C11 The Book of Judges

Lesson 1: Men used by God: Gideon

Readings: Judges 6: 11-23; 7: 12-22

Have you noticed how people often make the same mistake over and over again? It was just the same with the Israelites. Whenever they forgot about God and began to worship the false gods of the surrounding nations, God punished them by letting their enemies attack them. Then the Israelites repented and God sent a leader to rescue them. For a while they worshipped God, then once more they forgot about Him. This time, God had sent the Midianites to punish them. Now an angel appears!

Lesson 2: Men used by God: Samson

Readings: Judges 16: 6-31

We still talk about a strong person being like Samson. Samson became a leader of the Israelites at a time when the Philistines had conquered them. Samson was a big, strong man with long hair. He was known as a Nazarite which meant he was a special man for God. His long hair was one of the signs of his being a Nazarite. Many times Samson was able to use his God-given strength to win victories over the Philistines. Naturally, they wanted to find out what made him so strong, so they bribed the woman, whom Samson loved, to discover the secret of his strength for them.

Lesson 3: Men used by God: Jonah

Readings: Jonah 1: 1-17; 3: 1-3

Do you always do as you are told immediately, or do you have to be told a second or even a third time? God gave Jonah a job to do, but Jonah disobeyed, and what a lot of trouble that caused!

Lesson 4: Men used by God: Nehemiah

Readings: Nehemiah 1: 1-4; 2: 1-8; 4: 6-23

Nehemiah had an important job which was only given to someone who could be trusted. He was cupbearer to the King of Persia, which meant he had to taste the wine to prove that it wasn’t poisoned, before passing it to the king. One day, his brother Hanani brought bad news from faraway Jerusalem. The Jews there were
having a difficult time.