Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What You Can Learn From Judges | Historical Books | Judges 2

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

The book of Judges begins by revealing how it will end. So, is there anything to learn from it? Is there a solution to our sin cycles? In today's episode, Jensen shares how Judges 2 reminds us of our desperate need for the true Judge: Jesus. Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Judges 2

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. On the back of almost every book you could read, you'll find a blurb. A blurb is a summary of what you'll find if you pick up the book and actually read it. Some are more detailed than others, but all of them hope to give you a good enough taste of the book that you're intrigued enough to read more than just the blurb. So today, we're going to think.

think of judges too as the author's blurb for the book. It has a bit of flashback at the beginning, reminding us of the warning that the Israelites have been given to remain faithful, to drive out those who worship other gods, to obey and to love God, and reminding us of the details of Joshua's death, and all of that is to set the stage for our blurb, beginning in verse 10. After that, the whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors. Another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. So, the stage is set. The generation who would witness God's faithfulness is being replaced by another who didn't know the Lord or what he had done. This is an ominous transition. It's foreshadowing what's to come throughout the rest of the book,

and what's going to follow is an overview of the pattern that we will find throughout the book of judges. The author isn't trying to keep this pattern a secret. In the next verses, we read phrases like, The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. We learned that they did this

by worshipping other gods like Bail and Astriths. And because of this, God became very angry, just like he had warned them. Versus 14 and 15 tell us, In his anger against Israel, the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them.

He sold them into the hands of their enemies, all around whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them, to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress. So, this pattern begins. The people fall into sin. They forsake God. They do evil. And because of this, because they break their covenant with God, he hands them over to their enemies. He no longer protects them just like he promised. But then, in verse 16, we read, then, the Lord raised up judges who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. The final parts of verse 18 tells us that God raises up the judges and relents in his punishment because of the people's groaning under the affliction and oppression

they suffered. God has mercy, and he sends someone to rescue his people. But it doesn't stick. The first portion of verse 18 and all of verse 19 say this. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. So now we've learned that even though, even though God relents, even though he delivers the people, rescues them through the faithfulness of the judge, when the judge passes away, the people return to their idolatry. And verse tells us, yet again, the Lord was very angry with Israel.

What we've been given here is a preview of all that's to come, a preview of this pattern. The book of judges is following a cyclical pattern. The people sin and forsake God. God disciplines them via outside forces. Then God has mercy on them. He sends deliverance through a judge. But then the judge dies and the people fall back into sin, followed by even greater sin.

And the cycle begins again. You can trace it throughout the book as it follows seven different judges who appear along this downward spiral. This blurb ends with these verses. This is the Lord speaking to his people. Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.

The Lord had allowed those nations to remain. He did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua. And so, we're left with the question. Will the people relent of their stubbornness and remain faithful? Or will they continue to prostitute themselves out to other gods, as verse 17 puts it? How long will the cycle continue? Will they ever keep the ways of the Lord? The unfortunate answer is that the cycle is never broken in judges.

God is merciful to his people, but as each of the seven judges die, the people devolve into even further chaos. Now, most blurbs on the back of books are written to entice you to read the coming book. And while this blurb promises battles and deliverance and conquest and trials, it doesn't offer as much hope. So why read judges, if they've already told us the ending, already told us that again and again the people would sin. God would deliver and it wouldn't stick. If they gave away the ending to judges, do we really need to keep reading it? The question we're really asking is, can we learn from something we already know the ending to? And to that, we can give an emphatic yes.

It's the same question we wrestled with every time we opened the Old Testament. We know the ending already. We know Jesus is coming. But understanding what led to Jesus, and in particular in the book of judges, why we need Jesus, is so important to understanding the beauty and majesty and necessity of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. You see, as you follow this journey of God's people throughout judges, you might find yourself frustrated with the people themselves. Why can't they just listen? Why can't they get it right? Even after God has delivered them multiple times, won't they ever learn?

Or you could find yourself frustrated with God, frustrated by Him. his wrath. Why does he abandon his people? Let them face oppression. I know he saves them, but he's the one who got them there. Or maybe you'll even find yourself frustrated by his grace. Why does God keep helping these people? Won't God ever learn? They're going to keep turning from you. It's not working. They don't deserve your rescue. Now here's what you can learn in the midst of all those feelings you're going to feel in the book of judges. It's going to make you long for a better solution to the problem. It will make you realize that no matter how hard humans try to be as faithful as God is, they cannot be. And no matter how bad it gets, no matter how hard we try to run away from God,

he will never be unfaithful to his promise to rescue his people. Humans may face the consequences of their sin. God may let us feel the weight of our depravity, but he never breaks his covenant. We cannot save ourselves, and God cannot forsake us. Enter Jesus, right? Jesus was always the plan. He was always going to be both the judge that God sent who could deliver his people eternally and the perfect Israelite who lived a sinless life upholding humanity's end of the covenant. Jesus is our only hope. If we try to go it alone, we will find ourselves trapped in the same downward spiral that the Israelites found themselves in. Their plight caused them to look forward with hope that God would one day send them a Messiah who could rescue them for good. The judges would

fail, the kings would fail, but Jesus would come eventually, the Messiah, and he would not fail. We get to look back to see the full picture, to place our hope in Jesus not as a promised future reality, but a current reality. That's the beauty of the book of judges. May it cause you to long for the saving grace of Jesus. May it lead you to a repentant heart for your stubborn and evil practices. May it cause you to reflect on the magnitude of God's grace to rescue you even as you forsake him. May it comfort you as it reminds you that you have given yourself over to a God who will never abandon his promises to you, even when it means dying for them. May the book of judges bolster your faith and catapult you into deeper love for your Savior and obedience to your God.