Religious Study

I went to Institute (basically Sunday School in the middle of the week) and we talked about the book of Judges.  Previous to two weeks ago, I knew the book of Judges was in the Old Testament but I guess I never really paid much attention to it.  For the past two weeks I have been reading and thinking and it's all been very interesting.  There are so many interesting stories in Judges that I never knew about.  It all begins with the death of Joshua.  For some reason, after Joshua, the Children of Israel began to be ruled by judges (hence the name of the book).  Here begins the vicious cycle, similar to the pride cycle so common in the Book of Mormon.

 

See the above diagram for the general idea.  What specifically happens is that Israel is righteous, then they become prideful, then they are put into bondage.  The first time their bondage is 8 years long.  After 8 long years, they start to cry out to the Lord who sends the first judge, Othneil, who delivers them.  Then the cycle begins again and they are put into bondage for 18 years.  They cry to the Lord and are delivered by Ehud.  Then there's Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, etc.  all with periods of bondage in between.  I don't know what Israel was thinking.  Didn't they learn anything from their ancestors?  They had "just" been in bondage to Egypt for generations; wouldn't they want to avoid bondage?  It also seems very interesting to me how this Old Testament book parallels the Book of Mormon so well.  To me, it testifies of the truth of both books and that they are both from God.  

Here are some other highlights from the book of Judges:

• Shamgar kills 600 Philistines with an ox goad
• Jael kills Sisera by nailing his head to the ground with a tent stake
• Jepthah vows to offer a burnt offering of the first thing that enters his home when he comes home from a successful battle: too bad it's his only child, a daughter
• Judges 13-16 tells the sad tale of Samson, whose birth was foretold by an angel, who could have done wonderful things in the Lord, but fell because of pride and selfishness.    

I just thought it was very interesting and I wanted to share.