Faithful to God
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                                              God raises up Judge to deliver             Turn to Idols
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                                                Brought to Repentance   ç    Harassed by pagan nation

   C. Idolatry: The Worship of Baal and Asherah.
      1. The reason God commanded the Jews to either kill or drive out the Canaanites
         from Canaan was that Israel would be tempted to worship their gods (Deut. 7:1-6;
         Ex. 34:11-16).
      2. Baal was the chief god in the Canaanite pantheon.
         a. Asherah (Ashtoreth) was both his sister and wife.
         b. Baal was the god of fertility. He was responsible for the fertility of the
            land, herds and flocks, etc.
            1. Canaanites would involve themselves in ritual prostitution whereby they
               would go into a priestess of Baal and engage in sexual activity to insure
               the fertility of the land, animals and humans.
            2. The discovery in 1929 of the Ugaritic Tablets has given us some insight
               into these rites.
               a. The activity of worshiper and priestess was thought to represent the
                  mating habits of the gods.
               b. At the annual New Year's festival, the king, as Baal's representative,
                  would unite himself with a high priestess to guarantee the fertility
                  of the land during the coming season (Boadt, Reading the Old
                  Testament, 216).
2. The Judges.
   A. Othniel. The first judge is Othniel. Not much detail is given concerning his
      ministry (Judges 3:7-11).
      1. The people served the Baals and Asherahs (3:7).
      2. God gave his people over to a king of Northwest Mesopatamia (3:8).
      3. The oppression continued for eight years until Israel cried out to God for
         mercy (3:8).
      4. God raised up Othniel to be a deliverer (3:9).
         a. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him (3:10).
         b. He went to war against Cushan-Rishathaim.
      5. Land had peace for forty years - until Othniel died (4:11).
   B. Ehud. Ehud begins the second cycle (3:12-20).
      1. The Israelites do evil.
      2. Eglon, king of Moab, overpowered Israel (3:12) and took control of the
         City of Palms (Jericho; 3:13).
         a. Ammonites joined forces with Eglon. The Ammonites were the descendents of
            Lot (Gen. 19:37).
         b. Amalekites joined forces with Eglon. Descendents of Amalek, grandson of
            Esau (Gen. 36:12, 16).
      3. Israel was subject to the Moabites for eighteen years before Israel cried out
         for God's deliverance (3:14).
      4. God raised up Ehud to deliver his people, a left-handed Benjamite (3:15).
         a. Ehud was sent to Eglon, king of Moab, with the tribute money.
         b. He hid a sword on his right thigh (3:16).
         c. After he delivered the tribute money he told the king he had a secret
            message for the king (3:18).
            1. The king made everyone leave the room.
            2. Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of
               his summer palace (3:20).
            3. Ehud drew out the sword and thrust into Eglon who was very fat. The sword
               came out his back and the fat covered up the place where it had gone in.
            4. Ehud locked the doors and left the palace.
               a. Attendants to the king come and knock on the door. When he does not
                  answer they think the king must be using the lavatory (3:24).
               b. After waiting to the "point of embarrassment," they took a key, unlocked
                  the door, and found the king deceased.
         d. Ehud then had his men blow trumpets to call Israel to war (3:27).
            1. They killed ten thousand Moabites (3:29).
            2. The land had peace for eighty years (3:30).
   C. Deborah. Deborah begins the third cycle (4:1-5:31). She is the only woman judge.
      1. The Israelites were in bondage to Jabin, king of Hazor (4:2).
         a. Commander of his armies was Sisera (4:2).
         b. He had nine hundred iron chariots (4:3).
         c. Oppressed Israel for twenty years (4:3).
      2. The call of Barak to deliver Israel.
         a. As a prophetess, Deborah told Barak that God had called him to deliver his
            people from the king of Hazor (4:6). "Go, take ten thousand men from Naphtali
            and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor (4:6).
         b. The Lord promised to lure Sisera to the Kishon River where he would give
            him into Barak's hands (4:7).
         c. Barak refused to go unless Deborah would go with him (4:8).
            1. Deborah agrees to go (4:9).
            2. Because of the way Barak did this, Deborah told him that Sisera would
               be handed over to a woman (4:9).
