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The Story of the Book of Judges – How Did God Deliver His People_ _ Bible Stories · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: Imagine a people newly arrived in the land promised by God.
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  Speaker 1: After years of wandering through the desert, they had finally
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  Speaker 1: found a place to call home. Israel had conquered much
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  Speaker 1: of the land under the leadership of Joshua, the chosen
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  Speaker 1: successor of Moses. The battles had been fierce, the walls
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  Speaker 1: of Jericho had fallen, and the land was distributed among
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  Speaker 1: the twelve tribes. But now Joshua was no longer among them.
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  Speaker 1: The people faced a major challenge to remain faithful to
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  Speaker 1: God while striving to fully possess and establish themselves in
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  Speaker 1: the promised land. This is where the story of the
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  Speaker 1: Book of Judges begins, a time when God raised up
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  Speaker 1: leaders called Judges to deliver his people whenever they turned
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  Speaker 1: away from Him and suffered at the hands of their enemies.
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  Speaker 1: It's a story of repeated cycles of downfall and rescue
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  Speaker 1: that shows us how God never abandons his people, even
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  Speaker 1: when they forget him. The Son was setting over the
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  Speaker 1: hills of Canaan. The elders of Israel had gathered for
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  Speaker 1: the funeral of Joshua, son of Nune, servant of the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Judges two eight to nine tells us Joshua, son of Nune,
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  Speaker 1: the servant of the Lord, died at the age of
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and ten, and they buried him in the
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  Speaker 1: land of his inheritance at Tymnath heres in the hill
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  Speaker 1: country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gosh. Joshua's death marked
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  Speaker 1: the end of an era for the people of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: He had been moses right hand man, witnessed the parting
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  Speaker 1: of the Red Sea, spied out the land of Canaan,
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  Speaker 1: and ultimately led the conquest of the promised land. Now,
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  Speaker 1: without him, the tribes of Israel were left without a
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  Speaker 1: central leader to unite them. Each tribe had received its
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  Speaker 1: portion of land as recorded in the Book of Joshua.
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  Speaker 1: Now they had to complete the conquest of their own territories.
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  Speaker 1: Judges one one two reads. After the death of Joshua,
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  Speaker 1: the Israelites asked the Lord, who of us is to
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  Speaker 1: go up first to fight against the Canaanites. The Lord answered, Judah,
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  Speaker 1: shall go up. I have given the land into their hands.
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  Speaker 1: The tribe of Judah took the lead and invited their
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  Speaker 1: fellow tribe Simeon to join them in battle. Judges one
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  Speaker 1: three recounts. Then Judah said to Simeon, his brother, come
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  Speaker 1: up with me into the territory allotted to me, that
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  Speaker 1: we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will
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  Speaker 1: go with you into the territory allotted to you. So
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  Speaker 1: Simeon went with him. They achieved significant victories. In Bezek,
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  Speaker 1: they defeated ten thousand men under the command of adonni Bezek.
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  Speaker 1: In Jerusalem, they captured the city and set it on fire.
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  Speaker 1: In the Negev and the hill country, they also drove
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  Speaker 1: out the Canaanites. Judges one nineteen tells us the lord
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  Speaker 1: was with the men of Judah. They took possession of
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  Speaker 1: the hill country, but they were unable to drive the
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  Speaker 1: people from the plains because they had chariots fitted with iron.
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  Speaker 1: That last phrase highlights a recurring issue in the conquest.
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  Speaker 1: Despite many victories, the Israelites were unable to completely drive
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  Speaker 1: out the Canaanites from the land. Other tribes faced similar difficulties.
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  Speaker 1: Judges one twenty one says the Benjamites, however, did not
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  Speaker 1: drive out the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem. Judges
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  Speaker 1: one twenty two to twenty six explains that the House
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  Speaker 1: of Joseph captured Bethel, but not fully, and the pattern
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  Speaker 1: continues in Judges one twenty seven to thirty three. Manassa
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  Speaker 1: did not drive out the people of bethshen Ephraim did
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  Speaker 1: not drive out the Canaanites living in gezer Zebulun, did
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  Speaker 1: not drive out the residence of Kitrin. Asher, did not
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  Speaker 1: drive out the inhabitants of Ako Naftali, did not drive
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  Speaker 1: out the people of Bethshemesh. This failure to fully conquer
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  Speaker 1: the land had a deeper reason. God had commanded the
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  Speaker 1: total removal of the Canaanite peoples, not just for territorial reasons,
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  Speaker 1: but to protect Israel from their idolatrous influence. In Deuteronomy
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  Speaker 1: seven one to four, even before entering the land, Moses
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  Speaker 1: had warned, when the Lord your God brings you into
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  Speaker 1: the land you are entering to possess, and drives out
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  Speaker 1: before you many nations. And when the Lord your God
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  Speaker 1: has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them,
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  Speaker 1: then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them,
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  Speaker 1: and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them,
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  Speaker 1: for they will turn your children away from following me
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  Speaker 1: to serve other gods. And the Lord's anger will burn
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  Speaker 1: against you and will quickly destroy you. Instead of driving
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  Speaker 1: them out, many of the tribes chose to make treaties
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  Speaker 1: and subject the Canaanites to forced labor. Judges one twenty
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  Speaker 1: eight says when Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites
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  Speaker 1: into forced labor, but never drove them out completely. This
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  Speaker 1: coexistence with the Canaanite peoples sowed the seeds for future
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  Speaker 1: idolatry in Israel. The Angel of the Lord appeared to
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  Speaker 1: the people at Bochim with a grave message in Judges
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  Speaker 1: two one to three, we rid I brought you up
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  Speaker 1: out of Egypt and led you into the land I
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  Speaker 1: swore to give to your ancestors. I said, I will
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  Speaker 1: never break my covenant with you, and you shall not
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  Speaker 1: make a covenant with the people of this land, but
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  Speaker 1: you shall break down their altars. Yet you have disobeyed me.
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  Speaker 1: Why have you done this? And I have also said
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  Speaker 1: I will not drive them out before you. They will
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  Speaker 1: become traps for you, and their gods will become snares
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  Speaker 1: to you. The people wept and offered sacrifices to the
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  Speaker 1: Lord at that place, which was called Bouchim, meaning weepers,
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  Speaker 1: but the divine warning was clear. Living alongside the Canaanites
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  Speaker 1: would be like thorns in Israel's side, and their gods
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  Speaker 1: would become a dangerous snare for the Chosen people. A
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  Speaker 1: new generation arose in Israel, children of those who had
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  Speaker 1: entered the land with Joshua. Judges two ten tells us,
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  Speaker 1: after that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors,
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  Speaker 1: another generation grew up who neither knew the Lord nor
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  Speaker 1: what he had done for Israel. This lack of knowledge
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  Speaker 1: about the Lord and his mighty works led Israel into
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  Speaker 1: a cycle of sin that would repeat throughout the Book
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  Speaker 1: of Judges. This pattern is laid out clearly in Judges
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  Speaker 1: two eleven to nineteen and becomes the hallmark of this
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  Speaker 1: entire period in Israel's history. The cycle began with apostasy,
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  Speaker 1: when Israel abandoned the Lord and followed other gods. Judges
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  Speaker 1: two eleven twelve says, then the Israelites did evil in
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  Speaker 1: the eyes of the Lord and served the bales. They
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  Speaker 1: forsook the Lord, the god of their ancestors, who had
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  Speaker 1: brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various
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  Speaker 1: gods of the peoples around them, they aroused the Lord's anger.
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  Speaker 1: Bal was the Canaanite god of fertility and storms. His
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  Speaker 1: worship promised abundant rain and fruitful harvests, something especially tempting
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  Speaker 1: to an agrarian people like Israel. Alongside bal Asherah, his consort,
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  Speaker 1: was also worshiped, often represented by wooden poles. Their cult
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  Speaker 1: involved immoral rituals and human sacrifices, practices detestable in the
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  Speaker 1: eyes of the Lord. Israel's apostasy was not just a
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  Speaker 1: religious shift. It was a betrayal of their covenant with God.
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  Speaker 1: Like a wife abandoning her husband, Israel forsook the God
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  Speaker 1: who had delivered them from Egypt to follow foreign gods.
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  Speaker 1: This led to the second stage of the cycle, oppression.
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  Speaker 1: Judges two fourteen states the anger of the Lord burned
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  Speaker 1: against Israel and had them over to raiders who plundered them.
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  Speaker 1: He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they
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  Speaker 1: were no longer able to resist. God used the surrounding
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  Speaker 1: nations as instruments of discipline for Israel. This oppression wasn't
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  Speaker 1: an act of abandonment, but of loving correction, just as
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  Speaker 1: a father disciplines his child for the child's own good
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  Speaker 1: God allowed Israel to experience the consequences of their poor
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  Speaker 1: choices under the weight of their oppressors. Israel would enter
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  Speaker 1: the third stage of the cycle crying out. Although the
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  Speaker 1: text doesn't always use the word cry explicitly when describing
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  Speaker 1: the overall cycle, this element is present in each individual episode.
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  Speaker 1: For example, in Judges three point nine, we read, but
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  Speaker 1: when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, he raised
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  Speaker 1: up for them a deliverer. This cry represented a temporary
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  Speaker 1: turning back to God in their anguish. The people remembered
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  Speaker 1: the Lord and called out for help. It wasn't always
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  Speaker 1: a deep or lasting repentance, but God, in his mercy
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  Speaker 1: heard their cry. This led to the fourth stage, deliverance.
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  Speaker 1: Judges two sixteen says, then the Lord raised up judges,
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  Speaker 1: who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.
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  Speaker 1: These judges were not like our modern day legal authorities.
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  Speaker 1: They were deliverers, military leaders, and rulers raised up by
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  Speaker 1: God to rescue his people. The Hebrew word for judge
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  Speaker 1: is shopheat, which refers to someone who administers justice, governs,
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  Speaker 1: or leads. These judges were anointed by the spirit of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord for a specific mission to deliver Israel from
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  Speaker 1: its oppressors and restore faithfulness to God. Following deliverance came
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  Speaker 1: a period of peace. Judges two eighteen tells us whenever
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  Speaker 1: the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was
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  Speaker 1: with the judge and saved them out of the hands
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  Speaker 1: of their enemies. As long as the judge lived. This
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  Speaker 1: was a time of relative faithfulness while the judge lived
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  Speaker 1: and continued to influence the people. But this peace was
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  Speaker 1: only temporary, Judges two nineteen describes, but when the judge died,
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  Speaker 1: the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those
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  Speaker 1: of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them.
