Old Testament # 19
The Reign of the Judges
Judges 2, 4, 6–7, 13–16
Last week’s challenge: We will have many choices before us this week, as with every week—please let us document when we know we have chosen to serve the Lord rather than someone else!
Introduction
Last week’s reading finished with Joshua doing his best to set the children of Israel on the course the Lord would have them follow. This week, we find out that what we have commonly come to know as the Nephite cycle of destruction was in fact a reiteration of what happened with the children of Israel in Canaan. In 2 Nephi 10:22 Jacob tells the Nephites who have separated from the Lamanites: “For behold, the Lord God has led away from time to time from the house of Israel, according to his will and pleasure. And now behold, the Lord remembereth all them who have been broken off, wherefore he remembereth us also.”
We have seen time and again already, just a short way into the Old Testament, how the Lord has led His people away, and as we learned a couple of weeks ago, rememberingis a two-way commitment with the Lord. Despite all their waywardness—despite all our waywardness—He will not forget us, as He did not forget them. But sometimes chastisement is necessary when we forget Him.
This week we look at some of the traditional heroes of Jewish history: Deborah and Barak, Jael, Gideon, and Samson.
1. The strength of righteous parents and the consequences of forsaking their ways Judges 2:6–23.
This seems an odd title for this section. We don’t often read about parents and children in general in the Old Testament with the exception of the Ten Commandments of course. But it is the Law that we are talking about here. The children of Israel who came into the Promised Land were the children of those who had covenanted with the Lord to obey His law. After Joshua left them, and Judges were set up (until Saul, David, Solomon, etc.), Israel went through a cycle of apostasy (see Judges 2:10, 12, 17, 20, and 22). Not only they forget the Lord, they went after false gods. Here is Elder Maxwell:
Without this precious, spiritual perspective, the human family is seldom more than one generation away from deep doubt and even disbelief. Laman and Lemuel doubted and murmured because, wrote Nephi, “they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them” (1 Ne. 2:12); they were provincial, just like forgetful Israel: “and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel” (Judg. 2:10; see also Deut. 32:6; Mosiah 10:14). If people are without the truths of God’s plan of salvation for very long, some may not even “believe [these truths] when they are taught” (Mosiah 1:5). An untaught “rising generation” comes not to “believe … concerning the resurrection, … neither … the coming of Christ” (Mosiah 26:1–3). Belief in Deity and in the resurrection are usually the first to go: “they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator” (Omni 1:17). Our loving Father is ever anxious to dispel such ignorance.[1]
2. Deborah—the strength of a righteous friend Judges 4:1–16
In a patriarchal society, one might well ask how Deborah got to become the Judge of Israel with Barak as her military commander. This is an excerpt from an Ensign article from 2014:
Deborah was . . . the only woman recorded in scripture to serve [as a judge]. She was a prophetess, judge, and deliverer. In her role as prophetess, Deborah did not hold the priesthood or possess ecclesiastical keys but enjoyed the gift of prophecy in a more general sense (see Revelation 19:10). Deborah and the Israelite captain Barak delivered Israel from the Canaanites and then sang a song of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord (see Judges 4–5). Deborah’s courage and faith inspired the Israelites so that they enjoyed a 40-year period of peace.[2]
Another Ensign article sheds more light:
Of all the charismatic shophetim,[judges] of Deborah alone is it recorded that “the children of Israel came up … for judgment.” (Judg. 4:5.) Chosen by the elders of her tribe to dispense justice beneath her palm tree headquarters in the hill-country of Ephraim, she was also the charismatic leader called by the Lord to deliver the northern Israelite tribes from Canaanite tyranny. Although they didn’t hold the priesthood and did not have equal authority with the prophets, prophetesses—inspired women with strong testimonies called upon by the Lord to perform various tasks—do not seem to have been unusual in ancient Israel.5The writer of the book of Judges shows no astonishment concerning Deborah’s role as prophetess, judge, and deliverer. Indeed, as Daniel H. Ludlow points out, perhaps “the fact that a good woman was recognized as the spokesperson for the Lord is … indication of the failure of priesthood members to honor their responsibilities.”(Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Old Testament [Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Co., 1981], p. 210).[3]
Last week I asked you to look for an innovative use of hammer and nail—Jael’s story is an interesting one and almost parallels that of Nephi killing Laban. Jael had to violate the hospitality code which was held sacred in Biblical times. Like our lesson last week, this had to do with choices.
3. Gideon—the strength of faith in God Judges 6–7
I know we went through the area where Gideon had his encounter with an angel and his wars with the Midianites—just south of the Sea of Galilee and to the west. It is interesting that he asked for and was given a sign, but that was the catalyst for his victories. And it was a true test of faith that the Lord weaned out much of his force – seemingly randomly – (from 32,000 to 300), but because of Gideon’s faith, they prevailed. And they all knew that it was because the Lord was with them.
4. Samson—the strength of covenants and the consequences of breaking them Judges 13–16,
20 20 hindsight! Do we all shake our heads at Samson and wonder how he let women get the better of him to the extent that he loses his sight and eventually his life? Was it a question of his having too much faith in his partners and not enough in the Lord? What can we learn from this? If nothing else, the grave consequences of breaking our covenants with the Lord. The manual talks about “persistent temptation.” As an editor I could easily fall into a trap of having once found an error, letting up on the next few sentences and missing errors. Persistent temptation is pernicious because if you manage to resist once, a further temptation might just slip past you. Only by keeping our covenants and doing all those things we know are right can we avoid temptation.
Additional Material
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-03-059-god-helps-ordinary-people?lang=eng
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