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We'll consider some introductory 
matters so we know what we're doing as we get to the study 
of this particular book. So Judges 2, beginning in verse 
1. Then the angel of the Lord came 
up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, I led you up from Egypt 
and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers. 
And I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And you 
shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You 
shall tear down their altars. but you have not obeyed my voice. 
Why have you done this? Therefore, I also said, I will 
not drive them out before you, but they shall be thorns in your 
side, and their God shall be a snare to you.' So it was, when 
the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of 
Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept. Then 
they called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed 
there to the Lord. And when Joshua had dismissed 
the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance 
to possess the land. So the people served the Lord 
all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived 
Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, which 
he had done for Israel. Now, Joshua, the son of Nun, 
the servant of the Lord, died when he was 110 years old. and 
they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath-Heras 
in the mountains of Ephraim on the north side of Mount Gesh. 
When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, 
another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord 
nor the work which he had done for Israel. Then the children 
of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals. And they forsook the Lord God 
of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. 
And they followed other gods from among the gods of the people 
who were all around them. And they bowed down to them, 
and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord 
and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 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. Wherever they went out, the hand 
of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had 
said and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly 
distressed. Nevertheless, the Lord raised 
up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who 
plundered them. Yet they would not listen to their judges, but 
they played the harlot with other gods and bowed down to them. 
They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked 
in obeying the commandments of the Lord. They did not do so. And when the Lord raised up judges 
for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out 
of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For 
the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those 
who oppress them and harass them. 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 their 
own doings nor from their stubborn ways. Then the anger of the Lord 
was hot against Israel, and he said, Because this nation has 
transgressed my covenant, which I commanded their fathers, and 
has not heeded my voice, I also will no longer drive out before 
them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, so 
that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep 
the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept 
them or not. Therefore, the Lord left those 
nations without driving them out immediately, nor did he deliver 
them into the hand of Joshua. Amen. Well, we come to the second 
book. in what is called the former 
prophets. We're all familiar with the prophets, 
men like Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Daniel, and 
then the 12 minor prophets. Well, the Jews classified the 
books from Joshua to 2 Kings as the former prophets. So they 
do, in fact, relate history, but it's theological history. 
They're prophets writing to educate the people of God to call them 
to fidelity to God and to remind them of the grace and the mercy 
of God. So we considered last time the book of Joshua. I just 
want to give us some introductory material. Whenever you start 
a new book in the Bible, it's good to know who wrote it, why 
they wrote it, when they wrote it, what the situation was concerning 
the writing of that particular book. So that's what I mean by 
introduction. So tonight, we're going to look 
at the date, historical setting, and the author of the book. Secondly, 
the cycles of sin, oppression, and deliverance, and thirdly, 
an outline, and then fourthly, some major themes in this book. 
As I was reading the commentaries, one of the men said that this 
is a very dark book. If you're familiar with the book 
of Judges, you know there's a lot of sin, and a lot of wickedness, 
and a lot of evil, but there's a lot of light in it as well. Sometimes we don't always appreciate 
the fact that the primary emphasis in the Book of Judges is that 
God saves, God is merciful, and God delivers his people. The 
twin themes of man's wickedness and God's graciousness are certainly 
highlighted here in the Book of Judges. So let's just do this, 
go through the date, the historical setting, and the author. Now 
remember, just to kind of rehearse what we've already seen in the 
books up to this point, in the book of Genesis, God made a promise 
to a man by the name of Abraham. He called Abraham out of Ur of 
the Chaldeans. He called him from his home. 
from his father, from his family, from everything that he knew 
and everything that he loved and he held dear. Well, God made 
a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations 
and that his people would, in fact, inherit a particular piece 
of land. And so then we see this people 
that are connected to Abraham go into bondage or go into slavery. And the book of Exodus rehearses 
that for us. And Exodus is about God redeeming 
those people out of slavery. He brings them out of the darkness 
and captivity in Egypt. and he brings them on the way, 
at least, to the promised land. In the book of Leviticus, the 
people are given various laws on how they are to conduct themselves 
when they get into the land. They are to be a separate people, 
they are to be a holy people, they are to be a distinct people. 