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  Speaker 1: They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways,
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  Speaker 1: and so the cycle would begin again apostasy, oppression, crying
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  Speaker 1: out deliverance, and temporary peace. This pattern repeated itself throughout
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Judges, revealing both the human tendency towards
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  Speaker 1: sin and God's faithfulness In responding to his people's cries.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord allowed this cycle to continue as a test
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  Speaker 1: for Israel. Judges two twenty two explains, I will use
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  Speaker 1: them to test Israel and see whether they will keep
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  Speaker 1: the way of the Lord and walk in it as
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  Speaker 1: their ancestors did. The nations that remained in the land
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  Speaker 1: also served to teach the younger generations of Israelites how
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  Speaker 1: to fight. As we see in Judges three one to two,
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  Speaker 1: the first turn of the cycle began when the people
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  Speaker 1: turned away from God. Judges three po seven tells us
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  Speaker 1: the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: They forgot the Lord, their God, and served the bales
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  Speaker 1: and the Asheras. As a result of Israel's idolatry came oppression.
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  Speaker 1: Judges three Tate recounts the anger of the Lord burned
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  Speaker 1: against Israel, so that he sold them into the hands
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  Speaker 1: of Kushan Rishathem, king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the
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  Speaker 1: Israelites were subject for eight years. Kushan Rishathem means Cushion
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  Speaker 1: of double wickedness, a name that reflects the harshness of
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  Speaker 1: his rule. Mesopotamia, located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
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  Speaker 1: modern day Iraq, was hundreds of kilometers away from Israel,
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  Speaker 1: demonstrating the wide reach of divine judgment. For eight years,
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  Speaker 1: Israel suffered under this foreign yoke. Finally, they cried out
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  Speaker 1: to God. Judges three nine says, but when they cried
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  Speaker 1: out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othnil's,
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  Speaker 1: son of Kenar's Caleb's younger brother, who saved them. Othneil
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  Speaker 1: was no stranger to Israel. He had already proven his
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  Speaker 1: bravery when he captured Kiriathsifa also known as Debir, and
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  Speaker 1: as a reward, received Axa, Caleb's daughter as his wife.
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  Speaker 1: As noted in Judges one twelve thirteen, Caleb, along with Joshua,
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  Speaker 1: had been one of the two faithful spies who gave
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  Speaker 1: a positive report of the promised land forty years earlier.
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  Speaker 1: Othniel belonged to the tribe of Judah, the tribe chosen
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  Speaker 1: by God to lead the conquest after Joshua's death. As
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  Speaker 1: a leader, he was specially empowered. Judges three ten tells
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  Speaker 1: us the spirit of the Lord came on him so
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  Speaker 1: that he became Israel's judge and went to war. The
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  Speaker 1: Lord gave kushan Rishatham, king of Aram, into the hands
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  Speaker 1: of Othniel, who overpowered him. This is the first mention
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  Speaker 1: in the Book of Judges of someone being empowered by
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  Speaker 1: the spirit of the Lord, a pattern that would repeat
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  Speaker 1: with future judges. The spirit enabled Othniel not only to judge,
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  Speaker 1: administer authority, and resolve disputes, but also to lead Israel
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  Speaker 1: in battle against their oppressors. The Bible doesn't provide details
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  Speaker 1: about the battle between Othnil and kushan Rishathaem. We only
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  Speaker 1: know that he overpowered him, a phrase that suggests a
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  Speaker 1: decisive victory. Under Othnil's leadership, Israel was free from the
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  Speaker 1: grip of Mesopotamia. The result of this deliverance was a
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  Speaker 1: long period of peace. Judges three eleven states, so the
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  Speaker 1: land had peace for forty years until Othniel's son of
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  Speaker 1: Kennas died. For four decades, while Othniel lived and judged Israel,
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  Speaker 1: the people remained faithful to the Lord and enjoyed peace.
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  Speaker 1: These forty years of peace represent roughly one generation. During
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  Speaker 1: this time, Israel could tend their fields, raise their children,
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  Speaker 1: and worship the Lord without fear of foreign invasion. It
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  Speaker 1: was a time of prosperity and security, the fruit of
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  Speaker 1: faithfulness to God. But the cycle would continue. After Othniel's death,
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  Speaker 1: Israel returned to its old ways. Judges three twelve reports
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  Speaker 1: once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, and because they did this evil, the Lord
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  Speaker 1: gave Eglon, King of Moab, power over Israel. Moab was
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  Speaker 1: a neighboring nation east of the Dead Sea. The Moabites
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  Speaker 1: were descendants of Moab, the son of Lot, by his
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  Speaker 1: eldest daughter, as recorded in Genesis nineteen thirty seven. Although
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  Speaker 1: they were distant relatives of the Israelites, there was hostility
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  Speaker 1: between the two nations. Eglon, King of Moab, didn't act alone.
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  Speaker 1: Judges three thirteen tells us getting the Ammonites and Amalekites
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  Speaker 1: to join him. Egglon came and attacked Israel, and they
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  Speaker 1: took possession of the City of Palms. The City of
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  Speaker 1: Palms was Jericho, the first city conquered by Israel upon
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  Speaker 1: entering the Promised Land. Its fall symbolized the seriousness of
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  Speaker 1: Israel's situation. The oppression was harsh and long lasting. Judges
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  Speaker 1: three fourteen states the Israelites were subject to Eglon, King
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  Speaker 1: of Moab for eighteen years. For nearly two decades, Israel
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  Speaker 1: paid tribute and lived under foreign rule, twice as long
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  Speaker 1: as they had served Kushan Rishataim. After these years of
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  Speaker 1: a suffering, the pattern repeated. Judges three point fifteen records again,
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  Speaker 1: the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave
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  Speaker 1: them a deliverer, Ehud, a left handed man, the son
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  Speaker 1: of Gera, the Benjamite. Ahod was from the tribe of Benjamin,
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  Speaker 1: whose territory bordered Jericho and was near Moab. The text
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  Speaker 1: highlights an unusual trait. Ehud was left handed. The Hebrew
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  Speaker 1: phrase literally means restricted in his right hand, which might
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  Speaker 1: suggest a physical disability or simply that he was naturally
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  Speaker 1: left handed. This detail played a crucial role in Ehud's
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  Speaker 1: plan to deliver Israel. In a time when most people
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  Speaker 1: were right handed, left handed fighters had a tactical advantage,
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  Speaker 1: as their movements were less expected and harder to defend against.
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  Speaker 1: Israel sent Ehud to deliver tribute to Eglon. Judges three
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  Speaker 1: point fifteen continues, the Israelites sent him with tribune to Eglon,
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  Speaker 1: king of Moab. This diplomatic mission gave Ihoud the chance
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  Speaker 1: to get close to the Moabite king. Before setting out,
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  Speaker 1: Ehoud prepared a special weapon. Judges three sixteen says now
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  Speaker 1: Ehoud had made a double edged sword about a cubit long,
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  Speaker 1: which he strapped to his right thigh. Under his clothing.
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  Speaker 1: A cubit was roughly eighteen inches about forty five sima
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  Speaker 1: person a short sword, easy to conceal but deadly at
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  Speaker 1: close range. He placed the sword on his right thigh,
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  Speaker 1: opposite from where weapons were typically carried. Because Ishoud was
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  Speaker 1: left handed, he could draw the sword quickly with his
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  Speaker 1: left hand, an unexpected move for any observer. After delivering
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  Speaker 1: the tribute, Ishoud set his plan in motion. Judges three
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  Speaker 1: eighteen reports. After Ihoud had presented the tribute, he sent
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  Speaker 1: on their way those who had carried it. He dismissed
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  Speaker 1: his companions, but returned alone to the king with a
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  Speaker 1: pretext Judges three nineteen continues, but on reaching the stone
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  Speaker 1: images near Gilgal, he went back to Eglon and said,
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  Speaker 1: your majesty, I have a secret message for you. The
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  Speaker 1: king said to his attendants, leave us, and they all left.
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  Speaker 1: The mention of the stone images near Gilgal is striking.
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  Speaker 1: Gilgal had been Israel's first campsite in the Promised Land,
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  Speaker 1: where twelve memorial stones were set up after crossing the Jordan.
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  Speaker 1: Now apparently pagan idols stood there, another sign of Israel's
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  Speaker 1: spiritual decline. Ihoud seized the moment of privacy. Judges three
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  Speaker 1: twenty says Ehud then approached him while he was sitting
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  Speaker 1: alone in the upper room of his palace, and said,
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  Speaker 1: I have a message from God for you. As the
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  Speaker 1: king rose from his seat, the mention of a divine
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  Speaker 1: message prompted Eglon to stand, perhaps out of reverence or
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  Speaker 1: this movement made him vulnerable. Judges three twenty one continues,
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  Speaker 1: Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from
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  Speaker 1: his right thigh, and plunged it into the king's belly.
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  Speaker 1: The text vividly describes the aftermath. Judges three twenty two says,
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  Speaker 1: even the handle sank in after the blade and his
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  Speaker 1: bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and
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  Speaker 1: the fat closed in over it. The sword was buried
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  Speaker 1: so deep in the corpulent king that the hilt vanished
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  Speaker 1: into the fat and the blade emerged from the other side.
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  Speaker 1: Ehud then made his escape. According to Judges three twenty three,
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  Speaker 1: then Ehoud went out to the porch. He shut the
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  Speaker 1: doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.
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  Speaker 1: When the attendants returned and found the doors locked, they
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  Speaker 1: assumed the king was relieving himself in the upper room.
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  Speaker 1: Judges three twenty five tells us they to the point
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  Speaker 1: of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors
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  Speaker 1: of the room, they took a key and unlocked them.
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  Speaker 1: There they saw their lord fallen to the floor dead.
