I was 16 years old. It was my first "real" job after working as a newspaper delivery person for many years. I worked for a dry cleaner establishment that (I found out later) was about to go under. My job was to deliver cleaned drapes to customers. I was given the keys to an old van and told to take drapes to a series of addresses.
I got in and started driving and something didn’t quite seem right about this van, especially when it came to stopping. I’ll never forget: I was coming up to the intersection of East 5th Avenue and Mangrove Avenue in Chico, California. The light was red and I applied my brakes to stop behind another car which had already stopped at the intersection. But when I put on the brakes nothing happened. The pedal went right down to the floor and the van did not slow. Now, like I said, I was 16 - I didn’t have the experience to know how to slow the car by putting it into a lower gear, etc. So I’m watching myself, in one of those moments when time seems to slow down, approach then hit the car in front of me.
It wasn’t a big hit, but it did cause a lot of damage. It wasn’t until later I found out that the brakes on that van were going out and hadn’t been fixed. Needless to say I was not fired, but never drove that van again!
The reason I bring this story up is that sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we see trouble ahead. We don’t want it to happen, but seem powerless to stop it. Like approaching a waterfall when its too late and current is too strong to turn around - Israel finds itself slowly and inexorably drawn over the edge, plunging headlong into idolatry and defeat.
Judges chapter 2 is one of the saddest chapters in the Bible as we see what started out as such a promising life in the Promised Land turn into a walk away from the One who gave the gift - and the consequences that come from that disobedience.
We enter the chapter after learning of a series of defeats Israel faced - tribe after tribe was unable to dislodge the intransigent Canaanites living in their tribal lands. In Chapter 2 we learn that this was only the beginning - the warning that should have been heeded but was not. Then in Chapter 2 it’s as if they are sleep walking or something - unable to wake up and realize what is happening-and unable to stop. Then when calamity falls they are sorry, but unwilling to repent. We learn lessons too about the ways the flesh can fool us into believing that not serving God and serving ourselves instead will be okay, when it really isn’t at all!
Verse 1 - 5
As we get into this we need to stop for a moment to talk about this character "the Angel of the Lord." The Angel of the Lord appears twice in Genesis, once in Exodus, and once in Numbers before this incident in Judges. In Genesis he appeared to Hagar, Abram’s wife, when she fled her mistress Sarai and promised her son, the child of the flesh (Ishmael), would be a great nation (Genesis 16). Then He appeared to Abram when he was about to sacrifice the child of promise (Isaac) on Mount Moriah (Genesis 22). Then he appeared to Moses out of the burning bush (Exodus 3), and then to Balaam as he sought to prophecy against Israel (Numbers 22).
Who is the Angel of the Lord? Many scholars agree that he is essentially the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. We’ll see the Angel of the Lord again in Judges, but we don’t see him ever in the New Testament ("angel" with the definite article "the").
The Angel of the Lord seems to show up at significant times in Israel’s history - to the two major lines from Abram, at the calling of Moses, at the rescue of Israel from Balaam - and now, as Israel is about to walk directly away from God.
Notice that this person takes credit for bringing them up from Egypt, so this is God we’re talking about. And look what He says: "I will never break my covenant with you." That’s a wonderful thing, and despite all that we read about here and all that can happen in our lives if we decide to walk in the flesh, God never breaks his covenant with us. That doesn’t mean He simply leaves alone though. He does discipline - something God will hand out beginning right here.
God is faithful and He just asks the people not to ally with the people of the land and not to give any opportunity for influence by the religions created by these people. Israel did both.
Those two things are at the core of what goes wrong in a Christian’s life: allowing the flesh or the world to infiltrate and influence you, and cause you to no longer serve God. On Wednesday we talked about them in terms of altars being the things in our lives that we know are wrong but we don’t really want to get rid of them because they entice us, and of enemies that are things of the flesh in our lives that we want to get rid of but can’t.
Because Israel disobeyed, the people of the land will be a thorn and the gods of the land a snare. You cannot co-exist in your life with any other god than the Lord or any other citizenship than heaven. Coequal co-habitation will not work.
