A left-handed killer. A tent peg hammered through a man’s head. A father who makes a rash and terrible promise. A strongman who keeps falling for the wrong woman.
Welcome to the book of Judges. It’s one of the darkest books in the Bible. Many Christians skip it. Most would say it’s the last place to go looking for Jesus.
They’d be wrong.
After He rose from the dead, Jesus walked with two friends, and ‘beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself’ (Luke 24:27). Judges is part of those Scriptures. So Jesus is there—not hidden in odd little details, but in plain sight.
In this article we shall see four ways Judges points to Jesus.
- He appears in person.
- He’s pictured in each judge.
- He’s the only true Judge. And
- He’s the King Israel was waiting for.
Jesus in the Old Testament — Book 7 of 39
This post is the seventh instalment in our series tracing Christ through every book of the Old Testament. See the full series index.
What’s the Book of Judges All About?
Judges tells the story of Israel after Joshua died and before Israel had a king, a period of about 300 years (Judges 11:26). God had given Israel the land of Canaan, but the people began to worship the false gods around them. Daniel Block, a respected Old Testament scholar, calls this the ‘Canaanisation’ of Israel. In simple words, God’s people became just like the pagan nations they were meant to drive out.
So the same sad pattern happened. Time and again (Judges 2:11–19).
The Judges Cycle: Six Steps That Keep Repeating
- Step 1—Sin: Israel turns from God to idols (2:11–13).
- Step 2—Suffering: God lets enemy nations crush them (2:14–15).
- Step 3—Crying out: The people cry to God for help (3:9; 6:6).
- Step 4—Rescue: God raises up a judge to save them (2:16).
- Step 5—Rest: The land has peace while the judge lives (3:11).
- Step 6—Backsliding: The judge dies, and the people become worse than before (2:19).
Can We Really Find Jesus in Judges?
Some people worry ‘looking for Jesus’ in the Old Testament would mean making things up. That’s a fair concern. But we look for Jesus in Judges because the New Testament shows us how:
- Jesus said so. ‘It is they that bear witness about me’ (John 5:39). In the Hebrew Bible, Judges belongs to ‘the Former Prophets’. So when Jesus explained ‘all the Prophets’ (Luke 24:27), Judges was included.
- Paul drew a straight line from the judges to Jesus. In Acts 13 he moves from the judges to Samuel and David, then says: ‘Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Saviour, Jesus, as He promised’ (Acts 13:23).
- Hebrews names four judges. ‘Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah’ appear among those who lived by faith (Hebrews 11:32).
- Peter says Christ’s Spirit was at work. The prophets spoke by ‘the Spirit of Christ in them’ (1 Peter 1:11).
The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) agrees: Old Testament promises, sacrifices and ‘types’ were all ‘fore-signifying Christ to come’.
TWO VOICES FROM CHURCH HISTORY
Augustine of Hippo (354–430): ‘The New Testament is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.’
Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) said that just as every English village has a road to London, every Bible text has ‘a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures, that is Christ’.
1. Jesus Appears in Person: The Angel of the LORD
Judges has a mysterious visitor called ‘the angel of the LORD’. He appears in Judges 2, 6 and 13.
‘Angel’ simply means ‘messenger’. But this Messenger is no ordinary angel.
Table 1: Clues the Angel of the LORD is God the Son
| CLUE | WHERE IN JUDGES | WHAT IT SHOWS |
|---|---|---|
| He speaks as God, not for God | 2:1: ‘I brought you up from Egypt… I said, “I will never break my covenant with you.”’ | Only God rescued Israel and made the covenant. Prophets say ‘thus says the LORD’. He does not. |
| The writer calls Him “the LORD” | 6:12–14: the angel speaks, then ‘the LORD turned to him’ | The same person is called both the angel of the LORD and the LORD. |
| People fear death after seeing Him | 13:22: ‘We shall surely die, for we have seen God.’ | No one could see God’s face and live (Exodus 33:20). |
| His name is “Wonderful” | 13:18: ‘Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?’ | The same Hebrew word family appears in Isaiah 9:6, where the coming Son is ‘Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God’. |
| He rises in the sacrifice’s flame | 13:20: He ‘went up in the flame of the altar’, and the watchers fell on their faces | He does not stop them bowing. Created angels refuse such honour (Revelation 22:8–9). |
So is He God, or sent by God? Both. This makes sense because God is a Trinity—one God in three Persons. The Father sends; the Son is sent. Malachi calls the coming One ‘the messenger of the covenant’ (Malachi 3:1). John says, ‘No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known’ (John 1:18).
