Judges Chapters 12-25

1. Judges Chapters 12-25 “Still, I stuck with him.”

2. “There was no king in Israel at that time. Everyone did whatever they pleased” (Judges 21:25 – GNB)

3. “Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim. The men of Gilead defeated Ephraim. They did this because Ephraim had said, ‘You people from Gilead are nothing but fugitives from Ephraim and Manasseh.’ The men of Gilead captured the shallow crossings of the Jordan River leading back to Ephraim. Whenever a fugitive from Ephraim said, ‘Let me cross,’ the men of Gilead would ask, ‘Are you from Ephraim?’ If he answered, ‘No,’ they would tell him, ‘Say the word shibboleth.’ If the fugitive would say sibboleth, because he couldn't pronounce the word correctly, they would grab him and kill him at the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. At that time 42,000 men from Ephraim died.” (Judges 12:4-6 GW)

4. “The Israelites sinned against the LORD again, and he let the Philistines rule them for forty years. At that time there was a man named Manoah from the town of Zorah. He was a member of the tribe of Dan. His wife had never been able to have children. The LORD’s angel appeared to her and said, ‘You have never been able to have children, but you will soon be pregnant and have a son. Be sure not to drink any wine or beer, or eat any forbidden food; and after your son is born, you must never cut his hair, because from the day of his birth he will be dedicated to God as a nazirite. He will begin the work of rescuing Israel from the Philistines.’” (Judges 13:1-5 GNB)

5. “Manoah replied, ‘Tell us your name, so that we can honor you when your words come true.’ The angel asked, ‘Why do you want to know my name? It is a name of wonder.’” (Judges 13:17-18 GNB) • “You should not ask me my name, because you cannot comprehend it.” (NET) • “The Hebrew adjective ‘wonderful’ or ‘incomprehensible’ refers to what is in a category of its own and is beyond full human understanding.”

6. “While the flames were going up from the altar, Manoah and his wife saw the LORD’s angel go up toward heaven in the flames. Manoah realized then that the man had been the LORD's angel, and he and his wife threw themselves face downward on the ground. They never saw the angel again. Manoah said to his wife, ‘We are sure to die, because we have seen God!’” (Judges 13:20-22 GNB)

7. ‘Why do you want to know my name? It is a name of wonder.’ • “Please tell me Your name,’ Jacob said. ‘Why do you want to know My name?’ the Man replied. Then He blessed Jacob there.” (Genesis 32:29 NLT)

8. “Then Moses requested, ‘Please, let me see your glory.’ The LORD answered, ‘I will make all my splendor pass before you and in your presence I will pronounce my sacred name.’” (Exodus 33:18-19)

9. “The LORD came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and pronounced his holy name, the LORD. The LORD then passed in front of him and called out, ‘I, the LORD, am a God who is full of compassion and pity, who is not easily angered and who shows great love and faithfulness. I keep my promise for thousands of generations and forgive evil and sin…” (Exodus 34:5-7 GNB)

10. “Wherever they went, they gave me a bad name. People said, ‘These are GOD’s people, but they got kicked off his land.’ I suffered much pain over my holy reputation, which the people of Israel blackened in every country they entered. ‘Therefore, tell Israel…I’m not doing this for you, Israel. I’m doing it for me, to save my character, my holy name, which you've blackened in every country where you’ve gone. I’m going to put my great and holy name on display, the name that has been ruined in so many countries, the name that you blackened wherever you went.” (Ezekiel 36:20-23 MSG)

11. “Incomprehensible…beyond human understanding…” • “No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is Himself God, is near to the Father's heart. He has revealed God to us.” (John 1:18 NLT)

12. “This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. On earth I have given you glory by finishing the work you gave me to do…I made your name known to the people you gave me.” (John 17:3-6 GW)

13. “Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honored.” (Matthew 6:9 GNB)

14. “It is the darkness of misapprehension of God that is enshrouding the world. Men are losing their knowledge of His character. It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. At this time a message from God is to be proclaimed, a message illuminating in its influence and saving in its power. His character is to be made known. Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of His glory, the light of His goodness, mercy and truth…The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is the revelation of His character of love.” Christ's Object Lessons, p.415

