Introduction to the
Book of Judges
8 July 2007
1
Names of the Book
 Hebrew name: Shophetim, meaning
“judges, rulers, deliverers, or saviors”
 Greek name: Kritai, meaning “judges”
 Latin name: Liber Judicum, meaning
“Book of Judges”
 A possible English name:
The Book of Failure
2
Author of the Book
 Anonymous
 Probably Samuel or one of his followers
3
Date & Setting
 History of Israel after first settled in the
Promised Land ~ 1400-1050 B.C.

 From the time after Joshua & elders died
(~1372 B.C.)
 Up to the time before the first king, Saul
(~1065 B.C.)
4
Date of writing
 Probably recorded during a time when
Israel had a king (after 1065 B.C.),
because Jd. 17:6 says, “In those days
there was no king in Israel.”
 Probably recorded before David captured
Jerusalem (around 1022 B.C.),
because Jd.1:21 says, “The Jebusites dwell
with the children of Benjamin to this day.”
5
Shiloh: Center of Worship
During the period of
the judges,
the Tabernacle was
in Shiloh
“And the whole
congregation of the
children of Israel
assembled together at
Shiloh, and set up the
tabernacle of the
congregation there.”
– Joshua 18:1
6
Shiloh: Center of Worship
 Jewish tradition says the Tabernacle was
in Shiloh for 369 years
7
Shiloh: Center of Worship
The Philistines
captured the Ark
of the Lord
(around 1094 B.C.)
– 1 Samuel 4:11
8
Outline
1. Deterioration (1:1 – 3:4)
Living with the Canaanites
2. Deliverance (3:5 – 16:31)
War with the Canaanites
3. Depravity (17:1 – 21:25)
Living like the Canaanites
9
The danger of Canaan
You must not live according the the customs
of the nations I am going to drive out
before you. Because they did all these things,
I abhorred them.
- Leviticus 20:23 NIV
10
Joshua & Judges Contrasted
Joshua
Judges
Freedom
Bondage
Progress
Decline
Conquest through belief
Defeat through disbelief
“Far be it from us that
we should forsake the
Lord to serve other
gods” (24:16)
“So the children of Israel
did evil in the sight of the
Lord. They forgot the
Lord their God, and
served the Baals and
Asherahs.” (3:7)
11
Joshua & Judges Contrasted
Joshua
Judges
Israel served God (24:31)
Israel served self (21:25)
Israel knew God & His power
Israel knew God & His power
(24;16-18,31)
(2:10)
Objective morality
Subjective morality
Israel pressing onward
Israel spiraling downward
Sin judged
Sin tolerated
Faith and obedience
Lack of faith,
lack of obedience
12
Military Failures
o
(Judges 1)
Failure of Asher
Failure of Naphtali
Failure of Zebulun
Failure of Manesseh
Failure of Ephraim
Failure of Dan
Failure of Benjamin
Success of Judah
13
From Niv Atlas of the Bible, by Zondervan
Deterioration (1:1 – 3:4)
 Most tribes of Israel
failed to complete the
conquest of their land
 God judged them for
giving up
From Niv Atlas of the Bible, by Zondervan
14
Reasons God Left Enemies
in the Land
1. Because the Israelites made covenants
with the evil inhabitants of the land and did
not tear down their altars (Jud. 2:2,3)
2. Because God wanted to test the Israelites
to see if they would obey Him (Jud. 2:22)
3. Because God wanted to teach the
generation of the Israelites who had not
known war (Jud. 3:1,2)
15
“They forsook the Lord and
served Baal and the Ashtoreths”
- Jud. 2:13 NKJV
16
Baal
 Means “master” or “lord”
 He was the storm god
worshipped by the
Canaanites & Phoenicians
 Also called Dagon
 In Aram (Syria) he was called
Hadad
 In Babylonia he was called
Adad
17
Baal
 The storm cloud was his chariot
 Thunder his voice
 Lightening his spear and arrows.
18
Baal
He was believed to give life-giving rain to the soil.
19
Baal
The Worship of
Baal involved
sacred prostitution
and sometime
even child
sacrifice
(see Jer.19:5).
20
Ashtoreth
 Ashtoreth, the female
partner of Baal
 Also called Asherah
 To the Greeks she was
Aphrodite.
 To the Romans, she was
Venus.
21
Ashtoreth
 Associated with romance and
the evening star
 Was the beautiful goddess of
love, beauty, sexual delight
and fertility
 Worship of the Asherah
involved extremely immoral
practices
22
Ashtoreth 2007
 Today, worship of Asherah
continues
 In cinemas & on TV
 In university dormitories
 On the Internet
 She usually wears less
clothing than in this picture
 Immorality & idolatry
usually go together
23
Idolatry & Immorality
Keep yourselves from idols.
- 1 John 5:21 NKJV
Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue
righteousness, faith, love, peace with those
who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
- 2 Timothy 2:22 NKJV
24
Deliverance (3:5 – 16:31)
“When the children of Israel
cried out to the Lord,
the Lord raised up a deliverer … ”
– Judges 3:9 NKJV
25
Cycles of the Period of Judges
Silence
“And it came to pass, when the
Judge was dead, that they reverted
And behaved more corruptly than
“Then the children of
Their fathers..” (2:19)
Israel did evil in the sight
Of the Lord and served
“And when the Lord raised up judges for them,
The Baals” (2:11)
The Lord was with the judge and delivered them
Out of the hand of their enemies all the days of
The judge” (2:18)
Sin
Salvation
Supplication
“For the Lord was moved to pity
By their groaning because of those
Who oppressed them and harassed
Them” (2:18b)
Servitude
“So (the Lord) delivered
Them into the hands of
Of plunderers” (2:14b)
26
16 Judges
1: Othniel
2: Ehud
3: Shamgar
4: Deborah
5: Barak
6: Gideon
7: Abimelech
8: Tola
9: Jair
10: Jephthah
11: Ibzan
12: Elon
13: Abdon
14. Samson
15. Eli (1 Sam. 1-4)
16. Samuel
27
Ehud (3:11–30)




