Yahweh’s Relationship with an Evil Generation (Judges 2:6-3:8)

Antonio

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Book Outline

The MacArthur Study Bible (Outline)

I. Introduction and Summary—The Disobedience of Israel (1:1–3:6)

A. Incomplete Conquest over the Canaanites (1:1–36)

B. The Decline and Judgment of Israel (2:1–3:6)

II. A Selected History of the Judges—The Deliverance of Israel (3:7–16:31)

A. First Period: Othniel vs. Mesopotamians (3:7–11)

B. Second Period: Ehud and Shamgar vs. Moabites (3:12–31)

C. Third Period: Deborah vs. Canaanites (4:1–5:31)

D. Fourth Period: Gideon vs. Midianites (6:1–8:32)

E. Fifth Period: Tola and Jair vs. Abimelech’s Effects (8:33–10:5)

F. Sixth Period: Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon vs. Philistines and Ammonites (10:6–12:15)

G. Seventh Period: Samson vs. Philistines (13:1–16:31)

III. Epilogue—The Dereliction of Israel (17:1–21:25)

A. The Idolatry of Micah and the Danites (17:1–18:31)

B. The Crime at Gibeah and War Against Benjamin (19:1–21:25)

Today’s Outline: Jdg 2:6-3:6

In light of the theological key provided in Jdg 2:1-5, Jdg 2:6-3:8 provides the historical context for the events recorded in the rest of the book

Faithful Generation (Jdg 2:6-10)

Yahweh’s Grace Toward an Evil Generation (Jdg 2:11-20)

Yahweh’s Test for an Evil Generation (Jdg 20b-23)

Spoiler Alert: Israel Failed Yahweh’s Test (Jdg 3:1-6)

Faithful Generation (Jdg 2:6-10)

Jdg 2:6 - Joshua sent the people to their inherited land to take possession of it (cf. Josh 24:28-31)

Jdg 2:7 - A generation of faithfulness, based upon what they saw with their own eyes, “all the great work of Yahweh which He had done for Israel.”

Jdg 2:8-10a - A faithful generation dies

Yahweh’s Grace Toward an Evil Generation (Jdg 2:10b-19)

Jdg 2:10b - They did not know Yahweh or even the work which He had done for Israel

Exod 5:2 “2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is Yahweh that I should listen to His voice to let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh, and also, I will not let Israel go.””

1 Sam 2:12 “12 Now the sons of Eli were vile men; they did not know Yahweh.”

What is one possible explanation for why subsequent generations did not know Yahweh or His works?

Answer: teach your children

Deut 4:9 “9 “Only keep yourself and keep your soul very carefully, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. But make them known to your sons and to your grandsons.”

Deut 6:4-7 “4 “Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one! 5 “You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

How are we individually and corporately equipped to protect against this generational degradation from happening?

Answer: holy spirit, God’s Word, technology, strong biblical church,

Look what results from the lives of those who don’t know God nor His mighty works:

They served false gods, rather than the one true and living God

Jdg 2:11 “11 Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and served the Baals,”

2. They forsake/renounce God and any remembrance of Him

Jdg 2:12 “12 and they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked Yahweh to anger.”

This was not a surprise to Yahweh

Deut 31:16 “16 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the harlot with the foreign gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have cut with them.”

Yahweh made clear how He will deal with them:

Deut 31:17 “17 “Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will find them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have found us?’”

3. They went after other gods (active pursuit not a passive going along)

4. Their heart and actions provoked God’s just anger

Hebrew Chiasm (AB CC’ B’A’):

Jdg 2:11-13 “11 Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and served the Baals, 12 and they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked Yahweh to anger. 13 So they forsook Yahweh and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.””

The emphasis here is on the two expressions of Israel’s love the false gods: 1) they followed other gods and 2) bowed down to other gods

Inception Hebrew Chiasm (AB C A’B’)

Jdg 2:11-13: Israel’s Apostasy

Jdg 2:14-15: Yahweh’s Wrath (anger of Yahweh burned against Israel)

Jdg 2:16: Yahweh’s Grace

Jdg 2:17-19: Israel’s Apostasy

Jdg 2:20-23: Yahweh’s Wrath (anger of Yahweh burned against Israel)

Emphasis here being on God’s grace

Yahweh’s Just Response (Jdg 2:14-15)

Jdg 2:14-15 “14 And the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went, the hand of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken and as Yahweh had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.”

Yahweh’s Gracious Deliverance (Jdg 2:16)

Despite all of this, look at God's Grace:

Jdg 2:16 “16 Then Yahweh raised up judges who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them.”

Psalm 30:4-6 “Sing praise to Yahweh, you His holy ones, And give thanks for the remembrance of His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning...”

Judges: Such a Great Salvation The Astonishing Character of Our God

Here is the fundamental miracle of the Bible: that the God who rightly casts us down to the ground should—without reasons—stoop to lift us up

Israel’s Rejection of Grace (Jdg 2:17)

Jdg 2:17 “17 Yet they did not listen to their judges either, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of Yahweh; they did not do as their fathers.”

Is this blatant rejection of God’s grace any different today?

Yahweh’s Judges (Jdg 2:18)

Yahweh...

was moved to pity...

raise up judges for them

was with the judge...

used the judge to deliver/save Israel from the hand of their enemies...

Overall, Israel’s rejection of Yahweh’s judges was in actuality a rejection of Him

John 15:18-21 “18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you...

‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you;

if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.” \

The disciple of Jesus has been chosen and called to proclaim the words of Christ and walk in obedience to His Word for His name’s sake, so consider with me for a minute:

Are we experiencing or have we experienced the rejection, hatred, or persecution consistent with faithful saints of times past?

