GOD’S ECONOMY
SERIES THIRTEEN
GOD’S ECONOMY IN ALL THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
God’s Economy as Revealed in the Old Testament
Message Eight
God’s Economy as Revealed in Judges
Scripture Reading: Judg. 2:11-13, 17; 3:7; 8:33; 10:6; 18:31; 19:1-30; Isa. 54:5; Deut. 8:7-10
I. God’s sent One, God’s embodiment, the offerings, and God the Spirit are the intrinsic content, the innermost essence and elements, of the Holy Scriptures; the entire Bible is constructed with these four items; primarily through these items, we have seen the Divine Trinity in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Judges—Matt. 28:19; 1 Thes. 5:23; Num. 6:2: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word”, ch. 10)
A. The Trinity is crucial for God’s economy; if God were not triune, He would not be able to reach and enter into His creature man; in order to dispense Himself into man, God had to be triune—Matt. 28:19; 1 Thes. 5:23. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word”, ch. 10)
B. God needed to become a man as the sent One; this sent One also needed to be the embodiment of God and the reality of the offerings in order to be the means, the sphere, and the entrance for God’s chosen ones to enter into the enjoyment of God—Deut. 27:5 with footnote 1. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word”, ch. 10)
C. In order for all these accomplishments to reach and be applied to God’s people, the sent One had to be the Spirit; because God is the Spirit, His people can drink Him, and He can anoint them as ointment; The Triune God as the Spirit is mingled with His elect by entering into them as the living water and covering them as the anointing ointment; this is the picture presented by both the Old and New Testaments—1 Cor. 12:13; 10:4. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word”, ch. 10)
D. Because of the miserable situation in Judges, there was an urgent and desperate need for one like Samuel; the vow of the Nazarite allowed those like Samuel who were not descendants of Aaron to become priests; God used the “back door” of the Nazarite vow to bring a faithful one into the priesthood—Num. 6:2 with footnote 1: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word”, ch. 10)
1. Samuel was a Nazarite, a priest, a prophet, and a judge; this fourfold status qualified Samuel to be the one who could bring in the king and set up the kingdom; in order for such a one to be raised up and carry out his commission, there was a crucial need of the Divine Trinity. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word”, ch. 10)
2. For this reason, in 1 and 2 Samuel there is a detailed, fine revelation of the Divine Trinity; what happened in Judges is somewhat rough, but in Samuel the application of the Divine Trinity is very fine. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word”, ch. 10)
II. The central thought of the book of Judges is that Israel forsook God, suffered defeat by their enemies, and became rotten; and since there was no king among them, everyone did that which was right in his own eyes—17:6, 21:25, Hosea 10:3: (Life-study of Judges, msg. 1)
A. Judges is the book of Israel’s history full of miserable defeats under their enemies in the forsaking of Jehovah; this is the intrinsic significance of the book of Judges—2 Chron. 24:18, Judg. 10:6. (Life-study of Judges, msg. 1)
B. The content of Judges consists of the children of Israel trusting in God, forsaking God, being defeated by their enemies, being delivered through the judges, and becoming corrupted—1:1-2, 2:11-3:11. (Life-study of Judges, msg. 1)
C. In the book of Judges, a particular saying is repeated a number of times: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did that which was right in his own eyes”—Judg. 17:6; 21:25. (Life-study of Judges, msg. 1)
D. The age of judges may be considered the darkest period in the history of Israel; it was also a period of tragedy; the unbelief of the children of Israel caused them to wander for forty years so that even their carcasses fell in the wilderness; their forsaking God and their idolatry after they entered the land issued in a situation of defeat and tragedy that lasted not merely forty years, but ten times forty years—Heb. 3:7, 19. (Truth Lessons, Level 1, vol. 1, ch. 10)
III. The book of Judges has three sections: Israel’s trusting in God; Israel’s forsaking of God (comprising their suffering of defeats, their repentance, and God’s deliverance); and Israel’s becoming corrupted—1:1-2:5, 2:6-16:31: (Life-study of Judges, msg. 1)
A. Israel’s trusting in God—1:1-2:5: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
1. Judah’s boldness and victory—1:1-21. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
2. The house of Joseph going up to fight against Bethel, Jehovah being with them, and they striking the people of the city with their sword—1:22-26. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
3. The admonition of the Angel of Jehovah (Christ as the acting Jehovah in the Old Testament to take care of Israel)—2:1-5. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
B. Israel’s forsaking of God (comprising their suffering of defeats, their repentance, and God’s deliverance)—2:6-16:31: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
1. The first cycle, through Othniel—3:7-11a. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
2. The second cycle, through Ehud and Shamgar—3:11b-31. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
3. The third cycle, through Deborah—4:4. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
4. The fourth cycle, through Gideon—6:36. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
5. The fifth cycle, through Abimelech, Tola, and Jair—10:1-5. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
6. The sixth cycle, through Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon—12:7-8, 12-13. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
7. The seventh cycle, through Samson—16:31. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
C. Israel’s becoming corrupted; the abominable chaos in their worship; the sodomitical corruption in their morality—17:6-19:30: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Judges outline)
D. The reason for Israel’s forsaking of God; the death of Joshua, of the elders, and of that entire generation; the present generation did not know Jehovah or the work that He had done for Israel—2:11, 6-10: (Life-study of Judges, msg. 3)
E. When the children of Israel, who had trusted in God, forsook God, they were defeated by their enemies; because of their miserable situation, they repented, and the Lord mercifully raised up judges to deliver them; as many as seven times, they rebelled, were enslaved, repented, and were delivered, all this became a cycle that was repeated over and over in Judges, this continued until Samuel was raised up by God; then the age of the judges was ended—1:1-2, 2:11-20. (Life-study of Judges, msg. 1; Truth Lessons, Level 1, vol. 1, ch. 10)
IV. In Judges, we are concerned not with history but with learning from the types how to gain Christ and enjoy Him; how we can gain and enjoy the good land, which is a complete and all-inclusive type of Christ—1 Sam. 26:19b, Deut. 8:7-10: (Life-study of Judges, msg. 9)
A. According to the record in Judges, in the degradation Israel became chaotic in government, in worship, and in morality; such a people surely could not gain Christ and enjoy Him—Judg. 18:31, 19:1-30. (Life-study of Judges, msg. 10)
B. Judges is a book concerning the enjoyment of the good land, which is a type of Christ; we need to be careful every day in and every detail, keeping ourselves in the enjoyment of Christ all the time; then God’s economy will be able to go forward—Deut. 8:7-10. (Life-study of Judges, msg. 5, msg. 9)
C. We must take Him, love Him, honor Him, respect Him, regard Him, exalt Him, and cling to Him, rejecting Satan to the uttermost; then we will be blessed—Col. 2:6-7. (Life-study of Judges, msg. 6)