Judges: Outline
It’s helpful to read “What I Learned” from Judges first.
Cycle of enemies that God gave the disobedient nation of Israel over to, and the judges God sent to deliver them when they cried out to Him:
first enemy: Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia (where Abraham was from), Israel served him for 8 years; delivered by Othniel, Caleb’s nephew (described in Judges 1); rest for 40 years (Judges 3)
next enemy: Eglon, king of Moab (descendants of Lot), 18 years (defeated Israel with Ammon, descendants of Lot, and Amalek, descendants of Esau); delivered by Ehud of Benjamin; rest for 80 years (Judges 3)
next enemy: Philistines (Canaanites); deliverer: Shamgar, son of Anath, struck down 600 Phillistines (Judges 3)
next enemy: Jabin, king of Canaan (Ham’s descendants), with Sisera as commander of his army, 20 years; delivered by Barak of Naphtali after Deborah, the prophetess and judge, shared God’s command, but Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite killed Sisera; rest for 40 years (Judges 4-5)
next enemy: Midian (descendants of Abraham’s wife Keturah, who he married after Sarah died), 7 years; delivered by Gideon (Jerubbaal) (Judges 6-7); rest for 40 years (Judges 8)
next enemy: Abimelech, the son of Gideon’s concubine in Shechem [where the son of Hamor took Jacob’s daughter Dinah and then Jacob’s sons tricked and slew the men of Shechem, where Joseph’s brothers conspired to sell him into slavery, and where Joseph’s bones were buried], made king over Shechem after he killed all but one of his father’s 70 sons, 3 years; cursed by remaining brother Jotham, resulting in destruction of Shechem and death of Abimelech (Judges 9)
next judge: Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, 23 years (Judges 10)
next judge: Jair the Gileadite, 22 years (Judges 10)
next enemy: Philistines and sons of Ammon (Lot’s descendants), 18 years in Gilead and then sons of Ammon crossed Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim; delivered by Jephthah the Gileadite (defeated Ammon, but made tragic vow resulting in the sacrifice of his daughter; fought with the jealous tribe of Ephraim), 6 years (Judges 10-12)
next judge: Ibzan of Bethlehem, 7 years (Judges 12)
next judge: Elon the Zebulunite, 10 years (Judges 12)
next judge: Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite, 8 years (Judges 12)
next enemy: Philistines, 40 years; delivered by Samson, 20 years (Judges 13-15, Judges 16)
the rest of the time of the Judges is characterized by, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (identical verses Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:25 bookend the rest of the stories in Judges, with no Judge mentioned):
Micah set up a shrine, with a silver graven image and molten image, and household idols, making an ephod and consecrating his son and then a Levite from Benjamin as priest; the tribe of Dan took the all the objects of worship and the priest as they went to conquer Laish, a city at peace, naming it Dan, and setting up idol worship, with their own priests from the sons of Gershom, that continued until the day of the captivity of the land (Judges 17-18)
harlot from Benjamin of a Levite in Ephraim is raped and killed while they are traveling and staying in Gibeah of Benjamin; he cuts her body into 12 pieces, sending it to the 12 tribes, summoning them to Mizpah; Benjamin would not surrender the guilty men, so the men of Israel sought God and eventually conquered Benjamin, killing 25,000, with 600 escaping; heartbroken because of the lost tribe, the sons of Israel had the remaining men of Benjamin take wives for themselves from the virgins of Jabesh-Gilead (the rest of the inhabitants were killed for failing to fight against Benjamin) and from the girls who went up to the yearly dance at Shiloh (Judges 19-21)
continued enemy: Philistines; Judge: the priest Eli, 40 years (1 Samuel 1-3, 1 Samuel 4:18b)
continued enemy: Philistines; Judge: Samuel, “all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 7:15)
the time of the Judges ended when the people asked for a king over them and, at God’s direction, Samuel appointed Saul, who reigned for 42 years (1 Samuel 13:1)
Judges 1 (Day 89)
after Joshua’s death, the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord about who should go up and fight against the Canaanites; He told Judah to go up; Simeon helped Judah and they were victorious
There are these interesting details in Judges 1 that make sense as the story of the nation of Israel unfolds. There is a lot of detail about Othniel, Caleb’s nephew (Judges 1:11-15), that turns out to be relevant when he becomes the first “Judge” (Judges 3:10a) who delivers Israel from the first enemy the LORD turns them over to for their disobedience. Then there’s Judges 1:16: “The descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the city of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.” This tells us Moses’ father-in-law accepted Moses’ invitation to travel with them to land of Canaan (Numbers 10:29-32), and it turns out to be important for the later story of Jael, the Kenite, killing Sisera, the commander of the army of Jabin (Judges 4:17-22), another enemy to whom the LORD turned Israel over.
Benjamin, whose territory adjoined Judah’s, were unable to drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem
the sons Joseph went up victoriously against Bethel, and that appears to be the end of the victories against the Canaanites as, “Manasseh did not take possession,” “Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites,” “Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants,” “Asher did not drive out the inhabitants,” “Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants,” and “the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill country…but when the power of the house of Joseph grew strong, they became forced labor”
Judges 2 (Day 89)
the timeline of Judges 2 is somewhat confusing, but it seems to mention events before and after the death of Joshua
the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to a place called Bochim and spoke to that nation, “I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars. ‘But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you’” (Judges 2:1b-3).
Judges 2:6-10 seems to be a repeat of the end of Joshua: “When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He had done for Israel. Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died” (Joshua 2:6-8b).
“All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10).
What follows is ominous: “Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals, and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger” (Judges 2:11-12).
And then the continuing cycle for the time of the judges is described: “When the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways” (Judges 2:18-19).
God said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk in it as their fathers did, or not” (Judges 2:20b-22).
The chapter ends with insight into the purpose of “the nations which Joshua left when he died”: “So the LORD allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.” This was a test for the “generation after [Joshua] who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel” (Judges 2:23). And they failed.
Judges 3 (Day 90)
besides testing the nation of Israel on whether they would keep the way of the Lord, God revealed that He also left nations in the land so that “the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly” (Judges 3:1b-2).
the nations God left were: “the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon”
“The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods” (Judges 3:5-6. [Remember that the Israel was descended from Noah’s son Shem, but the Canaanites were descended from Noah’s son Ham (Genesis 10:6-20).]
“The sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel” (Judges 3:7-8a).
first enemy: Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, Israel served him for 8 years
first deliverer: Othniel, Caleb’s [who spied out the land and brought back a faithful report] nephew, to whom Caleb gave his daughter Achsah as a wife (Joshua 15:17)
“The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel” (Judges 3:10a).
after he defeated Cushan-rishathaim, the land had rest for 40 years, until Othniel died
next enemy: Eglon, king of Moab (descendants of Lot), 18 years (defeated Israel with Ammon, descendants of Lot, and Amalek, descendants of Esau)
deliverer: Ehud, son of Gera, Benjamin
killed Eglon by stabbing him in the abdomen, and then the nation of Israel struck down ten thousand Moabites
rest for 80 years
next deliverer: Shamgar, son of Anath, struck down 600 Phillistines
Judges 4 (Day 90)
next enemy: Jabin, king of Canaan; Sisera was the commander of his army; 20 years
deliverer: Deborah, prophetess and judge; she summoned Barak of Naphtali and shared God’s commandment to him to lead ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun to conquer Sisera and his army; he wanted Deborah to go with him, so Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite [Moses’ father-in-law’s family] got the credit for killing Sisera, by driving a tent peg into his temple while he was sleeping, exhausted, hiding in her tent after fleeing Israel
Judges 5 (Day 90)
Deborah and Barak’s song of victory, which praises those who fought, including the LORD, and shames those who didn’t
rest for 40 years
Judges 6 (Day 91)
next enemy: Midian, 7 years
read how awful it was: “Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. For it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go against them. So they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it” (Judges 6:2b-5).
