“Living with Canaanites led to worshipping with Canaanites. Tolerate Baal’s people and sooner or later you bow at Baal’s altar. But it seemed like a rather small matter at the time.”[i]

Dr. Dale Ralph Davis

In 1794, the American founding father, Thomas Paine, saw the publication of his book The Age of Reason. Paine had a belief in God but rejected many core tenets of Christianity. A major contention was with the Bible, which he described as “… a history of bad times and bad men”[ii] and being full of “… obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions…”[iii] He has a point. I recall the first time I read Genesis 34 with my son when he was aged around eight. He responded: “Dad, what is rape?” A frank conversation ensued.

It is a curious thing that God would allow so much intolerable evil in a book He sought to use as a tool to point many to the salvation wrought in the selfless life, death and resurrection of His son. You wonder why He did not scrub a few bits out to make it all a little more palatable and surely atop the list of edits would be the Book of Judges. In his second volume of The Age of Reason, written a year later, Paine had an extremely astute observation about the Book of Judges itself. He described it as “altogether fatherless”[iv]. Again, I think he has a point.

God Wants to be King

In Genesis 12, God called a Babylonian nomad from whom to build a people and of whom would he be a ‘father of many’[v]. After wandering into slavery in Egypt, this people are led out and provided for in the wilderness until they re-enter the land promised long ago. Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua all begin with God addressing His chosen leaders at various landmarks. The Book of Judges does not start this way. In Judges 1:1, the people, first, address God rather than vice versa and, second, they ask about a lack of leadership.

If God wanted a leader to replace Joshua, He would have done so. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Joshua died and, now they are where they are meant to be, God wants to be their King. Indeed, in Deuteronomy, the people were told to seek God, who would soon reside among them (12:5). Later, that place of habitation is Shiloh (Joshua 18:1). There are then two phrases, which prove instructive, in chapters 12 and 13. Firstly, man must not do “whatever is right in his own eyes…” (12:8) and, secondly, beware of “…worthless fellows…” (13:13).

The People Want a Man

However, instead of crowning God as King, they want a man. Let us, for example, consider the dialogue between God and Samuel when the people later ask for a King. Samuel is displeased but God, in 1 Samuel 8:7, seeing the state of their hearts, accedes to their wishes. He says: “…they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.” In Deuteronomy, God instructed them to seek, and maintain fidelity, to Him. The disobedience and waywardness exhibited in Judges starts here – the God of all gods is just not good enough.

And lack of allegiance results in disobedience. In chapter one, they reject God, immobilise, rather than kill, a Canaanite leader and eight times (v. 21, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33) we hear they “…did not drive…” out their enemy. They tolerate them, institute forced labour and go from being oppressed in Egypt to the oppressor in Canaan. In chapter two, God asks: “What is this you have done?” God first said this, in Genesis 3:13, to Eve. He sees the same rejection of His Word and leadership in the first land He carved out for humanity repeated in the new land.

A Pitiful Caricature of Man

The reliance upon man ironically culminates in the disintegration of man and, in Judges, we see this is caricature writ large. As Adam failed to lead in Eden, so man fails in Canaan and, in Judges 2:10, we read: “And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done…” We, again, are pointed back to allude to the future and are reminded of Exodus 1:8: “Now there arose a new king in Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” Had he known him, he wouldn’t have been threatened by him, for Joseph helped build Egypt.

God responds to groaning Israel by raising up ‘judges’ (2:16) – the Hebrew word šāp̄aṭ – means to rule or govern. One judge is Deborah (4:4) who leads the army, we hear of Jael (4:17) who kills the army commander and, later, there is an unnamed woman (9:53) who crushes the skull of Abimelech. All of these women are doing the work of men, to bring order and bear rule, but they are surrounded by weak mean, like Barak (4:8) saying to Deborah: “… if you will not go, I will not go” and Gideon (6:11), who is doing a woman’s role in the winepress.    

The Ache of the Orphan

None of this is an effort to devalue men but o note that we only understand who we are when God is given His rightful place on the throne of our lives through the ordinary means of heeding His Word, prayer and worship. He is the architect of our identity as well as of women. When we take Him out of the equation, confusion reigns and we see that play out in culture, but this started long ago. It was during the 14th-century, the word father was reduced to ‘he who begets a child’. The term was historically associated with the role of protector, nourisher or upholder. 

Currently, over one quarter (27%) of 14-year-olds in Scotland have at least one parent living away from home[vi]. They are (at least 15%) more likely to speak to peers than parents about thoughts, feelings or problems[vii]. Over two-thirds (69%) spend at least an hour on social media daily[viii]. The behavioural, educational, emotional and mental effects of fatherless homes are significant and ricochet into every facet of life but a growing problem is familial disintegration – i.e. parents who do live at home but whose children seek advice or engagement elsewhere.

We Approach Another Scottish Election

The Scottish Parliament elections this week are reminder of why we should never place our faith in man and the gender confusion is no less pronounced in our political sphere. There is a kind of political dysphoria – Conservatives are not conserving anything, Greens are no longer green, Labour would not know a labourer if they came across one, Liberal Democrats are neither liberal not democratic, Reform don’t appear to know what they should first reform and SNP – the party of independence – seem only to be obsessed with creating dependence.

Has there ever been an age in which so many knew so much yet understood so little? We appear to live in a political, economic, spiritual and material desert. Like Judges, we are a nation which has forgotten God, we are no longer under His blessing but under grace, our people do what is right in their own eyes and, next week, we will elect more worthless fellows, whose response to a fatherless epidemic is try to be statutory fathers by purchasing schoolbags for primary one pupils and putting £200 in the birthday card of every 18-year-old to spend on ‘cultural pursuits’.

A Call to the Fathers

But there is good news – Genesis 1:28 sets forth God’s model for fathers in the first words – it was that important to God and for us. His divine order is that we, situated under His “blessing” (bāraḵ – kneeling over with adoration and favour), are called to five things. First, we should “be fruitful” (pārâ – ‘bring forth fruit’). Second, we “multiply” (rāḇâ – ‘grow our authority’), Third, we “fill” (mālā’ – ‘to completion within our field’). Fourth, we “subdue” (kāḇaš – to tread down and bring order). Finally, we should “have dominion” (rāḏâ – ‘bear rule over’).

Somewhere in the wilderness God’s people lost their way and forgot it was God who led them out of Egypt, through the wilderness and back into the land He promised them. His purpose for leaving a leadership vacuum that was it would be filled by Him. I do not think it is coincidental that there are eight references to disobedience in chapter one of Judges. In Genesis 1, the eighth thing God did in creation to bless. Judges is the inversion of blessing. When we give God the place of honour in our lives and centre ourselves on Him, He bestows His blessing upon us.

Ewan Gurr Sr. | 30/04/2026

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[i] Davis, D.R. (2000) Judges: Such a Great Salvation. Scotland, UK: Christian Focus Publications.

[ii] Paine, T. (1794) The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology. London, UK: J.T.A.S. and D.I. Eaton

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Paine, T. (1795) The Age of Reason, Part II: Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology. London, UK: H.D. Symonds

[v] All Biblical citations are from The Bible: English Standard Version (2025).

[vi] Scottish Government. (2022) Life at age 14: initial findings from the Growing Up in Scotland study. Available at: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/research-and-analysis/2022/02/life-age-14-initial-findings-growing-up-scotland-study/documents/life-age-14-initial-findings-growing-up-scotland-study/life-age-14-initial-findings-growing-up-scotland-study/govscot%3Adocument/life-age-14-initial-findings-growing-up-scotland-study.pdf (Accessed: 30/04/2026)

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] Ibid.