Reference no: EM133408950
The book of Judges has been described as "a book about death." Throughout the book, there is a repetition of a type scene: apostasy, punishment, repentance, and rescue. In other words, the people of God sin, God punishes them, the people of God repent, and God sends a Judge to rescue them. Repeat. However, the repetition spirals downward into idolatry, rape, and near genocide. Despite the barbarity of the stories, there are moments of delight to entertain the reader. Notice too, how the author manipulates the type scene-apostasy, punishment, repentance, and rescue-to tell us something distinctive about each Judge.
What are Judges? The word comes from the Hebrew term Shofet. A Judge is a temporary leader during times of crisis. Judges are charismatic leaders: chosen by God and endowed with certain gifts that enabled them to lead. One could not decide to become a Judge nor be elected. The main purpose of a Judge was not to oversee legal disputes. Instead, they were primarily political and military leaders with religious functions. Judge is perhaps better translated as Chieftain.
Judges Game:
1. Match the Judges below with their appropriate appellation/description.
2. Tell why the character descriptions match the Judges.
3. Biblical verse for support.