Judges 6:3-10 - The Israelites cried out to the Lord

6:3-6

The Midianites and various other people groups plundered the crops of the Israelites more or less at will. They similarly plundered the livestock. It was impossible for the Israelites to live a normal existence. Eventually the suffering got so bad that they cried out to the Lord for help. Throughout Judges there is never any hint that Israel repented of their sins. They were only concerned about their suffering, utterly failing to connect their suffering and disobedience together. Our society is much the same today.

6:7-10

They should have been able to work things out for themselves, but seemed unable to do so. Therefore the Lord sent them a prophet. The prophet began by reminding them that it was the Lord who had brought them out of the oppression of Egypt. And it was the Lord who drove out various nations from the Promised Land, and gave it to Israel. He then commands them not to “worship the gods of the amorites”. “But you have not listened to me”. If they had simply read the Law and followed it none of these troubles would have occurred.

Acts 12:18-20 - Herod ordered that they be executed

12:18,19

Not surprisingly, the soldiers at the jail were confused about what had happened, and how they could explain this to their commanders, and to Herod. The only fact that they had was that Peter was no longer there. Herod had a full search made, and this, of course, only confirmed that Peter had indeed gone. The guards were cross-examined, and then executed. Herod was not a pleasant man!

12:20

It seems that some political dispute had broken out between Herod and the people of Tyre and Sidon. The people of Tyre and Sidon agreed to meet together with Herod. They were at a disadvantage because they depended upon the king’s country for food. Blastus, a personal servant of the king, enabled the representatives of Tyre and Sidon to have an audience with the king, and they asked for peace. We aren’t told why Herod had been quarrelling with the people, there was probably no logic to it, just the king being capricious.

Judges 6:1,2 - The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord

6:1

We now come to one of the most well known characters in Judges, Gideon. He is probably second only to Samson. The tale begins with the usual “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of  the Lord”. In response the Lord gave them over into the hands of the Midianites for seven years. In Judges we see various nations having sway over Israel. When Israel obeyed the Lord no one could defeat her, when she abandoned the Lord anyone could defeat her. That was the lesson Israel never learnt.

6:2

The rule of the Midianites over Israel was extremely oppressive, so much so that they built “shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds”. This reminds me of Rev 6:15 where it says that the various rulers of the earth, along with everyone else, hid in caves in a vain attempt to escape the wrath of the lamb.

Acts 12:12-17 - Peter is at the door!

12:12-14

Peter then went to the house of “Mary the mother of John Mark. This was where the people were gathered and were praying for Peter. It seems that the church now met in people’s houses, they would no longer be welcome in the temple. Peter knocked on the door and a servant girl answered the door. Note that the girl is named, she is not just a nobody. Rhoda was overjoyed, and in her joy forgot to open the door, rushing to tell the others who was there.

12:15-17

The others thought she was mad. Rhoda had seen Peter, and so persisted with her account. They then accepted that she had seen “Peter’s angel”. This was related to a common belief. Meanwhile, Peter was still at the door, so he continued to knock! Eventually the door was opened, and everyone was amazed to see that it really was Peter. He then described how the angel had set him free. He instructed them to tell James. This would be James the brother of Jesus, who was now a believer, and a leader in the church.

Judges 5:28-31 - The land had peace for forty years

5:28-30

This section is a kind of mocking of Sisera, through an imagined reaction of his mother. She is portrayed as wondering why he has not returned yet. Her ladies try to reassure her that it is because he is collecting more and more plunder, including women for each of his men. We should not imagine that Sisera and his nation were nice peace loving people! All these hopes were in vain, for Sisera was dead.

5:31

The song closes with a call that all God’s enemies perish, but that all who love the Lord may shine like the sun. The chapter closes with the statement that the land had peace for forty years. The battle has been fought, and we have many gory details. The battle was real, but things are also put in a theological context.

Acts 12:8-11 - The Lord has sent His angel

12:8-10

The angel then gave practical instruction to Peter, namely to put on his clothes and sandals. The angel was not intending to leave Peter in the prison cell! Peter followed the angel, as instructed, but thought he was seeing a vision. He didn’t think there was actually an angel there. They passed the first and second guards, it is not explained how they managed to do this, whether the angel had stunned the guards or what. The gate out of the jail opened by itself and they went through. They walked the length of the street, so Peter was well and truly out of the jail, and the angel then left him, his work having been done.

