Judges 2:7-10, Isa. 63:7-14, The Savior-Judges

Remember the Pharoah who did not know Joseph (Ex. 1:8)?  In Judges we have a generation that did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel (Jud. 2:10).  Certainly, this generation had not experienced the wars on the east side of the Jordan, or the crossing of the Jordan, or Jericho or Ai or the major battles.  That’s not their fault; they were not alive or old enough to be engaged. 

But the passage says more than that.  As time went by, it may have been that there was not the reading of the Book of the Law every seven years.  We don’t want to make too much argument from “silence,” but it is strange that Judges nowhere speaks of gatherings for the feasts commanded in the Law.  The tabernacle was likely at Shiloh (cf. 1 Sam. 1-2).  There is no mention of prophets other than Deborah in Jud. 4-5.  Again, let’s not take too much from “silence.”  But what we see is that this generation is not refreshing itself in the works of God, and almost certainly, not the word of God through Moses either.

In the closing chapters of the book the idea that there was no king in the land and thus no law enforcement or other benefits of centralized government.  Without accountability, people just did their own thing.  But when they cried out to the Lord, He gave them “judges.”  What is a “judge” in this book of Judges (2:16,18)?

·       The Hebrew term sampat means to judge, govern.  It is not limited to being a person who makes moral decisions for people.  It is a “leadership” term.

·       In 2:16 they “delivered” the people.  The Hebrew yashe means to save, give victory to.  The term is used 205 times in the OT, almost always translated “save” or “savior.”  A judge was a “savior” for Israel.  He served God who was Israel’s Savior.  Thus Jud. 2:18 says the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge.  The term is used often in Judges.  Look at it’s use in the “Gideon” story in Jud. 6:14,15,31,36,37; 7:2,7.

·       We need to consider this in the light of “Messianic” expectation, of God’s promise to send the “seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15).  The Isaiah passage in today’s reading is helpful because it is describing the “cycle of apostasy” that is involved in Judges and all throughout Israel’s history.  The LORD is the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble (Jer. 14:8).  The judges should have been a reminder to Israel that, I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but Me; for there is no Savior besides Me (Hos. 13:4).

·       Judges themselves were not types of the Messiah because they are not kings.  As Samuel later pointed out (1 Sam. 8:5,19-20), a “judge” was called to do the things a “king” would be expected to do.  But in Judges there are no Messianic prophecies outside the amazing one in Ruth.  What there is, however, is the proof that Israel needs a Messiah.  Israel is hopeless left on her own, with no righteous King.