Rev. Jon Walla, pastor at Bethel Lutheran Church in Bismarck, ND, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 20:29-48. The sin committed in Gibeah continues to affect the entire nation of Israel. At multiple points in this closing account of Judges, people have the opportunity for repentance that would have stopped the downward spiral leading to civil war, but sadly, such repentance never seems to come. The tribes of Israel united against Benjamin have received the LORD’s promise of victory o...
Aug 13, 2020•56 min
Rev. Dustin Beck, pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Warda, TX, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 20:1-28. The fallout from the crime committed in Gibeah is swift. All the tribes of Israel except Benjamin gather together at Mizpah to hear the Levite present the case. He conveniently leaves out his own role in the matter, but the injustice committed is still clear. The tribes gathered speak as one man and go to Benjamin in an attempt to hold the sinners in Gibeah accountable. Rat...
Aug 12, 2020•53 min
Rev. Steve Andrews, pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Lee’s Summit, MO, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 19:1-30. The book of Judges continues to present accounts during the time when Israel had rejected the LORD as king, and the picture grows darker. A Levite took for himself a concubine; she became unfaithful. He went to reconcile with her, and her father showed the Levite extreme hospitality. The Levite finally pries himself away, along with his concubine and servants, to ...
Aug 11, 2020•55 min
Rev. Matt Ulmer, pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Bishop, TX, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 18:1-31. The corruption in Israel went far deeper than one man of Ephraim and his personal priest; the entire tribe of Dan was rotting due to the rejection of the LORD as king. Though outwardly the Danites might have looked like faithful Israelites, their actions and words reveal their true moral and religious decay. They operate from the principle, “Might makes right.” That’s why the...
Aug 10, 2020•55 min
Rev. Matt Wietfeldt, director of admissions and director of the Christ Academy program at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 17:1-13. The lengthy epilogue to the book of Judges presents two episodes from Israel’s history that show how rotten life had become when everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Though they thought they could see, the people had been blinded by their idolatry, not truly knowing who the LORD was. As the first...
Aug 07, 2020•55 min
Rev. Joel Heckmann, pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Okarche, OK, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 16:22-31. Though Samson has been brought low in his unfaithfulness, the LORD remains faithful to Samson, as evidenced by the regrowth of his hair. The LORD’s faithfulness is key, as the conflict in the text is much deeper than the Philistines versus Samson. The true conflict is the LORD versus idols, particularly the Philistine idol, Dagon. The LORD will not let the mockery of t...
Aug 06, 2020•55 min
Rev. Nate Hill, pastor at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Winchester, TX, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 16:1-21. Samson’s less than faithful decisions finally begin to catch up to him. Though he once again seems to escape after his sins against the 6th Commandment with a prostitute, Samson’s great strength is no match for Delilah. Samson’s love for her and love for riddles lead to his downfall. Samson thinks he knows something Delilah does not, but Delilah is actually holding al...
Aug 05, 2020•53 min
Rev. Jacob Dandy, pastor at Zion Lutheran Church and School in Terra Bella, CA joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 15:1-20. Samson’s desire for personal vengeance escalates his conflict with the Philistines. When he discovers that his wife has been given to another man, he destroys the Philistine agriculture with burning torches tied to fox tails. When the Philistines respond in kind toward Samson’s wife and father-in-law, Samson only further destroys them. Even as Samson’s personal an...
Aug 04, 2020•55 min
Rev. Philip Hoppe, pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in Finlayson, MN and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Bruno, MN, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 14:1-20. After the hope and promise of his birth narrative, Samson’s initial actions disappoint. His desire to marry a Philistine shows neglect for the First, Fourth, and Sixth Commandments. All the while, the LORD continues to direct even these events toward the deliverance of His people. Samson’s great strength from the Spirit of the LOR...
Aug 03, 2020•53 min
Rev. Clint Poppe, pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Lincoln, NE, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 13:1-25. The book of Judges slows down to give the account of Samson from the very beginning of his life. The angel of the LORD goes to the wife of Manoah. Her barrenness is the epitome of hopelessness, yet the LORD is the One who brings hope to His hopeless people. He tells her that the son she will bear will be a Nazirite from birth; he will be set aside for service to the LO...
