Introduction (Judges 1:1-3:11)
Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Joshua led them into the promised land. The book of Judges begins after the death of Joshua and asks who is going to lead God’s people now? The answer is the tribe of Judah (Judges 1:1, 20:18) and Othniel is the first and best of the ‘judges’ – the warrior-leaders of Israel (Judges 1:12-15, 3:7-11).
But the book of Judges is a time of waiting for the king they really need. David is the one who will conquer the land and establish the kingdom fully. He is the one who takes Jerusalem as the capital and the permanent place of God’s presence in the temple.
In the meantime, Israel will fail to conquer the land (Judges 1:27-36), and be ensnared by the people’s gods (Judges 2:1-3). There is a cycle of disobedience – defeat – desperation – deliverance - … that repeats throughout the book (see Judges 2:10-19, 3:7, 3:12, 4:1, 6:1-10,8:33-35,10:6-16,13:1).
God is revealing our waywardness. Judges shows what happens when we do what is right in our own eyes (Judges 17:6, 21:25). We think that we would do a great job without a king, but again and again our human wisdom and strength leads to failure.
We need to live by faith and sometimes God has to bring us to tears to realise this (Judges 2:4-5, 10:15-16, 20:26, 21:2). Yet in his sovereign power and mercy, God works by his Spirit to save us in surprising ways…
12/08/2026