When we get to the book of Numbers, we see that there was a reconnaissance 
mission. Military people ought to like 
this. Twelve spies were sent to visit the land, to spy it 
out, to see if it was a good land and bring back a report 
to Israel. So these twelve spies go into the land, they return, 
and two spies say, let's go and take the land at once. Those 
men were Joshua and Caleb. Ten spies grumbled, whined, and 
complained and said, we can't take the land because there's 
giants in the land and we'll certainly lose. So God, in His 
anger, judged that particular generation. The bulk of the people 
died there in the book of Numbers. Afterwards, the second generation 
finally ends up at the plains of Moab, and that's where the 
book of Deuteronomy takes place. There is the second generation, 
the children of those who had died in the wilderness, and God, 
through Moses, gives them a series of addresses on what they were 
to do when they entered into the promised land. And then of 
course Joshua, which we just finished looking at in detail, 
is tasked with going into the promised land. So the children 
of Israel cross the river Jordan, they enter the land, they conquer 
the land, they possess the land. And then Joshua encourages them 
that faithfulness and obedience to the Lord is the way for them 
to retain the land. Now, overall, Joshua presents 
a very positive look at this particular conquest. Judges portrays 
the not-so-positive look of this particular conquest. In Joshua, 
they go in and they break the back of Canaanite resistance. So they do conquer the land. But Judges, they need to settle 
the land and they need to get rid of the remaining Canaanites 
that are there. They need to obey God who told 
them, this is how you ought to go, or this is how you are supposed 
to go into the land to dispossess it. You're to utterly destroy 
them, you're to take their stuff, and you're to send them on their 
way. Now the reason why God does this is not because he's vicious 
or mean or unkind to these poor Canaanites. The Canaanites were 
wicked. They were vile. They had sinned 
against God. So God uses Israel as a means 
to bring judgment to bear upon Canaan. Sometimes people who 
don't like the Bible look at this and say, well, that doesn't 
seem quite fair. Here were these happy, innocent 
Canaanites living in the land. They had dug wells. They had 
built cities. They had grown vineyards. And 
now God says for the people of Israel to go in and kill them 
and take everything they built? Well, yeah, that's what God said, 
and it was an act of judgment because the Canaanites were wicked. Now, as we move through the Old 
Testament, we will see that Israel starts to behave like Canaanites. And when Israel behaves like 
Canaanites, then God sends them out of the land. God is just. Whether you're a Canaanite or 
you're an Israelite, if you disobey God, if you violate His covenant, 
then ultimately He'll bring the hammer to fall upon you in judgment. That is a basic fact of Scripture. God is holy, man is not. If we do not repent and believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ and take the forgiveness that is 
offered freely through Him, we will most certainly perish in 
hell for all eternity. That's the reality and that's 
what God is doing, at least in a foreshadowing sort of way with 
reference to the Canaanites here. And it's interesting, as we move 
through these various books of the Bible, Exodus begins with 
the death of Joseph. Remember, Genesis ends with Joseph's 
death, and then Exodus begins with that death. Joshua begins 
with the death of Moses. Judges begins with the death 
of Joshua. Had we read chapter 1, verse 
1, we would have seen that. 1 Kings begins with the death 
of David. David says, and yet for all that, 
even though these good men die, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, we see 
good men die. He says, and yet for all that, 
God's kingdom does not collapse, even when the grave takes God's 
most useful servants. The kingdom of God continues 
though the servants of God die. Your help is in the name of the 
Lord, not in the name of your favorite Christian hero." That's 
an encouraging statement here. Even though Joshua is dead, that 
doesn't necessarily mean that the people of Israel are doomed. Now, unfortunately, they sin 
and rebel against God. what means they're going to be 
doomed, but it has nothing to do with the death of Joshua, 
though at least indirectly a good leader oftentimes does help people. Anyways, the book was probably 
written between 1398 BC and 1043 BC, so the death of Joshua and 
the beginning of the monarchy. The monarchy is when the first 
king began, that was Saul. Technically, Eli and Samuel were 
also judges as well, even though they're not in this book of Judges. Now, in terms of the author, 
we don't have something like we have in Paul's letters. In 
Paul's letters, usually in the first verse or two, he says, 
I, Paul, a bondservant of the Lord, by the commandment of God, 
write to you. We don't have that in Judges. 
We don't ultimately know who wrote Judges. Now, we believe 
in the doctrine of inspiration. That means that God, who is sovereign 
and all-powerful, can take a man and so use that man that the 
very words that the man writes are the very words of God himself. That's the doctrine of inspiration. Paul speaks of that in 2 Timothy. 
All scripture is given. by inspiration of God. Now when 
it speaks of inspiration there, it doesn't mean like you and 
I are inspired when we see a nice sunset. No, it means God breathes 
through these men the particular words he wants them to put on 
paper. And so God does this through 
human authors, but the scriptures themselves have the very stamp 
of God's divinity all over them. But in terms of the particular 
author, quote John Gill here, he says, it is not certain who 
was the penman of this book. Some ascribe it to King Hezekiah, 
others to Ezra. But the Jewish writers are generally 
of opinion that it was written by Samuel, which is most likely 
who was the last of the judges. Now, that's as good a guess as 
any. Probably that is the case. But 
we'll probably just refer to the author of Judges as the author 
of Judges. The reason for the title, why 
is the book called Judges? It's called Judges because that 
is the title given to the main characters in the book itself. Now when you and I hear the word 
judge, we think of a man in a black gown with a hammer banging on 
a table. We might think of divorce court 
or people's court. We might think of the local magistrate. That's not what the judges were 
in Israel. They were not tasked primarily 
with adjudicating internal strife in Israel. They were tasked primarily 
with delivering Israel from external foes and enemies. Again, John 
Gill says, which office, judges, was different from that of kings, 
and seems only to have been occasional. Remember, at this time in Israel's 
history, they're a theocracy. Theocracy means God rules, right? Monarchy or aristocracy is when 
the rich rule, democracy is when the people rule, a theocracy 
is when God rules. So God is ruling the nation of 
Israel and he does appoint human leaders, he uses human instruments, 
but it is ultimately God that everybody's answerable to. And 
so Gill says that this office was different from that of King's 
and seems only to have been occasional and chiefly lay in delivering 
the people out of the hands of their enemies when oppressed, 
distressed, or carried captive by them. That's their primary 
task. So when you hear the book of 
Judges, don't think of the guy in the black robe giving you 
a fine of $100 because you ran a red light. Of course, I'm sure 
it's going to be a lot more than $100 if you run a red light, 
so don't run red lights. That's not what the judges were. 
