Question about Judges...

[Murph]

Studying Judges in SS and it is interesting...

My question is this...are the Judges in the Book of Judges comparable to the War Lords in the Middle Eastern countries today as far as their duties and purpose?

They settle intertribal disputes and make war on their enemies?

[Keith]

Not a clue.

[Murph]

The more I read and think about it the more I think that is very much like what they were. At that point in their history, Israel was a loose federation of tribes...not a nation yet. That didn't really happen till King David...

The Lord raised up the Judges in answer to their calls for help. Ran in a cycle...they fell away...God sent judgment in the form of servitude with monetary tributes to their masters...the Hebrews would call out to God...and repent...God would take they back, raise up a Judge to defeat their masters. They would live in peace for different numbers of years. The Judge would die and the cycle would start all over again...

Good example of apostacy...

Virgil...what do you think? Bob? Sylvia, Donna? anybody?...

[Deleted]

Nope, me neither.

My guess would be probably . . . because nothing really changes in the Middle East. Though what we have today are caliphates ruled by a strong man that runs things by force and fear, whereas the Judges were men sent by God which the people recognized as having divine authority.

[Murph]

that's basically what I was thinking...

God was eventually going for something different. When you add Moses into the mix with the law...considering that our law today is couched on Moasic law...

you begin to see where God was headed...where He was leading but the Hebrew kept going off the track. I think Judges records 7 different apostacies. When they repented God took them back everytime.

[veterinarian]

Jul 11, 2012 14:22:32 GMT -6 Murph said:

The more I read and think about it the more I think that is very much like what they were. At that point in their history, Israel was a loose federation of tribes...not a nation yet. That didn't really happen till King David...

The Lord raised up the Judges in answer to their calls for help. Ran in a cycle...they fell away...God sent judgment in the form of servitude with monetary tributes to their masters...the Hebrews would call out to God...and repent...God would take they back, raise up a Judge to defeat their masters. They would live in peace for different numbers of years. The Judge would die and the cycle would start all over again...

Good example of apostacy...

I don't know exactly, but I think that you have summarized it best.

I have always been fascinated by the story about Ehud, one of Israel's judge's, told in Judges 3:15-30.

Ehud kills Eglon the king of Moab, the Israelites defeat the Moabites. Israel then has peace that lasts eighty years.

It is a very good example of what happens to those who do not follow God. I would also say that these stories are great examples of what happens to those who do follow God.

[Murph]

One of my favorite Judges too...he was left handed and so wore his weapon on his right leg instead of his left. He went to pay their annual tribute to the Moabites. King's guards searched the wrong side...not knowing he was left handed. Ehud asked to speak to the King alone after he had paid the tribute and the rest of his party had left. He told the King he had a message from God so the King stood up to recieve it. Instead he received the 18 inch double edged dagger that Ehud plunged into his gut. King was obese so the dagger disappeared beneath the mounds of flesh.

Ehud locked the doors and left thru a window...the Kings staff waited...tried the doors...thought maybe King was going to the bathroom...Finally they got a key and unlocked the door and found the king dead as a doornail.

Ehud was far down the road by that time. He rallied his troops leading them to defeat the Moabites...

They had peace for 80 year after that...

So many good stories to tell about the Judges.