Biblical Theology of Judges

Judges: A Biblical Theology 

Main Idea: There is chaos and confusion in the land due to the fact that the people have disobeyed God doing what is right in their own eyes and are without a strong moral leader, a king.

              This main idea is shown through the repeated phrases of “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Along with the repeated phrase “In those days there was no king in Israel.”  These phrases highlight the condition of the people of God. They were rebellious and had no leader to help straighten them out. The confusion of the people is highlighted in a major way at the towards the end of the book with the story of Micah and the idol he makes. His mother tells her son that she has dedicated the silver to the Lord so that he can make an idol out of it. This is the sign of a depraved and confused nation. They are making idols and calling it worship to YHWH.

            The chaos in the land is due to the fact that the people have sinned right at the beginning of the book it is stated that this is what will happen to the people because they have disobey. “But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be snare to you” (2:2b-3).  Furthermore “They abandoned YHWH and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. So the anger of YHWH was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies so that they could no longer withstand their enemies” (2:13-14). These two verses draw out the fact that Israel had sinned and the result of this sin is that God has given them over to their enemies who have come to plunder the land, which resulted in confusion. War always brings chaos and confusion with it and all throughout this book the people are confused and in a constant state of war with small peace times scattered throughout.

Luke 1.1- 4:30 Commentary

Luke 1.1- 4:30 Commentary

Introduction: Luke 1.1-4

Luke begins his gospel with an introduction that sets up his whole gospel (English Standard Version, Luke 1.1-4). The reason Luke puts this introduction into his gospel is that it helps to set up and give a clear purpose to why Luke is writing and what he is attempting to do with his gospel. Luke also gives his credentials for writing this gospel (Lk 1.3). It is important that we know the reason that Luke is writing and his credentials if we want to understand his flow and if we want to believe him. The introduction also gives us the person whom Luke is writing to, Theophilus, and why Luke is writing to this person (Lk 1.3-4). This gives us the method that Luke uses in composing his gospel. It is to be an “orderly account” (Lk 1.3) this is important because it shows us how Luke is going to be laid out.

Study of Matthew 16:18-19

Matthew 16:18-19

Passage:

¹⁸ "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.  ¹⁹"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."[1]

Exposition

            This passage seems to be Jesus talking directly to Peter and placing him in charge of the Church as a whole. Upon closer examination of the passage what Jesus is doing is speaking about the larger church to come and the salvation that will come from the church.

            This passage is sandwiched between the confession by Peter of who he is and Peter’s failed rebuke of Jesus. This context sheds a bit of light on the passage. Matthew is using a bit of wordplay with Peter’s name, which means rock. Jesus uses two different words when talking of Peter, petros, and rock, petra. Peter’s name means a small stone while the word for rock that is used denotes a massive rock or cliff. This seems to point to the idea that while Peter is small his confession is quite massive and it is upon the confession that he, Jesus, will build his church.