They were public figures to be sure, but their primary emphasis 
was to deliver Israel from the oppressing enemies. They received 
their authority and power directly from God. They were appointed 
for deliverance from external threat. And they were, interestingly 
enough, called deliverers or saviors. That's why I say that 
the Book of Judges isn't a dark book. It's ultimately a book 
full of light that indicates this reality that God Most High 
saves his people. He delivers them. He protects 
them. He gives them everything they 
stand in need of. This corresponds, of course, 
to what we find so clearly prevalent in New Covenant Christianity. 
We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places 
in Christ. We have been redeemed from the 
bondage of sin. We have been reconciled to God 
through the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been saved freely by 
His grace. We have been called out of darkness 
into marvelous light. Our God certainly delivers us. 
Remember that the name of Joshua is Yahweh, or God, is salvation. It's the same name given to the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Yahweh, or Jehovah, is salvation. Remember what the task was that 
Jesus had entrusted to him. At the birth narrative in Matthew 
chapter 1, you shall call his name Jesus. Why? Because it's 
one of the top ten names that are common among men today? No, 
you shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who will save his 
people from their sins. I submit that every time we see 
an Othniel in this book, Every time we see a Deborah or a Barrett, 
every time we see Ehud, or every time we see Shamgar or Jephthah, 
it is a down payment, it is a foreshadowing, it is a picture of our Lord Jesus 
Christ and the great deliverance that He brings by defeating our 
foe, by defeating our oppressor, and by bringing us out of darkness 
into His marvelous light. This book screams gospel. This book tells us about God's 
grace and His mercy. He finds His people in sin, in 
misery, and in wretchedness, and what does He do? He raises 
up a man to go in and to save them. Does that sound familiar? New Testament Christians ought 
to love this book, we ought to go through this book, and we 
ought to be very mindful of this particular book. They are the 
saviors of Israel. Notice in 2, 16-19. Nevertheless, the Lord raised 
up judges who delivered them, who saved them out of the hand 
of those who plundered them. Again in chapter 3 at verse 9. 
It says, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel. In 
verse 15, we see the same emphasis. The Lord raised up a deliverer 
for them. Now, all these deliverers were 
imperfect men, to be sure. All these deliverers had their 
issues and had their problems. I mean, when you look at the 
judges in Israel, the first lesson isn't imitate their character. This isn't a book of moralism. 
This isn't just go out and be a better Jephthah. Just go out 
and be a better Ehud. What this is, is showing us the 
redemptive power of God using means that are less than stellar. They point forward to the one 
who ultimately is stellar. that is without spot, that is 
without stain, that is without blemish, who can successfully 
execute all the demands of the covenant because of his perfect 
obedience to the Father. Truly, Judges is a good book. 1518, this is the mouth of Samson 
and what he confesses, Samson being one of these particular 
judges. Then he became very thirsty, 
so he cried out to the Lord and said, You have given this great 
deliverance by the hand of your servant. And now shall I die 
of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? He got 
to love Samson. I mean, that's another great 
thing about going through this book. The brothers. They're cool. And then Obadiah, verse 21. Obadiah 
verse 21 highlights something of what judges are tasked with 
doing. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah. before Jonah. Then saviors, Obadiah 
21, then saviors or deliverers shall come to Mount Zion to judge 
the mountains of Esau and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. 
So it's important as we move through this book that we get 
out of our heads the concept of a man in a black gown giving 
you a ticket because you went too fast. A judge in Israel was 
a man raised up by God to deliver his people from oppression and 
from the enemies that were invading. Now, interestingly enough, the 
judges did not help Israel religiously. They did not help Israel in terms 
of repentance. They did not help Israel in terms 
of not engaging in Baal worship. As I said, their primary function 
was to free them or deliver them from the oppression. There are 
three instances where God calls upon or challenges the people 
in Israel to live in a holy manner. Chapter 2, verses 1 to 5, it 
is the angel of the Lord that does this, an envoy, an ambassador, 
probably the pre-incarnate Christ. Israel is challenged by a prophet 
in chapter 6, verses 7 to 10, and then Israel is challenged 
by God himself in chapter 10. So when we read through judges 
and we see the spiritual decline, we see idolatry, we see all of 
this wickedness, we'll oftentimes see hints of this and presence 
of this in the lives of the judges themselves. Again, they're not 
perfect. They're pointing forward to a man that is perfect, even 
the Lord Jesus, who would save his people from their sins. So 
that's the date, historical setting, and the author. Secondly, look 
at chapter 2. It is a very good outline of 
the entire book. Sin, oppression, and deliverance. That's the cycle that you find, 
beginning in chapter 3 at verse 7 to chapter 16, verse 21. That's the bulk of the book. 
