did God's people, the professed people of God, respond to God's repeated sending of judges, sending of Delivers? Verse 17. Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods. They bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked in obeying the commandment to the Lord. They did not do so. So those who had forgotten the Lord were given over to compromise, given over to disobedience, they're given over to rank pagan idolatry. So God Himself, their judge now, the judge of all the earth, the judge of the living and the dead, judges their idolatry, judges their pagan worship at the hands of their enemies. And so what ensues? With the judgment of God poured out, what ensues is war, oppression, slavery. We see even famines and plagues, misery. Right? Misery ensues. Under their misery, the people of God are brought to remembrance. It's amazing that the Book of the Covenant wasn't enough to keep their remembrance. Right? The Song of Moses wasn't enough to remind them of their covenant responsibilities. The Memorial Stones wasn't enough to keep them in remembrance of the Lord their God. It took the judgment of God to bring them to remembrance. It took pain. It took misery. So they began then to cry, to groan, to cry out to the Lord in their oppression. And so again, the Lord, now in tremendous patience and long suffering would send them a judge and there would be peace and prosperity for a time. So we see a pattern then beginning to develop. This pattern works itself all the way through the Book of Judges. Look at verse 18. When the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was then with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge because the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. And it came to pass when the judge was dead that they then reverted. Do you see the pattern of pattern beginning to develop? Once they reverted they behaved more corruptly than their fathers by following other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. So the gods of the peoples the nations that lived among them became a snare to them. When Israel entered the promised land and they had failed to drive out the Canaanites that were there the gods of those people became a snare to the Israelites. And they began worshiping the Baals and the asterisks. Now God and his justice would then deliver them over to cruelty cruel wicked pagan kings in time under their oppression under the hard hand of the iron fist of their taskmasters the children of Israel would groan in their misery and call again on the Lord. And then God in mercy in patience long suffering God would pity them and he gave them judges. So we think about this pattern that develops then you see rebellion on the part of the people retribution or retributive justice we see repentance rescue and then relapse. So we were to summarize that pattern in the book of judges rebellion retribution repentance rescue and then relapse played out over and over and over again through a 350 year transitional period before the monarchy 350 years of testimony to the intractable depravity and moral compromise of man and 350 years of testimony to the patience and mercy and long suffering of our God. Right. However the book of judges is also a testimony that the promises of God given to Abraham the promises of God that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent the promises of God that would ultimately be fulfilled to his people are not going to be fulfilled here. In their ultimate sense. Not going to be fulfilled here in this way. The people lack strength. The people lack faith. They lack the ability to occupy the land. The people lack the strength like the faith the devotion necessary to follow the Lord just as Joshua had warned them. Right. The God is holy. You're not going to be able to follow him. Moses had told that inheritance generation in Moab Moses said the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear to this very day. What do they need to do? They need to circumcise the foreskin of their heart. They need new birth. They need regeneration. Right. They need God to do a work within them. Moses said the Lord has not given you yet a heart to perceive eyes to see ears to hear. That's what they need. Right. They need the new birth. The judges themselves tragically flawed. We'll see that as we work through the book. The judges unable to establish a lasting peace. It was now clear that the nation even in the land even having gone in under Joshua to claim the land the nation would not be the light to the Gentiles that they had been called to be. They would fail the test. They would fail the test. Look at verse 20 chapter 2 verse 20. We see this test mentioned. Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he said. Because this nation has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not heated my voice. I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died so that through them. Verse 22. I may test Israel whether they will keep the ways of the Lord to walk in them as their fathers kept them or not. Therefore the Lord left those nations without driving them out immediately nor did he deliver them into the hand of Joshua. It became a test to the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel fails this test in the period of the judges. They fail this test in the period of the monarchy and what is this failure point to? It points to their need for a new covenant a better covenant. It points to their need for the work of God in their own heart right points to Jesus Christ. The test results are in and they're laid out for us in the book of judges and we're going to look at the results of that test that we worked through the book. Points us to the need for a new covenant. However, in spite of their failure it's in the midst of this debacle of Jewish history that we see the grace and goodness of a patient in merciful God. With every judge that is raised up there is a reminder of a promised seed the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent we see the millstone dropped on the head of a bimalek by a woman we see Jael's tent peg driven through the head of Cicera it is but a shadow of the deliverance that is to come one day God in his grace will provide them with a king it's not going to be Saul that is that ultimate king it's not even going to be David that is that ultimate king it's going to be the king the Lord Jesus Christ the one who will judge the one who will judge the living and the dead the one whom God has appointed to judge the world in righteousness right the man whom he has appointed Jesus Christ he will raise one who will rule the nations one destiny the true hero so we work to the book of judges there are heroes that are brought