All right, everybody, let's go ahead and open our time with a word of prayer. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful for Sunday school, for time to open your word and to study it, to learn it, to become students of the scripture. And I pray this morning as we turn to the book of Judges that you would help us, Father, to see things that we haven't seen before, help us to make connections we have never made, and help us, Father, to just be moved to gratitude and to worship, Father, for what you have done in history. We pray these things in the name of your Son. Amen. Alright, a few preliminary things. We do have a new handout for today's lesson, so if you don't have one, there's a stack up here that you can come and grab. And this will serve as an outline for our time this morning. But as I've mentioned, this week we're coming to the Book of Judges. It was actually two weeks ago that we walked through the Book of Joshua. Last Sunday we had Brother Sandy from Zambia come and present about the importance of gospel partnerships. And if you missed that Sunday school, I would really encourage you to go find his sermon on Slack or on Sermon Audio, wherever it's posted, and listen to it. Because it was just very straightforward, but very helpful. And really, I think, gave us a lot to think about in terms of our international partnership. So I'd encourage you to do that. But two weeks ago, we walked through the book of Joshua. And if there was anything, if there was one word that Joshua was all about, probably the best word would be conquest. Joshua was all about conquest. The Israelites under Joshua enter the land, they take possession of the land, they take the land, they possess the land, and then finally we see towards the end of the book, they actually come to a place of rest. The book of Judges picks up right where Joshua leaves off. Israel had largely, as we'll see, taken the land. But now the question is whether or not they'll be able to keep it. On the back of your handout, there's a map. And if you have last week's handout, you can compare. But last week, it had all the arrows pointing out, showing that Israel was moving out to take the land. Well, this time, throughout the Book of Judges, you'll see different groups, different nation groups coming in and oppressing Israel. So you saw this last week, this kind of expansion, or maybe it might be better to think about it more in terms of an ascent. You saw this ascent in the book of Joshua, and then in the book of Judges, very quickly we're going to see this descent. So that's going to be what we see today. The map on the back of your note shows you some of the major players in terms of tribes that would come against Israel, that Israel would not have driven out as they were commanded to, and all the trouble that follows with that. So the big question is whether or not they're going to be able to keep it, to keep what God had given them. God's people will come under pressure from a number of surrounding nations, and the events and judges takes place over a period of roughly 350 years. So from the time that Joshua died until the time of Israel's first king. Remember I said that and we'll come back to that in a little while. From the time of Israel's first king. We don't know who wrote Judges, but we believe it was written shortly after the last events were recorded, somewhere in the mid to the late 11th century BC. So, this is all by way of review. Let's review the two major, some of the themes of the two books. So, this is really about both books, Joshua and Judges. Land is a big deal in both books. We talked about that last week. We're going to see that play, that theme continue to play out this week. Joshua is all about taking it. and Judges really is all about keeping it. Very closely related to the idea of land is the idea of rest. Rest is the goal for God's people. Joshua ends positively in this manner when God's enemies are at bay and God's people enjoy fellowship with him. And in Judges, as I've already alluded to, we really will see almost the reverse. God's people start with rest and they're quickly going to lose it. The two books are also about trust in Joshua. God's people are to trust Joshua, their leader. And this is something that they largely do, their saving leader. And if they were to take the land, to trust Him if they're going to take the land and enjoy rest in it. And similarly in Judges, it's going to become very clear that God's people need to trust in a Savior if they're going to keep what God has given them. So two theme sentences from the book. The first one from Joshua, this is all review from last week, trusting a faithful Savior to leave God's people to land and rest. It's Joshua. While judges, maybe a theme sentence, this is on the front of your handout, we'll come back to it a few times, a perfect Savior is required to maintain this land and this rest. A perfect Savior is required to maintain this land and this rest. So one more point of review from our study in Joshua, and this was a sentence that I pulled from our textbook. If those who read Joshua rightly gain hope for the day when complete, perfect peace will be realized through the entire world. So if those who read Joshua lightly, that's what they should walk away from, this hope that one day complete peace will be brought throughout the entire world. So what do you think Christian readers will gain from reading the book of Judges lightly? There was no such sentence in my Judges chapter, so we'll just have to make one up or try to