Judges 13-16 deals with the 6th apostasy of Israel.

• Dan was one of the strongest tribes with the movement into Canaan.
• But due to their helplessness against the Amorites, they eventually settled in the north.
• Maps
• List of Judges
• We see Israel moving from judges to kings with Samson, Samuel, and Saul.
• Samson 1123 BC – 1085 BC
• Began judging in 1105 BC

 
BIRTH OF SAMSON
JUDGES 13
1 The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines forty years. 2 There was a certain man from Zorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are unable to conceive and have no children, you will conceive and give birth to a son. 4 Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean; 5 for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

• Samson only began to deliver Israel from the Philistines.
• At the end of his life and story, conditions in Israel were even worse than at the beginning.
• The Philistines continued their oppression of the Israelites into King David's reign.

 
Verses 6-25

• The woman went and told her husband.
• Manoah prayed and asked for Him to return
• He returned to his wife and she went and got Manoah.
• The angel of the Lord repeated everything to Manoah.
• Manoah prepared a feast on an altar just as Gideon did in Judges 6.
• A flame consumed the offering and the angel ascended into heaven with the flame.
• Manoah thought they were going to die, just like Gideon thought.
• His wife assured him they would not because their child had to be born.
• Then Samson was born.
• "little sun" or "sunny boy."
• Naming Samson after the sun, we have a dangerous dabbling in paganism.
• Not a good sign.
• Samson's name also means "the strong (daring) one."
• Normally Israelites took the Nazirite vow voluntarily and only for a short period of time.
• But Samson was to be a lifelong Nazirite.

 
SAMSON’S RIDDLE
JUDGES 14
1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw a young Philistine woman there.

•  Timnah was only about four miles southwest of Samson's hometown of Mahaneh-dan.

2 He went back and told his father and his mother, “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

• His intention reveals disregard for his divine calling in life, which was to save Israel from the Philistines.

3 But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?”
But Samson told his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.”

• Turned to self instead of God.

4 Now his father and mother did not know this was from the Lord, who wanted the Philistines to provide an opportunity for a confrontation. At that time, the Philistines were ruling Israel.
5 Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, 6 the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him,
“Spirit of the Lord” is referenced 39 times in the OT.
and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 Then he went and spoke to the woman, because she seemed right to Samson.
8 After some time, when he returned to marry her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass.

• Bees normally do not inhabit cadavers; flies and maggots do.
• So, the presence of bees and honey in a dead lion's carcass was an attention-getting phenomenon.
• Evidently the carcass of the lion had been picked clean by predators and had dried out thoroughly in the hot sun.
• When Samson scraped the honey out of the lion's carcass with his hand, he may have violated part of his Nazirite condition.
• Like bees in a carcass, Israel was to inhabit a country of idolaters, a country that became habitable for God's community only through the death of God's enemies.

9 He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.

• Now Samson has not only defiled himself but also his parents.

10 His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do. 11 When the Philistines saw him, they brought thirty men to accompany him.
12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes. 13 But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.”

• It was also common in ancient times for people to present riddles as entertainment.
• This type of riddle was a question or statement intentionally phrased so as to require ingenuity in discovering its answer or meaning, and it was typically presented as a game.

“Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let’s hear it.”
14 So he said to them:
Out of the eater came something to eat,
and out of the strong came something sweet.
After three days, they were unable to explain the riddle. 15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s family to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

• The writer called the Timnite Samson's "wife," even though the engaged couple had not yet consummated their marriage.

16 So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me and don’t love me! You told my people the riddle, but haven’t explained it to me.”
“Look,” he said, “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”
17 She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her, because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people. 18 On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him:
What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?
So he said to them:
If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow,
you wouldn’t know my riddle now!

• In calling her [his "wife"] a 'heifer' he was ridiculing her for her untamed and stubborn spirit 

19 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men. He stripped them and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house, 20 and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.[1]
 
SAMSON’S REVENGE
JUDGES 15
Verses 1-13

• Eventually, Samson stopped pouting and returned for his wife but her Father had already given her over to one of Samson’s friends.
• The Father offers her younger sister to Samson.
• Samson was mad.
• He captured 300 foxes, placed torches between their tales and sent them off into the grain fields.
• The Philistines figured out who did this and went and killed the Father and daughter by burning them.
• Samson proceeded to avenge his "wife's" death by ruthlessly slaughtering many more of the Philistines.
• Then he took refuge in a cave nearby.
• The Philistines attacked the Israelites in Lehi and explained they did this as revenge for what Samson did to their men.
• 3,000 men of Judah found Samson in the cave and tied him up with 2 new ropes.
• They promised not to kill Samson.
• They turned him over to the Philistines.

