INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF JUDGES CHAPTERS 17-21

The writer of Judges put these final chapters of Judges 17-21 at the end of book as an
appendix rather than at the beginning after the death of Joshua where these events
chronologically took place. This was because the writer felt that they did not fit well with the
flow of the book and were better added at the end as an appendix. However, the writer still felt
these events as being important because they showed how quickly at the beginning of Israel’s
history in the land of Canaan just how quickly they fell under the idolatrous and deepest moral
depravity of the evil influences of the people that were still in the land. “Both these events
occurred in the earliest part of the period of the judges, as we may gather…and they are merely
placed at the end of the book in the form of appendices, because they could not well be
introduced into the six complete historical tableaux; although, so far as the facts themselves are
concerned, they are intimately connected with the contents and aim of the book of Judges,
inasmuch as they depict the religious and moral circumstances of the times in the most striking
manner in two pictures drawn from life.”1

The first two chapters of this appendix of Judges 17-18 concerning this man Micah and
his idolatry and the men of the tribe of Dan, undoubtedly chronologically fit during the
beginning of the history of Israel in Canaan after the death of Joshua and the first generation of
Israelites, starting at Judges 2:10. This was a time when a new generation of Israelites had grown
up but who did not know the Lord or the works He had done for Israel and they quickly
abandoned the Lord and fell into idolatry in following the false gods of the people around them.
These events chronologically fit at the beginning of the book of Judges when everyone did what
seemed right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6) rather than following the Lord and doing right
according to His commandments and being obedient to them. The fact that the Danites were
seeking a place of their own (Judges 18:1) was also a characteristic of the beginning of the book
of Judges, when the tribes of Israel were first getting settled in their new territories.

The final three chapters of the book of Judges (19-21) and the Levite’s concubine and the
crime against them by those of the tribe of Benjamin, also chronologically fit better at the
beginning of the book of Judges. “This account belongs to the times immediately following the
death of Joshua, as we may see from the fact that Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the contemporary
of Joshua, was high priest at that time (Judges 20:28).” 2 A second reason for these final three
chapters of Judges belonging to the beginning of Judges is because this was a time when the
tribes of Israel sought for national purity among themselves and quickly came together to bring
justice to the crime committed against this Levite and his concubine by those in the tribe of
Benjamin. As a result, the other tribes went to war against the tribe of Benjamin and nearly
exterminated the entire tribe for this terrible crime.

Israel at the time of their conquest of Canaan was governed and ruled over by the Lord
and faithfully followed Him. Israel was also a great nation at the beginning when they first
settled into the land of Canaan and where very committed to obeying the Lord’s commandments
and nationally living a holy and pure life. However, these two major events as recorded in Judges
17-21, which chronically fit after the death of Joshua and that first generation of Israelites
(Judges 2:8-10), show how quickly the Israelites as a nation soon fell away from their
commitment to following and serving Lord and being obedient to His commandments. They
1
C.F. Keil & F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament Vol. Joshua-2 Samuel, Parsons Church Group a
division of findex.com, inc. Omaha, Nebraska, Electronic Edition STEP Files 2000.
2
Ibid.
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quickly lost the purity in their national life and fell into idolatry and the deepest moral depravity.
It is amazing that such a great and holy nation as Israel would so quickly forsake the Lord and
begin to follow after the heathen idolatrous practices and fall into the deepest evil corruptions of
the nations around them! This also marked a time when Israel as a nation became weak and were
soon conquered by the other nations around them.

When Adam and Eve where created by God, they lived in totally purity and were in
intimate relationship with God in their beautiful garden paradise in the Garden of Eden and were
given only one restriction and commandment, to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil (Genesis 2:7-23). However, it did not take long until they both disobeyed and ate of the tree
that God had forbidden them not to eat of and lost that intimate relationship with God and were
thrown out of their garden paradise (Genesis 3). A nation and its people may be founded on the
true and living God and the Bible and be very devoted to serving God and being obedient to His
word at its beginning like the nation of Israel was. However, it does not take long until that
nation and its people quickly forsake God and His word and fall away from its truth. They begin
to embrace the lies of the devil and start practicing the worst kind of sins and evil and become
totally corrupt just like what happened to the nation of Israel! “When Israel grew fat, they
became stubborn. When they were filled with food, they became fat and heavy. They left the God
who made them. They turned away from the Rock who saved them” (Deuteronomy 32:15 NIRV).

