Lesson 6: A Few Good Men . . . and Women & The Faith of a Foreign Woman

The Story

Feb 17, 2019 • Chris Reighley

The Story:
The Bible As One Continuing Story of God and His People

by Mac Lucado & Randy Frazee

The Story tells the grandest, most compelling story of all time!

God goes to great lengths to rescue lost and hurting people. That is what The Story is all about: the story of the Bible, God’s great love affair with humanity. Condensed into 31 accessible chapters, The Story sweeps you into the unfolding progression of Bible characters and events from Genesis to Revelation. Like any good story, The Story is filled with intrigue, drama, conflict, romance, and redemption—and this story’s true!

When leadership fails, God still works through faith, providence, and grace. Lesson 6 takes us into one of the darkest periods in Israel’s history: the time of the Judges. With no king in Israel, everyone does what is right in their own eyes. The cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, and deliverance repeats with diminishing hope. Yet even in this chaos, God raises up deliverers—some faithful, some flawed, some both. Amid this national moral decay, the story of Ruth shines like a beacon: a Moabite widow who clings to Naomi and finds redemption through Boaz. Together, these stories show that even in failure, God is writing a redemptive story through surprising people.

Lesson 6 – Judges and Ruth

Scripture Focus:

• Judges 1–21
• Ruth 1–4

Part 1: A Few Good Men… and Women (Judges)

I. Israel Fails to Drive Out the Canaanites (Judges 1–2)

• Incomplete conquest leads to moral and spiritual compromise
• The cycle of the Judges begins:
  1. Sin
  2. Oppression
  3. Repentance
  4. Deliverance
  5. Peace
  6. Sin (repeats)

II. The Judges: Leaders Raised by God (Judges 3–16)

A. “Pretty Good” Judges:

• Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah (Judges 3–5)

B. “Okay” Judge:

• Gideon (Judges 6–9)

C. “Bad to Worse”:

• Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon (Judges 10–12)
• Samson (Judges 13–16): Spirit-empowered, yet deeply compromised

III. National Corruption (Judges 17–21)

• Idolatry, civil war, and horrific abuse
• Final verdict: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)

Part 2: The Faith of a Foreign Woman (Ruth)

I. Lost and Found (Ruth 1)

• Naomi loses her husband and sons
• Ruth clings to Naomi with covenant loyalty: “Your God will be my God”

II. Making Ends Meet (Ruth 2–3)

• Ruth gleans in Boaz’s field
• Naomi enacts a plan for redemption through kinsman-redeemer law

III. Redemption and Lineage (Ruth 3–4)

• Boaz redeems Ruth and marries her
• Ruth becomes the great-grandmother of King David—part of the Messianic line

Application & Takeaways

• Spiritual compromise leads to generational crisis—but God is still sovereign.
• God uses imperfect people—but He delights in faithful ones.
• Providence works through everyday faithfulness—like Ruth’s loyalty or Boaz’s integrity.
• Jesus is our ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer—who steps in when we are helpless and restores our name, our inheritance, and our future.