Dark Ages

Judges cover the period after the death of Israel’s great leader, Joshua, to the ascension of Saul to the throne. During this time, the people were ruled by Judges whom God raised up to deliver his oppressed people (Judges 17:6). There were 14 judges – Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, Eli and Samuel.

In Judges 1:1, we see the death of Joshua. Due to their disobedience to God, troubles started and continued in Israel. They did not exterminate the enemies in the land, but rather worshiped the idols of the people and became corrupted in their morals. In Chapter 1 we see a series of disobediences and Chapter 2 we see their defeat and failure. God gave them up to their own will. The children of Israel brought on their own judgement upon themselves and became their own executioners.

God wanted the chosen people to realize that they were a holy people. They must not mix with the wicked nations about them. They must continually separate themselves. God knew that separation makes a people strong. Believers today must remember that they cannot mix with the world. They must keep close to God and war against sin and unrighteousness. God wants every believer to be warriors (Ephesians 6:10-18).

The children of Israel intermarried with the surrounding idolatrous peoples, worshipped at their shrines and practised their values. They went through 7 failures (Judges 3:5 – 16:31). God used Judges to deliver them from these failures.

Last chapters give us a picture of anarchy and confusion. First we see confusion in the religious life of the nation (Judges 17:18). Second we see confusion in the moral life of the nation (Judges 19). Third we see confusion in the political life (Judges 21). The last chapter proves that the children of Israel had lost the way to God’s home, so low that they sunk.

The history of church through the ages has been like this with Martin Luther (1483 – 1546, leader of the Protestant reformation); John Knox (1513 – 1572, Scottish Reformer) and John Wesley (1703 – 1791, Methodist founder) as deliverers.

After reading Judges we may think that the whole of these three of four hundred years was spent in rebellion and sin. But if you read it carefully, you will see that only about one hundred out of these possible 30 years were spent in disloyalty to God.

One thing we learn in this book of Judges is that a people who spend much of their time in disobedience to God make little progress during their life time.

May God enable you to understand the spiritual meaning about this book and help you to be obedient to him to be victorious and prosperous in life.