Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I wonder if you’ve heard this phrase: “Either we learn from history or we are destined to repeat it.” I admit, as a young schoolboy I did not like history, it seemed so irrelevant to me. I was far more interested in the present and the future. My how things have changed for me, as I now look at the present through the lenses of the past, to see if I can better discern the wise steps I should take as I go into the future. What about you? In fact, here’s a bit of old wisdom which I’ve found very helpful many times in my life:
“This is what the LORD says: ‘stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient path, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your soul…” (Jeremiah 6:16) Jeremiah wrote that about 2500 years ago but oh my, I have found it to be profound wisdom for today!
Almost daily, these days, I’m asked for my opinion about the horrific violence in Israel and the surrounding region. I’m asked if I think WWIII is about to explode before our very eyes. I’m asked WHY God would allow such atrocities, such wickedness, so much bloodshed of civilians caught in the crossfire? It really is amazing how violent, and hate filled our world has become, isn’t it? But it’s not new, is it?
History shows us our world has very frequently found itself suffocating in such wicked self-destruction. What is happening in the region of Israel has happened before, many times and it’s recorded in the Bible for us. Why? Why do we have the Bible book of Judges which seems, page after page, to be an ancient recounting of what we see on our TV and Internet news since October 7th?
The Bible is, among other things, God written history intended to help us apply that verse Jeremiah 6:16 so we can make wise choices as we seek to navigate the turbulent waters of 2023!
Yesterday we watched the people of Israel respond to Joshua’s farewell message with their promise that they would remain faithful to God always, for generations to come. Joshua died as an old man of 110 and was buried. Joseph’s bones were buried. Time passed. The leaders who had served with Joshua grew old and died, and younger generations grew up and they turned away from God as we see in Judges 2. I’m sure you noticed neither God nor Joshua had selected a leader to follow Joshua. Why?
The people of Israel were no longer a mass of humanity wandering the desert all together with one leader. They were no longer following one leader across the Jordan into the new land. They were now perhaps 1.3 million people settling into life scattered all over what is today the territory of Israel. The Tabernacle was set up at Shiloh in the center of the land, and the people came there to worship, but other than their annual festivals there was nothing holding them together as a unified people. There was evidently no leadership succession plan after Joshua and without a clear God anointed leader, the people floundered in every way, including spiritually.
God summarized the situation with these words: “The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. The Israelites took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to the sons of these other peoples. And they also served their gods.” (Judges 3:5,6) What do you hear my friends? It’s natural, isn’t it? We assimilate with the people who live around us wherever we live. We intermarry and become like each other, don’t we?
But we also remember the very clear warning both Moses and Joshua had given the Israelites about the danger of doing this, right? And we remember the people’s promise that they would be very careful to follow the LORD God alone and NOT intermarry with the surrounding nations nor follow their gods. But they did...
God’s record continues: “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, so God gave them over to the hands of their enemies, so the Israelites were subject to them for 8 years. But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, He raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of the LORD came upon Othniel so that he became Israel’s judge [leader] and went to war. The LORD gave their enemies into the hands of Othniel who overpowered them. So, the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel died.” (Judges 3:7-11) It’s history my friends and what can we learn from it?
This is a picture of what is repeated over and over in the historical record of Israel from the death of Joshua in about 1375bc till the end of Samuel’s life in about 1050bc. 300 years, and history repeated itself over and over. Some call it the ‘Judges cycle’. In good times Israel drifted spiritually away from God. In some cases, they simply became secular placing no value in their spiritual history or a relationship with God. Many other Israelites found themselves fascinated by the idols and worship immorality of surrounding nations. In response God withdrew His hand of protection and blessing from His people. Those surrounding nations attacked and persecuted the Israelites.
The Israelites finally called out for God’s help and repented from their spiritual adultery. God responded by raising up a leader and anointing that leader with His Holy Spirit and wisdom and that leader led the people into victory over their oppressors. Israel once again enjoyed a wonderful time of peace, prosperity and restored relationship with God. Until… they drifted away from God again and the “Judges cycle” repeated itself; 300 years, over and over again.
Othniel, the younger brother of Caleb, was the first of these men God raised up in response to the desperate, repentant cry of the Israelites suffering under great persecution from vicious neighbors who attacked them. God never turns a deaf ear to the repentant cries of His people, and as God called up Othniel He also empowered Him with courage and wisdom by His Holy Spirit and the people rallied around Othniel and victory was soon theirs. Please take note of that wonderful summary phrase: “So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel died.”
As I watch the current events in Israel, I’m listening for the desperate cry of the Israelites to God for help, combined with their repentance of having turned away from the relationship God has called them to for centuries.
Oh friends, lest you think the story of Othniel is a singular event in Israel history, may I remind you that the following pages in the Bible book of Judges give us the very same cycle of events with these whom God raised up to rescue His people: Ehud (Judges 3:12-30) and Deborah (Judges 4,5) and Gideon (Judges 6-8) and Tola (Judges 10:1,2) and Samson (Judges 13-16) and several others.
300 years of this cycle and that’s why I urge you to look at the current situation in Israel through the lenses of the Judges history and consider Jeremiah 6:16: “This is what the LORD says: ‘stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient path, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your soul…”.
What do you sense God is saying to our world this time? Here’s a worship song to help us consider God’s important counsel to Israel and to each of us…
Today’s Scripture is Judges 2, 3.
Choose below to read or listen.
Judges 2
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Judges 3
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
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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