Deliverer: Leadership Lessons Inspired by The Judges

By Vinnie Venturella

Teams, organizations, and institutions rise and fall on leadership. The simplest definition of leadership, and the one I prefer, is leadership is about influence. Most people think they can define leadership – good and bad leadership – but you definitely know it when you see it. Also, most people can easily tell when leadership is absent. In this study of the leadership lessons inspired by the judges, from the book of Judges and 1 Samuel, I will highlight situations when there was good, bad, or no leadership present. The common theme in the book of Judges starts with apostasy, oppression by a foreign antagonist, Israel’s appeal to God, God’s raising up of a ‘deliverer,’ and the peace that follows, and oftentimes the turn back to apostasy. I love the study of leadership, have been in the midst of it my whole adult life, will study it the rest of my life, and believe it is of highest importance regardless of environment.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798823012874

Vinnie Venturella

This is Vinnie’s seventeenth book. Vinnie and his wife Tammie have two daughters, Meaghan and Sophia. They live in Texas. Vinnie was born in Pittsburgh, PA. His Mom Joyce and Dad Frank were a big influence on him, and he has a twin brother, Frank and younger sister, Jill. He graduated Woodsville High School in NH. He has a Bachelor’s in Accounting from Campbell University, NC; and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University. Vinnie retired as a Chief Master Sergeant from the Air Force after 21+ years as a Combat Controller in Air Force Special Operations. Vinnie works in the Personal Finance industry. He has a passion for reading, writing, and physical fitness.

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2023 Vinnie Venturella. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/04/2023

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1288-1 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1287-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023914572

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Dedication page

This book is dedicated to

my daughter Meaghan.

In honor of her graduation from the

The University of Texas at San Antonio:

May you continue to chart

your own path and be a positive influence

on those around you.

Acknowledgments

I’d like to thank Connie Freriks and her son and my great friend Rex, for their encouragement and helping me edit this book.

I’d also like to acknowledge a Sunday School class that I taught almost 20 years ago about the Judges. One in particular was about Gideon and looking for and asking for ‘signs.’ What I remember most was the treasure trove of leadership nuggets all throughout the book and I present those here.

Foreword

You will get so much more out of this book if you read the Bible chapter and verses referenced before reading the leadership lessons.

My favorite Bible version is the New International Version (NIV). For this book I primarily used the New King James Version (NKJV), which I love as well.

Contents

Introduction

Between Joshua and the Judges

Othniel

Leaders should be aware of cause and effect

Leaders are people of action

Ehud

Discipline is meant for correction

Maximize your strengths

Leaders play chess when others may play checkers

Your reputation precedes you #1

Shamgar

Leaders use the tools that they have

Deborah

Anyone can lead as long as they have influence

Leaders know who to call when needed

When your people do the unexpected – deal with it

Harness the power of self-motivation.

Leaders lead

Gideon

Understand Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Leaders see people as they can be

Learn to see things for what they are

Never-before-seen action may be required

Do not underestimate newfound motivation

Reassurance may be necessary

Do not overestimate your own abilities

Your reputation precedes you #2

Lead from the front

Leaders can reach across lines

Leaders can lower the temperature

Leaders maintain their self-control

Don’t let success go to your head

Beware of pride

Leaders should develop other leaders

Abimelech

Beware of the overly ambitious

Like attracts like

Character matters

You reap what you sow

Tola

The ordinary can be extraordinary

Jair

Leaders cannot become complacent

Jephthah

When things go from bad to worse

Admit when you are wrong

People yearn for leadership

Know your history

When you are the leader, BE the leader

Leaders move forward

Do not make stupid pronouncements

Choices have consequences

Leaders are allowed to alter decisions

Sometimes leaders may just have to fight

Ibzan

What will you be known for?

Elon

Success may simply be a steady state

Abdon

Leaders need to be focused

Samson

What is your purpose?