The United States of America was founded as a nation on July 4, 1776 and it was based
on belief in the true and living God and the authority of His word the Bible and is an example of
a nation that had a great beginning. The United States as a nation and people were blessed by
God and grew into a strong nation of fifty states in the 20 th century. However, in their strength,
prosperity and pride, the United States as a nation and people in general, soon turned their backs
on God and the authority of the Bible. By a Supreme Court decision in 1962 the United States
banned prayer to God in public schools and in 1963, the Supreme Court also decreed against the
reading of the Bible in public schools. The United States and its people in general began to do
whatever seemed right to them and believed a lie and went astray. They soon became a godless
nation and began to embrace every kind of sin and perversion. It is amazing how quickly this
spiritual and moral decay can happen to a nation of people who once were very devoted to
following the true and living God and held to the truth and sacredness of His word the Bible! It
only takes one generation for a nation of people to turn from their belief in the true and living
God and His word the Bible and from being a righteous people to becoming a nation that is
totally godless, evil and corrupt. This is why it is so important that each generation of people
make it their primary intention to pass on their faith in God to the next generation so they will
also hold on to the truth and sacredness of His word and be devoted to serving God!
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).

When we as Christians first came to believe on Jesus Christ and became His followers,
we at the beginning of our Christian life were very passionate and strongly devoted in following
and serving the Lord and being obedient to His word. However over time, we can begin to lose
that strong devotion and love towards the Lord and His word and to drift in our Christian life.
We then became lukewarm and indifferent in our relationship with the Lord and soon our life is
not much different than the non-Christian people around us. Many Christians, who once loved
and served the Lord with all their heart, no longer even have the appearance of being a Christian.
They have also abandoned the fellowship with other believers in the church and no longer even
confess being a follower of Jesus Christ. They have also deserted the Lord and fallen far from
Him and now walk in the ungodly and sinful ways of the unbelieving world around them. Many
2
Christians who at one time lived such godly and righteous lives in following the Lord have even
become involved in the worse kind of sins like those of the ungodly and wicked around them!
“Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern
you have in us. 18For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that
they are enemies of the cross of Christ” (Philippians 3:17-18).

We as Christians would never think that we could begin to live like the unbelieving
people of our world around us but this is what happens when we begin to drift in our Christian
life and lose that devotion and love that we once had for the Lord. Every Christian no matter how
devoted they may be at one time to the Lord, can easily begin to fall away from their close
relationship with the Lord. It is something that has to be maintained in our life daily by the
confession of our sins to the Lord, recommitting ourselves to Him and being in prayer and in
meditation of His word. If we don’t do this, we will begin to drift and fall away from the Lord
and over time, end up finding ourselves far from the Lord and even involved in the deepest sin of
depravity like what happened to the nation of Israel in the time of the Judges. The Church of
Sardis had a name of being a church that was alive, but Jesus in His glorified state in observing
them said, “I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead”
(Revelation 3:1). The Church of Laodicea is also another good example of a people who had
drifted in their relationship with the Lord and become lukewarm and repulsive to the Lord. Jesus
in His glorified form in also speaking to this church said of their low spiritual condition, “So
because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17Because
you say, I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and you do not know
that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Revelation 3:16-17).

We as Christian believers must stay strong in our faith, deeply devoted and fervent in our
love for the Lord. We must also be strongly dedicated to passing on our faith and love for God to
our children and to the next generation so they will also follow, serve and love the Lord as we
do. If we fail to do this, our children and the next generation after us, will turn away from their
Christian heritage and from the ways of the Lord and embrace the sinful and ungodly ways of the
world around them. This is exactly what happened to the Israelites who came into the land of
Canaan and were very devoted to the Lord in following and serving Him and keeping His
commandments but failed to pass this on to their children and the next generation. As a result,
that next generation of Israelites did not know the Lord and turned to the idolatry and ungodly
practices of the nations around them (Judges 2:10-13). Let us as Christians not let this happen to
us but be strongly committed to passing on our faith and love for the Lord to our children and the
next generation that follows us so they too will follow in our ways! “These words, which I am
commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your sons and
shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie
down and when you rise up. 8You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as
frontals on your forehead” (Deuteronomy 6:6-8).

RELATED SCRIPTURE: Genesis 3:1-19; Deuteronomy *6:4-12; 11:18-21; 32:9-15; Joshua

1:7-8; *24:14-24; Judges 2:1-5; *2:8-13; 3:5-7; Psalms 1:1-3; *Proverbs 14:34; Isaiah *1:2-9;
1:18-23; Matthew 16:24; *22:36-38; Luke 15:11-32; Acts 13:22; *Galatians 1:6-9; Philippians
*1:20-21; 3:12-14; *3:17-19; I Timothy 1:18-20; II Timothy 3:13-15; *4:1-5; 4:10; Hebrews
*3:12-15; 6:4-8; 11:24-26; *12:1-2; II Peter 2:20-22; *I John 2:15-17; Revelation 2:1-7; *3:1-6;
*3:14-22.