Judges For You

Having listened to read many of Tim Keller's works, I knew this would be a book where I could trust the content based of Keller's reputation as an author, teacher/preacher, church leader, and Christian practitioner - I was not dissapointed !!

Keller takes the book of Judges and breaks it down into easily understandable concepts, relates those concepts back to us today and shows the implications in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There were many things that I was already aware of, but also a lot that I was not - he has an especially interesting take on Deborah and Barak.

Solomon was right - there is noting new under the sun - Christians today struggle with exactly the same issues as the people of God did in the book of Judges. However, we often do not see these issues due to the cultural lens' that we tend to view our lives through.

Grab yourself a copy of this book - you won't regret it!

I listened to the audiobook version of this book - supplied to me by Christianaudio.com, for the purposes of this review. I am not required to give a favorable review.

I found the audiobook easy to listen to, the narrator spoke clearly and at a pace that was easy to follow.

When it comes to Bible study, the English speaking church is truly blessed with a glut of materials. And Bible study helps come in almost every shape and size: simple books with application for laymen, heavy tones with detailed exegesis of the Greek for scholars, and everything in between. In the "God’s Word For You" series from The Good Book Company, we find a unique balance. Each book in the series is attractively designed and emphasizes that the book aims to unveil God’s Word for the ordinary reader. The books aim to help believers read the Biblical text, grow in grace as they learn to feed on God’s Word, and also to equip Bible study leaders and various church teachers with a helpful analysis of the text with an eye to application.

Timothy Keller, one of my favorite authors, gives us a gospel-centered look at the book of Judges, in "Judges For You." I was repeatedly struck by how applicable the stories in Judges are to the church today. Keller avoids an allegorical reading of the text just as much as he shuns a scholastic handling of it. He sees the Messiah in the types found in Judges, and points out how Judges always leaves us looking for a better king, a better judge, a more complete savior. There is a transition from the entire tribe of Judah fighting for Israel in the first chapters, to the solitary savior, Samson at the end. In every way Christ is the greater David, who fulfills Judges expectation in ways that David, whose story follows on the heels of Judges, never could.

Keller has an eye to challenging aspects of the text for today’s readers. He provides an appendix for how to handle the concept of “holy war” in Scripture. And he purposefully points out how Israel’s common sin of idolatry relates to similar idolatrous sins we find in today’s culture and even in the church. Each chapter includes two sets of discussion questions, and can be broken into two lessons if needed.

I listened to the christianaudio version of this book, and it worked well as a devotional read on the way to and from work each day. The chapters build on each other but can be read individually. The narration at first was hard to adjust to. The reader, Maurice England, has a strong southern drawl, and his accent was distracting at first. Perhaps it was more distracting because it contrasts so sharply with Tim Keller’s voice which I was imagining in my head when listening to the book. In time, the narration grew on me and I warmed up to England’s voice. I also own the hardback book, and notice that there are only a few things you miss out on with the audio-book. There is one big map in the appendix, as well as a couple diagrams which are not in the audio-book. Additionally, the audio-book does not attempt to include the glossary feature of the book (words in gray font in the text are defined in the glossary at the back of the book).

I highly recommend this series, and am looking forward to picking up additional titles. If each is as gospel-focused as this title, the series will be a boon to the church.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by christianaudio.com as part of the christianaudio Reviewers Program. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

This audiobook is actually 6.7 hours long but thankfully, each minute of the audiobook is worth listening to, thanks to the awesome writer, Timothy J Keller, and also the narrator Maurice England.

The book “Judges for you”, as the title suggests, takes a deeper (and overview) look of the Book of Judges in the Bible. Whether you have read the Book of Judges in the Bible or not, this is a great book to hear. It covers the whole chapters but at the same time, Timothy Keller also adds a lot of exposition and reflection questions.

I really like the book because:
- It makes me want to re-read the book of Judges again
- If you never read the book of Judges, I bet that you’d want to open up your Bible and read the whole book after/while listening to this audiobook.
- It has a lot of reflection questions after each chapter and throughout the book, which makes you think about the state of your spirituality at the moment. It’s easy to read the Book of Judges as a history or stories in the past, so the reflection questions help to make this all about you and God, not just the Israelites.

The narrator, Maurice England, also does a good job in narrating the book. Considering the book is about 7 hours long, I never grew sleepy or tired listening to the audiobook. Probably it’s also because the book was well written and interesting to read/hear.

I definitely recommend you to grab this audiobook and have recommend it to my friends at church.

Originally posted at writeforgod.com

Why would a perfect, all-powerful God choose to use flawed people to advance His plan? How can God be both perfectly gracious and perfectly just while so much evil prevails? Will God’s unconditional love be negated when his conditional blessings are affronted by human rebellion? These are the underlying questions of the Old Testament book of Judges, and of Timothy Keller’s excellent expository guide to the book, Judges for You.

