Lesson 1

Book of Judges

Reading Portion : Judges 1-21 chapters

M.V: Ezek.7:13; "No one will strengthen himself who lives in iniquity.

Aim of lesson

Give the children a general awareness of the Book of Judges. Let them understand that no one who leaves
the commandments God and lives in iniquity (sin.) will prosper.

Teaching aid

A chart with the 15 names of the judges written on it in bold letters

Introduction

Have you heard about the Judges? Who were the judges? After the death of Joshua, God choose from
among the people a set leader to be their judge and to deliver the people from their enemies. Let us learn
about these judges and the book of judges that describes their activities.

Description

Who was the leader who brought the Israelites to Canaan? (Joshua). On reaching Canaan, Joshua divided
the land among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joshua died at the age of 110. There was a Period of 350 years
between the death of Joshua and the 1st King of Israel, Saul. During this period 15 Judges judged the people
of Israel.

The history of 13 of them is given in the Book of Judges and of the other two is given in the early part of
I Samuel.

The following were the Judges of Israel

1. Othniel 9. Jepthah
2. Ehud 10. lbzan
3. Shamgar 11. Elon
4. Deborah (Barak) 12. Abdon
5. Gideon 13. Samson
6. Abimelech 14. Eli
7. Tola 15. Samuel
8. Jair

These judges who were chosen by God can be divided into three groups.

1. Judges who were fighters as well (e.g. Gideon, Samson)

2. Judges who were priests (e.g. Eli)

3. Judges who were prophets (e.g. Deborah. Samuel)

The leading among these judges were Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson and Samuel.

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The book of judges

The Book of Judges is the seventh book in the Bible. It is generally accepted that Samuel wrote this book.
It is believed to have been written around BC 1050. This book has 21 chapters and 618 verses. The key
verse of this book is Judges 21: 25, In those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right
in their own eyes'. This verse has been repeated several times in this book. The period of the Judges has
been described as the Dark Age in the history of Israel.

History of Israel's defeat

In the Book of Joshua it is given that Joshua conquered seven nations. But in the Book of Judges we see that
Israel was defeated by seven nations. When in the book of Joshua we see the story of victory, in the book
of Judges we see the story of defeat. No one will strengthen himself who lives in iniquity" (Ezek.7:13). Those
who spend their lives in sin and wickedness can never prosper in life; and this truth is highlighted in this
book. Iniquities are an obstacle to prosperity.

The Division of Theme

The book of Judges may be divided into three parts:

1) 1:1-2:5: Describe the triumphs of the tribes of Judah and Simeon, the failure of the Israelites at
their attempt to capture the land of Canaan and their lack of responsibility. Moreover they rejected God's
word that they were not to enter into any pact with the people of the land and to break down their altars
of worship. God had forewarned them that these nations would be a thorn in their side. But later we see
that they obeyed the word of God and returned.

2) Judges 2:6-16:31:

This section describes the history of 12 judges from each tribe of Israel. When we go through these
chapters we find seven different stages where the people forgot the God who delivered them from Egypt
and started worshipping the gods and goddesses of Canaan, idols of Baal and Ashtoreth images: and
engaged in other wicked immoral actions. Because of this God's anger was directed towards them and they
were given into the hands of seven kings from seven nations. Each time when they cried God delivered all
the seven times. Of the 350 years that the Judges ruled only 120 years they were away from the path of
God. During the period of their persecutions they cried out, God raised spirit filled strong Judges to deliver
them.

3) From chapters 17 to 21, before the time of kings (before Saul became king), two incidents have
been included. In these chapters there is no mention about any Judges. In chapters 17 and 18 we see the
incident of Micah, from the tribe of Ephraim, worshipping idols. In chapter 19 we see how immorality has
brought about the downfall of the Israelites. We see the same immorality of the people of Sodom in the
tribe of Benjamin and is destroyed by the other tribes of Israel. In chapter 21 we see how the Israelites save
the tribe of Benjamin from total destruction by giving them wives from other tribes. We see the downfall
of a people without proper guidance from the incidents during the period of the Judges. Because after
Joshua there was no successor (no one to lead them) and the people broke the commandments of God.
This was the cause of the failure during the period of the judges. We need to understand that in the same
way, in this age, going away from the apostles' teachings an ignoring the Word of Gad will bring spiritual
failure.

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Questions

1 . Who were the judges?

2. How many judges did the Israelites have? Name them.

3. Into how many groups are the Judges divided? Which are they?

4. When is the book of Judges believed to be written and by whom?

5. Fill in the blanks:

In the book of Judges there are ……...chapters and……verse

6. Which is the key verse in the Book of Judges? (Write with reference)

7. What is the message of the Book of Judges?

8. Into how many sections is the Book of Judges divided? Which are they?

9. God left the Israelites into the hands of the enemy. Why?

Exercise:

Prepare a chart with the names of the Judges written on it and bring it in the next class.

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