12:11

Peter seems to have been in something of a daze while all this was happening. But now that he was out of the jail he realised that it wasn’t all a dream, but had actually been happening. If he had not been rescued, he would have been killed by Herod the next day, for the feast would then have been over. He also refers to “everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen”. This implies that it was the Jews in general who were pleased at the death of James, and were looking forward to the same happening to Peter. Even so, the hope of the church, and the apostles, was that the Jewish people would receive the gospel. In a similar way, today many Palestinians hope for the destruction of Israel, even so we must continue to hope for the salvation of the Palestinians.

Judges 5:19-27 - Most blessed of women be Jael

5:19-23

Here we get a poetic description of the battle itself. Several kings came to fight, but they took no plunder, i.e. their efforts were in vain. The natural elements were against the enemy as well. When we work with the Lord all sorts of things start to work in our favour. Meroz may have been where Reuben, Dan and Asher were, and they come under condemnation from the angel of the Lord for their refusal to fight.

5:24-27

Jael’s driving a tent peg into Sisera’s temple is celebrated, and Jael is called “most blessed of tent swelling women”. This all seems a bit bloodthirsty to us, though we should admit that we are loath to face up to the realities of life. With the Israel-Palestine conflict there is much hand wringing over Israel’s invasion of Palestine. Now concern for the massive suffering that is involved is understandable and right. However, the notion that if only Israel treated the Palestinians in a nicer way then everything would be better is naive in the extreme. How is Israel supposed to react to the horrors of October 7? How do you suggest they deal with Hamas who are embedded within Palestine? Having said that, I am not confident that Israel’s actions will improve things much, but those of us outside the situation should at least be a little more realistic.

Acts 12:3b-7 - Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared

12:3b,4

Having seen that killing James went down well, Herod proceeded to arrest Peter. The fact that this happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread is significant because it explains why there was a delay in Peter’s execution. Herod would want to avoid killing at that time as this might offend religious sensibilities. Peter was guarded by four squads of soldiers. There was one squad for each of the four hour watches.

12:5-7

Peter was kept in prison, but the church was “earnestly praying to God for him”. We will see later that the faith of the church was not that great, yet their prayers were still effective. We should still pray, even when our faith seems to be small. Peter was asleep. He was in a very secure position. He lay between two soldiers, was bound with chains, and there were guards at the door. However, none of this could stop an angel! The angel woke Peter up, told him to get up, and the chains fell off. Man makes many friends against the church, but none of them take account, or can take account, of the actions of God!  Here, as throughout Acts, we see the centrality of God acting, either through the Holy Spirit, or through angels, with the church. If we see Acts as a manual on how Christ expects the church to operate, then we should expect the Spirit and angels to continue to work with us in the service of the Lord today.

Judges 5:11b-18 - Wake up, wake up, Deborah!

5:11b,12

Before Deborah the people were apathetic, not really caring, or not feeling able or willing to do anything. But then things changed and they urged Deborah and Barak to “wake up”. This is not implying that they were asleep, but now the people were keen for Deborah to do stuff. There can be times when we just don’t want our peace to be disturbed, no matter how necessary it is for things to change. But when the Spirit of God works in us we want to see His work done.

5:13-18

We now get a record of those who came down to fight with Deborah, and those who did not. Five tribes did respond to Deborah’s call, and four did not. There is an element of dismay and disappointment at the tribes that did not help, they just stayed at home. There was a battle to be fought, but many of the tribes did not join in.

Acts 12:1-3a - He had James put to death

12:1

Herod was a common name among rulers, and none of them were good. King Herod was Herod Agrippa and was a grandson of the most infamous Herod, Herod the Great who tried to have Jesus killed after the visit of the wise men. He had been brought up in Rome, and Emperor Claudius had added Judea to his kingdom. He had started to arrest some Christians and was embarking on a period of persecution.

12:2,3a

He started his persecution by having James, the brother of John, put to death by the sword. He was testing the waters to see how this went down. The one thing the Roman rulers were most wary of was taking actions that led to riots and unrest. If this did happen, it would not make them popular with the high-ups in Rome. This did go down well with the Jews. Now was this referring to the Jews in general, or primarily to the religious leaders? In John’s gospel it primarily refers to the religious leaders, but this is less clear in Acts. One can well understand the religious leaders approving of Herod’s actions, but less so with the people in general. However, Peter’s accepting of the Gentiles as equals may have met with general disapproval.

