The book of Judges continues the story of the Israelites from where the book of Joshua left off.
Israel has conquered the nations that had taken over the land of Canaan that their father Jacob had originally lived in.
As we will discover when we read in chapter 1 and 2 of this book, while Joshua was alive, Israel continued to follow the Lord, but soon after he died they began to get enticed by the riotous living of the neighbouring nations.
We read in Judges 2:7 to 13 - The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.
8:Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.
9:And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10:After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.
11:Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.
12:They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshipped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger
13:because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
As we continue to read of their backsliding behaviour, God speaks to men of faith who he sets up as prophets and judges.
But Judges Chapter. 6:1 to 6 describes the outcome of falling into the evil ways of man, and not keeping close to the Lord. Their lifestyle was becoming impoverished. We continue to see Israel under the influence of the nations round about, with the result that they become impoverished in the lively hood. Being impoverished means that in everything they do, whatever toil and effort they put into it, how ever conscientious they were, it just seemed to come to nought.
Chapter. 6 verse 1 reads - Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.
2:Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.
3:Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.
4:They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.
5:They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.
6:Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.
In Judges 13:1 we read; again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
This was one of Gods ways of dealing with Israel’s disobedience, by taking his hand of protection away from his people. The Lord is a merciful God, constantly showing care and protection, yet he has to show discipline, and find ways of bringing his people back to himself.
The underlining lesson for us is to stay close to the Lord. He will be with you, bringing you into a life of joy, satisfaction and fulfilment as you serve Him. You will have peace in your heart, which will prevent you from being lured by the lifestyle of evil people roundabout.
Further study will be given to this book at a future date.