Tag: judge

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Bible

Gideon Doubts God

Ultimately, Gideon, the Judge, obeys God and realizes a great victory, but he first needs a lot of confirmation to deal with his doubts:

1) Gideon first asks for a sign that the angel had really spoken God’s words. God acquiesces; when the angel touches his staff to the food Gideon prepared, it miraculously ignites and is burnt up.

2) Gideon questions God’s promise of victory and gives God a test to perform. He places a fleece (a wooly mass) on the ground and asks that only the fleece have dew on it in the morning. God lovingly does what Gideon asks.

3) Gideon second-guesses his first test. He gives God another test, but desires the opposite outcome. God patiently complies and in the morning the ground has dew and the fleece is dry.

4) Although Gideon does not voice any more doubts, they still exist. So God offers a final confirmation. God tells Gideon to sneak up to the enemy camp, where Gideon overhears two soldiers talking about a dream one had about Gideon’s forthcoming victory.

Encouraged, Gideon goes forth with his 300 men — and God’s help — routs 135,000.

It is not wrong to have doubts — and God is generally patient with us when we do — but ultimately we need to obey and do what we are told — even when it doesn’t make sense.

[Judges 6:17&21, Judges 6:36-38, Judges 6:39-40, Judges 7:10&13-14 and Judges 8:10-11]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

God Talks to Gideon – and Us

Another familiar character in the book of Judges is Gideon (with three chapters devoted to him). Gideon is generally a fearful man who is cautious of God’s call, but who does fully obey God.

There are three initial things that God tells Gideon (though an angel):

  1. “The Lord is with you mighty warrior!” Gideon’s response is to change the subject.
  2. “Go in the strength that you have and save Israel.” To this, Gideon in effect says, how? I am nobody!
  3. “I will be with you.” At this point, Gideon asks for proof that the words are really from God.

We can learn two key lessons from this exchange. First, God may see us differently then we see ourselves — and it’s unwise to question God’s perspective.

The second is that often we need to move forward to the extent that our abilities allow (we need to do our part) and God will be with us (making up for what we lack). This is an important balance to maintain.

One error is to not do anything, even what we can do, because of the enormity of the task, while the other extreme is to try to do it all ourselves without God’s help.

Instead, we need to do what we can and trust God to do the rest — just like Gideon.

[Judges 6:12-16]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Samson and Delilah

Of all the characters mentioned in the book of Judges, the most familiar is likely Samson. This may be because four of the book’s 21 chapters are devoted to him. Another reason may be his unwise, yet intriguing, dalliance with Delilah.

As a person, Samson did not have much in his favor. He was self-centered, demanding, impetuous, and undisciplined, especially regarding his sexual appetite. Nevertheless, God used Samson to accomplish his purposes and free Israel from foreign domination for 20 years.

However, Samson’s character flaws eventually resulted in his capture and imprisonment, setting the stage for his final act, a suicide mission in which he killed 3,000 of his enemies along with himself.

Despite Samson’s personal issues and bad decisions, God used him for 20 years. This is most encouraging, as we all have issues weighing us down and threatening to hold us back; yet God can use us and work through us anyway.

Still, had Samson made better decisions, his premature death could have been avoided, allowing him to serve God for much longer. This is most motivating, for in the pursuit of right living, we can position ourselves to be used by God even more.

[Judges 13-16, specifically 16:4-30]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

Categories
Bible

Here Comes the Judge

When I think of a judge, I immediately conjure up an image of a person wearing a black robe and presiding over a hearing or trial. Indeed, that is the primary definition of the word “judge.”

However, that understanding is greatly misleading when reading the book of Judges in the Bible. In the biblical context there are no black robes, judicial hearings, or legal proceedings.

The judges in the Bible were unofficial — albeit accepted — rulers, often filling the role of military leader, freeing the nation from foreign tyranny and occupation.

Given this definition, I count 15 people in the book of Judges who could possibly be considered a “judge:”

  1. Othneil (Judges 3:7-11)
  2. Ehud (Judges 3:12-3:30)
  3. Shamgar (Judges 3:31)
  4. Deborah (Judges 4:1 to 5:21)
  5. Gideon (Judges 6:1 to 8:35)
  6. Abimelech (Judges 9:1-57)
  7. Tola (Judges 10:1-2)
  8. Jair (Judges 10:3-5)
  9. Jephthah (Judges 10:6 to 12:7)
  10. Ibzan (Judges 12:8-10)
  11. Elon (Judges 12:11-12)
  12. Abdon (Judges 12:13-15)
  13. Samson (Judges 13:1 to 16:13)
  14. Micah (Judges 17:1 to 18:31)
  15. An unnamed judge simply referred to as “a Levite” (Judges 19:1 to 21:25)

How many of these names are familiar to you?

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.