Watching the Bible Project video, it was clear that I was in for a rough ride with this one! I was grateful for the warning because a lot of the book of Judges is grim. It poses far more questions than it answers, and parts of it are deeply disturbing.

One notable character is Jael and her tent peg, which she drives through Sisera’s skull. It’s a pretty gorey and imaginative way to kill somebody.

Another is Gideon, who falls very quickly (in five verses) from refusing to be King to making an icon out of gold for the people to worship.

We’ve also got super strong Samson. Before he was born, an angel visited his (nameless) Mum, to tell her that the baby will be blessed by God. It has got the feeling of Mary and Gabriel about it. Eventually, Samson pulls down a house onto of himself and a whole load of Philistines, and dies.

I think this book, weird and unpleasant, shows how much humans can get it wrong. In the overall narrative, the tribes have settled in the promised land but just keep getting further and further away from God and his standards. Likewise, the judges start off helpful to the people, but the later ones just lead them into destruction. By the end of the book, it’s a right mess.

I chose the picture at the top because this book is about a dark and troublesome time in the Bible.

I didn’t read much of it out to Sophia. My favourite verse is: Judges 5.21 ‘March on, my soul, with might!’

With thanks to DerTobiSturmjagd on Pixabay for the photo.