The book of Judges bustles with colorful characters.
To Christian readers Judges is interesting, sometimes inspiring, but also puzzling. What message should we take from it? How are we to understand the ambiguous spirituality of the judges themselves? What was God doing during this wayward period between Joshua and Samuel?
With wit, insight and sensitivity to the narrator's art, Michael Wilcock answers these and other questions. God himself is the Judge, he argues, who transcends the uncertain record of human judges. He is the principal actor in this drama. Always ready to respond to those who call on him, he takes the initiative and uses raw human resources to preserve Israel from her enemies and shape the nation for his purpose.
In exposing the twists and turns and nuances of this story, Wilcock sends us back to Judges with a renewed quest, not only to rediscover the story of God and Israel, but to find fresh perspective on the ways of God and his church in a post-Christian world.
General preface
Author's preface
Chief abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Lord, the Judge - 1:1-3:6
2. Ehud: the rule of the left hand - 3:7-31
3. Deborah and Barak: the 'us-and-them' distinction - 4:1-5:31
4. Gideon: overwhelming odds - 6:1-8:35
5. Abimelech: something completely different - 9:1-10:5
6. Jephthah: a man of his word - 10:6-12:15
7. Samson: set apart for God - 13:1-16:31
8. The top and bottom of it - 17:1-21:25
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