Judges 2:6-3:6 STudy Guide: The cycle of The Judges
Community Group Study Guide — The Cycle of Judges
Judges 2:6-3:6
Oct 4, 2026
Study Information:
What happens when we “forget God?” This kind of forgetting is less about memory and more about a turning one’s back on God (Jud 2:19). We each experience times and seasons in our lives when God is not at the forefront of our thoughts and attention. During these times we get caught up in pursuits that are not holy, often becoming like the world around us instead of being distinct from the world. Judges 2:6-3:6 gives us a picture of what is called the cycle of judges where the people forget God, get caught up in serving the gods of the Canaanites and the Lord in his mercy and grace rescued them. In this text we have a contrast between Joshua who was described as the “servant of the LORD” and the next generation who did not know the LORD or the work he had done. Likewise, we will be challenged to consider if there are other gods we are trying to worship alongside God.
Joshua’s Death
Judges 2:6-10
Scholars point out that the book of Judges has a second introduction in these verses, as many of them point back to chapter 1. The writer of Judges gives us a pattern for the rest of the book, the cycle of judges, and this pattern begins when the people forget God and his works.
Joshua died. He was the faithful leader of Israel after Moses and he was described as “the servant of the LORD.” Joshua was the second in command to Moses, showed great faith in scouting out the Promised Land 40 years earlier, he led the people of Israel to military victories early on and he was the first leader of Israel to be buried in the Promised Land.
There was a problem though, the generation that came after Joshua did not know the LORD or the work he had done for Israel (Jud 2:10). They knew about God and had heard about the various things he had done, but they had not experienced God or his salvation first hand and because of that there was a lack of worship and trust. They forgot that the Lord had saved them from slavery in Egypt, they forgot the crossing of the Red Sea and the fall of Jericho. Like many people, instead of trusting what they heard from the previous generation, they test for themselves whether or not God is who he says he is.
The result is often idolatry where we worship and serve other gods alongside God himself. Tim Keller wrote, “the greatest danger is … not that we become atheists, but that we ask God to co-exist with idols in our hearts.” The Israelites wanted to coexist with the Canaanites, being like them while at the same time still saying they worshipped the Lord.
The Cycle of Judges
Judges 2:10-3:5
The book of Judges gives us a cycle of rebellion to repentance. There’s discussion around how to categorize it and not every judge has the exact same pattern, but there are generally 8 components.
First, the people forget God. Each cycle begins will rebellion. Judges 2:11-13 tells us that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. Baal is the Canaanite word for “lord” and used often for a specific god of fertility. Judges tells us clearly that they “abandoned the LORD” and worshipped the other gods.
Second, God’s anger is kindled (Jud 2:14). God’s love is often expressed in anger when his people get caught up in sin or idolatry. He has a protective and jealous love for us and does not want to see his people wreck their lives or give themselves to lesser things like idols.
Third, Israel is given over to their enemies (Jud 2:14-15). God used the enemy nations that were left in Canaan to discipline them. Judges 2:22 and 3:1-2 tells us that God used the nations that were left to test Israel and to train them. They tested Israel’s faithfulness and trained them for war. God used these nations to bring his people to a place of desperation and dependency so they’d trust and return to him.
Fourth, Israel cries for help (Jud 2:18). The people turn to God and God responds. This text tells us that God is moved by his compassion and pity. This is a sign of repentance from the people of God where they express they are helplessness to him.
Fifth, God raises up a leader to save them (Jud 2:16-19). Individuals were raised up by God to lead the nation against their enemies. Often these judges had to overcome specific limitations or challenges.
Sixth, there is a time of peace (Jud 2:19). While the judge led the people, they’d be in a season of revival and have peace in the land. But the challenge is that this peace and security also led to complacency.
Seventh, the Judge dies (Jud 2:19). When the judge died, they’d be leaderless and they turned back to the ways of their fathers.
Eighth, the people forget God again (Jud 2:16-17). The text tells us that they whored after other gods and bowed down before them. This is sexual language attached to worship. Israel was “married” to God in their covenant ceremony at Mount Sinai (Ex 20) but now they are fornicating with other gods. This often included saying they worshipped God but also setting up idols to false gods and mixing their worship together (we see this in the Gideon story for example). So it was not a conscious “I’m going to start worshipping Baal decision,” it was usually a combing of worship of many gods at the same time. Something that we can see often in our own hearts when we start to drift from the Lord.
And the cycle started all over again.
Repentance
This cycle of the Judges highlights the need for repentance. Often we are unaware of specific sins in our lives and only through consequences and God’s discipline does it become clear that we need to turn away from that sin and return to God. The Hebrew word for repent is Shuv which means to turn away from and turn towards something else. It is an about face. The challenge is that we can “repent” and keep struggling with sin. But we should be encouraged by the Lord’s response to even our imperfect repenting. God “was moved by pity for their groaning…” When we cry out God is faithful to send a rescuer. This truth is ultimately highlighted in the person and work of Christ. God responded to our sin, brokenness and cries for help by sending his son. Likewise, God does not demand perfection before he offers help, rather God’s grace helps us to fight sin and pursue Christ. This is why it is so important to cry out to God, to bring our real prayers of confession to him and to receive his help (1 John 1:7-10).
What areas of your life are you mixing up worship of God with idols? Are there ways that you’re serving other gods and doing what is evil in the Lord’s sight? This is an opportunity to cry out for his help and receive mercy and grace in a time of need (Hebrew 4:14-16).
At your community group:
Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.
How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week?
Discussion Questions:
Read Judges 2:6-3:6
How was Joshua and his generation described? Compare that to how the next generation was described?
What is the cycle of the judges? What are some reasons you think that this cycle repeated itself so often?
How was their idolatry described? Look at Judges 2:11-12 and 17-18.
Repentance is a turning from one thing and a turning toward God. Why is it important to not just stop doing evil, but to also turn to God? In what ways do you find that you’re being prompted by the Holy Spirit to turn towards God this week?
