Our Rollercoaster Ride

Our Rollercoaster Ride

Judges 2:11-16

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.

As a kid I enjoyed riding roller coasters, and I couldn’t wait to ride the newest coasters that opened in California. To celebrate the Nation’s Bicentennial, a park named Magic Mountain built The Revolution which boasted the first roller coaster with a 360 degree loop. The next year Disneyland built Space Mountain, an indoor roller coaster, lit completely by black lights in such a way that the rider cannot see the tracks. Although closed now, the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas had a roller coaster in which the tracks were mounted on the outside of the Hotel. Roller coasters have been entertaining and thrilling people for years ever since the first modern coaster opened in France in 1817. New York’s Coney Island Cyclone has been in continuous operation since 1927 and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. The one feature of roller coasters that everyone knows is the continual ups and downs of ride as the car follows the tracks.

After Joshua died God did not assign another leader for the Israelites or rather no leader is listed. The book of Judges opens with the Israelites end story of their conquering of the land of Canaan. We are told the Israelites had asked God for instructions and were told which tribes were to attack which Canaanite peoples, most likely through the priests, but that is not Scriptural so don’t take it as such. We are also told they Israelites did not drive out all of the Canaanites from the lands. At the beginning of the second chapter, God sent an angel to the people. God told the people that He told them He would not break His covenant with His people and they were not to break theirs with God. The people were not to make covenants with the Canaanites and were to tear down all the Canaanite alters, but the Israelites did not do this. God told the people He would not drive them out of the Promised Land but these people would become a thorn in the Israelite’s sides and their gods would become a snare to them. And this is what happened.

We are told that after the generation of people who had seen Joshua and knew of the Lord had done for Israel and abandoned Him for the gods of the Canaanites. The verse mentions Baalim, but this is used to include all the Canaanite gods. The Lord was angered by this and He allowed foreign peoples to conquer the people and make them their captives. Whenever the Israelites went out to fight the invaders, God was against His people and could not stop the foreigners. The Israelites repented of their ways and asked God to help them, and God raised up a judge to save them.

This is the story throughout the book of Judges. The Israelites would worship and follow the Lord. Eventually a generation would come that did not worship God. God would send people to invade and conquer the Israelites. The Israelites repented of their ways and asked God for help, He would raise up a judge who would lead the Israelites until their death. At this point the entire roller coaster ride would begin again. This up with worshipping God, then the downward track to the worshipping of other gods to the down of being conquered to the upward track of returning to God and regaining their freedom.

The book of Judges covered a period of time of some 330 to 480 years, experts are not entirely sure, but we do know that it covers the time between Joshua’s death and the calling of the last judge, Samuel. Bible experts also do not know if Judges is a collected work, written at different intervals during the time of the judges or if it was written at one time, meaning it was written after the judges. There are twelve judges recorded in the book along with the nations the judges were called against, some of them include the Moabs, Canaanites, Midianites, Ammonites, and the Philistines to name some. All of these peoples, these conquerors, are the bottom of the downward ride of the roller coaster.