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Judges and Ruth: Anarchy and Faithfulness

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of Judges (Judges 1–3)
    19 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  2. Lesson Two
    Judges (Judges 4–8, 13–16)
    27 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  3. Lesson Three
    A Divine Judge and Anarchy (Judges 9–12, 17–21)
    20 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  4. Lesson Four
    Ruth the Moabite (Ruth 1–4)
    15 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  5. Lesson Five
    Lovingkindness in Ruth (Ruth 1–4 review)
    15 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment
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Don’t lose sight of the fact that none of the individual judges in this book are really the main character. Throughout Judges we’re told repeatedly: “YHWH raised up judges.” Yet, Israel’s fate is never really in their own hands. For all that Jephthah gets wrong, he understands one thing. It’s worth returning to one of his comments:

I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me; may the Lord, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.
Judges 11:27 (NASB)

So who is the real leader in Israel, the real ruler, the real judge? Who is the real charismatic force in the book of Judges?  

It’s the LORD. With so much human drama in Judges, we can lose sight of the focal point of all these stories. The primary character is Israel’s God, the Judge of judges.