Judges, Who Needs Them?

O. T. #507  "Judges, Who Needs Them?"
April 28, 2015
Judges 2-Part 3
Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.  Judges 2:16

LET IT GLOW

I have only been in a courtroom only a few times in my lifetime. Most of them was as  a juror or prospective juror. One thing I recall is that the judge presiding had the control over what occurred within his courtroom. He had the ultimate say, and all followed it. He had the power to do whatever was necessary in order for justice to be carried out.
Judges, who needs them?In the first few chapters of the book of Judges, the 14 judges who will soon be ruling over Israel, are not  doing so as of yet in our reading. Who is our Ultimate Judge? Read on, friend to find out.

Keep in mind that this era was before Israel had any kings to rule ever them. The Lord raised up judges to meet their needs.

The Hebrew word for judge is shopet,(pronounced with both vowels long) meaning ruler, rather than magistrate, and is the source of the noun mispat, meaning judgment or justice. The noun mispat means the judgment given by the shopet and, thus, may indicate justice, ordinance, or codified law (torah) given by God Himself, since Yahweh is the God of mispat (Gen. 18:25). God's justice was manifested in real and observable events because the real God acted with vindicating righteousness upon His people. (Liberty Bible Commentary)

The actual "Judge" in Israel was the Lord Himself, for He only is called the shopet. The individual judges were called by divine appointment and brought to prominence in the role of a deliverer through whom God administered His justice by empowerment with His Spirit (3:10). (Cundall, wrote in Tyndale Old Testament Commentary)

God alone is capable of flawlessly judging the wicked and delivering the righteous (Is. 11:4).

Are we prepared to stand before the Lord our Judge? As Christians, Jesus is going to be our defender because He has paid the price for our sins. He has met God's requirement-a blood sacrifice. We are set free from the penalty of sin here and there, now and then in eternity.

LET IT GROW

What was the purpose of the judges (14) which God raised up in Israel?
Look at our keep verse-they needed delivered out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
Spoiled means to plunder; destroyer; rob, in the Hebrew language.

Why was this necessary?
The Israelites failed God's test, being enticed into:

1. marriages with Canaanites and
2. worship of their gods.

Disobedience was repeated frequently through the centuries, and led God to use the Assyrians (2Kings 17) and Babylonians (2 Kings 24; 25) to expel Israel from the land gained here. (MacArthur)

God through Moses, Joshua and the Law, kept warning Israel to not worship idols, but to worship only God. Sadly, they did not heed, nor do we.

Why were idols so bad in God's sight?
Life Application Study Bible provides us with an excellent answer:

To worship an idol violated the first two of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-6). The Canaanites had gods for almost every season, activity, or place. To them, the Lord was just another god to add to their collection of gods. Israel, by contrast, was to worship only the Lord. They could not possibly believer that God was the one true God and at the same time bow to an idol. Idol worshipers could not see their god as their creator because they created it. These idols represent sensual, carnal, and immoral aspects of human nature. God's nature is spiritual and moral. Adding the worship of idols to the worship of God could not be tolerated.

Christians need to be careful that we do not have any idols in our life, that we do not create a god in the image we want, under our control, establishing the rules of life that we want, nor should we establish us as god of our life. Examples could be our job, career, hobby, entertainment, sports, objects of importance (house, autos, technology), sex. How do we spend our time? What has our focus or thoughts?

I am sad to admit that there have been times whenever I put my career above all, or even as important as God in my life.

Only Jehovah Lord God is the only God to be worshiped, loved, and served. Be careful when pointing out to others their gods. They may become angry when faced with the truth. It is a matter of the heart. God wants us to love Him with all our heart.

LET IT GO

Love God above all and first of all.

Become aware of anything I may have more important than He is.

Follow God's leading, His ways, not my own ways.

Warn others that there will be a time whenever we all will appear before our ultimate Judge, Jesus.