TPT The Books of Judges and Ruth E-Book

Brian Simmons

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: The Passionate Life Bible Study Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 175

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

The books of Judges and Ruth chronicle God's power and love shining brightly in a dark, chaotic time. Explore rich faith examples of champion-deliverers rising to rescue God's people and a love story revealing God's faithfulness amid famine. These moments of revival in history inspire us to live in breakthrough and active faith today. This 12-lesson study guide on the books of Judges and Ruth, designed for both individual and group study, provides a unique and welcoming opportunity to immerse yourself in God's precious Word as expressed in The Passion Translation®. Begin your journey with a thorough introduction that details the authorship of Judges and Ruth, date of composition, first recipients, setting, purpose, central message, and key themes. The lessons then walk you through every portion from the book and include features such as notable verses, historical and cultural background information, definitions of words and language, cross references to other books of the Bible, and character portraits of figures from the Bible and church history. Enrich your biblical understanding of the books of Judges and Ruth, experience God's love for you, and share his heart with others.  

Leseprobe

BroadStreet Publishing® Group, LLC

Savage, Minnesota, USA

BroadStreetPublishing.com

TPT: The Books of Judges and Ruth: 12-Lesson Bible Study Guide

Copyright © 2024 BroadStreet Publishing Group

9781424567621 (softcover)

9781424567638 (ebook)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Unless indicated otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017, 2018, 2020 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Stock or custom editions of BroadStreet Publishing titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, ministry, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email [email protected].

General editor: Brian Simmons

Managing editor: William D. Watkins

Writer: Matthew A. Boardwell

Cover and interior by Garborg Design Works | garborgdesign.com

Printed in China

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Contents

From God’s Heart to Yours

Why I Love the Books of Judges and Ruth

Lesson 1

Downward Spiral

Lesson 2

The Noble and the Assassin

Lesson 3

A Pair of Heroines

Lesson 4

The Reluctant Warrior

Lesson 5

Rise and Fall of the Underdog

Lesson 6

Israel’s First King

Lesson 7

The Young and the Reckless

Lesson 8

The Original Avenger

Lesson 9

Idol Hands

Lesson 10

We Need a King

Lesson 11

Homecoming

Lesson 12

Redeemed

Endnotes

From God’s Heart to Yours

“God is love,” says the apostle John, and “Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him” (1 John 4:7). The life of a Christ-follower is, at its core, a life of love—God’s love of us, our love of him, and our love of others and ourselves because of God’s love for us.

And this divine love is reliable, trustworthy, unconditional, other-centered, majestic, forgiving, redemptive, patient, kind, and more precious than anything else we can ever receive or give. It characterizes each person of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and so is as limitless as they are. They love one another with this eternal love, and they reach beyond themselves to us, created in their image with this love.

How do we know such incredible truths? Through the primary source of all else we know about the one God—his Word, the Bible. Of course, God reveals who he is through other sources as well, such as the natural world, miracles, our inner life, our relationships (especially with him), those who minister on his behalf, and those who proclaim him to us and others. But the fullest and most comprehensive revelation we have of God and from him is what he has given us in the thirty-nine books of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) and the twenty-seven books of the Christian Scriptures (the New Testament). Together, these sixty-six books present a compelling and telling portrait of God and his dealings with us.

It is these Scriptures that The Passionate Life Bible Study Series is all about. Through these study guides, we—the editors and writers of this series—seek to provide you with a unique and welcoming opportunity to delve more deeply into God’s precious Word, encountering there his loving heart for you and all the others he loves. God wants you to know him more deeply, to love him more devoutly, and to share his heart with others more frequently and freely. To accomplish this, we have based this study guide series on The Passion Translation of the Bible, which strives to “reintroduce the passion and fire of the Bible to the English reader. It doesn’t merely convey the literal meaning of words. It expresses God’s passion for people and his world by translating the original, life-changing message of God’s Word for modern readers.” It has been created to “kindle in you a burning desire to know the heart of God, while impacting the church for years to come.”1

In each study guide, you will find an introduction to the Bible book it covers. There you will gain information about that Bible book’s authorship, date of composition, first recipients, setting, purpose, central message, and key themes. Each lesson following the introduction will take a portion of that Bible book and walk you through it so you will learn its content better while experiencing and applying God’s heart for your own life and encountering ways you can share his heart with others. Along the way, you will come across a number of features we have created that provide opportunities for more life application and growth in biblical understanding.

