We see here a clean break-off from the times in which God manifested a Real Presence to the Israelites. I think we do not see such a Presence again until Solomon’s consecration of the First Temple, and that only on that occasion. From here on, the Israelites will have to walk largely by Faith, faith in the Traditions that have been handed down to them, which is very analogous to what we do today.

“I will never break my covenant with you (v.1b) …
…The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. (v.7) Moreover, that whole generation was gathered to their ancestors, and another generation grew up after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel (v.10).”

And from here on begins the cycle of the judges as described in vv.18,19

Judges 3

we take 3 chapters together today, because they are largely descriptive. Ch. 3 talks about the Judges Othniel and Ehud, then Ch.4 is the judge Deborah. This has the incident of Sisera, commander of King Jabin of Canaan, killed by a Kenite woman Jael wife of Heber (vv.17-22). Ch.5 is the song of Deborah. In v.23 it speaks of the “angel of the Lord”.

Judges 6

[8:13 am, 18/06/2022] Sean Rodrigues: In Judges 6:11-24, in the encounter with Gideon, initially the LORD is being referred to in the third person (vv.12,13), however there is a shift (v.14,16) and in the conclusion it sounds as thought Gideon himself believes that the angel of the Lord is God when he thinks that he will die as a result of having “seen the angel of the Lord face to face” (v.22) which has echoes of Exodus and the people seeing God, and in v.24 immediately it is the LORD who replies, making the association inevitable.
[8:23 am, 18/06/2022] Sean Rodrigues: Gideon as he is about to make battle against the Midianites and Amalekites as he camped in the valley of Jezreel: “But the Spirit of the LORD (ruach Yahweh) took possession of Gideon; and he sounded the trumpet…” (Judges 6:34)

Judges 7

[8:29 am, 19/06/2022] Sean Rodrigues: This is a highly entertaining story. The key is in these two verses:

“”The Lord said to Gideon, “The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me” (v.2)

“Then the LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred who lapped I will deliver you and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their homes” (v.7)

And “The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley as thick as locusts, and their camels were without number, countless as the sand on the seashore” (v.12)
[8:29 am, 19/06/2022] Sean Rodrigues: Thanks be to God, have a blessed Sunday
[8:42 am, 19/06/2022] Sean Rodrigues: Also to reflect:
“15 He responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” 16 The LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.”

God uses not only the smallest possible army, but the least of the people to lead that army. Gideon’s response is quite analogous to Moses, and Mother Mary’s response when they receive their own commissions from God. So also the greeting, of course “the LORD is with you, you mighty warrior” (v.12)

In chapter 8 its Gideon defeating his enemies, and then descending into idolatory himself, unfortunately, bit like King Solomon. Sad:

so try and read through Ch.9 as well, which is mainly a narrative story of Abimelech. Literally the story of a no-good guy who comes to no good

Ch.10

Chapter 10 tells the continuing story of sin and redemption of Israel, and how the Israelites always betray the LORD to foreign gods, but when they repent and cry our he rescues them again. Chapter 11 is the story of Jephthah, a mighty warrior who as the son of a prostitute is of low birth but raised up to lead Israel, and “the Spirit of the LORD came upon” (v.29) as he leads them to victory over the Ammonites. It ends with the tragedy of Jephthah’s daughter, which I always struggle to know how to interpret. Ch.12 is to do with inter-tribal relations.

Ch.10-12

Today we do the story of Samson, which extends for four Biblical chapters. Samson is the Bible’s tragic hero, and this episode reads a bit like one of Shakespeare’s plays, as a study of human strength and frailty. The mighty Samson gives in to “womany wiles”, but in the end seems to redeem himself, that’s the summary, for me.

In chapter 13 we have the encounter of the Angel of the Lord, which once again, is none other than God, Yahweh himself, but which is made clear only in v.22 “…we shall surely die, for we have seen God”. Until this point it seems like the two are being spoken of as distinct.

The birth of Samson is analogous to the births of John the Baptist and of Isaac in that his mother had been barren and receives a child through the blessing of an Angel.

