First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

SHOFETIM (JUDGES)

II Thessalonians speaks of the Apostasy or religious rebellion of

the people of G-d in the last days, an event that ushers in the

revelation of the Anti-Moshiach, whom only the Second Coming of

Moshiach Nagid HaShofet (Moshiach Prince the Judge) can destroy.

But here in Judges we see the Apostasy of Israel. And we notice

that haMa'al (the treachery, defection, apostasy, revolt), each

time it occurs, receives a divine answer as G-d raises up another

Judge to effect Israel's deliverance from the bondage of idols

and foreigners with their foreign gods.

The period of the judges begins roughly around 1370 B.C.E. and

lasts about 300 years until the reign of King Saul. The judges

listed in this book are Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah/Barak,

Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson (we

will hear about two more judges when we read I Samuel--namely Eli

and Samuel). There is no monarchy during this period. One of

the sons of Gideon, Abimelech, makes an abortive attempt to set

up a dynastic kingship after the death of his father Gideon, but

this evil despot fails ingloriously and shares Sisera's shameful

fate (4:21) of being put to death by a woman (9:53). One of the

crimes of Abimelech was killing all his rivals, that is, the

seventy sons of Gideon. However, one escaped (Jotham) and on

Mount Gerizim delivered a withering diatribe satirizing the

monarchy (see 9:7-21), his curse (9:20) being fulfilled in 9:49.

All of this warns about evil kings ahead and also points to the

need for a "shepherd" king after G-d's own heart which was

idealized in David and in the Moshiach.

Judg. 21:25 states a theme of the book as well as a warning

against independent-minded religion: "in those days there was no

king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

Judg. 18:30 shows how syncretistic heretical religion not

grounded in the inerrant Bible led to idolatry which would in

turn later lead to eventual exile and destruction. There are

those who trust their feelings in religion and don't care about

the rational-historical underpinnings of our faith. These are

the ones who waste no time on careful interpretation of the Bible

and do not discipline their feelings in careful submission to the

Scriptures. On this, see Judg. 18:20 where a religious man

experiences joy in the deadly doctrines he carelessly believes,

proving that feelings are an unreliable index of the truth. This

theme is noticeable in chp 17 as well: a rootless Levite, who is

completely independent from the larger religious body of Israel,

wanders around and eventually gets mixed up in heresy. In this

way a center of false religion was set up in the newly settled

city of Dan that rivaled the tabernacle at Shiloh. From this we

learn to beware of spiritual isolation: it says they "had no

relationship with anyone else" (18:7b). Many people today are

isolated in an independent congregation and loyal to a flock only

as long as it takes to get their needs met; then they break

fellowship and depart. Similarly, in this book we see that

Israel was willing to submit to its judges only long enough to

eliminate Israel's oppressors. Such wayward and temporary

submission amounted to no true accountability to G-d. Israel

during this period was constantly returning to her apostate

submission to the Canaanite g-ds, Baal and Astarte.

The people of Gibeah, which belonged to the tribe of Benjamin,

committed an unspeakable crime similar to those committed by

Sodom and Gomorrah. The Benjaminites refused to allow their city

to be punished, causing a civil war in which their population was

so depleted that the survival of the Benjaminite tribe was

threatened. Judg. chps 19-21 tells this story and how a new

source of marriage partners was provided for the tribe of

Benjamin.

Notice that one must inquire at the ark of the Word of G-d

(20:26-28). This means that everyone, even the finest maggid

needs to be sitting under preaching and needs to be submitted to

leadership (Heb. 13:17). The L-rd's kehillah in Judg. 20:2 is

presented as an eschatological war muster, and 21:9 shows that

G-d keeps attendance. Some are willing like Gideon to "put out a

fleece" before they make decisions, but are otherwise uncovered

and unaccountable in the major decisions of their lives. Pray

for the Spirit of G-d to come upon you when you minister (see

3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6,19; 15:14).

Look at the picture of second generation nominalism in 2:10. The

young people in the congregation pose this threat and this

challenge, and give the congregation the opportunity to know

spiritual warfare (3:2).

In 6:29-32 we see that the fertility, sex-cult g-d Baal is

impotent and can no more protect his own altar here than he can

when challenged by Elijah in I Kings 18. This point explains how

Gideon got his name "Jerubbaal" ("Let Baal contend with him").

Samson was from the tribe of Dan. In 14:12 we see Samson the sage

or wise man. This aspect of him typifies Moshiach the Hakham

(Sage) as does also Solomon and the book of Kohelet

(Ecclesiastes) and all the Wisdom Literature in the Bible

(Proverbs, Job, etc).