work one out from y'all's discussion. So what do y'all think Christian readers should gain or will gain from reading the book of Judges rightly? What do y'all think? Yes, ma'am. Yep, God is faithful despite our sin. That's a great, great lesson to walk away from after reading failure after failure after failure that we're gonna see in the book of Judges. And to see the Lord's faithfulness far surpassing that, that's a good one. Anything else? Okay. That's why we're going to study this lesson, to answer that question. So, no pressure. We'll come back to it at the end and see if we've learned anything. So as we enter the book of Judges, you know, the big question is how tenuous or how maybe temporary for Israel, or maybe temporary is wrong. I think tenuous is the best word. I just can't think of a better word to use. How tenuous is the rest that the people enjoyed at this time in redemptive history? How tenuous was it? How, what's the word? It's a good word to replace for tenuous. Someone pull out a thesaurus and look that up. What was that? fragile. Yeah, that gets at the idea how fragile, how delicate their possession of the land was at this point. And really it's quite fragile indeed as we will see. So let's do a brief overview of the book as we typically do and then we'll get to some specific themes. So the book of Joshua ends with Joshua giving the people a charge and to continue a charge to continue and to complete the work that the Lord had called them to do. Okay, this is... on the front of your handout there, Joshua 24, verses 23 through 24, it says this. He said, this is Joshua speaking, right at the end of Joshua. Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel. And the people said to Joshua, the Lord our God, we will serve, and his voice we will obey. Okay, so you see Joshua at the end of his life seeing that the Lord had largely given all the land into his hand. There are some nations still present, but they seem to no longer be fighting against Israel. Maybe they've even kind of surrendered. Now it's just a matter of going in and completely driving them out. And Joshua, knowing that he's kind of reached his end, gives this charge to Israel to put out the foreign nations, to put out the idols, to separate themselves from it. And the people said to Joshua, the Lord our God, we will serve. In his voice, we will obey. The strong commitment to do what the Lord has commanded. So again, the main theme of the Book of Judges can be put like this, a perfect Savior is required to maintain this land in rest. Okay, so look in Chapter 1 of Judges. I hope I don't switch those around, but we're in Judges now. So Chapter 1 in Judges, and the picture starts off rather bleak. Okay, the five words in, and Joshua has already died. So at the very beginning of Judges, we have the recording of Joshua no longer being there. And not only that, But in the rest of the chapter, we discover that Israel has failed in their mission to wipe out certain tribes. Joshua was all about conquest. And while the people eradicated or they pushed out most of the enemy nations, they did not fully complete the job. Their work was left undone. And after the documentation, or documenting some of the successful conquests, up until verse 28, we read this starting in chapter, I'm sorry, verse 1, 29 through 36. I'm going to have Justin, would you like to read some of that? Yes, sir. Gezer, I think. Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahal or whatever. So the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor. Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Akko or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Alab, or of Aqsid, or of Helba, or of Athbik, or of Reho. So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, but they did not drive them out. Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth Anah, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and of Beth Anah became subject to forced labor for them. The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain. The Amorites persisted in dwelling in Mount Piraeus in and in Shalhem, the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labor. And the border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Acribim, Good job, Justin. So that's just a note. That's a danger. If you make eye contact with the teacher, it's likely you're going to get called on if they needed something right that moment. So good job. You did well. Yes, sir. Oh my gosh. That is so awful. OK, I appreciate you pointing that out. So I was obviously flipping back and forth as I prepared this. So the first one, the final word from Joshua, that is Joshua. But in the handout, literally every other reference that says Joshua, scratch that out and put judges. Thank you, Paul. I really appreciate that. And I should have had my wife look over this. But yes, all that should say judges. Thank you. Good catch. I'm glad you caught that early. So the whole point of that section is that it lists out all the different tribes and all the things that they did not drive outright. So very early, chapter 1, we see this kind of the fracturing of this rest that the people were enjoying. And the result of this is that Israel descends into this repeated cycle of rebellion, followed by suffering, followed by crying out to God, followed by God raising up a savior, in this case a judge who would rescue them from their enemies. So rebellion, suffering, repentance, and deliverance through a judge. And what's called a cycle might really better be called a spiral, and