Judges 5:6-11a - Villagers in Israel would not fight

5:6-9

Having called on Israel’s rulers and her people to respond to the call, Deborah recalls the times when Israel would not “man-up”. Things were desolate, this is the time when Shamgar and Jael did their stuff.  The “villagers in Israel would not fight”.This state of affairs continued until Deborah arose. Note it says “I, Deborah,...”, this seems to indicate that although Barak is mentioned at the start of the song, it is predominantly the song of Deborah. When Deborah did arise new leaders were chosen and the people did commit themselves to the Lord. The role of a leader is not to glorify themselves, but to call God’s people to action. In Eph 4:12 it says that the role of apostles, prophets etc is to “equip God’s people for works of service”. Ps 110:3 talks of God’s troops being willing on the day of His battle.

5:10,11a

When people do commit themselves to the Lord, then they also enjoy His victories. They should rejoice in God's victories, in the things that the Lord does. “White donkeys” is a reference to the ruling classes, and those “who walk along the road” to the “ordinary” people. God’s plan is that mankind works alongside Him, and there are things that God will not do until we do work alongside Him. So God works to encourage us to be committed to Him.

Acts 11:28-30 - Agabus stood up and through the Spirit

11:28

One of the prophets named Agabus predicted a severe famine over the entire Roman world. It says "he stood up and through the Spirit ....". This is clearly presented as a "God thing". We are also told that it happened during the reign of Claudius. Luke grounds his accounts, both here and in his gospel, on two foundations. One is the work of God, especially through the Holy Spirit in Acts, and the other is in historical reality. Going back to the cessationist thing, the prophesied word here has no direct doctrinal value, i.e. It concerns an immediate event. There is no reason that God should cease from giving such words. That is not to say that a number of so-called prophetic words today are just so much hot air. Prophecy is still part of God's working with the church, but we need to use discernment.

11:29,30

In response to the prophetic word the disciples took action. They collected together help for the Christians living in Judea. They then sent the gift to the elders in Judea via Barnabas and Saul. So they took direct action in response to the prophetic word. If it is God speaking, then He speaks in order to get a response.

Judges 5:3-5 - Hear this, you kings!

5:3

5:3 could be seen as a declaration to the various kings and rulers. In New Testament terms it would be a declaration to the principalities and powers. “I, even I...” We might sometimes wonder who are we to declare to principalities and powers? But we can all sing praises to the Lord. So Deborah’s song is a warning to the kings and rulers.

5:4,5

The rationale for calling on the people to offer themselves to the Lord is that when the Lord acts things happen. When the Lord went out at Seir and Edom, possibly referring to Num 10:12; 20:22, the earth shook and the mountains quaked.This is poetic language that is being used here. It is useful to remember this when seeking to interpret books such as the latter half of Daniel and Revelation.

Acts 11:25-27 - Some prophets came down from Jerusalem

11:25,26

There are two key purposes of this chapter. One is the continued moving of the gospel into the Gentiles world, the other is the Introduction of Paul into this world,. At this point Paul is still referred to as Saul. Barnabas deliberately went out to look for him. Barnabas was probably aware of God's word to Saul that he would take the gospel to the Gentiles, and he was aware of what was happening.  Barnabas found Saul and brought him to Antioch, and they taught many people in the church. It was here that the disciples were first called Christians. At this point Paul's work was primarily among believers.

11:27

We now get a little vignette concerning some prophets that came down to Antioch from Jerusalem. There are those, called cessationists, who say the spiritual gifts were only for the time of the time of the apostles. I really cannot see an ounce of Biblical evidence for such a belief, nor does the way the gifts operated give any grounds for this. 

Judges 5:1,2 - Deborah and Barak sang this song

5:1

Following those events related in chapter 4, we get a song. There are a number of songs that appear at various stages in the Old Testament, and continuing in the New with Mary’s song, the Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55). The song is introduced as being sung by both Deborah and Barak, though it is clear from the narrative in the previous chapter, and the song itself, that Deborah is the lead. Also “sang” is a feminine singular, emphasising this point.

5:2

Evans gives a very useful breakdown of the song, which will influence the structure of my comments.  “When the princes in Israel take the lead”. The song can be seen as a kind of call to arms. The people of Israel were supposed to take all the land. It is clear from the opening chapter that while some tribes took possession of their land, others seemed to be less committed to the cause. The message applies to the church as well. It is good when the people of God commit themselves to God’s work, and willingly offer themselves.

Acts 11:22-24 - He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit

11:22

The church in Jerusalem heard of what was happening. There was still suspicion of the moving of the gospel to the Gentiles, and given the hundreds of years of history when the kingdom of God had seemed to be largely confined to Israel, this is understandable. However, while they wanted to investigate, they were not being overly defensive, as they chose Barnabas to go to Antioch. This is the same Barnabas who had spoken up in favour of Saul/Paul.

11:23,24

Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, arrived and saw the grace of God at work. He did not view things from a legalistic point of view, i.e. Not from a fault finding perspective. Barnabas encouraged them to "remain true to the Lord with all their hearts". Barnabas is described as a "good man". He was full of the Spirit and faith, and many more people came to know the Lord. Given this glowing description of Barnabas, later we will read of a dispute between him and Paul. These things can happen to the best of people.

Judges 4:16-24 - God subdued Jabin King of Canaan

4:16-18

Barak pursued the chariots and army and cut them all down. Sisera, who had abandoned his army fled to the tent of Jael. Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite (see 4:11). The reason he went there was that there was an alliance between Jabin King of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. Jael welcomes Sisera and provides hospitality for him.

4:19-21

Sisera was thirsty and Jael gave him a drink. Sisera also wants Jael to stand guard and to tell anyone who asks that he is not there. I.e. he wants to remain safe. However, Jael has other plans, and when Sisera is asleep she drives a tent peg into his temple and he dies. This story always fascinated me when I heard of it in primary school! There is no indication of why she did this. Some speculate that Sisera may previously have raped her and she was seeking revenge (Wood). However, the Bible does not tell us, so speculation is all that this is.

4:22-24

Barak arrives, in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael shows him her handiwork. The key point is that Barak was not the one to kill Sisera, because he refused to go to Battle without Deborah. So Jabin the king of Canan was subdued. There was an ongoing suppression, until Jabin was eventually destroyed.

Acts 11:19-21 - The Lord's hand was with them

11:19

The objections having been dealt with, we now move on to more growth of the church, and the scene is being set for Paul embarking on his missionary journeys. The persecution had resulted in believers being scattered "as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch". The Antioch here is Antioch in Syria. Wherever they went they spread the word, but at this point they spoke only to the Jews. So we see that the persecution, which would be painful,was also part of God's plan. We don't always like where we are, or how things are working out in life. But in all circumstances we should seek to serve the Lord. While the believers were doing this, they still had much to learn, for the gospel would soon break out in force to the Gentiles.

11:20,21

As well as the dispersion from Jerusalem, there were other Jews who were from Cyprus and Cyrene, they went to Antioch and they did speak to Greek's (Gentiles) as well. They preached the gospel to them, and a great number came to believe, because God's hand was with them. Luke is at pains to point out that the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles was a God ordained thing.

Judges 4:11-15 - Go!

4:11-13

Heber is mentioned here because of 4:17-22. The Kenites were distantly related to Moses’ father-in-law (Judges 1:16). Heber had left the other Kenites. The Kenites had remained loyal to Israel, but Heber seems to have taken an opposite approach. Sisera learnt that Barak had assembled an army and had gone up to Mount Tabor. So Sisera got his own army together, along with his nine hundred chariots. I.e. he had  the full army with their best weapons.

4:14,15

Deborah is presented as very much in charge, giving Barak the order to go and do battle.”Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?”. God does things that we do not know about. When He tells us to do something, He will often have already prepared the ground, or will be ready to put plans into operation that we do not know about. Our trust needs to be in the Lord Himself. We do not need to know every detail. So it was that “at Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots”. Sisera’s “super weapons” were of no avail. Sisera himself fled on foot from the battlefield.

Acts 11:15-18 - The Holy Spirit came on them

11:15-17

Peter then tells of how the Holy Spirit came on the gathering as he was preaching the gospel. At this point Peer reminds them of words around John the Baptist, that while John baptised with water, Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit. He then draws the conclusion that if God had given the Spirit to the Gentiles, then they were in no position to stand in the way of God.

11:18

This put an end to the objections, and they praised God instead. Now it is interesting that the arguments here focus on what happened, on experience. Today we are often suspicious of experience, this is not a Biblical approach!  Of course, experiences that go against the word of God are to be rejected, but experience matters, and the active working of the Holy Spirit matters. We should also note that later in the New Testament, especially in Paul’s letters, detailed theological arguments are given on the matter, and these are important. But experience matters.

