In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

• Judges 17:6

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

• Judges 21:25

The verses that are shown above are identical words.  It could have been written on the tombstone of the Israel nation.  Of course, they survived for a while.  God saw to that.  He raised up judges.  From Judges 3 through Judges 16, there are 13 judges mentioned, not all good judges, not all well known.

Can you name them in order?  Below you will find a table with a question about each judge and the first letter of each judge’s name.  Warning:  Of the thirteen judges, there are just a few that are well known and the information on a few is very sketchy.  So, the question and first letter of the name might not help much.

The Questions:

Question	Judge
Who was a son of Kenaz, younger brother of Caleb, who overpowered the king of Aram?  He is also mentioned in Judges 1 for capturing a city while Joshua still led the army.	O
Eglon, king of Moab, was a very fat man.  He, with the aid or other Canaanite tribes captured Israel.  Who is the judge who made a short sword (about one cubit in length) and told Eglon that he had a secret to tell?  Eglon, dismissed the court to hear the secret and this judge shoved the knife in to the point of being completely buried in fat.  The judge escaped before the king’s servants discovered him.	E
Who is the judge who used an ox goad to kill 600 Philistines?  Oh, and he was the son of Anath.	S
Who was a prophet, wife to Lappidoth, who sent Barak son of Abinoam into battle?  After Barak’s victory, this judge and Barak sang a song.	D
Who was the judge who took some time before realizing that an angel was speaking to him, destroyed a Baal alter and Asherah poles, challenged that if Baal was real he could defend himself, and did something that is still done today when someone needs a sign from God before they move forward?  And he sent the Midianites running with only 300 men, armed with jars and torches.	G
Who was a son of the previous judge who killed his 70 brothers, was cursed by the remaining brother who had hidden from him, and was mortally wounded by a woman dropping a millstone on his head?  He had a servant kill him so that it could not be said that a woman had killed him.	A
Who was the next judge, from the tribe of Issachar, son of Puah, son of Dodo, and he lived in Shamir, reigning as judge for three years?	T
What judge was from Gilead, who had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys?  This judge led Israel for 22 years, and each of his sons controlled a city.	J
What judge, also from Gilead, swore an oath that the first thing that came out of the house when he returned victorious would be sacrificed to the Lord, but then his daughter emerged before any animal?	J
Who had 30 sons and 30 daughters, each of which married someone outside their own clan?  Oh, and I left out that he was from the tribe of Benjamin and he led Israel for seven years.	I
Who was a Zebulunite who led Israel 10 years and is buried in Aijalon, in the land of Zebulun?	E
Who was the son of Hillel who had 40 sons and 30 grandsons who rode 70 donkeys and led Israel eight years and who is buried in Pirathon in Ephraim?	A
Who was born of a barren woman and made a Nazirite, meaning that he could never cut his hair, who set 300 foxes, tied in pairs, with lit torches tied to them into the Philistine’s fields, and who used the jawbone of an ass to kill 1,000 Philistines, but he had women trouble?	S

Note that I did not mention the next “character” who is mentioned in Judges.  Micah built gods and hired a Levite to be his priest.  He did not really judge the people.  He really caused trouble.

With many of these stories of judges, the Scripture talks of Israel doing evil in the eyes of the Lord.  It was a vicious cycle.  The people did evil.  God allowed some neighboring people to cause trouble for the Israelites.  And then a judge would rise up.  After a while, the author of Judges just listed the next judge, as the reason for the next judge to rise up was always the same.

All the Bible references below are for the book of Judges.

Bible References:

Question	Judges
Who was a son of Kenaz, younger brother of Caleb, who overpowered the king of Aram?  He is also mentioned in Judges 1 for capturing a city while Joshua still led the army.	3:7-11
Eglon, king of Moab, was a very fat man.  He, with the aid or other Canaanite tribes captured Israel.  Who is the judge who made a short sword (about one cubit in length) and told Eglon that he had a secret to tell?  Eglon, dismissed the court to hear the secret and this judge shoved the knife in to the point of being completely buried in fat.  The judge escaped before the king’s servants discovered him.	3:12-30
Who is the judge who used an ox goad to kill 600 Philistines?  Oh, and he was the son of Anath.	3:31
Who was a prophet, wife of Lappidoth, who sent Barak son of Abinoam into battle?  After Barak’s victory, this judge and Barak sang a song.	4:1 – 5:32
Who was the judge who took some time before realizing that an angel was speaking to him, destroyed a Baal alter and Asherah poles, challenged that if Baal was real he could defend himself, and did something that is still done today when someone needs a sign from God before they move forward?	6:1 – 8:35
Who was a son of the previous judge who killed his 70 brothers, was cursed by the remaining brother who had hidden, and was mortally wounded by a woman dropping a millstone on his head?  He had a servant kill him so that it could not be said that a woman had killed him.	9:1 – 57
Who was the next judge, from the tribe of Issachar, son of Puah, son of Dodo, and he lived in Shamir, reigning as judge for three years?  Hey, that’s it.	10:1 – 2
What judge was from Gilead, who had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys?  This judge led Israel for 22 years, and each of his sons controlled a city.	10:3 – 5
What judge, also from Gilead, swore an oath that the first thing that came out of the house when he returned victorious would be sacrificed to the Lord, but then his daughter emerged before any animal?	10:6 – 12:7
Who had 30 sons and 30 daughters, each of which married someone outside their own clan?  Oh, and I left out that he was from the tribe of Benjamin and he led Israel for seven years.	12:8 – 10
Who was a Zebulunite who led Israel 10 years and is buried in Aijalon, in the land of Zebulun?	12:11 – 12
Who was the son of Hillel who had 40 sons and 30 grandsons who rode 70 donkeys and led Israel eight years and who is buried in Pirathon in Ephraim?	12:13 – 15
Who was born of a barren woman and made a Nazirite, meaning that he could never cut his hair, who set 300 foxes, tied in pairs, with lit torches tied to them into the Philistine’s fields, and who used the jawbone of an ass to kill 1,000 Philistines, but he had women trouble?	13:1 – 16:31

And thinking about the repeated Scripture above, the people, if they only had faith, had no need of a king.  Yet, there lack of faith caused them to stray from the teachings of Moses.

God argued that they did not need a king.  With the people clamoring even louder, He gave them Saul and then David.  This sounds like God changing His mind, but they were sufficient with God as their ruler, if they only had faith.  Yet, David becoming king allowed someone from the tribe of Judah to be a king.  And Jesus was born of that kingly line.  For Jesus to be the King of kings, nothing is required, since He is God, but to add an earthly quality to the claim of being the King of kings, Jesus was born of Mary, whose husband-to-be was Joseph, each with a lineage back to David.  David became king as part of God’s Plan.  God allowed things that were not necessary in order to carry out His plan for Jesus to be born of a kingly line and die on the cross for those who believe and trust in Him.

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The Answers:

Question	Judge
Who was a son of Kenaz, younger brother of Caleb, who overpowered the king of Aram?  He is also mentioned in Judges 1 for capturing a city while Joshua still led the army.	Othniel
Eglon, king of Moab, was a very fat man.  He, with the aid or other Canaanite tribes captured Israel.  Who is the judge who made a short sword (about one cubit in length) and told Eglon that he had a secret to tell?  Eglon, dismissed the court to hear the secret and this judge shoved the knife in to the point of being completely buried in fat.  The judge escaped before the king’s servants discovered him.	Ehud
Who is the judge who used an ox goad to kill 600 Philistines?  Oh, and he was the son of Anath.	Shamgar
Who was a prophet, wife of Lappidoth, who sent Barak son of Abinoam into battle?  After Barak’s victory, this judge and Barak sang a song.	Deborah
Who was the judge who took some time before realizing that an angel was speaking to him, destroyed a Baal alter and Asherah poles, challenged that if Baal was real he could defend himself, and did something that is still done today when someone needs a sign from God before they move forward?	Gideon
Who was a son of the previous judge who killed his 70 brothers, was cursed by the remaining brother who had hidden, and was mortally wounded by a woman dropping a millstone on his head?  He had a servant kill him so that it could not be said that a woman had killed him.	Abimelech
Who was the next judge, from the tribe of Issachar, son of Puah, son of Dodo, and he lived in Shamir, reigning as judge for three years?  Hey, that’s it.	Tola
What judge was from Gilead, who had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys?  This judge led Israel for 22 years, and each of his sons controlled a city.	Jair
What judge, also from Gilead, swore an oath that the first thing that came out of the house when he returned victorious would be sacrificed to the Lord, but then his daughter emerged before any animal?	Jephthah
Who had 30 sons and 30 daughters, each of which married someone outside their own clan?  Oh, and I left out that he was from the tribe of Benjamin and he led Israel for seven years.	Ibzan
Who was a Zebulunite who led Israel 10 years and is buried in Aijalon, in the land of Zebulun?	Elon
Who was the son of Hillel who had 40 sons and 30 grandsons who rode 70 donkeys and led Israel eight years and who is buried in Pirathon in Ephraim?	Abdon
Who was born of a barren woman and made a Nazirite, meaning that he could never cut his hair, who set 300 foxes, tied in pairs, with lit torches tied to them into the Philistine’s fields, and who used the jawbone of an ass to kill 1,000 Philistines, but he had women trouble?	Samson

For an eleven minute description of Samson…

And now for a Bible story from Tim Hawkins, his Delilah parody. And oddly might be closer to the Bible story than the longer video above.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.