this is on the second page of your handout there at the very top. It's a spiral because in each of these cycles, Each time the cycle would complete itself, the situation and the rebellion for Israel would kind of get worse and worse every time. The cycle repeats itself through the book nine times through 14 chapters of Judges, but it's important to note that the cycle isn't the same each time. It really is a downward spiral. So turn with me to Judges 2, verse 19. And we'll see at least one explanation for why this is. This is Judges chapter two, verse 19. It says this, but whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. Okay, so that's one of those verses that kind of can help you interpret pay attention to the narrative throughout the whole book of Judges, that you see this reality, that each time a judge died, the next generation was more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. So in fact, the victory of each judge, this is just to illustrate that, the victory of each judge is increasingly elusive as the book continues on. So Othniel in chapter 3 has a complete victory, but Ehud, who follows him, has a victory that's really only through deception. Chapter 4, Deborah has a victory, but some of the tribes are cursed. Gideon has a victory in chapter 6 through 8, but eventually we have civil war. Jephthah in chapters 10 through 12, he has victory, but it is marred by the tragedy of his daughter. And again, things eventually dissolve into civil war. And even though he does great damage, Samson, perhaps the most famous judge, and also the last of them, he never actually defeats the Philistines, and that's chapters 13 through 16. So by the time we reach chapter 17, we see Israel at the depth of their sin. Chapters 17 through 18 reveal their religious corruption, while chapters 19 through 21 reveal their moral and social corruption. And the book concludes, the author sadly reflects on Israel's plight and their desperate need for a perfect savior and true rest in the land. So all of that overview, it's a very brief outline in your notes there, and that's kind of small, but that bottom table that actually has the different judges, what tribe they originated from, what enemy oppression was coming against them in the references if you want to go back and track some of these spirals or these cycles throughout the book of judges. So the way that this is broken out, some of them don't have enemy oppression and it calls that a governorship. So I don't know if like Shemgar was an actual judge or if he just was kind of put into a place of leadership for a period of time. But hopefully that's helpful to you, just an outline of the imperfect Savior, so to speak, that Israel would have throughout this time. So let's return to our theme sentence in the Book of Judges, which is a perfect savior is required to maintain this land and this rest. And we're gonna flesh out three key ideas and application points from that sentence. And I'll definitely need some help working some of these questions out, so get ready to speak. So first of all, it's important to note that throughout the book of Judges, the Israelites desperately require separation as God's people. So why did God require his people to be separate from the nations? Maybe to put it in other words, why is there such an emphasis on separation in the law and in God's instruction to the Israelite people as they occupy the land? Why is separation so important for God's people? I heard the word promise was going to come through them. Okay, it's going to come through the nation of Israel. That's great. So that separation just helped to highlight that fact. Good. the glory of God, okay? These people existed in the world as kind of representatives of Him, and so for there to be a distinction between His people and the nations is important. That's good. What else? Yes, ma'am? Yeah, so that they would not become like the nations. That's good, because we all know We all feel it. We all see it. The temptation to become like the world around us, right? It's easy. It's kind of the default position if we're not careful. Okay? What else? We're getting into application though, so it's too soon for that. Yes, sir? Okay. Yeah. Yeah, God is distinct and holy, and His people should likewise be holy. As it says in Leviticus, as we looked at, be holy for I am holy, right? Good. Anything else? I think y'all really hit on a few of the main ones. Obviously, God preparing a people through which the Savior of the world would come. Separation for holiness. Not to become like the nations. That's exactly right. All those are great answers. So you see that the core problem for the Israelites is that they forget that they were to live separately from the nations. It's just something that they forget. They were to be holy, they were to be set apart from the world. They've been told to remove God's enemies from the land and to live holy lives. But as chapter 2.10 sadly points out, this new generation, as it says, did not know the Lord or the work that He had done for Israel. And you see this theme all throughout the Old Testament too. One generation knows it, the next generation forgets it. And all the trouble that comes from that. So there's another point for you to make sure you're teaching your children, right? Passing down the things that you know, so that, you know, they wouldn't fall into this trap. They lived with the Canaanites, and then they started to live like the Canaanites. That's one of the main points of the book. From the very first account, in chapter 1, verses 1 through 7, of how they treat a captive king, just like the Canaanites would. instead of how God would tell them, how God told them to. To the really, and maybe in my opinion, maybe the most revolting story in all of Scripture is Judges chapter 19. So all the way to that chapter where you see rape, mutilation, and murder, it further illustrates their descent into wickedness. This major problem is often referred to in commentaries as the canonization principle, and it should act as a stark warning for us as God's people in the world today. So in what sense are the people of God to be separate today? What do y'all think? In what sense are the people of God to be separate today? Okay. Okay, the prince of the world is the enemy of God and we are to have nothing to do with him. John? Yeah. Right, right. Right. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, so John, just saying, I'm saying this for the recording, but that the principle of love has a lot to do with us on what we set our love on, and that, you know, a lot of Christians today, they may say they love the Lord, and yet they live like the world does. That's good. Any other ideas? What does it mean for us to be separate today? Are we to push the enemy rebels from our midst, as Israel was commanded to? Why not? Seems like some of us are trying to do that, right? Yeah, love our enemies. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So if you think about the words of Jesus, what did Jesus say about being in the world? What did Jesus say? Okay, go tell the whole world. What was that, Martha? Be in the world, but not of the world. Israel, by contrast, and this was pretty much commanded by God to be Not of the world, nor in the world in a sense. Like they were to push the people out of this promised land to where this really was a distinct place. And you don't see the same emphasis from Jesus in the New Testament. You know, in the world, not of the world. Okay? But in terms of the world's values, in terms of sin, in terms of praising the things that the world likes to praise, these are all things that Christians should have no part in. And our calling to be holy is to be not of those things, right? Even though we still very much live among all of those things. And that's a hard thing to do. We have to be on guard, right? So I think judges can teach us a few things about that. Any other thoughts? Yeah. Yeah. Good. Good. That's true, too. Right. Right. Yeah, yeah, and we're just at a different place in redemptive history, you know, and that's what Stephen's illustrating. That's good. So no matter, I think another point of application is no matter how secure we might think we are as Christians, we must remember that apostasy can be right around the corner. The Israelites were in the midst of enjoying Joshua rest, right? When everything went downhill, and it really went downhill very, very quickly. So beyond that, we should also take careful note of what caused their falling away. God's people forgot who they were, unlike the previous generation, who always remembered through the reading of God's word, through celebrating the Passovers and circumcision, all the things that he commanded them. the other generations began acting like the nations around them. They were mixed with them, they married with them, they were quickly drawn into sin, and particularly, and perhaps most notoriously, the sin of idolatry. As Christians, we rightly live in the world, but we must be careful how we live in it, for we are not for we are to be nothing like it, right? So a second point of the second theme, and this is number two there on the tracking the theme section, is that God's punishment that leads, is that God's punishment leads to repentance. It's God's punishment that leads to repentance. And this is echoed through the nine cycles of judges. To help us to see this idea a little bit better, let's track through a whole cycle. So the cycle is of the first judge, Othniel, in Chapter 3. So I'm going to have, let's have Jennifer Bishop, who was not making eye contact with me, but she's the person I saw. Let's have her read Chapter 3 of Judges, not Joshua, 7 through 12. evil in the sight of the Lord, they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherah. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Hushan Rushatian, king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Hushan Rushat. Eight years. But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who served him, Ahmiel, the son of Genoa's, Caleb's younger brother. One more verse. This is the start of the next cycle. And the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel, who they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Okay, so a really nice, concise illustration for really all the cycles of the Book of Judges. Okay. So the cycle begins, chapter 3, 7, with Israel forgetting God and serving other gods. Consequently, God is rightly angry, verse 8, and this leads to God's punishment. In verse 8, you can see that the specific punishment is slavery, right? But in verse 9, the Israelites cry out to God, and God provides a Savior. Verse 9, who goes to war. In verse 10, in verse 11, restores peace. But then in verse 12, the cycle starts all over again. So as I said, you can look for that pattern in events in all the following stories about the judges. The point is always to emphasize Israel's constant stubbornness in sin and Yahweh's great justice and then his great mercy. Sadly, God's people continually require God's judgment. Indeed, they