Samson and Samuel and Yochanan of the Tevilah of Teshuva were

under a vow for their whole lives, as is anyone called to the

ministry. In the case of Samson and Hosea, it was G-d's

permissive will for G-d's prophet to marry an unbeliever, but

don't you try it (14:4). Intermarriage with the heathen led to

idolatry and apostasy, which in turn triggered G-d's anger and

resulted in G-d allowing an invasion of enemies and plunderers

(Aramaeans, Moabites, Ammonites, Amalekites, Canaanites, and

Philistines), and these were punishments for Israel's faithless

disobedience to G-d's command to go in and subdue the land and

cleanse the land of idolators and idolatry (see Ex. 23:33;

34:12-16; Num. 33:55; Deut. 7:2,5,16; Josh. 23:7,12). See the

notes on Jude 5-7 in the Greek section, and notice in Genesis the

"sons of G-d" (Adam, Abel, Seth, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Shem,

Arphaxad, Shelah, Eber, etc) and you will see the weight of the

exhortation that Samson's parents are giving him in Judg. 14:2-4.

The secret of Samson's strength was in his uncompromised

commitment to G-d and His Word, symbolized by a secret vow. When

he lost that, the strength of G-d left him and he became an

ordinary man again, as every backslider knows. The tears from

the Ruach Hakodesh (Psalm 126:6) and the zeal for the Word of G-d

are all we as believers have. If we lose these, we are weak as

ordinary men and will be "ruled by the Philistines" (15:11).

Samson's weakness was impetuosity and lack of self-control in

regard to his flesh. The book of Proverbs was written to keep

others from making his mistakes.

Delilah betrays Samson for money. Moshiach Yehoshua was a judge,

the World Judge, who was also sold and betrayed for money by his

friend. Throughout this book we are told about each judge, that

he died, but Moshiach Yehoshua lives! Samson, like Moshiach

Yehoshua, is led off to judgment as weak as any man. There is a

Messianic paradox in the way this Judge's life ends: Samson is

mocked like Moshiach Yehoshua on the day of his death, a time

when he is ironically victorious in G-d (16:25). However, for

Samson as for Moshiach Yehoshua, there is weakness before

strength and humiliation before exaltation (16:21-22). Messianic

Psalm 110:3 says "from the womb of the dawn you will receive the

dew of your youth" (see also Isaiah 53:10-12).

In contrast to Delilah, Devorah is a role model for women in

spiritual leadership, an Em b'Yisroel (mother in Israel--5:7).

Look at Judg. 13:22. Notice that the Malach Hashem (the Angel of

the L-rd) was more than an angel. He was a theophany of G-d

himself (see Gen. 16:7,13), as the Word took on visible presence.

This was the Word of G-d before He came on the scene as Yehoshua

the man. His name is a mystery, an open secret that must be

disclosed in the knowledge of salvation by the Ruach Hakodesh to

the heart. "Yehoshua" (meaning "the L-rd is salvation" or "the

L-rd G-d of salvation") is revealed throughout the Bible. See

13:18 and the notes on Joshua and also Zechariah. Read the whole

Samson story starting at chapter 13. See Judg. 13:13, where the

Angel of the L-rd has the same name in Hebrew as the Moshiach

Himself in Isaiah 9:5-6, which is PAY SEGOL LAMMED SEGOL ALEF

("wonderful").

Notice Jephthah in chapter 11, even though he subdues the

Ammonites, makes a rash vow that is not grounded in the Word of

G-d and in G-d's will and it costs him dearly. This teaches us

to watch and pray in all our decisions.

In the book of Judges, whenever there is a crisis and the people

need to be rescued, G-d raises up a Moshi'a (Deliverer, Savior)

(from the verb YUD SHIN AYIN). However, the people seem to be

their own worst enemies. They fail to separate themselves from

the g-ds of the people of the land, which were a snare to them

(see 2:1-2). Since G-d himself is the Moshi'a (Deliverer) (He is

also the Judge--see 11:27), He allows the odds to be stacked

against those who are his servants, so that G-d himself will be

more obvious as the deliverer in the situation, that it is He

alone (Yachid) (11:34) who is the true Moshi'a. See the story of

Gideon starting in chapter 6.

Judg. 19:22. As in ancient Greece and in many modern cities,

homosexuality was common in Canaan.

Notice: Judah, because she is the tribe of the Moshiach of the

nations (Genesis 49:10) must go first (Judg. 20:18) and have

preeminence.

JUDGES 20:18

And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of

G-d, and asked counsel of G-d, and said, Which of us shall go up

first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the

L-rd said, Judah shall go up first.