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  Speaker 1: This delay gave Ihood ample time to flee. Judges three
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  Speaker 1: twenty six says while they waited, Ihoud got away. He
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  Speaker 1: passed by the stone images and escaped to Sarah. Upon
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  Speaker 1: reaching the hill country of Ephraim, Ehud sounded the trumpet
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  Speaker 1: to rally Israel for battle. Judges three twenty seven reports
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  Speaker 1: when he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the
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  Speaker 1: hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with
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  Speaker 1: him from the hills, with him leading them. Taking advantage
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  Speaker 1: of the confusion caused by Eglon's death, Ehud led Israel
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  Speaker 1: in a surprise attack on the Moa Bites. Judges three
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight says, follow me, he ordered, for the Lord
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  Speaker 1: has given Moab, your enemy into your hands. So they
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  Speaker 1: followed him down and took possession of the fords of
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  Speaker 1: the Jordan that led to Moab. They allowed no one
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  Speaker 1: to cross over. The fords were shallow crossings of the
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  Speaker 1: Jordan River where one could pass on foot by seizing
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  Speaker 1: control of them. The Israelites blocked escape routes and reinforcements
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: for the Moabites in Israelite territory. The victory was overwhelming.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Judges three twenty nine reports at that time they struck
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong. Not
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: one escaped. The death of King Eglon and the destruction
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: of his army freed Israel from Moabite oppression. The result
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: was a long era of peace. Judges three point thirty
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: says that day Moab was made subject to Israel, and
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: the land had peace for eighty years. This was the
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: longest period of peace recorded in the Book of Judges,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: eighty years, double the peace that followed Israel's deliverance by Othniel.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: The account of the Third Judges surprisingly brief. Judges three
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: thirty one says after him came Shamgar, son of Annath,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: who struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox gode.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: He too, saved Israel in just one verse. The Bible
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: tells us Shamgar's entire story. We don't know what tribe
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: he came from, how long he judged Israel, or any
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: other personal detail. Even his name Shamgar is unusual and
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: possibly of foreign origin. What we do know is that
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: he fought against the Philistines, a people who would later
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: become Israel's main enemy in the time of Samson, Samuel,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: and David. The Philistines were a seafaring people who settled
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: on the southwestern coast of Canaan modern day Gaza region.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: They were known for their military prowess and their mastery
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: of iron technology. The weapon Shamgar used is described as
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: an ox gode, a long agricultural tool about eight feet
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: or two point five meters with a metal tip, used
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: to prod oxen while plowing. It wasn't a conventional weapon,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: but in Shamgar's hands it became deadly. The number of
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Philistines killed, six hundred, suggests this wasn't a single battle,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: but likely a series of skirmishes. Using a farming tool
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: to defeat six hundred armed warriors clearly required exceptional courage
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: and extraordinary skill. The Bible concludes by saying he too,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: saved Israel, indicating that like Othniel and Ehud, Shamgar was
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: used by God to deliver his people from oppression. However,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: there's no mention of the spirit of the Lord coming
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: upon him, nor are their details about how long peace
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: lasted after his victory. The brevity of Shamgar's story might
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: suggest that his time as judge was short, or that
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: his influence was geographically limited to a specific region in Israel.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: It's also possible that his judgeship overlapped with that of
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Ihoud or even Deborah, the next judge mentioned in the book.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Despite the lack of information, Shamgar's story offers a powerful
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: lesson God can use unlikely tools to accomplish his purposes.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: A simple ox gode in the hands of an ordinary
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: man chosen by God was enough to defeat six hundred
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: enemies and bring deliverance to Israel. Shamgar closes out the
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: first generation of judges in Israel. After him would come
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: other deliverers, each with their own unique story, but all
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: following the same pattern raised up by God in response
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: to the cries of a people who repeatedly turned away
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: from Him and suffered the consequences of their unfaithfulness. After
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Ihud's death, the Israelites once again did what was evil
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: in the eyes of the Lord. As a resis result,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: they faced a new and powerful enemy Judges four one
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: to two tells us again the Israelites did evil in
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: the eyes of the Lord now that Ehud was dead.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor Siserah. The commander
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: of his army was based in Hirosheth Hagoyim. Jabin was
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: a powerful Canaanite king. His name means the wise one,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: and he ruled from Hazer, a city in northern Israel.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: His army was led by Sisiah, who had a significant
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: military advantage over the Israelites. He had nine hundred iron
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: As stated in Judges four to three, these iron chariots
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: were like the tanks of that era, powerful weapons against
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: which the Israelites, with their simple arms, had little defense.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: For twenty long years, the people suffered under this oppression.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: In this way difficult time, God raised up a very
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: different kind of leader, a woman named Deborah. Judges four
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: four five describes her. Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: of Lapidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: up to her to have their disputes decided. Deborah was
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: an extraordinary woman for her time. Her name means be
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: and like a bee, she was industrious and productive. She
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: held two important roles. She was a prophet, someone who
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: received and delivered messages from God, and a judge, someone
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: who settled disputes and led the people. The palm tree
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: under which she sat became known as the Palm of Deborah,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: a place where Israelites would come to seek her guidance
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: and decisions. It was a sign of the deep respect
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: she held in a male dominated society. One day, Deborah
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: summoned a man named Barrak from the tribe of Naftali.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Judges four six to seven records her words, the Lord,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the God of Israel, commands you go take with you
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: ten thousand men of Naftali and Zebulun and lead them
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: of Jabin's army, with his chariots and troops, to the
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Kishan River, and give him into your hands. Mount Tabor
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: was a strategic location, offering good visibility over the region.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: The Kishan River ran through the plain below, a place
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: where Cisrah's chariots would have the upper hand unless God intervened.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Barak responded to Deborah with an unusual request. Judge's four
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: eight says Barak said to her, if you go with me,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: I will go. But if you don't go with me,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: I won't go. He wanted the prophetess's presence on the battlefield,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: perhaps to insure divine favor. Deborah agreed, but made a
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: significant prophecy. Judges for nine records. Certainly I will go
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: with you, said Deborah, but because of the course you
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: are taking, the honor will not be yours. For the
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Lord will deliver Cica into the hands of a woman.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: So Deborah went with Barak to Kadesh. This prophecy is intriguing.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: The victory over Caeserah would come at the hands of
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: a woman. Barak might have thought she was referring to herself,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: but as we'll see, it would be another woman who
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: fulfilled that role. The army of Israel assembled ten thousand
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: men from the tribes of Naftali and Zebulun. It was
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: a small number compared to Sisera's forces, especially considering the
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: nine hundred iron chariots, but they had something far more important.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: The Lord was with them. When Cisa learned of Israel's mobilization,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: he gathered his entire for me and all his chariots
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: to face Barak. Judges four fourteen captures the decisive moment.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Then Deborah said to Barak, go, this is the day
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: the Lord has given Cisera into your hands. Has not
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: the Lord gone ahead of you? So Barak went down
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. The battle
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: had begun, and something extraordinary happened. Although it's not mentioned
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: in chapter four. The Song of Deborah in chapter five
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: reveals that God sent a providential storm. Judges five four
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: five says, Lord, when you went out from Syr, when
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: you marched from the land of Edom, the earth shook,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: The heavens poured, the clouds poured down water. The mountains quaked.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Before the Lord, the one of Sinai, before the Lord,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: the God of Israel. This storm transformed the battlefield. The
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Kishan River, normally calm, turned into a raging torrent. As
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: Judges five twenty one discrete bribes, the river Kishan swept
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: them away. The age old river, the river Kishon, Sisera's
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: heavy iron chariots, once his greatest advantage, became a liability
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: in the mud and floodwaters. Judges four fifteen sums up
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: the outcome. The lord routed Sisera, all his chariots and
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: all his army with the sword before Barakh and Sisa
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: got down from his chariot and fled on foot. Israel's
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: victory was decisive, but the story doesn't end there. While
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: his army was being destroyed, Sissyah fled on foot and
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: arrived at the tent of Jail, the wife of Heber
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: the Kenite. The Kenites were descendants of Hobab, moses brother
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: in law, and they generally maintained good relations with both
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Israel and the surrounding peoples. Judges four seventeen says, but
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Sisah fled on foot to the tent of Jail, the
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the family of Heber
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: the Kenite. Jael welcomed Cissyra into her tent, offering him protection.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Judges four eighteen nineteen recounts Jail went out to meet
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Cisya and said to him, Come, my lord, come right in.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Don't be afraid. So he entered her tent and she
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: covered him with a blanket. I'm thirsty, he said, Please
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: give me some water. She opened a skin of milk,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: gave him a drink, and covered him up. Exhausted from
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: battle and fleeing, Sisera asked Jail to stand guard at
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: the entrance while he rested. He soon fell asleep, trusting
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: the hospitality of his host, but Jail had other plans.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Judges four twenty one tells what happened. But jail Heber's
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: wife picked up a tent peg and a hammer and
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep. Exhausted,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: she drove the peg through his temple into the ground,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: and he died. Tent pegs were largekes used to anchor tents.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: In Jail's hands, it became a deadly weapon, and thus
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Deborah's prophecy was fulfilled. The mighty Sisera fell by the
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: hand of a woman. When Barak arrived in pursuit of Caesera,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Jael went out to meet him. Judges four twenty two
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: says just then Barak came by in pursuit of Caesera,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: and Jael went out to meet him. Come, She said,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: I will show you the man you're looking for. So
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: he went in with her, and there lay Cisera with
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: the tent peg through his temple dead. The victory was complete.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Judges four twenty three to twenty four concludes on that
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: day God subdued Jabin, King of Canaan before the Israelites,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: and the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: against Jabin, King of Canaan, until they destroyed him. After
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: the battle, Deborah and Barak sang a song of praise
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: to God for the victory. This song, recorded in Judges five,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: is considered one of the oldest poems in the Bible.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: It opens with these words in Judges five one three.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: On that day, Deborah and Barak, son of Abinom sang
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: this song when the princes in Israel take the lead,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: when the people willingly offer themselves praise the Lord. Hear this,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: you kings, listen, you rulers. I even I will sing
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: to the Lord. I will praise the Lord, the God
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: of Israel in song. The song celebrates divine victory, honors
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: the volunteers who fought for Israel, and criticizes the tribes
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: that failed to join the battle. It also vividly described
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Ciserah's death and imagines his mother anxiously waiting for a
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: return that would never come. The result of this great
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: victory was a long period of peace. Judges five thirty
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: one ends the song with these words, So may all
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: your enemies perish, Lord Lord, but may all who love
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: Then the land had peace for forty years. For four
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: decades under Deborah's leadership, Israel experienced peace and prosperity, free
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: from foreign oppression. Deborah, the only female judge mentioned in
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: the Bible, proved herself every bit as capable as any
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: of the men who ruled Israel, but the familiar cycle
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: of apostasy continued. Judges six 's one tells us the
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: for seven years he gave them into the hands of
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: the Midianites. The Midianites were a nomadic people descended from Midian,
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: the son of Abraham by his second wife Keterah. They
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: allied with the Amalekites and other eastern peoples to raid Israel.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: Their strategy was devastating. Judges six three to five describes
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, the Malakites,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: and other Eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: and did not spare a living thing for Israel neither sheep,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: nor cattle, nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: to count them or their camels. They invaded the land
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: to ravage it. These invaders didn't come to conquer, but
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: to plunder. They descended during harvest season like a swarm
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: of locusts, destroying everything in sight. This forced the Israelites
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: to hide in mountain caves. Judges six six says Midians
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Lord for help. God first responded by sending a prophet
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: to remind the people of the exodus and his command
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: not to worship the gods of the Amorites. Then the
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Angel of the Lord appear to a man named Gideon.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: Judges six eleven to twelve tells us the Angel of
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: the Lord came and sat down under the oak in
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: Ophrah that belonged to joe Ash, the Abbeir's rite, where
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: to keep it from the Midianites. When the Angel of
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, the Lord is
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: with you, mighty warrior. The scene is telling Gideon was
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: threshing wheat in a wine press, a place used for
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: crushing grapes, not separating grain, trying to hide his work
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: from the Midianites, showing just how deeply fear gripped the
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: people of Israel. The angel's greeting, mighty man of Valor
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: seems almost ironic given the circumstances. Gideon responds with an
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: honest question. Judges six thirteen records Pardon me, my lord,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Gideon replied, but if the Lord is with us, why
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: has all this happened to us? Where are all his
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: wonders that our ancestors told us of when they said,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: into the hand of Midian. The Angel doesn't answer Gideon's
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: question directly, but instead gives him a mission. Judges six
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: fourteen says, the Lord turned to him and said, go
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: in the strength you have and save Israel out of
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: Midian's hand. Am I not sending you? Gideon protests, pointing
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: out his inadequacy for the task. Judges six fifteen says,
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: pardon me, my Lord, Gideon replied, but how can I
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: I am the least in my family. The Lord promises
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: to be with him, but Gideon asks for a sign
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: to confirm that it is truly the Lord speaking to him.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: He prepares an offering of a young goat and unleavened bread,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: which the Angel consumes with fire from a rock. Judges
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: six twenty two says, when Gideon realized that it was
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: the Angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, alas Sovereign Lord,
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: That same night, Gideon receives his first mission to tear
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: down his father's altar to bail and cut down the
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: ashera pole beside it. Judges six twenty five twenty six
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: recounts that same night, the Lord said to him, take
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: the second bull from your father's heard the one seven
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: years old tear down your father's altar to Bail and
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: cut down the ashera pole beside it. Then build a
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: proper kind of altar to the Lord, your God on
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: the top of this height, using the wood of the
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: aeshera pole that you cut down, offer the second bull
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: as a burnt offering. Gideon obeyed, but out of fear
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: In the morning, when the townspeople discovered the destroyed altar,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: they wanted to kill Gideon. Judges six thirty says. The
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: people of the town demanded of Joash, bring out your son.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: He must die because he has broken down Bale's altar
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: and cut down the asherapol beside it. Joe Ash, Gideon's father,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: defended him with a clever argument. Judges six thirty one
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: to thirty two records, but joe Ash replied to the
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: hostile crowd around him, are you going to plead Bal's cause?