  Experience God’s Heart

This feature focuses questions on personal application. It will help you live out God’s Word and to bring the Bible into your world in fresh, exciting, and relevant ways.

  Share God’s Heart

This feature will help you grow in your ability to share with other people what you learn and apply in a given lesson. It provides guidance on using the lesson to grow closer to others and to enrich your fellowship with others. It also points the way to enabling you to better listen to the stories of others so you can bridge the biblical story with their stories.

  The Backstory

This feature provides ancient historical and cultural background that illuminates Bible passages and teachings. It deals with then-pertinent religious groups, communities, leaders, disputes, business trades, travel routes, customs, nations, political factions, ancient measurements and currency…in short, anything historical or cultural that will help you better understand what Scripture says and means.

  Word Wealth

This feature provides definitions for and other illuminating information about key terms, names, and concepts, and how different ancient languages have influenced the biblical text. It also provides insight into the different literary forms in the Bible, such as prophecy, poetry, narrative history, parables, and letters, and how knowing the form of a text can help you better interpret and apply it. Finally, this feature highlights the most significant passages in a Bible book. You may be encouraged to memorize these verses or keep them before you in some way so you can actively hide God’s Word in your heart.

  Digging Deeper

This feature explains the theological significance of a text or the controversial issues that arise and mentions resources you can use to help you arrive at your own conclusions. Another way to dig deeper into the Word is by looking into the life of a biblical character or another person from church history, showing how that man or woman incarnated a biblical truth or passage. For instance, Jonathan Edwards was well known for his missions work among native American Indians and for his intellectual prowess in articulating the Christian faith, Florence Nightingale for the reforms she brought about in healthcare, Irenaeus for his fight against heresy, Billy Graham for his work in evangelism, Moses for the strength God gave him to lead the Hebrews and receive and communicate the law, and Deborah for her work as a judge in Israel. This feature introduces to you figures from the past who model what it looks like to experience God’s heart and share his heart with others.

  The Extra Mile

While The Passion Translation’s notes are extensive, sometimes students of Scripture like to explore more on their own. In this feature, we provide you with opportunities to glean more information from a Bible dictionary, a Bible encyclopedia, a reliable Bible online tool, another ancient text, and the like. Here you will learn how you can go the extra mile on a Bible lesson. And not just in study either. Reflection, prayer, discussion, and applying a passage in new ways provide even more opportunities to go the extra mile. Here you will find questions to answer and applications to make that will require more time and energy from you—if and when you have them to give.

As you can see above, each of these features has a corresponding icon so you can quickly and easily identify them.

You will find other helps and guidance through the lessons of these study guides, including thoughtful questions, application suggestions, and spaces for you to record your own reflections, answers, and action steps. Of course, you can also write in your own journal, notebook, computer document, or other resource, but we have provided you with space for your convenience.

Also, each lesson will direct you toward the introductory material and numerous notes provided in The Passion Translation. There each Bible book contains a number of aids supplied to help you better grasp God’s words and his incredible love, power, knowledge, plans, and so much more. We want you to get the most out of your Bible study, especially using it to draw you closer to the One who loves you most.

Finally, at the end of each lesson you’ll find a section called “Talking It Out.” This contains questions and exercises for application that you can share, answer, and apply with your spouse, a friend, a coworker, a Bible study group, or any other individuals or groups who would like to walk with you through this material. As Christians, we gather together to serve, study, worship, sing, evangelize, and a host of other activities. We grow together, not just on our own. This section will give you ample opportunities to engage others with some of the content of each lesson so you can work it out in community.

