Sermon Tone Analysis

Text:

An Introduction to Judges

Text:

Theme: Introduction to the Book of Judges.

Theme: Introduction to the Book of Judges.

Date: 06/04/2017 File Name: Judges_01wpd ID Number:

Date: 06/04/2017 File Name: Judges_01wpd ID Number:

Like a tired television rerun, the Book of Judges exposes the monotonous downward spiral of a culture that had turned its back on God.

It unveils cycles of increasing depravity in which the sins of the culture became the sins of God’s people — a period that anticipats today’s relative ethics and morality.

Like a tired television rerun, the Book of Judges exposes the monotonous downward spiral of a culture that had turned its back on God.

It unveils cycles of increasing depravity in which the sins of the culture became the sins of God’s people — a period that anticipats today’s relative ethics and morality.

“In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

(, KJV)

Through the Summer and into the Fall we will be spending some time in the Book of Judges.

If there’s a theme to the book it’s found in George Santayana’s assertion, “Those who will not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.”

If there’s a lesson to learn from the Book of Judges it’s that God is faithful to a broken people.

In this book we will witness moments of great weakness, but also moments of greatness in the various lives of those people who are called Judges.

Tonight is an introduction to the book.

I. THE BOOK OF JUDGES

1. in the Hebrew Bible the Book of Judges is the 2nd book in the section called “the prophets” — or Nevi’im in the Hebrew

prophets” — or Nevi’im in the Hebrew

a. it tells the story of the Hebrew people from shortly after the death of Joshua up until the birth of the Prophet Samuel’s birth

the birth of the Prophet Samuel’s birth

b. it does not paint a pretty picture

ILLUS.

Someone once described the Book of Judges as “despicable people doing deplorable things” and as “trashy tales about dysfunctional characters.”

As the history unfolds even the “heroes,” the judges, become increasingly flawed and failing.

deplorable things” and as “trashy tales about dysfunctional characters.”

As the history unfolds even the “heroes,” the judges, become increasingly flawed and failing.

A. JUDGES IS THE TRAGIC SEQUEL TO JOSHUA

A. JUDGES IS THE TRAGIC SEQUEL TO JOSHUA

1. in Joshua, the people were obedient to God in conquering the Promised Land

a. in Judges, they are disobedient, idolatrous, and often defeated

2. gives us a synopsis of what it going on in Israel in that day

“After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.

7 The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.

8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.

9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.

11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.

12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt.

They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them.

They provoked the LORD to anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

14 In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them.

He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.

15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them.

They were in great distress.

16 Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.

17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them.

Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the LORD’s commands.

18 Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.

19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them.

They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.”

(, NIV84)

a. it really is a era of chaos

b. unified leadership died with Joshua

3. in that passage the author describes seven distinct cycles of Israel’s drifting away from God

God

a. 1st, Israel at rest

b. 2nd, Israel sinning

c. 3rd, Israel oppressed

d. 4th, Israel supplicating, and repenting

e. 5th, Israel sent a deliverer

f. 6th, Israel is saved

g. 7th, Israel is at rest

4. this cycle is repeatedly played out over a 250-300 year period in the nation’s life

B. THE JUDGES

B. THE JUDGES

1. fourteen Judges in total arose to deliver Israel in one way or another

a. seven of them are major characters

1) Othniel of Judah (3:9–11) vs. Chushan-Rishathaim, King of Aram

2) Ehud of Benjamin (3:11–29) vs. Eglon of Moab

3) Deborah of Ephraim the prophetess and Barak the army leader (4–5) vs. Jabin of

3) Deborah of Ephraim the prophetess and Barak the army leader (4–5) vs. Jabin of Hazor (a city in Canaan) and Sisera, his captain of the army

Hazor (a city in Canaan) and Sisera, his captain of the army

4) Gideon of Manasseh (6–8) vs. Midian, Amalek, and the "children of the East"

4) Gideon of Manasseh (6–8) vs. Midian, Amalek, and the "children of the East" (apparently desert tribes)

(apparently desert tribes)

5) Abimelech of Manasseh (9) (the son of Gideon who proclaimed king after his father’s death.

He was an unprincipled, ambitious ruler, often engaged in war with his own subjects more than Israel’s enemies, and is considered evil) vs. all the Israelites who oppose him

father’s death.

He was an unprincipled, ambitious ruler, often engaged in war with his own subjects more than Israel’s enemies, and is considered evil) vs. all the Israelites who oppose him

6) Jephthah of Menasseh (11–12:7) vs. the Ammonites

7) Samson of Dan (13–16) vs. the Philistines

b. six of the Judges are minor characters

1) Shamgar (3:31)

2) Tola and Jair (10:1–5)

3) Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (12:8–15)

c. two of Israel’s Judges are not mentioned in the Book of Judges

1) Eli, the Priest

2) Samuel, the Prophet

a) these two Judges are named in 1 Samuel and were the two Judges immediately before the rise of the Hebrew monarchy

immediately before the rise of the Hebrew monarchy

2. the book of Judges receives its name from the leaders who delivered Israel from a series of foreign oppressions

series of foreign oppressions

a. it is the Hebrew noun shopēt and literally means leader

1) it is rendered from a Hebrew verb meaning to judge or to deliver

b. when you look at the ministry of the men and women whom God raised up as Judges, you see that deliverance is what they actually accomplished on behalf of the people

Judges, you see that deliverance is what they actually accomplished on behalf of the people

3. a Judge was a God-called deliverer who defended Israel’s right, whether in the capacity of a juridical official who hears cases and renders judgments or as a military leader who throws off the oppressor of a victimized people

capacity of a juridical official who hears cases and renders judgments or as a military leader who throws off the oppressor of a victimized people