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: shall be put to death by mourning. If Bal really
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: down his altar. So because Gideon broke down Bal's altar,
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: they gave him the name Jerubbal that day, saying, let
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Bal contend with him. Jerubal means let Bal contend. This
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: new name served as a constant challenge to the false God,
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: who couldn't defend his own altar. After this, the Midianites
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: and their allies crossed the Jordan and camped in the
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: valley of Jezreel. Judges six thirty four to thirty five says,
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: Then the spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abir's rites to follow him.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: also into asher zebulun Naftii, so that they too went
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: up to meet them. Even with the spirit of the
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Lord upon him and an army gathering, Gideon still sought confirmation.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: Judges six thirty six to thirty seven records his request.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: Gideon said to God, if you will save Israel by
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: my hand as you have promised, look, I will place
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: then I will know that you will save Israel by
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: my hand. As you said, the next morning, the fleece
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: was soaked while the surrounding ground was dry. But Gideon
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: asked for yet another sign. Judges six thirty nine says,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: then Gideon said to God, do not be angry with me.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Let me make just one more request. Allow me one
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: more test with the fleece. This time, make the fleece
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: dry and let the ground be covered with dew. God
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: granted this request as well. Finally convinced, Gideon assembled his
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: army at Mount Gilead, near the Midianite forces. But God
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: had a surprising plan. Judges seven too says the Lord
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: said to Gideon, you have too many men. I cannot
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: deliver midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: My own strength has saved me. God wanted to reduce
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: the size of Gideon's army so that the victory would
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: clearly be seen as divine, not human. First, he told
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: Gideon to dismiss any one who was fearful. Judges seven.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: Three states now announced to the army, any one who
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: So ty two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: Even with this drastic reduction. God said the army was
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: still too large. He ordered a test at the water.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: Judges seven five seven explains, So Gideon took the men
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: down to the water. There, the Lord told him separate
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: those who lap the water with their tongues as a
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: dog laps, from those who kneel down to drink. Three
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: All the rest got down on their knees to drink.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: The Lord said to Gideon, with the three hundred men
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: that lapped, I will save you and give the Midianites
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: into your hands. Let all the others go home. Gideon's
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: army was reduced from thirty two thousand to just three
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: hundred men, less than one percent of the original force.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: These three hundred were the most alert, drinking quickly while
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: staying watchful. That night, God told Gideon to go down
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: to the Midianite camp. There he overheard a man telling
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: another about a dream. Judges seven thirteen fourteen says Gideon
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: I had a dream, he was saying. A round loaf
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: and collapsed. His friend responded, this can be nothing other
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: than the sword of Gideon, son of Joash. The Israelite
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: his hands. This dream and its interpretation gave Gideon courage.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: He worshiped God and returned to his camp with a plan.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: Judges seven sixteen says, dividing the three hundred men into
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: hands of all of them, with torches inside. The plan
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: was simple yet ingenious. The three hundred men would surround
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: the Midianite camp in three groups. Each man carried a
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: trumpet in one hand and a clay jar with a
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: torch inside in the other. At the appointed moment, they
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: would all break the jars, reveal the torches, and blow
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: the trumpets. Judges seven, nineteen twenty one describes the attack.
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: So Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: Just after they had changed the guard. They blew their
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: their right hands the trumpets they were to blow. They
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: shouted a sword for the Lord and for Gideon. While
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: each man held his position around the camp. All the
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: Midianites ran, crying out as they fled. The effect was devastating.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: In the middle of the night, surrounded by three hundred
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: blazing torches and the blaring sound of three hundred trumpets,
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: the Midianites panicked. They believed they were being attacked by
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: a much larger army. In the confusion, they turned on
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: each other. Judges seven twenty two says when the three
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: camp to turn on each other with their swords. The
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: army fled to beth Shitta towards Zara, as far as
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: the border of Abel Mehola near Tabbath. The victory was total.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: The Israelites pursued the Midianites, capturing and killing their leaders
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: Oreb and zeb Zeba and Zalmuna. The deliverance was so
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: astonishing that the people wanted to make Gideon their king.
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: In Judges eight twenty two we read the Israelites said
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: to Gideon, rule over us, you, your son, and your grandson,
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: But Gideon declined the offer. Judges ate twenty three says,
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: but Gideon told them, I will not Ruin rule over you,
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: rule over you. However, Gideon made a request that the
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: people give him the gold ear rings they had taken
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: as spoils from the Midianites. With that gold, he made
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: an ephod, a priestly garment, which he placed in his
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: hometown Opra. Unfortunately, this object became an idol to Israel.
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: Judges eight twenty seven records Gideon made the gold into
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: an ephod, which he placed in Ophra, his town. All
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: a snare to Gideon and his family. Despite this final misstep,
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: Gideon's legacy was largely positive. During his lifetime, Israel enjoyed peace.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: Judges eight twenty eight says. Thus, Midian was subdued before
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: the Israelites and did not raise its head again during
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: Gideon's lifetime. The land had peace for years. Gideon had
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: seventy sons, for he had many wives. He also had
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: a son with a concubine from Shechem, whom he named Abimelech.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: This son would bring great trouble to Israel after Gideon's death.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: Judges eight thirty two thirty three concludes Gideon's story. Gideon's
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: son of Joash, died at a good old age and
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: Ophra of the Abbe's Rites. No sooner had Gideon died
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Biles. They
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: set up bile Berith as their god. After Gideon's death,
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: he was also called Jerubiel. Israel returned to Idolatry and
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: forgot the Lord. But this time the threat didn't come
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: from outside. It came from within, in the form of Abimelech,
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: the son of Gideon's concubine from Sheshem. Judges nine one
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: two reports Abimelech, the son of Jerobal, went to his
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: mother's brothers in Shechem and said to them and to
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: all his mother's clan, ask all the citizens of Shechem,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: which is better for you to have all seventy of
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: Jerubal's sons rule over. You are just one man. Remember
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: I am your flesh and blood. Abimelech appealed to his
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: maternal relatives in Shesham for support. He suggested it would
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: be better to have one ruler himself than seventy of
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: his half brothers. The men of Shecham sided with Abimelech
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: because they said he is our brother. They gave him
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: seventy silver shekels from the temple of bal Berith, which
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: Abimelech used to hire reckless scoundrels to follow him. What
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: followed was a defining act of brutality. Judges nine five
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: says he went to his father's home in Ophra, and
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerobal,
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: but Jotham, the youngest son of jerobal Is skis ape
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: by hiding. In one bloody day, Abimelech murdered all his
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: half brothers except Jotham, the youngest, who managed to hide.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: This massacre eliminated any rivals to his rule. Judges nine
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: six continues, Then all the citizens of Shechem and beth
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: Millow gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Sheshem,
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: to crown a Bimelech king. When Jotham heard about this,
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: he climbed Mount Gerizim and shouted a parable to the people.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: Judges ninety seven says when Jotham was told about this,
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: he climbed up on the top of Mount Gerizim and
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: shouted to them, listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: that God may listen to you. In Jotham's parable, the
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: trees want to appoint a king. They first approached the
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: olive tree, the fig tree, and the vine, all of
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: which decline, preferring to continue producing their valuable fruit. At last,
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: they turned to the thorn bush, which accepts, but with
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: a warning. If you really want to anoint me king
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: over you come and take refuge in my shade. But
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: and consume the cedars of Lebanon. The message was unmistakable. Gideon,
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: represented by the fruitful trees, had refused kingship, choosing instead
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: to serve God in his assigned role Abimelech. The thornbush
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: had nothing good to offer, only the threat of destruction.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: Jotham ended his speech by questioning Shechem's loyalty to Gideon's house,
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: which had fought for them. Judges nine sixteen to twenty says, Now,
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: if you have acted honorably and in good faith when
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: you made a Bimelech king, and if you have been
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: fair to Jerobal and his family, but if you have not,
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: let fire come out from Abimelech and consume you the
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: citizens of Shechem and beth Milloh. And let fire come
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: out from you, the citizens of Shechem and beth Milloh,
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: and consume Abimelech. After proclaim aiming this prophetic curse, Jotham fled.
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: Judges nine twenty one says. Then Jotham ran away, escaping
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: to Beer, and he lived there because he was afraid
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: of his brother, Abimelech. Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years.
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: But as Jotham had foretold, his story would not end well,
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: God himself intervened. As we read in Judges nine twenty
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: three twenty four, God stirred up animosity between Abimelech and
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: the citizens of Shechem, so they acted treacherously against Abimelech.
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: This happened to avenge the crime against the seventy sons
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: of Jerubal, the shedding of their blood brought on by
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: their brother Abimelech, who had murdered them, and on the
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: citizens of Shechem, who had helped him kill his brothers.
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: The alliance between Abimelech and Shekhem began to fall apart.
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: The men of Shekham set ambushes in the hills to
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: rob travelers, and word of it reached Abimelech, and a
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: new leader emerged in Shechem. As Judges nine twenty six says,
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: now Gahl, son of Ebed, moved with his brothers into Shechem,
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: and its citizens put their confidence in him. During a
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: harvest festival held in the temple of their god, the
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: men of Shechem, drunk with wine, cursed Abimelech. Ghahl openly
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: challenged his rule. Judges nine twenty eight twenty nine records
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: then Gail, son of Ebed, said, who is Abimelech, and
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: why should we Shechemites be subject to him? Isn't he
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: Jerubal's son, and isn't Zebel his deputy? Serve the people
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: of Hamo, Shechem's father? Why should we serve Abimelech. If
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: only these people were under my command, I would get
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: rid of him. I would say to Abimelech, call out
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: your whole army. Zebel, the governor of the city and
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: loyal to Abimelech, heard Gahl's words and sent messengers to
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: warn Abimelech of the rebellion. That night, Abimelech marched with
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: his army and set up an ambush againainst the city.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: Judges nine thirty nine to forty tells us so Gal
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: led out the citizens of Shechem and fought Abimelech. Abimelech
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: chased him, and many fell wounded in the battle all
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: the way to the city gate. The next day, as
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: the people left the city to work in the fields,
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: Abimelech launched a surprise attack. He divided his army into
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: three companies. Two attacked the people in the fields, while
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: the third, led by Abimelech himself, took control of the
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: city gate. The battle raged all day. Judges nine forty
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: five says all that day Abimelech pressed his attack against
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: the city until he had captured it and killed its people.
