Part 2: The downward spiral of Israel’s apostasy
Tola and Jair (Judges 10:1-5)
- Judges 10:4 – These 30 cities were tent settlements. Donkeys were associated with royalty at that time. Donkers were also better ssuited for battle in hill country than horses.
Jephthah (Judges 10:6-12:7)
Apostasy and distress (Judges 10:6-18)
- Judges 10:6 – Here we get a full list of all the idols that Israel served.
- Judges 10:14 – See Deuteronomy 32:37; Nehemiah 9:26. This is the first and only time in Judges where we get an extended interaction between God and Israel and the Israelites make concrete steps toward repentance.
- Judges 10:17 – The name Mizpah just means “overlook” and is a common place name in the Old Testament.
- Judges 10:18 – They apparently had no good candidates, so they had to go recruit Jephthah.
Introduction to Jephthah (Judges 11:1-13)
- Judges 11:3 – Jephthah did not have the best group of friends.
Jephthah’s commissioning (Judges 11:4-11)
- Judges 11:7-10 – Jephthah uses his position to negotiate and get back some of what he’d lost in Judges 11:2 when his brothers drove him out.
Diplomatic discussions (Judges 11:12-28)
- Judges 11:12 – Jephthah first starts with diplomacy. If the Ammonites had this territory, it would have greatly their territory.
Class 8 Takeaway
- For the first and only time in the Judges narrative, the Israelites’ cries for deliverance are accompanied by concrete acts associated with repentance: “putting away the foreign gods from among them” and serving the Lord (Judges 10:16).
- Acceptable repentance today follows this same pattern (II Corinthians 7:10-11). Turning from sin and toward the Lord involves definite, visible steps to expel sin and (re-)center our lives on Jesus (Matthew 18:8-9; Acts 26:20; Romans 2:4).