Leaders may be strategists

To keep a secret, tell no one

Leaders deliver justice when necessary

Sometimes leaders have to pick sides

Leaders may have to do things on their own

The dangers of lacking self-awareness

Never give in

Fulfill your purpose

Between Samson and Eli

You know when something does not feel right

Real character cannot be broken

The value of a strong teammate

Beware of the excessive talker

Take care of your people’s most basic needs

The value of a common cause

What are you great at?

Your tactics might be what’s wrong

The effects of a vacuum of leadership

Eli

Everyone you come across is dealing with something you don’t know about

A leader must lead their family as well

Give hard feedback when necessary

Leaders must be physically fit

Samuel

An early win helps cement your leadership

Maximize the moment

Model great character at all times

The power of trust

You may have to make the point demonstrably

Stick to the plan

Leave a legacy

Conclusion

Introduction

Teams, organizations, and institutions rise and fall on leadership. The simplest definition of leadership, and the one I prefer, is leadership is about influence. Most people think they can define leadership – good and bad leadership – but you definitely know it when you see it. Also, most people can easily tell when leadership is absent. In this study of the leadership lessons inspired by the judges, from the book of Judges and 1 Samuel, I will highlight situations when there was good, bad, or no leadership present. The common theme in the book of Judges starts with apostasy, oppression by a foreign antagonist, Israel’s appeal to God, God’s raising up of a ‘deliverer,’ and the peace that follows, and oftentimes the turn back to apostasy. I love the study of leadership, have been in the midst of it my whole adult life, will study it the rest of my life, and believe it is of highest importance regardless of environment.

Between Joshua and the Judges

(Judges 1:1 – 3:6)

The book of Judges, among other things, validates very clearly the impact of having no leadership, and the value of having a strong leader. Following Joshua’s death (Jos 24:29), we enter a new era in Israel’s history. Instead of following a central or single leader, God wanted the Israelites to follow Him and Him alone in a sort of theocracy. While living, Joshua established three vital legacies for the Israelites. One, they had a strong presence in the ‘promised land’ of Canaan. Two, each tribe understood its requirement to remove all peoples in their respective inheritance. Three, there was a renewal of the covenant with the Lord and they all agreed to follow, obey, and worship only the One, True, God – Yahweh.

The Israelites decided to go and fight against the Canaanites and inquired of God who should go first and God told them to send Judah. The tribe of Judah asked their brother Simeon to fight alongside them and Judah would do the same for Simeon. They had immediate success. They killed ten thousand Canaanite and Perizzite men at Bezek but failed to capture their leader, Adoni-Bezek. They overtook the king after he fled and instead of killing him as God commanded, they cut off his thumbs and big toes – reminiscent of how Adoni-Bezek treated others, admitted to by himself. This partaking in Canaanite sins went against God as well. He was brought to Jerusalem, where he died. Judah then captured and annihilated those in Jerusalem and set it on fire. Some believe it may not have been Jerusalem exactly but perhaps a surrounding town. They then fought against the Canaanites in the mountains, in the South, in the lowlands, and those in Hebron. The author then repeated information from Joshua 15:15-19 with respect to Caleb.

Then Judah and Simeon together demolished the city of Zephath. Judah captured Ekron, Ashkelon, and Gaza. With God on their side, they took possession of the mountain areas but could not drive out those in the lowlands because of their chariots of iron. This was more due to Judah’s lack of faith rather than God’s doing. It appeared they lost their nerve and settled for less than a full victory. This last failure was indicative of what became the norm with the other tribes. Benjamin, Joseph, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan were all unable to have victory over the inhabitants and none of them were able to gain their inheritance fully. However, some of them were strong enough to be able to enslave the Canaanites but this went against God’s command of destroying all of the inhabitants of Canaan. God knew what would happen if Israel did not completely purge Canaan of its peoples. He knew they would get complacent and weak and take on those evil ways. This set conditions for the remainder of the book of Judges.