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him, and the ropes that were on his arms and wrists became like burnt flax and fell off. 15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and killed a thousand men with it. 16 Then Samson said:
With the jawbone of a donkey
I have piled them in heaps.
With the jawbone of a donkey
I have killed a thousand men.
17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone and named that place Jawbone Hill. 18 He became very thirsty and called out to the Lord, “You have accomplished this great victory through your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 So God split a hollow place in the ground at Lehi, and water came out of it. After Samson drank, his strength returned, and he revived. That is why he named it Hakkore Spring, which is still in Lehi today. 20 And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.[2]
 
SAMSON AND DELILAH
JUDGES 16

• Samson went to Gaza (heart of Philistine territory… slept with a prostitute.
• Samson's weakness contrasts with his strength throughout this chapter.
• Here we see his moral and spiritual weakness.
• Samson's liaison with the prostitute signifies Israel's lusting after other gods for the sake of personal gratification and self-centered desires.
• The men wanted to attack Samson
• In the middle of the night he picked up the city gates and set them up on hill for all Gazaites to see.

4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley.

• Samson now allowed a third woman to seduce him.
• Josephus called her a harlot.

5 The Philistine leaders went to her and said, “Persuade him to tell you where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

• A person could live comfortably on 10 pieces of silver a year (cf. 17:10).
• Taking $25 thousand as the average annual wage, the governors' total offer to Delilah would approach $15 million.

6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me, where does your great strength come from? How could someone tie you up and make you helpless?”
7 Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be like any other man.”
8 The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. 9 While the men in ambush were waiting in her room, she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of yarn snaps when it touches fire. The secret of his strength remained unknown.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies! Won’t you please tell me how you can be tied up?”
11 He told her, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be like any other man.”
12 Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men in ambush were waiting in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.
13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me all along and told me lies! Tell me how you can be tied up.”
He told her, “If you weave the seven braids on my head into the fabric on a loom—”
14 She fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, with the loom and the web.
15 “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ ” she told him, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great!”
16 Because she nagged him day after day and pleaded with him until she wore him out, 17 he told her the whole truth and said to her, “My hair has never been cut, because I am a Nazirite to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.”
18 When Delilah realized that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: “Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth.” The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the silver with them.

• Satan ruins men by rocking them asleep, flattering them into a good opinion of their own safety, and so bringing them to mind nothing and fear nothing, and then he robs them of their strength and honour and leads them captive at his will.

19 Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless, and his strength left him. 20 Then she cried, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When he awoke from his sleep, he said, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

• There was no magic in his hair.
• It was only a symbol of his separation to God.

 
SAMSON’S DEFEAT AND DEATH
21 The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison. 22 But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.
23 Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said:
Our god has handed over
our enemy Samson to us.
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god and said:
Our god has handed over to us
our enemy who destroyed our land
and who multiplied our dead.
25 When they were in good spirits, they said, “Bring Samson here to entertain us.” So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They had him stand between the pillars.
26 Samson said to the young man who was leading him by the hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.” 27 The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them. 28 He called out to the Lord, “Lord God, please remember me. Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”

• This is the only time we ever read of Samson praying before he used his strength.
• Now his strength was disciplined by faith, but it took failure to teach him this response.

29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple and leaned against them, one on his right hand and the other on his left. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.
31 Then his brothers and his father’s whole family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. So he judged Israel twenty years.[3]

• In God's sovereignty the Holy Spirit came on men for particular tasks, and this provision was not necessarily proportionate to one's spirituality.
• The Spirit's power enabled men to inspire Israel and to perform great feats of strength.
• But it was a temporary provision, and Samson and later Saul tragically discovered that the Lord had left them.
• The essence of the Samson syndrome lies right here: the presumption that one can indulge the flesh and at the same time know the Spirit's fulness.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jdg 14:1–20.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jdg 15:1–20.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jdg 16:1–31.

These chapters highlight the Israelites' struggle to remain faithful to God amidst the influences of the surrounding nations and set the pattern of recurring cycles of disobedience and deliverance that define the era of the judges.
 