are continually being oppressed by foreign enemies sent by God to bring them to repentance. So now we need to obviously be very careful how we apply this, this side of the New Testament, or this side of the cross. But in one sense, I think we often see God's Spirit acting in a similar way. So how, here's another discussion question, how does God discipline His people this side of the cross? How is this discipline similar, and how is it dissimilar? Does God discipline His people today? Yes, He does. Okay, so how does He go about that? How does He do that? How is it similar from what we're reading in the book of Judges? How is it dissimilar? What do y'all think? Yes, ma'am? Yeah, so it's similar in that it's designed by God in order to bring His people back to Him, to a place of repentance. Good. That's one way it's similar. That's right. Okay. Yep. That's painful, uncomfortable, causes you to not like your circumstances, and obviously the big New Testament text about this is Hebrews chapter 10. I think 10. Do not regard lightly the Spirit of the Lord, right? For what? Is it 12? Yeah, thank you. But great text to go look at that talks about this idea, okay? But it's not, in the moment, it's not pleasant. Yes, sir? Right. That's right, that's a good, that's a really helpful distinction. It's not judgment in the same way, you know, that God would judge the nations. Right. It's discipline. Okay. Okay. There's still worldly consequences. Okay. Yep. Yep. That's good. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think John and Afrikaner are kind of getting at something that was on my mind as I wrestled with this question. And if you think about the people of Israel and the judgment that came among many of them, I mean the New Testament says that with most of them God was not well pleased, right? So it really does seem like what Israel received in many cases was God's judgment. this downward spiral. And I think as Christians who are undergoing discipline, it might be helpful to think of it in terms of that progressive sanctification idea, maybe more as an upward spiral, right? And this is where you have to be careful as we think about this, because God obviously works in various ways. But as a believer, a genuine believer, if the Lord disciplines him, he responds in faith, he repents of his sin, turns back to the Lord, you should see this progression in sanctification throughout the course of his life. That's making him more and more conformed to the image of the Son. Whereas judgment from God, I think it can actually have the opposite effect on someone. If they're not a believer, if they're unregenerate, God brings judgment on them in some sense. If it doesn't, you know, it has this hardening effect. that it can bear in their life. So I think maybe that's just a helpful illustration to maybe think about how God's discipline for Christian works versus how his judgment for, you know, non-Christians operates. Yes. Yes. Sure. Yep. Yep. And sometimes, you know, just to kind of finish, does anyone have anything else they want to say? That's right, yeah. To teach, to instruct, it's born out of a heart of love and respect, right? That's exactly right. Jessica? Right. Right. Yeah. That's good. So that's Hebrews 12, 7 through what was the verse? 7 and 8. Thank you. Yes, sir? Mm-hmm, that's right. Right. Right. That's exactly right. To teach, that's right. One other distinction, I think it's helpful to make more thinking about Israel in particular. We all know that the Old Testament talks about there being a remnant. And so even though you may see this national decline due to gods, sending the nations to discipline or to judge. You see this kind of, I think within that national, those national boundaries, you have a remnant of Israelites who do experience on a personal level that upward spiral. They do trust in the Lord. So it's not as though every single one of them was, their hearts were being hardened through this process. There is a remnant, and you see that even in the Old Testament. So what's tricky about reading the Old Testament is you have to deal with a national group. versus the individuals within the group. And it's just helpful to sometimes recognize that there is a good distinction to make that helps you to make sense of how this looks. Whereas the nation could be spiraling, there could be individuals within the nation who are experiencing this, and it's having the opposite effect of they're repenting, they're offering the sacrifices in faith, they're doing all the things that God's commanded them to do. And these are the people with whom Christ will eventually die for, right? So I think that's a helpful, maybe, distinction to make as you think about the nation of Israel versus the elect within Israel who this discipline is a good thing for, for them. Even though they're experiencing the hardness, I mean, they're probably losing family members from the Canaanites coming against them, they're still bearing the consequences of the national sin But they themselves, it's the opposite effect. Sorry, go ahead, Stephen. Say that again, sorry. Oh, yeah. Yeah, the book of Ruth is next. That's a good point. Right. Yep, that's right. So disclaimer, next is actually 1 and 2 Samuel. We'll get to Ruth later. But yeah, in our study, Ruth, in your Bibles, Ruth does come up. But it teaches this very same point. Good. So this brings us to the biggest theme of the whole book, which is the requirement of a perfect Savior who leads to true rest. So you see, every cycle in Judges reminds us that