You have an introduction, chapter 1.1 to 3.6. You have the body 
of the book itself, 3.7 to 16.21. And then you have an appendix, 
basically, or an epilogue in chapters 17 to 21. But in that 
big section from 3 to 16, or 3 to the end of 16, that's where 
you have the judges doing their thing. And the thing that you 
see, or the cycle that you see, is sin, oppression, and deliverance. If you think of fake grass, well, 
I guess it's not fake, but if you think of sod, you've got 
the book of Judges down. Sin, oppression, deliverance. If we were fifth graders, I'd 
say, repeat with me. Sin, oppression, deliverance. That's the point of the book. 
Sin, oppression, deliverance. Again, sounds a lot like New 
Covenant Christianity. We sin, we're oppressed by the 
devil, and God delivers us through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the point in the book 
of Judges. Now notice first the sin of Israel, 
chapter 2, verses 1 to 12. And I'm just going to give you 
five things to think about. First, they failed to obey Deuteronomy 
7, verses 1 to 5. They failed to obey Deuteronomy 
7, verses 1 to 5. We'll look at that in just a 
moment. But as we consider their sin, 
chapter 2 sets that out for us. It tells us about their sin, 
tells us about their oppression, and then tells us about God's 
plan for deliverance. But the sin that they're guilty 
of is that they do not obey Deuteronomy 7, 1 to 5. They don't obey a 
lot of Deuteronomy, they don't obey a lot of the Law of God, 
but primarily in 7, 1-5, that's the command to Holy War. That's 
the command for them when they go into Canaan. They were not 
to go into Canaan and leave the Canaanites alone. They were not 
to go into Canaan and make treaties with the Canaanites. They were 
not to go into Canaan and marry Canaanite women. They were not 
to go into Canaan and bow at Canaanite altars. They were to 
go and dispossess the land. God knows us. God knows us better 
than we know ourselves. He knows that if we make treaties 
with people that are outside of Christ, we will stumble. He 
knows that if we marry people that are outside of Christ, we 
will stumble. He knows that if we get too close 
to false worship, we will stumble. That's just the reality. That's 
why Deuteronomy 7, 1 to 5, God very vividly says, and you can 
look there with me, what he says in terms of holy war against 
the Canaanites. And again, not because God is 
mean, or vicious or unkind, but it's an act of judgment upon 
a wicked people that went into his land and lived like the devil. Chapter 7 verses 1 to 5, when 
the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to 
possess and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites 
and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites 
and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier 
than you And when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, 
you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make 
no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them. Probably a political 
alliance. Don't make covenants with them. 
Don't agree with them that we're going to just dwell in the land 
together. No, don't do that. Nor shall you make marriages 
with them. You shall not give your daughter 
to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. Why? For they will turn your sons 
away from following me to serve other gods. So the anger of the 
Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 
The Bible never says that we're so holy that we won't be polluted 
by others. The Bible says just the opposite. 
Our predisposition and our inclination is to that which is unholy and 
which is evil and which is wicked. So we need to guard our hearts 
and guard our minds and resist the tendency to compromise our 
spiritual well-being. James says, pure and undefiled 
religion in the sight of God the Father is this. to visit 
widows and orphans in their distress, and to keep oneself unspotted 
in the world. That's a mandate. He doesn't 
say it's OK for you to go and make political alliances with 
the devil. It's OK to go and marry the devil's daughters. 
And it's OK to go and bow at the devil's altars. Because after 
all, you're so godly, and you're so holy, and Christ is so much 
in you that you'll never stumble. It's just the opposite. We are 
told to pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 
We are told to stay away from those things which will destroy 
our souls. Verse 5, but thus you shall deal 
with them. You shall destroy their altars 
and break down their sacred pillars and cut down their wooden images 
and burn their carved images with fire. Go back to Judges. Judges chapter 1 rehearses. the advancement and the success 
that Israel had incurred. But then it indicates the problems 
that they faced. It indicates, beginning in verse 
27, however, chapter 1, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants 
of Beth-shean. The end of verse 28, but did 
not completely drive them out. Verse 29, nor did Ephraim drive 
out the Canaanites. Verse 30, nor did Zebulun drive 
out the inhabitants of Ketron. Verse 31, nor did Asher drive 
out the inhabitants of Akko. The end of verse 32, for they 
did not drive them out. Verse 33, nor did Naphtali drive 
out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh. You see the pattern? They didn't 
do what God said. Let's just get it out of our 
heads that life is good and we will be blessed when we disobey 
God. It's just not going to happen. No, God is merciful. God is kind 
and overrules our evil and oftentimes showers grace and mercy upon 
us. It's not because we're idiots. 
It's because he's gracious and it's because he's merciful. And 
then notice this. What we have are Israelites possessing 
the land, but they didn't drive them out. Look at what happens 
with Dan in verse 34. And the Amorites forced the children 
of Dan into the mountains, for they would not allow them to 
come down to the valley. So it's not just a matter of 
certain tribes having some Canaanites around. Now the Canaanites are 
saying to Dan, You need to get out of here. It is the reverse 
of what they are supposed to be doing. This does not bode 
well for them. So that's the first aspect of 
their sin drawn out here in Chapter 2, failure to obey Deuteronomy 
7. I would suggest, secondly, they 
had a failure to comply with Deuteronomy 6. And I'm specifically 
connecting it with Deuteronomy because that's foundational. 