Seemingly, in a bridge back to the book of Joshua, the Angel of the Lord addressed the Israelites. This is believed to be the pre-incarnate theophany of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He reminded the Israelites how He led them up out of Egypt and swore to them how He would never break the covenant with them as long as they did what they were supposed to do – obey Him and not serve other gods. This first-person experience had an impact on the Israelites because then they raised their voices and wept. They offered sacrifices there and named the place Bochim. In the book of Judges, and seemingly throughout the Israelite history in the Bible, they obey God and times are good, they disobey God and times are bad. They serve God and times are good, they serve other gods and times are bad. This theme repeats itself a lot in Judges and is the major theme of the book. The author reminded us that the Israelites served the Lord God as long as Joshua remained alive.

As predicted in Deuteronomy 20:16-18, the Israelites deserted God. Because they did not clear the land of the Canaanites and others, they were negatively influenced by these peoples, they did not remove their items of worship, and began to participate in the sinful acts of these people, all in the sight of God – God’s anger was provoked. He used Israel’s enemies to exact some punishment upon them. God sold them into the hands of their enemies. These unconquered groups would raid and enslave Israel and the people were in dire need of a deliverer. But they still refused to obey with their full heart, or would only do it for a short time. So, God would raise a deliverer – a judge. At times they provided military, spiritual, or civic leadership. God empowered them to save Israel from those oppressing her. The common theme in the book of Judges starts with apostasy, oppression by a foreign antagonist, Israel’s appeal to God, God’s raising up of a ‘deliverer,’ and the peace that follows, and oftentimes the turn back to apostasy.

At the start of Judges 3, we see the result of this disobedience and God’s punishment upon Israel. By now, this generation had not experienced the ‘good-old-days’ of the victories under Joshua’s leadership. But their disobedience brought punishment and judgement by these unconquered enemies, orchestrated by God. Despite the commands and warnings of God, Moses and Joshua, the Israelites did not remove all these foreign peoples, and they lived among them, and intermarried with them, and served their gods, creating the atmosphere for further disobedience of God and moving further away from Him.

Othniel

(Judges 3:7 – 11)

In Judges 2, bridging back to Joshua 24:31, we see all the people served the Lord during Joshua’s time and all the days of those elders that outlived Joshua. And after all those had passed, there arose a generation who did not know the Lord nor the work He had done for Israel.

So, Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot God, and served the Baals and Asherahs. This is a common theme in Judges. It starts with apostasy, oppression by a foreign antagonist, Israel’s appeal to God, God’s raising up of a ‘deliverer,’ and the peace that follows. Verse 3:7 mirrors Judges 2:11. The reiteration is intentional and defines the book of Judges. We will literally see this during the entirety of the book. The cause and effect are clear, those that choose to serve another god, end up serving a foreign tyrant.

Leaders should be aware of cause and effect. Your actions, positive or negative, affect your results, impact, and those around you, positively or negatively respectively. You reap what you sow – good or bad. Assess why you are successful. You should be able to quickly ascertain those behaviors and actions you’re taking that contribute to the team success. Or why aren’t you successful? If you have a lot of ‘people’ problems, perhaps the problem is you. You get more with honey than vinegar. You get more with empathy than sarcasm. Understand the impact of your actions on the team – good or bad.

God’s anger therefore was hot against Israel and He made them serve Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia; and Israel served him eight years. The author intentionally used this oppressor’s name twice in quick succession now and again in verse 10. Throughout Judges we will see how God deals with these two institutions – kingship and punishment and judgeship and deliverance.

For eight years Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim, the children of Israel cried out to God, and God raised up a ‘deliverer’ who ‘delivered’ Israel. The meaning behind the term ‘deliverer’ and the act of ‘delivering’ is another theme of this book. These are leaders raised up by God to lead Israel out of their oppression. Remember, they are in this oppression because of their disobedience and apostasy. This bridges back to Judges 2:18: "And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them." This first Judge was Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

I believe this is the same ‘Othniel’ (Judges 1:12-15) that won Achsah as his wife. Achsah is the daughter of the renowned Caleb – my man. Remember, Caleb and Joshua were the only two ‘spies’ that gave a favorable report of the land of Canaan in Numbers 13. The bad report by the majority – the ten spies – and ultimately all the Israelites, sealed the fate of the Israelites for the next 38 years as God made them wander in the desert until that whole generation died off. Caleb is