What do you think?
Rate this book
Gospel According to the Old Testament
Right in Their Own Eyes: The Gospel According to Judges
In Judges, God forges a community of worshippers when people “did what was right in their own eyes"―much like our situation today. Learn how a wayward people can still accomplish God's mission for them.
264 pages, Paperback
First published November 25, 2011
2 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 14, 2013
Right in their own eyes—The Gospel According to Judges, by George M. Schwab. Phillipsburg: P and R Publishing, 2011. 233 pages.
George M. Schwab is an Associate professor of Old Testament at Erskine Seminary. He holds a Masters of Divinity. And his doctorate is from Westminster Theological Seminary. He is a contributor to the Expositor Bible Commentary series.
Schwab’s book is one book in the the Gospel According To the Old Testament series of books. Their purpose is threefold:
To lay out the pervasiveness of the revelation of Christ in the Old Testament
To promote a Christ-centered reading of the Old Testament
To encourage Christ-centered preaching and teaching from the Old Testament
Siegbert Becker noted that Martin Luther recognized the value of philosophy. Its validity is that it asks good questions. The problem is that it doesn’t answer the questions it asks.1 As one begins to read through “Right in their own eyes” we see that Schwab asks some really good questions in the beginning pages of his book. He notes that Judges is a very difficult book. It is difficult because of its content. It is difficult because of its chronology. The question any reader of Judges asks is: “how can we read and understand Judges properly?” He offers an interesting solution:
There is much in this statement that we would agree with. We want to let the author of Judges write and speak how the Spirit intended him to. Where we would differ is in the role our own imagination, creativity and reason have to play. Schwab insists that when we are in doubt, we need to “invent.” We insist that when we are are forced to choose between insubstantial (or nearly insubstantial) speculation and silence, it is better to remain silent.
Insufficient Scholarship—Suffusive Speculation
Throughout Right In Their Own Eyes Schwab invites us to conclude that what God’s word says can’t really be trusted. Going against the clear context in Genesis, he invites us to conclude that there are two creation accounts and that these creation accounts conflict with each other (14).
He also invites us to conclude that, more than likely, Sisera did not have 900 iron chariots because it would have been an oxymoron. For chariots were “useful for speed and agility (17).” Perhaps Schwab wasn’t subjected to a History of War class in high school. But this reviewer was. And if he had sat in on my class he would have learned that there were two classes of chariots (heavy and light). The light ones are indeed “useful for speed and agility” in the proper setting. But this was not the class of chariot Sisera was using. He was using a heavy chariot. The purpose of this instrument was to run over infantry with horses and then finish the job with iron wheels which wouldn’t fly off or fall apart as they crushed the skulls of those they rode over.
Schwab suggests that the reason why Eglon was so eager to have a private audience with Ehud was that he thought that Ehud was offering to have sex with him (54-55). And he concludes that Jael exhausted Sisera by having sex with him from three to seven times. And after he was exhausted from the exertion she killed him (84-85). There is a shred of evidence for the latter. There is no evidence for the former.
There are many other examples of over-speculation and insufficient scholarship throughout this book. It is difficult to read through a book which trains you to mistrust it so thoroughly.
Where’s the Gospel—The Good news?
One would expect that a book titled, “The Gospel According to Judges” would have what its title offers. While Schwab makes it clear who Jesus is and what he came to do in short and sparse examples (e.g. 117), he consistently robs us of the good news (what did Jesus do for me?) by putting the work of salvation and conversion on us (37, 59, 60, 67, 70, 93, 106, 130, 175, 179, et multa al).