“So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to the LORD” (Judges 6:6).
And read God’s response: “the LORD sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery. I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land, and I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not obeyed Me’”’ (Judges 6:8-10).
deliverer: Gideon, son of Joash, Manasseh
angel of Lord appeared to him and when Gideon questioned Him about what had happened to Israel, He said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” (Judges 6:14b).
To verify it was Him, Gideon placed an offering before Him, and fire sprang up and consumed the meat and bread.
He then instructed him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down” (Judges 6:25b-26).
He did this with the help of ten of his servants overnight, because he was afraid of the men of the city and his father’s household.
His father defended him, saying, “If [Baal] is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar” (Judges 6:31b).
Thus, Gideon’s name became Jerubbaal, meaning, “Let Baal contend against him” (Judges 6:32).
“Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet, and” his tribe was called to follow him, and he sent messengers throughout Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and 32,000 came
To verify that God would deliver Israel through him, he asked Him to make a fleece of wool wet with dew while the ground was dry, and He did. So then he asked Him to make the ground wet while the fleece was dry, and He did (Judges 6:36-40).
Judges 7 (Day 91)
God did not want Gideon’s army to be too big, “for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me,’” so 22,000 who were fearful were allowed to return home, but 10,000 remained. Then God modified that number to 300 by how they drank at the spring (Judges 7:2-8).
In case Gideon was fearful, God let him go down, with his servant, to the camp of the Midianites and hear the retelling of a dream interpreted as, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand” (Judges 7:14b).
The 300 men were divided into 3 companies, each with trumpets and torches in pitchers, and at the outskirts of the camp of the Midianites, they, “blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, ‘A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!’” (Judges 7:16-20), and “the LORD set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole army; and the army fled….The men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian” (Judges 7:22b-23)
Gideon also summoned Ephraim’s help, and they killed the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb (Judges 7:24-25).
Judges 8 (Day 92)
Ephraim complained to Gideon, “What is this thing you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against Midian?”, but Gideon reminded them they killed Oreb and Zeeb, the two leaders of Midian, and “their anger toward him subsided” (Judges 8:1-3)
in pursuing Midian, Gideon and his 300 men crossed the Jordan and sought sustenance (bread) from the men of the towns of Succoth and Penuel (fellow Israelites), but he refused him and he threatened retribution when he returned in victory (Judges 8:4-9)
Gideon and his army attacked the camp of Midian when they were unsuspecting, routing the whole army and capturing the two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna (Judges 8:10-12)
making true on his threat of retribution, “He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and he disciplined the men of Succoth with them. He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city” (Judges 8:13-17)
“Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments which were on their camels’ necks” (Judges 8:21b)
“Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son’s son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.’ But Gideon said to them, ‘I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you’ (Judges 8:22-23)
“Yet Gideon said to them, ‘I would request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his spoil.’ (For they had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)….Gideon made [the gold] into an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household” (Judges 8:24-27).
“So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was undisturbed for forty years in the days of Gideon” (Judges 8:28).
Gideon had many wives and 70 sons. “His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech” (Judges 8:30-31).
“it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god. Thus the sons of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel” (Judges 8:33-35).
Judges 9 (Day 92)
next enemy: Abimelech, the son of Gideon’s concubine in Shechem; he killed all 70 of Gideon’s sons but one, Jotham, who cursed him and Shechem, and the men of Shechem made him king
Abimelech ruled Israel for 3 years
“Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers” (Judges 9:23-24).
Gaal, son of Ebed, and the men of Shechem turned against Abimelech, but Zebul, the ruler of the city did not, deceitfully getting messages to Abimelech and urging Gaal to go out of the city to fight him (Judges 9:26-41)
Abimelech “captured the city and killed the people who were in it; then he razed the city and sowed it with salt” (Judges 9:45)
Abimelech also burned down the tower of Shechem, with a thousand men and women (Judges 9:46-49)
Abimelech tried to capture Thebez, but a woman threw a millstone on his head from the tower and he died
“Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers. Also God returned all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came upon them” (Judges 9:56-57).