Like the proverbial snowball rolling down hill, Israel’s sin would abound still more after the death of a judge

Jdg 2:19 “19 But it happened when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.”

Yahweh’s Test for an Evil Generation (Jdg 2:20-23)

It is against this backdrop we are provided with Yahweh’s plan and purpose for Israel during this time

Divine Accusation (Jdg 2:20b)

Jdg 2:20-23 “20 So the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He said,

This is the reasonable response anyone would expect in response to such unfathomable unfaithfulness

“Because this nation has trespassed against My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice,

…this nation has trespassed against My covenant...

No longer “my people,” but a distant nation

This was the covenant established with Abraham (Gen 15, 17) and ratified with Israel via Moses at Mt. Sinai (Exod 19-23, 34; Deut 5-6)

Divine Response (Jdg 2:21, 23)

21 I also will no longer dispossess before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died...

23 So Yahweh allowed those nations to rest, not dispossessing them quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.”

Divine Motive (Jdg 2:22)

22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.”

God’s motive is clear, and the final portion of this introductory section elaborates on this test

Makes me think of the video cameras we have in the kids room. What will they do when parents aren’t around?

Spoiler Alert: Israel Failed Yahweh’s Test (Jdg 3:1-6)

This section (Jdg 3:1-6) functions as a:

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 2: Numbers–Ruth (Revised Edition) Overview

textual bridge”; that is, it serves as an addendum to the introduction in 2:6–23 and as an introduction to the account of the first judge in 3:7 (Schneider, 36).

Israel’s Testing (Jdg 3:1-4)

Jdg 3:1b-2 are parenthetical

Judges, Ruth (1) The Nature of the Test (3:1–3)

“the battles of Canaan,” occurs only here in the Old Testament and functions as a technical term for Israel’s holy war in and for the land of Canaan.

CSB Study Bible: Notes Chapter 3

The Lord allowed these peoples to remain in the land to enable his people to learn warfare and to see the Lord’s faithfulness first hand, as well as to test their commitment to serve him alone.

Other Times God tested His people:

Gen 22:1 - God tested Abraham’s fidelity to Him by commanding the sacrifice of Isaac

Exod 16:4 - God tested Israel’s obedience through daily portion of manna

Deut 8:2 - Israel tested in the wilderness

Where these tests so that God might discover something He didn’t already know about His chosen people?

Answer: God’s testing is intended to prove the genuineness, or lack thereof, of His people’s faith

Deut 8:2 “2 “And you shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”

God didn’t test Israel because He didn’t know what was in their heart. He tested Israel so that they would know what was in their own heart.

In order to humble them. They thought they knew what was in their hearts, but they didn’t.

When God tests...he has certain objectives or goals to accomplish: “to measure obedience (Ex 15:25; 16:4; Dt 8:2; Jdg 2:22), instill fear (Ex 20:20), prevent sinning (Ex 20:20), discern what is in the heart (Dt 13:3[4]; 2 Ch 32:31), and ensure future prosperity (Dt 8:16).

At issue here is Yahweh’s desire both to evaluate specific aspects of his people’s character as well as to influence and shape them” (Brensinger, NIDOTTE, 3:112).

-Michael A. Grisanti, “Deuteronomy,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Numbers–Ruth (Revised Edition), ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 579.

Israel’s Failure (Jdg 3:5-6)

The degeneration of this evil generation of Israel is complete

From 1) The Canaanites living among Israel (e.g chap 1)

2) The daughters of Israel being given to faithful warriors (Jdg 1:13)

3) Jdg 2:7 “7 And [3] the people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who saw all the great work of Yahweh which He had done for Israel.”

to Jdg 3:5-6 “5 Now the sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; 6 and they took their daughters for themselves as wives and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.”

The stage is set and the events that follow describe the downward spiral of Israel

I won’t be here with you for Judges 19-21, but those chapters describe the culminating effects of sin on a nation

whereby Israel eventually becomes nearly indistinguishable from the very peoples God sent them to destroy

Are any of you here, like Icarus, flying too close to the sun? Have you become indistinguishable from those the Lord has called you to evangelize?

If the Lord is testing you right now, to help you discern the true condition of your faith, how are you doing?

Conclusion

As was mentioned, the book of Judges

begins with two editorial introductions (Jdg 1:1–2:5 and Jdg 2:6–3:6) and closes with two conclusions [“no king in Israel AND everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Jdg 17:6; 21:25; cf. Jdg 18:1; 19:1)] (Jdg 17:1–18:31 and Jdg 19:1–21:25). Sandwiched in between the introductions and conclusions were the cycles of judges such as Othniel, Ehud, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson.

The generational degradation of Israel is a negative example for us that I pray we do not miss.

Compromise, corruption, and confusion are all descriptive of Israel during the period of the Judges, yet the faithfulness of God is magnified in His gracious deliverance of such an undeserving people

May we be committed to guarding against compromise, corruption and confusion in our walk with the Lord, quick to repent of our sin, and faithful to proclaim the glories of our gracious Lord to those around us

There is a King who reigns in Heaven Who will return to judge and reward. He demands that all sinners 1) repent and believe in Him and 2) all who believe in Him to faithfully obey and teach others to obey His commands.

Your thoughts, words, and deeds are a reflection of the Lord/King of your life. Who or what are you reflecting?

Who or what is your standard of right conduct and to what extent does your life align with it?

Next Time: First Two Periods of Deliverance (Jdg 3:7-31)