The saddest example of this is found in his commentary about Samson. What consolation would you give to parents like Samson’s parents? They were faithful in raising their son in God’s word. But when Samson grew up, he threw it all away. What gospel is there for parents today who have brought up their children in God’s word and seen them walk away from the faith? What gospel is there for Samson himself? He was a man who had it all—so gifted, so blessed, so treasured by God above. And he lived to seemingly only serve himself. Is there grace—undeserved love left for a man like him who repents after he has squandered God’s grace? Is there room for him to not only be saved and forgiven, but to also live out his remaining life striving to be faithful because he is so thankful? Those are questions I yearned to have Schwab answer. This is as close as he came to answering my questions:
I waited to hear gospel. Instead, the author piled commands on me. I waited to hear of God’s grace, his undeserved love for us in Christ. Instead, again and again, I heard about obedience and duty. Schwab asked many good questions. He missed the opportunity to provide adequate answers. It is truly saddening that instead of centering our souls on Christ (as this series of books sets out as its goal), he centered them on us. For these reasons I recommend that the reader avoid this book.
1 The foolishness of God, Siegbert Becker. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1999. Pages 64-65
George M. Schwab is an Associate professor of Old Testament at Erskine Seminary. He holds a Masters of Divinity. And his doctorate is from Westminster Theological Seminary. He is a contributor to the Expositor Bible Commentary series.
Schwab’s book is one book in the the Gospel According To the Old Testament series of books. Their purpose is threefold:
To lay out the pervasiveness of the revelation of Christ in the Old Testament
To promote a Christ-centered reading of the Old Testament
To encourage Christ-centered preaching and teaching from the Old Testament
Siegbert Becker noted that Martin Luther recognized the value of philosophy. Its validity is that it asks good questions. The problem is that it doesn’t answer the questions it asks.1 As one begins to read through “Right in their own eyes” we see that Schwab asks some really good questions in the beginning pages of his book. He notes that Judges is a very difficult book. It is difficult because of its content. It is difficult because of its chronology. The question any reader of Judges asks is: “how can we read and understand Judges properly?” He offers an interesting solution:
When Judges is in tension with nature (the bees in the carcass), with history (recapitulation of Joshua), with archeology (Gibeah), and with what is possible (three thousand on the roof), we must engage in creative rethinking, giving it the benefit of the doubt. We invent a city of the same name, we imagine a way to have iron chariots, we dispute archaeological conclusions, we speculate about insects. But at the same time we must be flexible in how we read, allowing the author to creatively modulate the story. (p. 19)
There is much in this statement that we would agree with. We want to let the author of Judges write and speak how the Spirit intended him to. Where we would differ is in the role our own imagination, creativity and reason have to play. Schwab insists that when we are in doubt, we need to “invent.” We insist that when we are are forced to choose between insubstantial (or nearly insubstantial) speculation and silence, it is better to remain silent.
Insufficient Scholarship—Suffusive Speculation
Throughout Right In Their Own Eyes Schwab invites us to conclude that what God’s word says can’t really be trusted. Going against the clear context in Genesis, he invites us to conclude that there are two creation accounts and that these creation accounts conflict with each other (14).
He also invites us to conclude that, more than likely, Sisera did not have 900 iron chariots because it would have been an oxymoron. For chariots were “useful for speed and agility (17).” Perhaps Schwab wasn’t subjected to a History of War class in high school. But this reviewer was. And if he had sat in on my class he would have learned that there were two classes of chariots (heavy and light). The light ones are indeed “useful for speed and agility” in the proper setting. But this was not the class of chariot Sisera was using. He was using a heavy chariot. The purpose of this instrument was to run over infantry with horses and then finish the job with iron wheels which wouldn’t fly off or fall apart as they crushed the skulls of those they rode over.
Schwab suggests that the reason why Eglon was so eager to have a private audience with Ehud was that he thought that Ehud was offering to have sex with him (54-55). And he concludes that Jael exhausted Sisera by having sex with him from three to seven times. And after he was exhausted from the exertion she killed him (84-85). There is a shred of evidence for the latter. There is no evidence for the former.
There are many other examples of over-speculation and insufficient scholarship throughout this book. It is difficult to read through a book which trains you to mistrust it so thoroughly.
Where’s the Gospel—The Good news?
