Judgments and Judges

Then the Lord raised up judges who saved them out of the hands of these raiders….But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers….                              Judges 2:16, 19

During the days between Joshua and the kings of Israel, law and order were at low ebb, and “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”  In such a situation God raised up men that were known as judges, whom we would think of as vigilantes, or defenders of justice and the oppressed.  Some of the more famous of these fifteen men were Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, and Samuel.  All of us remember well the exciting feats that some of these men performed.

But the important thing in Judges is not the stories we were told about these heroes in Sunday school.  The important lesson of this book of the Bible is the recurring fact, repeated over and over, that when the people repented and lived in righteousness, they prospered; the minute they forgot about God, trouble ensued.  In dreadful monotony we read again and again that there was peace in the land for about a generation and then followed war, oppression, devastation, and trouble.

One cannot read the book of Judges without being struck by God’s endless patience and forbearance.  Time after time He would hear His people’s cry for help, and as soon as He put them on their feet they would forget Him again.  It makes one think of the lines in Lamentations, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction…”  (3:22, 23, 32)

Judges is a picture of almost every nation, with a war in every generation.  What a shame that we have to learn humility and dependence the hard way!

Old Testament Heroes

God had foreseen something better for us.                    Hebrews 11:40

Hebrews reviews the stories of Old Testament heroes so that readers may be inspired by their examples of perseverance.

When we read Hebrews 11, however, we may find the list of heroic believers discouraging.  How can we measure up to these spiritual giants? On the other hand, when we examine the list carefully, we see that some of them did nothing very spectacular for God (take Samson and Jephtha for example, v. 32): in fact, it it wasn’t their action, but God’s action in their lives that made them significant.

More important, according to verse 40, these people are presented not merely as models but as those whom we should excel.  Jesus tells us that the least saint in the kingdom is greater than a great prophet like John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11).  He also says that those who believe in Him will be able to do greater works than He Himself performed (John 14:12).

Heroes of faith do what they do by the power of God, by means of Christ’s Spirit within them.  And God does much more through Spirit-filled believers than He did through people like Samson who had the Spirit only occasionally.  The Spirit never abandons Jesus’ believers.  “He who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him” (1 Corinthians 6:17).