Book 7 - Judges

Judges is a wild one. It's gritty, messy, surprising, confusing at times, and very human. It does not read like a clean, inspiring story. It reads like real life gone off the rails.

If Joshua shows what happens when people follow God with courage, Judges shows what happens when they forget everything they learned.

It is not a book about heroes. It is a book about flawed people in a chaotic time who keep drifting away from God and then crying out when the consequences hit. It is a cycle that repeats again and again.

What Judges Is About

Judges covers the period after Joshua dies and before Israel has kings. There is no central leader. No strong direction. No unity. The people were supposed to trust God and keep the covenant they agreed to at Sinai. Instead they blended in with the surrounding cultures and lost their distinct identity.

When things fell apart, God would raise up a judge. Not a courtroom judge. A temporary leader. A warrior. Someone who could rescue the people from the trouble they had created.

Judges is the story of a nation that keeps forgetting who they are, and a God who keeps responding even when they forget.

The Story

The Cycle

The entire book follows a repeating pattern that looks like this:

1. The people turn away from God.

2. Life becomes a mess.

3. They cry out for help.

4. God sends a judge to rescue them.

5. Things improve.

6. The people drift again.

   
   

It happens over and over with different names, different tribes, and different levels of chaos. It is like watching the same mistake on replay.

Othniel, Ehud, and Deborah

The early judges are mostly straight forward.

Othniel brings stability. Ehud frees the people from a foreign king. Deborah leads with wisdom and courage at a time when everyone else hesitates.

Her story includes a surprising twist. A woman named Jael ends up delivering the final blow that ends the battle. Judges is full of moments like that. Unpredictable. Raw. Human.

Gideon

Gideon is a perfect example of how relatable the judges can be. When God calls him, he is hiding. He doubts. He questions. He asks for signs. He feels unqualified. And yet God uses him.

Gideon gathers a huge army. God tells him it is too big. The point is not the size of the army. It is whether the people trust God or trust numbers. The army shrinks from thirty two thousand to three hundred, and they still win.

After the victory, Gideon struggles with pride and makes mistakes that affect the whole nation. He is a mixture of faith and failure, just like everyone else in the book.

Jephthah

Jephthah’s story is tragic and difficult. In addition to having a name that is impossible to pronounce, he makes a foolish vow, follows through with it, and the consequences are heartbreaking. Judges does not clean it up or explain it away. It simply shows the damage that comes from impulsive choices and spiritual confusion.

Samson

Samson is the most famous judge. Strong. Impulsive. Angry. Conflicted. His story is not about a superhero. It is about a man who never fully learns how to handle the strength he has been given.

His downfall with Delilah is one of the most recognizable stories in the entire Old Testament. His final act, where he cries out to God one last time and brings down the Philistine temple, shows both the cost of his choices and the mercy of God.

A Nation Falling Apart

As the book ends, things take a dark turn. Violence grows. Unity breaks. The final chapters are disturbing and difficult to read. They show what happens when a society abandons its foundation.

The final line of the book says it all. “In those days Israel had no king. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”

That is not a compliment. It is a warning.

Why It Still Matters

Judges is not a polished story about heroes. It is a story about humanity. It shows what life looks like when people drift from their identity and their purpose. It shows how quickly a culture can unravel. And it shows that even in the middle of confusion, God does not disappear.

The book is honest about failure. It is honest about doubt, fear, pride, and regret. And that honesty is why it matters today.

Judges reminds us that forgetting who we are has consequences. But it also reminds us that no one is too far gone for God to reach.

Scene to Remember

Gideon standing in the dark, surrounded by an army of only three hundred people, holding a torch and a jar, wondering how this could possibly work. His heart pounding. His doubts consuming him. And still choosing to move forward.

It is a picture of fragile faith that keeps going anyway.

Spotlight: Samson and Delilah (Judges 13–16)

Samson is one of the most recognizable names in the Old Testament, and his story is often remembered in a simplified way. Strong man. Weakness for women. Hair gets cut. Strength disappears. But the real story is much deeper than that.

Samson was chosen before he was born. His parents were told that he would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. He grew up with a specific calling and unusual strength that came from God. But Samson never fully learned how to handle the strength he had been given. That is what makes his story both fascinating and sad.

He kills a lion with his bare hands. He defeats a thousand Philistines with a jawbone. He carries the gates of a city on his shoulders. The problem is not his ability. The problem is his impulses. His temper. His pride. His refusal to listen to wise counsel.

That is where Delilah comes in.

The Philistines offer her a huge sum of money if she can discover the secret of Samson’s strength. She asks him directly, and he lies to her. She asks again, and he lies again. Each time she tests him, he breaks free. At this point, it should be obvious that her intentions are not loving or loyal. But Samson keeps going back. He keeps drifting toward someone who does not have his best interest at heart.

Eventually he tells her the truth. His hair is not magic, but it is a symbol of the vow he was born under. Cutting it would show that he had broken the commitment connected to his calling. Delilah waits until he is asleep, has his hair cut, and hands him over to the Philistines.

They capture him, blind him, and imprison him. It is the lowest point of his life. The man who had been unstoppable is now grinding grain in a prison.

But Judges is a book that always has another turn.

Samson is brought into a Philistine temple so the crowd can mock him. In that place of humiliation, he prays for strength one more time. He stands between the pillars, braces himself, and pushes with everything he has. The building collapses, ending the rule of the Philistines in that region and also ending Samson’s life.

It is a story filled with courage, flaw, tragedy, and mercy. It shows the cost of drifting from wisdom. It also shows that God can still respond to a broken and humbled heart.

More than anything, Samson and Delilah is a story about strength without discipline, desire without discernment, and a man who never realized how much he needed the God who gave him his strength in the first place.