Day 18: Judges Part I (1-15)

Deborah Under the Palm Tree, Adriene Cruz 

So I was going to do Judges all in one, but you know what?  There's too much good stuff.  So without further ado, here we go.  The beginning of Judges is interesting (I'm feeling a bit fiesty today, so bear with me) it's a little bit of a recap, in the giving of Caleb's daughter to Othniel (who later becomes a judge), fascinating.  Overall, the beginning depicts the big FAIL of the Israelites.  We go through clan by clan and see exactly how they didn't drive out the peoples of the land, whether it was because of chariots, or the people were just really determined to live there, whatever.  So in chapter 2, God calls them out on it, "Uh, I'm pretty sure I told you to drive out all the people of the land, not just the easy ones.  What's wrong with you?  You disobeyed me again and so, you know what?  These people are gonna cause all kinds of mess for you, and you know what else?  That's your deal."  Okay I'm wildly paraphrasing, but the truth is God questions the Israelites disobedience and essentially says, okay you made your bed, now lie in it.

The people weep.  I think I would too if I knew that what I'd done had displeased God so much.  Man I suck!

Thence, the pattern is born.  Israel falls prey to the Baals (pronounced, Bah-ahl) and Ashtoreths.  If you wanna hear a good sermon about these check out the Crash podcast here (High Places Week 3).  Essentially, the people of Israel do evil (worship other gods and prostitute themselves) in the eyes of the LORD, He turns them over to whomever would like to enslave them at that time, the people cry out to God, and Him being the merciful God that He is, sends a Judge anointed with his Spirit to save them.  Then it starts all over again.

Enter the Judges.  They all have their own, not always different, but their own enemies of the Israelites/oppressors to fight.  Othniel, Caleb's son in law/nephew (perhaps the reason for the recap), defeats the king of Aram.  Then comes Ehud.  Now some of the, let's call them, key judges get more press time.  Essentially their stories are longer.  Some judges, all we get is their name and who they defeated, like Shamgar, who came after Ehud.  He gets two sentences.  Now Ehud, he's pretty fun.  I like him, A LOT!  Give a shout out to all my left handed friends, because Ehud is left-handed.  And Ehud frees the Israelites from the very FAT king, Eglon of Moab.  I'm not elaborating here, all of this is in the Bible, which is not a PG rated book.  Ehud, sneakily meets with King Eglon, in his potty room (seriously, check it out), and pierces him through the belly with his sword.  The blade and the hilt went into the King and his fat closed over it.  Ah word pictures are great.  :)

So after Shamgar (previously mentioned), comes another favorite of mine, Deborah.  Crash actually covered a lot of the judges I'm mentioning here, so it wouldn't hurt to listen to those podcasts, check out the Character Gap and Elephants Among Us).  All I'm gonna say is Deborah was legit and she was chosen by God to be both the political and spiritual leader of Israel (check out 4:4).  She was leading Israel, was a prophetess and was married.  She's a pretty busy lady.  She gets to deal with King Jabin of Canaan and through her leadership and trust in the LORD, she helps to bring about freedom and redemption for the Israelites.  Also this really cool girl, Jael drives a tent peg into the Army Commander's temple (4:9-24).  Gotta love it!  God has such a wonderful sense of humor and a wonderful way of picking the people you would be least likely to think would be good leaders...

This of course brings us to Gideon.  I love Gideon too.  First of all, he's hiding.  He's threshing wheat in a winepress to hide from the Midianites who are taking everything from the Israelites.  Secondly, the Angel of the LORD calls him, 'Mighty Warrior."  I think that's rather ironic.  He's hiding and I'm pretty sure Gideon's response was to look around and say, "Where?  Who?  Me?"  Then again, Gideon's response is rather typical (remember Moses), "I can't.  I'm too weak.  I'm the wrong guy."  God's response is ever the same, "You'll be okay because you've got me.  Duh!"  Trust is an issue though, we (humans) don't like to give up our control.  So Gideon builds the LORD an altar, as the LORD says, the Spirit comes upon him and he summons the people.  Then Gideon, just to make doubly and triplely sure the LORD's got his back, he puts out the fleece, not once but twice!  Oh Gideon (shakes head).  That is so much like me though.  God you told me to do this and I know you did and I see evidence of you at work, but could you just do this one more thing to show me that this is you?  So he does.  Could you just....  God is ever patient and ever faithful.  He led Gideon and the Israelites to victory 300 against thousands.  How much more faithful will he be to me with my piddly dilemmas?  Ever so much more.

If you're ever wondering if God keeps his word, if you ever wonder if God can use you to accomplish his will, if you're ever unsure that God is good and merciful, read some of Judges.  I think it will help.  Sure God gets angry, but again, back to matters of the heart, when his people repent and cry out to him, he always brings them back.  He brings them back in the time of Judges, he brings them back later from exile, he brings them back after they've denied him 3 times, he brings them back after they've faltered in their faith, he brings them back when the shout to the sky and question if he really, truly exists (that one was me).  He is a wonderful, loving, merciful God, who is ever faithful and ever patient for those who love Him.  Thank you LORD!