Jul 31, 2020•54 min
Rev. Mark Barz, pastor at Crown of Life Lutheran Church in San Antonio, TX, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 12:1-15. The infighting that has plagued Israel grows toward the end of Jephthah’s time as judge. Ephraim is once again filled with pride and a desire for earthly glory. Jephthah’s response is not nearly as diplomatic as Gideon’s before him, and fighting and killing ensues. The Gileadites turn the insult of Ephraim into a weapon, and the language that should have united the p...
Jul 30, 2020•55 min
Rev. Tim Koch, pastor at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Milbank, SD, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 11:29-40. The downward spiral of the book of Judges quickens even in the midst of the LORD’s deliverance. The Spirit of the LORD comes upon Jephthah in order to deliver victory over the Ammonites to His people. However, Jephthah’s vow casts a deadly pall over what should have been a lively celebration. Even apart from its content, Jephthah’s vow was unnecessary because he already had th...
Jul 29, 2020•55 min
Rev. Carl Roth, pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Elgin, TX, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 11:1-28. The book of Judges continues to present sinners in need of God’s redemption. Jephthah is a classic example. The son of a prostitute, Jephthah is ostracized by his brothers and goes to dwell far from his home as the leader of a band of marauders. When the oppression of the Ammonites is great, his brothers have a change of heart and ask him to come help them fight. Jephthah proves t...
Jul 28, 2020•54 min
Rev. Luke Zimmerman, pastor at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mechanicsburg, PA, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 10:6-18. The cycle of Judges transitions toward a third stage. The Ammonites become the primary enemies of Israel in the east, and the Philistines become the primary enemies of Israel in the west. These enemies arise as the LORD’s response to Israel’s evil. This evil is not simply generic immoral behavior; Israel’s evil always traces itself back to idolatry. As t...
Jul 27, 2020•56 min
Rev. Matt Wietfeldt, director of admissions and director of the Christ Academy program at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 9:42-10:5. Abimelech has tried to do things his own way instead of the LORD’s; now, the LORD lets Abimelech experience that the way of evil only ends with evil. Abimelech turns on the very people who helped him assume power in the first place, with growing vengeance and violence. Idols prove their worthlessness a...
Jul 24, 2020•55 min
Rev. David Appold, pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Paducah, KY, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 9:22-41. The short reign of Abimelech is a photo negative of the kingdom of God. Though Abimelech perhaps fancied himself king over all Israel, his rule was far more localized, primarily in the city of Shechem. God gave Abimelech and his Canaanite friends over to the evil they desired from the start of their ascent to power. Their shaky alliance quickly devolved into treachery, a...
Jul 23, 2020•55 min
Rev. Dr. Adam Filipek, pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church and Immanuel Lutheran Church, both in Lidgerwood, ND, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 9:1-21. Israel has once again entered into the downward cycle. The rise of Abimelech does not represent the LORD’s deliverance, but a deeper fall into idolatry. Abimelech’s offer to the men of Shechem is shrewd from a worldly perspective, but his subsequent murder of his brothers through the use of money from a pagan treasury shows how ba...
Jul 22, 2020•56 min
Rev. Chris Hull, pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Tomball, TX, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 8:22-35. The threat from Midian has ended, but the threat of idolatry remains as Gideon’s leadership of Israel comes to an end. Though Gideon’s refusal of his own dynasty over Israel sounds pious, his deeds take him beyond the leadership the LORD’s Word had given him. As he receives the spoils of war, he goes beyond their proper use and crafts an ephod that becomes an idolatrous snare fo...
Jul 21, 2020•54 min
Rev. Jeff Hemmer, pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church in Fairview Heights, IL, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 7:24-8:21. The LORD has delivered the initial victory to Gideon; now, the runaway princes and kings of Midian must be fully defeated. As Gideon calls upon the men of Ephraim for their help, sinful man’s desire for his own glory wells up in jealousy and pride. Gideon skillfully pacifies the situation, although the LORD’s role in the victory seems to be neglected. Even as Gide...
Jul 20, 2020•56 min
Rev. Sean Kilgo, pastor at the Northeast Kansas Lutheran Partnership, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 7:1-23. Gideon has amassed an army, but the LORD says that there are too many. In order that His people will not boast in His presence and to teach them that the victory is His alone, the LORD whittles Gideon’s army down to a mere 300 men. As Gideon continues to have difficulty seeing the LORD’s Word with the eyes of faith, the LORD graciously strengthens him once more as he overhe...
