Judges 2

Prequel to Saviors that fail: When: Israel was in slavery for 400 years. Then Moses led the Exodus into the desert. His successor, Joshua, let them into the promised land. Now, 100 years after the Exodus and 50 years after the Covenant, will God’s people finish what they started? Will God? Who: The 12 tribes of Israel came from Jacob’s (aka Israel) 12 sons. Judah is the star of the show, mostly. Or is God? The Canaanites were the people living in the promised land when the 12 tribes of Israel got there. The various “-ites” (like Perizzites) can be thought of as sub-tribes of Canaanites. The “Judges” didn’t judge like what happens in a courtroom. They were “deliverers” or “saviors”. Who will be saved? This week on Saviors that fail: God scolds Israel and they cry about it. Is it true repentance? Only time will tell . . . unless the rest of the chapter tells us. Is God torn between wrath and mercy? Application →Forgetting God really, really makes it hard to do the right thing. Do we commit, “THE evil”? .... And will someone finally tell Spain about the Light of the world??? Judges 2:1-3:6 Christian Standard Bible (CSB) Pattern of Sin and Judgment 2 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 fathers. I also said: I will never break my covenant with you. 2 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 is this you have done? 3 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.” 4 When the angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. 5 So they named that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the LORD. Angel of the Lord “Angel” means “messenger”. Nowhere in the OT do “angels” have wings. The term is used for regular, human messengers, and even prophets. We usually confuse angels with cherubs (2 wings) or seraphs (6 wings). Here, as in other places, the angel of the Lord speaks with the full force of God himself. In Exodus 23, God promised to send an angel before them. The last time this angel was seen was at Gilgal . . . the place near Jericho where they worshiped before the battle… the last time Israel was committed to God. His words summarize themes from Deuteronomy and Joshua. Joshua’s Death A Sermon Verses 2:6 to 3:6 are a commentary Previously, when by the author. This “sermon” about Joshua had sent the the state of Israel is an introduction to the rest of the book. Things in people away, the general terms here will be fleshed out Israelites had gone to later. take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. 7 The people worshiped the LORD throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the LORD’s great works he had done for Israel. 6 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. 9 They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10 That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the LORD or the works he had done for Israel. 8 Forgetfulness We already had the story of Joshua’s death in the book of Joshua. The narrator assumes that you know that, but is telling the story again with an emphasis on the differences between generations. Ancestors? There is an afterlife distinction for God’s people and not. Since Abraham’s burial in Hebron, God’s physical promised land represents something more. Jacob wanted his bones returned here. See Exodus 3 and Mark 12. T he Israelites did what The evil was evil in the LORD’s In English, there is a difference sight. They worshiped between “ugly” and “the ugly”. the Baals 12 and Adding “the” means abandoned the LORD, the something. Here too, even in God of their fathers, who Hebrew. In Deuteronomy, “the evil” always meant had brought them out of following other gods and doing Egypt. They followed the terrible things that result. other gods from the “Evil” is murder/theft/adultery but “the evil” is violating the surrounding peoples and first commandment. bowed down to them. They angered the LORD,13 for they abandoned him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths. 11 The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies. 15 Whenever the Israelites went out, the LORD was against them and brought disaster on them, just as he had promised and sworn to them. So they suffered greatly. 14 Fertility Religions: making connections We saw in Galatians the desires of the flesh are opposed to the desires of the Spirit. Paul even calls the desires of the flesh “idolatry”. Baal and Ashtoresh were male and female fertility gods. Their sexual union, so believed, brought bigger crops, bigger herds, and bigger families. The economic and political security of big, healthy families was appealing in gods that rewarded fleshly desire. In Paul’s day like now, dropping the names doesn’t mean dropping base desires. The LORD raised Did sending judges work? Why up judges, who saved or why not? them from the power of their marauders, 17 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. 18 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. 19 Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly than their fathers, following other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them. They did not turn from their evil Why would they get worse? practices or their obstinate ways. 16 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, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22 I did this to test Israel and to see whether or not they would keep 20 the LORD’s way by walking in it, as their fathers had.” 23 The LORD left these nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua. History or sermon? Detailing chronology is not the author’s intent. He makes clear from this beginning that Israel’s spiritual state is the message of this book. We shall see Israel become like the nations around them . . . and even worse!! The LORD Tests Israel 3 These are the nations the LORD left in order to test all those in Israel who had experienced none of the wars in Canaan. 2 This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before. 3 These nations included the five rulers of the Philistines and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath. 4 The LORD left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the LORD’s commands he had given their fathers through Moses. 5 But they settled among the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 6 The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.