"The book of Judges bustles with
colorful characters.
- Ehud, a
left-handed political assassin who
cleverly dispatches a corpulent
king.
- Deborah, a bold prophet and
matriarch of Israel who musters tribes
to war.
- Samson, a Rambo-like warrior
who dallies with women and annihilates
Philistines in a temple of doom.
To
Christian readers Judges is
interesting, sometimes inspiring, but
also puzzling. What message should we
take from it? How are we to understand
the ambiguous spirituality of the
judges themselves? What was God doing
during this wayward period between
Joshua and Samuel?With wit, insight and
sensitivity to the narrator's art,
Michael Wilcock answers these and other
questions. God himself is the Judge, he
argues, who transcends the uncertain
record of human judges. He is the
principal actor in this drama. Always
ready to respond to those who call on
him, he takes the initiative and uses
raw human resources to preserve Israel
from her enemies and shape the nation
for his purpose.In exposing the twists
and turns and nuances of this story,
Wilcock sends us back to Judges with a
renewed quest, not only to rediscover
the story of God and Israel, but to
find fresh perspective on the ways of
God and his church in a post-Christian
world."
