Scriptural Highlights

• The strength of righteous parents and the consequences of forsaking their ways.
• Deborah - the strength of a righteous friend.
• Gideon - the strength of faith in God.
• Samson - the strength of covenants and the consequences of breaking them.

A prayerful study of this lesson will encourage us to seek influences that will strengthen us in living the gospel in a challenging world.

The Book of Judges

1. Named after the 12 individuals who led Israel between the time of Joshua & Saul.
• Time frame: abt. 1250-1020 BC.
2. What were these judges?
• They were not simple definers of the law or judicial officials.
• Judge = shophet in Hebrew. A shophet is a lawgiver or governor.
• These judges were champions or heroes vindicating Israel in war.

The Message of Judges

Overall message of Judges:

1. Years ago the daily newspaper carried a comic frame entitled "Graffiti". Each day the comic displayed a wall with some kind of humorous saying. One particular day the wall contained the following writing, "History repeats itself because no one listened the first time." This is the story of Judges.
2. No historical book of the Old Testament has such a clear philosophy of history as the Book of Judges.

The Historical Cycle:

1. APOSTASY - Part 1 of the Cycle.
• The writer of Judges begins each cycle of apostasy with the same words, which he repeats 7 times in 13 chapters, "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord."
• READ JUDGES 2:10-13. Israel forsakes the Lord & turns to other gods.
• WHO WERE THESE GODS?
• There were two which posed the greatest challenge to Israel.
• Baal.
• The supreme storm-god: controlled the winds, clouds, rain, lightning, thunderings and elements of the atmosphere.
• Often depicted with a thunderbolt with his left hand and an uplifted mace in his right hand.
• A helmet is shown on his head, adorned with the horns of a bull, the symbol of fertility.
• Ashtoreth.
• An astral goddess of fertility who caused or increased the fruitfulness of plants, animals, and man.
• Generally depicted as naked, her head adorned with horns.
• She was associated with sensuous love.
• WHY WAS ISRAEL ATTRACTED TO THE WORSHIP OF THESE FALSE GODS?
• Similarities between aspects of the two religions: Prophets, temples, priests, sacrifices & burnt offerings, entreated with prayer.
• Visible, outward signs, with shows, pageants, and parades. These seem to have an attraction to the natural heart, which often fails to perceive the unseen spiritual realities.
• Consider some of the TV evangelists of today.
• While I was on my mission in Oklahoma, there was a country Pentecostal church in the eastern part of the state that had a band play each Sunday evening. The folks would flock out of town to listen to this lively group.
• Licentious revelries and obscene orgies with which the worship of these idols or dieties was observed.
• "This worship, appealing to every sensual passion, joined with the attractions of wealth and fashion and luxury, naturally was a great temptation to a simple, restrained, agricultural people, whose worhip and laws demanded the greatest purity of heart and of life." (Old Testament Student Manual, p247)
2. BONDAGE & OPPRESSION - Part 2 of the Cycle.
• According to Judges the Lord allowed the neighboring nations to attack and oppress Israel. The chart below shows the length of foreign domination.
  
  

Mesopotamia	8 years
Moab	18 years
Canaan	20 years
Midian	7 years
Abimelech	3 years
Philistines	40 years

3. HUMILITY & REPENTENCE - Part 3 of the Cycle.
• HOW DID ISRAEL RESPOND?
• Repentence.
• READ JUDGES 10:10,15-16. Israel cries unto the Lord.
• I find it interesting that the moral and spiritual decline of the children of Israel was not arrested until they were punished.
4. DELIVERANCE BY THE JUDGES - Part 4 of the Cycle.
• The Lord seemed to be infinitely patient with Israel.
• The Lord raised up judges to deliver Israel from their foreign domination and interceded with his power. These judges included: Samson, Deborah, & Gideon.
5. HOW DOES THIS PATTERN COMPARE WITH THAT IN THE BOOK OF MORMON?
• The pattern appears to be the same. The main difference seemed to be that Old Testament Israel turned to the worship of false gods and Book of Mormon Israel was caught up in its wealth & pride. The result was the same = APOSTASY.
• Helaman 12:2-3: "Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One--yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.
  "And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him."
6. WHERE DO WE STAND? DO WE FALL INTO SIMILAR CYCLES?
• If we are here today then we are striving to do the will of the Lord. But the Book of Judges issues a solemn warning to people of all ages. History repeats itself because no one listened the first time.
• Consider what Judges has to say about the rebellious youth of that time:
• "...and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel" (2:10).
• "And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers...and followed other gods" (2:12).
• "...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" (2:17).
• WHY DO CHILDREN SOMETIMES FORSAKE THE RIGHTEOUS TEACHING AND WAYS OF THEIR PARENTS?
• Agency is a fundamental consideration in any discussion of this question. Heavenly Father had a third of his spirit children lured away. The scriptures have many examples of children rebelling against their righteous parents. Consider the story of Laman and Lemuel or Alma and the sons of Mosiah.
• The children are often lured away by the attractions of the world. In ancient Israel, it was the heathen gods and the practices that surrounded their worship. Today we find many attractions of the world luring our children away from the paths of righteousness: the pursuit of success or learning, possessions, the supposed easiness of following the ways of the world, the modern culture as portrayed in the media.
• Sometimes parents are responsible for not teaching their children.
• HOW CAN PARENTS HELP THEIR CHILDREN BE FAITHFUL AND NOT ENTER INTO THIS DEADLY CYCLE?
• Hugh B. Brown: "I think we older ones need to be reminded of our duty! I think we need to be reminded that we who are older are in a very large measure responsible for what might happen to those who are younger." (The Abundant Life, p166)
• The example we set and the way we live our lives tells our children if we really believe what we preach. Any parent knows that younger children often mimic the actions of their parent. Children are observant and they know hypocrisy when they see it.
• We need to be proactive in teaching our children the ways of righteousness.
• The Lord has provided the tool of family home evening for this purpose.
• Other opportunities present themselves for teaching and should be utilized. As parents, we cannot allow other activities to take precedence over unique teaching opportunities.
• We can have personal interviews with our children.
• The thoughts and ideas that we implant in our children's minds will come back to bless our children. President Hugh B. Brown talked of his mother and how she taught him: "More than half a century ago, I was standing on a little railway station platform in Cardston, Canada. I was leaving for England on a mission. My saintly mother stood there with me and held my hand. This is what she said. "Hugh, my son, do you remember when you were a little boy you often had bad dreams, nightmares, and you called out to me as I was sleeping in the next room: `Mother, Mother, are you there?' Do you remember I always said, `Yes, my son, I'm here. Just turn over and go to sleep. Everything is all right.'" She said, "My boy, five thousand miles must now separate us, across a continent and an ocean. You are not going to have bad dreams only at night, but many times, in the daytime, you are going to want to call for help and comfort. Son, when you are beset with difficulties, when you meet temptation, when you are confused and don't know where to go, call out and say, `Father, are you there?'" She said, "My boy, I promise you He will always answer and you need not fear."
  "...through the intervening years, countless occasions have arisen where men could not help me much, when I felt alone, where I had a nightmare with my eyes wide open. I have taken the advice of my mother and have said, "Father, are you there?" Now He has not spoken to me audibly; He has not appeared to me personally; but He has always answered me. There has come into my heart a quiet peace which enabled me to know that I could, figuratively, turn over nd go to sleep." (The Abundant Life, pp202-203)
• Never give up on our children. Once again, consider the story of Alma the younger and his story of conversion. When the angel appeared to Alma he said, "Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth" (Mosiah 27:14).
• Orson F. Whitney: "You parents of the wilful and the wayward: Don't give them up. Don't cast them off. They are not utterly lost. The shepherd will find his sheep. They were his before they were yours--long before he entrusted them to your care; and you cannot begin to love them as he loves them. They have but strayed in ignorance from the Path of Right, and God is merciful to ignorance. Only the fulness of knowledge brings the fulness of accountability. Our Heavenly Father is far more merciful, infinitely more charitable, than even the best of his servants, and the Everlasting gospel is mightier in power to save than our narrow finite minds can comprehend." (Conference Report, April 1929)
• HOW CAN WE RECOGNIZE THE EARLY SIGNS OF APOSTASY?
• HOW CAN AN INDIVIDUAL BREAK THE CYCLE OF APOSTASY?
• HOW MIGHT WE APPROPRIATELY HELP A FAMILY MEMBER OR FRIEND WHO SEEMS TO BE FALLING AWAY FROM THE TRUTH?

Deborah - The Strength Of A Righteous Friend

1. "And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (Judges 4:1). As a consequence of their apostasy, "the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan" (Judges 4:2) and the were oppressed for twenty years.
2. Deborah, a prophetess, judged Israel at this time.
3. Deborah called upon Barak to take 10,000 men and go up against the army of Jabin, led by Sisera.
• WHAT CONDITION DID BARAK REQUIRE IF HE WAS TO TAKE ON THIS ASSIGNMENT?
• "If thou wilt go with me, then I will go" (Judges 4:8).
• WHY TO YOU SUPPOSE BARAK WAS WILLING TO FACE SISERA IF DEBORAH WOULD GO WITH HIM?
• It always helps to have a prophet along when you go into battle against an enemy.
• It helps to take on a challenge when you have the support of good friends and family.
4. READ JUDGES 4:13-16. Barak's army goes into battle and defeats Sisera's army.
5. HOW WAS DEBORAH A TRUE FRIEND TO BARAK?
• She entrusted him with a difficult assignment.
• She had faith in him that he could be successful in carrying out this assignment.
• She didn't just send him, but was willing to go with him.
• She inspired him, "Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee?" (4:14)
6. HOW HAVE FRIENDS AND/OR FAMILY MEMBERS HELPED YOU FACE DIFFICULT CHALLENGES OR OBEY THE LORD'S COMMANDMENTS?
• As a teenager, the friends I spent most of my time with, helped fashion the direction of my life. We weren't perfect kids, but we did keep each other on the straight and narrow. The goal for each of us was to serve a mission and be married in the temple. Most of us did that. We encouraged each other in our endeavors. True friends inspire us to be the best we can be and to follow the commandments.

Gideon - The Strength Of Faith In God

1. JUDGES 6:1: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years."
• The Midianites and Amalekites were a roving people of the desert.
• For seven years they invaded Israel during the harvest season, like swarms of locusts, and carried away their grain and livestock.
• Israel adopted every means to conceal themselves. They even made caverns to hide in.
2. Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites (6:7).
• Through a prophet the Lord stated: "...ye have not obeyed my voice." (6:10)
3. READ 6:11-13. Angel appears to Gideon. Gideon asks where are the miracles of the past.
• HOW DID GIDEON RESPOND WHEN THE ANGEL ASSURED HIM THAT THE LORD WAS WITH HIM?
• He asked: Why then has all this befallen us? Where are the miracles of the past?
• DO WE SOMETIMES FEEL THIS WAY, THAT MIRACLES ARE A THING OF THE PAST?
• Consider the great miracles of modern Church history: Brigham transfigured as Joseph in Nauvoo, spiritual experiences at Kirtland temple, deliverance from the crickets.
• AS THE HISTORY OF OUR DAY IS WRITTEN AND CARRIED TO FUTURE GENERATIONS, WHAT EVENTS WILL LIKELY TO BE HIGHLIGHTED? ARE THERE ANY?
• The opening of the nations of the world to the missionary work.
• The building and opening of so many temples.
• Our modern prophets.
• WHAT IS OUR ROLE IN THESE MIRACLES?
• READ MORONI 7:35-38. Faith.
• IF WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SPECTACULAR MIRACLES, HOW MIGHT THAT AFFECT OUR ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE MORE QUIET ONES? HOW CAN WE LEARN TO RECOGNIZE THE QUIET MIRACLES IN OUR LIVES?
4. Gideon called to save Israel from the hand of the Midianites (6:14-16).
5. READ 6:20-23. The power of the Lord confirmed to Gideon.
• It appears that there may have been some doubt in the mind of Gideon that this was in fact an angel of the Lord. In v17 Gideon had asked for a sign.
6. Gideon sends out a call to four of the tribes for an army to cast out the Midianites (6:35).
7. Gideon and his army make camp near the "host" of the Midianites.
• READ 7:2. The Lord requires Gideon to reduce his army so that the hand of the Lord would be recognized in Israel's success.
• Started with 32,000.
• Reduced to 10,000. The "fearful" & "afraid" were asked to depart.
• The Lord wants the army reduced even further. Selection made by how each man drank. Those that brought their hands to their mouth were chosen to remain with the army.
• This reduced the army to 300.
• I think that if I were Gideon, I would have questioned the wisdom of the Lord in reducing the army to less than 1% of its original size. The fact that Gideon followed the instructions of the Lord is a testimony of his faith and that he was convinced of the power of the Lord.
• THIS RAISES A QUESTION FOR US: DO WE SOMETIMES NOT PERCEIVE THE HAND OF THE LORD IN OUR LIVES, BECAUSE IT APPEARS THAT WE HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO HANDLE THE TASKS BEFORE US?
8. The Lord commands Gideon to prepare for the Midianites, for they are delivered into his hand (7:9).
• The Midianites/Amalekites appeared to be a formidable army.
• They laid "along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude" (7:12)
• The "camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side" (7:12)
• The 300 divided into 3 companies. A trumpet was put into the had of every man, along with a pitcher and a lamp to be placed in the empty pitcher.
• READ 7:20-22. The attack begins.
• I am reminded of the Utah War and how a few men were able to slow the progress of Johnston's army.
• After this startling beginning, the host was then pursued. Those men that had been previously dismissed now joined in the pursuit.
• 120,000 men of the east (Midianites and others) were destroyed.
9. Gideon called upon by Israel to be king. People seem to love military heroes and want them as their leader.
• Gideon's noble response: "I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you" (8:23).
• Gideon may well have understood that great Book of Mormon principle regarding the potential difficulties that frequently arise from a monarchy.
• After Gideon's death, his son Abimelech, killed all but one of Gideon's sons and became king of the Shechem and ruled over Israel wickedly. Eventually he was destroyed.
10. The story of Gideon once again provides proof of Nephi's statement, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" (1 Nephi 3:7).
• LeGrand Richards: "Over fifty years ago I heard Elder James E. Talmage tell this story. It has remained with me all these years. He told about a group of tourists or travelers in the Alps who were snowbound. The Lord sent an angel to a monk and told him about these people, asking him to go and rescue them. The answer was, "Why?" And the minute he said "Why," the angel disappeared. He went to the second monk and delivered the same message, and the answer was, "How?" And the angel disappeared. He went to the third and delivered the same message, and the monk said, "When?" And the angel remained and delivered his message.
• "It shouldn't be for us to say, when the call of the Lord comes or when we understand a command that is given to us through the prophets of God, "How can we do it?" or "Why does he ask us to do it?" but "When, oh, God the Eternal Father, as thy son or daughter, wouldst thou have me do the thing that thou hast commanded?" (CR, Oct. 1964)

Samson - The Strength of Covenants & Consequences Of Breaking Them

1. Judges 13:1: "And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years."
2. An angel appears to the wife of Manoah, a Danite.
• READ JUDGES 13:3-5. She was to bear a son, a deliverer.
• A Nazarite was one who was consecrated to the Lord.
• Judges13:24: "And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him."
3. Samson goes down among the Philistines.
• Judges 14:5-6: "Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. "And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done."
• WHAT WAS THE SOURCE OF SAMSON'S POWER?
4. Samson marries a wife of the Philistines (see Chapter 14).
• At the 7 day wedding feast Samson proposed a riddle.
• His wife revealed the answer to the 30 Philistine guests to save her own life and Samson lost the wager.
• In his anger he went down to Ashkelon and slew 30 men and took their spoils to pay his wager.
• In the mean time, Samson's father-in-law gave Samson's wife to his best man at the wedding.
• This story begins to tell us a little about Samson. This was a man who had been blessed with great power and destiny. Yet he married a Philistine, interacted with them, and smothe them only when it suited his personal desire.
5. After Samson's father-in-law informed him that his wife had been given to another, Samson caused that the corn fields of the Philistines be burned (see Chapter 15).
• When the Philistines discovered the cause of the burning they took Samson's wife and her father and burned them.
• The Philistines then came and camped against Judah in search of Samson. They bound him and turned him over to the Philistines.
• Judges 15:14-15: "And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men thereith."
6. Samson fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, Delilah (see Chapter 16).
• The lords of the Philistines came to Delilah and asked her to find the secret of Samson's strength. They offered her 1100 pieces of silver.
• Three times Delilah asked Samson the source of his strength and three times he deceived her.
• READ JUDGES 16:15-17. Samson finally reveals the source of his strength. Delilah causes his head to be shaven while he was asleep.
• "...and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him" (16:19).
7. The Philistines took and bound him, brought him to Gaza, "and he did grind in the prison house" (16:21).
• Verse 22 says that "the hair of his head began to grow again".
• The Philistines called Samson forth from the prison to make sport of him.
• READ 16:28. Samson calls upon the Lord for strength.
• Samson was placed between 2 pillars which supported the building. He collapsed the pillars causing 3,000 to die, including himself.

Some Lessons To Be Learned From The Story of Samson

1. WHAT WAS THE REAL CAUSE OF SAMSON'S DOWNFALL?
• D&C 3:4: "For although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do many mighty works, yet if he boasts in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him."
2. WHY, AFTER SAMSON KNEW THAT DELILAH HAD TRIED THREE TIMES TO BETRAY HIM, DID HE TELL HER THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH?
• See Judges 16:15-17.
• "How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me?"
• "She pressed him daily with her words, and urged him".
• Contrast Samson's response to Delilah with Joseph's response to Potipher's wife (see Gen. 39:7-12).
3. DO WE HAVE PERSISTENT TEMPTATIONS?
• DO WE EVER GIVE IN?
• WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE VIOLATE OUR COVENANTS?
• Like Samson, we lose our promised blessings.
• HOW CAN WE RESIST OR OVERCOME PERSISTENT TEMPTATIONS?
• In the case of Joseph, he removed himself from the scene.
4. As we ponder this story, we should consider our Patriarchal Blessings. Do we do things that lead us away from our intended destiny?
• Samson might have been the greatest leader in Israel since Joshua, but his selfish self-centered life led him down a far different path.

Summary

After claiming their inheritance under the leadership of Joshua, the ancient Israelites fell into a cycle of apostasy. As modern Israelites, we are also subject to that cycle unless we strive diligently to keep the commandments. We can either be like Gideon who had great faith in the Lord and trusted in his promises, or we can be like Samson who did not honor his covenants and lost his destiny.

Next Week

Lesson 20: Ruth; 1 Samuel 1

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