The final phrase of this verse is significant, “Even to the Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life”. We tend not to like preaching about repentance, but repentance is a crucial element of the gospel. It is also very good news. For continuing along our old ways means continuing along a destructive road, and that is not good news at all. Repenting and turning to God leads to life, that is definitely good news!

Judges 4:6-10 - If you go with me

4:6,7

“She sent for Barak ...” She had a word of the Lord for Barak, and Barak quite happily goes up to listen to her. The word of the Lord is a command to do battle. This is given along with a promise that the Lord has given Jabin’s army into his hands.

4:8-10

Barak agrees to go, but only if Deborah goes with him. He seems to have more faith in Deborah than in God Himself. Deborah is happy to go with Barak, but warns him that there will be a price to pay. If he had simply gone to battle, then he would have received glory for the victory that would ensue, but because he would not do this, the honour will go to a woman. Interestingly, this woman is not Deborah, but it is another woman who delivers the fatal blow. Men failing to take proper responsibility is a key failing in the church and in society. Anyway, Barak gets the army together, and they go up under his command, with Deborah coming along.

Acts 11:1-14 - You went to the house of uncircumcised men

11:1-3

After the wonderful events with Cornelius and his family came the arguments. The news that Gentiles had also “received the word of God” spread throughout Judea. This was a big shock, for the Jews considered that the word of God was their possession. There were Gentile God-fearers, but Gentiles had to become Jews if they were to be fully accepted. This is why the issue was so contentious. And we have the first appearance of the circumcision party, here just referred to as the “circumcised believers”. They criticised Peter for going into the house of an uncircumcised man and eating with them.

11:4-14

Peter responds to this not by giving a detailed theological argument, but by simply recounting the events which took place. He starts with the vision he received from God about the unclean animals. Then goes on to the men from Caesarea appearing. Importantly Peter took six brothers with him when he went with the men, so they could serve as witnesses to the events.Next Peter tells how Cornelius had seen an angel, and what the angel had said to him.

Judges 4:1-5 - Deborah was leading Israel

4:1-3

We now come to one of the judges who gets a significant narrative, Deborah. The chapter begins with the usual “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord”, this happened after Ehud died. There is no mention of Shamgar. This leads some to speculate that he operated at the same time as Ehud. The actions of the Israelites were the same as before, and so was the response of the Lord. They were given into the hands of a foreign people, this time the Canaanites. Interestingly it says God “sold them into the hands ...”. Sisera was the army commander of the enemy, and he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron. These were the most advanced weapons of the day. They “cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years”, then the Israelites cried to the Lord for help. There is no mention in Judges of Israel ever repenting. 

4:4,5

Deborah is now introduced as a prophet. It is also mentioned that she “held court” and settled disputes. Given the societies of the time it is somewhat surprising that a woman had such prominence. She is clearly presented as the key figure in the events of this chapter, and a song of hers is given in the following chapter. No mention of her ancestry is given, and nothing is said to express surprise that a woman has such a leading role. This may have relevance for the role women have in the church.

Acts 10:45-48 - The gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out

10:45,46

The circumcised believers, i.e. the Jewish believers, were amazed, for they could see the Spirit had come down on the Gentiles.  How did they know this? Because they started speaking in tongues and praising God. There was clear evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Jewish believers still thought the Jews were special (which in a sense they were, and are, but not in the way that they thought). Earlier (10:34) Peter had said that God does not show favouritism, now they had a clear demonstration of this. This was a shock for both Jews and Gentiles. It is perhaps significant that in 10:45 Luke calls the Jewish believers “circumcised believers”. Circumcision was to be a contentious issue in the early church, and Luke uses the term circumcised here with a view to that.

10:47,48

Peter drew the conclusion that there could be no obstacle to stop the new believers being baptised in water. If God was happy to pour out His Spirit upon them, then the church should welcome them fully into the church. So the new believers were baptised into the name of Jesus Christ. As an aside, in Matt 28:19,20 Jesus tells His disciples to baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Here Peter simply says “in the name of Jesus Christ”, but to use this as an argument against baptising in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit is frankly silly. Peter remained with them for a few days. Paul was the “apostle to the Gentiles”, but Peter oversaw the first significant conversion of Gentiles. So Paul’s work was building upon what God was already doing, on what the Christ ordained mission of the church was.