One would expect that a book titled, “The Gospel According to Judges” would have what its title offers. While Schwab makes it clear who Jesus is and what he came to do in short and sparse examples (e.g. 117), he consistently robs us of the good news (what did Jesus do for me?) by putting the work of salvation and conversion on us (37, 59, 60, 67, 70, 93, 106, 130, 175, 179, et multa al).
The saddest example of this is found in his commentary about Samson. What consolation would you give to parents like Samson’s parents? They were faithful in raising their son in God’s word. But when Samson grew up, he threw it all away. What gospel is there for parents today who have brought up their children in God’s word and seen them walk away from the faith? What gospel is there for Samson himself? He was a man who had it all—so gifted, so blessed, so treasured by God above. And he lived to seemingly only serve himself. Is there grace—undeserved love left for a man like him who repents after he has squandered God’s grace? Is there room for him to not only be saved and forgiven, but to also live out his remaining life striving to be faithful because he is so thankful? Those are questions I yearned to have Schwab answer. This is as close as he came to answering my questions:
A Spirit-filled and Spirit-anointed person can be larger than life, can be whatever is needed, since God calls such a one. This is where the bar is placed for Christians. In the Spirit, they can rise to any occasion, accomplish andy task, resist any temptation, risk any loss, for the glory of God in Christ and his gospel...Samson the “little sun” blazed with the Spirit, and we are like fires, too, lamps set on a hill that cannot be hidden (Matt. 5:15-16). We shine like stars (Phil 2:15)....This is what is needed today.(175)
I waited to hear gospel. Instead, the author piled commands on me. I waited to hear of God’s grace, his undeserved love for us in Christ. Instead, again and again, I heard about obedience and duty. Schwab asked many good questions. He missed the opportunity to provide adequate answers. It is truly saddening that instead of centering our souls on Christ (as this series of books sets out as its goal), he centered them on us. For these reasons I recommend that the reader avoid this book.
1 The foolishness of God, Siegbert Becker. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1999. Pages 64-65
May 22, 2019
Thought-provoking, and dare I say a bit innovative as far as Judges commentaries go. Schwab excels in his grasp of Hebrew and how it's subtly used to communicate theological nuance.
For the most part, this is a fairly easy and succinct overview of Judges. It'd be a great resource for use in a bible study through Judges (though Dale Ralph Davis' is better suited for such). At times I felt like he was being a bit too provocative and reading into the text things that weren't quite there. At other times, he pinpointed things that other commentaries glossed over or were clearly too prude to discuss in detail (this isn't a commentary suited for children!).
Perhaps the biggest complaint I have about the book is that there is far too little gospel, which is ironic given the subtitle. There is an emphasis on grace, but more often than not the author puts the emphasis of the passage on what we need to do rather than on what God does in us.
Nevertheless, this book goes deeper than most overviews/studies of the book, though not quite as deep as an exegetical/theological commentary. But any serious study of the theological themes of the book would do well to consider Schwab's expertise.
For the most part, this is a fairly easy and succinct overview of Judges. It'd be a great resource for use in a bible study through Judges (though Dale Ralph Davis' is better suited for such). At times I felt like he was being a bit too provocative and reading into the text things that weren't quite there. At other times, he pinpointed things that other commentaries glossed over or were clearly too prude to discuss in detail (this isn't a commentary suited for children!).
Perhaps the biggest complaint I have about the book is that there is far too little gospel, which is ironic given the subtitle. There is an emphasis on grace, but more often than not the author puts the emphasis of the passage on what we need to do rather than on what God does in us.
Nevertheless, this book goes deeper than most overviews/studies of the book, though not quite as deep as an exegetical/theological commentary. But any serious study of the theological themes of the book would do well to consider Schwab's expertise.
November 24, 2025
The best parts, despite occasional spiritualisation, include canonical reading strategies: Judges in light of the blessings/curses of Deuteronomy, as an apology for the Davidic monarchy, through the lens of the exile, and with Christ and the eschaton in mind.
