Credo
19 Oct 2026
The young independent nation of Singapore celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2025 with many nostalgic accounts of its history and hopeful visions of its future. The US celebrates in 2026 its 250th anniversary as a nation. It is a comparatively long and chequered history with many concerns and uncertainties on the horizon.
The Book of Judges records the history of Israel over a longer 350-year period, between the time of Joshua and the first kings of Israel, as it began its occupation of Canaan. It is not a pretty picture as far as the human side is concerned.
It was a time marked by Israel’s apostasy, divisions, growing idolatry and distressing bullying and suppression by surrounding nations. There are repeated cycles of apostasy and sin, suffering and oppression, supplication for deliverance, and salvation through several leaders collectively identified as judges. The repeated cycles is a lesson on how stubborn sinfulness and idolatry can be, and the spiritual recidivism of the people of God.
On closer scrutiny, the judges were frail people who had major weaknesses such as impulsiveness, cowardice, pride, lack of self-control, and who themselves were variously infected with the pagan culture of Canaan. As the book progresses, the apostasy of the people and the character of the judges become increasingly worse and disappointing.
The judges whom God raised had their faults and frailties, but God achieved His long-term purposes for Israel and the world. The book reveals God as One whose love for His people is deep and patient, whose faithfulness to His covenant with Israel stands in obvious contrast to the unfaithfulness of the nation. Judges points to our need for the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, who is the true Judge, Deliverer, and King.
One of the themes in the book is the process of Canaanisation, sometimes overt, sometimes subtle, in and among God’s people. Surrounded by idolatrous nations worshipping many idols, Israel was tempted to adopt their idolatrous ways as they pursued prosperity, peace, and power promised by these idols.
Judges 17-18 describe the serious idolatry of Micah and his family, and also a whole tribe (Dan). Chronologically, the events did not happen at the tail end of the period but mark the spirit of the entire period. We know this from the mention of a Levite named Jonathan in this passage, a key figure in the apostasy of Dan. He was the grandson of Moses (Judges 18:30). The spirit of the age is captured in the last verse of the book. “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”
The early victories in the promised land under Joshua were replaced by growing Canaanisation, compromise, and sin. In the early conquest of Judah over Bezek, they cut off King Adoni-Bezek’s thumbs and big toes, a pagan punishment he had practiced which was adopted by Judah (1:6).
Most of the tribes were unable to drive out the Canaanites (1:27-34) for two reasons:
- The ‘Canaanites were determined to live in that land’ (1:27)
- The Canaanites were used as cheap or forced labour (1:27, 30, 35).
The Israelites ended up living among the Canaanites (1:32, 33). Daniel Block comments, “Instead of making this the land of the people of God, they become like the people of the land.” The remaining Canaanites, even if they provided forced labour, would become “thorns” (2:3, ESV) and “snares” (NIV) or a “constant temptation” to Israel (NLT).
Not only was Canaanisation seen in the nation, but also in its families and leadership. The father of the third judge, Shamgar, was named Anath, probably connected with the Canaanite goddess of war (3:31). This may have arisen because of intermarriage or cultural influence.
Gideon’s father had a pagan shrine to Baal and Asherah that God commanded Gideon to destroy (6:25). Gideon was afraid of his father and the people of the town and did so at night. After his victory, Gideon chose to live like a pagan king (8:30-31). He set up his ephod (trophy) in his town which became an idol (8:27).
Jephthah’s serious mistake was that after he promised God to offer a sacrifice, that turned out to be his only daughter (11:30-31). The Canaanites practised child sacrifice, but God’s Word forbids it (Dt 18:10-13) and offers redemption of those who are dedicated to God (Lev 27:1-8).
After Jephthah are mentioned three minor judges – Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (12:8-15). David Beldman suggests that these “minor judges” employed strategies that were practised by surrounding pagan nations and valued what pagans valued: wealth, power, political alliances, and military strength.
Samson’s story reflects how a Nazirite, instead of living righteously, chose to live like a pagan, adopting violence and lack of self-control as trademarks of his character.
The Book of Judges reveals the true spiritual condition of Israel. Its relevance to us is that it also reveals the same of our own spiritual condition. The spirit behind “each did what was right in his own eyes” is alive today, perhaps in greater measure, as modern societies celebrate expressive individualism and personal autonomy. The new idols also promise prosperity, security, wealth, and power.
The effect of the culture on the church is stronger than we imagine or admit. I once asked the late Dr J. I. Packer what he thought was the greatest challenge for the church today. Without hesitation, he answered, “worldliness”. The church today has generally become worldly in its outlook, worship, moral imagination, doctrinal understanding, and so on.
Timothy Keller insightfully points to a root of this worldliness when he wrote, “The greatest danger, because it is a subtle temptation that enables us to continue as church members and feel that nothing is wrong, is not that we become atheists, but that we ask God to co-exist with idols in our hearts.” God will never do that – remember His first commandment.
The solution to worldliness is fixing our eyes on Jesus, not idols, and living in a way that demonstrates that He is our true King, Deliverer, Lord, and Judge. If we follow Him and live by His teachings, we will live counter-culturally, not becoming infected by the sinful world but transforming it by being faithful to Christ and His mission.
