The Verdict on Judges
One Generation Away From Ruin
February 5, 2006
This is the reality of every age and every nation. It has always been so.
From the time of Noah and his sons to the days of Sodom and Gomorrah we are just one generation separated from ruin. Consider the great civilizations, empires, dynasties, and nations from the birth of history until our time. In times past there were the Babylonians, Greeks, Medes, Persians, Egyptians, Chinese, Carthaginians, Romans, Goths, Ottoman Turks, Russians, Germans, British, Spanish, and French. In every one of theses nations there is a time of greatness and a time of ruin – always just one generation removed.
The chosen people of God are no exception. The children of Jacob – Israel were a great people in the days of the exodus. Under Moses they came through the wilderness into the Promised Land. Under Joshua they took the land. Under the Judges they lost it – well almost.
What we see in the book of Judges is a downward spiral of sin and despair leading to ruin. It’s played out over and over as each generation discovers how close to ruin it is.
This is not the plan for man. Our God is a God of covenants and promises. He desires to pour out his great blessings on us. One of my favorites is in Deuteronomy 28:13
The Promises of God
13 The LORD will make you like the head and not like the tail; you will be on top and not on bottom. But you must obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, being careful to keep them.
Deuteronomy 28:13
But the promises of God are unrealized because of our failure… In the book of Judges we see this and so much more.
In the case of Israel the promises don’t come true. Israel gets the land, but never gets everything that God wanted for them. Is it that God does not keep his promises? The New Testament has promises as well.
Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) and “The teaching that I ask you to accept is easy; the load I give you to carry is light.” (Matthew 11:30)
Can we trust these promises? Do we enjoy these promises? If not, why not? Has God failed to keep his promises to us?
Studying through the OT reveals that God is not at fault – it is His people. But what did they do to disqualify themselves from the promises of God?
In the book of Judges we will see many things and learn many lessons. They will guide us into being a people who possess the promises of God.
The Book of Judges
Israel’s Downward Spiral
Chronologically, Judges takes place after Joshua has lead the people into the promised land and continues until the coronation of King Saul. (About 325 years)
Definitively, a judge is not a person who determines guilt or innocence in criminal cases. He or she is a person who delivers their people from their enemies. They are real people with real flaws and not always someone to be imitated. That’s one of the characteristics of the Bible – it lays out the truth, unvarnished and raw.
Thematically, we detect a cycle in the book of Judges that Israel goes through over and over.
First, Israel does evil in the eyes of Yahweh.
Second, Yahweh gives them into the hands of their oppressors
After a time Israel cries out to Yahweh and Yahweh raises up a deliverer ( i.e., judge)
Then finally – for a season – there is peace and prosperity under the leadership of the judge.
Then, Israel does evil in the eyes of God… and the spiral of death and ruin starts again – with each repetition the situation gets a little worse. By the end of the book of Judges Israel is in a real mess.
Why the decline? What happens in Israel to cause such a drift from God?
There are several reasons.
They Lost their Trust in God
After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the LORD, “Who will be first to go and fight for us against the Canaanites?” 2 The LORD said to them, “The tribe of Judah will go. I have handed the land over to them. 3 The men of Judah said to the men of Simeon, their relatives, “Come and help us fight the Canaanites for our land. If you do, we will go and help you fight for your land.” So the men of Simeon went with them.
Judges 1:1-3
Because they lose their relationship with God they begin to lose trust in him. Early on we see the seeds of this lack of trust.
On the surface it looks innocent, but this episode betrays a lack of trust.
Judah does not trust God. They begin to rely on human intuition rather than God’s command.
What a danger this is today – to trust our own perspective rather than God’s. God knows best and to receive the promises we must be willing to trust him with our lives.
Trust God!
They lost their fight
“…you must not make an agreement with the people who live in this land. You must destroy their altars.’ But you did not obey me. How could you do this?
Judges 2:1-2
Here is a disappointed father speaking to a kid who has just been caught doing something really stupid… How could you do this?
The Bible reveals truth. The truth is that the people of Israel messed up big time. They failed to capture the land fully.
They didn’t lose THE fight. They lost their fight!
It’s important to understand that this land was the land of Isaac and Jacob before they people had moved to Egypt. It had been promised to the children of Abraham and God. Israel was told to totally destroy all the inhabitants of the land. They were to drive them out and to make no treaties with them.
Now that sounds harsh, but God did not want any heathen influence in their lives that would dilute their influence in their world.
