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our way closer to his arrival, and by the are the judges the only people from whom
time we reach the end of that book, which we can learn. The book numbers among
is in so many ways a sort of anti-Judges, its characters not just 12 judges (and one
we learn that he is only four generations tyrant), but 12 women as well. Running
distant. Deliverance is coming, because the the gamut from Achsah to Delilah, and
king is coming. from Samson’s mother to Micah, they are
Situating Judges in the wider structure an assorted group, but offer examples to
of Scripture like this makes very obvious emulate or to avoid, and amply repay care-
its relevance for today. We are still living ful consideration.
in the days of the judges; there is still “no In this series, however, we will look, Lord
king in Israel,” no king in this world. “Ev- willing, not at individuals, but at families.
ery man did that which was right in his That this is an important preoccupation
own eyes” (17:6; 21:25) is a description of the book is signalled, not just by the
1
that might have been written specially for number of families and households that
2025. The rottenness of society in Judges is appear, but by the appearance of families
reproduced in the rottenness of the world in both the opening and closing section of
in which we live. The institutions of our the book. The chapters at the beginning
society are permeated with idolatry and and end of the book, which sit outside of its
injustice in a way very similar to those of main chronological section, frame the book
Judges 17-21. Our predicament is that of and allow the narrator to underscore some
Judges, written large. Thank God that our of its key issues. In them, the importance
hope, too, is that of Judges written large. of family is stressed, not just by the open-
We are not looking merely for a king, but ing chapters’ emphasis on the succession
for the King, who will be David’s Son, of generations, but by the appearance of
and of whom David himself wrote. “Thy Caleb’s family – a father and a daughter, a
throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the husband and a wife. This is echoed at the
sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre” end of the book by the story of Micah and
(Psa 45:6). We rejoice that it will not always his mother, a young man who becomes an
be like this. old man’s father (17:10), and two narratives
The relevance of Judges for us goes of marital disorder: the shameful story of
beyond the big picture of its place in the the Levite and his concubine and the hardly
narrative arc of Scripture. For all their less distressing story of the seizing of wives
failure, Israel is still God’s people, and for Benjamin, with its repeated emphasis
God’s dealings with them have messages of on marriage and offspring. Between those
warning and encouragement for us. For all two poles, the ideal and the abysmal, we
their failure, the judges are still men raised find an array of different families, all with
up (for the most part) by God to lead His important and salutary lessons to offer us.
people. In their variegated life stories, we
can find many lessons, both positive and The presence of families in the framing
negative, that are relevant for us all, but chapters alerts us to the importance of
especially, and solemnly, for those who family life in the book of Judges, but the
seek to lead the people of God today. Nor contrast between the order and spirituality
of the first family and the disorder and car-
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the nality of those at the end of the book alerts
KJV. us to an important aspect of this subject
Continued on p. 209
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