Judges 10-15 Recap | OT Ep 31

This episode delves into the narratives of the Judges of Israel, discussing Tola, Jair, Jephthah, and Samson. It explores themes of rebellion, divine grace, and the consequences of human choices, when left up to them to decide. The discussion highlights the nature of God's relationship with His people, always moving toward grace and redemption.

Reading Plan - Old Testament in One Year
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Transcript

Hey everyone,

My name is Austin. And my name is Ashley. Welcome to the Clean Slate Podcast. Where we're finding Jesus in the Old Testament.

Welcome back friends. Today we're gonna be recapping Judges chapters 10 through 15.

As we start our recap for chapter 10, we're going to see the sixth and seventh judge of Israel.

The sixth judge was named Tola,

And all the Bible tells us is that he arose to save Israel after Abimelech. I think we can assume that he was at least an okay judge and may have served as sort of a unifier after the failure that was Abimelech.

The seventh judge was named Jair.

Jair was probably another okay judge as nothing good or bad was recorded about his time as a judge either. Between Tola and Jair, they judged Israel for 45 years.

In verse 6 of chapter 10, we see again that the people went and served the Baals and the Ashteroth.

the people made with him, sent other nations to be over the people of Israel. This time, was the Philistines and the Ammonites.

In verse 10, the people of Israel cried out to God and asked Him to come and save them. They admitted their sin and telling Him that they knew that this was happening because of what they had done.

Friends, let's pause just a moment and recognize this is not how God relates to you as a Christian. God does not send bad circumstances on us when we sin because Jesus paid that fine. The people of Israel under the Old Covenant paid for their sins in cash where our account has been paid in full on the cross of Christ.

This does not mean that bad things don't happen to us because of sin.

but for us they are the consequences of sin and not God's covenant sanctions on us.

This also does not mean that we should sin willingly. preaching grace in Romans 5, says the following in Romans 6, verses 1 and 2. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who die to sin still live in it? And he goes on to say in verse 6,

order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Having made that distinction, let's go back and look at Israel and the situation they found themselves in.

10, in verses 11 through 14, God really lets them have it verbally by reminding them that it was He who saved them from all the other nations in the past. But since they wanted to go and serve the Baals and Ashtref, they should cry out to those gods that they have chosen and let them save the people.

This, of course, is a devastating rebuke because they know, like we do, that there is one God and these isles are made of stone and wood and could not save them.

In verse 15, the people tell the Lord to do whatever seems best to him, but please deliver them this day. We see in verse 16 that the people put away their foreign gods and serve the Lord. And the Bible tells us that God became impatient over the misery of Israel. Please see that even when God punishes justly, his heart posture is not one of sticking it to them. His heart posture toward them.

as it is with us in the new covenant, it's one of grace and a desire to save.

The chapter finishes out by telling us the Ammonites came out for battle and encamped in Gilead.

The people of Israel likewise came out and encamped at Mizpah. The people began to ask, who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites?

question takes us right into chapter 11. God raised up Jephthah, a mighty warrior, but also the son of a prostitute, to fight for Israel. I bring up that last point because until this time, the elders didn't want anything to do with Jephthah. But now, those same elders approached him and asked him to lead the people against the Ammonites. Jephthah tells them that he would go up and fight for them, but only if it would make him their leader. And they agree and call God as a witness.

Jephthah then has a correspondence with the king of the Ammonites in which he asks the king why he is making war on Israel.

The king says that Israel took away his land when they came out of Egypt. Now just to keep us on track, this king was not alive during that time, just like nobody in Israel was alive during that time. At this point, it would have been several hundred years since Israel came out of Egypt.

The reason the king says it like this is that in those cultures the king is his country.

So the king, even though not born, is representing his country, past and present to Jephthah. This was an understood norm during those times.

Jephthah has an absolutely truthful but scathing response.

15-27. Listen, please go read it if you haven't.

Jethah tells the king that it was God, Yahweh, who dispossessed the Ammonites of their land.

And he follows up by asking him, are you to take possession of them? In other words, do you think you're stronger to take them back from Yahweh?

Jethro does a good job also attempting to reason with the king, but the king wouldn't hear it.

Moving into chapter 12, Jephthah is preparing himself and Israel for battle. verse 30, Jephthah makes a tragic vow. He vows to God and mind you, God didn't ask this of him, that if God would give him the victory, he would sacrifice the first thing that comes out of his house when he returns home. Now it's important to note that in the Hebrew,

It does not mean animal when it's this thing. It means the first living thing. could mean human being or animal.

So God seeking to rescue Israel Does indeed give Jephthah the victory. The people of Israel defeat the Ammonites and when Jephthah returns home, the first thing to walk out of his home is his one and only child, his daughter. He is brokenhearted about his vow and tells his daughter that he cannot take back his oath. His daughter actually agrees with him and asks for some time to go mourn

the life, namely her virginity, being that she would never know a man or have children and a family. At the end of two months, she returns home and the Bible says that he fulfills his oath.

Y'all this is heartbreaking. It's especially heartbreaking as a dad of a daughter and thinking about this being his only child.

There are lots of opinions about what Jephthah should have done once he returns home. The reality is he should have never made the vow in the first place.

I don't think that vow had anything to do with God giving Israel victory over the Ammonites, especially when you consider how often it is stated that human sacrifice is an abomination to God. Vows in Israel are sacred when made to God and normally would need to be carried out, but in this case, the vow would end in sin and wouldn't have needed to be binding, meaning that he could have just made a regular offering and asked for forgiveness for making the vow.

The last thing he should have done was sacrifice his daughter.

premier text in all the Bible for showing how evil the human heart really can be. Thank goodness that we aren't left with this narrative though. Thank goodness God progressively moves toward the story of the cross.

Moving into chapter 13, we see that Israel starts in the valley of disobedience again. Verse 1 says, Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years.

We then see a barren woman who the angel of the Lord appeared to her and said basically, I know you're barren, but I'm telling you that you shall conceive and bear a son. So don't drink wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean. No razor shall come upon his head for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb. And he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. This child, as we will soon find out, would be Samson.

Now, we have talked about this theme of barrenness before, going all the way back to Genesis. God makes a way in what is a pretty hopeless situation without divine intervention. And that is the whole point. We have seen over and over again that God wants and rightfully deserves the glory for the victory of the blessings that He pours out on His people.

Another thing to note before we move on is the fact that the angel told them he would be a Nazarite. Remember back to Numbers chapter 6, any man or woman could take a vow to become a Nazarite,

which meant to separate him or herself to God. But contrary to Samson's story,

Normally, the criteria to be a Nazarite was for it to be entered into voluntarily for a limited time and involved three provisions. One is abstinence from wine and strong drink or anything associated with a vine. Two, no cutting of the hair. And three, no contact with the dead.

But if you've read his story, you know that all three of those provisions Samson most certainly did not adhere to.

also know another Nazarite named John the Baptist. And it's interesting the similarities in their stories. Their parents were both barren and visited by an angel. They were both ultimately betrayed by women to their death. And they both pointed to a greater king. Now, of course, as you'll read, Samson is not the model figure to live your life after. But nonetheless, God uses him to point to King David.

and John the Baptist to make the way for King Jesus. But more on that in the next episode.

Okay, so the woman told her husband, and he prayed that the man of God, because they probably thought he was a prophet, not an angel at this point, he prayed that he would come again and teach what we are to do with a child.

which I can get behind the question, except he already told you. So the angel comes back and says, this is my version, do all the things I have already told the woman. There's another situation with the angel here that's comical to me, but I'll let y'all read that on your own. So Minoa and his wife end up offering a young goat and a grain offering to the Lord. And when the flame went up, so did the angel of the Lord.

And verse 20 tells us, they fell on their faces to the ground.

It was in that moment that they realized what's going on. Then the man says, we shall surely die for we have seen God. But his wife said to him in verse 23, if the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering at our hands or shown us all these things or now announced to us such things as these. And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson.

And the young man grew and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahanadan between Zorah and Eshtal.

So Samson grows up and chapter 14 starts out with him demanding his parents get him a certain beautiful Philistine wife. Now so much is wrong with this statement. I can just envision Samson being that spoiled brat type of kid. You know, get her for me. She's right in my eyes.

But God had already commanded to not marry unbelieving foreigners. The problem was not that they were foreigners, it was because they were unbelievers. We've talked about that before, I'll spare you that lecture again. So his parents ask him, is there not a woman among our people that you can take as a wife rather than choosing from an uncircumcised Philistine? Which remember, the circumcision was a sign of the covenant with God.

The Israelites are circumcised physically as their nationalistic have a circumcised heart.

chapter 2 verses 28 and 29 say, for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God.

So his parents are asking, son, she's not a believer. Can we not find you a believer to marry? Which is a valid question. But Samson wouldn't have it. And the Bible tells us his father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. Despite Samson's unsavory sinful life, God was using Samson for his own purposes.

So his parents reluctantly agree and they journeyed to bring back his Philistine wife. On their journey, they came to the vineyards of Timna.

And while they were there, Samson, roaring, and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he tore the lion to pieces with his bare hands.

Now apparently his parents did not see any of this. So think about how much not of a struggle it was if they didn't even notice that their son was tearing this line to shreds.

And of course, he doesn't share that with his parents because again, he's a Nazarite. He's not supposed to associate with the dead.

So they get there, he talks to his future bride, and I'm sure makes arrangements with her family, and after some days returned to take her, and saw the lion carcass with a swarm of bees in it, and they were making honey. went on eating, even fed some to his parents, still didn't tell them where it came from.

So Samson prepares a feast, and that word in Hebrew is Mishte.

This word denotes a feast that especially includes alcohol, which is yet another violation of Samson's Nazarite vow.

At the beginning of this feast, he poses a riddle to the 30 companions sent to be with him. Now these companions are groomsmen sent to make sure there's no funny business before the wedding is complete. He says, you can solve the riddle in seven days, which was the length of the feast, I will give you 30 changes of clothes. But if you can't solve it, then you shall give me 30 changes of clothes. And they agree. And his riddle was this.

Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.

So obviously they couldn't figure it out. So they go to his wife and tell her what's going on and she eventually presses him hard enough that on day seven he tells her the answer.

She of course shares with the groomsmen and then they answer the riddle. Well, Samson is not happy. And verse 19 tells us, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him and he goes down into Ashkelon and struck down 30 men and took their clothes and gave them to the 30 who saw the riddle. And in his anger, he went home. So at the end of the feast, there's no groom. So the father gives his daughter to the best man.

I just feel like this situation is going from bad to worse, y'all. Let's keep reading in chapter 15.

So Samson decides after a while that it's time to visit his wife. Her father says, no, I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.

Can y'all see what happens when people are left to do what is right in their own eyes? The book of judges, that's what happens. Samson then responds by catching 300 foxes and tying them up in pairs by the tail, setting the tails on fire and sends them running through the grain and all of orchards of the Philistines. The Philistines respond by burning Samson's wife and her father to death.

The Bible tells us that Samson strikes them hip and thigh with a great blow. This phrase is probably some kind of idiom for Samson tangling them up somehow. You can imagine with his strength he probably twisted them up like pretzels.

Then Samson went down and stayed in the cleft of a rock of Edom. So the Philistines came up and started raiding Lehi. And I'm in verse 10 now. So the men of Judah were like, why have you come up against us? And they responded, we have come up to bind Samson to do to him as he did to us.

So 3000 men of Judah went down to Samson and said, look, the Philistines are here for you and we have come to bind you and hand you over. He said, okay, that's fine, but swear you will only bind me and hand me over, you won't attack me. And they said, no, we won't. So they bind him and bring him to the Philistines. But then verse 14,

The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him,

And the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey and struck 1,000 men. And after that he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said,

You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant. And shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?

Is that not an Israelite response? That sounds like our friends from the wilderness, doesn't it? But the Lord, knowing his purposes with Samson are not yet finished, provided him with water, and he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.

And that friends is where we're gonna pause for this episode. Next episode, we're gonna continue learning about Samson's story of poor choices that God uses to accomplish his will.

That's going do it for today's recap. Thank you so much for sticking around through this episode. May His grace abound to you and to me as we study to find Jesus in the Old Testament.