This is no novel idea. In the 2nd century, Justin Martyr taught that God the Son appeared in the Old Testament. John Calvin agreed. In his Institutes (1.13.10), he said the church’s faithful teachers were right to see this chief Angel as the Word of God, already beginning His work as the go-between for God and people.
AN HONEST NOTE
The words ‘angel of the LORD’ alone don’t prove the messenger is God. What He says and does prove it.
Notice this too: after Jesus was born, ‘an angel of the Lord’ still appears (Matthew 1:20), but never speaks as God or accepts worship. The divine Angel stops appearing—because He has now come in the flesh.
2. Jesus Pictured: The Judges as Imperfect Saviours
The Angel shows us Jesus in person. The judges show us pictures of Jesus.
Here we need the word typology. A type is a real person, event or thing in the Old Testament that God designed to point forward to Christ. Paul says Adam ‘was a type of the one who was to come’ (Romans 5:14).
A type can point to Jesus by being like Him, and also by being unlike Him. Sidney Greidanus, a teacher of preachers, calls this second way the road of ‘contrast’. Judges needs both roads.
2 Things the Judges Share With Jesus
- They’re called saviours. ‘The LORD raised up a deliverer… who saved them’ (3:9). The Hebrew word ‘save’ shares its root with the name Jesus, which means ‘the LORD saves’.
- God’s Spirit comes upon them. The Spirit came on Othniel (3:10), Gideon (6:34), Jephthah (11:29) and Samson (14:6). Jesus said, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me’ (Luke 4:18).
Table 2: How six judges point to Jesus, and where each one falls short
| JUDGE | HOW THIS JUDGE POINTS TO JESUS | WHERE THIS JUDGE FALLS SHORT |
|---|---|---|
| Othniel (3:7–11) | From the tribe of Judah, filled with the Spirit, brings 40 years of rest | The rest ends when he dies |
| Ehud (3:12–30) | Goes alone into the enemy king’s room and defeats him | Wins by trickery; Jesus wins by truth |
| Deborah, Barak and Jael (4–5) | The enemy’s head is crushed (5:26), echoing God’s first promise of a Saviour who would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15) | Barak is afraid to lead without Deborah (4:8) |
| Gideon (6–8) | Wins with only 300 men, ‘lest Israel boast’ (7:2); says ‘the LORD will rule over you’ (8:23) | Makes a golden ephod (a priestly garment) that Israel worships (8:27) |
| Jephthah (11–12) | Rejected by his brothers, later made their head (11:1–11), like ‘the stone that the builders rejected’ (Psalm 118:22) | Makes a foolish vow that costs his only daughter |
| Samson (13–16) | His birth is announced by God; he wins his greatest victory through his death | Driven by lust and revenge; he only ‘began to save’ Israel (13:5) |
Samson: A Broken Picture of a Better Saviour
- A promised birth. The Angel announced his birth to a woman who could not have children (13:3), as angels later announced the births of John the Baptist and Jesus (Luke 1).
- Handed over by his own people. The men of Judah tied Samson up and gave him to the Philistines (15:11–13). Jesus was handed over by His own nation’s leaders to the Romans.
- Betrayed for silver. Each Philistine ruler offered Delilah 1,100 pieces of silver (16:5). Judas sold Jesus for 30 (Matthew 26:15). This is an echo, not a proof on its own.
- Victory through death. ‘The dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life’ (16:30). Jesus defeated the devil ‘through death’ (Hebrews 2:14).
