![]() Throughout the course of the book, the tenor of the narratives darkens. The body of Judges ( 3:7-16:31) contains the stories of the judges. The cycle looks like this: the people do evil in the sight of God God sends a foreign power to oppress them the people cry out God sends a judge who delivers them the land has rest. The introduction ( 1:1-3:6) first shows Judah’s largely successful accomplishments in the conquest and compares the successes of Judah with the failures of the other tribes. Judges is possibly written sometime within the reign of either David or Solomon. It is one of the darkest times in Israel’s history and shows the sinfulness of humanity in a stunning display of depravity. Because of this, there was constant infighting between the tribes, and they struggled to rally together against the nations whose land they were called by God to conquer (compare Deuteronomy 7 20). The tribes of Israel lacked strong central leadership, so they identified more with their individual tribe than with the entire nation. The nation of Israel was fractured after the death of Joshua, and no judge ruled over the people. ![]() Judges then describes the unfaithfulness of God’s people to the covenant relationship. In Joshua, the book preceding Judges, we see God’s fulfillment of his covenant promises to Abraham in bringing Israel into the land ( Joshua 21:45 22:4 23:14–15). The events of the book took place after the initial efforts of the conquest of the land of Canaan. Instead of obeying God’s good words to them, they transgressed their covenant relationship with God. Instead of being a kingdom of priests and a holy nation devoted to God, they chose to be like the other nations, worshiping false gods. The Israelites continually chose the ways of the nations around them over the ways of God. Left to themselves, people do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. When people do what is right in their own eyes, they tend not to do what is right in God’s eyes. The book of Judges is characterized by the people of Israel doing as they saw fit – that is, they did what was right in their own eyes. These choices are as important today as they were in the days of the judges. We are told to look out for our own self-interests instead of loving our neighbor as ourselves. We are pressured to conform to the world and to the culture around us instead of submitting to God as our king. ![]() Every person faces the daily decision of whether to choose God’s way or their own way.
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