God doing God things. (Judges 2:10-19)

Judges 2:10–19 KJV 1900

10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. 11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: 12 And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. 13 And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. 14 And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. 15 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. 16 Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. 17 And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so. 18 And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. 19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

Introduction

The book of Judges is a record of Israel’s failures and God’s faithfulness.

You’ve probably heard about the repeating cycles of rebellion in this book.

Verses 10-19 give us a summary of what will happen over and over again as you read the book.

It’s more than the story of Israel’s failure, it is illustrative for us of our own failures.

As we look at different examples of God doing God things, I thought it might be helpful for us to take a look at what happens when Humans do Human things.

Humans doing human things. 10-13

The inevitable downward spiral of humanity. 10-13

The passage tells us that there was a new generation of Israelites that were quite different from the generations of Joshua and Moses.

This generation forget God. 10

Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.

-George Orwell

Something had happened to produce an entire generation that felt no indebtedness to God.

Who was responsible for this generation’s lack of knowledge about God and what He had done?

Every generation has to make it’s own decisions.

Some responsibility needs to be laid at the feet of the generation that trained or didn’t train this group.

Someone dropped the ball in passing on things that should not have been forgotten.

“And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth.

-Galadriel

God had given them His word to guide them.

When you forget the word of God, you are in danger of forgetting the God of the word.

Forgetting God initiated a time of decline in all areas of life.

We see this especially in their engagement in evil behavior. 11

The evil behavior of the Israelites was connected to their acceptance of the Canaanite religions.

We’ll talk more about the specifics of the Canaanite beliefs in a moment.

The Canaanites sought to gain the favor of their deities through their actions

Prostitution, child sacrifice, and self-mutilation were all a means of earning the gods’ favor.

If the gods were pleased with your devotion, they would grant fertility to humans, animals, and crops.

What would cause God’s people to accept the ideals and standards of their pagan neighbors?

All of humanity has a natural inclination towards spirituality.

When you forget the true God, you have to find something to put in His place, even if it’s yourself.

The Israelites forsook their God for other gods of their enemies. 12-13

The passage talks about Baal and Ashtoreth.

Baal

The previous verse refers to Baalim.

Baalim is the plural form of Baal.

Like the words cherub and cherubim.

Each city, town, and village could possibly have their own version of Baal.

Baal was believed to give grain, oil, and wine.

Baal was heavily identified with nature.

The seasons with their cycles of death and renewal were interpreted as the death and revival of the god.

In the fall, the Canaanites mourned the death of their god.

In the spring, they partied hard at the supposed revival of Baal.

Most Canaanite traditions depicted Baal as the sun-god.

Baal statues were made of stone.

Ashtoreth/Astarte/Aphrodite

The female counterpart of Baal.

Often made of wood.

The moon god.

Also, mother earth.

Most statues of her are sexual in nature.

Ashtaroth in verse 13 is plural, just like Baalim.

The Israelites traded the God that had saved them for the gods He had defeated.

Humans are sure confusing.

Why trade the authentic for an imitation?

This leads to the question...

When humans do human things, how does God respond?

God’s going to do God things. 14-18

He judges sin. 14-15

God is jealous.

He doesn’t do 2nd place.

It’s kind of important for us to understand the jealousy that God has for us.

When we think of our own experience, there are many situations where our jealousy is born out of pride.

When we come in 2nd place at a sporting event.

When we get passed over for a promotion that goes to someone else.

There are other situations where our jealousy is right and justified.

The love and affection of our spouse for example.

This is the jealousy that God has over His people.

So, to get Israel’s attention, God withholds His blessings from the rebels. 14-15

Read verses 14-15 and you won’t find fire and brimstone falling from the sky.

God doesn’t have to actively act out His judgment.

All that’s required is for Him to become more passive in His defense.

Israel had plenty of enemies that were still smarting from the conquest of the promised land.

You see, Israel may have forgotten the victories that God had given them, but her enemies had not forgotten their defeats at the hands of Israel.

Everything that Israel tried to do, God allowed it to be frustrated.

They had forsaken Him, so He let them experience what life is like without Him.

You read the book and you will find how greatly distressing the life of a rebel can be.

Judgment isn’t the only evidence of God doing God things in the life of a rebel.

He always has a plan of deliverance. 16-18

God always had sympathy on the people in their sorry plight.

God’s love is enduring, even towards the rebel.

He never intended for Israel to remain in their defeated state.

He consistently turned back to them in kindness.

God provided judges for the people’s deliverance. 16

The chief function of the judges was to serve as military leaders.

In some cases, their work continued as statesmen or politicians.

Other times they carried on serving the people as religious leaders.

In most cases, these judges seem to pass off the scene as soon as the crises was over.

The judges mostly operated locally rather than on a national scale.

Hebrew word for judge means to save or to rescue.

These judges became instruments of God’s grace.

The people didn’t deserve them.

Many times the people responded poorly to the judge. 17

They enjoyed the deliverance.

They refused to break off their connection to Baal and Ashtoreth.

Talk about human things.

Thanks for the deliverance!

I’m not going to change the things I’m doing, though.

God empowered the judges. 18

We see God’s presence with the judge.

We see the blessing of God on the judge’s mission.

This is so heartening for those that have been called to a divine mission.

If God has a task for you, He will be with you.

Over and over, God used the judges to deliver His people.

But, you know the thing about judges?

They’re still human.

The passage ends with a reoccurrence.

Humans doing human things. 19

Judges died.

It’s what people do.

It’s one of the drawbacks of human instruments.

That’s not the only disappointing reality of humans doing human things.

People returned to and increased their evilness.

As long as the agent of grace was alive, the people were delivered.

The circumstances may have changed, but the hearts of the people were not truly changed.

Human judges cannot enact that kind of change.

Soon as the judge was gone, the people fell back in to sin.

With each regression, the Israelites fell further and further away from God.

Read Judges and you’ll shudder to see the increasing depravity of the people.

The summary of the people in verse 19 makes it seem like the judges experiment was a failure, since the people didn’t change.

Is the outcome of judges a failure or a feature of God’s plan?

Human judges/rescuers are empowered by God to bring deliverance to the people.

Human saviors that are powerless to change the hearts of the people.

Humans that die and lose their influence over the people.

Humans that return to their natural sinful state as soon as the judge is gone.

Taking this high-level view of Judges leads me to believe that God is proving a point for those that will listen.

If you’re looking for lasting deliverance...

If you’re looking for real soul change...

If you’re looking for a rescuer that won’t lose their place of influence...

…you won’t find it among sinful humanity.

Judges teaches us our need for Jesus.

Application

When humans do human things, it always ends in failure.

When God steps in, and does what only He can do, there is success.