The Book of Judges 2

  The book of Judges provides a link between the Israelites conquering of the Holy Land and the enthronement of the first king of Israel. After they settled in the Promised Land the Israelites experienced the twin problems of compromise and apostasy. They compromised spiritually by failing to completely eradicate the depraved Canaanite nations and they repeatedly fell into the idolatry and immorality of those nations. In spite of that God remained faithful to them and forgave His people when they repented. Their sins would lead to a series of military defeats but this was followed by deliverance through the leadership of a series of "Judges" when they repented. These judges were not legal administrators but strong leaders who helped the nation through a succession of crises by providing military leadership.

Conduct

The main body of the book, chapter 3-16, speaks of Twelve judges. Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah (with Barak), Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson. Of these, six stand out pre-eminently because the whole story gathers round six successive apostasies and periods of slavery, and these six deliverers, or Judges, brought deliverance. The six are: Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. The six major apostasies are introduced in each case, by the words: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord."  (2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1)

Consequence

These words occur just six times in the body of this book; and in each case God’s judgment falls on them and slavery results. It is a striking and significant fact that these six periods of slavery are all said to have been brought about by the Lord Himself.

First - "The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and HE sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim, King of Mesopotamia" (3:8).

Second - "The LORD strengthened Eglon, King of Moab, against Israel" (3:12).

Third - "The LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin, King of Canaan" (4:2).

Fourth - "The LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years" (6:1).

Fivfth - "The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and HE sold them into the hands of the Philistines" (10:7).

Six - "The LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years" (13:1).

Israel's times of slavery were not accidental. They were punishments for and the consequence of their sin. This is a point for serious consideration. God may confer special privileges on certain people and nations, but He is no respecter of persons in the sense of indulging favourites. Those who sin against special privilege will bear heavier responsibility and incur heavier penalty. God may give His people many privileges, but He never gives them the privilege of sinning. We should be careful in case a sense of privilege should lead us into the sin of presumption.

  As we read this book of Judges we may think it amazing that such low living could go hand in hand with their high calling. High calling and low living are not natural companions but it is possible to be moral without being spiritual and it is even possible to be spiritual without being moral.

This may seem paradoxical or even impossible but you have probably come across some people who know how to talk spiritual but who can stoop to behaviour that the average non-Christian would shrink from in disgust. These people know the language of the deeper and higher truths of the Christian life and are able to converse in a spiritual vein. They seem well instructed in the talk but seem woefully ignorant of a genuine Christian walk. It is only too easy for familiarity with spiritual truth to engender, if not contempt, callousness, and then for callousness to be hypocritically covered with an outer garment of psuedo spirituality. We must watch and pray in case we ourselves enter into this temptation.

Judges records a Constantly Recurring Cycle:-

SIN

Israel "did what was evil in the LORD's sight": 2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1)

SUFFERING 

They suffered at the hands of the pagan nations.

SUPPLICATION

They prayed to God

SALVATION

God delivered them from their enemies.

Israel's moral condition grew progressively worse as the downward cycle was repeated. Each time a judge died, "the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them" (2:19).

It  is worth our while for us to get the fourfold sequence vividly in our minds, for it has a living application to our own times. It may be that so far as Israel is concerned, the long period of sinning and suffering is now drawing to a close, and the prophesied age-end supplication and salvation drawing near but this recurrent emphasis is meant to do its own work in our minds. We must read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. There are things in the moral realm, which are indissolubly joined together. Sin and suffering always go together. They cannot be separated. When we sin we are enslaved by sin. God then judges and punishes us for our sin. Our hearts must recognise and understand this! It is also true that supplication and salvation are similarly joined. When we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity. God will respond to true repentance and supplication in which there is a putting away of the evil thing and then He will restore to us the joy of salvation.