Judges 10 (Day 93)
next judge: Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, 23 years
next judge: Jair the Gileadite, 22 years
“Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him. The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon. They afflicted and crushed the sons of Israel that year; for eighteen years they afflicted all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in Gilead in the land of the Amorites. The sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed” (Judges 10:6-9).
next enemy: Philistines and sons of Ammon, 18 years in Gilead, and then the sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim
“Then the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, ‘We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have forsaken our God and served the Baals.’ The LORD said to the sons of Israel, ‘…Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your distress.’,,,So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and He could bear the misery of Israel no longer” (Judges 10:10-16).
persistent repentance and obedience moved the heart of God
Judges 11 (Day 93)
next deliverer: Jephthah the Gileadite
valiant warrior but son of a harlot, driven out of his father’s house by his half-brothers, went to land of Tob [outside territory of Israel] and surrounded himself with worthless fellows (Judges 11:1-3)
when the sons of Ammon fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah and asked him to be their chief and fight Ammon with them (Judges 11:4-11)
the king of the sons of Ammon tried to justify fighting against Israel by claiming, “Israel took away my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan; therefore, return them peaceably now” (Judges 11:13)
Jephthah, however, knew the correct history. God did not allow Israel to provoke or harass Ammon because He had given the territory of the sons of Lot to them as a possession (Deuteronomy 2:19). Jephthah recounted what actually happened (Judges 11:15-27), “But the king of the sons of Ammon disregarded the message which Jephthah sent him” (Judges 11:28).
“the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, so that he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon” (Judges 11:29).
the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, causing him to act
“Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, ‘If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering’” (Judges 11:30-31).
“So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD gave them into his hand. He struck them with a very great slaughter from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel” (Judges 11:32-33)
We don’t know if Jephthah needed to make the vow for the Lord to make Jephthah victorious. The Spirit of the LORD had already come upon Jephthah. Unfortunately, though, he was bound by this vow. Numbers 30:2 says, “If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.” This was also demonstrated when the sons of Israel were tricked by Gibeon and made a covenant with them. When they found out they lived within the land and therefore, by God’s command, should not have made a covenant with them, the leaders of Israel declared, “We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. This we will do to them, even let them live, so that wrath will not be upon us for the oath which we swore to them” (Joshua 9:19b-20).
“When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him….‘I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot take it back.’ So she said to him, ‘My father, you have given your word to the LORD; do to me as you have said’….At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her according to the vow which he had made; and she had no relations with a man. Thus it became a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year” (Judges 11:34-40).
Judges 12 (Day 93)
Just as in Judges 8:1-3, the men of Ephraim complained again: “Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you” (Judges 12:1-2).
“Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim; and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim….The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan opposite Ephraim”(Judges 12:4-5a).
“And it happened when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, ‘Let me cross over,’ the men of Gilead would say to him, ‘Are you an Ephraimite?’ If he said, ‘No,’ then they would say to him, ‘Say now, “Shibboleth.”’ But he said, ‘Sibboleth,’ for he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and slew him at the fords of the Jordan” (Judges 12:5b-6a).
‘Thus there fell at that time 42,000 of Ephraim” (Judges 12:6b).
“Jephthah judged Israel six years”(Judges 12:7a).
next judge: Ibzan of Bethlehem, 7 years
next judge: Elon the Zebulunite, 10 years
next judge: Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite, 8 years
Judges 13 (Day 94)
“Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, so that the LORD gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years” (Judges 13:1).
Manoah, of Dan, and his wife had no children, but an angel of the Lord appears to her, saying, “you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines” (Judges 13:5).
Manoah prays “the man of God” would return to “‘teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born.’ God listened to the voice of Manoah.” The angel repeated, “Let the woman pay attention to all that I said. She should not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her observe all that I commanded” (Judges 13:13b-14).
