|Judges - 04 Early Departure and Ephesus| Early Departure and
Ephesus Judges opens with a description of new conditions that
had never before existed in Israel. Prior to this point, they
had leaders such as Moses and Joshua who God had clearly raised
up to deliver them from their enemies and to give them Divine
guidance. Now, after the death of Joshua (Judges 1:1), God
expected them to seek guidance directly from Him. They began by
doing so, and if they had continued to do so, they would not
have ended by doing what was right in their own eyes (ch.
21:25). Even though there was no king in Israel, God never
intended to leave them with no source for Divine authority or
means of giving clear direction to His people. Why the Judges?
It helps us in our study of this book to seek to understand why
the events of this book follow the possession of the land rather
than God immediately giving the people a king. We need to
understand that God’s ideal government for His people (and
eventually for the universe) is a theoc