Repentance in Judges

Intro: Repentance

The Failure of Israel (1:27-36)

Judges 1:27–36 (CSB)

At that time Manasseh failed to take possession of Beth-shean and Taanach and their surrounding villages, or the residents of Dor, Ibleam, and Megiddo and their surrounding villages; the Canaanites were determined to stay in this land. When Israel became stronger, they made the Canaanites serve as forced labor but never drove them out completely.

At that time Ephraim failed to drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived among them in Gezer.

Zebulun failed to drive out the residents of Kitron or the residents of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them and served as forced labor.

Asher failed to drive out the residents of Acco or of Sidon, or Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob. The Asherites lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, because they failed to drive them out.

Naphtali did not drive out the residents of Beth-shemesh or the residents of Beth-anath. They lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, but the residents of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served as their forced labor.

The Amorites forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to go down into the valley. The Amorites were determined to stay in Har-heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. When the house of Joseph got the upper hand, the Amorites were made to serve as forced labor. The territory of the Amorites extended from the Scorpions’ Ascent, that is from Sela upward.

We read three different reasonings for their failures

1. They failed to drive out the inhabitants

2. They lived among the inhabitants

3. They made the inhabitants serve as forced labor

Why are these considered failures?

1. Why did they need to drive them out completely?

○ What was wrong with living among them?

• The motivation for driving out Canaanites was not practical but spiritual.

○ It wasn't a tip for them to have a successful kingdom, but it was to keep them spiritually healthy

○ God had already warned through Moses: 'They must not remain in your land, or else they will make you sin against me. If you serve their gods, it will be a snare for you.”' Exodus 23:33

§ If they remain living alongside you, you will drift off into sin - they will be a trap for you!

• God wanted a people to dwell in this land for the purpose of enjoying himself

○ If they continued to live in the land with these people, they would led off to abandon God

§ Spoiler Alert: This is what we see throughout the OT! - We see how Israel is led away by the surrounding nations into idolatry

2. Why isn't forced labor enough?

○ They have taken the land and shown power over the inhabitants, isn't that enough?

○ Forced labor required less effort than forcing people out of a land

§ Force labor made more sense economically - they would be more 'successful' if they had servants

• Here we see that convenience and success win over obedience to God

○ We know it wasn't because they weren't strong enough (v28)

§ They settled in disobedience because there was a more attractive option that seemed to better suit their goals

Before we continue to the Lord's response to all of this, I wanted to take a minute to talk about what this means to us:

• I'm fairly confident that God hasn't called any of us to possess a physical land and drive out its inhabitants

○ But I want us to remember that God didn't call them to do this because as a military strategy but to protect them spiritually

○ The remaining Canaanites would not be so much a military threat as a spiritual cancer

§ That’s why Israel was to eliminate the Canaanites and other ‘-ites.’

§ That’s why Israel was to wreck and demolish all their worship centers (altars)

○ "They are like a surgeon who removes only part of the cancer because even cancer has a right to grow and find fulfillment."

§ Tolerance would lead to their own demise

• So we are to be militant in tearing down the idols in our lives and making sure that we are not living in compromise with what God has told us

• We also need to be aware of letting these idols serve as 'forced labor':

○ Sometimes they can bring us 'success' and make 'common sense' but they are not how God would have us live

§ Lying may make you more money or more successful but in the end you become an untrustworthy person

§ Idolizing our appearance may drive us to be more conscious and healthy, but at the cost of us finding intrinsic value in our looks

§ Idolizing relationships may serve us - in helping us not feel alone or lonely, but at the cost of deeper sorrows and frustrations when others let us down

○ It may seem like a good thing in the moment but they will become thorns in our sides

• So this text serves us as a warning:

○ This shows us that "it is possible for the believer’s life to display the marks of success and yet be a failure in the eyes of God. Christian success is not necessarily the same as pleasing and obeying God."

The Pain of Disobedience

Judges 2:1–5 (CSB)

The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I had promised to your ancestors. I also said: I will never break my covenant with you. You are not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed me. What have you done? Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a trap for you.” When the angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. So they named that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the Lord.