Manoah offered to prepared a goat for the “man,” not knowing he was the angel of the LORD, but he told him to prepare a burnt offering for the LORD. Manoah asked His name, and He replied, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” and “when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.” Manoah thought they would die because they had seen God, but his wife said, “If the LORD had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.” (Judges 13:8-23).
“Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the child grew up and the LORD blessed him. And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him” (Judges 13:24-25a).
Judges 14 (Day 94)
Samson visited Timnah, saw one of the daughters of the Philistines, who were ruling over Israel, and told his parents, “‘Get her for me, for she looks good to me.’ However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines.” (Judges 14:1-4).
on the way to Timnah with his parents, “a young lion came roaring toward him. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily, so that he tore him as one tears a young goat though he had nothing in his hand.” When he returned with them to take his wife, “a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion. So he scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went,” sharing some with his parents. (Judges 14:5-9)
Samson celebrated seven days of feasting for Samson’s wedding, and the Philistines brought him 30 companions to be with him. He proposed a riddle about the honey in the lion he killed, saying he would give them 30 linen wraps and 30 changes of clothes if they could solve it within the 7 days of the feast, but they would have to give that to him if they couldn’t. (Judges 14:10-13)
on the fourth day that they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, so that he will tell us the riddle, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire.” She “wept before him seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people.” (Judges 14:16-18)
“Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of them and took their spoil and gave the changes of clothes to those who told the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house. But Samson’s wife was given to his companion who had been his friend” (Judges 14:19-20).
Judges 15 (Day 94)
when he found out his wife had been given to his companion, “Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails. When he had set fire to the torches, he released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, thus burning up both the shocks and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and groves.” (Judges 15:1-5)
“So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire” (Judges 15:6b).
“Samson said to them, ‘Since you act like this, I will surely take revenge on you, but after that I will quit.’ He struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam” (Judges 15:7-8).
3000 men of Judah went to Samson, saying, “We have come down to bind you so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” (Judges 15:9-13).
“the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands. He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out and took it and killed a thousand men with it” (Judges 15:14b-15).
“Then he became very thirsty, and he called to the LORD and said, ‘You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?’ But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi so that water came out of it. When he drank, his strength returned and he revived” (Judges 15:18-19a).
Judges 16 (Day 95)
“Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. When it was told to the Gazites, saying, ‘Samson has come here,’ they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, ‘Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him.’ Now Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron” (Judges 16:1-3).
“After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. The lords of the Philistines bribed her with eleven hundred pieces of silver to “Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him.” (Judges 16:4-5)
Samson deceives Delilah, and the Philistines, about his strength three times (Judges 16:6-15). “It came about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death. So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, ‘A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man’” (Judges 16:16-17).
“Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. She made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair…. he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison. However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off” (Judges 16:18b-22).
“Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said,
‘Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands’” (Judges 16:23).“they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars. Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, ‘Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.’ Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And about 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them” (Judges 16:25b-27).
“Samson called to the LORD and said, ‘O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes’” (Judges 16:28).
“Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. And Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life” (Judges 16:29-30).
“Thus he had judged Israel twenty years” (Judges 16:31b).
Judges 17 (Day 95)
the first paragraph of Judges 17 says, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). This seems to explain an otherwise very confusing story:
Micah, of Ephraim, steals eleven hundred pieces of silver from his mother; she utters a curse in his hearing and he confesses (Judges 17:1-2)
“when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made them into a graven image and a molten image” (Judges 17:4a)
“they were in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest” (Judges 17:4b-5)
a Levite leaves Bethlehem in Judah, looking for a place to stay, and comes to Micah’s house: “Dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance” (Judges 17:7-12)
“Then Micah said, ‘Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest’” (Judges 17:13).
