Listen to God’s Judges

July 10, 2011


Background Scripture: Judges 2; 21:25
Lesson Passage: Judges 2:11 – 19

If you continue to do what you have always done, you will continue to receive what you have always received. That simple saying has been stated in many variants for many years yet we never seem to learn its lesson. It appears as though humanity is destined to follow the wrong path and receive chastisement as a result of it. Today’s lesson is a reminder to me that Israel is the church’s example. As such, the church should learn from Israel’s mistakes and fare better. Just as younger siblings are often spared the same chastisements as the older because they choose to learn from the punishment of others, likewise, the church would do well to look to Israel as the elder sibling. Nevertheless, it seems as though some lessons are not learned as a result of mere observation. Today’s lesson from the book of Judges brings us to the edge of a three-century long era in Israel’s history which has an oft repeated cycle of national apostasy, punishment at the hands of their enemy, prayer of distress, and deliverance by God. During these turbulent three centuries, God brought deliverance through his servants the judges. These judges are mostly presented as military leaders who God raised up to overthrow Israel’s adversaries and then they remained as the civil leader over the nation until their death. After the death of the judge, the cycle repeated itself. Our topic says “Listen to God’s Judges”. This was often not the problem as long as the judge lived. The problem stemmed from not continuing to heed the advice and wisdom of the judges after the death of the judges. There are two things that stand out when one studies the book of Judges. First, the problems started after the death of Joshua and his generation who had known the Lord through His many miraculous acts on Israel’s behalf. It leads one to question whether this up-and-coming generation behind the elders had been properly—and especially thoroughly—educated and trained to seek the Lord and His righteousness. Had they been taught the details of God’s dealings with their forefathers from Egypt to Canaan? How real was God to this up-and-coming generation? The second thing that stands out in studying this book is the oft repeated phrase “in those days, there was no king in Israel”. This phrase points towards an unnamed author who lived at a time after the rise of the monarchy in Israel. That time, which had not come at this juncture in the nation’s history, was the time the nation completely rejected the rule of God over them as a nation. So then, the book of Judges records the time when Israel still had a choice to return to God’s rule of the nation so they could continue to live at peace without interruption. Instead, they only called upon God when times were hard and after God delivered them, they rejected His continuous rule over them. This was a mistake they needed not repeat. For in the times of distress, God allowed His spirit to rest on one who was empowered to overthrow their enemy and lead them back to right relationship with God. Much suffering could have been avoided if only they would have listened to God’s judges.

Robert C. Hudson
June 30, 2011