JUDGES by F. D. Starr

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 1, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 22.

JUDGES.

By F. D. Starr

BY F. D. STARR.

THE last verse of this book gives us an idea of the condition of affairs prevailing during the time covered by this inspired history. 'In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.' During this period, or, rather, the latter part of it, the grossest immorality prevailed. The transactions described in chapters 18 and 19 disclose a condition of affairs scarcely exceeded by Sodom itself. And yet this was when men did that which was right in their own eyes.

It is sometimes asserted that if all people would do what they think is right, we would have a very good state of society. To see the fallacy of this reasoning, it is only necessary to read the book of Judges, where we find this scheme worked out. We surely will miss a very important lesson if we neglect the perusal of this book. Conscience, or human reason, unaided by divine Revelation, is in a perverted condition, and selfishness blinds the moral senses so that wrong appears right, and right appears wrong. What is necessary to know, is not what is right in our own judgment, but what is right according to God's perfect standard of righteousness,—His holy Law.

Notwithstanding these unfortunate events, there are many instances recorded in this book that show us how men of faith obtained victories in various ways. The government of Israel by judges was God's own plan of government, but the nation was not satisfied with this simple form of rule, and would have a king that they might be like the nations around them. 'Ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us; when the Lord your God was your King.' 1 Sam. 12:12. God was to be the supreme Ruler, the only King. No crowned head was to be seen in Israel, the highest officers being the judges mentioned in Ex. 21:6; 22:8, etc. But this mild arrangement was not appreciated, and the people were not in a condition to appropriate the advantages of this system. So that which would have proved a great blessing to them was perverted into a curse, and a change of some kind seemed to be a crying necessity.

The lives of several of the men of faith whose names are mentioned in the list of the faithful given in Hebrews 11, such as Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthae, are recorded in the book of Judges we are now considering. Paul says, 'The time would fail me' to speak of these men; and want of time and space

prevents us from saying much about them, but their history is of sufficient interest to receive considerable attention by the Bible student. We will briefly consider their experiences.

Barak was a man of extraordinary faith, but still that faith might have been stronger. He would not go in pursuit of the enemy unless Deborah the prophetess would go with him. Deborah told him she would go with him, but the expedition would not be for his honor, for the Lord would sell the enemy into the hand of a woman. So it turned out, for the Lord delivered Sisera into the hands of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. So the man whose faith did not permit him to go forth to the conflict without the assistance of a woman, was excelled by a woman. 'According to your faith be it unto you.'

The history of Gideon is a very suggestive and instructive one. The army of Israel seemed very small at best. Thirty-two thousand men was a very small number with which to go forth to meet such a formidable foe as that which was to come out to meet him. They were without number. Judges 6:5. Any prudent general, like Napoleon, would doubtless have told Gideon that it would be unwise to venture an attack upon that innumerable host with such a small army. But the Lord said to him, 'The people that are with thee are too many.' So the number was cut down over two-thirds,—reduced to 10,000. Surely the force is small enough now. But no, another reduction is to be made. The ten thousand men dwindle down to three hundred, less than one in a hundred of his original army, and with this small band the complete victory is gained. Surely God's ways are not as our ways.

Jephthah is noted, not only for the remarkable victory achieved over the invaders of Israel, but for the peculiar vow he made to the Lord.

It is considered a rash vow, it having been thought by some that he offered up his daughter as a human sacrifice. The marginal reading of Judges 11:31 is 'or I will offer it up for a burnt offering.' Whatever first met him on his return from his victory should be the Lord's, or he would offer it up for an offering. According to the marginal reading, verse 40 states that the daughters of Israel went yearly to talk with the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in a year. This being the case, she was still living, but devoted to celibacy, or life-long virginity, which was considered a great misfortune.

One more noted character claims our attention before we close the book of Judges. It would be a pleasant task to study out in how many ways Samson was a remarkable man. We know from Hebrews 11 that he was a man of strong faith, and physically he was doubtless the strongest man that ever lived. His mental powers seem to have been very strong also, as shown by the riddles he put forth, as well as in other ways. But this man of remarkable powers manifested some very decided weaknesses. The fascinations of foreign women proved to be the cause of his great misfortune. To be unequally yoked together with unbelievers is a very unfavorable condition for God's servants now, just as it was so many years ago.

An incident in the life of this remarkable man is quite generally misunderstood. It is supposed that Judges 15:19 teaches us that the Lord made an opening in the jaw-bone with which Samson had done such fearful execution, when the simple fact is that the spot where Samson used the jaw-bone was called Lehi, which means a jaw-bone, and, as we see from the margin of that verse, God clave a hollow place in that spot of ground, from which water flowed, as it did from the riven rock in the desert. This idea is in harmony with the reading in other versions,—the life-giving water out of dry ground, a type and a prophecy of Christ.