Notice the response - they wept and they sacrificed, but it doesn’t say that they repented. We can be sorry we have been busted and try to "make it right" - go to church or give tithes or do something we think will please God - but without repentance it will do no good because at the root we are still holding on to the old nature and it is still holding on to us.
Verses 6 - 10
It almost seems as if Joshua wasn’t around for the scene at Bochim (Bo-Keem). Here his death is recorded I think in part to point out that Israel served God only as long as Joshua and his elders were around. Was that genuine faith? We cannot rely on the faith of others to carry us. Each of us has to have our own relationship and our own faith in God.
So a new generation comes along that doesn’t know God and doesn’t see His work. I don’t know who to fault here, but I do know that without a dedicated, ongoing, systematic proclamation of God’s Word the people will move away from Him.
We see this in the life of the nation of Israel so much so that in the days of Josiah they’ll discover an old musty book buried in the Temple called the Bible and will be astounded at its contents.
Verses 11 - 15
So now we see the ruse of false repentance gives way to what the people really wanted to do, and that is abandon God and serve the false gods of the land. God warned them repeatedly about what would happen. When they entered the land He made them repeat the consequences out loud (Joshua 8). Yet they abandoned Him anyway. Such is the power of the flesh and the world.
Baal and Ashtoreth worship was pretty enticing too - very sensual, sexual, and pragmatic. You gave yourself in a fleshly way to a pagan god who gave you your crops and children (supposedly) in return. It’s a win win. Except that it isn’t.
This verse from Galatians will be familiar to us by the time we are done with Judges:
Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. ESV
They thought it would be cool, but because the consequences were harsh, they ended up in "terrible distress" (read: corruption=death).
Verses 16 - 23
Verse 18 is the key here: "For the Lord was moved to pity." God does love us, even if we are in the middle of blowing it. And though he owes us nothing, He goes the extra mile to rescue us from ourselves.
Here we have the overview of what happens in the rest of the book - the Lord raising up judges that saved the people from their circumstances but not from their allegiance to sin and the world. Judges means just that - a judge who pronounces judgment. By extension this also means one who rules and provides justice for the people by rescuing them.
The people wouldn’t listen, though, and went right back to their evil ways. Peter pronounced this proverb: "The dog returns to its own vomit and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire" (2 Peter 2:22).
What they got were changed circumstances, what they needed was a changed nature - and that is true for us as well. How many times do things go sideways and we want God to rescue us but are unwilling to cede our will or examine our lives to see what evil the Lord is trying to call to our attention.
Now I don’t mean to say that every time something goes wrong it means we’ve sinned. What I am saying is that when we sin and follow the world and things go wrong it may very well be the Lord trying to get through to us.
Look at the progress here: In verses 1 - 5 they didn’t try very hard to drive out the foreign gods. Then in verses 6 - 10 they didn’t try very hard to keep their relationship going with God. Then in verses 11 - 15 "abandoned" their relationship with the Lord and started bowing down to other gods. Then in verse 17 it says they "whored" after these other gods which means more than a one night stand or an occasional dalliance, this was deliberate, constant, and blatant intimacy with a god other than the Lord.
I hate to say it, but we as Christians can go through the same progression of seemingly simple disregard to outright disloyalty to God - and then suffer the consequences.
Lessons
1. You cannot serve two masters (verses 1-5)
2. You cannot sustain a relationship with God without His Word (verses 6 - 10)
3. You cannot escape getting burned if you stick your hand in the fire (verses 11 - 15)
4. You cannot stop a pig from wallowing, unless it is no longer a pig
So how do we stop that van as we see it approaching the intersection without any brakes?
Let’s look at in terms of the negatives I just outlined and turn them around:
1. Enjoy your relationship with God and diss everyone else!
Galatians 5:16 walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
2. Take a regular bath in God’s Word
Psalms 119:11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
3. Freely cop to your mistakes and freely receive God’s discipline
Hebrews 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
4. You aren’t a pig, stop acting like it!
Romans 8:5-9 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
And above all remember: The Lord never breaks His covenant with you.
My admonishment to us today is to "take care" (22) of our relationship with God. Don’t let it go dormant. Nurture and care for it. You will not be sorry!
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