JUDGES

SUCH A GREAT SALVATION

DALE RALPH DAVIS

CHRISTIAN FOCUS

Copyright © Dale Ralph Davis

ISBN 1-84550-138-1

This edition published in 2000 (ISBN 1-85792-578-5) and reprinted in 2003, 2006 in the Focus on the Bible Commentary Series by Christian Focus Publications Ltd., Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, IV20 1TW, Great Britain

www.christianfocus.com

Previously published in 1990 and 1991 by Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, USA

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher or a license permitting restricted copying. In the U.K. such licenses are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE.

Contents

Part 1: The Failure of a Second Generation (Judges 1:1–3:6)

1. Is This an Ancient Geography Book? (Judges 1:1–2:5)

2. Generation Degeneration (Judges 2:6–3:6)

Part 2: The Salvation of a Long-suffering God (Judges 3:7–16:31)

3. A Paradigm of Salvation (Judges 3:7–11)

4. What Shall We Do with a Left-handed Savior? (Judges 3:12–30)

5. A Salvation Break (Judges 3:31)

6. A Smashing Salvation (Judges 4)

7. The New Song (Judges 5)

8. Getting Ready for Salvation (Judges 6)

9. Strength Made Perfect in Weakness (Judges 7:1–8:21)

10. It’s Tough to end Well (Judges 8:22–32)

11. Brambleman, Destroyer of Israel (Judges 8:33–9:57)

12. A Couple of Minors (Judges 10:1–5)

13. The Kindness and the Severity of God (Judges 10:6–16)

14. Despised and Rejected by Men (Judges 10:17–12:7)

15. A Judges’ Directory? (Judges 12:8–15)

16. Samson the Savior is Born (Judges 13)

17. Secrets (Judges 14)

18. The Battle of Jawbone Hill and Other Stories (Judges 15)

19. Let’s Play ‘The Philistines Are Here!’ (Judges 16)

Part 3: The Confusion of a Depraved People (Judges 17–21)

20. Divine Sarcasm (Judges 17–18)

21. New Sodom (Judges 19–21)

Subject Index

Scripture Index

Abbreviations

IB Interpreter’s Bible

IBD Illustrated Bible Dictionary

IDB Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible

IDB/S Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible/Supplementary Volume

ISBE International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

jb Jerusalem Bible

JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

kjv King James Version

Moffatt The Bible: A New Translation (James Moffatt)

nasb New American Standard Bible

neb New English Bible

niv New International Version

njb New Jerusalem Bible

rsv Revised Standard Version

njps Tanakh: A New Translation of the Holy Scriptures According to the Traditional Hebrew Text (1985)

tev Today’s English Version

TWOT Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

ZPEB Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible