Judges 2:6-23 (2)

Most major sporting events feature the Goodyear blimp. From the blimp we can view not just the field of play but the entire area around the field. We can see cars, office buildings, even neighborhoods.

However, watching a game from that view would be challenging. Cindy and I were given tickets to a Seahawks game years ago. Cindy was pregnant with Josh. We had several inches of snow that Sunday morning. Trying to get out of the driveway a radiator hose burst. After getting it fixed, taking the ferry to Seattle from Bremerton we arrived in time for the fourth quarter. Our seats were almost to the top of the KingDome, which meant we saw something on the field that may or may not have been a football game.

It would have been much more enjoyable at home!

This passage in Judges 2 is a high level view of the entire period of Israel’s life between Joshua and Samuel. It gives us some context for the failure of God’s people.

A Vital Walk with God

In Genesis 5, a chapter detailing the birth and death of Adam’s descendants through Seth, we find an exception to the pattern of so and so was born, he fathered children he lived XXX # of years, then he died.

Genesis 5:22–24 HCSB

And after the birth of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters. So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.

This is a startling break in the list of Seth’s descendants. Earlier in Genesis we are reminded that prior to the sin of Adam and Eve, God walked with them in the Garden (see Gen 3:8).

Jesus challenged His hearers to ‘walk’ in the light, leaving behind the darkness of sin and failure:

John 8:12 HCSB

Then Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

The Apostle Paul illustrates his call to devotion to Christ with the metaphor of walking:

Romans 8:4–5 HCSB

in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit.

Colossians 2:6 HCSB

Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him,

There are far too many passages to scroll through this morning.

All of them point to the absolute necessity of an individual walking with, staying close to, abiding in, following God’s ways.

In Judges 2 we are reminded that another generation rose up “who did not know the LORD…” (Judges 2:10).

God had established three different ways for His Word to be passed on from generation to generation.

First, the priests:

Leviticus 10:11 (HCSB)

teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has given to them through Moses

The weekly and annual festivals described in Deuteronomy 16.

And finally, parents.

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 HCSB

“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Declaring the Deeds of the LORD

One would think that Joshua and those still alive would constantly retell the Exodus story. They could talk of God’s greatness as they crossed the Jordan. They could retell the story of how Jericho was defeated.

But the generation after Joshua did not know “the works God had done for Israel.”

Unless we tell our children and grandchildren, how will they hear?

DETERMINED TO KNOW GOD FULLY

I’ll admit. I don’t want to experience the wrath and anger of God. None of us do. Most of us would prefer to skip over passages such as Judges 2:20-following because these are words that are hard to hear.

In Judges 2:16-23, we are given a clear picture of God’s character.

First,

Judges 2:16–18 HCSB

The Lord raised up judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders, but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands. They did not do as their fathers did. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive. The Lord was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them.

There is no other way to understand this passage unless we see God working His grace for His people.

The writer doesn’t mention that God’s cry out to Him until vs 18!

That notice is quickly followed by vs 19.

Then vs 20-23 we hear God’s speak to His people:

Judges 2:20–23 HCSB

The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He declared, “Because this nation has violated My covenant that I made with their fathers and disobeyed Me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. I did this to test Israel and to see whether they would keep the Lord’s way by walking in it, as their fathers had.” The Lord left these nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua.

Here we have a comprehensive description of God’s anger.

One scholar suggests

divine anger is, in the final analysis, an unexplainable reaction of a divine Lord, conceived of as a person, who defies clear conceptual definition because this Lord has revealed himself of his own free will to his people in a humanly inconceivable manner. Thus divine anger appears as a necessary correlation to divine love seeking the deliverance of his people (cf. e.g., Exod 4:14; also Psa 30:6).

Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann, Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997), 169.

REFLECT AND RESPOND:

This is a sobering passage. Judges 2:11-13

Judges 2:11–13 HCSB

The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They infuriated the Lord, for they abandoned Him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.

These are not accidental failures. These are not ‘oops’ moments. God’s people chose to

do what was evil in the LORD’s sight

They worship the idols of the Canananites

They abandoned the LORD

They followed other gods

They angered the LORD

We are not going to play a song/video this morning.

Instead, in the quietness of this place - wherever you might be, will you make this commitment with me:

I WILL: Find ways to tell my family that my walk with God is THE most important part of my life…

I will: Declare to my family - and those in my community the great deeds of God.

I will: Refuse to abandon the LORD, refuse to follow after other gods, and refuse to fall into idol worshi.