Judges and Ruth

1
Judges and Ruth
2

• They found Adonibezek there and fought him. He
  ran away, but they chased him, caught him, and
  cut off his thumbs and big toes. He said,
  Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut
  off have picked up scraps under my table. God has
  now done to me what I did to them. He was taken
  to Jerusalem, where he died. (Judges 15-7 GN)
• He took his concubines body, cut it into twelve
  pieces, and sent one piece to each of the twelve
  tribes of Israel. (Judges 1929 GN)

3

• The LORDs servant Joshua son of Nun died at the
  age of a hundred and ten...That whole generation
  also died, and the next generation forgot the
  LORD and what he had done for Israel. (Judges
  28-10 GN)

4
Judges

• Whenever the LORD gave Israel a leader, the LORD
  would help that leader and would save the people
  from their enemies as long as that leader lived.
  The LORD would have mercy on them because they
  groaned under their suffering and oppression. But
  when the leader died, the people would return to
  the old ways and behave worse than the previous
  generation. They would serve and worship other
  gods, and stubbornly continue their own evil
  ways. Then the LORD would become angry with
  Israel and say, This nation has broken the
  covenant that I commanded their ancestors to
  keep. Because they have not obeyed me, I will no
  longer drive out any of the nations that were
  still in the land when Joshua died. I will use
  them to find out whether or not these Israelites
  will follow my ways, as their ancestors did. So
  the LORD allowed these nations to remain in the
  land he did not give Joshua victory over them,
  nor did he drive them out soon after Joshuas
  death. (Judges 218-23)

5

• And so the people of Israel settled down among
  the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
  Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. They
  intermarried with them and worshiped their gods.
  (Judges 35,6 GN)

6

• The people of Israel sinned against the LORD
  again. Because of this the LORD made King Eglon
  of Moab stronger than Israel. Eglon joined the
  Ammonites and the Amalekites they defeated
  Israel and captured Jericho, the city of palm
  trees. The Israelites were subject to Eglon for
  eighteen years. Then the Israelites cried out to
  the LORD, and he sent someone to free them. This
  was Ehud, a left-handed man...The people of
  Israel sent Ehud to King Eglon of Moab with gifts
  for him. Ehud had made himself a double-edged
  sword about a foot and a half long. He had it
  fastened on his right side under his clothes.
  Then he took the gifts to Eglon, who was a very
  fat man. (Judges 315-17 GN)

7

• With his left hand Ehud took the sword from his
  right side and plunged it into the kings belly.
  The whole sword went in, handle and all, and the
  fat covered it up. Ehud did not pull it out of
  the kings belly, and it stuck out behind,
  between his legs. (Judges 321-22 GN)

8

• Sisera, running for his life, headed for the
  tent of Jael, wife of HeberJael stepped out to
  meet Sisera and said, Come in, sir. Stay here
  with me. Dont be afraid. So he went with her
  into her tent. She covered him with a blanket. He
  said to her, Please, a little water. Im
  thirsty. She opened a bottle of milk, gave him a
  drink, and then covered him up again. He then
  said, Stand at the tent flap. If anyone comes by
  and asks you, Is there anyone here? tell him, No,
  not a soul. Then while he was fast asleep from
  exhaustion, Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg
  and hammer, tiptoed toward him, and drove the
  tent peg through his temple and all the way into
  the ground. He convulsed and died. (Judges
  417-21 GN)

9

• Song of Deborah So may all your enemies die
  like that, O LORD, but may your friends shine
  like the rising sun! And there was peace in the
  land for forty years (Judges 531 GN)

10

• Break the teeth of these fierce lions, O God.
  May they disappear like water draining away may
  they be crushed like weeds on a path. May they be
  like snails that dissolve into slime may they be
  like a baby born dead that never sees the light.
  Before they know it, they are cut down like
  weeds in his fierce anger God will blow them
  away while they are still living. The righteous
  will be glad when they see sinners punished they
  will wade through the blood of the wicked.
  (Psalms 586-10 GN)

11

• Happy are those who pay you back for what you
  have done to us---who take your babies and smash
  them against a rock. (Psalm 1378,9 GN)

12

• Gideon
• Once again the people of Israel sinned against
  the LORD, so he let the people of Midian rule
  them for seven years. The Midianites were
  stronger than Israel, and the people of Israel
  his from them in caves and other safe places in
  the hills (Judges 61,2 GN)
• Then the LORDs angel came to the village of
  Ophrah and sat under the oak tree that belonged
  to JoashHis son Gideon was threshing some wheat
  secretly in a wine press, so that the Midianites
  would not see him. The LORDs angel appeared to
  him there and said, The LORD is with you, brave
  and mighty man! Gideon said to him, If I may
  ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the
  LORD is with us? What happened to all the
  wonderful things that our fathers told us the
  LORD used to do---how he brought them out of
  Egypt? The LORD has abandoned us and left us to
  the mercy of the Midianites.

13

• Then the LORD ordered him, Go with all your
  great strength and rescue Israel from the
  Midianites. I myself am sending you. Gideon
  replied, But Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My
  clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and
  I am the least important member of my family.
• The LORD answered, You can do it because I will
  help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily
  as if they were only one man. Gideon replied,
  If you are pleased with me, give me some proof
  that you are really the LORD. Please do not leave
  until I bring you an offering of food.
• He said, I will stay until you come back.
  (Judges 611-18 GN)

14

• So Gideon went into his house and cooked a young
  goat and used a bushel of flour to make bread
  without any yeast. He put the meat in a basket
  and the broth in a pot, brought them to the
  LORDs angel under the oak tree, and gave them to
  him. The angel told him, Put the meat and the
  bread on this rock, and pour the broth over
  them. Gideon did so. Then the LORDs angel
  reached out and touched the meat and the bread
  with the end of the stick he was holding. Fire
  came out of the rock and burned up the meat and
  the bread. Then the angel disappeared. When
  Gideon realized that it was the Angel of the
  LORD, he cried out, Oh, Sovereign LORD, Im
  doomed! I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to
  face! It is all right, the LORD replied. Do
  not be afraid. You will not die. (Judges
  619-23)

15

• Then Gideon said to God, You say that you have
  decided to use me to rescue Israel. Well, I am
  putting some wool on the ground where we thresh
  the wheat. If in the morning there is dew only on
  the wool but not on the ground, then I will know
  that you are going to use me to rescue Israel.
• How many chances does God give us if we are weak
  in faith?
• That is exactly what happened. When Gideon got up
  early the next morning, he squeezed the wool and
  wrung enough dew out of it to fill a bowl with
  water. Then Gideon said to God, Dont be angry
  with me let me speak just once more. Please let
  me make one more test with the wool. This time
  let the wool be dry, and the ground be wet.
• That night God did that very thing. The next
  morning the wool was dry, but the ground was wet
  with dew. (Judges 636-40 GN)
• Hebrews 11
• While Gideons men were blowing their trumpets,
  the LORD made the enemy troops attack each other
  with their swords (Judges 722 GN)

16

• He had seventy sons born to him, for he had many
  wives. He also had a concubine in Shechem, who
  gave birth to a son, whom he named Abimelech.
  (Judges 830-31 GN)

17

• After Gideons death the people of Israel were
  unfaithful to God again and worshiped the Baals.
  They made Baal-of-the-Covenant their god, and no
  longer served the LORD their God, who had saved
  them from all their enemies around them (Judges
  833 GN)
• Gideons son Abimelech The men of Shechem gave
  him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of
  Baal-of-the-Covenant, and with this money he
  hired a bunch of worthless scoundrels to join
  him. He went to his father's house at Ophrah, and
  there on top of a single stone he killed his
  seventy brothers, Gideons sons. (Judges 94,5
  GN)

18

• Again the Israelites did evil in the Lords
  sight. They worshiped images of Baal and
  Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab,
  Ammon, and Philistia. Not only this, but they
  abandoned the Lord and no longer served him at
  all. So the Lord burned with anger against
  Israel, and he handed them over to the
  Philistines and the Ammonites, who began to
  oppress them that year. For eighteen years they
  oppressed all the IsraelitesThe Israelites were
  in great distress. Finally, they cried out to the
  Lord, saying, We have sinned against you because
  we have abandoned you as our God and have served
  the images of Baal.