• List of Judges

 
MIDIAN OPPRESSES ISRAEL
JUDGES 6
1 The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord handed them over to Midian seven years, 2 and they oppressed Israel. Because of Midian, the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people of the east came and attacked them.

• Maps (two)

4 They encamped against them and destroyed the produce of the land, even as far as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. 5 For the Midianites came with their cattle and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were without number, and they entered the land to lay waste to it.

• The effective domestication of the camel had been accomplished somewhat earlier deep in Arabia and had now spread to tribal confederacies to the south and east of Palestine, giving them a mobility such as they had never had before.

6 So Israel became poverty-stricken because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the Lord.
7 When the Israelites cried out to him because of Midian, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to them. He said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery. 9 I rescued you from the power of Egypt and the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you: I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in. But you did not obey me.’”

• God sent an unnamed prophet to them to explain the reason for their discipline.
• Yet this particular prophet did not deliver the people.

 
THE LORD CALLS GIDEON
11 The angel of the Lord came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite (A-Bye-Ezrite).

• Map
• Ophrah was a village over which Gideon's father apparently exercised a strong influence (cf. v. 31).

His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites.

• Gideon's name means "Hacker."
• God used him to cut down the altar of Baal and then the Midianites.
• Who would thrash wheat at a wine press? To be less conspicuous.

12 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.”

• How do you picture Gideon?
• What if he was not?
• One of the great truths of Scripture is that when God looks at us, He does not see us for what we are, but for what we can become, as He works in our lives.

13 Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!”
15 He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.”

• Referred to as a 2nd Moses

16 “But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”

• Verse 12 – “The Lord is with you.”
• Verse 16 – “But I will be with you.”
• This is the reality of the New Covenant Church and they don’t accept it either.

17 Then he said to him, “If I have found favor with you, give me a sign that you are speaking with me. 18 Please do not leave this place until I return to you. Let me bring my gift and set it before you.”

• Gideon still wasn’t quite sure it was the Lord.

And he said, “I will stay until you return.”
19 So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from a half bushel of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

• The food that Gideon offered his visitor was what a person would normally set before a guest whom one wished to honor in a special way, in that culture.
• The Lord was just chillin’ under the ol’ oak tree.

20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat with the unleavened bread, put it on this stone, and pour the broth on it.” So he did that.

• Everything is saturated with broth (even the ground)

21 The angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
22 When Gideon realized that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Oh no, Lord God! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”

• Gideon thought he was going to die.

23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace to you. Don’t be afraid, for you will not die.” 24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites (A-Bye-Ezrites) today.
 
GIDEON TEARS DOWN A BAAL ALTAR
25 On that very night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 26 Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on the top of this mound. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten of his male servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night.

• All together there were four indignities against Baal here:
• 1) His altar was to be thrown down;
• 2) An altar to the true God was to be built over the destroyed altar;
• 3) A prime bull, the sacred animal in Baalism, was to be offered on this altar, being sacrificed, not to Baal, but to the God of Israel;
• 4) The Asherah poles, which represent Baal, were to be used as the firewood for the sacrifice.

28 When the men of the city got up in the morning, they found Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built. 29 They said to each other, “Who did this?” After they made a thorough investigation, they said, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he tore down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar.” 32 That day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, since Joash said, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he tore down his altar.
 
THE SIGN OF THE FLEECE
33 All the Midianites, Amalekites, and people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Jezreel Valley.

• Map

34 The Spirit of the Lord enveloped Gideon, and he blew the trumpet and the Abiezrites rallied behind him. 35 He sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh, who rallied behind him. He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, who also came to meet him.
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will deliver Israel by me, as you said, 37 I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by me, as you said.” 38 And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water. 39 Gideon then said to God, “Don’t be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground.” 40 That night God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground.[1]

• Gideon's fleece is not a sign of faith.
• It is the opposite.
• It is not a search for God's will.
• It is a desperate grasp for security by one who knows clearly what that will is but who is reluctant to do it.

 
GOD SELECTS GIDEON’S ARMY
JUDGES 7
1 Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops who were with him, got up early and camped beside the spring of Harod.