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: Salt was a symbol of barrenness. By sowing Shechem with salt,
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: a Bimelech was signaling that the place was to remain
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: uninhabitable and unfruitful. When the people of the Tower of
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: Shechem heard what had happened, they took refuge in the
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: stronghold of the temple of Elberith. Abimelech didn't hesitate to
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: attack them too. Judges nine forty eight to forty nine
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: recounts Abimelech went up Mount Zalmon with all his men. There,
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: he took an axe, cut off some branches and lifted
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: them to his shoulders. He said to the men with him,
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: what you have seen me, do hurry and do the same.
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelech. They
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: piled them against the stronghold and set it on fire
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: with the people still inside. So all the people in
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: the Tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women, died. Next,
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: Abimelech marched against the city of Thebez and laid siege
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: to it. In the middle of the city stood a
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: strong tower where all the townspeople took refuge. Judges nine
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: fifty two says Abimelech went to the tower and attacked it,
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: but as he approached the entrance to set it on fire.
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: It was here that Jotham's prophecy finally came to pass.
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: Judges nine fifty three says a woman dropped an upper
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: millstone on his head and cracked his skull. Sensing death
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: was near, a Bimelech called for his armor bearer. Judges
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: nine fifty four recounts, hurriedly, he called to his armor bearer,
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: draw your sword and kill me, so that they can't
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: say a woman killed him. So his servant ran him
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: through and he died. This humiliating end, fatally wounded by
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: a woman and begging to be killed by his own
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: servant to avoid disgrace, marked the final chapter in a
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: Bimelek's life. Judges nine fifty six fifty seven concludes. Thus
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: God repaid the wickedness that a Bimelech had done to
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: his father by murdering his seventy brothers. God also made
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: curse of Jotham, son of Jerubal came on them. A
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: Bimelech's story stands as a stark warning against unchecked ambition
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: and violence. Unlike the judges whom God raised to deliver Israel,
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: Abimelech proclaimed himself king and ruled through brutality. His three
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: year reign of terror ended as violently as it began,
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: fulfilling the truth of the saying, those who lived by
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: the sword, die by the sword. After a bimelech, two
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: lesser known judges led Israel Tola, who judged for twenty
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: three years and Jair, who judged for twenty two, But
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: the familiar patterns soon returned. Judges ten six says again
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: They served the Bales and the Ashtoriths, and the gods
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: of Aram sid On Moab, the Ammonites and the Philistines.
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: Because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served him.
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: This widespread idolatry led to severe judgment. Judges ten seven
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: to eight tells us the Lord's anger burned against Israel
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: so that he sold them into the hands of the
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: Philistines and the Ammonites. That year they shattered and crushed
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: the Israelites. For eighteen years, they oppressed all the Israelites
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: land of the Amorites. For eighteen long years, the Ammonites
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: oppressed the Israelites in Gilead east of the Jordan River. Finally,
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: Israel cried out to the Lord, confessing their sin Judges
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: ten fifteen to the sixteen records. But the Israelites said
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: to the Lord, we have sinned. Do with us whatever
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: you think best, but please rescue us now. Then they
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: got rid of the foreign gods among them and served
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: the Lord, and he could bear Israel's misery no longer.
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: The Ammonites had gathered in Gilead and the Israelites assembled
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: in Mizpah. The leaders of Gilead were looking for someone
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: to lead the fight against the Ammonites. Judges ten eighteen
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: says the people the leaders of Gilead said to each other,
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: whoever begins the fight against the Ammonites will be head
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: over all who live in Gilead. It was at this
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: critical moment that Jeffther appeared, a man whose life story
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: was marked by rejection. Judges eleven one two introduces him
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: like this, Jeffther, the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: father of Jefhther. Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: when they were grown up, they drove Jeffhther away. You
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: are not going to get any inheritance in our family,
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: they said, because you are the son of another woman.
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: Rejected by his half brothers and cast out from his
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: father's house, Jeffther settled in the land of Todd, where
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: he became the leader of a group of worthless men,
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: likely mercenaries or outlaws. Despite his past, Jefther developed leadership
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: skills and gained a reputation as a brave warrior. When
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: the Ammonites attacked Israel, the elders of Gilead came to
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: find Jefther. Judges eleven six seven recounts come, they said,
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: be our commander so we can fight the Ammonites. Jeff
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: Thea said to them, didn't you hate me and drive
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: me from my father's house. Why do you come to
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: me now when you're in trouble. Jefther was skeptical of
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: their intentions. The very people who had rejected him now
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: wanted him to lead them. The elders insisted and offered
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: him permanent leadership over Gilead in exchange for his help.
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: Judges eleven nine ten states Jeffther answered, suppose you take
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: me back to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gives
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: them to me, will I really be your head? The
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: elders of Gilead replied, the Lord is our witness. We
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: will certainly do as you say. Before going into battle,
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: Jephtha attempted a diplomatic solution. He sent messengers to the
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: king of the Ammonites, asking why he was attacking the
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: land of Israel. The king replied that Israel had taken
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: his people's land when they came out of Egypt, and
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: he now sought to reclaim it peacefully. Jephtha responded with
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: a detailed history lesson, explaining that Israel had not taken
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: land from the Ammonites, but from the Amorites after King
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: Sihon had refused to let them pass peacefully. Judges eleven,
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: twenty three to twenty four sums up his argument. Now,
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: since the Lord, the God of Israel has driven the
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: to take it over? Will you not take what your
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: God Kimosh gives you. Likewise, whatever the Lord our God
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: has given us, we will possess. Jefftha concluded by pointing
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: out that Israel had lived in that land for three
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: hundred years without dispute. Judges eleven twenty seven records his
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: final words to the Ammonite king. I have not wronged you,
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: Let the Lord the judge decide the dispute this day
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: between the Israelites and the Ammonites. The King of the
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: Ammonites ignored Jeptha's message, and war became inevitable. It was
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: then that Jeffna made a rash vow that would alter
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: his life forever. Judges eleven thirty thirty one says, and
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: Jeftha made a vow to the Lord, if you give
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: door of my house to meet me when I return
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord's and
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering. This vow
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: reveals a troubling aspect of Jeptha's faith. He seemed to
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: believe he could bargain with God or secure victory through
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: a promise. It also shows a flawed understanding of God's law,
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: which explicitly forbade human sacrifice. With the spirit of the
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: Lord upon him, Jeffa defeated the Ammonites completely Judges eleven
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: thirty two thirty three records. Then Jefftha went over to
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: He devastated twenty towns from Arrower to the vicinity of
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: Minnith as far as abel Kamim. Thus Israel subdued ammon,
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: but the victory turned to heartbreak when jeff Thea returned home.
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: Judges eleven thirty four to thirty five recounts. When jef
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: Thea returned to his home in Mispah, who should come
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: sound of timbrels. She was an only child. Except for her,
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her,
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: he tore his clothes and cried, Oh, no, my daughter,
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: you have brought me down, and I am devastated. I
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: Jephthers only child was the first to greet him after
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: his victory. The horror that overcame him shows he never
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: expected a human, let alone his daughter, to be the
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: object of his vow. He tore his clothes in anguish,
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: yet felt bound to fulfill his promise. To God. His
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: daughter's response displays remarkable nobility. Judges eleven thirty six says,
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: my father, she replied, you have given your word to
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: She only asked for two months to mourn her virginity
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: in the mountains with her friends, which Jephther granted. Judges
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: eleven thirty nine forty concludes the story. After the two months,
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: she returned to her father, and he did to her
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: as he had vowed, and she was a virgin. From
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: this comes the Israelite tradition that each year the young
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: the daughter of Jefftha the Gileadite. There is debate among
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: scholars as to whether Jefftha actually sacrificed his daughter or
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: instead dedicated her to perpetual virginity in service to God.
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: The texts focus on her virginity, and the annual mourning
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: tradition leads some to believe she lived out her life
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: consecrated to God. Others argue that text plainly says burnt
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: offering and that the vow was carried out literally. What's
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: clear is the tragic result of a reckless vow and
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: Jefftha's theological confusion, blending faith in the True God with
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: pagan practices like human sacrifice. Jeffa's story didn't end with
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: his vow. However, after the victory over the Ammonites, he
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: fail another challenge, the jealousy of the Ephramites. Judges twelve
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: one says the Ephramite forces were called out, and they
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephtha, why did
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: go with you. We're going to burn down your house
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: over your head. Jefftha responded that he had called them,
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: but they did not come. The tension escalated into a
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: civil war. Judges twelve six recounts how Jeffa's men identified
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: the Afframite fugitives. Then they said to him, say now, shibealeth,
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: But he said sybileth, for he could not pronounce it correctly.
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: Then they seized him and killed him at the fords
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: of the Jordan. At that time forty two thousand of
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: the Ephramites fell. The word shibleeth means stream or ear
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: of grain. The Ephraimites couldn't pronounce the sh sound and
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: would say sibileth instead. This linguistic test became a deadly
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: way to identify the enemy. That's where the modern term
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: shibboleth comes from. It refers to a word or phrase
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: that identifies someone as belonging to or not belonging to
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: a particular group. Jefther judged Israel for six years before
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: his death. Judges twelve seven records Jeffthera judged Israel six years.
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: Then Jeffther the Gileadite died and was buried in one
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: of the towns of Gilead. After Jefther, the Bible briefly
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: mentions three more judges who led Israel during times of
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: relative peace. They're referred to as minor judges, not because
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: they were less important, but because the Biblical text gives
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: fewer details about them. The first of these was Ibzan
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: of Bethlehem. Judges twelve eight to ten tells us after him,
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. He had thirty sons, and
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: gave his thirty daughters in marriage outside his clan, and
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: brought in thirty daughters from our outside for his sons.
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: He judged Israel seven years. Then Ibzan died and was
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: buried in Bethlehem. Ibzan appears to have been a wealthy
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: and influential man, able to arrange marriages for his sixty children.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: The fact that he married off his daughters outside and
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: brought wives from outside for his sons suggests alliances with
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: other families or clans, likely as a strategy to strengthen
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: peace and unity within Israel. After Ibzan came Elon from
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: the tribe of Zebulun Judges twelve, eleven, two to twelve
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: says simply after him, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel, and
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: he judged Israel ten years. Then Elon the Zebulunite died
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: and was buried in Egelon, in the land of Zebulun.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: Almost nothing is said about Elon aside from his tribe
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: and the length of his leadership. This brevity likely points
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: to a relatively quiet time without major conflicts or noteworthy events.
