New Book Background: Judges

Summary

---

PROCLAIM x BIBLEin365 – New Book Background: Judges

Date: May 8, 2026
Host: PROCLAIM x BIBLEin365 Team (Religious Teacher)
Pastoral Insight: James Kaddis (Pastoral Advisor)
Scripture Focus: Book of Judges

---

Episode Overview

This episode introduces the Book of Judges, providing essential background and thematic exploration as part of the BIBLEin365 journey. The teacher foregrounds Judges as a uniquely somber book, revealing recurring cycles of blessing, rebellion, judgment, and deliverance among God's people. Central to the message is the tragic reality of spiritual drift when God's authority is ignored, leading ultimately to societal chaos—a message that is pointedly connected to modern life.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Somber Tone and Repeated Cycle (00:01 – 02:55)

• Judges is described as "one of the most somber books in the Bible," despite its occasional stories of victory and conquest.
• The core issue is the repeated pattern: God blesses Israel; Israel becomes self-sufficient and forgets God; judgment follows; Israel cries out; God delivers them—only for the cycle to repeat.
• Quote:

  "Judges does a phenomenal job at showing the nature of humanity, that when we are blessed by God, we tend to ignore the one who blessed us first. And it is poof. It is shocking. It makes literally no sense." (00:35)

2. The Heartbeat Verse: Judges 21:25 (01:24 – 03:00)

• Judges 21:25 is identified as the anchor:

  "In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

• The absence of a king points to the absence of God as sovereign, not merely the absence of human monarchy.
• A modern parallel is drawn with societal movements that reject all authority, interpreting it spiritually.
• Quote:

  "No king here translates to no God. Okay? And that's a very important aspect of what we're talking about." (02:30)

3. Modern Parallels & the "No King" Movement (02:57 – 04:45)

• The “No King” theme is related to current cultural attitudes, highlighting a tendency to reject any authority that restrains personal desires.
• This relativism leads to spiritual and societal instability.
• The repetitive cycle in Judges is described:

  "God blesses them. They get up there, 'I got this.' God says, 'Oh, do you really? Okay, you can have it.' They get judged. They fall down...then they get to the point where they're super blessed by God. 'I got this.'...It's the ebb and flow of self-sufficiency." (03:30)

4. Root Causes: Internal Rebellion, Not External Threats (04:46 – 07:14)

• The fundamental issue in Judges is internal rebellion against God's rule—not just attacks from external enemies.
• Sin cycles, rooted in rejecting God’s authority, define the book:

  "The real issue was internal rebellion. The real issue was that the people rejected God's authority and replaced it with personal opinion." (04:53)

• Judges 2:11–12 explicitly reveals the cause: the people forsake God for idols.

5. Spiritual Drift and Outcomes (05:51 – 07:25)

• Key Insight:

  "Spiritual Drift begins when God's authority is ignored." (05:51)

• Without submission to God, moral relativism takes over, leading to chaos:

  "Chaos is the natural result of everyone doing what feels right." (06:26)

6. The Consequence and Transition to Kingship (07:25 – 08:21)

• Judges ends on a tragic note, paving the way for Samuel and the era of kings in Israel—a development necessitated by hardened hearts.

• The people's desire for a human king is portrayed as a rejection of God’s kingship.

  "When you rebel against God, you reject his authority. And then you want to give yourself to authority that never should be had because you chose to ignore the benefits of the real authority because you wanted what you wanted for yourself." (07:57)

7. Modern Application and Personal Illustration (08:22 – 10:20)

• The teacher shares a contemporary example involving the aftermath of "Charlie was killed" and the resulting spiritual moment hijacked by opportunists.

• The parallel is drawn to the cycle in Judges: after God moves powerfully, some pursue personal gain, echoing "every man did what was right in his own eyes."

• The call is for listeners to take a different path—remaining submitted to God.

  "May it be said of us that we do not become the people that existed in the day of the Judges. We can't afford to become that." (10:04)

8. A Call to Submission—and Blessing (10:20 – End, 12:05)

• The episode concludes with a strong encouragement to yield to God as King, so as not to fall into the same chaos as in Judges.

• The blessing of God is linked directly to the heart’s posture of submission.