Left-handed
Benjaminite
Assassinated
Eglon of Moab
Judged 80 years
28
Deborah & Barak (4:1–5:31)

Prophetess




Army leader
Fought the
Canaanites
Found Sisera
killed by Jael
40 years of peace
29
Gideon (6:1–8:32)




Of Manasseh
Least in his family
Led 300 men
against a
multitude from
Midian, Amalek
and the children
of the East
Judged 40 years
30
Abimelech (9:1–57)




Evil son of Gideon and
a concubine
Murdered 70 brothers
Fought Israelites who
opposed him
Judged 3 years
31
Jephthah (10:6–12:7)








A Gileadite
Son of a harlot
Rejected by
brothers
Leader of band of
worthless men
Sought by brothers
Made rash vow
Defeated the
Ammonites
Judged 6 years
32
Samson (13:1–16:31)






Danite Nazirite
Amazingly strong
Disobedient
(sought marriage
with unbeliever)
Judged 20 years
Carnal (slept with a
Philistine harlot)
Single-handedly
killed thousands
of Philistines
33
Depravity (17:1 – 21:25)
 Micah and a Levite’s idolatry (17)
 Dan’s tribal idolatry (18)
 Group rape of Jewish concubine in Jebus (19)
 Civil war between Benjamin & other tribes (20)
 Kidnapping of dancing virgins of Shiloh (21)
34
Depravity (17:1 – 21:25)
“Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Jud. 21:25
(They forgot God’s standards of right and wrong.)
35
Introduction to the
Book of Ruth
8 July 2007
36
The Book of Ruth
37
Book of Ruth
Spiritual Purpose
In this time of apostasy, warfare, decline,
violence, moral decay and anarchy, the
book of Ruth provides—
 A picture of the other side of the story—
the godly remnant who remain true to
the laws of God;
 The continuation of God’s protection of
the Seed line of Jesus Christ.
38
Line of Christ
Matthew 1:1,2,5,6
A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of
David, the son of Abraham:
 Abraham was the father of Isaac, ...
 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
 Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
 Obed the father of Jesse,
 and Jesse the father of King David …
39
Line of Christ
Matthew 1:1,2,5,6
Abraham & Sarah …
Salmon & Rahab
Boaz & Ruth
Obed
Jesse
David …
Joseph & Mary
Jesus
40
Author of the Book
 Anonymous
41
Bethlehem
to Moab
42
Date & Setting
 Around 1268 B.C.
 Famine in Israel
 Elimelech moved his family to Moab
?
43
History of Moab
 The people of Moab were descendants of Lot,
Abraham’s nephew, who had to flee Sodom
when God rained down fire upon it.
(Around 1868 B.C.)
 The mother of the Moabites was Lot’s elder
daughter. (Gen. 19:30-38)
 Moabites worshiped Chemosh and other
pagan gods.
44
History of Israel and Moab
 Around 1423 B.C., the Moabite king, Balak,
tried to hire a magician named Balaam to
curse Israel before they entered the
promised land. (Num. 22-24)
 Instead, God caused Balaam to bless Israel
 But Balaam also and urged Balak to send
beautiful Moabite women into the Jewish
camp to seduce the men.
 This caused sin and idolatry, and it was
punished. (Num. 25)
45
History of Israel and Moab
 The book of Ruth took place about 200 years
after the war Ehud the lefty led against Moab
(Jud. 3:12-30)
 This time was also about 80 years before
other wars with Moab when Israel was under
Saul (1 Sam. 14:47)
46
Outline of Ruth
 Ruth’s love demonstrated
 Ruth’s decision to follow Naomi and her
confession of faith (1:1-18 – 10 years)
 Ruth’s devotion to care for Naomi
(1:19-2:23 – months)
47
Outline of Ruth
 Ruth’s love rewarded
 Ruth’s request for redemption by Boaz
(3:1-18 – one day)
 Ruth’s reward of redemption by Boaz
(4:1-22 – one year)
48
Ruth’s Statement of Conversion
“And Ruth said,
Entreat me not to
leave thee, or to
return from
following after thee:
for whither thou
goest, I will go; and
where thou lodgest,
I will lodge: thy
people shall be my
people, and thy
God my God”
(1:16)
49
