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Apostasy, syncretism, idolatry, vanity, ambition, murder, sodomy, vengeance, human sacrifice, prostitution, flagrant disobedience … such are the ways of the people who have confronted us in the book of Judges. If we were to give a modern title to this horrid history, several might work well: Hearts of Darkness, The Evil that Men Do, or perhaps Something Wicked This Way Comes.
However, another aspect of the book comes into focus when we consider What Lies Beneath. The underlying essence of Judges isn’t horrifying or revolting. It is wondrous and glorious.
When I was a child, my schoolteachers occasionally allowed my classmates and I to make “scratch art.” We’d scribble all over a piece of paper with crayons of various colors, then coat the sheet with black tempera paint. Once the paint dried, we could gently scratch away the black coating to create colorful pictures.
Taking an in-depth look at Judges is something like scratching away at the black canvas we see in a cursory reading of the book. As we do, some incredible hues shine through, hues of divine love, mercy, and grace that soon make the black fade into the background.
We see the love of God in Judges as He ordains the oppression of His people in response to their sin. As Christ declares in Rev. 3:19, “ ‘As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.’ ” Like the loving Father He is, God is diligent to discipline His way-ward people—that they might learn the error of their ways and return to Him.
We also see His love in His indictments of His people. He does not leave them to guess how they have offended Him; He tells them. Through human prophets (Judg. 6:7–10), through the Angel of the Lord (2:1–4), and through some form of direct communication to His people (10:11–14), God makes the Israelites to know their sin. He “indicts” them, as it were, that they might see their sin and repent of it.
Finally, we see the love of God in His pity for His oppressed people. Judges speaks very poignantly of this: 2:18b says, “The Lord was moved to pity by their groaning,” and 10:16 tells us, “His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.” God not only repeatedly chastens and indicts His people, He delivers them. Again and again, God is said to “raise up” a man to lead His people, then to “deliver” the enemy into the hands of the judge and his troops—because He loves them.
The God of the covenant shows His love for His people in Judges by dealing with them just as He promised He would (Deut. 28:15, 25, 47–51). And the covenant that governed His relationship to His people then still charts His dealings with His people today. In an age that is every bit as dark as that of the judges, the brilliant colors of God’s mercy still can be found behind the black.