Jephthah’s story is both triumph and tragedy. The author of Judges recounts Jephthah’s life in such a way that his “victory is swallowed up in death.” But Jephthah’s story is just prologue to the best story. His life illustrates the inability of all other saviors to deliver us from our worst enemy. 

He prepares us for another judge who will rise to deliver his people. Like Jephthah, this judge will be despised and rejected by his brothers. His own people will drive him away. He too will die alone with no posterity, and sin and death will appear to continue their tyrannous reign on earth. 

But Jesus is not Jephthah! Death is not the final word for the one who kept himself “unspotted from the world.” In Jesus, “death is swallowed up in victory”! His resurrection from the dead is God’s victory over the enemies of sin, death, and the devil. So now this victory, and not death, has become the final world for the people of God—including Jephthah—who were once enslaved to sin and held captive by the grave.

Four takeaway truths we glean from this passage about Abimelech:

1. Abimelech’s dark chapter in Israel’s history harbors this lovely truth about God: that he is loyal to his own beyond death. 

2. Abimelech’s story illustrates how deeply God cares about the unity of his people.

3. Abimelech’s life warns us of the internal danger of sin. 

4. Abimelech prepares us for the incomparable Jesus.

This week we saw the wonders of the Lord’s sovereign mercy and grace in Judges 6–8; his grace is much greater and higher than all of our sins and our shortcomings. The Lord, in sovereign grace and mercy, called Gideon, calmed his fears, clothed him with the Spirit of God. But, also in grace, he kept stacking the deck against his people. Why? So that God could get all the glory for the victory rather than leaving an opportunity for boasting about strategy or leadership tactics or their own strength. Israel would not be able to boast that they won by the strength of their numbers, but would give thanks to God and his mighty power, grace and sovereign mercy in the victory. We even saw God’s grace in the perfectly timed hearing of a nightmare expressly naming Gideon as victorious by God’s hand.

He uses fallen, unwilling, weak, fearful and frail people as jars of clay. God often calls people like us, who are often under-resourced from a human perspective so that we will trust in the One with all the resources and hope in God alone. God loves to use human weakness to display his strength and grace. With Moses, with Gideon and with us, God chooses the weak instead of the strong, the foolish and fearful instead of the wise and brave, and clothes us with his Spirit. Why? "… we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." —2 Corinthians 4:7

Mothers wear many hats and juggle many jobs. How do we find hope, focus, and endurance in the whirlwind of life's responsibilities? We'll consider Christ's call to the weary as well as look for practical ways to fix our hope on Him even when our days are so full.

View the handout Amy mentions here.

Judges 4-5 reminds us that in the midst of our own sins and failures, God’s mercy and might move through the most unexpected deliverer to redeem us from the enemy of our soul. 

• As women who fear and follow the God who saves, courageously meet the challenge God puts before you, knowing that he himself goes with you and fights for you.

What the author of Judges observed is much like what Jesus observed when he looked over the multitudes of people following him. As Jesus said, “They are like sheep with no shepherd,” (Matt 9:36) so the author of Judges said, they were a nation with no King.”

And in the absence of a king, in the absence of good leaders and shepherds, there is no end to the trouble the nation will get into.

In Judges 2, one generation of promise-breakers dies, and a new generation who “forgot the Lord” (3:7) replaces them. Soon, those un-demolished altars of chapter 1 ensnare this new generation, and they begin to worship pagan gods at these shrines. As a result, God faithfully enacts the covenant curses of which he had repeatedly warned Israel. He strengthens enemies to afflict them, and in “terrible distress,” (2:15) Israel cries out to God. In chapter 3, God mercifully raises up a series of three judges to save his people from three enemies.

To kick off a new season of MOMS, our Minister for Women, Pam Larson unpacks this year's theme verse:

But this I call to mind,

—Lamentations 3:21–24

Three Keys for Reading Judges:

1—Remember, you have a King!

2—Remember, Judges depicts Israel’s downward spiral into moral collapse.

3—Remember, there is always reason to hope:

• Unity between the Tribes

Dr. David Howard helps us get an overarching sense of the book of Judges as we head into our study this Fall. He begins with the theme of the book—the downward spiral of Israel’s national and spiritual life into chaos and apostasy, showing the need for a godly king to lead it—and helps us to see how it was written in order to show the consequences of religious apostasy and to point the way to a king, who, if he were righteous, would lead the people to God.

Dr. Howard teaches Old Testament and Hebrew courses in the M.Div. and M.A. programs at Bethlehem College and Seminary. Previously, he taught for 28 years at Bethel Seminary, where he is now Professor of Old Testament Emeritus.

This week we considered what our life will be like in eternity. Although we may have some funny misperceptions (floating on a cloud with a harp?), the reality that we observed in our text is full of rich delight and soul-stirring joy.

We noted these five elements in Revelation 21:9–27:

• Wedding (verses 9-10): The wedding supper of the Lamb inaugurates a relationship of communion and love with Christ that will grow and grow in endless joy and satisfaction.

To sum up: Life with Christ in the new heavens and new earth will satisfy every true desire and fulfill every promise of God.