Jesus in Judges

When we read in Luke 24 that the Resurrected Lord explained to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus how the whole Old Testament teaches concerning himself, one might be forgiven for assuming that Jesus glossed over the book of Judges pretty quickly. After all, how can such a dark book teach concerning the Light of the world? But if we are right to assume that all of the OT testifies concerning Christ, we must seek to find him even in Judges. Although it is not apparent at first, what we find is that the entire book, not just discrete scenes, shows us concerning Christ’s person and work.

The first places I think we ought to look to find Jesus in Judges are those episodes where the Angel of the Lord appears. After reading of each scene where this mysterious figure appears and hearing how he speaks and how people respond to him, we are lead to assume that this figure is much more than just an ordinary angel. Indeed, many scholars are right to conclude that these are theophanies or appearances of a divine figure in the likeness of a man. What we have here are pre-incarnate appearances of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Divine Logos. We see him in chapter 2 bring forth the covenant lawsuit against unfaithful Israel (Law). And in chapters 6 and 13, he brings announcements of future deliverance from their enemies (Gospel).

But it is not just in these places that we find Christ. Indeed, as I already said, the whole book is about him. But how? To answer that, we must first ask when Judges may have been written. If we can get an idea of the original intent of the author and the expectations of its original audience, we can better understand how it speaks of the One who was to come.

Judges never tells us who wrote it, nor does it say when, so we are left to speculate a bit. Judges tells us of the time in Israel’s history “when there was no king” (17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25), suggesting that its final composition took place in a time when there was a king. Also, it speaks of this time as a very dark and chaotic era, where “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” We also see much focus upon the fact that Israel lacked unity and strong centralized leadership like that of Moses or Joshua. The tribes are always bickering and fighting like little children. So Judges clearly argues for the need for a good king to rule over the people, to establish law and order, promote pure worship, and unite them as one people of God with faithfulness to his covenant. It is these sorts of expectations and desires that lead me to believe that Judges was written during the life and times of king David. It is easy to see David as the original answer to the problem of godly leadership because he, more than any other king in Israel’s history, fulfilled the description given above.

You may be wondering at this point, “I thought you said the book was about Jesus? Why so much speculation about David?” The beauty of a Redemptive Historical interpretation is that you can appreciate a portion of Scripture from many different vantage points. We can seek to read the book the way the original audience may have, but then also consider how the book may have been viewed throughout Redemptive History. The reigns of David and Solomon represent the golden age in Israel’s monarchy, after them the gold gets really dim, really fast. You can see how these readers would start to think that maybe David wasn’t God’s final solution to Israel’s problems and then begin to look for another One who is to come who would finally and ultimately offer salvation. So as we read of all the shortcomings of the judges, Christ’s presence can be felt in his absence. Reading of the failures of these men reminds of the success of the one Man, Jesus Christ.

A judgement on Judges

If I had to choose a favorite book from the Old Testament, it would have to be Judges… but probably for all the wrong reasons. No other book seems to be so lurid and sordid in content, especially for its relative brevity. It’s a book of violence and gore. It’s full of scandal and indecency. This is pulp fiction at its best. Time and time again we read of men and women who are used to further Redemptive History while committing foolish, disgraceful, or even heinous acts. Scholars are agreed that this represents the darkest era of Israel’s history.

But to dismiss the people we read of in Judges as pure barbarians, incapable of any refined culture or saving graces, would be the height of folly. Even the literary composition of the book sheds some light on their capabilities. The book contains poems, fables, riddles, intrigue, irony, etc. The stories told here rival that of any others from various cultures. And let’s us not forget that the writer to the Hebrews names Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah among the likes of Abraham and Moses, men of faith and virtue.

But how do we make sense of the book? What is the book of Judges all about and why is such a book contained in the OT canon?

