Written by Michael Kelley, Guest Contributor

“Then the Lord raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their attackers. Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves by worshiping other gods. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands.” Judges 2:16-17 NLT

You know their names – Gideon. Deborah. Samson.

These are the characters found in the book of Judges. But who were they as a whole? The Hebrew word for “judge” has a broader meaning than just acting judicially. It means “to govern, administer, and exercise leadership.” And that definition breaks into two parts of leading: internal and external.

These men and women were judging disagreements and issues among the people internally. Externally, it meant deliverance. So, the judges were people operating under God’s empowerment in local, tribal contexts. Yet none had the moral or spiritual constitution to return the people to God. In other words, Judges is not a book of heroes. It is a book of broken saviors. 

And we know what that’s like, too, don’t we? Because our lives are littered with broken saviors – they are all the unsatisfying solutions we look to for our deliverance.

When we sense an acute need, we think we have the solution. What are we doing with those solutions except trusting in another person or “thing” to be our savior? Or what if we think we are our saviors?

Time and time again, we find that all these “saviors”—money, position, relationships, pleasure, or even Gideon, Jephthah, or Samson—are broken and insufficient, unable to truly deliver us. So, we are forced to confront all the broken saviors in our lives and become disappointed.

But that disappointment can lead us to see something amazing: In the book of Judges, we find the determination of God.

We can see God’s abject, steady, and faithful determination. He is immeasurably more committed to His people than we are to Him. It is a remarkable testimony to God’s faithfulness that He would continue in this cycle with His people despite their (and our) consistent fickleness. 

In His determination, God has given us the only Savior we need.

• We don’t need a savior like Gideon, who, though he conquered the armies of Midian with a miraculously small army, was so fearful and doubting that he demanded signs from God three times before he went out. Gideon is not a savior.
  
  • We need a Savior who resolutely turned His face and made His way to Jerusalem, even knowing what awaited Him there. 
• We don’t need a savior like Jephthah, who struck bargains with those around him and even God Himself to gain victory. Jephthah is not a savior.
  • We need a Savior who bent low the night before His death and prayed, in faith, that not His will but God’s be done.
• We don’t need a savior like Samson, who could never muster the spiritual strength to overcome his fleshly appetite despite having incredible physical strength. Samson is not a savior.
  
  • We need a Savior who, though He could have called upon armies of angels to rescue Him, willingly laid down His life for the very ones who were abandoning His lordship.

We need this kind of Savior because only a perfect Savior can deliver us.

The book of Judges calls us to recognize and abandon the imperfect saviors we have crafted for ourselves, considering God’s steadfast and determined commitment to His people for the perfect Savior.

And that is the Savior we find only in Jesus Christ.

Don’t settle for lesser saviors.

DIG DEEPER
Read “Summary of the Book of Judges” at GotQuestions.org