Judges 18 (Day 95)
“in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in” (Judges 18:1)
they sent out five spies, who stayed at the home of Micah and asked of the priest, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be prosperous.’ The priest said to them, ‘Go in peace; your way in which you are going has the LORD’S approval’” (Judges 18:2-6)
They “came to Laish and saw the people who were in it living in security” and returned with 600 men. When they came to Micah’s house, they “took the graven image, the ephod and household idols and the molten image,” telling the questioning priest, “‘Be silent, put your hand over your mouth and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?’ The priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod and household idols and the graven image and went among the people” (Judges 18:14-20)
Micah pursued, but the “sons of Dan said to him, ‘Do not let your voice be heard among us, or else fierce men will fall upon you and you will lose your life, with the lives of your household,’” so he returned to hs house (Judges 18:25-26)
they “came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burned the city with fire. And there was no one to deliver them.” They named the city Dan.
“The sons of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image which he had made, all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh” (Judges 18:30-31).
Judges 19 (Day 96)
Levite in hill country of Ephraim
had concubine from Bethlehem in Judah; she “played the harlot against him” and returned to her father’s house, but after 4 months, he went to bring her back (Judges 19:1-9)
on the return journey, they stayed in Gibeah of Benjamin; men of the city wanted the Levite, but the home owner gave them his concubine, who they raped and killed (Judges 19:10-28a)
he took her body home, then cut her up and sent her 12 pieces to the 12 tribes of Israel (Judges 19:28b-29)
“All who saw it said, ‘Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it, take counsel and speak up!’” (Judges 19:30)
Judges 20 (Day 96)
“all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one man to the LORD at Mizpah” (Judges 20:1)
the Levite declared of Benjamin, “they have committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel. Behold, all you sons of Israel, give your advice and counsel here” (Judges 20:6b-7)
“the tribes of Israel sent men through the entire tribe of Benjamin, saying, ‘What is this wickedness that has taken place among you? Now then, deliver up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove this wickedness from Israel.’ But the sons of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel” (Judges 20:12-13)
the sons of Benjamin were numbered, 26,000, and the rest of the sons of Israel were numbered, 400,000 (Judges 20:15-17)
“the sons of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God and said, ‘Who shall go up first for us to battle against the sons of Benjamin?’ Then the LORD said, ‘Judah shall go up first’”
and 22,000 men of Israel died (Judges 20:18-21)
“The sons of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and inquired of the LORD, saying, ‘Shall we again draw near for battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin?’ And the LORD said, ‘Go up against him’”
and 18,000 men of Israel died (Judges 20:23-25)
“Then all the sons of Israel and all the people went up and came to Bethel and wept; thus they remained there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening. And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. The sons of Israel inquired of the LORD (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, Aaron’s son, stood before it to minister in those days), saying, ‘Shall I yet again go out to battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?’ And the LORD said, ‘Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand’”
“And the LORD struck Benjamin before Israel, so that the sons of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day, all who draw the sword” (Judges 20:26-35)
“But 600 men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they remained at the rock of Rimmon four months. The men of Israel then turned back against the sons of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city with the cattle and all that they found; they also set on fire all the cities which they found” (Judges 20:47-48).
Judges 21 (Day 96)
“Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, ‘None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin in marriage,’ but they were heartbroken that there was a tribe missing in Israel (Judges 21:1-4)
“they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the LORD at Mizpah, saying, ‘He shall surely be put to death’” (Judges 21:5b)
“no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly” (Judges 21:8b)
they went there and killed all the men, and every woman who had lain with a man, and found 400 virgins that they brought to the camp at Shiloh (Judges 21:10-12)
“the whole congregation sent word and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them. Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had kept alive from the women of Jabesh-gilead; yet they were not enough for them” (Judges 21:13-14)
“they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, ‘Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, and watch; and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, then you shall come out of the vineyards and each of you shall catch his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. It shall come about, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we shall say to them, “Give them to us voluntarily, because we did not take for each man of Benjamin a wife in battle, nor did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.”’ The sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from those who danced, whom they carried away. And they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the cities and lived in them” (Judges 21:19-23)
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25)