Deborah, Gideon and Samson

After Joshua’s death began one of the most turbulent periods in Israel’s history: the time of the judges. For about three centuries the people lived in a cycle repeated again and again: they turned away from God, fell under the oppression of neighbouring peoples, cried out to God, and God raised up a deliverer called a “judge”. In this episode we meet three of the most famous: Deborah, the prophetess who judged under a palm tree; Gideon, the fearful man who conquered with three hundred soldiers; and Samson, the strongest man, whose life was marked by his weaknesses.

“Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so. And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.”

Judges 2:16-18

The cycle of the judges

The book of Judges describes a generation “which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). The people mingled with the Canaanites and worshipped their gods, Baal and Ashtaroth. Then God allowed them to be oppressed. When they cried out, God raised up a judge who delivered them. But when the judge died, they went back to their corruption.

The judges were not merely magistrates, but charismatic leaders and military deliverers. The book mentions twelve judges, among them Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah and Samson. The phrase that sums up the era comes at the end of the book: “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

Deborah: prophetess and judge

For twenty years Jabin, king of Canaan, cruelly oppressed Israel. His general, Sisera, had nine hundred chariots of iron, a fearsome weapon at the time. In those days Israel was led by a woman: Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lapidoth. She sat under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her for judgment.

Deborah summoned Barak and passed on God’s command: gather ten thousand men at Mount Tabor, for God would deliver Sisera into his hand by the river Kishon. Barak replied: “If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.” Deborah agreed, but warned him that the honour of the victory would go to a woman.

Barak went down from Mount Tabor with his men, and God routed Sisera, his chariots and his army. According to Deborah’s song, the stars fought from their courses and the river Kishon swept the enemies away (Judges 5:20-21), suggesting that a storm turned the valley into mud where the chariots became useless. Sisera fled on foot and took refuge in the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. She gave him milk, covered him and, when he fell asleep, put him to death. So Deborah’s word was fulfilled.

Deborah and Barak sang a long song of victory (Judges 5), one of the oldest poems in the Bible. Afterwards the land had rest forty years. Deborah is an example of female leadership in the Bible: wise, courageous and guided by God.

Gideon: the man who was afraid

Years later, the Midianites invaded Israel every harvest season like a plague of locusts, with countless camels, destroying everything. The Israelites hid in caves. In that setting the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, who was secretly threshing wheat in a winepress, and greeted him: “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.”

Gideon felt anything but valiant. He answered with questions and excuses: “if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?… my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” But God told him: “Surely I will be with thee” (Judges 6:16).

His first mission was to tear down the altar of Baal that belonged to his own father and build an altar to God. He did it at night, out of fear. Then he asked for a sign: he laid a fleece of wool on the threshing floor and asked that it be wet with dew while the ground stayed dry. So it happened. Then he asked for the opposite: that the fleece stay dry and the ground be wet. God patiently granted that too.

Gideon’s three hundred

Gideon gathered thirty-two thousand men. But God told him they were too many, lest Israel boast that they had saved themselves by their own hand. First, twenty-two thousand who were afraid went home. Then God tested the remaining ten thousand at the water: only those who lapped the water, putting their hand to their mouth, three hundred men, were chosen.

“And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.”

Judges 7:7

At night Gideon divided the three hundred into three companies. Each man carried a trumpet and an empty pitcher with a lamp inside. They surrounded the enemy camp, blew the trumpets, broke the pitchers, held up the lamps and shouted: “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!” The Midianites, panic-stricken, turned on one another and fled. God gave victory through the few.

Afterwards the people wanted to make Gideon king, but he answered: “I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you” (Judges 8:23). Sadly, Gideon made a golden ephod that became an object of idolatry for Israel. Even heroes can end badly if they don’t guard their hearts.

Samson: physical strength and moral weakness

Samson was born in times of Philistine oppression. An angel announced his birth to his mother, who was barren, and told her the child would be a Nazarite from the womb: he must drink no wine, touch nothing dead and never cut his hair. He would be consecrated to God to begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines.

When the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, Samson had extraordinary strength. He tore a lion apart with his hands, killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass and carried off the gates of the city of Gaza. But his life was marked by impulsiveness, revenge and his weakness for Philistine women. He judged Israel twenty years.

Finally he fell in love with Delilah, in the valley of Sorek. The Philistine lords offered her a great deal of money to discover the secret of his strength. Three times Samson deceived her, but she pressed him day after day until he revealed that his strength was bound up with his consecration: his hair had never been cut. While he slept, they cut his hair, and his strength left him. One of the saddest verses in the Bible says: “he wist not that the Lord was departed from him” (Judges 16:20).

The Philistines put out his eyes and set him grinding in the prison at Gaza. But his hair began to grow again. During a great feast in honour of the god Dagon, the Philistines brought Samson out to mock him. Samson prayed: “O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once.” He took hold of the two middle pillars of the temple and brought it down. He killed more Philistines in his death than he had in his life.

Places in the story

Interesting facts

Lessons for our lives

Forgetting God leads to bondage: the cycle of the judges repeats itself in many lives. God hears the cry: he always raises up a deliverer. God uses women and men: Deborah and Jael show it. God transforms the fearful: Gideon went from the winepress to victory. Victory belongs to God, not to numbers. Gifts do not replace character: Samson’s strength did not free him from his weakness. It is never too late to cry out: Samson prayed at the end, and God heard him.

On the road to Jesus

The judges were temporary, imperfect saviours. Each freed the people for a time, but none could change their heart. The book ends with a longing: there was no king in Israel. That longing points to the true King and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Like Samson, Jesus gave his life and in his death won the greatest victory; but unlike Samson, Jesus did not die for his own sin but for ours, and he rose again. He is the ultimate Deliverer, who not only overcomes external enemies but frees us from sin and gives us a new heart.

In the next episode we will meet a beautiful story of faithfulness in the days of the judges: the story of Ruth.

Prayer

Lord, like Israel in the days of the judges, I have often turned away from you. Today I cry out to you: deliver me. When I am afraid like Gideon, remind me that you are with me. Give me Deborah’s wisdom and guard me from the weaknesses that defeated Samson. Thank you for Jesus Christ, my Deliverer and King. Amen.