19

• The Lord replied, Did I not rescue you from the
  Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the
  Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and
  the Maonites? When they oppressed you, you cried
  out to me, and I rescued you. Yet you have
  abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not
  rescue you anymore. Go and cry out to the gods
  you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour
  of distress!
• But the Israelites pleaded with the Lord and
  said, We have sinned. Punish us as you see fit,
  only rescue us today from our enemies. Then the
  Israelites put aside their foreign gods and
  served the Lord. And he was grieved by their
  misery (Judges 106-16 NLT)

20
Jephthah

• Jephthah, a brave soldier from Gilead, was the
  son of a prostitute (Judges 111 GN)
• And Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh, If you
  deliver the Ammonites into my grasp, the first
  thing to come out of the doors of my house to
  meet me when I return in triumph from fighting
  the Ammonites shall belong to Yahweh, and I shall
  sacrifice it as a burnt offering. Jephthah
  crossed into Ammonite territory to attack them,
  and Yahweh delivered them into his graspIt was a
  very severe defeat, and the Ammonites were
  humbled by the Israelites. As Jephthah returned
  to his house at Mizpah, his daughter came out to
  meet him, dancing to the sound of tambourines.
  She was his only child apart from her, he had
  neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he
  tore his clothes and exclaimed, Oh my daughter,
  what misery you have brought upon me! You have
  joined those who bring misery into my life! I
  have made a promise before Yahweh which I cannot
  retract.

21

• She replied, Father, you have made a promise to
  Yahweh treat me as the promise that you have
  made requires, since Yahweh has granted you
  vengeance on your enemies the Ammonites. She
  then said to her father, Grant me this! Let me
  be free for two months. I shall go and wander in
  the mountains, and with my companions bewail my
  virginity. He replied, Go, and let her go away
  for two months. So she went away with her
  companions and bewailed her virginity in the
  mountains. When the two months were over she went
  back to her father, and he treated her as the vow
  that he had uttered bound him. She had remained a
  virgin. And hence, the custom in Israel for the
  daughters of Israel to leave home year by year
  and lament over the daughter of Jephthah the
  Gileadite for four days every year (Judges
  1130-40 New Jerusalem Bible)
• Did he do the right thing?

22

• Should I go on? There isn't enough time for me
  to speak of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah,
  David, Samuel, and the prophets. Through faith
  they fought whole countries and won. They did
  what was right and received what God had
  promised. (Hebrews 1132-33 GN)
• God recognized a glimmer of integrity, even in
  the face of a foolish oath

23
Samson

• Why would God choose to bless someone with this
  gift? Why not create Samson as the kindest
  person ever?
• R-E-S-P-E-C-T
• Each nation had a god who ruled in his
  territory
• Yahweh was the God of Israel
• Chemosh was the god of Moab
• When the king of Moab realized that he was
  losing the battle, he took seven hundred
  swordsmen with him and tried to force his way
  through the enemy lines and escape to the king of
  Syria, but he failed. So he took his oldest son,
  who was to succeed him as king, and offered him
  on the city wall as a sacrifice to the god of
  Moab. The Israelites were terrified and so they
  drew back from the city and returned to their own
  country (2 Kings 326,27 GN).

24

• Then Samson prayed, Sovereign LORD, please
  remember me please, God, give me my strength
  just this one time more, so that.
• with this one blow I can get even with the
  Philistines for putting out my two eyes (Judges
  1628 GN)
• Hebrews 11
• Anyone else blessed with remarkable talents that
  blew it?

25
The Levite and his concubine

• he and his concubine started on their way, with
  their servant and two donkeys with pack saddles.
  It was late in the day when they came near Jebus
  (that is, Jerusalem), so the servant said to his
  master, Why don't we stop and spend the night
  here in this Jebusite city? But his master said,
  We're not going to stop in a city where the
  people are not Israelites. Well pass on by and
  go a little farther and spend the night at Gibeah
  or Ramah. So they passed by Jebus and continued
  on their way. It was sunset when they came to
  Gibeah in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.
  They turned off the road to go and spend the
  night there. They went into town and sat down in
  the city square, but no one offered to take them
  home for the night.

26

• While they were there, an old man came by at the
  end of a day's work on the farm. He was
  originally from the hill country of Ephraim, but
  he was now living in Gibeah. (The other people
  there were from the tribe of Benjamin.) The old
  man noticed the traveler in the city square and
  asked him, Where do you come from? Where are you
  going? The Levite answered, We have been in
  Bethlehem in Judah, and now we are on our way
  home deep in the hill country of Ephraim. No one
  will put us up for the night, even though we have
  fodder and straw for our donkeys, as well as
  bread and wine for my concubine and me and for my
  servant. We have everything we need. The old man
  said, You are welcome in my home! Ill take care
  of you you don't have to spend the night in the
  square. So he took them home with him and fed
  their donkeys. His guests washed their feet and
  had a meal.

27

• They were enjoying themselves when all of a
  sudden some sexual perverts from the town
  surrounded the house and started beating on the
  door. They said to the old man, Bring out that
  man that came home with you! We want to have sex
  with him! But the old man went outside and said
  to them, No, my friends! Please! Dont do such
  an evil, immoral thing! This man is my guest.
  Look! Here is his concubine and my own virgin
  daughter. Ill bring them out now, and you can
  have them. Do whatever you want to with them. But
  dont do such an awful thing to this man! But
  the men would not listen to him. So the Levite
  took his concubine and put her outside with them.
  They raped her and abused her all night long and
  didnt stop until morning.

28

• At dawn the woman came and fell down at the door
  of the old mans house, where her husband was.
  She was still there when daylight came. Her
  husband got up that morning, and when he opened
  the door to go on his way, he found his concubine
  lying in front of the house with her hands
  reaching for the door. He said, Get up. Lets
  go. But there was no answer. So he put her body
  across the donkey and started on his way home.
  When he arrived, he went in the house and got a
  knife. He took his concubines body, cut it into
  twelve pieces, and sent one piece to each of the
  twelve tribes of Israel. Everyone who saw it
  said, We have never heard of such a thing!
  Nothing like this has ever happened since the
  Israelites left Egypt! We have to do something
  about this! What will it be? (Judges 1910-30
  GN)

29

• How could God allow this to happen?
• What does this story say about God?
• Why is this story even in the Bible?

30

• You got your start in sin at Gibeah that
  ancient, unspeakable, shocking sin And youve
  been at it ever since. (Hosea 109 The
  Message)
• When Israel was only a child, I loved him. I
  called out, My son!called him out of Egypt.
  But when others called him, he ran off and left
  me. He worshiped the popular sex gods, he played
  at religion with toy gods. Still, I stuck with
  him. I led Ephraim. I rescued him from human
  bondage, But he never acknowledged my help, never
  admitted that I was the one pulling his wagon,
  That I lifted him, like a baby, to my cheek, that
  I bent down to feed him. Now he wants to go back
  to Egypt or go over to Assyriaanything but
  return to me! Thats why his cities are
  unsafethe murder rate skyrockets and every plan
  to improve things falls to pieces. My people are
  hell-bent on leaving me. They pray to god Baal
  for help. He doesnt lift a finger to help them.
  But how can I give up on you, Ephraim? How can I
  turn you loose, Israel? How can I leave you to be
  ruined like Admah, devastated like luckless
  Zeboim? I cant bear to even think such thoughts.
  My insides churn in protest. And so Im not going
  to act on my anger. Im not going to destroy
  Ephraim. And why? Because I am God and not a
  human. Im The Holy One and Im herein your very
  midst. (Hosea 111-10 The Message)

31

• How did God feel?
• My insides churn in protest
• What did God do?
• Still I stuck with him
• Which 2 tribes were left in Jesus day?
• Judah, Benjamin
• The Bible an inspired textbook of horrible
  disease and the wonderful healing remedy

32
Judges - Summary

• There was no king in Israel at that time.
  Everyone did whatever they pleased (Judges 2125
  GN)

33
Where is Gods Justice?

• We will bring the terrorists to justice.
  (George Bush)

34
(No Transcript)
35

• While the Cross was a violent episode, we are
  not witnessing Gods violenceGood Friday was not
  the outpouring of Gods violence upon Christ to
  assuage his own wrath. That day was Gods No!
  to wrath and Yes! to love and forgiveness in
  the face of our violence and wrath. (Stricken by
  God?)