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: The last of the minor judges mentioned in this section
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: is Abdon Judges twelve and thirteen to fifteen records after him, Abdon,
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: the son of Hillel the Parathonite, judged Israel. He had
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys,
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: and he judged Israel eight years. Then Abdon, the son
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: of Hillel the Pirathonite, died and was buried in Pirathon,
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: the Amalekites. Like Ibzan, Abdon seemed to be a prosperous
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: man with a large family. The detail that his sons
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: and grandsons rode seventy donkeys is significant. Riding donkeys was
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: a sign of nobility and high social status at that time.
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: The reference to the hill country of the Amalekites is
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: intriguing since the Amalekites were traditional enemies of Israel. It
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: was like region formerly inhabited by Amalekites that had been
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: conquered by Israel. Among these minor judges, the Bible also
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: mentions Tola, who judged Israel for twenty three years. Judges
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: ten one to two says after a bimelech there arose
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: to save Israel. Tola the son of Pua, the son
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: of Dodo, a man of Isakar. He lived in Shamir,
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: in the hill country of Ephraim. He judged Israel twenty
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: three years. Then he died and was buried in Shamir.
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: And also Jair, who judged for twenty two years judges
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: ten three to five records after him arose Jair the Gileadite,
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: who judged Israel twenty two years. He had thirty sons
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty towns
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: which are called Havoth Jaya to this day, which are
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: in the land of Gilead. And Jaya died and was
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: buried in common. The name Havoth Jaya means villages of Jaya,
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: showing that this judge left a territorial legacy in Israel.
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: The fact that his thirty sons rode thirty donkeys and
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: ruled thirty towns speaks to his status and influence. These
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: minor judges played an important role in Israel's history, maintaining
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: peace and order during their time of leadership. Even though
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: the Bible doesn't give many details about their specific achievements,
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: they were instruments of God in preserving the nation during
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: the times between major crises and deliverances. The mention of
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: these lesser known judges reminds us that not everyone whom
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: God uses has a detailed story recorded in scripture. Many
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: serve faithfully during times of relative calm, away from the
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: spotlight of great battles and miracles. Even so their service
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: is valuable in God's eyes and essential for the continuity
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: of his people. Once again, the people of Israel turned
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: away from God. As a result, they faced a new oppressor.
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: Judges thirteen one tells us the children of Israel again
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: and the Lord gave them into the hand of the
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: Philistines for forty years. The Philistines were a strong people
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: who lived along the southwestern coast of Canaan. They had
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: well organized cities, mastered iron working, and posed a constant
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: threat to Israel. For forty long years. The Israelites suffered
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: under their rule. During this time of oppression. There was
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan, whose
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: wife could not have children. Judges thirteen two three says
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: there was a certain man of Zorah of the tribe
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: of Dan, whose name was Manoah. His wife was Baron
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: and had borne no children. And the Angel of the
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, behold,
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: you are baron and have not born children, but you
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: shall conceive and bear a son. This announcement to a
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: barren woman follows a pattern we see throughout the Bible
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: with Sarah, Rebeccah, Rachel, Hannah, and later Elizabeth. God often
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: chooses to do the impossible to reveal his power. The
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: angel gave the woman specific instructions Judges thirteen four five continues, Now, therefore,
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: eat nothing unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: a son. No razor shall come upon his head. For
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: the boy shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb,
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: of the Philistines. A nazirit was someone who made a
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: special vow of separation to God. Typically, this vow was
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: temporary involuntary, but in the case of the promised child,
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: it would be a life long commitment, starting even before birth.
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: The Nazirite law, described in numbers six included three main restrictions.
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: No drinking wine or any fermented drink, no contact with
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: dead bodies, and no cutting of the hair. The uncut
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: hair served as the visible sign of this vow. The
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: woman ran to tell her husband about the mysterious visitor.
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: Manoah prayed, asking that the angel returned to give further
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: instructions on how to raise the child. God answered his prayer,
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: and the angel appeared again to the woman while she
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: was alone in the field. She quickly called her husband.
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: When Manoah arrived, he asked how they should raise the boy.
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: The angel simply repeated the earlier instructions. Not realizing he
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: was an angel, Manoah wanted to show hospitality to the visitor.
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: Judges thirteen fifteen sixteen says, then Manoah said to the
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: Angel of the Lord, please stay so we may prepare
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: a young goat for you. The Angel of the Lord replied,
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: even if you detain me, I will not eat any
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering,
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: offer it to the Lord. Manoah did not realize that
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: it was the Angel of the Lord. Manoah asked for
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: the visitor's name, but received a mysterious reply. Judges thirteen
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: eighteen records the Angel of the Lord said to him,
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: why do you ask my name? Seeing it is wonderful.
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: Manoah then prepared a young goat and a grain offering,
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: and offered them on a rock to the Lord. What
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: happened next was astonishing. Judges thirteen nineteen twenty recounts Manoah
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: took the young goat and the grain offering and offered
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: them on a rock to the Lord, and the Angel
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: did something amazing. As Manoah and his wife watched as
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: e Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this,
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground.
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: It was only then that Manoah realized they had seen
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: an angel of the Lord. He feared for their lives,
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: as there was a belief that seeing God face to
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: face could be fatal, but his wife reassured him, saying
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: that if God intended to kill them, he wouldn't have
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: accepted their offering or revealed such things to them. The
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: Angel's promise was fulfilled. Judges thirteen twenty four twenty five
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: says the woman gave birth to a son and named
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, and
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: the spirit of the Lord began to stir him while
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: he was in mahane Dan between Zorah and Estaul. Samson
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: grew up with the spirit of the Lord upon him,
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: but soon revealed a conflicting side to his character. Judges
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: fourteen one three recounts Samson went down to Tymna and
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: said to his father and mother, I have seen a
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: Philistine woman in Tymna. Now get her for me as
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: my wife. His father and mother replied, isn't there an
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people?
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: But Samson said to his father, get her for me.
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: She's the one I want. This request was problematic for
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: several reasons. First, God had forbidden marriages with the pagan
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: peoples of Canaan Deuteronomy seven three. Second, the Philistines were
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: oppressing Israel at the time. Third, as a Nazirite, Samson
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: was supposed to be set apart for God. But the
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: Bible reveals a deeper purpose behind this apparent disobedience. Judges
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: fourteen four explains his parents did not know that this
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: confront the Philistines, for at that time they were ruling
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: over Israel. On the way to tim Nah to meet
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: the woman, Samson had a startling encounter. Judges fourteen five
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: to six tells us Samson went down to Tymnah with
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Tymnah,
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. The spirit
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: of the Lord came powerfully upon him, so that he
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: tore the lion apart with his bare hands, as easily
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: as one might tear a young goat. But he told
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: neither his father nor his mother what he had done.
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: This was the first sign of Samson's supernatural strength, a
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: gift from God to fulfill his purpose of delivering Israel. Interestingly,
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: Samson told no one about this feat, not even his parents.
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: Some time later, when he returned to marry the Philistine woman,
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: Samson had another surprise. Judges fourteen eight nine says some
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: time later, when he went back to marry her, he
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: turned aside to look at the lion's carcass, and in
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey.
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: it as he went along. When he rejoined his parents,
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: he gave them some and they too ate it, but
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: he did not tell them that he had taken the
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: honey from the lion's carcass. As a Nazi rite, Samson
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: was not supposed to touch dead bodies, yet here he
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: not only touched the carcass of the lion, but also
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: ate honey from within it. This marked a pattern of
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: disregarding the rules of his vow, even as God continued
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: to use him. During the wedding feast, Samson posed a
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: riddle to his Philistine companions. Judges fourteen twelve to fourteen records.
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you a riddle, Samson said to them.
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: If you can give me the answer within the seven
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: days of the feast, I'll give you thirty linen garments
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: and thirty sets of clothes. But if you can't tell
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: me thee answer, you must give me the same. They
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: agreed and asked him to tell the riddle. He said,
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: out of the eater came something to eat, and out
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: of the strong came something sweet. For three days they
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: could not give the answer. Unable to solve it, the
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: Philistines threatened Samson's wife. Judges fourteen fifteen says on the
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: fourth day, they said to Samson's wife coax your husband
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: you and your father's household to death. Did you invite
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: us here to steal our property? Samson's wife wept and
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: pressed him until he finally gave in on the seventh day,
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: when the Philistines gave him the answer, Samson immediately knew
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: he'd been betrayed. Judges fourteen eighteen recounts his bitter response.
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: town said to him, what is sweeter than honey? What
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: is stronger than a lion? Samson said to them, if
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: have solved my riddle. To pay off the bet Samson
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: did something terrible. Judges fourteen nineteen says, then the spirit
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: of everything, and gave their clothes to those who had
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: father's house. Samson abandoned his wife and went back to
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: his parents home. In the meantime, the woman's father gave
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: her in marriage to Samson's best man. When Samson later
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: returned to visit his wife, he found out what had happened.
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: Judges fifteen one two recounts later on, at the time
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: to visit his wife. He said, I'm going to my
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: wife's room, but her father would not let him go in.
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: I was so sure you hated her. He said that
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: I gave her to your companion. Isn't her younger sister
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: more attractive? Take her instead. Enraged, Samson decided to take
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: revenge on the Philistines. Judges fifteen four five outlines his plan.
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches,
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain,
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: together with the vineyards and olive groves. When the Philistines
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: found out Samson had done this because his father in
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: law had given his wife to someone else, they responded
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: with brutal revenge. Judges fifteen six says when the Philistines
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: asked who did this. They were told Samson, the son
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: in law of the Tymnight, because his wife was given
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: to his companion. So the Philistines went up and burned
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: her and her father to death. The cycle of violence escalated.
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: Samson vowed to get revenge for his wife's death. Judges
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: fifteen seven to eight reports Samson said to them, since
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: you've acted like this, I swear that I won't stop
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: until I get my revenge on you. He attacked them
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: and stayed in a cave in the Rock of Eatum.
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: The Philistines gathered an army and set up camp in
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: Judah looking for Samson. Fearing for their safety, the men
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: of Judah decided to hand Samson over. Judges fifteen eleven
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: to thirteen tells us. Then three thousand men from Judah
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: went down to the cave in the Rock of Etam
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: and said to Samson, don't you realize that the Philistines
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: are rulers over us? What have you done to us?
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: He answered, I merely did to them what they did
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: to me. They said to him, we've come to tie
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: you up and hand you over to the Philistines. Samson said,
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: swear to me that you won't kill me. Yourselves agreed.
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: They answered, we will only tie you up and hand
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: you over to them. We will not kill you. So
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: they bound him with two new ropes and let him
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: up from the rock. When the Philistines saw Samson tied up,
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: they rushed toward him, shouting with joy. But the spirit
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: of the Lord came upon Samson once again. Judges fifteen,
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: fourteen sixteen describes what happened next. As he approached Lehi,
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: the Philistines came toward him shouting. The spirit of the
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands.
