|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
||||||||||
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
Bible Study Title: Study 1 | 2
| 3 | 4
| 5 | Back to
Bible studies index Judges #1 I have filled in a bit of information here in case your knowledge of Judges isn’t great. If you know all this, just draw on your own knowledge. It would be good to make sure everyone has some idea of where the book of Judges fits into the history of God’s dealings with his people. Suggestion – write Judges in the centre of a large sheet of paper or put it on a card and place it on a table or on the floor. Large post it notes could be used if the writing is big enough for people to read. Then ask the group to come up with 4-5 main events or people that happen before and relatively close to the time of the Judges. Then to think of 5 main events or people that occur fairly close in time after the events of the Judges. Fill these in on either side of ‘Judges’. Some talking to connect these events may be necessary for members of the group. Eg Before – Moses (died outside the promised land), Joshua (led people into promised land and has now died – happens at end of book of Joshua and in Judges 2:8 – a bit of overlap); entry into the promised land; conquering of land; Jericho/Rahab, Caleb (one of the originals from Egypt allowed into promised land), division of land into tribal allotments. Eg After – Samuel – last of judges; request for a king; Saul – first king; God rejects Saul as king; David anointed as king. (Ruth is set during the time of the Judges). You will need to fill in as much as the group needs to make some sense of where this book fits. Key thoughts – they are in the Promised Land; Joshua their leader after Moses dies at the beginning of the book; they have established themselves in the Promised Land but not completely driven out the people who had been there – they are still there and will cause trouble for the Israelites. They will attack them and Israel will begin to follow their gods and disobey God and his ways. This is a very troubled period in Israel’s history, yet time and time again God will raise up a saviour figure who will rescue his people – often very unlikely kinds of characters with very unlikely weapons. All this points to the fact that in the end, God is the Saviour of his people. All this is just background. Read Judges 2: 1-5 1. What indications do we have here that this is going to be a difficult period in the history of these people? 2. What do you imagine will happen if these people are going to be ‘thorns’ and their gods a ‘snare’ to the people of God? Then Joshua and all the generation who had lived at the time of conquest of the Promised Land die. There was another generation who hadn’t seen these great events. And the slide downwards doesn’t take long. Read Judges 2: 10-15 3. How would you describe this new generation of Israelites? 4. Why were the Israelites in such a mess? (the strength of the raiders against them; their weakness in resistance; primarily that God enabled their enemies to defeat them – because of his anger against them. ) Read Judges 2: 16-19 5. Why does God raise up a judge for them, if he is the one handing them over to their enemies? 6. These verses spell out the pattern that will be repeated many times in the book – see if you can make a diagram of the pattern described here – One idea is to draw a large circle and after each event and arrow to the next event – this is a revolving set of events – · Out of compassion, God raises up a judge (ie military leader) · Judge saves them from enemies · Reject judge and worship foreign gods and disobey God’s ways · Judge dies · Lower level of pagan worship and corruption · And so we go on. 7. Chapter 3 gives the stories of three judges God sent. What weapons do two of these use – v15 and 16; v31? You might like to think about why being left-handed was significant! ( I think Ed is going to look at Ehud in more detail in the sermon.) It’s a great story so worth reading if you have time or encourage people to read at home. 8. What have you learnt about God from this section of Judges. Does he sometimes act in ways that surprise you? » Go to Study 2
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|
||
Print version