Judges

“they were in terrible distress” (Judges 2:15)

These are the concluding words to a section in Judges 2 that deals with Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. Verse 16 says that “the Lord raised up judges who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.” Israel’s unfaithfulness is the expression of the sin of unbelief. They did not believe God or his Word. They did not believe in the signs and wonders that God had performed (Josh. 24:17; Judg. 2:7). The generation after Joshua forgot God (Judg. 2:10; cf. 6:13).

At the heart of all sin and sinfulness is unbelief. Israel had a powerful hankering to be like the nations (Josh. 24:20). This was what God had specifically warned them against (Ex. 34:10-16; Deut. 31:16-18). Judges 2:11 puts it plainly: “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals” (see Judg. 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1).

The familiar refrain of Judges was that “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 17:6; 21:25). This is the incredible deceptive power of sin. It makes us blind to God. We do what we please and what we consider right. Sin does not make us fear God, but seeks to counterfeit God by making him appear less than he is. That’s what the serpent told Eve in the garden—“did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” (Gen. 3:1). [Read more…] about They Were In Terrible Distress

The book of Judges begins with Israel continuing their conquest of the land under the direction of the Lord (see Judges 1). It is interesting to note that not all the inhabitants of the land were driven out (1:19, 21, 27 – 35) by the various tribes. Sadly this would have major ramifications in the life of the nation. Judges begins with the people seeking the Lord for guidance (1:1), but the book ends with the people doing what was right in their own eyes and stresses the point that there was no king in Israel (21:25). The decline in the people’s spiritual condition and the elimination of God as their King is at the heart of Judges. The book of Judges demonstrates to us the vicious cycle of sin and proves the point made by James, that “… desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15).

Judges is also about God’s gracious dealing with Israel in spite of her sins and persistent rebellion. This spiritual decline and recovery process reverberates throughout the book. The judges were appointed by God to help Israel recover and to keep them walking in the right path before God. One commentator has said that the book of Judges shows us our potential for greatness and our capacity for catastrophe. I don’t particularly agree with the description of us as having greatness or achieving greatness, but I do agree that Judges demonstrates the catastrophe that comes to all who don’t deal with sin. The ultimate tragedy, of course, is hell and the Lake of Fire. [Read more…] about That Place Bochim