We offer all of this to support you in becoming an even more faithful and loving disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple in the ancient world was a student of her teacher, a follower of his master. Students study, and followers follow. Jesus’ disciples are to sit at his feet and listen and learn and then do what he tells them and shows them to do. We have created The Passionate Life Bible Study Series to help you do what a disciple of Jesus is called to do.

So go.

Read God’s words.

Hear what he has to say in them and through them. Meditate on them.

Hide them in your heart.

Display their truths in your life.

Share their truths with others.

Let them ignite Jesus’ passion and light in all you say and do.

Use them to help you fulfill what Jesus called his disciples to do: “Now wherever you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And teach them to faithfully follow all that I have commanded you. And never forget that I am with you every day, even to the completion of this age” (Matthew 28:19–20).

And through all of this, let Jesus’ love nourish your heart and allow that love to overflow into your relationships with others (John 15:9–13). For it was for love that Jesus came, served, died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. This love he gives us. And this love he wants us to pass along to others.

Why I Love the Books of Judges and Ruth

The times we live in are filled with challenges and moral choices. We seem to be living in an era of darkness that can only be lifted by the light of truth and grace. The two books, Judges and Ruth, are clearly a parallel universe to our present day. Here are some of the similarities:

The people of God are facing mounting pressure to submit to the powers that be.

The intercessory cries are rising for God to intervene.

Enemies surround God’s people, waiting for them to fall.

But an answer is on the way—

deliverers

!

The Hebrew word shophetim, or “judges,” can also be translated as “avengers” or “deliverers.” One ancient translation renders it “saviors.” The term describes the various men and women who distinguished themselves in Israel during the time period between the book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom in 1 Samuel. For four hundred years, Israel had no king or prophet to guide them. Instead, twelve consecutive judges led them. This era continued into the time of the book of Ruth.

But the Hebrew word for “judge” has little comparison to the Western concept of a judge, one who sits on the bench judging court cases argued by trained lawyers. The twelve judges have a parallel with the twelve apostles of Jesus. The book of Judges can be viewed as an apostolic manual for “last days” ministries. The judges were forerunners of the kingdom. God has promised that he will restore the era of deliverers (judges) in the last days to bring the church into complete victory (see Isaiah 1:26; Obadiah 21).

I like the books of Judges and Ruth (most likely written by the prophet Samuel) because they serve to warn the mind of the ease with which our human frailty and wandering ways can turn us from YAHWEH. Yet these books also serve to warm the heart by shining a bright revelation-light on our Savior’s unspeakable compassion and long-suffering in the face of apostasy and disobedience.

Judges and Ruth show us that God uses imperfect people. He looks for those who are available, teachable, and obedient. Each of the judges had some form of weakness or handicap that would disqualify him or her in the eyes of some. But God looks on the heart and specifically chose each one to demonstrate his power flowing through human weakness. Yet while there was little to inspire us about their moral character, we do find a fount of faith flowing from their lives.

Although Judges exposes the many failures of God’s people, it also reveals the faith of champions who chose to challenge the status quo, trusting in God’s sovereign goodness and revealing his mighty power. The secret of their success was the anointing of the Holy Spirit (Judges 6:34) combined with an active faith in YAHWEH. In fact, four of the deliverers are mentioned in the “Hall of Faith” found in Hebrews 11:32. As the book reveals: “Through faith’s power they conquered kingdoms and established true justice. . . . It was faith that shut the mouth of lions, put out the power of raging fire, and caused many to escape certain death by the sword. Although weak, their faith imparted power to make them strong!” (Hebrews 11:33–34).

By our Jewish friends, Judges is classified among the books of the Bible known as the “Former Prophets” (which also includes Joshua, Samuel, and Kings). This means that the content of Judges can be considered prophecy. This book prophesizes to the church today (1 Corinthians 10:11), instructing us of the ways of God through the voices of champion-deliverers who believed the Word of YAHWEH, confronted his people’s enemies, and fought for their deliverance.

And who does not like a love story? The book of Ruth is endearing, engaging, and instructive on many levels. We see the covenant love Ruth demonstrated to her grieving mother-in-law Naomi. We see the incredible love God has for his people Israel (and for us today) in how he preserved them in days of darkness, despair, and famine. And we see the love Boaz had for Ruth, a gentile. He becomes a clear picture of our heavenly Boaz, Jesus Christ, our kinsman Redeemer.