to the forefront these judges who deliver the people the Lord will send a true hero Baruch may have delivered Israel from the king of Canaan Christ the king delivers from sin in the power of Satan Gideon may have given the land a rest for 40 years Jesus Christ wins an everlasting rest in a new heavens and a new earth bringing many sons to glory Israel repeatedly abandons God God will not abandon his people God's redemptive purposes will advance because God keeps his promises we'll see that as we work to the book I heard one commentator refer to these echoes of former promises former covenants the covenant made with Abraham God's promise to crush the head of the serpent by the seed of the woman right these promises that are made that we see echoes of these former promises through a book like judges and it's similar to name that tune right if you heard the old game show name that tune I can name that tune in five notes I can name that tune in ten notes or in three notes right well we hear in scripture as we work through books like judges we hear echoes we hear tones notes if you will of former promises former works of God we hear echoes of that which God promises to do in the future and those echoes those notes are brought out through narrative in a book like this every time a judge is raised we hear an echo of that promise deliverance by the seed of the woman who will crush the serpent's head right every judge that raises up who's tragically flawed who fails to bring in everlasting peace who fails to rule and govern the nation right who fails to drive out their enemies from before them permanently every one of those points us to God's full and final deliverance in the Lord Jesus Christ right who will conquer all of our enemies including sin and death and usher in his heavenly kingdom it's an awesome picture if you will of God's redemptive plan the scope of his redemptive purposes as they are played out on the pages of history and what we see from the book of judges is that this isn't it this isn't it but it points there right it shows us what's coming so as we work through the book there are going to be many lessons that we will draw for our day and time Paul says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 6 Paul says these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted so all scripts are given by God profitable for our instruction our admonition for correction right instruction and righteousness this book the book of judges will provide that for us as well much to be applied here much for us to learn we think about that right think about some of the themes through the book of judges we can make the claim that judges is a good illustration of the problems that we face today and I think it's easy to see that many commentators say that judges can best be applied to America or the nation that we live in today one pastor said that the parallel is not between Israel at the time of the judges and the United States we can see that in our own country right how depraved our country is we live amongst a bunch of Canaanites right we see the canonization of our own country listen our country began as a bunch of Canaanites the comparison or the contrast is the parallel is not between Israel at the time of the judges and the United States of America the United States of America is not in covenant with our God right the parallel is between Israel at the time of the judges and the modern day professing church judges is an account of the canonization of Israel and evidences of the canonization of the modern church are everywhere today right we see the canonization of the modern day professing church or one commentator referred to pagan religious worship at the time of the judges to be a fertility cult they compared it to a fertility cult now you think about what a fertility cult is they worshiped pagan gods so that their pagan god would deliver them a harvest what was the harvest for was for personal gain right personal blessing personal safety and security so they worship their pagan idols for the purposes like fertility gods so to speak and their fertility cult for the purposes of personal gain you worship your idols for your idol to bless you with crops the crops were for personal prosperity well the same commentator said that the church has been given over to a fertility cult it's just a fertility cult today repackaged people simply profess to worship the true and living god but he is nothing more to them than a source of personal blessings in this life right we go to church because it's what I'm supposed to do I want free to escape out of hell and that's all I go to church for or I want blessings in this life I want the Lord to bless me and I know that in order to be blessed I need to at least be in church on Sunday they're worshiping a fertility cult our refusal the refusal on the part of many today in the professing church to separate from the world is a picture of the problems that were persistent in the period of the judges professing Christians today virtually indistinguishable from the world don't even have to say virtually many professing Christians today are indistinguishable from the world it is the canonization of the modern day professing church many lessons with respect to that to be drawn from the book of judges let me leave you with this fitting conclusion from the song of Deborah in the book where Deborah sings thus let all your enemies perish oh lord but let those who love you be like the sun when it comes out in full strength and it needs to be our song also as we work through the book of judges together all praise honor and glory to our righteous king amen amen let's pray a father in heaven or we thank you for this book thank you for the blessed privilege of working through it thank you for my brothers and sisters here who come to hear your word preached and I pray your blessing on me and them us together as we study this pray your blessing on our church Lord you've been so gracious to us so good so patient so merciful so kind we are grateful to you for that Lord we don't want to take that for granted we don't want to stand there in the face of your great mercy your great patience toward us and spurn that or despise that by not taking heed according to your word and so help us Lord to obey you help us protect us Lord for moral compromise protect us from apostasy protect us from friendship with this world that makes us adulterers and adulteresses let these lessons from the book of judges be for our admonition Lord and I pray give us strength give us wisdom give us insight to take heed according to these examples we might serve you faithfully and fervently preserve us Lord to the end for your glory for our good in Jesus name Amen