Categories
Discussions Prophets and Writings

Judges 1

Reader: Dave De Fever
Teacher: Daniel Agee

Questions addressed in the recorded discussion

  • Toward what tribe is the book of Judges biased? Why?
  • What consequences came down by not following through with the command to conquer their territories?
    • If Yehudah (Judah) was said to be given the land in Judges 1:2,19, why did the tribe have troubles conquering the territory?
  • What thought process in the book of Joshua shouldn’t be taken into study of the book of Judges?
    • How is the time of the writing of the two books emphasized the perspectives the books offer?
    • What leaders are left after Moshe (Moses) and Yehoshua (Joshua) die?
  • What would we call the "judges" — shofetim in Hebrew — in modern terminology?
    • Are warlords always bad?
  • What idea about the true leader of Israel is in focus as the book of Judges begins?
  • What overlap is there between the books of Joshua and Judges?
  • What division starts appearing in Judges 1?
    • Whose fault was the division?
    • When did it actually start?
  • Why are the same battles listed in Judges as in Joshua and Numbers but with different outcomes?
    • What division in history appeared in Judges?
    • If the prophet/judge Sh’muel (Samuel) wrote Judges, gathering source material, who was contending for the throne at that point?
    • Which tribes were David, Yehoshua and Sha’ul (Saul) from?
    • What tribe was looked down upon in Judges?
    • Who did the various judges inspire to fight?
    • What were the jobs the judges were sent to do, and how did those missions affected what tribe was impacted?
    • How did the Prophets and Writings (Joshua–Malachi) use "current events" in their teachings?
    • How did Israel "ask the LORD" (Judges 1:1) about the first to fight the Canaanites? (Num. 27:21; 1 Sam. 28:6)
    • Why couldn’t Yehudah and Shimon (Simeon) take the valley of their territory, where the people there had iron chariots? (Judges 1:19)
    • How does Judges 2:19-23 answer that mystery for sages for centuries?
    • What is the source of strife between the tribes?
      • How is that related to God’s explanation of why Israel was given the land? (Deut. 9:5)
    • What does the Hebrew word for the city of Luz mean, and how does that relate to the condition of the defenses of that city?
      • How is the one-way-in lesson of Luz, which was renamed Beit El (Bethel) or "House of God," a lesson about the One Way to God, i.e. Messiah Yeshua (Jesus)?
  • Who were the Canaanites, the people who occupied the land God told Israel to conquer?
  • When was Levi distinguished from Shimon as priests?
    • Which tribe acted in retaliation to evil deeds like what Yehudah did to king Adoni-Bezek, who had cut off the thumbs and big toes of prisoners?
  • What does the Hebrew word bezek mean?
  • How many years of happiness and prosperity are recorded in Judges versus the bad times?
    • How does that point toward "spiritual amnesia"?