Judges of Israel

Biblical Judges

Christianity Oasis provides the 12 Judges of Israel Bible study on the Biblical Judges in the Bible adventures. We'll look into that and all aspects of the Bible seeking truth and understanding.


Daily Bread Devotional Bible Study
The Book of Judges
Chapter 1 and 2


The 12 Judges of Israel Story

Biblical Judges in the Bible Events

Welcome to our Christianity Oasis Daily Bread study program. This is the Judges of Israel Bible study taking a look into the thought provoking Biblical Judges in the Bible events and how the Judges of Israel messages affect your be-YOU-tiful Christian walk.

The 12 Judges of Israel Story
Biblical Judges in the Bible Events

Welcome to the Daily Bread Bible Study of the Book of Judges. If you've been studying with us through the book of Joshua, you learned about an obedient people of Israel who conquered the Land of Promise because they had faith in the power of God.

As the story continues on in the Book of Judges, however, you'll learn that the Hebrews become negligent of their faith and are chastened by the Lord, time after time after time.

In fact, seven times, during the approximately 400 years of the time of the Judges, the Israelites went through cycles of sin to oppression to repentance to deliverance and then back to sin again.

The 12 Judges of Israel Truth
Biblical Judges in the Bible Stories

Source: Wikipedia

The 12 Judges of Israel Teaching
Biblical Judges in the Bible Actions

Let's start off our study with a little background information, shall we?

There were 12 Judges in early Israel. Their names were Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson.

What was a judge?

A judge was a person who was "raised up" or chosen and led by God to lead God's people. He (or she) would militarily deliver the Hebrews from their oppressors, then lead the people and administer justice.

The Spirit of the Lord would communicate with the judge directly, or sometimes a judge would have a vision of an Angel of the Lord with God's message, and there were also times when the high priest would prophecy with messages from the Lord for a judge.

At any rate ... A judge was a leader of the people of Israel, so one would imagine their role was to encourage and enforce the laws of God, much the same as any governing leader enforces the law of the land.

The 12 Judges of Israel Early Days
Biblical Judges in the Bible Prophecy

You've gotten to know Moses and Joshua as the leaders of the Hebrew people through their wilderness wandering and as they conquered much of Canaan. The judges of Israel were leaders in similar fashion ... Chosen to carry out God's will and guiding the children of Israel now that they are abiding in the land that God promised them.

Oh, and one more thing ... It just so happened that as long as a judge was alive, the children of Israel did pretty good, behaving themselves and obeying the covenant they made with the Lord. But when a judge died, they would soon forsake the Lord and worship other gods, returning to corruption, even more so than the generation before.

Okay, let's backtrack for just a moment. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, of course Moses was their leader and Aaron was the high priest. The next generation had Joshua as their leader and Eleazar (Aaron's son) was the high priest. Now, after the death of Joshua, Israel was without a leader, but Phineas (Eleazar's son) was the high priest at this time.

The 12 Judges of Israel Facts
Biblical Judges in the Bible Concerns

Now, before the death of Joshua, the boundaries for the inheritance of each tribe were determined, but as of yet, each tribe had still not taken possession of their inheritance. Some were settled, and some were partially settled, but some had not taken possession at all yet, and there were still nations to be driven out.

But remember that after Joshua's death, no longer did the entire army of Israel fight together to possess the land little by little, but each tribe was responsible for possessing their own land.

Well, by and by, each of the tribes eventually ended up in their respective borders, but they were neglectful to utterly drive out all the heathen. Why was this?

Well, as God had predicted, they grew comfortable with the richness of the land, and after their wilderness wandering, they were happy to just settle in and live off the fat of the land so to speak (flowing with milk and honey don't forget). So in many cases, instead of eliminating the inhabitants that God commanded them to, they made some of them tributaries.

The 12 Judges of Israel Tributary
Biblical Judges in the Bible Message

Here's a little Daily Bread stick for ya! What is a tributary? Well, they were either forced laborers, or they paid tax to obtain protection or peace from Israel. In short, they paid money to Israel, and Israel allowed them to stay in their land.

This probably seemed much easier in their eyes than going to war and following the commandment of God ... But did it turn out to be the intelligent decision in the end?

Now why is all of this even slightly important? What would matter if most of the 12 tribes of Israel did not slay the inhabitants of the land and chose to live peacefully with them together? Because of what the Lord said:

Numbers 33:55-56

55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.
56 Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them.

In fact, the land of Israel is still being fought over to this very day, and you can bet that in hindsight, the people of Israel wish to God that their ancestors had followed His plan from the beginning.

The 12 Judges of Israel Ups and Downs
Biblical Judges in the Bible Tears and Fears

When the Lord commands you to do something it is best to do it to the fullest and not stray from His Word, even if we think it is better to do it our own way. For the foolishness of the Lord far outweighs our own highest wisdom.

1 Corinthians 3:18-19

18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

See, the reason God wanted His people to destroy all of the peoples of the lands they conquered is that they were evil and like weeds in a garden, would grow and choke out the good people.

Now, on with the study. If you read through Chapter 1 and 2 of Judges in your Bible, you'll find that some things are repeated from what you may have read in the Book of Joshua and other things are not in chronological order, as Chapter 1 talks of what happened after Joshua's death and Chapter 2 speaks of events that happened during Joshua's life.

The 12 Judges of Israel Warning
Biblical Judges in the Bible Danger

Nonetheless, after the generation of Joshua's day had all died, the next generation that had grown up, didn't see the miracles that the Lord did for Israel with their own eyes. Soon, they turned away from the Lord and began to worship the gods of the nations that were not driven out of the Promised Land ... Just like God said they would. Remember the song of Moses?

Deuteronomy 31:19-21

19 Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.
21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.

The 12 Judges of Israel Summary
Biblical Judges in the Bible Conclusion

This infuriated the Lord to such a degree, that He allowed the children of Israel to be oppressed by their enemies round about them and they no longer had the strength to defend themselves. Wherever they went, they were greatly distressed, and God said that He would no longer help them drive out any nations that Joshua left when he died, so that through those nations, He could test Israel, as to whether they would follow the way of the Lord, or not.

Make sure you return to Daily Bread to find out the interesting stories of the Judges of Israel ...