God's people need a perfect Savior. previously God's people had Joshua, but Joshua dies. And after him comes the judges, who are types of Christ, but they are neither lasting nor are they faithful. Yet they, yet, yes, they save them briefly, but these judges are not the best ethical role models, right? Nor do they ever bring a lasting rule. What is really needed is a monarchy, a line of perfect savior kings who lead God's people to obey his word perfectly. What's needed is a leader who is able to contend with the frailty of fallen human heart, as well as the various enemies that are oppressing. And this is something that no Israelite priest, nor Israelite judge, nor Israelite king is going to be able to do. So when we think about kings, I said we would circle back to this idea, and we're gonna obviously get to the Israel's king next week. But speaking of kings, who is the first king of the Israelite people? Okay, if you say Saul, raise your hand. Okay, got a few. Okay, if you say... What other contender could there be? Oh! God, okay. That one was out of the box, okay. It's never good to put God in a box, Paul, so he's out of the box. That's good. Okay, any other ideas? Israel's first king? David? Y'all have done the same thing I did, and as I was studying this, I learned something new. And I was like, I don't know, through all my read-throughs, I've never really caught this. What's interesting is that in Judges, right in the center of the book, right in the center of really the darkest part of the book, God's people actually get a king. Okay? And no, it's not Saul. It's not David. It's Abimelech. So look it with me at Judges chapter 9 verse 6. Y'all can go talk to all your childhood Sunday school teachers and tell them that they failed you. Judges 9 verse 6. says this, So Abimelech, self-appointed, God had nothing to do with it. Self-appointed king of Israel is Abimelech. Okay, and that's so interesting because the way we think about it, you know, is we always think of Saul, or at least that's what I would have said, is Saul. But we do see in the middle of Judges at a very dark point in Israel's history that Abimelech is virtually installed temporarily, right, as the king of Israel. And obviously, he is no faithful king. He does whatever he thinks is right. He has many wives. He ruthlessly kills his own brothers. And he leads God's people into total unfaithfulness. So really, we see in the middle of this dark book that the people really need to be delivered from him. So you can add that to your Bible trivia knowledge for whenever you are going to impress your grandkids or whatever you want to do with it. But Abimelech, first self-appointed king of the people of Israel. Who knew, right? I didn't. So by the time we reach the end of the book, it's no surprise to read that the final summarizing lines of Judges, verses 21 through 25, it says this. This is another one of those key ideas that you get from the book of Judges. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Abimelech's reign was very short-lived. Do what? Three years, okay? Almost a four-year term. No, sorry. Election on the mind. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. So the book ends, and this very bleak picture is painted, okay? And it's as though the author is saying, the sort of stuff that we've seen in Judges, all the sin, Of the people and the invasions of the foreign armies and all the loss of rest, this wouldn't happen if we had a king who was faithful to God's covenant. Not only a perfect king who would keep God's law, but also a perfect king who would also be able to deal with, as the Old Testament will eventually point out, the need for the people to have a new heart. But that's really the king that's needed to secure this rest. That wouldn't happen, right? None of this would have happened if we had a king who was faithful to God's covenant. So this is the moment that pushes the narrative forward into the rest of the Old Testament. Really the groundwork is laid for the next big covenant, which is? What's the next big covenant that God makes with his people? Davidic covenant. That's exactly right. So the groundwork is laid for the Davidic covenant, which we'll get to either next week or the week after that. But the people need more. than the prophet Moses. They need more than the priest Aaron. They need more than the Savior Joshua. And definitely they need more than these Savior judges. They need a king. But what kind of king do they need? As we get into 1 and 2 Samuel, we'll see that it's definitely not a king like Saul. And it's not even a king like David or his son Solomon. All of these figures are getting closer to the perfect king, but they all fall short. So who do all these leaders point us to? Okay, as you can guess, the answer is Jesus. Only he can perfectly deliver his people from all their sin and all their frailties. And as we saw two weeks ago in Matthew 11, verse 28, only He can bring lasting rest. Who knows what that verse says? Come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you, what? rest, only he brings lasting rest. Only Christ solves the problems that these judges could only temporarily address, for only Christ ever obeyed the law of God, and only Christ is the perfect king over his people. but obviously we're getting ahead of ourself. We'll talk more about Christ as our great king next week, but for now we leave off with the book of Judges, calling and praying and hoping for a king. Any questions or concluding comments? Steven, would you close us in prayer? Thanks.