MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE (JUDGES 2)
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After my stroke in August, 2018, my legs were weakened and I was wobbly as I walked. A Chinese herbalist suggested I hiked more to strengthen my legs and a friend suggested I walked faster and climb the stairs two steps at a time. I followed the latter’s advice but I still could not find a convenient place to do trekking.
One morning (November 2019) – ten years after I lived on the island - I saw some walkers, runners and even seniors walking up a steep hill to our island’s slightly hidden reservoir, with a bar gate and a sign discouraging pedestrians and strollers from walking the trek. After puffing my way up for the first time, I found the path a heaven-sent for my shaky legs.
Sweeping the track up the government reservoir from the iron bar entrance at the bottom of the hill onwards, however, was not the island estate’s business, so a small amount of trash was left by visitors and residents. A few days later an idea struck me. Why don’t I pick up trash on my way down since I do three runs a morning? I picked up a chair as my first task. Thankfully the bottom of the chair fell out, so I picked up the bottom the next day. On the third day my target was a plastic container and a sheet of aluminum foil. The fourth day I picked up 12 cigarette butts. Another day, I picked up napkins. My trash load included cigarette packets, food wrappers, plastic bags, parcel strings, three gloves, newspapers, a long wooden stick, a broom, on and on. The worst so far was dog poo-poo left in a plastic bag! Little by little, day by day, run by run, I made the place a decent looking place – just as anyone could, but it was embarrassing seeing people on the way down!
The death and departure of Joshua was a big loss and a big blow to Israel, not just for the physical presence but for the spiritual vacuum. From Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses (Num 11:28) to Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord (Judg 2:8), Joshua was given the highest accolade – the servant of the Lord - at his passing away, just like his mentor, predecessor and senior Moses at his death, too (Deut 34:5). At his death, Joshua, however, had shoes no one could fill, so God raised judges to fill the void. Joshua had often been unfairly blamed for not having a protégé himself, but God did not abandon Israel but raised up judges both sides of the Jordan, men and women, short-lived and long-lasting to lead His people.
What can a team of leaders do when an outstanding leader leaves for good? How can others fill the void? Why do we have a responsibility to transform the world rather than tolerate her decline?
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1The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’” 4 When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, 5 and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord. 6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance.
Someone told G. Campbell Morgan that the preacher must catch the spirit of the age. Immediately this great preacher answered, “God forgive the preacher who does that. The preacher’s business is to correct the spirit of the age.” ( Illustrations of Bible Truths # 540)
Judges 2 begins with a resounding indictment against the Israelites in the new land with the four-fold repetition of the negative “no” plus the verb “listened” or “disobeyed/not hearkened” (vv 2, 17, 20):
Yet you have disobeyed me (v 2, not hearkened to my voice)
they would not listen (disobey) to their judges (v 17)
(not) obedient to the Lord’s commands (v 17)
not listened to me (v 20, not hearkened to my voice)
The Israelites’ problem was not a lack of leadership, but a lack of listening, which is not just devoid of hearing but of heeding, not an absence of organization but of obedience.
“Traps/sides” (v 3) means being enclosed while “snares” mean entrapped. The Israelites were warned repeatedly, as early as Exodus, of the snares from befriending the inhabitants and serving their gods (Ex 23:33, 34:12, Deut 7:16, Josh 23:13). A snare is a noose, a hook or a lasso.
Israel wept (v 4) because they knew the consequences were severe. The phrase “not obeyed my voice’ in the Bible ends with damnation or curses in their endeavors (Deut 28:15), a decrease in population (Deut 28:62) and, according to the four-fold warning by Moses, destruction like other nations:
“If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed (destroy, destroy). Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God. (Deut 8:19-20)
Weeping (v 4) was good, so was their sacrifice (v 4), but weeping without making change, no matter how loud, long or lively, was merely crying over spilt milk. They did not obey the Lord in two things: not to make a covenant with the inhabitants but to throw down their altars. The first is with their identity and the second is with their idols. They were, first and foremost, God’s people, God’s possession, His passion and pride. They were not to be sociable with others, not to be shared with others, or to be of service to others – gods, kings or nations.
Forsake the Sin
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 ancestors, 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 ancestors, 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.
The story is told of an atheistic barber who was talking to a pastor. The barber asked the pastor, “If there is a loving God, how can He allow poverty, war, and suffering?”
Just at that moment a disheveled man crossed the street. The pastor said, “You are a barber and claim to be a good one. How can you allow that man to go unkept and unshaven?”
“He never gave me a chance!” the barber replied.
To which the pastor said, “Exactly, men are what they are because they reject God!”
