When a Generation Fails

Judges 1:1-2:5

February 15, 2004

           

Daniel Block calls this first section "The Canaanization of Israel" (75).  It sets the stage for what the entire narrative address.  As we read the book of Judges we must not assume that it is merely a nice book of history recording people, places, and events.  It is so much more!

 

Judges' author is not identified though many name Samuel as the writer.  Whether that is so or not cannot be ascertained, but what is certain is that the book is more than history - it is a prophetic narrative that seeks to call people back to God.

 

It may have been penned and read publicly during the post-exilic period because of the dangers luring Israel into idolatry.  Or hundreds of years earlier, it may have been written during the wicked 60-year reign of Manasseh when idolatry, immorality, and spiritual anarchy prevailed.  Or it may have been written by Samuel at the beginning of Israel's monarchy as a reminder of where they had been spiritually for the past 400 years - though in Canaan they remained in spiritual wandering and now were in desperate need to repent and wholly follow the Lord.

 

Judges is a wake-up call for any people that lose their edge or people that lose their edge of spiritual keenness (Block 58).  It demonstrates how far even those that profess to know God can fall when people turn their back on God and toward the world.  Even more importantly, Judges reminds us of the mercy and grace of God intervening in the lives of His people so that we are not swallowed by our own spiritual darkness and sin.  Rather the Judges highlighting great people it actually emphasized the Great Lord of heaven and earth who keeps the covenant and preserves a people for Himself in spite of men's weaknesses and proneness to wander.

 

Daniel Block offers a detailed reason that Judges is so appropriate for own day: 

 

Earlier it was mentioned that the central theme of the Book of Judges is the Canaanization of Israel.  Herein lies the key to the relevance of this ancient composition for North American Christianity, for like the Israelites of the settlement period, we have largely forgotten the covenant Lord and have come to take for granted his gracious redemptive work on our behalf.  Like the ancient Israelites we too are being squeezed into the mold of the pagan world around us.  Evidences of the "Canaanization" of the church are everywhere:  our preoccupation with material prosperity, which turns Christianity into a fertility religion; our syncretistic and aberrant forms of worship; our refusal to obey the Lord's call to separation for the world; our divisiveness and competitiveness; our moral compromises, as a result of which Christians and non-Christians are often indistinguishable; our [male] exploitation and abuse of women and children; our reluctance to answer the Lords' call to service, and when we finally go, our propensity to displace "Thy kingdom come" with "My kingdom come"; our eagerness to fight the Lord's battles with the world's resources and strategies; our willingness to stand up and defend perpetrators of evil instead of justice (Block, NAC, 70).

 

Or as Michael Wilcox put it, "The truth is, the message of the Judges is needed in every age" (BST, 18).  Joshua 23:1-13 sets the stage of warning that Judges reveals to be prophetically accurate.

 

I. A promising beginning, 1:1-15

 

1. Seeking the Lord, 1:1-2; He's still viewed as the Lord of the Sabbath

 

2. God's gracious hand, 1:3-4

Note "the Lord gave the Canaanites and Perizites into their hands."  The emphasis, again, is on God's mercy and grace at work (Exodus 23:20-33, Exodus 34:11-17, Deuteronomy 7:1-11)

- They were to obey the Lord in driving out the inhabitants

- They were to trust the Lord in sprite of all odds

- They were to obey thoroughly and not partially

3. A slippery model, 1:5-7

They took their picture of mutilation from the Canaanites.  Adoni-Bezek's "testimony" may have referred to the Lord or even to another god in the land.  The slow, unmerciful death by mutilation was uncharacteristic of any previous example of righteous military action.

 

4. The last bright spot, 1:8-15

Judah conquered Jerusalem but evidently failed to successfully occupy it since 400 years later David had to drive out the Jebusites that settled in the land (also 1:21).  Othniel was the last of the generation knowing Joshua and Caleb.  He courageously captured Debir and was rewarded with Achsah for a wife.  Later he faithfully judges Israel (3:9-11).  But the bright spot ceases with this picture.  He did his job of conquering completely.  Hopes seemed to be running high.  But the way began to slip after him.

 

II. A slippery slope, 1:16-36

 

1. Almost successful, 1:16-21

The text bounces from the Lord being with Judah giving them success, but then something happened in the middle of 1:19.  The Lord is conspicuously absent in the balance of the chapter (except 1:22). 

- Israel's success depended on God's might, not their own.

- The inherent danger in success is claiming glory for oneself rather than humbly glorying in the Lord.

- In this case, half-success laid groundwork for total failure.

2. A troubling covenant, 1:22-26

At face value, this seems to be legitimate military and judicially.  But notice the simple request of this Canaanite (1:24).  This should have been obvious.  Perhaps there is more to it but the writer leaves this scouting venture at a point of absurdity.  The point is that little by little they were moving away from dependence on the Lord.  The man, a Canaanite, was not assimilated into Israel as a follower of Yahweh as Rahab the harlot.  There were no testimonies here of God's greatness and might as in that story.  But the Canaanite is set free to build his own city, and with it his own pagan religion and practices.  The seeds for failure were sown by the house of Judah!

 

3. Almost but not quite, 1:27-36

The picture intends to show how God's directives for Israel were not taken seriously.  The tribes listed show:

- Canaanites conquered but allowed to remain (27-28)

- Canaanites as neighbors tolerated (29-32) or subjected as slaves

- Israelites living among the Canaanites and thus being influenced by them (33)

- Canaanites dominating the Israelites (34-36).

Canaanites picture the worst of the world:

- Indulgence in the flesh

- Denying God as creator

- Oblivious to God's law

- Satisfied with worshiping other gods

- Immersed in immorality, even counting it as part of worship

Israel thought they could get along with the Canaanites without it being a problem.

- Compromise on God's command and will always has consequences

- The downward pull of the world is always stronger than the upward pull of compromising believe

- The Lord is never honored by partial obedience.

III. When revival doesn't come, 2:1-5

 

1. The Lord speaks, 2:1-3

(1) Reminder of God's delivering redeeming work (1a)

(2) Reminder of God's covenant promises (1b)

(3) Reminder of God's command (2a)

(4) God's assessment and probing question (2b)

(5) God's judgment (3)...much proved throughout Judges!

 

2. A temporary response, 2:4-5

(1) Signs of remorse (wept)

(2) Tokens of hope (sacrificed)

Caught in sin but not convinced of repentance

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