15. “It began to curse God, his name, the place where he lives, and all those who live in heaven…The beast forced all people…to have a mark placed on their right hands or on their foreheads. No one could buy or sell without this mark, that is, the beast's name or the number that stands for the name. This calls for wisdom. Whoever is intelligent can figure out the meaning of the number of the beast, because the number stands for the name of someone. Its number is 666.” (Revelation 13:6,16-18)

16. "From the beginning it has been Satan’s studied plan to cause men to forget God, that he might secure them to himself. Hence he has sought to misrepresent the character of God, to lead men to cherish a false conception of Him. The Creator has been presented to their minds as clothed with the attributes of the prince of evil himself,–as arbitrary, severe, and unforgiving,–that He might be feared, shunned, and even hated by men. Satan hoped to so confuse the minds of those whom he had deceived that they would put God out of their knowledge." Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 738

17. “They will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.” (Revelation 22:4)

18. Samson • “Suddenly the power of the LORD made him strong, and he went down to Ashkelon, where he killed thirty men, stripped them, and gave their fine clothes to the men who had solved the riddle. After that, he went back home, furious about what had happened…” (Judges 14:19 GNB)

19. “…the Philistines came running toward him, shouting at him. Suddenly the power of the LORD made him strong, and he broke the ropes around his arms and hands as if they were burnt thread. Then he found a jawbone of a donkey that had recently died. He reached down and picked it up, and killed a thousand men with it.” (Judges 15:14-15 GNB)

20. ? • R-E-S-P-E-C-T • Each nation had a ‘god’ who ruled in his territory • Yahweh was the God of Israel • Chemosh was the ‘god’ of Moab • “When the king of Moab realized that he was losing the battle, he took seven hundred swordsmen with him and tried to force his way through the enemy lines and escape to the king of Syria, but he failed. So he took his oldest son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him on the city wall as a sacrifice to the god of Moab. The Israelites were terrified and so they drew back from the city and returned to their own country” (2 Kings 3:26,27 – GNB)

21. “Then Samson prayed, ‘Sovereign LORD, please remember me; please, God, give me my strength just this one time more, so that…. • …with this one blow I can get even with the Philistines for putting out my two eyes” (Judges 16:28 – GNB) • Hebrews 11

22. The Levite and his concubine • “…he and his concubine started on their way, with their servant and two donkeys with pack saddles. It was late in the day when they came near Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), so the servant said to his master, ‘Why don't we stop and spend the night here in this Jebusite city?’ But his master said, ‘We're not going to stop in a city where the people are not Israelites. We’ll pass on by and go a little farther and spend the night at Gibeah or Ramah.’ So they passed by Jebus and continued on their way. It was sunset when they came to Gibeah in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. They turned off the road to go and spend the night there. They went into town and sat down in the city square, but no one offered to take them home for the night.”

23. “While they were there, an old man came by at the end of a day's work on the farm. He was originally from the hill country of Ephraim, but he was now living in Gibeah. (The other people there were from the tribe of Benjamin.) The old man noticed the traveler in the city square and asked him, ‘Where do you come from? Where are you going?’ The Levite answered, ‘We have been in Bethlehem in Judah, and now we are on our way home deep in the hill country of Ephraim. No one will put us up for the night, even though we have fodder and straw for our donkeys, as well as bread and wine for my concubine and me and for my servant. We have everything we need.’ The old man said, ‘You are welcome in my home! I’ll take care of you; you don't have to spend the night in the square.’ So he took them home with him and fed their donkeys. His guests washed their feet and had a meal.”

24. “They were enjoying themselves when all of a sudden some sexual perverts from the town surrounded the house and started beating on the door. They said to the old man, ‘Bring out that man that came home with you! We want to have sex with him!’ But the old man went outside and said to them, ‘No, my friends! Please! Don’t do such an evil, immoral thing! This man is my guest. Look! Here is his concubine and my own virgin daughter. I’ll bring them out now, and you can have them. Do whatever you want to with them. But don’t do such an awful thing to this man!’ But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and put her outside with them. They raped her and abused her all night long and didn’t stop until morning.

