士一1~2　　约书亚死后，以色列人求问耶和华说，谁要为我们先上去攻击迦南人，与他们争战？耶和华说，犹大要先上去，我已将那地交在他手中。

　　约书亚死后，以色列人求问耶和华说，谁要为他们先上去攻击迦南人，与他们争战（士一1）。耶和华赐下祂的回答和应许，说，“犹大要先上去，我已将那地交在他手中”（2）。这幅与主是一的图画，就是神与祂子民生机联结的美妙图画，乃是接续约书亚记里以色列人最初进入美地时的一（士师记生命读经，七页）。

　　Judg. 1:1-2 …After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel inquired of Jehovah, saying, Who will go up for us first against the Canaanites, in order to fight against them? And Jehovah said, Judah shall go up. I have now given the land into his hand.

　　After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel inquired of Jehovah concerning who would go up for them first against the Canaanites in order to fight against them (Judg. 1:1). Jehovah gave His answer and promise, saying, “Judah shall go up. I have now given the land into his hand” (v. 2). This marvelous picture of oneness with the Lord, of the organic union of God with His people, is a continuation of the oneness in the book of Joshua when the people of Israel first entered into the good land. (Life-study of Judges, p. 5)

　　我们若按照（圣经）全面的观点来读旧约，就会领悟，神在西乃山娶了以色列为妻。在神的观念和愿望里，祂对以色列要象丈夫对妻子一样，祂也期望以色列象妻子一样对祂。我们读士师记时，需要记住这点。

　　撒母耳在写历史书时，将士师记放在约书亚记之后，给我们看见以色列对她的丈夫是过怎样的生活。因着某种缘故，以色列无心作耶和华的妻子。身为妻子，她忘记她的丈夫，离开她的丈夫，照着自己的愿望行动。至终，以色列成了淫妇。在何西阿的时候，以色列在神眼中是淫妇（何一2，二2）。她已落到奸淫的罪里，没有确定的丈夫。除了耶和华祂的丈夫以外，她有了许多别的男人。…在士师记里，有一幅妻子离弃丈夫，甚至不承认祂存在的可怕图画。这是一幅淫妇（离弃丈夫并随从偶像之妻子）的丑陋图画。起初以色列对神有新婚之爱，但在婚后，她失去向丈夫作贞洁妻子的地位。她离弃神并随从偶像。每个偶像都是一个“男人”，以色列变得满了偶像。耶利米十一章十三节说，百姓为向偶像烧香所立的坛，与耶路撒冷街道的数目相等。以西结十六章二十四节告诉我们，以色列“在各街市…作了高台”。

　　在士师记里，多次重复一句特别的话：“那些日子，以色列中没有王，各人行自己眼中看为正的事”（十七6，十八1，十九1，二一25）。但神是王！按照圣经的原则，丈夫是婚姻的头和家庭的头。神在创造里命定男人有这权柄；所以，男人有作王的身份。在预表和表号里，神是独一的男人。我们都是女人，因为我们（召会）是基督团体的妻子。神既是我们的创造者和我们的主，祂也该是我们的王。

　　在撒母耳记上，以色列人求神为他们立一位王（八5）。这大大地得罪了神（7）。以色列虽然是神的妻子，却成了淫妇。她不承认神的君王身份，也不承认神是她的丈夫。所以，以色列人行他们自己眼中看为正的事，结果就变得腐烂败坏。

　　这是我们在士师记里所看见的。…在一章一至二十节犹大和迦勒的记事之后，士师记所记载以色列的历史，满了淫妇的腐烂败坏。这就是士师记的内在意义。

　　约书亚记是一卷满了以色列在耶和华面前，奇妙地战胜迦南居民的历史书；相反的，士师记却是一卷满了以色列离弃耶和华，在仇敌手下悲惨失败的历史书（士师记生命读经，一至三页）。

　　参读：士师记生命读经，第一、三、九至十篇；神话语的职事，第六章。

　　If we read the Old Testament according to [the] full scope [of the Scriptures], we will realize that at Mount Sinai God married Israel. In His concept and desire, He wanted to be to Israel as a husband to a wife, and He expected Israel to act as a wife toward Him. We need to keep this point in mind as we read the book of Judges.

　　In writing the books of history, Samuel put Judges after Joshua to show us what kind of life Israel lived toward her Husband. For some reason, she did not have a heart to be the wife of Jehovah. As a wife, she forgot her Husband, left her Husband, and acted according to her own desires. Eventually, Israel became a harlot. At the time of Hosea, Israel was a harlot in the eyes of God (Hosea 1:2; 2:2). Having fallen into the sin of adultery, she did not have a definite husband. In addition to Jehovah as her Husband, she had many other men….In the book of Judges there is a terrible picture of a wife forsaking her Husband and not even acknowledging His existence. This is an ugly picture of a harlot, a wife who forsook her Husband and went after idols. In the beginning Israel had a bridal love toward God, but after her marriage she lost her position as a chaste wife to her husband. She forsook God and went to idols. Every idol was a “man,” and Israel became full of idols. Jeremiah 11:13 says that according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem the people had set up altars to burn incense to their idols. Ezekiel 16:24 tells us that Israel made “an elevation in every open square.”

　　In the book of Judges, a particular saying is repeated a number of times: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did that which was right in his own eyes” (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). But God was the King! According to the principle in the Bible, the husband is the head of the marriage and the head of the family. In creation God ordained that the man would have this authority; therefore, he also has the kingship. In typology and in figure, God is the unique man. We all are females because we, the church, are the corporate wife to Christ. Since God is our Creator and our Lord, He should also be our King.

　　In the book of 1 Samuel, the children of Israel asked God to appoint a king for them (8:5). This was a great offense to God (v. 7). Even though Israel was a wife to God, she became a harlot. She did not recognize God’s kingship, and she did not recognize God as her Husband. Therefore, the children of Israel did what was right in their own eyes, and as a result they became rotten and corrupted.

　　This is what we see in the book of Judges…. After the story of Judah and Caleb in 1:1-20, Israel’s history as recorded in Judges was full of the rottenness and corruption of a harlot. This is the intrinsic significance of the book of Judges.

　　Joshua is the book of Israel’s history full of the marvelous victories over the inhabitants of Canaan in the presence of Jehovah. Judges, on the contrary, is the book of Israel’s history full of miserable defeats under their enemies in the forsaking of Jehovah. (Life-study of Judges, pp. 1-3)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Judges, msgs. 1,3,9-10; CWWN, vol. 53, “The Ministry of God’s Word,” ch. 6