Law of the kinsman redeemer
If brethren dwell together, and one of them die,
and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not
marry without unto a stranger: her husband's
brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him
to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's
brother unto her. It shall be that the firstborn
whom she bears shall assume the name of his
dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted
out from Israel.
(Deuteronomy 25:5,6)
50
Law of the kinsman redeemer
But if the man does not desire to take his
brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up
to the gate to the elders and say, “My husband's
brother refuses to establish a name for his
brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the
duty of a husband's brother to me.” Then the
elders of his city shall summon him and speak to
him.
(Deuteronomy 25:7,8)
51
Law of the kinsman redeemer
And if he persists and says, “I do not desire to
take her,” then shall his brother's wife come unto
him in the presence of the elders, and loose his
shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and
shall answer and say, “So shall it be done unto
that man that will not build up his brother's
house.” In Israel his name shall be called, 'The
house of him whose sandal is removed.’
(Deuteronomy 25:8-10)
52
Kinsman-Redeemer
A Shadow of Christ
 Must be related by blood to those he redeems
(Dt. 25:5-10; Jn. 1:14; Rom. 1:3; Phil. 2:5-8; Heb. 2:14,15)
 Must be able to pay the price of redemption
(Ruth 2:1; I Pet.1:18,19)
 Must be willing to redeem
(Ruth 3:11; Mt.20:28; John 10:15, 18; Heb.10:7)
 Must be free himself
(I Pet.2:21-25)
53
God’s law to Care for the poor
Do not go over your
vineyard a second time
or pick up the grapes
that have fallen. Leave
them for the poor and
the alien. I am the
LORD your God.
(Lev.19:10)
54
Why did God kill Naomi’s two sons?
 Nobody knows for sure
 But they did marry unbelievers
(assuming that Ruth and Orpah did not believe
in the God of Israel before their marriages to
Mahlon and Kilion)
 A believer marrying an unbeliever is a sin that
gets God angry – even today
55
The sin of marrying
unbelievers
(Deuteronomy 7:1-6)
When the LORD your God brings you into the
land which you go to possess, and has cast out
many nations before you … you shall conquer
them and utterly destroy them. You shall make
no covenant with them nor show mercy to
them. Nor shall you make marriages with them.
You shall not give your daughter to their son,
nor take their daughter for your son.
56
The sin of marrying
unbelievers
(Deuteronomy 7:1-6)
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 ... For you are a holy
people to the LORD your God; the LORD your
God has chosen you to be a people for Himself,
a special treasure above all the peoples on the
face of the earth.
57
Application
 Be upset about sin in society, b/c God is upset
 God is not mocked – a man reaps what he
sows (Gal. 6:7) – probably in this life and
for sure in the next life
 Don’t think that your obedience and sin are
private and don’t affect others; they do
 Do not marry an unbeliever,
or else you will get God angry at you
58
Application
 Serve the poor like Boaz did
 Serve the the elderly like Ruth did
 Follow proper procedures like Boaz did
 Be a friend to all who fear God (Ps. 119:63)
59
Bibliography
Special thanks goes to the following:
 Zondervan’s NIV Atlas of the Bible
 www.creationism.org
 Bruce Wilkinson & Kenneth Boa for their
information in Talk Thru the Bible
 Walt Henrichsen for his wisdom and insight
shared during Bible studies he has led and in
books, articles and e-mails he has written
 Edward Reese for his chronology and dating
in The Reese Chronological Bible