25. “At dawn the woman came and fell down at the door of the old man’s house, where her husband was. She was still there when daylight came. Her husband got up that morning, and when he opened the door to go on his way, he found his concubine lying in front of the house with her hands reaching for the door. He said, ‘Get up. Let’s go.’ But there was no answer. So he put her body across the donkey and started on his way home. When he arrived, he went in the house and got a knife. He took his concubine’s body, cut it into twelve pieces, and sent one piece to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Everyone who saw it said, ‘We have never heard of such a thing! Nothing like this has ever happened since the Israelites left Egypt! We have to do something about this! What will it be?’” (Judges 19:10-30 – GN)

26. “…the Israelites gathered 400,000 trained soldiers.” (Judges 20:17 GNB) • “In all, twenty-five thousand Benjaminites were killed that day---all of them brave soldiers. But six hundred men were able to escape to the open country to Rimmon Rock, and they stayed there four months. The Israelites turned back against the rest of the Benjaminites and killed them all---men, women, and children, and animals as well. They burned every town in the area.” (Judges 20:46-48 GNB)

27. “The people of Israel felt sorry for their brothers the Benjaminites and said, "Today Israel has lost one of its tribes. What shall we do to provide wives for the men of Benjamin who are left? We have made a solemn promise to the LORD that we will not give them any of our daughters. When they asked if there was some group out of the tribes of Israel that had not gone to the gathering at Mizpah, they found out that no one from Jabesh in Gilead had been there; at the roll call of the army no one from Jabesh had responded. So the assembly sent twelve thousand of their bravest men with the orders, ‘Go and kill everyone in Jabesh, including women and children. Kill all the males, and also every woman who is not a virgin.’ They found four hundred young virgins…” (Judges 21:6-11 GNB)

28. How could God allow this to happen? • What does this story say about God? • Why is this story even in the Bible?

29. “You got your start in sin at Gibeah— that ancient, unspeakable, shocking sin— And you’ve been at it ever since.” (Hosea 10:9 – The Message) • “When Israel was only a child, I loved him. I called out, ‘My son!’—called him out of Egypt. But when others called him, he ran off and left me. He worshiped the popular sex gods, he played at religion with toy gods. Still, I stuck with him. I led Ephraim. I rescued him from human bondage, But he never acknowledged my help, never admitted that I was the one pulling his wagon, That I lifted him, like a baby, to my cheek, that I bent down to feed him. Now he wants to go back to Egypt or go over to Assyria—anything but return to me! That’s why his cities are unsafe—the murder rate skyrockets and every plan to improve things falls to pieces. My people are hell-bent on leaving me. They pray to god Baal for help. He doesn’t lift a finger to help them. But how can I give up on you, Ephraim? How can I turn you loose, Israel? How can I leave you to be ruined like Admah, devastated like luckless Zeboim? I can’t bear to even think such thoughts. My insides churn in protest. And so I’m not going to act on my anger. I’m not going to destroy Ephraim. And why? Because I am God and not a human. I’m The Holy One and I’m here—in your very midst.” (Hosea 11:1-10 – The Message)

30. How did God feel? • “My insides churn in protest” • What did God do? • “Still, I stuck with him” • Which 2 tribes were left in Jesus’ day? • Judah, Benjamin • The Bible: an inspired textbook of horrible disease and the wonderful healing remedy

31. “O LORD, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence? Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and there is fighting and quarreling everywhere. The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted…How can you treat people like fish or like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them?” (Habakkuk 1:2-4,14 GNB)

32. “Then what's the advantage of being a Jew?...Yes, there are great benefits! First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God. True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful? Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about Him, ‘You will be proved right in what you say, and You will win Your case in court.’” (Romans 3:1-4 NLT)

33. “God offered him, so that by his blood he should become the means by which people's sins are forgiven through their faith in him. God did this in order to demonstrate that he is righteous. In the past he was patient and overlooked people's sins; but in the present time he deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate his righteousness. In this way God shows that he himself is righteous and that he puts right everyone who believes in Jesus.” (Romans 3:25 GNB)