First, we should look at it in context. Judges, both canonically and chronologically, comes right on the heels of the book of Joshua. The book of Joshua is a book that describes the largely successful conquest of the land of Canaan. It describes what OT scholars term harem warfare. From the Hebrew word which means, “to devote to destruction,” it describes how the Israelites were to deal the inhabitants within the land of Canaan, namely, total annihilation. In other words, there were to be no survivors. Since the land was a typological representation of heaven, there was to be nothing in the land that would defile it. Canaan was to be a heavenly sanctuary like the Garden of Eden; nothing impure could be tolerated. As the new possessors of Canaan, the Israelites were to be agents of God’s wrath, the very same wrath that He has stored up for the wicked on the Last Day.

As I mentioned above, Joseph was pretty successful at this. No less than 15 times in his book we read that the Israelites “devoted [their enemies] to destruction.” As for the Israelites in Judges… not so much. It mentions them devoting their enemies to destruction in 1:17, but not again till the very end of the book and there its not one of the indigenous peoples, but the tribe of Benjamin, their fellow Israelites!

So Judges details the downward spiral of the children of Israel and their fall into disobedience to God’s law, perversion of worship and utter depravity. The last two stories included in the book show that the Israelites were no better than the men of Sodom and Gomorrah. And this is all presented in a circular fashion. The typical cycle one encounters in Judges is as follows: the people do what is evil – God sends their enemies to oppress them – the people of Israel cry out to God – God raises up a judge to deliver them – they have a time of peace. But the frustrating part is that this cycle keeps repeating itself and it keeps getting worse and worse. This is seen clearly in 2:19 where we read that Israel grew “more corrupt” each and every time they rebelled after God delivered them.

This failure on Israel’s part becomes even more striking when one considers the nature of the Mosaic covenant that it was under. While individual Israelites were always saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (just like us), on a national level, as a corporate entity, regarding their tenure in the land of Canaan, they were under a covenant of works. The terms were pretty simple: if you obey my laws and worship only YHWH, then you will be blessed in the land, but if you disobey and go after other gods, then you will be cursed in the land (e.g. oppressors, wild animals, and ultimately, expulsion). Judges, therefore, represents a very shaky start for the Israelites upon their dwelling in the land, which was supposed to be flowing with milk and honey.

Ascension assumptions...

It's been noted that recent treatments of the Ascension of Christ view it as little more than a dazzling exclamation point on the Resurrection.* After all, Jesus had to get to heaven somehow. Unfortunately, this failure to recognize the Ascension as a unique Redemptive-Historical act renders it little different from Christ just "passing away." For a concise, yet detailed, treatment of the Ascension one can turn to the Heidelberg Catechism (HC). Ironically, while the HC only gives one question to explain the Resurrection of Christ, it devotes four to the Ascension (#46-49)! This is due, in part, to the Lutheran controversy regarding the ubiquity of Christ and how it is he makes good on his promise to be with us always (Matthew 28:20), but it also serves to show the importance and far-reaching implications of that doctrine.

The HC lists three "benefits" that we have from the Ascension: first, he is our Advocate before the Father. This is a legal term which denotes one who appears on behalf of another. He pleads our cause before the Father on the basis of his obedience and sufferings for us (I John 2:1-2). Hebrews speaks of the fact that Christ is our High Priest, "who ever lives to make intercessions for us" (7:25).

Second, the HC goes on to say that "we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge" that we will one day join him. In the '60's we put a man on the moon; many are confident that in the near future, we can do the same on Mars... but what is really impressive, is that we have a Man, one of our own flesh and blood, in heaven! And the fact that he's there, is a guarantee that we, as his members, will be taken up to himself at the resurrection. Because, as the old adage goes: "As Christ, so the Church."

Third, we learn that because of the Ascension, Christ sends us his Holy Spirit through whom he fills and empowers the Church. This is made especially clear in Luke's second account of the Ascension in Acts 1. Here Christ instructs his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until he sends them the Spirit, so that they may become witnesses of him throughout the world. Thus we see that the Ascension and resulting session of Christ is the current Redemptive-Historical event that we experience. While we look back at Christ's death and resurrection, and we anticipate his return, it is to our Ascended Lord that we look now for grace and help.

*This point is made by Douglas Farrow, Ascension and Ecclesia (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999), and expounded upon by Michael Horton, People and Place (Louisville: WJK, 2008).