Seven sad stories that sound much the same: Why do the stories sound the same?

Over and over seven times the same sad cycle happens: failure to obey, opressed by enemies, crying to God, God sending a judge to help restore them, rest for some years then failure to obey…

Judges tells what happened after great gain: What is the great gain that happened just before the events in Judges?

Judges happens after the battles that were won in the book of Joshua. Israel had gained victory through faith in God and settled in the promised land.

Israel forgot God and did as they pleased: What did they do instead of trusting and obeying God?

They did whatever they wanted to. Judges 21:25 says it this way, In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. NASB Some of the ways they disobeyed God was by not driving out the wicked Canaanites, as God had told them, in order to avoid their moral corruption and their horrible practices. Israel let the Canaanites stay and taxed them to get money from them. Then they even married them and started worshipping their idols.

Then they fell prey to their enemies: What does it mean to fall prey to their enemies?

God allowed foreign people groups to come and invade and defeat and oppress or treat the Israelites like slaves. God did this to get Israel’s attention.

They cried to the LORD in their times of distress: Why did the Israelites cry to the LORD?

When it got bad enough, the Israelites realized how they had disobeyed God and repented and cried to Him for help.

He raised up a Judge to help with their mess: Who were judges?

The judges were military and civil leaders. Even some of the judges were doing what was right in their own eyes instead of following God. But God helped His people out of their messes even if He had to use corrupt judges.

Then Israel forgot God and so we repeat, seven times over they suffered defeat: What does seven times over mean?

See the answer in question 1 after “Seven sad stories….”. After the defeat of their enemies there was a period of rest until things got bad again and this repeats seven times. The events in Judges happened over about 335 years. The times of the Judges still continued another 30 years into the book of I Samuel until the time of the Kings. See the bottom of p. 62 in What The Bible Is All About For Young Explorers, under God Sent Judges, where it illustrates and talks about this cycle.

Let’s name some judges, wise Deborah is one: Who was Deborah?

Deborah was a prophet (one who listened to God and shared His truth with others). She was a wise, obedient follower of God who recruited Barak, a military commander to stand with her in the battle against the Canaanites.

The man with the fleece was named Gideon: What is a fleece?

The fleece was some cloth or garment, likely sheeps wool. You can read about Gideon and the fleece in Judges 6:36-40. This is an encouraging story for anyone who is timid or afraid! When God asked Gideon to save Israel out of the Midianites’ oppression, Gideon doubted that it was truly God talking to him and then he doubted if God would truly save Israel as He promised and so he twice had his fleece request. This is not the best way to respond to God, but God graciously did it for him anyway. The best way to respond to God is to trust and obey, Then God tested Gideon to make sure his trust was not in his army. Gideon started with an army of 32,000 which was smaller than the Midianite army , but still a good sized one. But after God told Gideon to send home any that were afraid, there were only 10,000 left. Then God had Gideon send home all the men who knelt down to drink water instead of drinking from their hands. Now there were only 300 men left in Gideon’s army. Gideon now knew that their victory was up to the LORD!

Jephthah the judge who made a tragic vow: What was his tragic vow?

Jephthah made a vow to sacrifice whatever came out of his house first. We are not certain if this offer was to sacrificially kill, which would have been tragic indeed, or if it was a sacrifice of dedication to the LORD, which means she would never get married and have a family. His daughter, his only child, was the one who came out of the house first. Jephthah says, “Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break.”

Strong long haired Samson who brought the house down: Why did Samson have long hair?

Samson was dedicated from birth as a Nazarite – one who was dedicated to God. A Nazarite was not to cut their hair, or drink wine, or be near a dead body.

How did he bring a house down?

Samson was a man of great strength who lost his strength when his hair was cut by Delila. She was a Philistine and Samson’s lover, and he was living in flagrant disobedience by being with her. She was bribed by the Philistines to betray Samson and find the secret of his strength and to take away his strength. She found out he would loose his strength that was a special gift from God if he had his hair cut, so she cut it while he was sleeping. Samson was captured, blinded and became a slave in prison. He was brought out to be made sport of by Philistine officials at a party for their god, Dagon. His hair had grown and he prayed for God to give him strength again, and with his hands on the central pillars holding up the temple, he pushed with all his might and “down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it.” Judges 16:30 NIV