  "If we will submit to him and if we will say, 'Lord, you stand on the throne, you sit on the throne, you are king, and we yield ourselves to that,' then we will never get to the place where we see what happened in verse 25 of Judges 21." (10:20)

• Final charge: trust in God’s authority, keep reading the Word, and carry forth a legacy of worship and submission.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Judges does a phenomenal job at showing the nature of humanity, that when we are blessed by God, we tend to ignore the one who blessed us first." (00:35)
• "No king here translates to no God." (02:30)
• "Chaos is the natural result of everyone doing what feels right." (06:29)
• "Spiritual Drift begins when God's authority is ignored." (05:51)
• "May it be said of us that we do not become the people that existed in the day of the Judges. We can't afford to become that." (10:04)
• "May there always be a king in our life, the God of Heaven." (12:05)

---

Important Timestamps

• 00:01 – 02:55: Overview of Judges and its somber cycle.
• 02:57 – 04:45: Explanation of the “No King” theme; modern applications.
• 05:51 – 07:25: Spiritual drift and root cause of Israel's problems.
• 07:25 – 08:21: The end of Judges and shift to the era of Kings.
• 08:22 – 10:20: Modern analogy and warning not to repeat the cycle.
• 10:20 – 12:05: Encouragement to submit to God and final blessing.

---

Summary Conclusion

This episode delivers an engaging, thoughtful background for the Book of Judges, warning of the dangers of spiritual self-sufficiency and illustrating the ever-relevant cycle of blessing, rebellion, and restoration. The teacher connects ancient Israel’s story to present-day challenges, urging listeners to anchor their lives in submission to God’s sovereign rule to avoid chaos and drift. The foundational lesson: “No king meant no God”—may it never be so among us.

Transcript

[Religious Teacher]

All right, my Bible in 365 brothers and sisters, we have arrived at the Book of Judges. And folks, I have to tell you that the Book of Judges, in my opinion, may be one of the most somber books in the Bible. Now don't get me wrong, we see many stories in the Book of Judges, some of which represent victory, some of which represent conquest, some of which represent so many encouraging themes. But the problem in the Book of Judges is the pattern. The problem in the Book of Judges is when we see the blessing of God coming upon a people who then allow the blessing to get to their head. And when the blessing gets to their head, they go to God and they say, I got this. And it's amazing because in their minds they think they're big and tough and, and everything is going to be okay. When in reality, what's really being said, even though they don't hear it, is God. I got this. You know what I mean? Listen, that might just be an excuse to use a funny effect, but the one thing I want you to know is that Judges does a phenomenal job at showing the nature of humanity, that when we are blessed by God, we tend to ignore the one who blessed us first. And it is poof. It is shocking. It makes literally no sense. It makes literally no sense. I can give you even a modern day example of this, and I'm going to talk about it in a minute because I can promise you when I give you this example, it is going to hit very, very close to home. But if I were to find a passage in the Book of Judges and that creates what, in my opinion is a phenomenal and accurate anchoring point, it would be verse 25 of Judges, chapter 21. And again, this is extraordinarily heartbreaking. Very, very sad. But it is reflective of a very specific condition. Okay? And it's important that we understand that. Look what it says in Judges 21, verse 25, it says, in those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Now this is important because a lot of people will say that because there was no king, this is why they choose. They chose to follow their own morality. But no king here translates to no God. Okay? And that's a very important aspect of what we're talking about. By the way, it's no coincidence that there's a popular movement here in the United States of America that's called the no Kings movement.

Why?

It has nothing to do with Kings versus not kings. And it's nothing to do with Donald Trump. It has everything to do with the group of people whose hearts and minds have strayed so far apart from God that they're willing to say we have no desire for anything that would constrain us from fulfilling the very desires of our flesh. In other words, we choose to do what is right in our eyes, not what is right in God's eyes. That's the issue. And by the way, when I read that verse to you, verse 25, it's not just a simple isolated verse at the end. It's certainly not a summary at the end. It is the heartbeat, the literal heartbeat of the whole book. And that's why I say it's somber. So let's talk about why this is an anchor, okay? And I think it's an important one to understand. It explains the chaos that you see through Judges. Again, let me go through the pattern. God blesses them. They get up there, I got this. God says, oh, do you really? Okay, you can have it. They get judged. They fall down to the pits. They cry out to God, they say, oh, God, please help us. God says, okay, I'm going to bless you. And then they get to the point where they're super blessed by God. I got this. That's where they go, I got this. I got this. I got this. Then when they go back to the Lord after being judged again and they repent, God brings them back up. It's the ebb and flow of self sufficiency. So it exposes the root problem, not just the symptoms that occurred. And by the way, this applies to human nature. It shows the spiritual condition of the people, not just the political instability that existed with respect to the absence of judges during that time.