But Samson is also a warning. Samson died because of his own sin. Jesus died for the sins of others. Samson died praying ‘that I may be avenged’ (16:28). Jesus died praying, ‘Father, forgive them’ (Luke 23:34).
THE REST THAT DIDN’T LAST
4 times Judges says ‘the land had rest’ (3:11; 3:30; 5:31; 8:28). After Gideon, those words disappear.
Peace never lasted, because every judge died. ‘If Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on’ (Hebrews 4:8). Lasting rest is found only in Jesus, who lives forever.
The judges also get worse as the book goes on. Othniel is almost spotless; Samson is a mess. Barry Webb, an Australian Old Testament scholar, traces this downward spiral. Tim Keller, in Judges for You, made the same point: Judges isn’t a gallery of heroes to copy. Even God’s best human rescuers cannot fix the human heart. We need a Saviour who doesn’t fail.
3. Jesus Is the Only True Judge
Here’s a detail most readers miss. Not one of the book’s famous leaders is ever given the title ‘the Judge’. Only one person is: God. Jephthah says, ‘The LORD, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon’ (11:27).
Dale Ralph Davis titled his commentary on Judges Such a Great Salvation. He reminds readers that the real hero of Judges is the LORD, who keeps rescuing people who do not deserve it. Even after Israel sinned again, ‘he became impatient over the misery of Israel’ (10:16).
The New Testament tells us who this Judge is. The Father ‘has given all judgement to the Son’ (John 5:22), and God ‘will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed’ (Acts 17:31). That Judge is Jesus.
4. Jesus Is the King Israel Was Waiting For
The last 5 chapters of Judges are shocking. There’s idol worship, near civil war and a crime in Gibeah as evil as the sin of Sodom (compare Judges 19 with Genesis 19). The writer explains it with one repeated sentence: ‘In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes’ (21:25; see also 17:6).
This makes the reader long for a king. Judges gives 3 clues about Him:
- A king from Judah. The book opens and closes with God saying, ‘Judah shall go up’ (1:2; 20:18). Jesus is ‘the Lion of the tribe of Judah’ (Revelation 5:5).
- A king linked to Bethlehem. Two dark stories at the end involve people from Bethlehem (17:7; 19:1). Yet Micah promised, ‘O Bethlehem… from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel’ (Micah 5:2).
- A king who is also the LORD. Gideon said, ‘the LORD will rule over you’ (8:23). Israel needed God as King and a king from David’s family. Jesus is both: truly God and truly the Son of David.
How Not to Read Judges
Many of us grew up hearing, ‘Be brave like Gideon!’ Hebrews does praise their faith. But if that is all we see, we miss the point, and we end up discouraged.
Edmund Clowney, a former president of Westminster Theological Seminary, taught that Old Testament stories are not mainly moral lessons but chapters in one great story that leads to Christ. Geerhardus Vos compared God’s revelation to a seed slowly growing into a tree.
Table 3: 2 ways to read Judges
| QUESTION | HERO-FOCUSED READING | CHRIST-FOCUSED READING |
|---|---|---|
| Who is the main hero? | Gideon, Samson and the other judges | The LORD who saves, fully revealed in Jesus |
| What do Gideon’s 300 men teach? | Be brave when outnumbered | God saves through weakness so no one can boast, as at the cross |
| What about Samson’s sin? | Ignore it, or feel confused | We need a far better Saviour than Samson |
| What is the main message? | Try harder to be faithful | God keeps rescuing sinners, and Jesus is the final Deliverer |
Why Judges Still Matters Today
‘Everyone did what was right in his own eyes’ could describe our world. ‘Follow your heart.’ ‘Live your truth.’ Judges shows where that road leads: not to freedom, but to confusion and pain. Yet God does not give up on His people. Again and again He hears their cry and sends a saviour. At last, He sent His own Son.
- Every judge died, and the rest ended. Jesus died and rose again, and His rest never ends.
- Every judge saved Israel for a while. Jesus saves forever all who trust in Him.
