DAY TWENTY-SIX: 

Israel's Disobedience 

Judges 2:6-3:6 

Israel is now settled in the Land of Canaan. Joshua and the elders divided the land among the tribes and clans. There were still some places where the Canaanites had not been driven out, and Joshua told them to keep up the fight in each tribe's area. We read in chapter 1 that they did continue the conquest for a while and took more territory after Joshua disbanded the national army. All went well during the time that Joshua lived, and as long as the elders who had experienced the conquest lived. That's when the trouble began.

Let's talk first, though, about the Commonwealth of Israel. Commonwealth is another term for a state that exists for the good of its people, that is, a republic or a democracy. Four of our states (Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky) call themselves commonwealths. The Commonwealth of Israel is perhaps the most perfect form of government ever devised. Governance was decentralized, spread out among the tribes and clans through their elders. The elders were leaders chosen by the people for their character and wisdom. The Levites lived among the tribes in cities set aside for them. They taught the people the Law of Moses and settled their disputes. The people were to gather as a nation at the Tabernacle three times a year: Passover, Pentecost and Booths. There was no national government and no standing army. The only taxes were the tithes that went to support the priests and the Levites so that they could devote themselves to full-time service. This allowed for maximum freedom with minimum restriction and with a reasonable rate of taxation. Our own United States government is a hybrid between Israel's Commonwealth and the Roman Republic. The Commonwealth of Israel could work only with God's blessing and the people's obedience to Him. 

We human beings seem to have an inclination to mess up God's perfect plans. Adam and Eve couldn't handle one simple rule, and Israel didn't live up to the ideals of the Commonwealth. They didn't finish the job of displacing the Canaanites, and they became a snare. The Israelites began to worship Baal, the Canaanites' fertility god, and his consort Asherah. Baal worship was a whole lot more fun than serving the Lord. Each spring Baal and Asherah would have sex and this brought the spring rains which finished out the grain. If Baal and Asherah got into a tiff and didn't have relations there'd be a drought and the people would starve. So worship of Baal and Asherah required its participants to have sex with sacred prostitutes in the temples of Baal and Asherah to encourage the gods to do likewise and bring rain. Doing your duty as a worshiper of Baal gave license to do things that God had forbidden. 

God became angry and took His protection away. An oppressor would make their lives miserable and they'd cry out to the Lord for relief. God would then raise up a "judge." They were not judges in the sense we think of today. They were leaders that God raised up and empowered to rally Israel to defeat its enemies and return the people to faithfully serving the Lord. Things went well until that judge died, and then the people fell away again. This turned into a vicious cycle: unfaithfulness, oppression, deliverance and faithfulness repeating over and over. Here's a little chart that gives an overview of the time of the judges:

Keep in mind that each of these judges didn't rule for all of the years listed. There was a gap when there was no judge after each one died. Another thing to note as you look at the Book of Judges is that after each cycle Israel is weaker and more corrupt. Othniel was one of the warriors who followed Joshua in the conquest and a very faithful man. But Samson, the last judge, was not a good role model. We'll look at three of the judges this week: Deborah, Gideon and Samson. We'll finish the week with a look at the story of Ruth, which took place in the time of the judges.

The period of the judges was long ago, but it has lessons for us that we desperately need to learn today. Since the Book of Acts and the deaths of the Apostles the church's history looks depressingly like that of Israel's Commonwealth. There have been times of great growth and expansion occasioned by obedience to the Great Commission's call to make disciples. And there have been periods of decline, where the church so accommodated itself to the culture around it that it could not give a strong witness for Christ or made disciples. God in His grace broke through and raised up leaders who called the church back to faithfulness in what we've come to call renewal or revival. Then things slowly went back to the way they were and the process started all over again. 

I'd like to recommend another book to you, Renewal as a Way of Life: A Guidebook for Spiritual Growth, by Richard Lovelace. Lovelace taught for many years at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts and is an expert on Jonathan Edwards, the great preacher and theologian of our colonial period. He notes this vicious cycle and says it doesn't have to be that way. If we'll concentrate on making disciples we will pass on the faith from one generation to the next without these times of decline.

Tomorrow we'll look at Deborah, the only woman to serve as a judge.

Meanwhile, here's a little video that summarizes what we've discussed today and teaches a little song aimed at memorizing the names of the judges. It mentions two that are left off the list above, Eli and Samuel. We'll look at them next week, because they're transitional figures leading up to the time of the kings.