Verse 11 begins a series of seven statements of “did evil in the sight of the Lord” in the book (2:11, 3:7, 3:12, 4:1, 6:1, 10:6, 13:1), with the last two more serious in time (10:6, 13:1) by adding “again”: “did evil AGAIN in the sight of the Lord.” The previous generation was consumed for doing evil in the sight of the Lord (Num 32:13). Doing evil in the sight of the Lord provoked Him to anger (Deut 4:25, 31:29), with worshipping idols (Judg 2:11, 3:7, 10:6) surely the most damaging, despicable and damning.
The children of Israel progressed from serving their gods (Ex 23:33), serving gods (Deut 4:28), serving others gods (Deut 7:4) or serving strange gods (Josh 24:20)
to serving Baals – the idols were introduced to the Israelites and in the Bible for the first time, along with the phrase “forsook the Lord” (vv 12, 13). Follow other gods is repeated twice (vv 12, 19) and “bow” is repeated thrice (vv 12, 17, 19). The idols hold on the Israelites was deep, deceptive and dreaded; it was an enticing, enduring and enslaving practice.
“Arouse the anger of the Lord” is a repeated phrase in Judges (Judg 2:14, 2:20, 3:8, 10:7). From “giving them” into the hands of raiders, God later SOLD them (Judg 2:14, 3:8, 10:7) to their enemies. Joshua previously promised the Israelites that no man would be able to stand before them (Josh 23:9), but not it was the reverse – they could not resist/stand the enemies. The Israelites were greatly distressed (v 15), the same feeling the returning Jacob felt upon facing Esau and his men (Gen 32:7) and the fleeing David felt when the people threated to stone him (1 Sam 30:6).
Frustrate the Foes
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 ancestors, 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 ancestors, 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 ancestors 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 ancestors 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.
Our church was saddened to learn this week of the death of one of our most valued members, Someone Else.
For many, many years as a part of this church Someone Else did far more than a normal person’s share of the work. Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend, everybody said, “Let Someone Else do it.” Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results; “Someone Else can work with that group.”
It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the most generous givers. Whenever there was a financial need, everyone assumed Someone Else would make up the difference.
Now Someone Else is gone! We wonder what we are going to do. Someone Else left a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it? Who is going to do the things Someone Else did?
When you are asked to help this year, remember — we can’t depend on Someone Else anymore!
The judges of Israel made their appearance way back in Moses’ day (Ex 18, Num 25:5), but their differences with the judges in the new land were stark. First, the judges in Moses’ time were never superior over all, unlike these judges, but they were subordinate to Moses. Second, the judges in the book of Judges were local leaders and not national leaders. Third, they were judges and not lawyers, leaders and not administrators. The longest serving judges did not overlap in their sphere of influence, mainly Othniel’s 40 years in Judah (3:7-11), Ehud’s 80 years in Benjamin (3:12-30), Deborah’s 40 years in Ephraim (4:1-5:31), Gideon’s 40 years in Manasseh (6:1-8:35), Tola’s 23 years in Issachar (10:1-2), Jair’s 22 years in Gilead (10:3-5), Samson’s 20 years in Dan (13:1-16:31) and Elon’s 10 years in Zebulun (12:11-12). The judges in the new land were military experts, but not moral examples.
The Israelites would not obey God’s voice (v 2), nor His commandments, the judges (v 17) or His commandments (v 17), but the judges were unflagging, untiring, unflinching, unyielding and unbending. They served their purpose, staked their presence, shouldered the leadership, shaped the generation, shared the workload, shepherd the tribe, slowed the decay and stopped the bleeding in persuading the Israelites, who listened to them all the days of their lives (v 18). Verse 18 suggests they had to sustain their efforts after their initial ministry failed in verse 15.
Quickly (v 17) means soon (Deut 4:26), suddenly (Deut 7:4), at once (Deut 7:22), hastily (Judg 2:23) and speedily (Ps 69:17). It did not take much enticing, exploiting or entertaining to cause the Israelites fall into sin and fail their mission. Time and again, the judges acts as saviors, servants and soldiers. While the judges had troubles of their own and were in no wise perfect, idolatry, infidelity and incompetence were not their issues. Their problems were immaturity, immodesty and inexperience. Nevertheless, they led the Israelites more than 3oo years (Judg 11:26), which was a long, livable and laudable period in Jewish history. Their enemies were endless, equipped and experienced - beginning with the Canaanites, the Perizzites (Judg 1:4), the Amorites (Judg 1:34) in chapter 1, followed by the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Aramites (Judg 3:10) and the Moabites (3:12) in chapter 3, and later the Midianites (Judg 6:1) and the Ammonites (Judg 10:7). The judges, however, were resolute, resourceful and repellent.
Conclusion: God responds when we call to him, come to Him and cry to Him. In our darkest days and our deepest gloom, we have to fight discouragement and doubts with faith in God – by our focus, availability, trust, intercession and humility. Do not believe the lies of Satan, bear the burdens by yourself or boast in your own strength. He cares for His people, comforts and calms His children who run to Him and rest in Him.
