🎥 Video Lesson
📖 Course Notes
The full course notes for this lesson are available in the official course textbook, Cover to Cover: Old Testament (Village Schools of the Bible, 2022). Please download or view the PDF below to study the material for this lesson.
📖 Download / View Course Notes (PDF)
Together, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth trace salvation history from the entrance into the Promised Land to the eve of Israel’s monarchy — a journey of several centuries. Through Israel’s failures and the Lord’s patience, we see God’s power demonstrated, His purposes advanced, and His grace displayed.
📌 Joshua
God gives the land to Israel. Joshua leads the conquest of Canaan, divides the land among the tribes, and renews Israel’s covenant with God. Though Israel possesses the land, they fail to complete the conquest — setting the stage for the apostasy of Judges. Victory comes through faith and obedience to God’s Word. Rahab, a Gentile, is saved by faith, showing God can save the outsider.
📌 Judges
Blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience are on full display. Israel falls into repeated cycles of sin, oppression, and rescue, as God graciously raises up “judges” (deliverers) — Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Samson, and others. “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).
📌 Ruth
Set during the days of the judges, Ruth highlights the covenant love of God and the role of the kinsman-redeemer. Ruth, a Moabite widow, chooses to follow Israel’s covenant God, and through her union with Boaz the messianic lineage advances toward David and ultimately Jesus. Ruth is one of four non-Jewish women in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1).
🔴 The Scarlet Thread of Redemption — Jesus Revealed in Joshua, Judges & Ruth
Across these three books, God preserves the promised lineage and points forward to the coming Messiah, the true Deliverer and Kinsman-Redeemer.
📌 Joshua — A Picture of Jesus
Joshua’s name in Hebrew corresponds to Jesus’ name in Greek. Just as Joshua brought Israel into the Promised Land, Jesus brings His people into the promised kingdom. The Commander of the Lord’s Army (Joshua 5:13-15) is an appearance of the pre-incarnate Son of God.
📌 Judges — The Need for a True Judge
Human judges fail, but the ultimate Judge, Jesus Christ, will prevail (Acts 17:31). The law of Moses could not bring lasting righteousness, highlighting the need for a New Covenant.
📌 Ruth — The Kinsman-Redeemer
Boaz redeems Ruth and Naomi’s family, foreshadowing Jesus as our ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer. God’s use of a Gentile woman to advance the seed promise foreshadows salvation for people from every nation (Revelation 5:9).
📚 Key Scripture
“But Ruth said, ‘Where you go I will go… your people shall be my people, and your God my God.’” — Ruth 1:16
📝 Study Questions
- How do the “blessings and curses” of Deuteronomy 28 play out in the events of Joshua and Judges?
- What does the recurring cycle in Judges teach us about the human heart and about God’s patience?
- How does Rahab’s and Ruth’s inclusion in the plan of salvation speak to your own place in Christ?
- In what ways does Boaz as kinsman-redeemer foreshadow the work of Jesus?
📝 Lesson Quiz
Test your understanding of this lesson. You must score 100% to pass — you can retry the quiz until every answer is correct.