THE BIG IDEA IN ONE SENTENCE
Judges shows the problem—sinful hearts, failing leaders and no king—and Jesus is the answer: the Angel who comes in person, the perfect Saviour, the true Judge and the everlasting King.
Conclusion: The Deliverer Who Never Fails
So is Jesus in Judges? Yes. He appears as the Angel of the LORD. He’s pictured, often by contrast, in flawed saviours like Gideon and Samson. He’s the Judge who decides every battle. And He’s the King the whole book longs for.
Perhaps we can relate to the people in Judges—we’re failing, falling back, crying out. That’s why this dark book is good news for us. Let’s cry out to Him. The true Deliverer still saves.
Tough Questions, Honest Answers
Did Jephthah really sacrifice his daughter?
Bible teachers have disagreed about this for centuries. Some believe Jephthah gave his daughter to serve God for life without marrying, because the text stresses that ‘she had never known a man’ (Judges 11:39). Many others believe he really offered her as a burnt offering, which is the most natural reading of his vow (11:31). Either way, God never asked for this. His law says burning children to gods is something He hates (Deuteronomy 12:31). Judges reports what happened; it doesn’t approve of it. The story shows how deeply pagan thinking had spread in Israel.
Why did God use such sinful people as judges?
God did not use the judges because they were good. He used them because He is good. Paul says, ‘God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong’ (1 Corinthians 1:27). When God works through weak and broken people, everyone can see that the power belongs to Him. This does not mean God approved of their sins, and the book shows the painful results of those sins clearly. It is also good news, because God still uses imperfect people who trust Him.
Does Deborah’s leadership mean women can be pastors?
Deborah was a godly woman whom God used greatly as a prophetess and judge (Judges 4:4). But her story describes an unusual time in Israel’s history, not a pattern for leadership in the church. Deborah did not lead the army herself; she called Barak to lead (4:6–7). When Barak refused to go without her, she told him the honour would go to a woman instead (4:9), which was a gentle rebuke. The New Testament gives clear teaching about church elders (1 Timothy 2:12; 3:1–7), and many Christians understand this to mean the office of pastor is for qualified men. Those who hold this view deeply value the gifts and service of women. Other believers read these passages differently, so they deserve careful study.
Should Christians ‘put out a fleece’ like Gideon?
Gideon’s fleece (Judges 6:36–40) was not an example of strong faith. God had already told him clearly what to do, and Gideon even said, ‘as you have said’ (6:36). He asked for signs because he was afraid and doubting. God patiently answered him, which shows God’s kindness, not a method we should copy. Today we have the complete Bible and the Holy Spirit to guide us. So instead of testing God with signs, we should pray, read Scripture, ask wise believers for advice and trust Him.
Why is Judges so violent? Does God approve of it?
Much of Judges describes what happened; it does not tell us what to do. The writer often shows violence to shock us, especially in the last chapters (19–21), so we feel how evil life becomes without God. The book’s own verdict is that ‘everyone did what was right in his own eyes’ (21:25), and that is not praise. Some battles were God’s judgement on nations whose evil had grown for centuries (Genesis 15:16). The violence in Judges shows how badly we need a Saviour. At the cross, Jesus took violence on Himself to bring us peace.
Is Samson in heaven?
Hebrews 11:32–33 lists Samson among people who lived ‘through faith’. That strongly suggests Samson was a true believer, even with his many sins. At the end of his life he cried out to God for strength (Judges 16:28), trusting God rather than himself. Samson reminds us that salvation is never earned by good behaviour; it is a gift received by faith. His life is no excuse to sin, because his sins brought great suffering. But his story gives hope to struggling believers who turn back to God.
How many judges were there, and who was the last?
The book of Judges names 12 judges: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon and Samson. Abimelech, Gideon’s son, made himself king but was never a true judge. The story continues in 1 Samuel, where Eli (1 Samuel 4:18) and then Samuel (1 Samuel 7:15) also judged Israel. Paul says God ‘gave them judges until Samuel the prophet’ (Acts 13:20), so Samuel was the last. After him, Israel asked for a king, and that road led to David and finally to Jesus.