            3. Details of the battle are sketchy (4:14-29). However, additional details
               can be filled in from the Song of Deborah in Judges 5.
               a. The Lord had told Barak he would lure Sisera to the Kishon River
                  where he would deliver him into Barak's hands (4:7).
               b. Judges 5:20, 21 indicates that Sisera's armies were caught in a flash
                  flood at the Kishon River.  From the heavens the stars fought from
                  their courses they fought against Sisera. The river Kishon swept them
                  away the age-old river, the river Kishon. March on, my soul; be strong!
               c. Sisera, the general, escaped and fled (4:17-22).
                  1. It had been prophesied that Sisera would be delivered into the hands
                     of a woman (4:9).
                  2. Sisera flees to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite,
                     because there were friendly relations between the king of Hazor
                     and the Kenite clan.
                     a. He enters her tent to hide (4:18).
                     b. Asks for water, but she gave him milk (4:19).
                     c. Before he goes to sleep he tells her to stand at the door
                        and stand watch.
                     d. After he falls asleep, she takes a tent peg and drives it
                        through his temples into the ground (4:21).
      3. When Barak comes by seeking Sisera, she invites him into her tent to see
         Sisera (4:22).
      4. Sisera's Mother (5:28-31). In the victory song the death of Sisera is recounted
         and imagines Sisera's mother waiting for her victorious son to come home from
         battle.
         a. 5:24-27 describes the death of Sisera.
         b. 5:28-31 is from the viewpoint of his mother, who does not know that he has
            been killed in battle.
            1. She peers through the lattice waiting for Sisera to come home from
               battle (5:28).
            2. Why is he so long coming home, she asks herself?
            3. Though he is laying on the ground with a tent peg through his temple,
               she imagines that he is delaying coming home because he is sharing in the
               spoils of battle (5:30).
               a. a girl or two for each man
               b. colorful garments
               c. embroidered garments which he will bring home for her neck.
            4. The land had peace for forty years (5:31).
   D. Gideon. Gideon starts the fourth cycle (Judges 6-8).
      1. The Israelites had been handed over to the Midianites (6:1-6).
         a. Raiders stole their crops, sheep, cattle, donkeys
         b. Jews were living in the mountains, hiding in caves and clefts
      2. When the Jews cry to God for deliverance, he raises up Gideon.
         a. Gideon is threshing wheat in a winepress when he receives his call to
            ministry (6:11).
            1. The angel of the Lord appears to Gideon and says, "The Lord is with you,
               mighty warrior" (6:12).
            2. Gideon asks, "If the Lord is with us, why has all of this happened to
               us?" (6:13).
               a. Where are all the wonders he performed in Egypt?
               b. Why has he left us in this situation?
            3. Gideon does not think he is the one to deliver Israel. He is the weakest
               in his clan and his clan is the weakest in Manasseh (6:15).
         b. Gideon brings a sacrifice and places it before the angel of the Lord.
            1. Gideon placed it on some rocks (6:19, 20).
            2. The angel touches it with his staff and a fire flames up and consumes
               the sacrifice (6:21).
         c. Gideon destroys the altar of Baal and the Asherah pole (6:25-32).
            1. That night, the Lord tells Gideon to tear down his father's altar to Baal
               and the Asherah pole. Then to build an altar to the Lord and sacrifice a
               bull upon it (6:25, 26).
            2. Because Gideon was afraid he did it secretly at night with ten of his
               men (6:27).
            3. The next morning the men of the town learn that Gideon has done this and
               want him put to death. However, Gideon's father says that if Baal really is
               God, he can defend himself (6:31).
      3. Gideon Defeats the Midianites (6:34-7:25).
         a. The Midianites came across the Jordan and the Spirit of the Lord was upon
            Gideon (6:33, 34).
         b. Gideon asks God for a sign.
            1. Puts a piece of wool fleece on the threshing floor.  Asks that the fleece
               be wet with dew and all the ground dry (6:36, 37).
            2. Second night asks that the fleece be dry and the ground wet (6:39, 40).
         c. Gideon has too many men (7:1-8).
            1. God tells that Israel has too many men for battle. If they go into battle
               with such a great number (32,000), Israel will say that she defeated
               the Midianites by her own strength.
            2. Gideon tells all the men who are afraid that they may go home (7:3).
               a. Twenty two thousand men left, leaving only ten thousand.
               b. But, this was still too many.
            3. The Lord told Gideon to take the men to the water and let them drink (7:4).
               a. Those who drank like men were to be sent home.
               b. Those who drank like a dog, three hundred, were to stay and fight.
               c. The idea may be that those who drink like a dog are not as skilled
                  fighters. Men who lift the water up to their mouths are able to
                  continually watch for the enemy.