Remember those exhortations on the plains of Moab? This is how 
you're supposed to conduct yourself when you get to the promised 
land. Notice what it says in chapter 2, verse 10. When all 
that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation 
arose after them who did not know the Lord, nor the work which 
he had done for Israel. Now, I don't believe that means 
cognitively. They didn't know the Lord. They 
didn't know there was a Yahweh. They didn't know there was a 
God in Israel. I don't think that's what it means at all. 
It doesn't have to do with cognition. It has to do with the reality 
that they did not know Him experientially. They did not know Him relationally. They did not know him as Lord 
and Savior. They did not know him as the 
God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt. They 
did not know him as the one who revealed his mighty arm in the 
wilderness. They did not know him as the 
God who had saved them and brought them to this place. It was not 
cognitive, it was experiential. And I believe this highlights 
a failure to comply with Deuteronomy chapter 6. You may turn there. Remember, this is Israel's central 
confession of faith. Deuteronomy 6, verse 4, Here, 
O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. What is to be our 
response to that central confession? It says, You shall love the Lord 
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with 
all your strength. Now notice the mandate for parents 
in Israel. Verse 6, and these words which 
I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach 
them diligently to your children. Judges 2.10 tells us they didn't, 
did they? They didn't know the Lord. They 
didn't know His mighty deeds. The next time you feel lazy and 
you don't want to open the Bible for your children, you ought 
to come to Deuteronomy 6 and stop over at Judges 2.10 and 
see what happens when we neglect to teach good doctrine to our 
children. When we do not go to church where 
good doctrine is being preached. When we are not learning what 
God the Lord has called us to put in our minds and to put in 
our hearts so that we might not sin against Him. Look at what 
he says, you shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall talk of them when you 
sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down 
and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign 
on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. So as an individual, the word 
needs to be internalized. As families, the word needs to 
be internalized. And here in Israel, societally, 
the word of God is to be on your gates. That's indicative that 
the society itself is under the word of the living God. He then 
gives cautions to Israel, how they are to avoid certain difficulties 
when they come into the land. Beginning in verse 10, there 
would be a danger of forgetting God, because they had plenty. Right? This is what the wise 
man said, give me neither poverty nor riches. Why? Because if I'm 
poor, I might go out and steal and dishonor the Lord. But if 
I'm rich, I might forget God. And the Lord tells Israel, when 
you go into this land, and you eat things you didn't grow, and 
you drink things you didn't drink, the danger is you will forget 
the Lord your God who gave you these good gifts. They do that. 
This isn't fake. God's not just saying, you know, 
this might possibly happen. He is telling them this is going 
to happen. So the danger of forgetting God 
due to affluence or prosperity in verses 10 to 13. Danger of 
abandoning God because of idolatry, verses 14 and 15. Danger of doubting 
God because of hardship, verse 16. And then notice, one of the 
correctives, one of the helps, one of the encouragements that 
they do not fall prey to this, Verse 20, When your son asks 
you in time to come, saying, What is the meaning of the testimonies, 
the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded 
you? Then you shall say to your son, We were slaves of Pharaoh 
in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty 
hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, 
great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. 
See, I don't really get surprised when people who don't spend time 
with God's Word get all shaken in their lives. I'm not suggesting 
that when you know God's Word or you have some of it hidden 
in your heart, you don't have trials and you don't have difficulties. 
You have trials and you have difficulties, but that Word of 
God acts like a buoy to keep you rooted so that you don't 
freak out. This is the point when you go 
into the land and you have these tendencies and these temptations, 
and your son says, tell us about the Lord. You rehearse to him 
the great things that God has done. This will have a good effect 
upon the heart of these young men. Then he brought us out from 
there that he might bring us in to give us the land of which 
he swore to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to 
observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our 
good always that he might preserve us alive as it is this day then 
it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe 
all these commandments before the Lord our God as he has commanded 
us so in 210 in Judges it says another generation arose after 
them who did not know the Lord nor the work which he had done 
for Israel that's it right there When you get to 1 Samuel, you 
will meet Eli's sons. Are Eli's sons good men? No. Eli's sons lay with prostitutes, 
and they steal sacrificial meat. I mean, imagine that. You go 
to hand your meat to a priest so he can offer it up, and he 
takes it and eats it. Eli's sons were bad actors. Do you know what their primary 
problem was, according to 1 Samuel 2.12? They did not know Yahweh. That's it. They didn't know God. 
So that when we see them laying with temple prostitutes, we don't 
actually see that. The text tells us. And when we 
see them stealing meat, it's not a surprise because they didn't 
know the Lord. So when we follow beyond chapter 
2, verse 10, and we start to see that they forsook the Lord, 
they worshiped Baal, they worshiped Asherah, they did these sorts 
of things, it shouldn't surprise us. They didn't know the Lord. 
