The Book of Judges

• Judges mainly gives us a picture of a period in the life of Israel when they were disobedient. God still intervenes in their situation, but we see a pattern of Israel being disobedient, God getting angry, Israel asking for forgiveness and God having mercy on them.
  
• Israel seems to be wavering a bit in this book because they have just lost their last great leader - Joshua. The book starts out this way "After the death of Joshua...". They have some leadership from the judges, but they are mediocre leaders who don't always trust in God.
  
• There are consequences to Israel's disobedience found here, the most notable is that they do not take the whole land of Canaan as God had originally intended for them to do.
  
• This book plays an important role in the recording of Israel's history because it shows that their success later on can only be contributed to God's faithfulness to them.
  

*Information for this post came from The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press: New York, 1989. AND Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture. Fortress Press: Philadelphia, 1979.

Things to Know About the Gospel of Mark

• Mark is most likely the first of the four gospels to be written.
• Mark aims to give a divine perspective on the life of Jesus. This divine perspective includes seeing Jesus as part of the story of Israel and as fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah.
• Mark's two main focuses are Jesus' identity and what it means to be a his disciple.
• The overall picture we get from the book about Jesus is that he was both a powerful teacher and a rejected Messiah. These two seemingly contradictory traits are integral to Jesus' identity.
• The image of rejected Messiah comes throughout the book in Mark's emphasis on Jesus' crucifixion as well as on the conflict that he faces, even at times from his own disciples. In fact, one third of Mark's gospel is focused on Jesus' last days on earth.
• Mark often tells us that people were in awe of Jesus' teachings, his healings or his miracles - giving us a picture of Jesus as powerful and awe-inspiring to the people of his day.
  

*information for this post came from Achtemeier, Green & Thompson. Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001. p.123-147.