September 6, 2021
Great book! This was the first book I read from this series in cooperation with a personal study time in the Bible book that corresponds with the book and it was such a blessing. I just finished Judges in my personal study time with several commentaries but this book was the cherry on the top! It brought the whole thing together so well. I can’t wait to read more from this Gospel According to the Old Testament series!
April 25, 2025
Some things were difficult for me to understand but mostly because the author is very smart and Judges is a very difficult book. Overall, it helped me to understand the book of Judges better, to appreciate it, to long for Christ. It connected it to many other parts of scripture and to see how important this book is.
My favorite part was seeing Judges as a sermon application on Deuteronomy and Judges an argument for the Davidic monarch instead of Saul.
My favorite part was seeing Judges as a sermon application on Deuteronomy and Judges an argument for the Davidic monarch instead of Saul.
September 30, 2021
This was a helpful resource. It needs to be used alongside another resource though because its explanation of its exegesis was shallow at times and left me with questions of how certain conclusions about the text’s meaning were arrived at.
March 20, 2023
The book of Judges is my favorite OT book. Right in Their Own Eyes helps with a better and deeper understanding of the book. Giving much needed clarity to the nuances of the Hebrew words used and what they mean in light of Christ and the gospel picture painted throughout Judges.
April 8, 2024
Some oddities and occasionally strained interpretations, but at other times good insight.
August 19, 2012
Right in Their Own Eyes
George M Schwab
Book Summary: Right in Their Own Eyes explains Judges from three Old Testament and three New Testament perspectives. First, it shows how the Spirit enabled wayward people to fulfill the mission God gave them, promotes David as king of Israel, and illustrates God's covenant with his people. Schwab also shows how God sovereignly works among his wayward people to forge a community of faith under the New Covenant, which points to Christ, calls modern Christians to faith and obedience, and looks forward to the return of Christ and the final judgment. Gospel According to the Old Testament series
Review: I really like this series and this installment is no exception. The beginning was so thought provoking that I am still pondering the ideas that the author stimulated. It like the way the 12 judges relate to the 12 tribes and the idea that many of these judges overlapped. I found this to be well written and really made me want to dig into the book of Judges more while reading the book and after finishing it. The details and research this author provided were helpful to my own study and provided a growth in my view of this book. This book will be a great reference for years to come.
I would like to thank Net Galley and P & R Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book in return for a free copy and I was never asked to write a favorable review by anyone.
George M Schwab
Book Summary: Right in Their Own Eyes explains Judges from three Old Testament and three New Testament perspectives. First, it shows how the Spirit enabled wayward people to fulfill the mission God gave them, promotes David as king of Israel, and illustrates God's covenant with his people. Schwab also shows how God sovereignly works among his wayward people to forge a community of faith under the New Covenant, which points to Christ, calls modern Christians to faith and obedience, and looks forward to the return of Christ and the final judgment. Gospel According to the Old Testament series
Review: I really like this series and this installment is no exception. The beginning was so thought provoking that I am still pondering the ideas that the author stimulated. It like the way the 12 judges relate to the 12 tribes and the idea that many of these judges overlapped. I found this to be well written and really made me want to dig into the book of Judges more while reading the book and after finishing it. The details and research this author provided were helpful to my own study and provided a growth in my view of this book. This book will be a great reference for years to come.
I would like to thank Net Galley and P & R Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book in return for a free copy and I was never asked to write a favorable review by anyone.
January 1, 2017
This is a very insightful study of the book of Judges, part of a series: The Gospel According to the Old Testament. I have already ordered more of the series. Schwab explores the historical context with respect and great acumen. He sets this context before the reader with an eye to its application to the Christian and the church. His "For Further Reflection" questions are deep and probing. I profited greatly from this read!
June 23, 2022
I read this in 2017 originally. I scanned portions of it again in 2022. It frequently takes rather odd interpretations. But it nonethless contains some helpful observations.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews