So the Israelites leave Egypt and come to the land they would eventually claim as their own, scratching out a living as a confederation of tribes with no central government. The book of Judges ends with a somber analysis of this state of affairs: “Each person did what was right in their own eyes.” The people bellyache for a king, so God gives them a king; naturally, the guy who is head-and-shoulders taller than everybody else. Things go from bad to worse. God predicts that the king will let his power go to his head, and that’s exactly what happens. So eventually, God says that He will choose a new king…
…except that king does some even worse things than the first one. What ARE you thinking, God?!?
Lecture: Samuel and the Judges [52 mins]
This lecture was recorded in July 2016 for the Zion Evangelical Bible School in Khayelitsha, South Africa.
Reading the Old Testament 