 |  |
Judges.---The Book as a whole.
A | a | 1: 1-15. "The children of Israel asked the Lord."
b | 1: 16 - 3: 9. FAILURE. | Judah and the Canaanites.
Not destroyed utterly.
Wives taken.
B | 3: 10 - 8: 32. THE JUDGES. | The form of a King (8: 18).
Rule over us (8: 22).
The Ephod (8: 24-27).
The need for the King-Priest felt.
C | 9: ABIMELECH.--THE ANTICHRIST. | The Olive, Fig, Vine.
The Bramble.
Reign thou over us.
B | 10: - 18: THE JUDGES. | Be our head (11: 8).
Philistines rule (15: 11).
No King in Israel (17: 6).
The Ephod (17: 5).
The need for the King-Priest felt.
A |
b | 19: - 21: 24. FAILURE. | Judah and Benjamin.
Destroyed too many.
Wives refused.
a | 21: 25. "No King in Israel:
every man did that which was right in his own eyes."
JUDGES.
#2.
The root cause of failure (1: 1 - 3: 9).
pp. 166 - 171
Before we come to the exploits of the judges, we must make a closer acquaintance
with the section that introduces us to their history, viz., 1: 1 - 3: 9. We are distinctly told
that, after the death of Joshua and the elders that outlived him, Israel went astray, so that
we must be prepared to find the seeds of departure even in the opening chapter.
What could be more reasonable, one might ask, than the opening request in Chapter 1::
"Who shall go up against the Canaanites first?" (1: 1).
But we must remember that all Israel were commanded to fight, and that the
Canaanites were one nation out of seven that were specified as their enemies
(Josh. 3: 10). After Judah had been commanded to go up against the Canaanites and the
Canaanites & the Perizzites had been delivered into their hand, we read: "And they
found Adoni-bezek in Bezek" (Judges 1: 5). Now we must remember that God Himself
had commanded the utter destruction of the Canaanites: