Reading
Day 1: Judges 7:1-9:21
Day 2: Judges 9:22-11:28
Day 3: Judges 11:29-15:20
Day 4: Judges 16:1-18:31
Day 5: Judges 19:1-21:25
Day 6: Ruth 1:1-4:12
Day 7: Ruth 4:13-22, 1 Chronicles 2:9-55, 1 Chronicles 4:1-23, 1 Samuel 1:1-8
Preview
Hard Questions
- Gideon’s ephod- what happened?
- Does Jephthah really sacrifice his daughter?
- What’s going on with Shibboleth? Why are they fighting? One of the things we notice in Judges, especially, and then later on in the lives of Saul and David’s generals, is a pride at being part of the lighting, and then fighting to restore that pride if they weren’t included. As military men, often their only response to a slight to their pride was to kill the offender. This is a pattern in these two eras. Killing someone was an acceptable solution to many problems. It indicates a lot of pride and a low view of the value of human life. Life is cheap in a world without God’s Word.
- Trends in Judges: Tendency toward rash oaths (pride, attempt to manipulate God): syncretism (use of pagan practices to manipulate God: treating Him like the gods of the nations): people making up human solutions to problems that really require repentance (the fight between Benjamin and the rest of the nation, and the capture of the women of Jabesh Gilead; also another example of rash oaths); failure of the priests to teach God’s Worn: total division within the tribes (they didn’t hesitate to kill each other, and this only got worse as time went on). Also an observation: theirs was a violent world, For other tribes to invade and oppress was the norm, not the exception. No tribe in their world had qualms about human rights. This is the state of the world until the gospel enters it. This also provides a big contrast to the laws in the Torah about how to treat people well and set limits on violence.
Review
Page Discussion
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