If we do not know the Lord, then we're not going to act consistently 
like those who know the Lord. It's just the way it goes. We 
need to believe the gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's 
at that vantage point that we then are able to pursue those 
things which are pleasing to the Lord our God. They did not 
know him. Davis says amnesia produces apostasy. They forgot God. What's the natural 
inclination? Apostasy. We take God out of 
society, what happens? Apostasy. It's not rocket science. If people are not worshiping 
and serving the creator, they will worship and serve the creature. So they failed to obey Deuteronomy 
7. They failed, secondly, to comply with Deuteronomy 6. Thirdly, 
they reject God. They reject God. Notice in verse 
12, they forsook the Lord God of their fathers. He was the 
God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was the 
God who delivered them from Egypt, as it says here, and he was the 
God who made a covenant with them, according to 220. So they 
had a relationship with this God, and yet they reject Him, 
they forsook Him, and now they're chasing after idols. They're 
chasing after the gods of Canaan. They prefer Baal and Asherah 
over Yahweh. Why? Because Baal and Asherah 
give you what you want, essentially. This was a fertility religion. 
And Baal was the male god. Asherah was the female god. So 
the worshipers would fornicate or copulate or engage in some 
form of sexual immorality with a view to get Baal and Asherah 
to do the same sort of thing. It's kind of like priming the 
pump. My uncle had a cabin out in Oregon, and before they had 
a sink inside where you could just turn the thing, there was 
a pump. One of those things that you do like this to get the water 
going. We had to prime the pump. There was a little bucket of 
water there. You poured it down into the nozzle, and then you 
started wrenching it and then it would start to give water. 
That's why when you're reading through the Old Testament you 
see people engaged in sexual immorality a lot of times. It 
is for the purpose of religion. They're trying to get Baal and 
Asherah to copulate so that they will then fertilize the land. 
One commentator makes this observation, and I think he's right on. Fertility 
religion was concerned to secure for the worshipper a large family, 
large flocks and herds, and abundant crops. It was the ancient equivalent 
to the modern health and wealth gospel. So Bale and Asher were 
the Benny Hinn of that generation. They were the Freddie Price of 
that generation, the Kenneth Copeland of that generation. 
You just give me what I want, Bale. So they saw immediate gratification 
in this particular way. Their Canaanite neighbors would 
go out, say a little prayer to Baal, and then it might happen 
to rain. And being fools, they'd say, wow, we ought to try praying 
to Baal, and maybe it'll rain on our crops as well. You see 
what happens. They start to entertain a little 
bit of Baalism in terms of neighbor, and then it's not long before 
they're bowing down with them. So they reject the Lord God Almighty. They serve the Baals. They forsook 
the Lord God of their fathers. They compromise with Canaanite 
religion. When you reject the living and 
true God, you are still a worshiping creature. Never forget that. Man is a religious being. He 
will worship something. He will worship money. He will 
worship sex. He will worship drugs. He will 
worship himself. He will worship something. So 
when you stop or you turn back or you reject God, the living 
and true, you turn to Baals or Asherah or whatever it is that 
you think is pleasing. Davis again says, what began 
as toleration, where they didn't kill all the Canaanites, became 
apostasy. What seemed so reasonable proved 
lethal. Living with Canaanites led to 
worshiping with Canaanites. Tolerate Baal's people, and sooner 
or later you bow at Baal's altar. That's just reality. That is 
true. You've got to believe that. That's 
legit. That's for new covenant Christians 
as well. How does John end his first letter? He says, my little children, 
keep yourselves from idols. He writes this glowing letter 
about love and about obedience to the Father and about pursuing 
righteousness. He talks about Jesus Christ being 
the advocate, the propitiation for our sins. He talks about, 
I write these things so that you may not sin. But if you do 
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ 
the righteous. He talks about loving one another. He talks 
about all these great Christian themes. And then in 521, as he 
ends the letter, it's not, I can't wait to see you again. I love 
you all so very much. I hope everything goes well for 
you and that you live happily ever after. It's little children. 
Keep yourselves from idols. If we as Christians aren't going 
to learn that from 1 John 5.21, we should stick our faces in 
the book of Judges. Because the last thing that we 
can consider with reference to the sinfulness of man is their 
continual slide into moral depravity. We get to chapter 17 and Micah 
hires his own private Levite and has family religion in a 
way accursed before God. It's not a teaching his children 
when he rises up and when he walks by the way and when he 
lies down. It is to take from the central sanctuary and put 
it in one's living room. Micah sins. The Danites join 
in that. A Levite's concubine gets raped 
and murdered. He ends up cutting her up into 
pieces to send them to the various tribes. There's a civil war engaged 
with Benjamin. Now remember that Joshua was 
tasked with taking the children of Israel in to engage holy war 
against Canaanites. The book ends with 11 tribes 
going to war against one tribe in the space of 21 chapters. This is real. Sin is powerful. If we are not careful, we will 
end up likewise. It truly is a tragic picture. Remember when we ended Joshua, 
we made a bit of a link between Genesis and Joshua? How old was 
Joshua when he died? 110. How old was Joseph when 
he died? 110, right? We get this link 
at the end of Joshua 24. It talks about the bones of Joseph 
being buried in Shechem. It talks about the final disposition 
of these servants of the Lord. And we noted that Genesis is 
the book where promise is given. And at the end of Joshua, they 
inherit the land. Do you know that Judges returns 
to Genesis as well? But not to a positive. When we get to that situation 
concerning the Levites' concubine, it's new Sodom. And guess who 
Sodom is? It's Israel. The same stuff that 
took place in Genesis chapters 18 and 19 with those dirty, vile 
Sodomites happens in Israel in the book of Judges. You want 
to talk about wickedness? Just read this book. It really 
does encapsulate what is in man's heart. So that's sin. Oppression. Remember? Sod. A teaching device there. Sod. Think green. Think sod. Think judges. Sin, oppression, 
deliverance. Chapters 3, 4, 6, 10, and 13. 