Judges 3:26-31 - The land had peace for eighty years

3:26-30

In the meantime Ehud escaped to Seirah. He then issued a rallying call to Israel by blowing a trumpet in the country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came down from the hills to join him. He declared that the Lord had now given Moab into their hands. So Israel attacked Moab, stringing down ten thousand Moabites. So Moab became subject to Israel, rather than the other way round. The land had peace for eighty years.

3:31

We now come to the shortest account, a mere single verse. There is no mention of the Israelites doing evil. We are just told that Shamgar came after Ehud, and that he “struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad”. It also says “he too saved Israel”, so perhaps it is implied that Israel had gone through the usual cycle of doing evil, groaning, and then being rescued. Shamgar is mentioned in Judges 5:6. It may be that “son of Anath” implies that Shamgar was not an Israelite. Conversely, Anath may be related to Beth Anath, which was in the region assigned to Naphtali (Wood).

Acts 10:43,44 - All the prophets testify about Him

10:43

Jesus was the fulfilment of the prophets of the Old Testament (by the way, this includes people like Moses, as well as the prophets with books named after them). They were all looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, and that forgiveness would come through Him. The Bible is quite clear that all men are sinners, and this includes Israel. Indeed, the Old Testament majors on the sinfulness of Israel!

10:44

While Peter was speaking the Holy Spirit came down on the gathering. Note that Peter didn’t ask for this to happen, it was a direct action of the Holy Spirit. When we serve God we do so together with the Holy Spirit, and it is more than a matter of the Holy Spirit blessing what we do. He is God and He acts. 

Judges 3:17-25 - Plunged it into the king's belly

3:17-19

We are now told that king Eglon was a very fat man. This would be relevant for later developments. It is not a criticism of the man, indeed it indicates that he was wealthy enough to have lots of food. After Ehud and the travelling party had reached “the stone images near Gilgal”, he went back to Eglon claiming to have a secret message for him. The stone images are of no importance other than indicating where they had travelled to. Eglon sent his attendants away and Eglon and Ehud were now alone.

3:20-23

Ehud approached Eglon and claimed to have a message from God. As the king came close to Ehud, Ehud stuck the knife into the king’s belly. The king’s bowels discharged with the shock, and the sword sunk into the folds of fat! Ehud left, locking the door. This, together with his telling the attendants that he had a secret message, meant he would have time to get away.

3:24,25

After Ehud’s departure the room was locked, and the servants were loath to go in, thinking he was on the toilet! Eventually they could wait no longer and they unlocked the door. Of course, they found that the king was dead.

Acts 10:41,42 - He commanded us to preach

10:41

Not everyone saw Him, but over five hundred did. The apostles ate and drank with Him. The resurrection appearances were not hallucinations, but physically real events. The people who saw Him had been chosen by God as witnesses. You see, in everything God does He involves men and women (and the very first witnesses were women). The only exception to this was the cross itself, our only contribution to the cross was the sins that nailed Him there.

10:42

In the Great Commission Jesus commanded His disciples to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19,20), and in the teaching He gave to them in the days before the ascension (Acts 1:3, 8). Notice the emphasis on God appointing Jesus “as judge of the living and the dead”. How much do we preach on this aspect today? Not enough must be the clear answer. Everyone will have to face Jesus as judge. Only those who believe in Him will survive such an encounter.

Judges 3:12-16 - Again the Israelites did evil

3:12-14

We now come to the second judge, Ehud. As soon as Othniel died the Israelites reverted to their usual custom of doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. The result was that the Lord gave them over to Eglon king of Moab. In some ways this is similar to God giving man over to various sinful desires, as described in Rom 1:24,26,28. Eglon got the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him and they took over the “City of Palms”, this is actually Jericho. The Israelites were subject to Eglon for eighteen years.

 3:15,16

We get a similar pattern to the previous case, with Israel crying out, and God sending a deliverer. This time it is Ehud, and it is noted that he was left-handed, and a Benjaminite. Left-handedness was, and is, relatively unusual, and some societies are suspicious of left-handedness, though nothing negative about it is said in the Bible. We get quite an involved story about Ehud. It starts with him being sent with tribute to Eglon. This is money they would have to pay each year, or suffer the consequences. I.e. It was a kind of protection racket. Ehud took the money, but had other plans. He also took a double edged sword. His left handedness may have been significant in that it enabled him to hide it by strapping it to his right hand.

