And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets… (Heb 11:32).
I’ve been reading and editing our Volume 2 OT commentary on Judges by Ken Yates. As I read, I was struck by the fact that in Judges, only a few verses are devoted to some of the best judges, while scores of verses are used to discuss some of the most flawed.
Here is what the commentary says:
Othniel gets just five verses about him, yet everything said about him was great. The judges receiving the most attention, Gideon (100 verses), Jephthah (60 verses), and Samson (96 verses), were arguably the ones with the greatest flaws and failures. Of the best judges, only Deborah (55 verses) and Ehud (19 verses) receive more than five verses. It is generally true that the more ink the author devoted to a judge, the more flawed he was.
Interestingly, only four judges are mentioned by name in the “Hebrew Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11, and three of them are among the most flawed: Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson, as well as Barak (associated with Deborah in Judges 4-5).
Gideon did well in delivering Israel from the Midianites. But after the victory, he made a golden ephod and set it up to be worshipped, thus leading Israel into idolatry (Judg 8:27)! He then acted like a king, named one of his seventy (!) sons Abimelech, meaning “My father is king,” and collected lots of tribute from the people of Israel.
Jephthah delivered Israel, but foolishly vowed that if the Lord delivered the Ammonites into his hand, he would sacrifice as a burnt offering whatever came out of his house to meet him (Judg 11:30-31). His daughter came out first! Most commentators speculate that she remained a virgin her whole life, never marrying. It is even possible that Jephthah literally sacrificed her. Either way, his vow was foolish in the extreme!
Samson was supernaturally strong, but he was weak when it came to women. After many victories over the Philistines, he succumbed to pressure from Delilah and revealed the secret of his strength. He was then captured by the Philistines, blinded, and put into servitude. Only at the end of his life did he turn back to the Lord. After praying for his strength to return, he pushed down the pillars of a pagan temple, killing 3,000 Philistines.
Barak, the fourth bad boy of Hebrews 11, was unwilling to lead Israel into war by himself. He insisted on Deborah’s helping him. While he and Deborah did deliver the people, he was not exactly the boldest of God’s servants.
So why did the author of Hebrews mention these four by name? And why did the author of Judges give them so much attention? I think it is to show that God uses willing people—even people who are flawed in significant ways. And God recognizes and rewards their faithful service, even though they failed Him in other ways (for which they will give an account).
Keep grace in focus, and you will realize that sketchy people may still have done mighty things for the Lord.