But when you read the first chapter – they don’t drive out the people. Why?
They had all they needed from God to do the job and it was their job. God was not going to do it for them.
They got tired and quit fighting the fight.
God made it very clear here that he will not do the fighting for us! We have to fight the fight to win the battle.
Trust God & Don’t Quit the fight!
They lost their identity
After those people had died, their children grew up and did not know the LORD or what he had done for Israel.
Judges 2:10
They don’t know him and don’t know the stories of how he delivered them. It is essential to constantly feed this relationship with God. It is essential to hear the stories over and over again. We can never become too familiar.
Israel forgot who they were – chosen people of God.
They’re in the Promised Land – isn’t that enough? They had crossed the Jordan and won a lot of battles under Joshua.
They won a few victories and had some good days then got tired and went from conquest to coexistence. They settled for what they possessed rather than fighting for what was promised. They let down and settled in.
Soon it was hard to see the difference between the Israelites and the Canaanites. They adopt their religion. They adopt their culture rather than standing up for their own. Why not compromise? Why can’t we coexist? Compromise and coexistence is a lot easier than fighting a long and difficult battle.
Can you see how this applies to life today?
Let me share with you two critical applications:
1) We must share our story with our children so they not only enjoy the fruits of the promised land but understand what it God had to do to get us there.
Do your children know your story? Have you told them your story of redemption?
2) Sometimes after we have received a blessing of God we let up, relax and settle down to enjoy what we have. After graduation, marriage, promotion, a victorious battle to achieve and complete a project sometimes we forget to continue on in the fight.
ERNEST’S FAMILY HAD A RICH CHRISTIAN HERITAGE. His grandfather, Anson, after serving in the Civil War, attended the evangelical Wheaton College. A "formal, serious, and deeply religious man," he served as general secretary of the Chicago YMCA, where he became a friend of evangelist D.L. Moody.
Anson served as a deacon in the First Congregational Church and ruled over a deeply religious family. He insisted that his family always share a blessing before meals and attend church every Sunday. They had morning devotions six days a week as a family.
Anson and his wife, Adelaide, raised four sons and two daughters in the Christian faith. Their son Ed married Grace Hall, another product of a Christian home, and became a prosperous doctor in Oak Park.
Ed and Grace raised their children in the same fashion as they had been raised. Their son Ernest not only attended church every Sunday with his family, but seemed committed to the faith himself. As a boy, he loved to read the Old Testament "because it was so full of battles." As a teenager, he sang in the choir and joined the youth group. He served as the youth group’s treasurer, helped run the program committee, and sometimes spoke at early evening services.
Ernest left home after high school and worked for a time as a newspaper reporter. He sought adventure in World War I as a volunteer ambulance driver and then as an infantryman. In 1921 he went to Paris, and within a few years had written his first two novels on his way to becoming a literary icon and an international celebrity.
Still, a strict Christian upbringing and an active church life apparently were not enough to implant the faith firmly in Ernest’s heart. Despite his mother’s entreaties to stop "neglecting your duties to God and your Savior, Jesus Christ," he eventually rejected the faith. In his later years he became so bitter and despairing that at the age of 62, he took his own life.
Though he had achieved a Pulitzer and Nobel Prize for his writing, Ernest Hemingway died unhappy and hopeless. How different might things have been for him — and for the literary world — if he had received his family’s priceless heritage of faith in Christ!
God really does want to bless you
Trust God
He will help you win the battle for your soul
Don’t Quit
Coexistence with the world is settling for less than all of the promises of God
Tell Your Story
Do your children know your story of redemption and deliverance?
Someone has painted a picture of Jesus sitting in the middle of a crowd of children. The children are of all races and manners of dress, indicating that they come from all around the world. And they’re all happy, laughing and playing at the feet of Jesus. Except one child, a little girl, who has taken Jesus’ hand and is holding palm up in front of her. She’s looking up, into Jesus’ eyes with a puzzled look on her face and the caption of the picture reads, "What happened to your hand?"
Jesus is smiling, and yet there is a wrinkle on his brow and a tear in the corner of His eye. There is no caption indicating His response to the question. And I think that is because there’s no response that that little girl or you or I could ever fully understand.
A few years ago Andre Crouch wrote a song that says --
I don’t know why Jesus loved me
I don’t know why he cared
I don’t know why He sacrificed His life
Oh, but I’m glad
so glad He did
Prayer
Communion
Prayer
Communion
