Bible Backdrop

After the stories of Gideon and Abimilech, Israel once again falls into apostasy and God sends the Ammonites and the Philistines to oppress them. As they beg God's forgiveness and deliverance, He tells them to ask the gods that they were following to deliver them. Israel then wholeheartedly repents and God decides to help. The people go to a former outcast, Jephthah, to help lead them. But he's not interested and it takes a promise of permanent leadership to persuade him. Seeing the overwhelm...

Judges, as a book, is about man's failure and inability to follow God. Nowhere better do we see this than the stories of Gideon and Abimelech. Gideon goes from great faithfulness and victory to idolatry in almost the blink of an eye. This leads to what is considered his legacy in his son Abimelech. In the end, it's a failure for everyone involved when they don't follow the Lord. If you are enjoying Bible Backdrop, please leave a 5-star rating and review. You can also get in touch with the sho...

While the nation of Israel was going through their cycle of apostasy and repentance, there were other nations that were going through some pretty tough times. In this episode of Bible Backdrop, we're taking a step back from the narrative in the book of Judges and taking a look at what's happening in the wider world. We look at Egypt, Greece, Babylon, Assyria, and the Hittite empire. We discuss the phenomenon known as the Late Bronze Age Collapse and see how that event impacts these nations. I...

The history of Israel series continues as we move into Judges 6 with the start of the story of Gideon. The Israelites have fallen away from the worship of Yahweh, so God sends the Midianites to oppress them. After 7 years, they cry out to God for relief and He sends Gideon...the youngest man from an insignificant family. Gideon's faith is tested as God calls him to do a difficult task before taking on the Midianites. Then, after that's done, God whittles down his force to such a small number ...

After the conquest of the Promised Land, Israel moves into the time of Judges. The book begins with the aftermath of Joshua's death and we see the people fall into a cycle of falling away from God, being subject to another nation, crying out to God for deliverance, a judge being raised, and then peace for a period of time before the cycle starts again. A word of warning: Judges can be a violent and often disturbing book. It is an example of how people act when they try to live apart from God ...