The time of the Judges was a dark time in the history of Israel, and Keller does an excellent job of bringing the stories to life. This is not a surprise since he is a renowned master of language and exposition. He is unflinching as he holds the ugly examples of human failure up alongside the examples of heroic victory. He just as unflinchingly deals with the inevitable questions about the goodness of God that seem to crop up when one spends any time in the Old Testament. How can God command his people to wage war? Why did He punish that person, but then allow that evil action to go unpunished? Etc.

Keller’s focus is on God and the gospel. God is the only One who is always honest, upright, and true. As the judges become increasingly flawed with each generation, God’s faithfulness is unending. And each despicable act and hollow victory just points all the more to our deep need for a divine Savior instead of a human one.

This book is great in that it serves as a usable commentary as well as a devotional or Bible study resource. How does Keller manage to appeal equally to both Bible scholar and average churchgoer? He walks the line perfectly, always pointing the reader back to the true message of God as Eternal Savior.

I highly recommend this book. The audiobook version is well-narrated by Maurice England.

Please Note: This audiobook was gifted as a part of the Christianaudio Reviewers Program in exchange for my unbiased review of this work. This has in no way influenced my opinion or review of this work.

"That'll preach" is a good summary of my view on Judges for You by Timothy Keller. Although he begins with a disclaimer that this is not an exhaustive commentary on the book of Judges I believe it is one of the best presentation I have heard of this puzzling and difficult book.

We have a Judge who can't find a wife in his own country. We have a Judge whose son wants to be a King and a woman who tells the commander of the army that he will not get credit for winning the battle.

I especially appreciate Timothy Keller's commentary on Deborah and Barak in a way that isn't demeaning to the role of Deborah and that doesn't portray Barak as a wimp.

Author Keller brings out the history and culture of the time and offers an explanation for our modern sensibilities about war.

Keller concludes each section with some points for reflection and it would be fitting to end this review with a point for reflection: How close are we to becoming a nation that does what is right in its own eyes?

The book was well read by Maurice England.

A received a free audio copy from christianaudio.com for the purpose of review.

This review, by Dr. Nicholson, has been provided courtesy of Desert Bible Institute www.desertbibleinstitute.com.
I have always been a fan of Timothy Keller’s work. He is one of a handful of pastor/authors that can clearly and succinctly delve into scripture in a way that is not only applicable but is also scholarly. Too many books in the Christian market cater to the self-help genre of writing and do not really prove useful. Many others are so highly technically that they do not transfer well to the medium of audiobook. That said, Keller does something amazing here: He has created a verse-by-verse commentary that is both easy to listen to and is also well researched and referenced. If audiobooks are to be a regular medium for biblical commentaries in the future, Timothy Keller may well have found the format.
As I mentioned, what pleasantly surprised me was that this book was nearly verse-by-verse. Keller takes a section of text and then gives an overview of it. He then breaks it down into smaller units pointing out all the cogent points that address the overall themes and issues in the book. This offers a very straightforward structure that is easy to follow. This allows the reader to either listen straight through or to bounce around to specific sections. This makes the book not only applicable to the casual student, but it also makes it useful to the pastor writing a sermon. The easy, natural language Keller uses in not intimidating or overly technical at any point.
Keller follows his major sections with questions for the reader to think about. These focus around the major themes and sub-points of both the text and his commentary on it. Students will find these useful for recursive learning. These sections are short; however, and should not detract from the experience for the more scholarly listener. These same listeners will likely appreciate the multitude of cross-references and supporting proof-texts that Keller uses liberally throughout his writing.
Maurice England does an excellent of narrating Keller’s book. What was particularly well done was the way he varied his rate and incorporated pauses in the more complex areas of the text. A particular example would be how he would often give a short pause between verse references. I assume he did this knowing, that since this was an audio version, the listener would need time to either pause the recording and take note or (at least) make a mental note of some or all of the references. He was also able to pace himself differently between the narrative sections of the Bible and the more technical aspects provided by Keller. England and the book’s director/producer should be applauded for this attention to detail.
Dr. Nicholson reviews academic, Christian living, and fiction books for a variety of publishers in an array of formats. He is never paid for any of his reviews. He writes these strictly as a courtesy to his students at Desert bible Institute and for any other readers that might find his insights valuable. For more reviews or information, visit Dr. Nicholson’s blog at drtnicholson.wordpress.com.
A copy of the book was generously offered to Dr. Nicholson by christianaudio.com in exchange for this unbiased review.

Tim Keller has done an outstanding job of combining solid scholarship, readability, and application in Judges for You. This installment in Keller’s Bible Study series approaches the tough issues without blushing, studies the deep things without being dense, never loses sight of the Bible’s big picture, and always brings us back to the gospel.

This book is a 13-chapter walk through of Judges. This is not a commentary. Nor is it a super-simple Bible study. Keller has found a seemingly perfect balance of deep thinking and real-life application.

I would recommend this book to any small group that is interested in taking on the Book of Judges for its study. I would also recommend this book to Sunday School classes that are ready to work through this material—especially since it fits a 13-week cycle. However, I also very much enjoyed reading through this book as an individual and thinking through some familiar accounts in a much stronger way.

I received a free audio copy of this work from ChristianAudio.com as part of their reviewers program. The audio quality here is superb, and the narration is very fitting.