Jul 17, 2020•54 min
Rev. Rick Jones, chaplain and director of spiritual life at the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch in Minot, ND, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 6:25-40. Gideon’s work as judge starts at home. In commanding Gideon to tear down his own father’s shrines to false gods, the LORD mocks the foolishness of idolatry. Though Gideon’s fear keeps him from accomplishing this during the day, he does keep the LORD’s word. As Gideon expected, his fellow townspeople are furious; this is the natural sinfu...
Jul 16, 2020•54 min
Rev. James Preus, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Ottumwa, IA, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 6:1-24. Here we go again. After a time of rest, the people of Israel again forsake the true worship of the LORD and godly government. They foolishly turn to idolatry, and the LORD chastens them through the oppression of the Midianites, as numerous as locusts. Just as the LORD had promised in Leviticus, the plagues He had sent against Egypt now came against His own people. In repentan...
Jul 15, 2020•56 min
Rev. Peter Ill, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Millstadt, IL, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 5:1-31. When the LORD delivers His people, they respond by praising Him in song. The poetic praise of God’s deliverance gives theological reflection on the prose account of the battle. The song builds upon itself through its progression to drive home the main point that the battle has been fought and won by the LORD. The people’s idolatry had left them helpless before their enemies; ...
Jul 14, 2020•54 min
Rev. Joel Haak, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Rochester, MN, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 4:1-24. The cycle of rebellion and rescue starts again after Ehud’s death. The people of Israel turn away from the LORD into idolatry, and He sells them into the hands of an old enemy, the Canaanites. From an earthly perspective, the 900 chariots of the Canaanite general, Sisera, are far more powerful than any Israelite weapon. The key difference is that the LORD fights for His peopl...
Jul 13, 2020•55 min
Rev. Dan Speckhard, pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Godfrey, IL, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 3:12-31. Israel again thinks that idolatry will lead to prosperity and happiness, but the LORD shows them otherwise quite graphically. He delivers His people into the hand of the Moabite king Eglon, who has made himself fat on the tribute of Israel. After the people cry out in repentance, the LORD sends His chosen deliverer, Ehud. Unexpectedly, he is left-handed, perhaps even cripple...
Jul 10, 2020•55 min
Rev. Tyrel Bramwell, pastor at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Ferndale, CA, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 3:1-11. When the LORD declared that He would leave pagan nations in the Promised Land, He did so as a test for His people in order that they would learn to rely on Him instead of any idols. This was His purpose in teaching them war. He did not desire to teach them proper military tactics; He desired to teach His people that He was the One fighting for them. Such physical warfare...
Jul 09, 2020•53 min
Rev. Sam Wirgau, pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Ossian, IN, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 2:6-23. Joshua’s generation was generally characterized by faithfulness, but subsequent generations of Israel fell into faithlessness. Joshua’s generation saw with their own eyes the mighty acts of the LORD, but salvation was theirs by faith, not by sight. Something interrupted the hearing of the following generation. Whether it was a failure on the part of the parents to speak the L...
Jul 08, 2020•53 min
Rev. John Bussman, pastor at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Cullman, AL, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 1:27-2:5. Israel’s faithlessness only grows worse. One tribe after another fails to fulfill the LORD’s Word to drive out the inhabitants of the land that He was giving them. Not only was this foolishness from a strategic political and military standpoint, it was direct disobedience to the LORD’s command. The attempt made by several tribes to enslave the Canaanites was a tragic ir...
Jul 07, 2020•54 min
Rev. Matt Ulmer, pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Bishop, TX, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Judges 1:1-26. The book of Judges does not represent a high point in Israel’s history. Throughout the book, their faithlessness stands in contrast to the LORD’s faithfulness. Likely written during the early years of Israel’s United Kingdom, perhaps by the prophet Samuel, the book of Judges begins with some overlap from the book of Joshua. Tribe by tribe, Israel sets out to finish the conques...
Jul 06, 2020•55 min
“Rebellion and Rescue” is a mini-series on Sharper Iron that goes through the book of Judges. This book is characterized by a familiar. As the generations after Joshua forget the LORD and what He has done for Israel, they fall into idolatry. The LORD gives them over into the hands of their enemies in order to bring them to their senses. When they cry out to Him in repentance, He sends a judge to rescue them and give them rest for a time, until they relapse into idolatry once more. In this cycle,...
Jul 06, 2020•2 min