            4. Gideon will go into battle with three hundred men against the entire
               Midianite army.
         d. Gideon Spies out the Camp (7:8-15).
            1. Gideon goes into the Midianite camp at night and listens to two soldiers
               talking inside their tents.
               a. Man says he had a dream that a barley loaf rolled into the camp and
                  knocked over the tent.
               b. They interpret the dream to mean that Gideon will defeat them.
            2. Gideon is very much encouraged by the dream.
         e. Gideon takes his three hundred men with jars and torches to surround the
            camp at night.
            1. They blew their trumpets, smashed their jars, and shouted,"A sword for the
               Lord and for Gideon" (7:20).
            2. Midianites are thrown into such confusion that they get up and begin killing
               each other (7:22).
            3. Some fled, but were tracked down and killed.
            4. The Israelites wanted to make Gideon king, but he refused (8:22, 23).
               a. However, asked each man to give him one gold earring from the plunder.
               b. Made himself a gold ephod, which was placed at Ophrah. Israel began to
                  worship the ephod (8:27). It became a snare to Gideon and his family
                  (8:27).
            5. The land had peace for forty years (8:28).
            6. Though Gideon refused to be king, he had a son, whom he named Abimelech,
               which means my father is king (Judges 9).
               a. After Gideon died, Abimelech murdered his seventy brothers (9:5).
               b. Abimelech crowned king (9:6).
               c. God avenged the crimes of Abimelech (9:24ff.).
   E. Jephthah. The fifth cycle (Judges 10:6-12:7).
      1. Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord (10:6).
      2. God raises up Jephthah against the Ammonites.
         a. His mother was a prostitute and his half-brothers drove him away because
            they did not want to have a share in their inheritance (11:3).
         b. Jephthah settled in Tob, where he gathered a group of adventurers around
            himself.
         c. When the Ammonites invade the land, the elders of Gilead asked him to be
            their commander (11:6, 7).
         d. Jephthah begins by sending a message to the Ammonites asking whey they
            invaded their land (11:12).
            1. Ammonites respond by saying that Israel stole their land at the time they
               came out of Egypt (12:13).
            2. Jephthah recounts the history of the Jews.
               a. Shows that they in fact did not take land from the Ammonites
                  (11:14-27).
               b. If the land belonged to them, why did they wait three hundred years
                  before deciding to take it back (11:26)?
      3. Jephthah Defeats the Ammonites (11:28-33).
         a. The Ammonites paid no attention to Jephthah's words (11:28).
         b. The Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah (11:29).
         c. Jephthah went to fight the Ammonites and defeated twenty towns from Aroer
            to the vicinity of Minnith as far as Abel Keramim (12:32, 33).
      4. Jephthah's vow (Judges 11:30, 31, 34-40).
         a. Before fighting the Ammonites, Jephthah made a vow to the Lord that if he
            was victorious he would offer as a whole burnt offering the first thing that
            came out of the door of his house to greet him when he returned from the
            battle (11:30, 31).
         b. When he returned home at Mizpah, his daughter, his only child, came out singing
            and dancing with a tambourine (11:34).
            1. Tears his clothes and tells her of his vow.
            2. She insists that her father keep his vow (11:36).
               a. Asks to first be given two months to weep with her friends because she
                  will never marry (11:37).
               b. After two months he "did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin"
                  (11:39)."
               c. It may be that she was not literally offered as a whole burnt offering.
                  1. She was allowed two months to mourn her virginity, not her death
                     (11:37, 38).
                  2. After the vow was complete, she "knew not a man" (11:39). What is
                     the point of saying this if she had been put to death?
                  3. Verse 40 may also be translated, "each year the young women of
                     Israel go our for four days to talk with (commemorate) the daughter
                     of Jephthah the Gileadite.
               d. It may be that she was devoted to life long service in the temple.
                  There were women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
                  1. Ex. 38:8
                  2. 1 Sam. 2:22
      5. Jephthah defeats the Ephraimites (Judges 12).
         a. The Ephraimites were angry with Jephthah because he had not called them to go
            into battle with him.
            1. They are going to burn his house down with him in it (12:1).
            2. The Ephraimites were sensitive about their imagined place of leadership.
               a. They were also concerned by Gideon's defeat of the Midianites (8:1-3).
               b. Jephthah replies that when he called for them to help earlier, they did
                  not come to his aid (12:2).
         b. War breaks out between the men of Gilead and the tribe of Ephraim.
            1. Gilead is the trans-Jordan area occupied by the tribe of Reuben, Gad
               and Manasseh.
            2. The presence of Manasseh may help explain the tensions over the fact of
               Ephraim's attitude toward Jephthah.
               a. Ephraim and Manasseh were sons of Joseph.
               b. Jacob had blessed them and said that the younger (Ephraim)would be
                  greater than the older (Manasseh) (Gen. 48:17-20).
               c. Thus, there place of prestige has been upset. Both Jephthah and Gideon
                  were both of the tribe of Manasseh (Judges 11:1; 16:5).
            3. The Gileadites struck down the men of Ephraim and captured the fords of
               the Jordan (12:5).
               a. Those who escaped tried to cross the Jordan.
               b. Asked to say "Shibboleth." Those who pronounced it "Sibboleth" were
                  put to death (12:6).
   F. Samson (Judges 13-16).
3. Failure to Establish Social Justice (Judges 17-21). After all was said and done,
   Israel was still not faithful to the covenant. This failure is shown by Micah's
   idolatry and the abuse of a Levite's concubine.
   A. The Breakdown of Religious Order: Micah's Idolatry (Judges 17).
      1. Micah lived in the hill country of Ephraim.
      2. Stole eleven hundred shekels of silver from his mother (17:2).
         a. After he returned it to her, she gave it back to him so that he could make
            an idol (17:3).
         b. Idol was put in Micah's house (17:4).
      3. Installs a priesthood.
         a. Micah made one of his sons a priest and made more idols and a priestly ephod
            (17:5).
         b. Later, a Levite was installed into the priesthood
            1. paid ten shekels of silver a year, clothing and food (17:12).
            2. Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite
               has become my priest" (17:13).
      4. What this story demonstrates is the synchrestic outlook of Israel.
         a. There is no ability to distinguish between covenant obedience and
            disobedience.
         b. The worship of a false God by a Levitical priest is viewed as worthy of
            God's blessing.
   B. The Breakdown of Justice and Civil Order: The Levite's Concubine (Judges 19).
      1. Another story involving a Levite and his concubine also bring out the
         unfaithfulness of the people and a war with Benjamin.
      2. A Levite had a concubine who was unfaithful to him and left to return to her
         father's house in Judah (19:1, 2).
         a. The Levite goes for his concubine and persuades her to return (19:2, 3).
            1. The Levite is invited by his father-in-law to stay the night.
            2. The Levite puts off returning to the hill country of Ephraim for several
               days as his father-in-law continually asks him to stay another day.
            3. The Levite finally leaves one evening, refusing to stay another night.
         b. That evening they stop at Gibeah in Benjamin (19:14).
            1. At the town square an old man invites them to spend the night (19:16-21).
            2. Wicked men pounded on the door and said, "Bring out the man who came to your
               house so we can have sex with him" (19:22).
            3. The host offered to send out his daughter and the Levite's concubine
               (19:23, 24).
               a. The concubine is sent out to the men (19:25).
               b. They raped her throughout the night and then let her go in the morning
                  (19:25).
               c. She made her way back to the porch of the house and died in the
                  threshold where the Levite found her the next morning (19:26-28).
      3. War with the Benjamites
         a. When the Levite reached home, he cut his concubine into twelve pieces and
            sent one piece to each of the twelve tribes of Israel (19:29).
         b. Israel gathered for war against Benjamin because of this atrocity.
            More than 25,000 Benjamites were slain (Judges 20:8-36).
         c. The towns of the Benjamites were put to the sword (20:48).
      4. Wives for the Benjamites (Judges 21).
         a. The Israelites had also taken an oath that they would not give any
            of their daughters in marriage to the Benjamites (21:1).
         b. The problem is that the whole tribe of Benjamin is in danger of extinction
            unless they can find wives.
            1. Israel destroys Jabesh Gilead and kills everyone except the virgins because
               they had not come to fight against Benjamin (21:10-14).
            2. There were not enough women to go around.
               a. When the girls of Shiloh danced at a local festival,the Benjamites
                  were encouraged to hide in the vineyards and grab a girl to be his
                  wife (21:19).
               b. In this way, the Israelites did not break their oath because they did not
                  give their daughters to the Benjamites, they were "taken" (21:22).