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: and struck down a thousand men. Then Samson said, with
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: a donkey's jawbone, I have made donkeys of them. With
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: a donkey's jawbone, I have killed a thousand men. The
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: victory left him completely exhausted, and he cried out to God.
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: Judges fifteen, eighteen nineteen says, because he was very thirsty,
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: he cried out to the Lord, you have given your
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised Aye. Then
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: God opened up a hollow place in Leah, and water
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: and he revived. So the spring was called Enhakore, and
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: it is still there in Leahi. Samson led Israel for
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: twenty years during the u time of Philistine rule, but
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: his story didn't end there. Even as a judge of Israel,
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: Samson continued his pattern of involvement with Philistine women. Judges
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: sixteen one says one day Samson went to Gaza, where
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: night with her. When the people of Gaza learned that
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: Samson was there, they surrounded the city and waited at
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: the gate all night, planning to kill him at dawn.
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: But Samson got up at midnight, tore the city gates
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: loose posts and all lifted them on his shoulders and
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: carried them to the top of the hill that faces
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: he once again showing his extraordinary strength. After that, Samson
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: fell in love with another Philistine woman. Judges sixteen four
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: says some time later, he fell in love with a
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: The Philistine leaders saw this new relationship as a golden
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: opportunity to capture their enemy. Judges sixteen five tells us
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: the rulers of the Philistines went to her and said,
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: see if you can lure him into showing you the
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him,
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: It was a tempting offer fifty five hundred silver coins
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: in total, a fortune at the time. Delilah agreed and
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: began working to uncover the secret of Samson's strength. Judges
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: sixteen six says, so Delilah said to Samson, tell me
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: the secret of your great strength and how you can
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: be tied up and subdued. Samson lied, saying that if
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 1: he were tied with seven fresh bowstrings animal tendons, he
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: would become as weak as any other man. She tied
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: him up while he slept and shouted, the Philistines are
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: upon you, Samson, But he snapped the cords, easily, realizing
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: she had been tricked, Delilah tried again. Judges sixteen ten
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: twelve says, then Delilah said to Samson, you have made
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: a fool of me. You lied to me. Come now
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: tell me how you can be tied. He said, if
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: been used, I'll become as weak as any other man.
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them.
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: Then she called Samson, the Philistines are upon you. But
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: were threads. She tried a third time. Samson told yet
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: another lie that if the seven braids of his hair
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: were woven into a loom, he'd lose his strength. Once again,
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: when she tested it, he broke free easily. Finally, Delilah
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: used all her powers of persuasion. Judges sixteen fifteen two
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 1: sixteen says, Then she said to him, how can you
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 1: say I love you when your heart is not with me.
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 1: This is the third time you have made a fool
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: of me and have not told me the secret of
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 1: your great strength. With such nagging, she prodded him day
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: after day until he was sick to death of it.
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: Pressed beyond endurance, Samson finally revealed his secret. Judges sixteen
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: to seventeen records, so he told her everything. No razor
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: has ever been used on my head, he said, because
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 1: I have been a Nazarite dedicated to God from my
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: mother's womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: leave me and I would become as weak as any
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 1: other man. Delilah realized this time he had told the
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: truth and sent for the Philistine rulers. Judges sixteen nineteen
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: describes the moment of betrayal. After putting him to sleep
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: on her lap, she called for someone to shave off
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: the seven braids of his hair, and so began to
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: subdue him, and his strength left him. When Delilah shouted
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 1: that the Philistines were coming, Samson woke up confident just
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: as before, but something had changed. Judges sixteen twenty says,
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: then she called Samson, the Philistines are upon you. He
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: awoke from his sleep and thought, I'll go out as
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: before and shake myself free. But he did not know
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: that the Lord had left him. This is one of
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: the saddest lines in the Bible. He did not know
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: that the Lord had left him. Samson had repeatedly broken
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: his Nazarite vow and had now allowed his hair, the
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: outward sign of his consecration, to be cut. Samson's strength
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: was never in his hair, but in the presence of
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: the spirit of God that empowered him to fulfill his calling.
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: The hair was only the visible symbol of his commitment
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: to God. The Philistines captured him, gouged out his eyes,
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: and took him to Gaza. Judges sixteen twenty one reports
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: took him down to Gaza, binding him with bronze shackles.
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: They set him to grinding grain in the prison. The
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: mighty Hero of Israel, once so powerful, was now blind, shackled,
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: and reduced to doing the work of a beast, grinding
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: grain in prison. It was a terrible fall for some
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: one who had been set apart for God since before birth.
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: But Samson's story wasn't over yet. Judges sixteen twenty two
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: adds a small but deeply meaningful detail. But the hair
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: on his head began to grow again after it had
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: been shaved. The regrowth of his hair symbolized a possible
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: ris knewle of Samson's commitment to God. In prison, far
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: from the temptations that had led him astray, Samson may
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: have had time to reflect on his life and turned
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 1: back to God in repentance. The Philistines decided to celebrate
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: their victory over Samson with a grand feast in honor
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: of their god Dagan. Judges sixteen twenty three to twenty
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: four says, now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their God, and to celebrate, saying,
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: our God has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: When the people saw him, they praised their God, saying,
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: our God has delivered our enemy into our hands. The
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain.
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: At the height of the celebration, some one had an
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: idea to add to the entertainment. Judges sixteen twenty five says,
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: while they were in high spirits, they shouted, bring out
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 1: Samson to entertain us. So they called Samson out of
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: the prison, and he performed for them when they stood
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: him among the pillars. Picture the scene, the temple of Dagon,
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: packed with about three thousand people on the roof and inside,
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: all celebrating their triumph over their enemy, and in the
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: middle of it all Samson, blind and humiliated, brought out
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: to be mocked and ridiculed. But Samson had a plan.
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: He asked the servant who was leading him, put me
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: where I can feel the pillars that support the temple,
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: so that I may lean against them. The servant agreed,
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: unaware of what was about to unfold. Then Samson prayed
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: his final prayer. Judges sixteen twenty eight records. Then Samson
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 1: prayed to the Lord, Sovereign, Lord, remember me, Please, God
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: strengthen me just once more, and let me, with one blow,
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes. Samson
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: asked for strength for one final act of vengeance against
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: the Philistines, and God heard his prayer. Judges sixteen twenty
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: nine thirty concludes the story. Then Samson reached toward the
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 1: two central pillars on which the temple stood, bracing himself
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: against them, his right hand on one and his left
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: hand on the other. Samson said, let me die with
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: the Philistines. Then he pushed with all his might, and
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 1: down came the temple, on the rulers and all the
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: people in it. Thus He killed many more when he
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: died than while he lived. Despite all his failures, Samson
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: fulfilled his divine purpose to begin delivering Israel from Philistine oppression.
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: His family came to retrieve his body and buried him
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: in his father's tomb. Judges sixteen thirty one says, then
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: his brothers and his father's whole family went down to
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: get him. They brought him back and buried him between
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: Zora and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah, his father.
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 1: He had led Israel twenty years. The Book of Judges
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: doesn't end with Samson's story. The final chapters seventeen to
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: twenty one depict the moral and spiritual collapse of Israel
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: during that time. These events likely took place at various
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: times throughout the era of the Judges, not necessarily after Samson.
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: One phrase repeated several times in these final chapters sums
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 1: up the situation. In those days, there was no king
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 1: in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: We see this expression in Judges seventeen six, eighteen one,
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: nineteen one, and twenty one twenty five. The first story
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 1: of this epilogue involves a man named Micah from the
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: hill country of Ephraim seventeen one to five says, Now
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: said to his mother the eleven hundred shekels of silver
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: that were taken from you, and about which I heard
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 1: you utter a curse. I have that silver with me.
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: I took it. Then his mother said, the Lord bless you,
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: my son. When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: silver to his mother, she said, I solemnly consecrate my
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: silver to the Lord for my son to make an
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: image overlaid with silver. I will give it back to you.
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: So after he returned the silver to his mother, she
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: took two hundred shekels and gave them to a silversmith,
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: who used them to make the idol, and it was
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: put in Micah's house. Now, this man Micah, had a shrine,
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 1: and he made an epod and some household gods, and
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: installed one of his sons as his priest. This story
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: reveals several serious problems. Micah had stolen money from his
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: own mother. After confessing his mother used part of the
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: money to make an idol. Micah then set up a
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: private shrine in his home and without any divine authority,
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: appointed his own son as a priest. All of this
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 1: went against God's law, which forbade idols and stated that
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 1: only descendants of Aaron from the tribe of Levi could
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: serve as priests. The situation became even more complicated when
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: a young Levite from Bethlehem arrived at Micah's house. Judges
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: seventeen seven ten says now there was a young man
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: from Bethlehem in Judah of the family of Judah, who
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: was a Levite and was staying temporarily there. This man
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to settle wherever
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: he could find a place. As he journeyed, he came
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah.
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: Micah asked him, where are you from I He replied,
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: I'm a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I'm looking
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: for a place to stay. Then Micah said to him,
• 1:36:02
  Speaker 1: live with me and be my father and priest, and
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: I'll give you ten shettles of silver a year, your clothes,
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: and your food. So the Levite agreed to stay. Although
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 1: this Levite was from the right tribe, he was willing
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: to serve as a private priest in an idolatrous shrine
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: in exchange for payment. Micah was pleased with the arrangement,
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: thinking he now had gods favor. Judge's seventeen thirteen reveals
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 1: his misguided thinking. Then Micah said, now I know that
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: has become my priest. The story continues in chapter eighteen,
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 1: when the tribe of Dan, which had not yet fully
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: conquered its territory, sent five spies to find a new
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 1: place to settle. These men came to Micah's house and
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: recognized the voice of the young Levite. Judges eighteen three
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: to four says, well, while they were at Micah's house,
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: they recognized the voice of the young Levite, so they
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: went over and asked him, who brought you here? What
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: are you doing in this place? What is your business here?
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: He told them this is what Micah has done for me.
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: He hired me and I have become his priest. The
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: spies then asked the levite to inquire of God whether
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 1: their journey would be successful, and he gave them a
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 1: favorable answer. Judges eighteen six says, the priest answered them,
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: go in peace. Your journey has the Lord's approval. The
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: spies traveled on to Lash also called Lesham, a distant
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: city where the people lived peacefully and securely. They returned
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: to their tribe and reported that the land was good
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: and the people defenseless, an easy target. Judges eighteen nine
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 1: to ten records their words, get up, let's attack them.
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: We've seen the land and it is very good. Why wait,
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: don't hesitate to go and take possession of it. When
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: you arrive, you'll find a peaceful people and a spacious land.
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: God has given it into your hands, a place lacking
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: nothing on earth. Six hundred armed men from the tribe
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 1: of Dan marched to conquer Leish. On the way, they
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: stopped at Micah's house. The five spies told the others
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: about the religious objects in the house. Judges eighteen seventeen
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: eighteen says the five men who had spied out the
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 1: land entered the house and took the carved image, the ephod,
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 1: the household gods, and the caste idol, while the priest
• 1:38:38
  Speaker 1: stood at the entrance with the six hundred armed men.
