LESSON SIX
JUDGES (Continued)

1.	THE FIRST SERVITUDE: 
a.	The people of Israel served the Lord as long as Joshua lived and also as long as the elders lived who saw the miracles of God under the ministry of Joshua 
b.	Soon after they began their decline into Apostacy 
c.	It was only a short time before the Israelites began marrying into heathen families, forsaking the Lord, worshipping Canaanite gods, and falling into terrible immoralities
d.	The first punishing oppressor came from the far northeast
e.	During this first servitude the Israelites were kept in bondage for a period of eight years
f.	The deliver was Othniel, the first judge was a younger brother of Caleb

2.	THE SECOND SERVITUDE: 
a.	The second nation to oppress Israel was the nation, Moab
b.	The king of the Moabites was Eglon, who was a very fat man.
c.	When Israel cried to God for help, the Lord raised up another deliverer, Ehud of Benjamin
d.	He brought deliverance not through warfare, but through an act of deception in which he succeeded in slaying King Eglon. 
e.	When Eglon was killed the Moabites retreated, and Ehud's men slew 10,000 of them. 
f.	During this eighty years of peace Shamgar lived as a third judge on one occasion he slew 600 Philistines with nothing but an ox-goad as a weapon

3.	THE THIRD SERVITUDE: 
a.	The third oppression came from the Canaanites within Palestine, whom the Israelites should have driven out in the first place. 
b.	Jabin, king of Hazor, was the leader, and Sisera was his general. 
c.	The city of Hazor had been defeated by Joshua but again had become strong
d.	Sisera had 900 chariots of iron they had attacked Zebulum and Naphtali and had reduced them to a condition of servitude for twenty years
e.	This time Israel's deliverer was a woman – Deborah was both a judge and a prophetes
f.	She called Barak who lived in the north in Kedesh of Naphtali. 

4.	THE THIRD SERVITUDE:
a.	She instructed him to raise an army of 10,000 men from Zebulum and Naphtali and to fight Sisera. 
b.	Barak agreed to do so if she would go with him. 
c.	Deborah consented and they fought Sisera west of Megiddo on the banks of the Kishon. 
d.	The Lord miraculously gave victory and Sisera fled northward. 
e.	On the way, he took refuge in the tent of a Kenite named Jael, who lived near Barak's hometown of Kedesh. 
f.	Jael killed Sisera by driving a tent peg through his head. This brought forty years of peace to Israel.

5.	THE FOURTH SERVITUDE: 
a.	After a period of forty years, the old corruption broke out again. 
b.	Another invasion was sent as punishment. 
c.	The Midianites, aided by Amalekites and "children of the east," came pouring into the land each year at the time of harvest. 
d.	Gideon was the deliverer. 
e.	He lived in Ophrah, a village of Manasseh. 
f.	The people first wanted to kill Gideon for following God’s first commandment and destroying the idolatrous altar but later accepted him as leader.

6.	THE FOURTH SERVITUDE:
a.	God instructed Gideon that his army should be reduced and he was left with 300 men. 
b.	Gideon was invited to become the King of Israel but he would not listen to the proposal. 
c.	He knew that God was Israel's King and he acted as judge for 40 years
d.	Gideon had seventy – one sons. 
e.	One of his sons was Abimelech, by his concubine at Shechem. 
f.	Abimelech murdered sixty-nine of his brothers and was later crowned king by the Schemites and he ruled for three years 

7.	THE FIFTH SERVITUDE: 
a.	The Ammonites ravaged the tribes east of Jordan and Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim, west of Jordan
b.	When the children of Israel cried out for deliverance, God taunted them, telling them to cry to their heathen gods 
c.	The Israelites showed the fruit of repentance and put away the strange gods
d.	God then raised up Jepthah to be their deliverer 
e.	Jepthah was the son of Gilead and a harlot 
f.	His life was overshadowed with the truth and his brethren cast him out

8.	THE SIXTH SERVITUDE: 
a.	The Philistines brought the last great oppression 
b.	They were able to impose their will on Israel for forty years, the longest of any of the oppressions.
c.	God's man to fight against the Philistines was Samson
d.	His father's name was Manoah, a Danite 
e.	Killed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass.
f.	Samson served as judge for twenty years until he fell victim to lust and sinned with a harlot

9.	CIVIL WARS:
a.	During the time of Judges there were four periods of civil confusion that caused internal wars
b.	The jealousy of Ephraim
c.	Abimelech
d.	The second jealousy of Ephraim
e.	The punishment of Benjamin

LESSON SIX
SELF HELP TEST

State whether the following are TRUE or FALSE:
1.		Eglon was a very fat man.
2.		Jethah was the son of Manoah.
3.		Gideon lived in Ophrah.
4.		Deborah and Barak fought Sisera.
5.		Gideon had seventy-one sons.
6.		Abimelech slew sixty-six of his brothers.
7.		Shamgar slew 600 Philistines with an ox goad.
8.		Jael killed Sisera with a tent peg.
9.		The first judge was Jair.
10.		The Moabites afflicted Israel for eighteen years.
11.		King Ehud was slain by Eglon.
12.		During the judges there were four periods of civil 
confusion.
13.		Samson used 500 foxes to burn the Philistine crops.
14.		Gideon sacrificed his daughter because of a vow.
15.		Samson was of the tribe of Dan.
16.		Othniel was a younger brother of Caleb.
17.		Samson served as judge for twenty years.
18.		Sisera had 1,000 chariots of iron.
19.		Deborah called herself a "mother in Israel."
20.		Jotham was killed by Abimelech.