Judges: Struggle in the Promised Land

Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.

Judges 1:1f (Spoke 7, Cycle 1)

The sixth book (Joshua) records the almost uninterrupted victory as God led Israel to subdue the Promised Land. The seventh book (Judges) is a much sadder story of constant struggle, fighting, and defeat at the hands of the local inhabitants they had failed to drive out, in direct defiance of the Word of the Lord:

And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

Judges 2:1ff (Spoke 7, Cycle 1)

The story of Judges tells of the ongoing struggle with the inhabitants whom God promised to use as "thorns" in their sides. This theme dominates the whole Book, which, despite its relatively small size, contains the greatest number of references to fighting in the entire Bible. Baxter aptly and alliteratively summarized its thematic movements as 1) sinning, 2) suffering, 3) supplication, and 4) salvation. The salvation came in the form of "judges" that God would periodically raise up:

And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.

Judges 2:18 (Spoke 7, Cycle 1)

In Hebrew, these judges are called shophatim, which also is the name of the Seventh Book, taken from its central theme. It is based on the Shin KeyWord shaphat (to judge). This word forms a strong link between Judges and Joel, as discussed in The Lord the Judge.

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