• Pictures and Video

The camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many troops for me to hand the Midianites over to them, or else Israel might elevate themselves over me and say, ‘I saved myself.’ 3 Now announce to the troops, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand of the troops turned back, but ten thousand remained.
4 Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many troops. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one can go with you,’ he can go. But if I say about anyone, ‘This one cannot go with you,’ he cannot go.” 5 So he brought the troops down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “Separate everyone who laps water with his tongue like a dog. Do the same with everyone who kneels to drink.” 6 The number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men, and all the rest of the troops knelt to drink water. 7 The Lord said to Gideon, “I will deliver you with the three hundred men who lapped and hand the Midianites over to you. But everyone else is to go home.” 8 So Gideon sent all the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred troops, who took the provisions and their rams’ horns. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
 
GIDEON SPIES ON THE MIDIANITE CAMP
9 That night the Lord said to him, “Get up and attack the camp, for I have handed it over to you. 10 But if you are afraid to attack the camp, go down with Purah your servant. 11 Listen to what they say, and then you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the troops who were in the camp.
12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the people of the east had settled down in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore. 13 When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling his friend about a dream. He said, “Listen, I had a dream: a loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp, struck a tent, and it fell. The loaf turned the tent upside down so that it collapsed.”
14 His friend answered, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has handed the entire Midianite camp over to him.”
 
GIDEON ATTACKS THE MIDIANITES
15 When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to Israel’s camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord has handed the Midianite camp over to you.” 16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each of the men a trumpet in one hand and an empty pitcher with a torch inside it in the other hand.
17 “Watch me,” he said to them, “and do what I do. When I come to the outpost of the camp, do as I do. 18 When I and everyone with me blow our rams’ horns, you are also to blow your rams’ horns all around the camp. Then you will say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’ ”
19 Gideon and the hundred men who were with him went to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch after the sentries had been stationed. They blew their rams’ horns and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 The three companies blew their rams’ horns and shattered their pitchers. They held their torches in their left hands and their rams’ horns to blow in their right hands, and they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army began to run, and they cried out as they fled. 22 When Gideon’s men blew their three hundred rams’ horns, the Lord caused the men in the whole army to turn on each other with their swords. They fled to Acacia House in the direction of Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath. 23 Then the men of Israel were called from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh, and they pursued the Midianites.
 
Judges 7:24 – 8:21 goes into more detail of the different battles of Gideon.
 
GIDEON’S LEGACY
22 Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you as well as your sons and your grandsons, for you delivered us from the power of Midian.”
23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” 24 Then he said to them, “Let me make a request of you: Everyone give me an earring from his plunder.” Now the enemy had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.
25 They said, “We agree to give them.” So they spread out a cloak, and everyone threw an earring from his plunder on it. 26 The weight of the gold earrings he requested was forty-three pounds of gold, in addition to the crescent ornaments and ear pendants, the purple garments on the kings of Midian, and the chains on the necks of their camels. 27 Gideon made an ephod from all this and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. Then all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
28 So Midian was subdued before the Israelites, and they were no longer a threat. The land had peace for forty years during the days of Gideon. 29 Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) son of Joash went back to live at his house.
30 Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, since he had many wives. 31 His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. 32 Then Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33 When Gideon died, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves by worshiping the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. 34 The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God who had rescued them from the hand of the enemies around them. 35 They did not show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel. [2]
​
[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jdg 6:1–40.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jdg 7:25–8:35.

• The Book of Joshua reveals that victory, success, and progress result when God's people trust and obey Him consistently.
• The Book of Judges shows that defeat, failure, and retrogression follow when they fail to trust and obey Him consistently.
• In this respect Joshua and Judges are like two sides of one coin.

"This book is … quite negative: it begins bleakly, continues darkly, and ends horribly."
 
Judges 1-3 sets the stage for the period of the judges in Israel's history, highlighting the challenges the Israelites face in the Promised Land and the beginning of the cycle of disobedience and deliverance.

• Judges settled civil disputes but sometimes also served as military leaders.

1. Judges 1: After Joshua's death, the Israelites continued their efforts to conquer the remaining Canaanite territories.

• The tribe of Judah led the charge, achieving some victories, but many tribes failed to fully drive out the Canaanites.
• This incomplete obedience led to the Israelites living among the Canaanites, which set the stage for future idolatry and conflict.

1. Judges 2 : An angel of the Lord rebukes the Israelites for not obeying God's command to completely remove the Canaanites.

• The chapter outlines the cycle that will characterize the book of Judges: Israel's disobedience, oppression by enemies, crying out to God, and deliverance by judges.
• Chart of judges
• The chapter also notes the death of Joshua and the rise of a new generation that does not know the Lord, leading to their worship of other gods.

