Judges 2:6-23 - Mostly Settled

Your purpose in life is to know the LORD and teach the next generation what He's done.

Photo Credit: Amit Rai, via Unsplash

Judges 2:6–23

⁶ After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. ⁷ The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.

⁸ Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. ⁹ And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

¹⁰ After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. ¹¹ Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. ¹² They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger ¹³ because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. ¹⁴ In his anger against Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. ¹⁵ Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

¹⁶ Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. ¹⁷ Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their fathers, who had been obedient to the LORD's commands. ¹⁸ Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. ¹⁹ But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

²⁰ Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their fathers and has not listened to me, ²¹ I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. ²² I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their fathers did.” ²³ The LORD had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.

Belgic Confession

Article 2: The Means by Which We Know God

We know him by two means:

First, by the creation, preservation, and government

of the universe...

Second, he makes himself known to us more openly

by his holy and divine Word,

as much as we need in this life,

for his glory

and for the salvation of his own.

Summary

The people of Israel had now fully settled Israel (well, mostly settled, but we'll get to that later). Their exodus was finally over, but in many ways their story is just beginning. Verses 10-12 summarize the whole sad theme of the book of Judges:

¹⁰ After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.

The Israelites here demonstrate our primary problem as fallen human beings: we do not know the LORD nor what He has done. Solomon famously begins the proverbs by proclaiming that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; therefore any people or nation separated from truly knowing and fearing the LORD is doomed to failure.

This is good reminder that our primary purpose as God's people is to glorify God by teaching the new generations about what the LORD has done. Not only do you have this obligation for your own children, but also for those who are part of your own covenant community - the children of your church whom you stood up and promised to help instruct when you witnessed their baptism.

God included the book of Judges in the Bible as a sad example of what happens when one generation fails to teach the next about who the LORD is and what He's done for His people. But you need not look far to see evidence of this lack of knowledge in our own day and age - and unfortunately, even in our own churches.

So as we see this sad pattern unfold in Judges over these coming days, pray that it deepens your own resolve to use and develop the gifts God has given you to teach those He's trusted to you about who He is and what He's done.

  Dig Deeper  

The actions people take are a direct reflection of the knowledge they have. So it's no surprise that as the knowledge of the LORD is forgotten,

¹¹ Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. ¹² They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them.

This brings us to the other big problem the Israelites never solved: they had only mostly settled the land. The LORD had commanded them to completely rid the Promised Land of the wicked Canaanites that had inhabited it - a command that's difficult for our modern ears, which are used to equating love with tolerance. But this command was no less difficult for the ears who heard it first. Surely completely didn't really mean completely.

So in various places and for various reasons, pockets of paganism were left intact as the Israelites made Canaan home. And then it didn't take long for their limited knowledge to disintegrate into a full fledged forsaking of the LORD. And since mankind is incapable of religious neutrality, the Baals and various gods of the peoples around them quickly filled the void.

But God gave us the book of Judges for a bigger reason than just to illustrate the ugly results of rejecting Him. It's an account of how over and over, the LORD raised up judges, who saved them. Unfortunately, each of these judges demonstrate their own serious lack of knowledge regarding the LORD, and so the salvation they offer is always limited and fleeting.

So the book of Judges, just like the rest of the books in the Old Testament, points us forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit, who softens our hearts so that we can truly repent (a word that literally means to think differently - to know the LORD) and recognize the one true Savior who has saved His people in a full and final way that the judges never could.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who never gives up on His rebellious people;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would more and more fulfill your obligation to help subsequent generations know the LORD and what He has done;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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