We won't rehearse each instance. There's Syrian oppression that 
Othniel delivers the people from. There's Moabite oppression in 
chapter 3 verse 12, which Ehud delivers Israel from. Isn't that 
a great story? Can't wait to get there. He who 
has a message from the king, or from God. Actually, it's this 
way. He's a left-handed man. Canaanite 
oppression, Deborah and Barak. Midianite oppression, Gideon. Philistine and Ammonite oppression, 
chapter 10, Jephthah. And then Philistine 
oppression again in chapter 13 with Samson. So you see the sin. brings oppression. This is God's 
judgment of his sinful people. And then interestingly enough, 
when they are in that position, they cry out to the Lord and 
he delivers them. I learned it not as sod, I learned 
it as sword. Sin, oppression, repentance, 
and deliverance. I'm not, however, convinced that 
they repented. Not at all. Just because they 
cried out in their distress doesn't necessarily mean they had a change 
of mind and were wholly following the Lord God. So I leave that 
R out. If you want to throw the R in 
and remember sword, you're free to do that. But Sod seems to 
encapsulate it well. Sin, oppression, deliverance. That's the cycles that recur 
throughout the book. The children of Israel would 
cry out. God would hear them and would raise up deliverers. 
The children of Israel cry out, according to chapter 3, twice, 
chapter 6, and then chapter 10. That is the background for each 
of these judges whom God raises up to deliver Israel from that 
oppression caused by their sin and God's just judgment upon 
them. The outline, it breaks down into 
three easy sections, 1-1 to 3-6, introduction, 3-7 to 16-21, body, 
or the bulk of the book, and then chapters 17 to 21 is the 
epilogue, as I said, or the final word dealing with Israel. Now, 
some of the commentators, I think, help explain it quite well. Dumbrell, 
not Dumbell, but William J. Dumbrell, a very good Old Testament 
scholar, and a very helpful book called The Faith of Israel. I 
highly recommend that book. It's very readable. It's a biblical 
theology of the Old Testament. Very good. He says that chapter 
1, verse 1 to 3, 6 is the introduction to the period of the judges. 
And it is. It tells us what advancements 
they had made in Canaan, and their apostasy and what God is 
going to do to them. Secondly, he describes that bulk 
section, 3.7 to 16.31, as the exploits of the heroic figures, 
the judges themselves. And then the third section, two 
appendixes about life during the period, and that's 17 to 
21. Dale Ralph Davis, again, the 
numbers don't change. There's three sections. Every 
commentator sees that. The first section, 1.1 to 3.6, 
is the failure of a second generation. 3.7 to 16.31 is the salvation 
of a long-suffering God. I like that. Failure of the people, salvation 
of a long-suffering God. And then the last section, Davis 
says, is the confusion of a depraved people, 17 to 21. Another theme 
that is recurring, I neglected to say this when we considered 
the sin of Israel, is that there was no king in Israel, and everyone 
did what was right in their own eyes. If you want a good picture 
of what autonomy looks like, that means self-rule, Judges 
is a good one. It's not a pretty picture. Some 
say that Judges was written as a bit of a tract to promote monarchy. In other words, here's what Israel 
looks like without a king. That's how desperately we need 
a king. But there is somewhat of some anti-monarch statements 
in the book itself. It's interesting that Judah in 
chapter 1 is the first tribe that we see going out and doing 
their job and conquering the land. You know it's Judah that 
gives Samson into the hands of the Philistines? I mean, Judah, 
the royal tribe, they're shown to us in chapter one, doing their 
job, conquering the land. We get to chapter, I think it's 
16, with Samson. They give Samson over into the 
hands of the Philistines. Terrible. I mean, it's just, 
if you wonder how the depths of depravity, how low they can 
go, Judges is a good book for that. Anyway, so that's how Davis 
does it. I think I like Daniel Block. 
I don't think I like him. I like his commentary anyway. 