How rich we are when we study these two books. They will challenge us to rise in greater faith to deliver others from darkness. And they will challenge us to remain filled with hope when gloom hangs over the land. I know you’re going to love these books as I do. So enjoy your journey through Judges and Ruth!

Brian Simmons

General editor

LESSON 1

Downward Spiral

(Judges 1:1–3:6)

The American Western was a favorite film and television genre for decades. A courageous generation settling untamed territory captured the imagination of their settled descendants. The independence and freedom of that bygone society still holds appeal. At the same time, the frontier held challenges and dangers, such as shootouts, brothels, barfights, isolation, epidemics, vigilantism, and public hangings. Undeveloped society offers both sweeping possibilities and questionable morality. It wasn’t called the Wild West for nothing.

The biblical book of Judges is the Wild West era of Israel’s history. It is an era of settlers and frontier justice. It describes a time before ordered society, before fixed territories, before defined authority, when survival trumped stability. Consequently, this biblical book includes more brutality, sexual violence, religious chaos, lawlessness, and oppression than any other in Scripture.

In some ways, the harshness makes the lessons of Judges difficult to grasp. Modern readers have not experienced a society that is anything like Israelite society during that era. Furthermore, we don’t want to. However, as current world conflicts show us, human depravity is unchanged. Society is fragile. Wild West living can resurface without much notice, especially when we reject the organizing principles of God’s Word.

A God-Governed People

At the end of Joshua’s conquest, the major cities and prominent kings of Canaan were conquered, but the task of settling the promised land was incomplete. While the Israelites had established their dominance over their new territory, there remained many strongholds to subdue. Although the tribal allotments had been clearly laid out, each of the twelve tribes had the task of driving out any remaining inhabitants in order to dwell peacefully in the land.

In only two generations, the people of Israel went from being chattel slaves to a nation of conquerors. They went from living in subservience to possessing and ruling their own land. In one generation, they went from camping in the wilderness living on miracle food from heaven to the responsibilities of maintaining, managing, and producing their own resources. The transition was swift and rough.

Moses brought Israel out of Egypt.

Joshua brought them into their new land.

Who would lead them forward?

During this steep learning curve, no capital city, no penal system, no human executive, no common infrastructure, no official currency, and no standing army existed. In such a situation, the reader could be forgiven for thinking there was no government.

However, God did not bring this people into the promised land only to abandon them there. In order for the Israelites to govern themselves, God gave them unique tools for ordering their society—tools they would need to fully embrace and utilize. They had the Torah. They had the priesthood. And they had the Lord himself.

The Torah (the Bible’s first five books) was their chief asset. The Book of Law given through Moses included their ethnic and cultural history. It highlighted their exceptional place among the people of the world as God’s chosen people. As such, they were required to live God’s way, so the Torah also spelled out an ethical system of laws and obligations. The Law provided policies for virtually every aspect of life and restrictions to remind them of their uniqueness in the world, as well as penalties and remedies for violations.

God ordained the tribe of Levi, and especially its priestly class, to oversee the implementation of this new way of life. Their religious duties performed on behalf of the nation were meant to continually remind the people of God’s character and requirements. Those duties included leading Israel in worship, proclaiming God’s ways, dispensing his justice, and representing the people before God.

Hovering over these organizing resources, Israel had the favor of YAHWEH. If they loved and followed him, he would continue to care for them personally. He would fight for them in battle. He would prosper their work. He would bless their crops. He would expand their reign over the region. With their cooperation, he would exalt them above all the other nations. Simply looking at Israel would give the world an example of God’s faithfulness, power, and love.

If they honored him, he would honor them.

If.

The biblical book of Judges is a collection of historical accounts from this transition period of Hebrew history. It is the narrative of a nation settling. Settling their land, of course, but also settling for less. Israel settled for less obedience than God required, less territory than God gave them, and less blessing than God desired for them.

Israel’s Fail Reel