KennethBow's Blog

2.1-5 God tries. God always tries. He tries to gently push man in the right direction. The issues from the garden of Eden prevail, and self will asserts itself repeatedly. God sends an angel to rebuke and instruct. The journey of the angel reflects their journey also. Gilgal was such an important moment in their history. It was there that  their curse of the wilderness was rolled away. The signal from God is return to your commitments to follow me. They are reminded to cast out the inhabitants of the land and destroy their altars. Upon hearing the angel, the people wept, and named the place Bochim (weepers).

2.6-10 death of Joshua. The key to Joshua’s greatness is seen in the appellation “the servant of the Lord”. If Joshua had lived longer, the entire rubric of this narrative would be different. As it is, the God directed conduct of the nation lasted one more generation. The seed of self rule had now grown into a full blown tree and the fruit was terminal.

2.11-15 Baal. Their religion quickly becomes a travesty in the eyes of God. They turn to Baal. Baal was the chief deity of Canaan. He was a storm God that also bequeathed fertility. It is a sad epitaph on Israel that she so quickly adopted this worship and continued for so long. The Old Testament is replete with warnings against worshipping other Gods. Israel quickly falls into this rut and stays there for a thousand years.

2.16-23 Judges. This passage succinctly explains the Judges. It is a roller coaster ride for 450 years. Every corner and part of the nation is affected. No region on the compass holds true to God. The book now begins to document region by region what happens when men do that what is right in their own eyes. This is the most graphic display in the history of mankind of the need of God. Man at his best is still at his lowest without God. The interludes of God raised, and God anointed, freedom fighters to throw off the yoke of oppression, is stark, poignant and powerful. During the life of the judge, Israel thrived and conquered. At the death of the judge, the baseness of man bubbled to the top again and the cycle repeats. Each cycle seemed to take the populace a little lower. God decides to leave the opposing inhabitants of the land and use them to prove Israel. This proving was not for God for he knows the end from the beginning. This proving was for Israel to look into the mirror and see what happens when man is left to do what he thinks is right. Man without God is the most ugly sight of all. The next 19 chapters show that image in all it’s horror and shame. It is an image of repeated immorality, spiritual apostasy, and unmitigated failure.

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1.1-4 The book of Judges continues from the book of Joshua. New issues were created by the death of Joshua. Since the Exodus, Israel had only had two leaders, Moses and Joshua. Now they were facing immense challenges without the leadership that had brought them this far. The people inquire of the Lord who to send up and God does not name a man, but rather a tribe. The ad infinitum mind of God transitions to the moment where the tribes replace the individual leader overseeing the new nation. This moment is critical. As with so many transitions in the Bible and in world history, there are no trumpets sounding. There are no announcements. It simply unfolds like a blooming rose in a garden. A golden age can never be pinpointed as to when it began, but can always be assessed when it begins it’s decline. The next 450 years are transitioned almost without notice except for this brief notice at the opening of this book. Leadership is passed from an individual to a tribal responsibility. This ushers in the era of every man doing that which is right in his own eyes. In the greater picture of God’s plan for man on planet earth, this is significant. When the final judgment of man occurs at the end of time, God will have proven through all these eras He is just in His pronounced judgments. Judah and Simeon join forces to augment their strength. Here is the first tremor of this concept of every man doing what he thinks is right. God said Judah, God did not say Judah and Simeon. The slide has begun and will continue for 450 years.

1.5-8 Adonibezek. Here we see the concept of lex talionis, proportionate retribution. This is also called poetic justice. This wicked King has the same thing done to him that he has done to others. David proclaimed this principle in 2 Sam 22.27. With the froward God shows himself froward. God answers our lives by how we dispense to others. Jesus continues this theme in His sermon on the mount, with what judgment you judge, ye shall be judged (Mt 7.1).

1.9-15 The city of Debir had been taken in an earlier campaign (Joshua 10.38). This was evidently a recapture. This was done by Caleb’s nephew and son-in-law, Othniel. Othniel becomes the first Judge. We see here the flexibility of the inheritance with Caleb’s daughter Achsah. Caleb concedes her request for the land and the upper springs.

1.16-26 Judah’s war. The list of conquered cities is , Zephath, Gaza, Ekron. By contrast Benjamin and Joseph are not successful in their wars. The inhabitants of the land had chariots of iron and this proves to be a hindrance in conquering the land. God helped them at times as the story of the conquest of Bethel illustrates.

1.27-36 the failure. Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan all failed to complete their conquests. The majority of these tribes allowed their adversaries to live among them as tributaries. Even though there may have been circumstances that made total conquest difficult, the scriptures state this is a spiritual failure. The next chapter makes it abundantly clear God is not pleased. The period of time when man did what was right in his own eyes is already bearing the fruits of failure.

Thanks for reading today….

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