Let's Read Our Bibles.Com
At Home Page, choose from list of articles or Click on "Bible Stories" to access index of 31 Stories of the Bible
At last the Israelites settled into their new homes in the promised land. It was a beautiful land of olive groves and vineyards, truly the land of milk and honey.
Joshua assumed the leadership after Moses’ death, and he faithfully led Israel as they conquered Canaan. Joshua was a righteous man, and as long as he lived the people were faithful to God.
After Joshua’s death, a new generation of Israelites arose. They had not known Joshua and the wonderful things that happened under his leadership. Sadly, the people began to grow indifferent toward the Lord. They turned from serving Him to serving idol gods. God was very displeased with their disloyalty.
Because of Israel’s unfaithfulness, God allowed the enemy nations to come into the land and to oppress them. Their circumstances became dire, and then they remembered the Lord and cried out to Him for help.
God, in His mercy, sent deliverers to Israel during these hard times to lead them out of their plight. Those deliverers were called judges. There were fifteen judges – fourteen men and one woman, Deborah.
Othniel was the first judge.
Ehud was next. He was a left-handed man who delivered the Israelites from the very fat enemy king of Moab. Ehud slipped into the king’s house and killed him with his dagger.
In succeeding lessons, there will be exciting stories of the remaining judges.