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: When the others went into Micah's house and took the
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 1: carved image, the Ephod, the household gods, and the caste Idol.
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: The priest said to them, what are you doing? The
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: day nights persuaded the levite to go with them, telling
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: him it would be better to be a priest for
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: an entire tribe than for just one household. Judges eighteen
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 1: twenty shows how quickly the levite shifted his loyalty. The
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: priest was very pleased. He took the ephod, the household gods,
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: and the carved Image and went along with the people.
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 1: Micah and his neighbors pursued the Dnites, but realizing they
• 1:39:17
  Speaker 1: were outnumbered, they turned back. The Dnites reached Leish, conquered
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: the city, killed its inhabitants, and rebuilt it under the
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 1: name Dan. Judges eighteen thirty thirty one concludes the story.
• 1:39:33
  Speaker 1: The Danites set up for themselves the carved Image and
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: Jonathan's son of Gersham, the son of Moses and his
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: time of the captivity of the land. They continued to
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: use the idle Micah had made all the time the
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: House of God was in Shiloh. This story shows how
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: idolatry spread throughout Israel, a private idolatrous shrine became the
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: center of worship for an entire tribeb founded with stolen
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: objects and led by a Levite who had abandoned his
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 1: true calling. The second story in the epilogue is even
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: more disturbing. Judges nineteen one begins in those days when
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 1: there was no king in Israel, a Levite living in
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 1: the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: concubine from Bethlehem. In Judah, this unnamed Levite had a
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: concubine who was unfaithful to him and returned to her
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: father's house in Bethlehem. The Levite went to bring her back,
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: and her father welcomed him, urging him to stay several days. Eventually,
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 1: the Levite left with his concubine and a servant, reaching
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: the outskirts of Jebus Jerusalem. At the end of the day,
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 1: the servant suggested spending the night in Jebis, but the
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: Levite refused to stay in a city of foreigners. Judges
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: nineteen eleven to twelve says when they were near Jibis
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: and the day was almost gone, the servant said to
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 1: his master, come, let's stop at this city of the
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 1: Jebusites and spend the night, but his master replied, no,
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 1: we won't go into a city of foreigners who are
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: not Israelites. Will continue on to Gibeah. They continued to Gibeah,
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 1: a city of Benjamin, but no one offered them hospitality
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 1: for the night, a major cultural failure at the time. Finally,
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 1: an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, now
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: living in Gibeah, saw them in the square and invited
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: them into his home. That night, something horrific happened. Judges
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: nineteen twenty two recounts. While they were enjoying themselves, some
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: wicked men of the city, sons of Belial, surrounded the house.
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: They pounded on the door and shouted to the old
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 1: man who owned the house, bring out the man who
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 1: came to your house so we can have sex with him.
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 1: It was a situation similar to that of Sodom in
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 1: the days of Lot. The old man tried to protect
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 1: his guest by offering his own daughter and the Levite's concubine.
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: Judges nineteen twenty four to twenty five recounts, Look here
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 1: are my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: them out to you now, and you can abuse them
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 1: and do to them whatever you wish. But as for
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: this man, do not commit such an outrageous act. But
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: the men would not listen to him. So the man
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 1: took his concubine and brought her out to them, and
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: at dawn they let her go. In the morning, the
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: levite found his concubine collapsed at the door of the house.
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: Judges nineteen twenty eight says he said to her, get up,
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: let's go, but there was no answer. Then he put
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 1: her on his donkey, and the man set out for home.
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 1: When he got home, the levite did something shocking. Judges
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nine records when he reached home, he took
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: a knife and cut up his concubine limb by limb
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 1: into twelve parts and sent them throughout the territory of Israel.
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 1: This brutal act was meant to shock the nation and
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 1: provoke a response to the horrific violence that had taken
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: place in Gibeah, and it worked. Judges nineteen thirty says,
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: everyone who saw it said, nothing like this has ever
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 1: been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: came up out of Egypt. Just imagine, we must do something.
• 1:43:31
  Speaker 1: Speak up. The tribes of Israel gathered at Mispah to
• 1:43:35
  Speaker 1: decide how to respond to the crime. The Levite gave
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 1: his version of events, conveniently omitting that he himself had
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: handed over his concubine to the attackers. Judges twenty four
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: or five says, so the Levite, the husband of the
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 1: murdered woman, answered, I and my concubine came to Gibea
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: in Benjamin to spend the night. During the night, the
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 1: men of Gibea came after me and surrounded the house,
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: intending to kill me. They raped my concubine and she died.
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 1: Israel demanded that the tribe of Benjamin hand over the
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: criminals from Gibea, but they refused. Judges twenty thirteen to
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: fourteen says, now, then turn those wicked men of Gibea
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: over to us, so that we may put them to
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: death and purge the evil from Israel. But the Benjamites
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 1: would not listen to their fellow Israelites. From their towns,
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 1: they came together at Gibea to fight against the Israelites.
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 1: Benjamin assembled an army of twenty six seven hundred men,
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: including seven hundred select warriors who were left handed and
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: exceptionally skilled with slings. Judges twenty sixteen notes Among all
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: these soldiers, there were seven hundred select troops who were
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: left handed, each of whom could sling a stone at
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 1: a hare and not miss. The rest of Israel gathered
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 1: four hundred thousand armed men. In the first two days
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: of battle, Benjamin defeated Israel, killing forty thousand men. The
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 1: tribes wept before the lord, asking whether they should continue fighting.
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 1: On the third day, they changed tactics and set ambushes
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 1: around Jibea. As the battle began, the Benjamites confidently pursued
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 1: the Israelites, who pretended to flee. This drew the Benjaminite
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: forces away from the city, allowing the ambushers to enter
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: and set it on fire. Judges twenty forty forty one
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: recounts the smoke began to rise from the city in
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 1: a column, and the Benjamites turned and saw the whole
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: city going up in smoke. Then the Israelites turned back
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: against them, and the Benjamites were terrified because they realized
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: that disaster had come upon them. The battle ended in
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 1: a devastating defeat for Benjamin. Judges twenty forty four to
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 1: forty six states that day, eighteen thousand benjamin Might soldiers fell,
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: all valiant fighters. In total, twenty five thousand sword wielding
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: Benjamite warriors died that day, all of them strong and brave.
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: Only six hundred men from Benjamin survived, fleeing into the
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: wilderness and hiding at the Rock of Riomen for four months.
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: The other tribes attacked Benjamin's towns, killing everyone men, women,
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: and children, and burning the cities. Later, Israel regretted having
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: nearly wiped out one of its own tribes. Judges twenty
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 1: one to three records they said, Lord God of Israel,
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 1: why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: be missing from Israel? Today? They faced a dilemma. They
• 1:46:42
  Speaker 1: had sworn not to give their daughters in marriage to
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 1: the Benjamites, but now wanted to preserve the tribe. They
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had attended the
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 1: assembly at Mizpah, so they sent twelve thousand men to
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 1: destroy the city with specific instruction. Judges twenty one to
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 1: eleven twelve says, this is what you are to do
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: kill every male and every woman who has slept with
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: a man. And they found among the people of Jebesh
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 1: a man, and they brought them to the camp at
• 1:47:17
  Speaker 1: Shiloh in Canaan. These four hundred young women were given
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 1: to the surviving Benjamite men as wives, but there were
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 1: still not enough for all. For the remaining two hundred,
• 1:47:31
  Speaker 1: Israel's leaders proposed a plan. During a festival in Shiloh,
• 1:47:35
  Speaker 1: the remaining Benjamites would hide in the vineyards. When the
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 1: young women came out to dance, each man was to
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: seize one and take her as a wife. This plan
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 1: circumvented their oath, as they were not technically giving their daughters.
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 1: The women were being taken. Judges twenty one twenty three says,
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 1: so that is what the Benjamites did. While the young
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 1: women were dancing, each man caught one and carried her
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: off to be his wife. Then they returned to their
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them. The
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 1: Book of Judges ends with a grim statement that sums
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 1: up the entire era. Judges twenty one, twenty five declares,
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 1: in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone
• 1:48:22
  Speaker 1: did what was right in his own eyes. This final
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 1: verse highlights the central issue of the time. The absence
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 1: of centralized leadership and the rejection of God's moral standards
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: led to a cycle of apostasy, oppression, and violence. The
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: book ends by setting the stage for the monarchy to come,
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 1: beginning with King Saul and reaching its peak under King David.
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: The Book of Judges contains important theological lessons that go
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: beyond its historical context. The first and most obvious one
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 1: is about the consequences of disobedience and unfaithfulness to God.
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: And again the people of Israel turned away from the
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: Lord to follow the gods of the surrounding nations, and
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 1: time and again they suffered the consequences. Judges two eleven
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: thirteen establishes this pattern. Then the Israelites did what was
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: evil in the sight of the Lord and served the bales.
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 1: They abandoned the Lord, the god of their ancestors, who
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 1: had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 1: followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 1: around them, and bowed down to them. They provoked the
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 1: Lord to anger they abandoned the Lord and served Bile
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 1: and the ashtreths. Israel's idolatry wasn't just about misguided religious practices.
• 1:49:43
  Speaker 1: It was a betrayal of their covenant with God, comparable
• 1:49:47
  Speaker 1: to adultery. The prophets would later use this same image
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: to describe the relationship between God and Israel, God as
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: the faithful husband and Israel as the un faithful wife. Still,
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 1: another key theological message from the book is God's patience
• 1:50:07
  Speaker 1: and faithfulness in the face of Israel's rebellion. Every time
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: Israel cried out in suffering, God heard them and raised
• 1:50:15
  Speaker 1: up a deliverer. Judges two eighteen says whenever the Lord
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: raised up Judges for them, he was with the Judge
• 1:50:22
  Speaker 1: and saved them from the hands of their enemies throughout
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 1: the lifetime of the Judge, for the Lord had compassion
• 1:50:28
  Speaker 1: on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: afflicted them. God never completely abandoned his people, even when
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 1: they abandoned him. His mercy and compassion always outweighed his anger,
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: giving Israel another chance. And so we come to the
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 1: end of our journey through the Book of Judges. We've
• 1:50:47
  Speaker 1: seen how God used imperfect people to rescue his people
• 1:50:51
  Speaker 1: whenever they cried out for help. We learned about great
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 1: judges like Deborah, Gideon, and Samson, and we witnessed how
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: Israel kept falling into a cycle of disas obedience followed
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 1: by suffering. The Book of Judges still has a lot
• 1:51:04
  Speaker 1: to teach us today. It shows us that God is
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: faithful even when we're not, and that He can use
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 1: anyone to fulfill his purposes despite our flaws and weaknesses.
• 1:51:16
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• 1:51:18
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• 1:51:30
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• 1:51:53
  Speaker 1: and love hearing your thoughts. Thanks for watching all the
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: way through. May God bless you and your family, and
• 1:51:58
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