From Brigham Young University's Maxwell Institute, this is the Maxwell Institute

podcast, Faith, Illuminating Scholarship.

In 2026, we are releasing a series called Old Testament Reflections.

Each week, a scholar offers a short reflection on the Come Follow Me reading. Today's reading, longing for a better way, reflections on the book of Judges, is written and read by J.B. Haas.

Judges was not meant to be a subtle book. At least that's the impression you get on a first read.

The book's editor slash compiler seems to say as much right from the get-go. It's as if that compiler said in the first two chapters of the book, if you're wondering why I've invited you here, dear reader, it's to make one thing clear. When you forget what the Lord has done for you and go worshipping after false gods instead, misery ensues. Remarkably, though, the Lord is merciful

when you cry into him in your misery, and he can offer miraculous deliverance. But take note,

this cycle is hard to break, and you're about to see story after story that proves this point.

Then come the stories, and they really are unforgettable. The characters and the action and judges stand out for good reason.

The heroes are bold, the means of deliverance spectacular, and the climactic moments of

comeuppance leave the oppressors vanquished in dramatic and often graphic ways.

But for all that seeming straightforwardness, there are subtleties to be found here. Ambivalences, unanswered questions,

narrative elements that don't neatly fit the book's stated aims, or at least elements that don't

come with clear moralizing attached. These characters and judges are complicated characters who make

complicated choices, and that certainly makes them feel all the more real and authentic.

It also makes these

stories worth a careful reread to see what might be just below the surface. Gideon's story is like

that. Who hasn't delighted in all of the wonder and thrill of Gideon's triumph? It is gripping

reading on so many levels. It starts with a reluctant hero. Gideon is like Enoch or Moses

or even Barack just two chapters earlier in judges. Gideon protests his own weakness and incredulity

that he has been chosen in the first place, chosen of the Lord to do something almost inconceivable.

And in the face of that hesitation, the Lord provides compelling and repeated evidence

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