The issue was never just external enemies. I want you to understand that the

issue was never the attacks that they were getting from the outside. The real issue was internal rebellion. The real issue was that the people rejected God's authority and replaced it with personal opinion. And what it reveals to us is very simple and it should be critical. It should be taken gravely. It should. We should really think it through. This is what it reveals. It reveals that no king, no king meant no submission to God as king. That's what that meant in that time. Moral relativism took over. Sound familiar? Sin cycles followed. That's exactly what happened. They chose to rebel. They were judged, they cried out, they got deliverance. And they repeated same thing. Rebellion, judgment, crying out, deliverance repeated. Rebellion, judgment, crying out, deliverance repeated.

Understand this. We learned this from the book of Judges. Spiritual Drift begins when God's authority is ignored.

You ignore God's authority, you begin to see the drift. People default to self rule when they reject God rule. Remember that Judges teaches us that people literally will default to self rule when they reject God rule. It's something that you should expect to understand. That's where they go.

And chaos. By the way, please don't forget this one.

Chaos is the natural result of everyone doing what feels right. That's exactly what happened. And if you want real evidence that shows you what the true problem was, let me read Judges, chapter 2, verses 11 and 12. It says this. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Baalim. And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers which brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods of the gods of the people that were round about them and bowed themselves unto them and provoked the Lord to anger. Judges 2 shows us the very cause.

Judges 21 shows us the condition that

led to the very cause. That's a very important thing to understand.

Now with all that said and understanding that, we learn the background of all of this. The culmination of it all ended up

being terrible, a terrible, terrible story. Because at the end of Judges, we bring ourselves into a leeway where we're

introduced to a young man by the name of Samuel. And Samuel was the one who received

a message from the Lord that says the hearts of the people are hardened.

Give them the human king that they want. When you rebel against God, you reject his authority. And then you want to give yourself to authority that never should be had because you chose to ignore the benefits of the real authority because you wanted what you wanted for yourself. That's what the book of Judges reveals to us.

That's what it tells us.

And guys, look, this hits close to home, very close to home. Because I think about what happened when Charlie was killed.

I think about the gospel message that was preached. I think about the millions and millions and millions and millions of people that heard the message.

Then I think about the vultures, I think about the opportunists. I think about the people who saw

what opportunity was presented before them. And in their own minds they said they wanted a piece of the action.

And the Bible makes it clear that when God is denied, when God is rejected, every man did that which was right in their own eyes. You can say of that moment that in those days there was no king in the United States of America because so many people took their eyes off of Jesus after the Lord doing an amazing work and bringing his blessing. And now we are seeing the effect of it. Now we are seeing what happens when everybody does what's right in their own eyes. And it's deadly, it's painful, it's heartbreaking, it is completely devastating. May it be said of us that we look at this scenario and that we look at the situation in a completely different way.

And may it be said of us that we do not become the people that existed in the day of the Judges. We can't afford to become that. We cannot afford to be a part of that. It cannot happen.

And by God's grace, if we will submit to him and if we will say, lord, you stand on the throne,

you sit on the throne, you are

king, and we yield ourselves to that,

then we will never get to the

place where we see what happened in verse 25 of Judges 21, where in those days they did not regard a king because there was no king. And every man did that which was right in their own eyes.

Why? Because no king meant no God.

Let that not be the case with us. And let us get out there and carry the legacy of submission and worship of God Almighty. Let's carry the torch and watch God do great things. I want to say one thing that I think is important relative to this subject, and that's this. When we began to see the hand of God blessing Turning Point USA in a way that had never been blessed before, the commonality that existed was the heart of the man that was leading it. He was finding new ways to continue to give aspects of his mind and thought process and heart to the Lord. And the Lord took it and blessed it. No one else has the room to say, I got this because it was obvious that God had it. Now the vultures are coming in and they want to take it all over. But may we remember as the people

of God, may we see it and recognize it for what it is, that

the hand of God is upon our lives.

And as long as we stay submitted

to it, we'll watch him do great things. So get out there, fight the good fight.

Keep reading the word. I'm super excited for you guys and

I can't wait to see you at the next Q and A. I love you guys. God bless you and may there always be a king in our life, the God of Heaven. Love you guys. God bless you.