I like the way he refers to what's going on in Judges. He says it 
is the Canaanization of Israel. In other words, Israel has gone 
into Canaan, and instead of dispossessing the land, they are becoming Canaanites. They are taking on the characteristics 
of the people there, because they do enter into political 
alliance. They do marry their sons and daughters, and they 
do worship at their altars. So Bloch says that first section 
is the background to the canonization of Israel, Israel's failure in 
the Holy War. The second section is God's response 
to the canonization of Israel, the cycles of apostasy and deliverance. And then third, climax, the depths 
of the canonization of Israel, those last three chapters. That's 
a bit of an outline. I always find it helpful to have 
that right at my margin so I can know where I'm at. Major themes 
I think you probably can surmise at this point. Wickedness of 
man, yes. You know, that's definitely a 
major theme. His disobedience to God, his rejection of God, 
his idolatry, and his moral depravity. We get to 17 to 21 and they're 
living like the devil. Again, it shouldn't surprise 
us because they've rejected the true and living God, they've 
turned to idols, and as a result, their practice looks abominable. It is for a very specific reason 
that when the Apostle Paul comes to set forth the gospel of free 
and sovereign grace in Romans chapter 3 at verse 21, he prefaces 
the good news. That's what gospel means. Good 
news. Good news presupposes or assumes 
Bad news. And in chapter 1 at verse 18 
to chapter 3 and verse 20 in the book of Romans, Paul points 
out the bad news. And he starts in Romans 118 by 
saying that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against 
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Some commentators do 
not see that order as being for a particular purpose. I think 
it is. John Murray says so, and I think 
Murray's right. All ungodliness and unrighteousness. When we are ungodly, we will 
be unrighteous. What we think about God, what 
we conceive concerning God, how we respond to God affects the 
way that we live. If we reject God, if we say no 
to God, then idolatry and all manner of evil and wickedness 
is certainly going to follow. So the Book of Judges follows 
that trajectory. They do not remember, or they 
do not know God. They turn to Baal. They turn 
to Asherah. They turn to the fertility religions. They do 
what's right in their own eyes, and it ends up in an absolute 
mess and chaos by the time we get to the end of the book. So 
the wickedness of man, but something that we really need to appreciate 
in the Book of Judges is the character of God. Because I think 
that when we see man as man is, then we can see God as God is. There's an instance in the prophet 
Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 3. Five times 
God says to the people, yet return to me, says the Lord. It's truly 
amazing. Yet return to me, says the Lord. 
Now you can read Jeremiah 3 and really get thrilled by reading 
that and seeing five times God saying, yet return to me, says 
the Lord. But if you read chapter 2, It's 
even that much more amazing, because chapter 2 tells us how 
sinful these people were. It tells us things like, can 
a bride forget her ornaments? Could it ever be the case that 
a young woman would show up on our wedding day and not be decked 
out? Of course not. Every woman, it's 
just built in, right? I'm getting married, I gotta 
look great. I'm getting married, I gotta do the whole spiel. And 
that's biblical. When John sees New Jerusalem 
coming down out of heaven, how does he describe it? As a bride 
adorned for her husband. It's biblical. It's legit. It's 
righteous. It's godly. But the Lord says, 
can a bride forget her ornaments? Well, of course not. My people 
have forgotten me days without number. Does a nation change 
its gods? No, the pagans are consistent. My people exchange their glory 
for that which is not God. So when you understand Jeremiah 
2, when you get to the yet return to me says the Lord in Jeremiah 
3, it's mind-blowing. So every time you're walking 
through the land of Canaan in the book of Judges, and you see 
what the people are doing, you see them bowing at Baal's feet, 
or you see them calling upon Baal, or you see them forsaking 
Yahweh, and then you see the suppressor come in, and then 
they cry out to the Lord. It's as if God can't help Himself, 
He goes and delivers them. That's the grace of God. That's 
what the book is about. It's about deliverance. It's 
about salvation. It's about how God deals with 
his people in their misery, in their sin, in their ungodliness. The Lord initiates the covenant. 
He tolerates no rival. The second commandment says that 
he's a jealous God. You see that here in the book 
of Judges. He is long-suffering, he is gracious, and it ultimately 
is he who will build his church. The children of Israel do not 
get out of the period of the judges based on their virtue 
or on their goodness. No, it is God alone who sustains. It is God alone who keeps. It 
is God alone who preserves and advances this covenant community. 
So those are some of the lessons that I hope that we'll see as 
we move through this book. It certainly pictures, typifies, 
and shows for us the redemption that we have in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. For certainly, as we look at 
Judges chapter 2, I hope that we will all see at least a glimmer 
or a glimpse of us in that passage. We do not know the Lord by nature. 
We reject him outright. We serve Baals. We serve Asherah. 
We serve whatever gods, whatever idols, whatever things please 
us. God brings oppression. God brings 
things in our lives to get our attention. He shows us our sin. 
He shows us our misery. And by his grace, we cry out 
to him. And what does he do? He comes. 
He saves. He delivers. He frees. And it's 
through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Truly, that is the deliverer 
that these judges picture and point forward to. Well, let us 
pray. Our Father, we thank you for 
your word and we thank you for this book of Judges. We pray 
that you would guide us in our studies and help us to see in 
it the things that you would have for us as a local church 
and as individuals. We just thank you for your grace. 
We sing of it. We talk about it, but God, I 
wonder at times if we really consider how wonderful it is 
that you forgive us, not of some of our sins, but you forgive 
us of all of our sins. As the scripture so clearly says, 
in Christ we have redemption through his blood. Please go 
with us now, watch over us in the remainder of the week, bring 
us together on the Lord's Day, that we may worship and praise 
and honor you. And we ask through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen.