Ep. 60 - The Early Judges

So, last we left the Israelites, things had really taken a dark turn. After all the big victories that they’d had with Joshua, the tribes were supposed to continue the fight…and they were supposed to slowly but surely keep pushing out the people of Canaan. But as time dragged on, and as the Israelites got more and more comfortable, the job of pushing out the Canaanites seemed harder and harder…until eventually the Israelites gave up the fight and put the Canaanites under tribute. And as the years went by, and as more and more of the people who lived through all the amazing victories died off, a new generation came up who did not know God. And that generation began worshipping the Baals, the Ashtoreths, and all the fake gods of the people they were supposed to be fighting. And the Israelites even started doing all the things that God was trying to stop in the first place…including killing babies. So what was God going to do? Was this going to be the tragic end to hundreds of years of promises, hopes, and dreams? The Israelites had given up on God…but would God give up on the Israelites? Well, let’s find out.

Well God was not going to give up on the Israelites…but God also wasn’t just going to sit around and do nothing either. And the Bible says, “And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.” (Judges 2:14-15) Something that the Israelites seemed to have forgotten is that they weren’t like some super macho warrior nation. In fact, just before crossing into the Promised Land, God had told them “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples.” (Deut. 7:7) So when God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt, they were the weakest of all nations…both in numbers and in strength. And so, the only reason that they had been able to beat the people in Canaan was because God had been blessing them. And so what was going to happen when the Israelites chose other gods? What was going to happen when God removed his protection? That’s right. The surrounding nations (who were actual warrior nations) would gather their strength again and attack Israel and conquer Israel. And that’s exactly what happened.

Now, fortunately, we serve an amazingly merciful God. And despite being betrayed…and despite having to remove His blessing…God didn’t give up on the Israelites. And the Bible says, “Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them.” (2:16) “For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them.” (2:18) So when the surrounding nations starting really picking on Israel, and when things in Israel got super bad, and when the Israelites turned back to God and asked Him for help, God would call on a “judge” (and we will get into what a “judge” is in a second). And this judge would lead the Israelites to fight back against whichever nation was picking on them at the time.

Now of course, after going through being conquered by some other nation, after going through things getting really bad in Israel, after going through having to fight off invaders…the Israelites would of course learn their lesson and not go back to worshipping false gods, right? I mean, that would be crazy right? Well, unfortunately no…no Israel wouldn’t learn their lesson, because the Bible goes on to say, “And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from heir own doings nor from their stubborn ways.” (2:19) So while the judge was still alive, the Israelites would stay faithful to God. But as soon as the judge died, they’d go right back to worshipping false gods again. And so began Israel’s never-ending repeating cycle of…the Israelites worshipping false gods, to…God letting surrounding nations invade, to…the Israelites turning back to God and asking for help, to…God raising up a judge to fight off the invaders, to…the Israelites worshipping false gods again after the judge had died. It was a constant repetition of good to bad to good to bad to good to bad. And spoiler alert, this was going to go on in one way or another for about the next 800 years!

But before we get into that, let’s talk about these judges. Now what exactly is a judge? Is it like a judge you’d find in a courtroom? Or is it like a king? Well, no…a judge in this part of the Bible wasn’t really like either of those things. Judges were just people who God chose to be leaders to meet an emergency and to bring the Israelites back to God. And these judges could be anybody. Sometimes they were well-known people in Israel, sometimes they were prophets…but much of the time they were just regular everyday people who God chose to do something special. There were altogether 12 judges who were called over the next several hundred years, and there were all kinds of them…good ones…bad ones (and I mean…really bad ones)…ones that led armies…ones that fought invaders all by themselves. (And just a heads up kidzos, the book of Judges has some of the craziest stories in it…more then a few of which you’ve probably never heard before.) And while these judges were called to lead Israel…and “judge” Israel…they were nothing like kings. Kings have the authority to do whatever they want whenever they want to…and they use force. Like, I’m the king, and you have to do what I say or else you’re gonna get it! And kings often have an army to make sure that people do what they are told. Judges in this part of the Bible, on the other hand, all they had was the Spirit of the Lord. So God’s Spirit would come onto the judge, and through the Spirit the judge would convince the Israelites to do what needed to be done. And only if the Israelites were convinced through God’s Spirit would the judge become a leader. (Which BTW kidzos, this is still the way that people should become leaders in our church even today…through the calling of God’s Spirit.) And if anyone was the king of Israel, it was God. In fact, after one of the judges gained a big victory, the Israelites came to him and said, “Rule over us!” (8:22) But the judge replied and said, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.” (8:23)

Ok so, now that we know what a judge is, let’s get started on them. The first time that the Israelites turned from God, they were invaded by Mesopotamia…the same place that Abraham had come from …by a king named Cushan-Rishathaim. For 8 years this king ruled over the Israelites, until they finally turned to God for help. And that’s when God sent the first judge…a man named Othniel…whom we don’t know much about other than that he was Caleb’s younger brother. And the Bible says that Othniel, “went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand.” (3:10) And then for the next 40 years while Othniel was alive, there was peace in Israel. And then Othniel died.

After Othniel was dead, the Israelites went back to worshipping other gods again. And so God let another nation invade Israel…this time the Moabites…who were lead by a king named Eglon…who apparently was a very overweight king. For 18 years King Eglon ruled over the Israelites, until they finally turned back to God for help. And so God sent another judge…a man named Ehud. Now Israel was under tribute to Moab, and Ehud was apparently the guy who delivered the money to the Moabites. And one time while doing this, Ehud hid a dagger under his clothes. And when he was in King Eglon’s private room, Ehud said to him, “I have a secret message for you, O King.” (3:19) So, the big overweight King Eglon sent everybody out of the room to hear this secret message. And once everyone was out of the room, Ehud said to the king, “I have a message from God for you.” (3:20) And he stood up, whipped out his hidden sword, and stabbed King Eglon right in the stomach. Now, I told you kidzos that some of the craziest Bible stories are in Judges right? Well, the king was so overweight that when Ehud stabbed him, the hilt and the handle and everything went right all the way in, and the Bible says that, “the fat closed over the blade.” (3:22) And so Ehud just left the blade all the way in the guy, and ran away. And in the time that it took for King Eglon’s servants to realize what had happened, Ehud had already gotten away. And right after this, Ehud raised an army and defeated the Moabites. And Israel had peace for 80 years.

After Ehud died, the Israelites again went back to worshipping other gods. And it seems that God let two nations rule over Israel this time, the Philistines and the Canaanites. For the Philistines, God raised our 3rd judge, whose name was Shamgar. Now like Othniel, we don’t know much about Shamgar, other than that he fought the Philistines, killed 600 men with an “ox goad” (which is like a pointy stick for making an ox move…like a cattle prod), and he delivered Israel from the Philistines. And for the Canaanites, God raised our 4th judge…a woman named Deborah…who we know much more about…and is the last judge we will talk about in this episode. Now the Canaanites had a king named Jabin, and an army commander named Sisera. And the Canaanites ruled over Israel for 20 years and really treated the Israelites very badly. Now Deborah was a prophetess and a judge, and as far as Papa knows, she is the only woman in the Bible to have led Israel. And Deborah would sit under a particular palm tree, and the Israelites would come to her for judgement.

Now as the years wore on, and the suffering of the Israelites increased, God delivered a message to Deborah. This message was for Israel, and it said, “Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; and against you I will deploy Sisera; the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kushan; and I will deliver him into your hand.” (4:6-7) So Deborah called on a man named Barak, and gave him the message from God. And Barak answered, and said, “If you go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!” (4:8) Now we don’t know why Barak was saying this…probably he was scared…or maybe he just thought that Deborah should have some skin in the game. But whatever the reason, Deborah agreed to go, and said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” (4:9) Barak probably thought that meant Deborah…but he was ok with that and off they went.

With Deborah’s help, Barak raised an army from Naphtali and Zebulun, and went to Mount Tabor as God had commanded. And Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army, gathered his army. And the Bible says, “And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot.” (4:15) But the Israelites didn’t give up, and kept chasing Sisera…until Sisera came to the tent of a woman named Jael. Now Jael’s family was friendly with the Canaanites and so Sisera, exhausted from running, came to her tent hoping to hide and to rest. And Jael said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” (8:18) And she took him into her tent and hid him under a blanket. And after a short time, thinking he was safe for the moment, the exhausted Sisera fell asleep under the blanket. And (crazy story alert!) when Jael was sure he was asleep, she grabbed a tent peg, and grabbed a hammer, and slowly crept over to Sisera. She took the peg, carefully lined it up above the side of Sisera’s head, and then slowly lifted the hammer up in the air, and BANG…drove the tent peg through the blanket…through Sisera’s temple…right into the ground!

After some time, Barak and his men caught up to where Sisera was and Jael went out of the tent and said to them, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” (4:22) And when they opened the door of the tent, there was Sisera the commander of the great Canaanite army, dead on the ground with a tent peg through his head. And of course, because Jael killed the commander of the army, the glory of the victory went to her…fulfilling Deborah’s prophecy that the glory of the battle would go to a woman. After that big victory the tide had turned against the Canaanites, and slowly but surely the Israelites pushed back King Jabin until they were completely destroyed. And Israel had peace for 40 years.

And that’s the last story that we’re going to talk about today, but before we end…it’s interesting ya know…God really isn’t limited by what we think about people. Back in Deborah’s day, no one ever thought that a woman could lead a nation. That was crazy talk! It’s not really until the last 70 years or so that women are starting to be seen for all the amazing things they can do and are being given the chance to be leaders…even leaders of countries. But of course God is not limited by our slow understanding, and long ago He saw that a woman like Deborah could lead a nation. I’ve said this before, but the Bible says, “God is no respecter of persons.” God is not limited by what people think about men, women, boys, girls, old people, young people, rich people, poor people…people of different ethnicities and cultures. All throughout the Bible, God picks people that no one would have expected. God sees us all as His children, and He can use you in ways that no one could ever imagine…just like he did with Deborah.