1L. The Judges: Why We Keep Repeating the Same Lessons
Change sure can come hard
If the Promised Land represents awakening to a new way of living, then the Book of Judges asks an uncomfortable question: Why do we so often return to our old ways?
One might expect that after leaving Egypt, surviving the wilderness, and finally entering the Promised Land, Israel’s struggles would be over. Instead, the opposite happens. The people repeatedly drift away from the very principles that had brought them freedom. They forget, they become comfortable, they lose their way, and eventually find themselves oppressed once again. In their suffering, they cry out, and God raises up a judge to deliver them. Peace returns for a season, but before long the cycle begins again.
At first glance, this can seem like a discouraging story. Yet perhaps it is one of the Bible’s most honest descriptions of the human condition.
How often have we promised ourselves that we would change? We overcome an unhealthy habit, forgive someone who hurt us, commit ourselves to greater patience or compassion, and for a while, everything seems different. Then life becomes busy. We grow comfortable. Old fears quietly return. Familiar reactions resurface. Before long, we discover ourselves wrestling with the very struggles we thought we had left behind.
The Book of Judges reminds us that spiritual growth is rarely a straight path. It is not a staircase that we climb once, leaving every previous lesson behind. It is more like walking a winding mountain trail. At times, we seem to circle back to places we thought we had already passed. Yet each time we return, we do so with a little more understanding than before.
This pattern is reflected throughout nature. The seasons return every year, yet no two years are exactly alike. Trees lose their leaves only to grow them again. Day gives way to night before dawn returns. Growth itself often unfolds in cycles rather than straight lines.
Perhaps our spiritual lives are no different.
The judges themselves are fascinating symbols. They were not kings. They appeared only when they were needed, helping the people remember who they were before fading back into ordinary life. Symbolically, they may represent those moments of awakening that periodically interrupt our unconscious patterns. Sometimes they come through wise teachers. Sometimes through a difficult experience. Sometimes, through a dream, an illness, a loss, or a quiet realization that we can no longer continue living as we have.
These moments do not remove our freedom. They simply invite us to begin again.
One of the recurring themes in this series has been that humanity is unfinished. We are not simply moving toward perfection; we are learning through experience. Every failure becomes another opportunity to choose differently. Every setback carries within it the possibility of deeper wisdom.
The Book of Judges illustrates this beautifully. Israel’s repeated failures are not evidence that God has abandoned His people. Rather, they reveal a patient willingness to continually call them back. Again and again, mercy proves stronger than failure.
Perhaps this is also true within ourselves.
Many people become discouraged because they believe that spiritual growth should eliminate struggle altogether. But perhaps maturity is not measured by never falling. Perhaps it is measured by how quickly we recognize that we have wandered, how willingly we humble ourselves, and how readily we begin the journey home once more.
This understanding also prepares us for what comes next. After generations of repeated cycles, Israel longs for something more permanent. The people desire a king—not merely another temporary deliverer, but someone who can unite the nation under one purpose.
Symbolically, this marks another stage in our own development. After years of inner conflict and repeated lessons, we begin longing for something that can truly unify our lives. We seek a deeper center from which our thoughts, emotions, desires, and actions can all be guided.
That longing sets the stage for the rise of the United Kingdom.
Perhaps the Book of Judges leaves us with a hopeful reminder. Progress is not always measured by never revisiting old struggles. Sometimes progress is found in recognizing the pattern a little sooner, choosing love a little more often, and allowing each cycle to shape us into people who are a little wiser than before.
The path may wind, but it still leads forward.
Coming Next
The United Kingdom: When the Inner Self Comes Together
After the repeated cycles of the Judges, Israel begins to long for something more stable, something that can unite the people under one purpose. Symbolically, this points to our own longing for inner harmony.
In the next article, we will explore the United Kingdom as a picture of what happens when the scattered parts of ourselves begin to come together. The heart, mind, and will are not yet perfect, but they begin moving in the same direction. For a time, the kingdom within becomes whole.