Christmas Gift Guide - For Women
Christmas Gift Guide - For Women
How Judges Prophesied a True and Better Deliverer
A True and Better Judge
When we think about Jesus fulfilling Old Testament prophecy, we often think about individual verses or statements from the Old Testament quoted in the New Testament. For example, in Psalm 118:22, the psalmist states, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” This text is referenced on multiple occasions in the New Testament as a prophetic text fulfilled by Jesus during his earthly ministry (Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10–11; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; Eph 2:20; 1 Peter 2:7).
Beyond individual texts like Psalm 118:22, the New Testament also recognizes Jesus as the fulfillment, or embodiment, of certain Old Testament institutions. For example, Jesus is the sacrificial “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:26, 36). Jesus is also the true temple (Matt. 12:6, Rev. 21:22) and the one who has achieved and provides sabbath rest for his people (Matt. 11:28; Heb. 4:3, 9–11). In fact, Jesus clearly states that all of the Old Testament points to him (John 5:39; Luke 24:25–27, 44–45). In light of this reality, we should not be surprised to discover that Jesus also fulfilled the office of judge from the book of Judges.
Yes, the judges are all prophetic figures who point forward to the person and work of Jesus. The book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible represents one of four books that together are known as the “Former Prophets.” These books are Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, and they record the prophetic history of Israel’s tenure in the land of their inheritance. From the prophetic book of Judges, we come to discover that Jesus is the true and better judge anticipated by this book.
ESV Expository Commentary
Four Old Testament scholars offer passage-by-passage commentary through the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, explaining difficult doctrines, shedding light on overlooked sections, and making applications to life and ministry today. Part of the ESV Expository Commentary.
The nature of the office of the judge in the book of Judges is best deduced from the introductory narrative context from which it emerges in Judges 2:6–3:6. In this context, we agree with McCann:
The judges are portrayed, in some sense at least, as successors of Joshua. . . . Joshua in turn is portrayed as the successor of Moses (See Josh. 1:1). . . . Thus, as successors to Moses and Joshua, the judges are to be, in the most comprehensive sense, the mediators of the covenant, at the heart of which was the exclusive worship of God and obedience to God’s ways.1
The office of the judge in the book of Judges is an office of covenantal administration. The judges serve as yet another type of the person and work of Christ as presented in the New Testament. According to the narrative context of Judges 2:6–3:6, the judges in the book of Judges were: (1) raised up by YHWH, and (2) empowered by the Spirit of YHWH (3) in order to deliver his people from foreign oppression, (4) to secure the rest of Israel’s inheritance, and (5) to promote Israel’s fidelity to their covenant with YHWH.
1. The Judges were raised up by YHWH.
It is stated twice, once in Judges 2:16 and again in Judges 2:18, that in the context of Israel’s oppression and misery, the LORD would raise up (קוּם in the Hiphil stem) judges in order to deliver his people from the misery of their oppression when moved by compassion (נחם in the Piel stem). The Lord raised up Othniel and Ehud as a saviors in Judges 3:9 and Judges 3:15, using the same language employed in chapter 2 ( קוּם in the Hiphil stem). Barak’s appointment comes by way of the prophetic word of Deborah, and Gideon’s call comes by way of the Angel of the Lord in Judges 6:14. Jephthah’s call to service comes in the form of a parable in Judges 11:1–10, where Israel’s fickle treatment of Jephthah parallels Israel’s cyclical infidelity towards YHWH. Finally, Samson is raised up by YHWH from the womb, in the birth narrative of Judges 13, where he is designated as a Nazirite for life and the one who would begin to save Israel from the Philistines.
2. The judges were empowered by the Spirit of YHWH in order to fulfill the requirements of the office.
In Judges 2:18, it is recorded that when YHWH raised up the judge, he was with the judge in order to save Israel during all the days of that judge. In the major judge narratives that follow, it is the enabling presence of the Spirit of YHWH that constitutes the presence of YHWH with the various judges. As such, each judge serves as the instrument of YHWH’s deliverance while YHWH himself is to be understood as the primary agent of that same deliverance.
In Judges 3:10, it is recorded that the Spirit of YHWH came upon Othniel when he judged Israel. In Judges 4:14, it is recorded that YHWH went out before Barak and Israel’s army in order to defeat the superior forces of the enemy’s army, and it was YHWH himself who confused, or routed, Sisera’s army with language that recall’s YHWH’s defeat of Egypt at the Red Sea (Judges 4:14; cf. Ex. 14:24. See also Judges 5:4–5, 20–22). In Gideon’s call narrative, the promise of the divine presence recalls the call of Moses in Exodus 3, and the Spirit of YHWH clothed Gideon in Judges 6:34, as he assembled the army of Israel just prior to the sign of the fleece. In Judges 11:29, the Spirit of YHWH came upon Jephthah as he set out to defeat the enemy and in the context of his infamous vow that appears in the very next verse (Judges 11:30). Finally, in a climactic manner, Samson is empowered by the Spirit of YHWH on four different occasions in the account of his life and work. This specific characteristic of the judge, the empowering presence of the Spirit of YHWH, explains the extraordinary (miraculous!) feats performed by these judges in the midst of their service as judges.
