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“Who's Presiding?”
Categories: OLD TESTAMENTMen (and a woman, Deborah) like Ehud, Samuel, Gideon, Samson, Jephthah, and Othniel served as judges. Then men (whether good or bad) like Jehu, Omri, Solomon, Pekah, David, Josiah, Amon, Saul, and Uzziah served as kings. A king and a judge ruled over Israel, but Jehovah was still supreme over them, so in biblical terms, what's the difference between a judge and a king?Sincerely,
Don’t Judge Me
Dear Don’t Judge Me,
Kings ruled the nation; judges delivered the nation. When the kings were instituted, it was because the people wanted a king to guide them in place of God (1 Sam 8:4-7). Kings were in total control of the laws, military, and executive powers of the nation.
On the other hand, the judges were sent by God to deliver the nation but didn’t necessarily rule the nation. Take Samson for example. Samson never functioned as a legal guardian or lawgiver for Israel, but he was sent by God to deliver the nation from Philistine oppression (Judg 13:5). We often get confused because when we think of the word ‘judge’, we think of someone presiding over a courtroom, but that wasn’t what the Old Testament judges were. The judges of the Old Testament were sent to bring judgment upon the nations that were oppressing Israel. When Israel was suffering and cried to God, God sent them judges to deliver them from suffering (Judg 2:16).