The most beautiful verse here is when “the angel of Yahweh said to him, “why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful” (v.18). This word peliפִלְאִי – “wonderful, incomprehensible” with around 15 other occ. Eg, Psalm 139.6 “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”,

And the famous Isaiah 9:6 “ and his name will be called Wonderful Counsellor…” פֶּ֠לֶא יוֹעֵץ֙ pele yoetz

Strong’s Hebrew: 6382. פֶּ֫לֶא (pele) — a wonder

CH.14,15

Please go through ch. 14 and 15. I’ll just highlight the three times it says that “the Spirit of the LORD (ruach Yahweh) rushed on him” (vv.14:6,19; 15:14).

In Ch.14 Samson is married (v.8), his Philistine wife betrays him, but only under threat to her and her father. In the end this is to no avail for the Philistines burn her and her father anyway (v.15:6). Deliliah, it seems is never married to Samson, is he living-in with her? (v.16:4). In addition he also goes to a prostitute (v.16:1).

The emotional blackmail is the same “you hate me, you do not really love me” (v.14:16), but you have to feel sorry for her at the same time.

Prior to this for some reason her father also gives her away to his companion thinking that he had rejected her (v.15:2). Incidents like these spark Samson’s anger against the Philistine overlords of the Jews and cause him to wreak havoc among them.

In the end, as we are told, all of this, including the mixed marriages, are in accord with the LORD’s plan (v.14;4).

So those of us in mixed marriages can take heart- perhaps the LORD is using our marriages that we entered into at a time we were spiritually immature ourselves, to wreak havoc among in the kingdom of satan, from the inside

Ch.16

This is the chapter of the “womany wiles” of Delilah. All sin comes to us like this.

Notice the emotional blackmail ” Then she said to him,

“How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great.” (v.15)

Our own people can tempt us into sin, even unintentionally, because they lack spiritual maturity, and cannot see very far beyond their emotions and need for self-affirmation. This can sour relationships, no one said the way of the Cross was easy.

God never enters into the marital conversation between Samson and Delilah, all we get is “how can you say “I love you”?” not “I love God”.

This shows us how careful we must be about our prayerlife, but also the problems inherent in a mixed marriage. It is hard to be God- centred in the relationship where one’s spouse has no God, God is never part of a relevant conversation between them.

Thanks be to God, and we pray for mixed marriage couples

Samson is violent, yes. But the Philistines are ruling over Israel. We are told nothing of the dynamics of that rule. This is why when we know that God himself is using Samson against the Philistines, we do not judge him.

It is a story of God’s power, and in the end, in some way, also Samson’s Faith.

After all, Samson has never broken the Nazirite oath. He was tricked. He is a Warrior, and a Judge, it his is job to overthrow the enemy. That’s what he does that the end.

Remember that forgiveness of one’s enemies, redemption and salvation to heavenly life are not really themes at this time in the OT.

Jud.20

It is quite difficult to know quite how these chapters are to be interpreted. But one of the keys to keep in mind is: “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” (17:6), which is repeated verbatim at the very end of Judges (21:25).

The strange and obscure “idol of Micah” is maintained in Israel with a Levite priest attending “as long as the house of God was at Shiloh” (v.18:31). We are also told that the Israelites do inquire of Yahweh God, (eg.10:18 etc.) and Yahweh God himself replies to them, we are told (eg. 20:21); and “And the Israelites inquired of the LORD (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, ministered before it in those days)…” (v.20:27).

Ch. 19 has the very distressing story of a certain Levite’s concubine, and her agony is told to us in truly pitiful terms (vv.22-26). Her master seemingly has no pity upon her, “seized (her) and put her out to them”, and seemingly even sleeps through the night relatively unconcerned (v.27).

All that is left now is the defeat and rout of Benjamin at the hands of the LORD, as related in Ch. 20. What we can perhaps take from here is how the Israelites continue to go back to inquire of God in spite of their initial terrible setbacks.