3. In the book of Judges, the judges “deliver” or “save” God’s people from oppression and subjugation.
The judges were the “saviors” of God’s people who served as the instruments of YHWH’s “deliverance.” According to Judges 2:16, YHWH raised up these individuals at various times in order that they might save Israel from the hand of those who oppressed them. In Judges 3:9 it is recorded that YHWH raised up Othniel as a “savior” (מוֹשִׁיעַ, Hiphil participle) through whom he [YHWH] would save (וַיּוֹשִׁיעֵם) Israel. Ehud is described in the same way in Judges 3:15, as a savior or deliverer raised up by YHWH. Ehud is the left-handed savior who brings the sword (or word) of the LORD. With Deborah and Barak, Israel’s defeat of the chariot army was designed to remind us of YHWH’s defeat of Egypt at the Red Sea. Gideon’s victory with his army of 300 men armed with torches and clay pots highlights YHWH’s agency. It is the cost of Jephthah’s victory that catches our attention later in the book. Finally, there is the humiliation of Samson as he performs his final and climactic act of deliverance. The judges were saviors!
4. In the book of Judges, the judge secured the rest of the land, Israel’s inheritance.
The cyclical infidelity of Israel in the book of Judges resulted in the plundering of Israel’s inheritance—the land and its produce—promised long ago to the patriarch, Abram, in Genesis 12:7. We also understand that Israel’s tenure in the land and the blessings of its abundance depended upon their obedience to the Mosaic covenant and to their singular fidelity to YHWH, the Lord of the covenant. This is clearly stated, for example, in Deuteronomy 30:17–18: “But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.”
Israel’s cyclical subjugation, oppression, and plundering in the book of Judges was clearly the result of their idolatry, the ultimate expression of covenant infidelity. In the early stages of Israel’s history, these occasional periods of oppression were orchestrated by the Lord in order to provoke Israel’s repentance. When Israel did repent and cry out, the Lord would raise up judges to deliver them and provide rest for the land and the security of Israel’s inheritance.
Because Jesus is the everliving judge, his people never need to fear his death.
Note that on two occasions, rest for the land appears to be tied to the life and work of the judge. With Othniel, the land had rest for forty years, “and then he died” (Judges 3:11). With Gideon, the land had rest for forty more years “in the days of Gideon” (Judges 8:28). This aspect of the Judge’s office is mentioned in Judges 2:18, where it is recorded that, “Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge.” This may hint at the significance of our fifth and final characteristic of the office of judge in the book of Judges, that Israel’s prosperity and security in their inheritance was tied in some way to the life and work of the judge as a covenant official.
5. In the book of Judges, the judge promoted Israel’s faithfulness to YHWH in the context of their national, Mosaic covenant.
In Judges 2:17, it is recorded that Israel “did not listen to their judges, but whored after other gods”, implying that the covenantal office of the judge included the promotion of fidelity to YHWH, their covenant Lord. The rest of the book records Israel’s struggle to maintain loyalty as they were regularly ensnared by the foreign gods of the Canaanite inhabitants. In Judges 2:19, it is implied that the life and work of the judge promoted, at least in some way, Israel’s faithfulness to the covenant because, “When the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them” (Judges 2:19). Clearly, what Israel needed was a judge who could forever guarantee Israel’s faithfulness and so secure their inheritance.
In these five ways described above, the office of Judge in the book of Judges points ahead to Jesus, who was raised up by the Father (e.g, Acts 2:24, Rom. 6:4, Gal. 1:1) and empowered by the Spirit (e.g, Matt. 12:28; Luke 4:1, 14; Acts 10:38) in order to deliver God’s people (e.g, Matt. 1:211; Acts 13:23, 15:11; Rom. 10:9; 1 Thess. 1:10; 1 Tim. 1:15; 2 Tim. 1:10; Jude 25), secure their inheritance (Eph. 1:11, 14; Col. 1:12; Heb. 9:15; 1 Pet. 1:3–4), and provide for their obedience by way of imputation and a circumcised heart (Rom. 2:29, 5:19, 15:18, 16:26; Phil. 3:3; Col. 2:11; 1 Pet. 1:2). Because Jesus is the everliving judge, his people never need to fear his death. He is forever at the right hand of the Father as our eternal judge-savior (Mark 16:19; Acts 2:33, 7:56; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20; Heb. 1:3, 12:2). The judges in the book of Judges are types of Christ. Together with their Old Testaments colleagues, they continue to help us “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). This is the gospel according to the Old Testament.
Notes:
- J. Clinton McCann, Judges, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 4.
Miles V. Van Pelt is a contributor to the ESV Expository Bible Commentary, Vol. 2.
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