AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Judges for You by Timothy Keller

Why would a perfect, all-powerful God choose to use flawed people to advance His plan?  How can God be both perfectly gracious and perfectly just while so much evil prevails?  Will God’s unconditional love be negated when his conditional blessings are affronted by human rebellion?  These are the underlying questions of the Old Testament book of Judges, and of Timothy Keller’s excellent expository guide to the book, Judges for You.

The time of the Judges was a dark time in the history of Israel, and Keller does an excellent job of bringing the stories to life.  This is not a surprise since he is a renowned master of language and exposition.  He is unflinching as he holds the ugly examples of human failure up alongside the examples of heroic victory.  He just as unflinchingly deals with the inevitable questions about the goodness of God that seem to crop up when one spends any time in the Old Testament.   How can God command his people to wage war?  Why did He punish that person, but then allow that evil action to go unpunished?  Etc.

Keller’s focus is on God and the gospel.  God is the only One who is always honest, upright, and true.  As the judges become increasingly flawed with each generation, God’s faithfulness is unending.  And each despicable act and hollow victory just points all the more to our deep need for a divine Savior instead of a human one.

This book is great in that it serves as a usable commentary as well as a devotional or Bible study resource.  How does Keller manage to appeal equally to both Bible scholar and average churchgoer?  He walks the line perfectly, always pointing the reader back to the true message of God as Eternal Savior.

I highly recommend this book.  The audiobook version is well-narrated by Maurice England.

Please Note: This audiobook was gifted as a part of the Christianaudio Reviewers Program in exchange for my unbiased review of this work. This has in no way influenced my opinion or review of this work.  More information can be found about this and other Christian audiobooks at christianaudio.com.