1. Judges 3 : The first judges are introduced.

• Othniel, the first judge, delivers Israel from the king of Aram, bringing peace for 40 years.
• Ehud, the second judge, delivers Israel from the Moabites by assassinating King Eglon, leading to 80 years of peace.
• Shamgar, the third judge, delivers Israel from the Philistines, though his story is briefly mentioned.

These chapters highlight the Israelites' struggle to remain faithful to God amidst the influences of the surrounding nations and set the pattern of recurring cycles of disobedience and deliverance that define the era of the judges.
 
 
DEBORAH AND BARAK
JUDGES 4
1 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud had died. 2 So the Lord sold them to King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera who lived in Harosheth of the Nations.

• Northern Galilee area
• Hazor was one of the largest cities in the Promised Land – controlled by Canaanites.

3 Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, because Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots, and he harshly oppressed them twenty years.
4 Deborah, a prophetess and the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

•  Her name means "Bee," and she did what often typifies a bee: She stung the enemy, and she brought sweet refreshment (as honey refreshes one's spirit and strength) to her people.

5 She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to settle disputes.
6 She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Hasn’t the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the Naphtalites and Zebulunites?

• On this occasion, Israel's forces were very numerous.
• They had perhaps a 10 to one advantage over the Canaanites.

7 Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his infantry at the Wadi Kishon to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you.’ ”
8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

• Most Israelite commanders called on God to help them but Barak called on Deborah.

9 “I will gladly go with you,” she said, “but you will receive no honor on the road you are about to take, because the Lord will sell Sisera to a woman.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

• Whatever his motivation may have been, Barak put a condition on obeying God.
• The will of God was clear.
• He even had God's promise of victory.
• Nevertheless he refused to obey unless Deborah accompanied him.
• Barak would defeat the Canaanites, but a woman would get the honor for defeating the commander, Sisera.
• This was Barak's punishment for putting a condition on his obedience to God.

10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the sons of Hobab, Moses’s father-in-law, and pitched his tent beside the oak tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.
12 It was reported to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor. 13 Sisera summoned all his nine hundred iron chariots and all the troops who were with him from Harosheth of the Nations to the Wadi Kishon. 14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has handed Sisera over to you. Hasn’t the Lord gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
15 The Lord threw Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army into a panic before Barak’s assault. Sisera left his chariot and fled on foot. 16 Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth of the Nations, and the whole army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a single man was left.
17 Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Don’t be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. 19 He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again.

• Sisera had violated every part of the code governing the actions of host and guest.
• Sisera should have gone directly to Heber, the head of the household, not to his wife's tent.
• This violation of hospitality customs would have alerted Jael that something was amiss.
• Furthermore, Sisera should not have accepted Jael's offer of hospitality.
• But when he did, this doubtless indicated to Jael again that his intentions were not right.

20 Then he said to her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent. If a man comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’ ” 21 While he was sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife, Jael, took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She hammered the peg into his temple and drove it into the ground, and he died.

• To die by the hand of a woman was a disgrace in the ancient Near East (cf. 9:54 - Abimelech).

22 When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come and I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead with a tent peg through his temple!

• The man who should have taken the initiative in attacking Israel's enemy years earlier now got another order from a woman—a seemingly "ordinary housewife," who had conquered General Barak's mighty enemy: General Sisera.

23 That day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. 24 The power of the Israelites continued to increase against King Jabin of Canaan until they destroyed him.[1]
 
DEBORAH’S SONG
JUDGES 5
1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang:
2 When the leaders lead in Israel,
when the people volunteer,
blessed be the Lord.
3 Listen, kings! Pay attention, princes!
I will sing to the Lord;
I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.
4 Lord, when you came from Seir,
when you marched from the fields of Edom,
the earth trembled,
the skies poured rain,
and the clouds poured water.
5 The mountains melted before the Lord,
even Sinai, before the Lord, the God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
in the days of Jael,
the main roads were deserted
because travelers kept to the side roads.
7 Villages were deserted,
they were deserted in Israel,
until I, Deborah, arose,
a mother in Israel.
8 Israel chose new gods,
then there was war in the city gates.
Not a shield or spear was seen
among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart is with the leaders of Israel,
with the volunteers of the people.
Blessed be the Lord!
10 You who ride on white donkeys,
who sit on saddle blankets,
and who travel on the road, give praise!
11 Let them tell the righteous acts of the Lord,
the righteous deeds of his villagers in Israel,
with the voices of the singers at the watering places.
Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates.
12 “Awake! Awake, Deborah!
Awake! Awake, sing a song!
Arise, Barak,
and take your prisoners,
son of Abinoam!”
13 Then the survivors came down to the nobles;
the Lord’s people came down to me against the warriors.
14 Those with their roots in Amalek came from Ephraim;
Benjamin came with your people after you.
The leaders came down from Machir,
and those who carry a marshal’s staff came from Zebulun.
15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
Issachar was with Barak;
they were under his leadership, in the valley.
There was great searching of heart
among the clans of Reuben.
16 Why did you sit among the sheep pens
listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks?
There was great searching of heart
among the clans of Reuben.
17 Gilead remained beyond the Jordan.
Dan, why did you linger at the ships?
Asher remained at the seashore
and stayed in his harbors.
18 The people of Zebulun defied death,
Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.
19 Kings came and fought.
Then the kings of Canaan fought
at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo,
but they did not plunder the silver.
20 The stars fought from the heavens;
the stars fought with Sisera from their paths.
21 The river Kishon swept them away,
the ancient river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul, in strength!
22 The horses’ hooves then hammered--
the galloping, galloping of his stallions.
23 “Curse Meroz,” says the angel of the Lord,
“Bitterly curse her inhabitants,
for they did not come to help the Lord,
to help the Lord with the warriors.”
24 Jael is most blessed of women, is Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite;
she is most blessed among tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water; she gave him milk.
She brought him cream in a majestic bowl.
26 She reached for a tent peg,
her right hand, for a workman’s hammer.
Then she hammered Sisera--
she crushed his head;
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 He collapsed, he fell, he lay down between her feet;
he collapsed, he fell between her feet;
where he collapsed, there he fell—dead.
28 Sisera’s mother looked through the window;
she peered through the lattice, crying out:
“Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why don’t I hear the hoofbeats of his horses?”
29 Her wisest princesses answer her;
she even answers herself:
30 “Are they not finding and dividing the spoil--
a girl or two for each warrior,
the spoil of colored garments for Sisera,
the spoil of an embroidered garment or two for my neck?”
31 Lord, may all your enemies perish as Sisera did.
But may those who love him
be like the rising of the sun in its strength.
And the land had peace for forty years. [2]

• This chapter celebrates the fact that God gave His people a great victory through these women.

And today, the fighting between Israel and it’s enemies ceases for another season as the peace treaty goes into effect between Israel and Gaza.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jdg 4:1–24.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jdg 5:1–31.

Pentateuch/Torah
History of Israel
     - Judges (300-480 years)
            o 7 Cycles of:
            o Apostasy
            o Oppression
            o Cries of distress
            o Gracious divine deliverance

Honest Preacher Video
​     
       - 12 Judges
            o Minor Judges
                   §  Shamgar (3:31)
                   §  Tola (10:1-2)
                   §  Jair (10:3-5)
                   §  Ibzan (12:8-10)
                   §  Elon (12:11-12)
                   §  Abdon (12:13-15)
             o   Major Judges
                   §  Othniel Defeats Aram Naharaim (3:7-11)
                   §  Ehud Defeats Moab (3:12-30)
                   §  Deborah Defeats Canaan (Chs. 4-5)
                   §  Gideon Defeats Midian (Chs. 6-8)
                   §  Jephthah Defeats Ammon (10:6-12:7)
                   §  Samson Checks Philistia (Chs. 13-16)

Judges 13
1 The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines 40 years. 2 There was a certain man from Zorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. 3 The Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are unable to conceive and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son. 4 Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean; 5 for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”
                -        A Nazirite (meaning “devoted” or “consecrated”) was a person whose vow of separation to God included abstaining from fermented drink, refraining from cutting his hair, and avoiding contact with dead bodies (Num. 6:2–6).[1]

15 “Please stay here,” Manoah told Him, “and we will prepare a young goat for You.”
16 The Angel of the Lord said to him, “If I stay, I won’t eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.

19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord, and He did a wonderful thing while Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the Angel of the Lord went up in its flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown on the ground. 21 The Angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the Angel of the Lord.

24 So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 Then the Spirit of the Lord began to direct him in the Camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

14 Samson went down to Timnah and saw a young Philistine woman there. 2 He went back and told his father and his mother: “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

3 But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?”
But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, because I want her.”

5 Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, 6 the Spirit of the Lord took control of him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 Then he went and spoke to the woman, because Samson wanted her.

8 After some time, when he returned to get her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass. 9 He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he returned to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.

 10 His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do. 11 When the Philistines saw him, they brought 30 men to accompany him.
12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes. 13 But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes.”
“Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let’s hear it.”
14 So he said to them:
Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.
After three days, they were unable to explain the riddle. 15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”
16 So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me and don’t love me! You told my people the riddle, but haven’t explained it to me.”
“Look,” he said, “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”
17 She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her, because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people. 18 On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him: 
What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion? 
So he said to them: 
If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow,
you wouldn’t know my riddle now!
19 The Spirit of the Lord took control of him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed 30 of their men. He stripped them and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house, 20 and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

15 Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and visited his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.
2 “I was sure you hated her,” her father said, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Why not take her instead?”
3 Samson said to them, “This time I won’t be responsible when I harm the Philistines.” 4 So he went out and caught 300 foxes. He took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 Then he ignited the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the piles of grain and the standing grain as well as the vineyards and olive groves.
6 Then the Philistines asked, “Who did this?”
They were told, “It was Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because he has taken Samson’s wife and given her to another man.” So the Philistines went to her and her father and burned them to death.
7 Then Samson told them, “Because you did this, I swear that I won’t rest until I have taken vengeance on you.” 8 He tore them limb from limb with a great slaughter, and he went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.
9 The Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and raided Lehi. 10 So the men of Judah said, “Why have you attacked us?” They replied, “We have come to arrest Samson and pay him back for what he did to us.”
11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?”
“I have done to them what they did to me,” he answered.
12 They said to him, “We’ve come to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.”
Then Samson told them, “Swear to me that you yourselves won’t kill me.”
13 “No,” they said, “we won’t kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and led him away from the rock.
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord took control of him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like burnt flax and his bonds fell off his wrists. 15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and killed 1,000 men with it. 16 Then Samson said:
With the jawbone of a donkey
I have piled them in a heap.
With the jawbone of a donkey
I have killed 1,000 men.
17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone and named that place Ramath-lehi. 18 He became very thirsty and called out to the Lord: “You have accomplished this great victory through Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 So God split a hollow place in the ground at Lehi, and water came out of it. After Samson drank, his strength returned, and he revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines.

16 Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her. 2 When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded the place and waited in ambush for him all that night at the city gate. While they were waiting quietly, they said, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.” 3 But Samson stayed in bed until midnight when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.
4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. 5 The Philistine leaders went to her and said, “Persuade him to tell you where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me, where does your great strength come from? How could someone tie you up and make you helpless?”
7 Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be like any other man.”
8 The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. 9 While the men in ambush were waiting in her room, she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of yarn snaps when it touches fire. The secret of his strength remained unknown.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies! Won’t you please tell me how you can be tied up?”
11 He told her, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be like any other man.”
12 Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men in ambush were waiting in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.
13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me all along and told me lies! Tell me how you can be tied up.”
He told her, “If you weave the seven braids on my head with the web of a loom—”
14 She fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, with the loom and the web.
15 “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ ” she told him, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great!”
16 Because she nagged him day after day and pleaded with him until she wore him out, 17 he told her the whole truth and said to her, “My hair has never been cut, because I am a Nazirite to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.”
18 When Delilah realized that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: “Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth.” The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the money with them.
19 Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless, and his strength left him. 20 Then she cried, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When he awoke from his sleep, he said, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison. 22 But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.
23 Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said:
Our god has handed over
our enemy Samson to us.
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god and said:
Our god has handed over to us
our enemy who destroyed our land
and who multiplied our dead.
25 When they were drunk, they said, “Bring Samson here to entertain us.” So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They had him stand between the pillars.
26 Samson said to the young man who was leading him by the hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.” 27 The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about 3,000 men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them. 28 He called out to the Lord: “Lord God, please remember me. Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple and leaned against them, one on his right hand and the other on his left. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And the dead he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.
31 Then his brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. So he judged Israel 20 years. [2]

[1] Lindsey, F. D. (1985). Judges. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 404). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Jdg 13:1–16:31). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.