A Summary of the Prayers in Judges

The prayers of Judges parallel the stories of victory, joy, complacency, unfaithfulness, and crying out. The first prayer is a petition for help, followed by a praise-prayer; the last prayer is a lament after a significant failure of Israel.

The eleven prayers in Judges consist of twelve petitions, two praise-prayer, two blessings, two vows, and one each of a curse-prayer, confession, and lament. We have noted before that petitions are not the most common prayer type in the Bible. What does it say about the situation in Judges where they are the most common?

The first prayer is a petition from all the people of Israel, crying out to God for deliverance from an enemy ( 3.9, 15, “God always waits with open arms”). The victory leads to a praise and blessing prayer, led by Deborah (5.2–31, “A prayer as a son of victory”). As the downward cycle of unfaithfulness begins, we have a series of eight petitions or confessions, most coming after a time of unfaithfulness which led to suffering or war (6.6–7; 10.10, 15; 16.24, 28; 20.18, 23, 27–28). Other petitions are offered by the leaders, the judges, of the people, or someone about a judge (Gideon: 6.22, 36–37, 7.15, 13.8). A vow is offered, without thinking it through, by the judge Jephthah (11.30–31, “Making rash vows”). Another leads to a blessing and a vow, but all three show the faithlessness of the people (17.1–3).

Judges give us a model of prayers in the midst of trying circumstances and failure. It shows us the richness of prayer in a variety of people, places, and situations in—including some of the improper (or at least misunderstood) uses of prayer. This, of course, matches what is going on with the people and events in the book.