Judg 21:25 | KingComments | STEP | The army is disbanded. All return to their own homes. Whether they have already learned the lesson, will become clear from the rest of their history. Did we learn the lesson? The last verse repeats the gloomy words with which this final part of the book began in Judges 17 ( ). Indeed no ‘happy end’ in this book. In order to see that God, despite the decay of His people, in grace still carries out His plans and works toward His goal, we must read the book of Ruth. Just like Judges 17-21, that book is also a kind of appendix to the book of Judges, but in the opposite way. The book of Ruth begins with the words: “Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was …” ( ). What we read afterward is a beautiful scene of the grace of God. The book ends with the name ‘David’ ( ), the man chosen by God to be king over His people. David is a type of the Lord Jesus. What the Holy Spirit wants to work in us, when we have thus made the book of Judges speak to us, is that we desire to give control over our lives into the hands of the Lord Jesus. He also wants us to look forward to the time when everything in heaven and on earth will be subjected at the feet of the Lord Jesus. What the Holy Spirit also wants to teach us through this book is that it is precisely in times of decay that we can achieve victories of faith. The author of the letter to the Hebrews cites a number of people who have lived by faith. Among them he mentions the names of people we have met in the course of our study of the book of Judges: “Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah” ( ). They are part of the “great cloud of witnesses” about which he writes in Hebrews 12 ( ). Then, in the same verse, he compares the life of the Christian who lives by faith with that of someone who takes part in a running match in the stadium. We can have read the book of Judges as a spectator who looks from the grandstand at a spectacle in several parts. Then we weren’t really involved then. What the Holy Spirit wants is that we experience the events. Then the roles are reversed. The grandstands are then populated by those countless believers of whom the writer in Hebrews 11 has mentioned a number and among whom are also the judges. And we are the ones they look at. Now it is our turn to run. But the ‘believers of old days’ are there to encourage us. Do we see their radiant faces? Look at them and let them stimulate you. They know how difficult the match sometimes can be and what it takes to persevere. They have continued and have already reached the finish line. This is why they call out to us, as it were: “Continue, persevere, do not give up, it is worth it!’ That they have reached the final goal is the great incentive for us to persevere. This makes our commitment to the race of faith even greater. In doing so, we should not pay attention to the things around us. We should not look back either. The only thing that matters is to keep our eye exclusively on Jesus, “the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” ( ).

‏ Judges 21:25

Everyone Does What Is Right in His Own Eyes

The army is disbanded. All return to their own homes. Whether they have already learned the lesson, will become clear from the rest of their history. Did we learn the lesson? The last verse repeats the gloomy words with which this final part of the book began in Judges 17 (Jdg 17:6). Indeed no ‘happy end’ in this book.

In order to see that God, despite the decay of His people, in grace still carries out His plans and works toward His goal, we must read the book of Ruth. Just like Judges 17-21, that book is also a kind of appendix to the book of Judges, but in the opposite way. The book of Ruth begins with the words: “Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was …” (Rth 1:1). What we read afterward is a beautiful scene of the grace of God. The book ends with the name ‘David’ (Rth 4:22), the man chosen by God to be king over His people. David is a type of the Lord Jesus.

What the Holy Spirit wants to work in us, when we have thus made the book of Judges speak to us, is that we desire to give control over our lives into the hands of the Lord Jesus. He also wants us to look forward to the time when everything in heaven and on earth will be subjected at the feet of the Lord Jesus.

What the Holy Spirit also wants to teach us through this book is that it is precisely in times of decay that we can achieve victories of faith. The author of the letter to the Hebrews cites a number of people who have lived by faith. Among them he mentions the names of people we have met in the course of our study of the book of Judges: “Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah” (Heb 11:32). They are part of the “great cloud of witnesses” about which he writes in Hebrews 12 (Heb 12:1). Then, in the same verse, he compares the life of the Christian who lives by faith with that of someone who takes part in a running match in the stadium.

We can have read the book of Judges as a spectator who looks from the grandstand at a spectacle in several parts. Then we weren’t really involved then. What the Holy Spirit wants is that we experience the events. Then the roles are reversed. The grandstands are then populated by those countless believers of whom the writer in Hebrews 11 has mentioned a number and among whom are also the judges. And we are the ones they look at. Now it is our turn to run.

But the ‘believers of old days’ are there to encourage us. Do we see their radiant faces? Look at them and let them stimulate you. They know how difficult the match sometimes can be and what it takes to persevere. They have continued and have already reached the finish line.

This is why they call out to us, as it were: “Continue, persevere, do not give up, it is worth it!’ That they have reached the final goal is the great incentive for us to persevere. This makes our commitment to the race of faith even greater. In doing so, we should not pay attention to the things around us. We should not look back either.

The only thing that matters is to keep our eye exclusively on Jesus, “the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Heb 12:2-3).