Gideon is one of those biblical figures whose beautiful stories capture the imagination and are therefore indispensable in children’s Bibles. The most well-known is probably the story in which God orders Gideon to reduce an army of 32,000 Israelites to a group of only 300 men and in which he defeats the vast army of Midian with torches, pitchers, and trumpets.
Twelve Judges
The Book of Judges lists 12 judges. According to another count, there are more, because some include Barak, but he is not called a judge. Judges 4 reveals that he was a commander of the army under Judge Deborah. Gideon’s son, Abimelech, is also sometimes included in the number of judges, but he, too, is not described as such, but as a king (Judg. 9:6).
Outside the Book of Judges, we find two more judges: Eli (1 Samuel 4:18) and Samuel (1 Samuel 7:15). The first time the word appears in the Book of Judges, it immediately becomes clear what a judge is: someone who sets right and delivers (2:16).
Most Extensive
Gideon is one of the better-known judges. The most famous is probably Samson, and although Samson’s story covers four chapters and Gideon’s only three, the account of Gideon’s life is slightly longer, if you count the verses. Gideon is the judge who is described most extensively.
Deliverance, but Not Yet a King
Judges takes place during the period when the deliverance under Joshua had taken place, but the people did not yet have a king. Typologically, it speaks of the present time, between the first coming and the second coming of Christ. Joshua is a type of Jesus (Hebrew: Jehoshua). He has accomplished redemption, but at this time the people of Israel are unbelieving, and the Kingdom has not yet been established.
Unbelief
In the Book of Judges, we find a recurring refrain that Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh (e.g., 2:11, 3:7); they lived in unbelief. God then sends an enemy nation to oppress them, and when Israel subsequently calls upon the name of Yahweh in their distress (e.g., Judges 3:9, 15), God sends a judge to redeem them, after which it begins again. In Judges 2:6–23, this cycle is described as a summary of the entire book.
Types of Christ
All these 12 judges are, in some way, a picture of the true Redeemer, Jesus Christ. In the future, Israel’s unbelief will come to an end, and a remnant will call upon the name of YHWH and be saved by Him (Zech. 13:9-14:5).
Isn’t it also remarkable in this context how the book of Judges begins?
Judges 1
1 It happened after the death of Joshua…
the Man of Sorrows
Israel only knows Joshua as the one who died; that’s where it ends for them. For them, He is “the Man of Sorrows” (Isa. 53:3). But He is not dead, He is alive; only the Jewish people are unaware of this. Where is He now? The letters of Paul provide an answer. He is exalted and seated at God’s right hand. God is carrying out a plan in this time, outside of Israel, that has remained hidden for eons and generations, but is now revealed through the apostle Paul (Eph. 3:5; Col. 1:26).
Israel does not yet know Him as the Son of God’s right hand. The resurrected Christ was rejected by them, and therefore Israel was set aside, and salvation went to the nations. The Kingdom was not revealed. Just as remarkable as the beginning of the book of Judges is its ending.
Judges 21
25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges speaks typologically of the time between the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the revelation of the Kingdom.