chapters of history to learn from...
i'm going to just jump right in to chapter 2: an angel of the Lord came to the israelites and said (verses 2-3), "'I brought you up out of egypt and led you into the land which i have sworn to your fathers; and i said, 'I will never break My covenant with you, and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.' but you have not obeyed Me; what is you have done? therefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.'" we read in chapter one that the israelites did not drive out the peoples of the lands as they were instructed. please recall our thoughts about why they were to drive these groups of people out completely. the evil in these cultures was to be dealt with/to be ended. altars to their gods were to be torn down. if they were left...and if the people involved in idolatry were left to live in the land with the israelites, there existed the possibility that the israelites would be influenced to worship their gods. and they did. 2:11 says, "then the sons of israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the baals." 2:16 says, "they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them." 3:7 says, "the sons of israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God and served the baals and the asheroth."
heartbreaking.
so, chapter 2 records joshua's death and burial. judges were raised up to lead. we see in chapter 3 that when the israelites broke God's heart engaging in idolatry that "He sold them" (3:8) and "the sons of israel served cushan-rishathaim eight years." and we'll see this pattern throughout judges of God's people serving the baals and walking through/working and serving through...slaving their way through the consequences of turning to false gods...and crying out to the Lord...each time seeing Him as their great Rescuer.
/3:9 "the sons of israel cried to the Lord"----------------"the Lord raised up a deliverer"
/3:12 "the sons of israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord"
/3:15 "the sons of israel cried to the Lord"----------------"the Lord raised up a deliverer"
/4:1 "the sons of israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord"
/4:3 "the sons of israel cried to the Lord"-----------v 23 "so God subdued on that day jabin the king of canaan before the sons of israel"
/6:1 "then the sons of israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord"
/6:6 "the sons of israel cried to the Lord"-------------v 8 "the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of israel"
/8:28 "so midian was subdued before the sons of israel"
/8:33"the sons of israel again played the harlot with the baals, and made baal-berith their god. thus the sons of israel did not remember the Lord their God".........
in the midst of this idolatry/repentance cycle, we are encouraged by faithful acts of some who did act heroically in faith. deborah. gideon. i loved reading the story of gideon. unsuspected leader/not in a high position. courageous in response to the angel's visit and confident in God's faithfulness. gideon was imperfect but used by God.
we read in chapter 9 the treachery of abimelech who killed all of his brothers except jotham... and the justice of God at the end of this story once again. following abimilech's death, 9:56 records that "God repaid the wickedness of abimelech." chapter 10 gives the account of two judges, tola and jair. then, v 6 says, "then the sons of israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, served the baals and the ashtaroth, the gods of aram, the gods of sidon, the gods of moab, the gods of the sons of ammon, and the gods of the philistines; thus they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him." so...the Lord "sold them into the hands of the philistines and into the hands of the sons of ammon." ...and under great oppression, v 9, "israel was greatly distressed." v 10 records the repentance, once again, of israel, and... from verse 16, "He could bear the misery of israel no longer." His heart was always for them...though they were cyclically faithless. His mercy shines out to me...and shouts out His lovingkindness. and...this is the story of the rest of judges. under the oppression of the philistines (because of their idolatry once again)...God eventually judged the philistines through samson. the last few chapters record acts that reminded me very much of sodom and gomorrah (chap 19)...and disgraceful acts led to civil war.
chapter 17 records the sobering account from verse 6, "in those days there was no king in israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes"...recorded again at the end of the book (the very last verse), 21:25.
let me quickly move on to the encouragement of ruth's story. :) this is a record of the line of david through whom Jesus would be born. ruth was a testimony of faithfulness...loyal to her widowed mother-in-law (widowed herself)...she went to bethlehem and because of her acts of faithfulness became the wife of boaz. and the son of ruth and boaz was obed, the father of jesse, the father of david (king david).
--personal thoughts--
all of this is so sobering. reading judges was just...sad to me. just observing the weakness of men...sin and idolatry and faithlessness...can be so overwhelmingly sad. but i want to read it and reflect with hope in the goodness of God. He took them back...and back and back. He rescued them from oppressors when they cried to Him. He was faithful and is faithful.
thank You for Your continuous, neverending, grace-overflowing, love-outpouring faithfulness, God...to the israelites...and to me. thank You, Father.
No comments:
Post a Comment