36
Gods justice

• Biblically, to "bring justice" does not mean to
  bring punishment, but to bring healing and
  reconciliation
• Justice means to make things right
• Justice is an expression of mercy

37

• Wash yourselves clean. Stop all this evil that I
  see you doing. Yes, stop doing evil and learn to
  do right. See that justice is done---help those
  who are oppressed, give orphans their rights, and
  defend widows. (Isaiah 116-17 GN)
• This is what the LORD of Armies says Administer
  real justice, and be compassionate and kind to
  each other. (Zechariah 79 Gods Word)

38

• This is what the LORD says Judge fairly every
  morning. Rescue those who have been robbed from
  those who oppress them. (Jeremiah 2112 GN)
• The LORD is waiting to be kind to you. He rises
  to have compassion on you. The LORD is a God of
  justice. (Isaiah 3018 Gods Word)

39

• Hebrew ????(t'sedeka) synonymous with acts of
  charity and bring healing and reconciliation. To
  make right. (righteousness and justice) loving
  restoration
• Today Jewish charities are often named t'sedeka
  which has become synonymous with charity.
• The gist of Tsedaka is charity, the giving of
  your time or money to help someone else, without
  expecting something in return. It is one of the
  cornerstones of the Jewish religions.
• Greek Dikaiosune (the LXX) same meaning
• Latin iustitio
• Quid-pro-quo payback justice, retributive
  justice, legal justice, appropriate punishment

40

• Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I
  love, in whom I delight I will put my Spirit on
  him, and he will proclaim justice (loving
  restoration) to the nations. He will not quarrel
  or cry out no one will hear his voice in the
  streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a
  smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he
  leads justice (loving restoration) to victory.
  (Matthew 1218-20 NIV)

41

• "But now a dikaiosune (loving restoration) from
  God, apart from law, has been made known, to
  which the Law and the Prophets testify . This
  dikaiosune (loving restoration) from God comes
  through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
  There is no difference, for all have sinned and
  fall short of the glory of God, and are dikaioo
  (set right) freely by his grace through the
  redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God
  presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, taking
  away sin through faith in his blood. He did this
  to demonstrate his dikaiosune (loving
  restoration), because in his forbearance he had
  left the sins committed beforehand unpunished he
  did it to demonstrate his dikaiosune (loving
  restoration) at the present time, so as to be
  dikaios(righteously loving) and the one who
  dikaioo (lovingly sets right) those who have
  faith in Jesus.

42
Ruth

• Famine in Israel
• Naomi, her husband and 2 sons go to Moab
• Naomis husband and 2 sons die
• She plans to return to Judah
• Again they started crying. Then Orpah kissed her
  mother-in-law good-bye and went back home, but
  Ruth held on to her. So Naomi said to her, Ruth,
  your sister-in-law has gone back to her people
  and to her god. Go back home with her. But Ruth
  answered, Don't ask me to leave you! Let me go
  with you. Wherever you go, I will go wherever
  you live, I will live. Your people will be my
  people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you
  die, I will die, and that is where I will be
  buried. May the LORD's worst punishment come upon
  me if I let anything but death separate me from
  you! When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to
  go with her, she said nothing more. (Ruth
  114-18 GN)

43
Ruth

• On what evidence did Ruth have this trust in the
  God of the Jews?
• Dont call me Naomi, she answered call me
  Marah, because Almighty God has made my life
  bitter. When I left here, I had plenty, but the
  LORD has brought me back without a thing. Why
  call me Naomi when the LORD Almighty has
  condemned me and sent me trouble? (Ruth 120-21
  GN)
• Ruth trusted in the God of the Hebrews
• How would God reward her?

44
Ruth

• Boaz answered, I have heard about everything
  that you have done for your mother-in-law since
  your husband died. I know how you left your
  father and mother and your own country and how
  you came to live among a people you had never
  known before. May the LORD reward you for what
  you have done. May you have a full reward from
  the LORD God of Israel, to whom you have come for
  protection! (Ruth 211,12 GN)

45
Ruth

• So Boaz took Ruth home as his wife. The LORD
  blessed her, and she became pregnant and had a
  son. The women said to Naomi, Praise the LORD!
  He has given you a grandson today to take care of
  you. May the boy become famous in Israel! (Ruth
  413,14 GN)
• The women of the neighborhood named the boy
  Obed. They told everyone, A son has been born to
  Naomi! Obed became the father of Jesse, who was
  the father of David. This is the family line from
  Perez to David Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab,
  Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David. (Ruth
  417-22 GN)
• God honors a Moabite woman by her by making her a
  descendant of king David and ultimately the
  Messiah
• God dedicates a book in the Bible to a Moabite
  woman