Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends, as we begin a new week together.
Leadership transitions are always delicate and potentially dangerous times, be it in a nation, a business, an organization or even a family. For the Israelites, the transition from Moses to Joshua was smooth and successful. Moses made it clear Joshua was God’s selection and Joshua stayed the course of Moses’ leadership style making sure he carefully discerned God’s direction, and then Joshua faithfully led the Israelites in obedience to God.
Joshua had been seen at Moses’ side for a long time and had been entrusted with various leadership roles, so he was ready to assume the reins of leadership. But at the end of Joshua’s life it was a much different situation. There was no clearly identified leader to follow Joshua, no passing of the leadership reins, no installation ceremony!
Rather, as we saw in Joshua 23 & 24 the leaders and the people were challenged to settle down and live well in the new land, serving God and staying clear of any influence of the pagan peoples around them. Each Israelite tribe had received from Joshua their clearly defined territorial inheritance and now each tribe was left to follow their own tribal leadership in claiming all their territory. (Joshua 18&19)
The Tabernacle had been established at Shiloh (Joshua 18) and the expectation was the Levites and priests would spiritually lead the people according to the instructions God had given them. The Covenant was renewed and Joshua died leaving the Israelites with experienced elders to stay the course. (Joshua 24:31; Judges 2:7)
But Judges 2:10 gives us this record: “After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what He had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger…” (Judges 2:10-12)
Each time I read it, I am stunned! How could it happen, and so quickly? Who would you hold responsible for this implosion of integrity and this rebellion against God?
The result of this disaster is a phenomenon repeated several times over the next three hundred years and recorded for the world to see here in the book of Judges. This phenomenon is a cycle, a disastrous cycle. From the place of God honoring living, as we saw in Joshua 23&24, the people grew spiritually apathetic and found themselves drawn to the false religions of neighboring peoples. Very quickly the Israelites drifted away from their covenant with God and were ensnared in the wickedness of idolatry and immorality.
Judges 2:14 explains God’s response: “In His anger against Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as He had sworn to them. They were in great distress.” (Judges 2:14,15)
But God did not give up on His people, rather God raised up leaders, ‘judges’ who seek to proclaim God’s truth and draw the people back to God and God’s ways of living morally and honorably. Sometimes the people resisted these God sent leaders, but God was with these Judges and “saved the Israelites out of the hands of their enemies as long as the Judge lived.” (Judges 2:18)
But as was so often true in Israel’s history, their memories were short, their appetites unquenchable for the lifestyles and even false gods of neighboring nations. And so, after the death of these judges, before long the Israelites “…returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods, serving and worshiping them. The people refused to give up their evil ways.”(Judges 2:19)
So, pause for a moment here and reflect on what we see in Judges 2. Over and over, it happened. Not once or twice or even three times. And as we walk through the book of Judges in these next few days, we’ll see this pattern repeated over and over, showing us the remarkable patience and mercy of God, while also seeing the pitiful hard heartedness, rebellious souls of the Israelites.
Now before we write the Israelites off as a total loss would you agree we need to look in the mirror? Do our lives, our families, our cities and nations know and too often repeat that same cycle? How many times has God given you and me a ‘second chance’, or ‘third or fourth or fifth’ chance by forgiveness and restoration into relationship with God? And how many times have we found ourselves drawn away into the darkness…again and again?
The generations which followed Joshua, and that first generation coming across the Jordan river into the Land of God’s Promise, were men and women and children just like us. And that’s why it’s important we take a few days to navigate through Judges seeing what God wants to teach us so our future and that of our descendants is different!
I’ve found a special worship song for reflection today and of course some additional notes for consideration in the “Grand Narrative” link below. And tomorrow we’ll look at how God raised up a man named Othniel soon after Joshua’s generation passed off the scene and the people needed a God-honoring man to call them back to God! I’ll meet you here tomorrow, but for now let’s worship with honest reflection about our own tendency toward the Judges cycle.
Today’s Scripture: Judges 1-2.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Judges 2
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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