Lessons from the Book of Judges
Judges 3:9-11 (KJV) And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. 10 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim. 11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
This is how it was meant to work.
All the subsequent judges about whom detail is given in the book of Judges (Ehud, Deborah/Barak, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson) fall short of Othniel in some way or other.
The decline is steady and progressive through the book - culminating with Samson - demonstrating the gradual downward spiritual spiral of Israel once the generation that fought under Joshua died.
Israel failed to diagnose the problem correctly. Instead of seeing it as a heart issue for themselves, they end this period in their history by asking for an earthly king to sort their problems out (1 Samuel 8).
Judges 4:3 (KJV) And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
They had "served" Chushanrishathaim for eight years before crying out to the LORD for deliverance (3:8), and they "served" Eglon for 18 years before doing likewise (3:14).
In this third cycle, they tolerated being "mightily oppressed" for 20 years before doing so.
Why did Israel leave it so long before crying out to the LORD?
Answer - because their hearts had grown spiritually numb.
Each cycle shows Israel tolerating oppression longer than before (first eight years, then eighteen, now twenty) - even as the oppression increased - because compromise had become normal for them, self‑reliance had replaced repentance, and they no longer recognised their suffering as God’s discipline.
They only turned to him when their hardened hearts were finally broken by the weight of their bondage.
Judges 6:25b, 30-31 (KJV) Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:..30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it... 31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him,... if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.
Gideon is the fourth of the six major cycles in the book of Judges. These six narratives plot the descending spiritual spiral of Israel as it grows further and further away from the nation it had been under Joshua.
By the time of Gideon a new low had been reached. While Israel had previously been content to live amongst the heathen nations and serve their false gods (Judges 2:11-13), they now had themselves established public arenas of community worship to them, and were content to kill their kinsmen in defence of them.
The emptiness and impotence of the false gods Baal and Asherah was exposed to Israel first, when their altar and grove were torn down without consequence. Only then did God deliver the Midianites - who had been oppressing Israel - into their hands through Gideon.
Judges 8:18-19 (KJV) Then said he [that is, Gideon] unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king. 19 And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.
By this point in the narrative, the Midionites have been defeated (Judges 8:11).
Gideon has pursued two of their kings on what is now revealed to be a personal vendetta, as he seeks vengence against the men who had killed his brethren in a battle at Mount Tabor.
Once Gideon abandons his divinely‑given commission to judge Israel and acts from private motives, the entire structure of Israel’s leadership begins to warp. His personal vengeance becomes the pattern others imitate (as the following chapters show).
What begins as one man’s personal vendetta ends as national collapse, which is the very downward spiral the book of Judges is designed to reveal.
Judges 9:28 (KJV) And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? is not he the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him?
Judges 9 describes two anti-judges fighting amongst Israel (rather than a divinely appointed judge delivering Israel), and the layers of irony woven in are almost bewildering.
Gaal is raised up by the men of Shechem to deliver them from Abimelech. Abimelech had raised himself up (assumed his kingly position) by means of manipulation, violence (including mass murder) and exploitation.
It ends badly for both of them. Gaal is beaten, humiliated and immediately forgotten; Abimelech is killed in battle and his army then gives up.
Judges chapter 9 continues the downward spiritual spiral of Israel which began at the death of Joshua and his generation after their entry into the Promised Land.
This downward spiral was accelerated by the self-aggrandising behaviour of Gideon after his victory over the Midionites, and thus Judges chapter 9 sets the scene for God’s response to Israel’s next plea for help, when he refuses to deliver them.