The First of the Judges

The Book of Judges reads like a broken record as the people of Israel left the Lord and worshiped pagan demon gods. This idolatry made God angry and He used a heathen nation to conquer and oppress the Israelites.

The people grew tired of being slaves and cried out to the Lord for help. God then raised up a judge and destroyed the pagan oppressors. The people faithfully served the Lord as long as the judge lived but returned to their whoring and the whole process repeated itself when the judge died. Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and Gideon were the first of the judges.

Sadly, God’s people showed that they lusted for the sexual pleasure associated with pagan worship and were only too willing to trade away their relationship with the Lord. God was against this anarchy that ensnared the vast majority of the Israelites.

It should have become clear to the leadership that their educational system was deeply flawed because the children were not being educated in the knowledge of God and the history of Israel. Each generation was living proof that those who fail to remember the mistakes of past are condemned to repeat it.