Mtr Beth Clarke

Friends in Christ,

The Book of Judges pays remarkable attention to numbers. It counts years of oppression, years of peace, judges, armies, enemies, victories, and defeats.

Today’s reading invites us to keep count as well, as we watch Gideon’s army diminish from 32,000 soldiers to just 300. This reduction comes not through desertion or defeat, but by divine edict. From a military perspective, the odds become absurd. Gideon will face Midian’s 135,000 troops, outnumbered 450 to 1. From a theological perspective, however, the mismatch is precisely the point.

God does not reduce the army because God delights in impossible odds. God explains the reason plainly: “Israel would only take credit, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.'” God knows Israel will attribute victory to its own strength rather than to the One who delivers them.

Herein lies the central temptation of Judges. The book follows the same pattern again and again: Israel falls into the hands of its enemies, cries out for deliverance, God raises up a judge, peace follows, and before long the people forget the Lord and the cycle begins anew. Israel repeatedly places its trust in something other than the One who has delivered them: foreign gods, military strength, political alliances, even charismatic leaders. The sin beneath every cycle is eschewing God in favor of idolizing themselves.

Gideon’s story is especially significant because it stands at the center of the book. He is the fourth of the judges, and his story marks the hinge on which Judges turns. The judges before Gideon show promise, however imperfect. Those who follow become increasingly compromised, and Israel spirals toward catastrophe. The book’s refrain becomes hauntingly apt: “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”

Perhaps this is why we often skip Judges. It is not a comfortable book. Its violence unsettles us, its heroes disappoint us, and its portrayal of humanity feels all too familiar.

Throughout Judges, Israel keeps asking the same question: Who will save us? The book’s answer evokes the need for a new kind of leader. While these judges deliver Israel for a season, in the end, they all fall short. Eventually, readers long for a different kind of deliverer altogether. Centuries before the Gospels proclaim the Messiah, Judges has already taught us why we need one.

Yours in Christ,

—Mtr Beth