Acts 10:39,40 - We are witnesses of everything He did

10:39

One of the key qualifications for being an apostle was to be a witness of the events in Jesus' life, especially the resurrection (Acts 1:21,22), Peter was such a witness. “They killed Him by hanging Him on a cross”. Some people get uneasy about references to the Jews killing Jesus. It is not quite so explicit here, “they '' could be very general, but possibly refers to the Jewish religious leaders, elsewhere it is more explicit. The uneasiness comes because of fears of anti-semitsm, and there have been horrendous acts carried out against the Jews, even by so-called Christians, at various points in history. So let’s look at the matter in a little more detail. First of all, the gospel accounts seem to put equal blame on the Jewish authorities and on the Roman authorities. Secondly, it is a matter of historical accuracy that the Jewish authorities played a big role in the crucifixion of Jesus. Now if we look at the New Testament as a whole, the reason Jesus died was to pay the price of our sins. You and I are responsible for His death, because He died for our sins. We are all responsible. 

10:40

“But God raised Him from the dead on the third day and caused Him to be seen”. Jesus did die, but He did not remain dead, He was raised to new life. And there were physical witnesses to this fact. The resurrection is not a metaphorical thing, but a physical reality. And this was a central part of the preaching of the early church. If there was no resurrection then there was no point.

Judges 3:9-11 - But they cried out to the Lord

3:9,10

They cried out to the Lord. This does not seem to have happened immediately. No doubt they weren’t happy from the beginning, but it seems to have taken time for them to think of crying out to the Lord. The Lord heard them and raised up a judge, a deliverer. This first judge was Othniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of the Lord came on Othniel and he went to war. In Judges the Spirit does not seem to impart wisdom, so much as power. In the New Testament the Spirit gives spiritual insight and power.  So Othniel saved the people.

3:11

The land had peace for forty years, until Othniel died. So war was important in setting the people free from their oppressors, but war did not dominate the reign of the judge. There was a long period of peace, though we are given no details of the period of peace. The peace would only last as long as the judge reigned. The pattern for Othniel is typical of all of the judges, though some of them receive only the briefest of mentions, while others get a fairly detailed treatment.

Acts 10:36-38 - Healing all who were under the power of the devil

10:36

What we have here is almost certainly a very much edited version of Peter’s speech. The gospel is described as “the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all”, and the message was sent by God. There are enormously important points here. First, the gospel is the message sent by God, it is not made up by men, but originates in God Himself. Then it is peace through Jesus Christ, there is no other way. It is a message of peace with God. It is God-man centred. If we think it is all about man then we have missed it. It is about our relationship with God. Finally, Jesus Christ is Lord of All. He is not just a man, nor is He one god among many. He is the only way to the Father.

10:37,38

We have the message, then we have the events. Neither makes sense without the other. The message without the events would just be a theory, an idea, with no back up. The events without the message make no sense, we would never know their true import. Words and actions go together. The events started with John the Baptist. Then Jesus went about doing good and healing people. Jesus was anointed at His baptism by the Holy Spirit. Jesus healed “all who were under the power of the devil”, and He did this because “God was with Him”. There is a relationship between demonic activity and sickness.

Judges 3:7,8 - The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord

3:7

We now enter the main part of the book, with the various judges (or leaders). These people weren’t judges in the sense that we have judges today, and the Hebrew term is closer to “leader”. There are twelve judges named, and it is possible (though not certain) that there was one from each tribe. Wood gives the following list, associating each judge with a tribe:

Othniel - Judah

Ehud - Benjamin

Shamgar - Naphtal ?

Deborah - Ephraim Asher ?

Gideon - Manasseh

Tola - Issachar

Jair - Gad or Reuben

Jephthah - Gad or Reuben

Ibzan - from Bethlehem

Elon - Zebulun

Abdon - Ephraim

Samson - Dan

The section begins with the oft repeated phrase “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord”. They served the Baals and Asherahs. This “doing evil” was the root of all Israel’s problems.

3:8

The result of their doing evil was that the anger of the Lord burned against them. Most people don’t like the idea of the Lord being angry, but there are repeated mentions of this throughout the Bible, so it is wiser to face up to the fact. If we turn away from the Lord and worship idols then we are harming God’s precious creation, including ourselves. This is rightly an offence to God. So the Israelites were subjected to the king of Aram Naharaim for eight years. Would there be a politico-militaristic process explaining this? Yes, but they all worked out because the Lord was no longer with Israel.