The Book of Judges and the Family Business

On leadership, forgetting, and repeating cycles of self-destruction in the family business: A new series looking at family enterprise through a biblical lens.

Welcome to my Faith & Family Business Reflections for 2024. Over the last three years, I’ve written about Jacob and Esau, reflected on the Book of Proverbs, studied David, and offered 24 Blessings for the Family Business. For the next several months, I’m offering reflections from the Book of Judges.

Why the Book of Judges? First, I’m looking for biblical characters and situations that offer an interesting frame of reference for family members who are also business partners, while personally developing a deeper understanding of the Bible. Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson are three of the judges I plan to study.

Second, all of the judges were military rulers during a time of transition in Isreal’s leadership structure, a time between the leadership and Moses and Joshua and the time of the Kings of Israel. This period of transition reminds me of family businesses who are trying to get through a shift in their own family or organization, whether it be a transition in leadership, a transition in size, or a transition in structure. The judges were not prophets, law-givers, or kings, they were temporary leaders appointed by God as Isreal repeated a cycle of behavior. What can we learn from their approaches to leading Israel?

Third, Israel’s cycle of behavior is a recurring pattern in the Book of Judges, where Israel strays from God, gets into trouble (sins), God sends a leader (the “judge”), the leader defeats the enemy, and Israel realizes a time of peace and stability. Then it starts again. Have you noticed patterns in your family’s time together in business? Recurring themes in each generation? Times when people forget the lessons of the past or repeatedly make poor choices? What have you learned from those patterns? (Recall Mark Twain: “Good judgement is the result of experience, and experience the result of bad judgement!”)

By digging in to particular events and situations in the Book of Judges, I hope to discover ideas, insights, and lessons for family members working together. Thanks for joining me in a short, weekly, reflection each Sunday morning this year. And, since this is the beginning of a new year, here is my Family Business Blessing from a year ago to set the stage.

As we turn the page on another year 
   In the story of our families, in the record of our businesses
As the numbers are tallied, as comparisons are made
   We recollect unexpected blessings and count newfound opportunities.
Also with us are painful experiences, and difficult goodbyes
   What we allow to linger sets a tone for the new year
Our abundance is shaped by the blessings we remember.

In the months ahead, may you 
   Recall wisdom gleaned from this past year
   Restore relationships meaningful to your future, and
   Rekindle your passion for your family and your business.

You crown the year with your bounty;
    your wagon tracks overflow with abundance. (Psalm 65:11)