Why You Should Read The Book Of Judges Series

"WHY YOU SHOULD READ THE BOOK OF JUDGES"

TEXT: THE BOOK OF JUDGES

INTRODUCTION

This month we will be studying the book of Judges. The book of Judges covers the period from 1380 BC to 1050 BC. From the time of the death of Joshua and his elders, until the rise of King Saul.

The principle theme of the book of Judges is "FAILURE THROUGH COMPROMISE" which is in direct contrast to the theme of Joshua which Is, "VICTORY THROUGH FAITH".

Now I know that not everyone likes to read, some do and some don’t. And of those who like to read, I will venture to say that only a small percentage choose to read the books of the Old Testament. After all, why bother reading from books written over 3,000 years ago, when there are so many "relevant" books today, right?

What I’d like to do today, is to encourage each one here to take part in the reading of this book for the month of May.

Now, if you believe the Bible and if you believe that scripture, that the Word of God is true, then you also believe this scripture found in II Timothy 3:15,16;

"ALL SCRIPTURE IS GOD BREATHED AND IS USEFUL FOR TEACHING, REBUKING, CORRECTING AND TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, SO THAT THE MAN OF GOD MAY BE THOROUGHLY EQUIPPED FOR EVERY GOOD WORK."

The book of Judges is scripture , it is God Breathed, and it has useful teachings within it’s pages, that are designed to help us to be equipped for every area of our Christian life. What this scripture in II Timothy means, is that if we don’t read all of scripture we will be missing out on many things that are designed to help us out. When we do this we are willingly closing ours ears to some of the very Words that our God and Father wants us to hear.

Therefore, we need to read all of the Bible, and this month I’d like you to read the book of Judges.

And today, I want to give you some further encouragement, by giving you three reasons why you should read the book of Judges.

I. THE BOOK OF JUDGES IS FULL OF EXCITING STORIES

Most Americans like exciting stories. Many times the best selling books and the most seen movies are those that are exciting and full of action. Many people just like excitement, they like the feeling of their heart pounding and their palms sweating. Some satisfy this need with things like a super roller coaster, Others try their hands at, or rather tie their feet at bungee jumping, and still others prefer the much more safe excitement offered by faced pace action packed stories.

And if the story happens to be a true story, then it has even more of an appeal. I understand that even now they are working on and finishing up a TV movie about the Branch Divinin Cult in Waco Texas.

Well if you like excitement, there are some stories in the book of Judges that many here have never heard of (true of course), and let me tell you they are far from dull. I’ll just share a few of them, to wet your appetite.

THERE IS A STORY IN JUDGES ABOUT A THUMBLESS AND TOE LESS KING.

Adoni-Bezek was a powerful King, His name means "Lord of Bezek", Bezek was a large portion of land within Cannan.

Now the Bible doesn’t describe for us what Adoni-Bezek looked like, but here is how I picture this infamous King. He was big guy, 6 feet 3 inches, probably weighed about 295 pounds. He has long unkept hair and a black unruly beard.

Adoni Bezek was a very powerful King, he was so powerful that he had in his lifetime defeated 70 other kings. He had a well trained force of fighting men that number into the tens of thousands.

Adoni-Bezek was also a very cruel King. And I am going to tell you just how cruel he was. Okay, do you have a mental picture of what he looks like. Now I want you to picture him at his dinner table, and remember what we are talking about isn’t Hollywood, it is a real event in history.

So here is King Adoni-Bezek eating dinner in a huge dinning hall about the size of this room probably. And he has a huge turkey drumstick in his mouth, he is holding a glass of wine in the other hand and he is just eating and laughing. And every now and then he would toss a scrap of food on to the floor and he would laugh even harder, as you heard the sound of movement and fighting over the food.

And if we were to look under the table, we would see the kings of those 70 kingdoms, with their toes and thumbs cut off. Seventy men who were once Kings living in their own palaces with servants attending them, reduced to living like wild animals fighting for scraps of food at the foot of their conqueror.