Judges 2

Chapter 2. Sinning and RepentingIn his anger against Israel the Lord handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. (Judges 2:14-19)This, in a few sentences, is the story of the whole book of Judges. It is a story of sinning and repenting. It is a picture of the Church and the Christian in a state of deep declension. It is a declension more deep and dark because it followed a condition of the highest spiritual blessing. It came not as the wandering in the wilderness did, after their deliverance from Egypt, but it came after their victorious entrance into Canaan and their enjoyment of the life and victory and the fullness of God’s blessing. The Dark Ages Its historical parallel is the story of the Dark Ages in the history of Christianity, when for centuries the Church sank into apostasy and worldliness; and for a thousand years the light of truth and holiness was almost wholly blotted out—and this after the story of Pentecost and the light of apostolic days. It has its individual parallel in the experience of the child of God, when, after the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he falls back into spiritual declension and disobedience and returns to a life of sinning and repenting. It is a far sadder experience because of the light and the power he has known before. The lessons of this book may well warn every one of us to give all diligence to “hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first” (Hebrews 3:14). Othniel and Ehud Let us look at the first two examples of God’s dealing with this sinful people. The first is the story of Othniel: 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 that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died. (Judges 3:7-11) Next, is the story of Ehud: Once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years. Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way the men who had carried it. At the idols near Gilgal he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” The king said, “Quiet!” And all his attendants left him. Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his summer palace and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose from his seat, Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them. After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the house.” They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead. While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them. “Follow me,” he ordered, “for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down and, taking possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab, they allowed no one to cross over. At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not a man escaped. That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years. (Judges 3:12-30) These two incidents, following each other in direct succession, illustrate the progression of evil and at the same time the progression of God’s grace. Repeated Sin We cannot fail to notice here the aggravation of repeated sin. We read in Joshua 24:7 that “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” And we read the same thing in Joshua 24:12 : “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” In the second passage, however, we see that the effects of their sin were much more serious than in the first instance. After their first disobedience we are told that God sold them into the hands of the enemy, and they served them eight years. But in the second instance the Lord not only gave them into the hands of the enemy, but He gave “Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.” And this time they served the enemy 18 years! Here we find God working on the side of Israel’s enemies, giving them power to afflict His people. We see that the effect of continued sin is to prolong the period of our chastisement and fix the habit of evil until it becomes almost permanent. It is an awful truth that evil men and women grow worse and worse, and the power of sin to hurt them and to hold them increases with every repetition. It was not merely that God prolonged the Israelites’ captivity by His arbitrary will, but it seems as if they themselves had been so paralyzed by their sin and judgment that they did not even think of turning to Him for help for 18 years. It would seem as if God always listened to Israel when they cried to Him. But the saddest effect of their sin was that they forgot His former mercy and failed to lift up to Him their penitent cry. Over against their sin, though, is the mercy of a longsuffering God! The moment they turned to Him in prayer and penitence, He heard their cry and sent them help. How striking is the expression, “Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer.” His mercy was instant, and His deliverance was complete. Then, when He restored them from their captivity, the duration of the blessing was in proportion to the length of the judgment. When He saved them from the captivity of Cushan-Rishathaim, eight years long, He gave them rest for 40 years. When He saved them from the captivity of Eglon, 18 years long, He gave them rest for 80 years. It would seem as if His mercy was graduated in contrast to their sorrows and their sin. The days of blessing were more than four times as long as the days of punishment and pain. Has God caused you to look back at some dark chapter of backsliding and spiritual loss? If so, take comfort from the story of Israel’s sin. Turn to God in true-hearted repentance and obedience, and He “will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that [he] sent among you” (Joe 2:25). How beautiful to observe in the story of Simon Peter that when the Lord restored him after his threefold sin, He gave him a threefold blessing and commission—as if He would put a mark of honor over against every scar that the disciple had brought upon himself. “Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble” (Psalms 90:15). That is the mercy of God. But how much better and sweeter is the grace of God that is able “to keep [us] from falling and to present [us] before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 1:24). A Dependence On Human Leaders There are some further lessons in connection with these incidents that are well worthy of our careful attention. Notice how all through this period the people were dependent upon human leaders. Indeed, this seems to have been their bane throughout the whole period. They were faithful to God as long as Joshua lived, but they had no direct dependence on Joshua’s God. Theirs was a reflected goodness, derived from the circumstances and the people that surrounded them. They were true to God while their judge led them on to victory and ruled over them afterward. But when he died, their hearts, like the sapling that has only been bent, sprang back again to their natural willfulness. The writer has so well expressed it: “the people returned to ways even more corrupt… following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways” (Judges 2:19). Here we see the whole root of bitterness—a superficial experience, influenced by persons and circumstances, while our natural heart still remains and we are not personally united to the Lord Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit for ourselves. The promise of this dispensation, thank God, is not that we shall have Othniels and Ehuds, Joshuas and Calebs to lead us, but that the Holy Spirit shall be poured out “on all people” (Acts 2:17), and “no longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest” (Jeremiah 31:34). Patterns to Follow We are, therefore, to look for our spiritual examples not in the condition of the people of that time, but in the spirit of the leaders. These men were patterns of what each of us may be today in the power of the Holy Spirit. In Othniel we see, according to the literal meaning of his name, the lion-hearted man, the man of faith and holy courage. We have heard of him before. It was he who, at Caleb’s challenge, had dared to assault the stronghold of Kiriath Sepher (Judges 1:12). As a reward for his victory, Othniel won the hand of Acsah, the daughter of Caleb, whose name means “grace.” And with her he received a dowry of special grace and blessing. Othniel stands for the faith that in the first lessons of our Christian life dares to take the victory and receives the fullness of grace. And then, later, when others need our help, we are prepared to lead them into the same victory that we have won. There is a story behind every story. There is a life behind every public record of triumph and distinction. The Othniel who led Israel to victory against the mighty emperor of the East was not the creation of a moment or the accident of a great occasion. He was the outgrowth and development of a long-past history, when as a young man he met the crisis hour of his own life and dared to believe God and overcome his enemies in the strength of the Lord. He won the blessing that enabled him to meet the greater occasion and to stand as the first of Israel’s judges and conquerors. His story is an example of what we will encounter. There will come a moment when we meet life’s issues all alone, and as we stand true and triumph over self and sin, God’s mark is placed upon us. He puts us aside for the day when He will need a brave leader and a chosen instrument for some of the great occasions of the world’s history. And it will be found true again, as it ever has been true, that “the Lord has set apart the godly for himself (Psalms 4:3). A Divinely Appointed Judge The implication for us from the second account is not quite so clear as the first. Ehud stands before us, apparently, in the light as a secret assassin. By deep subtlety, and in the disguise of a friend, he gains access to the presence of Eglon, the oppressor of his country. He then tells the king he has a secret message for him. The king grants him a private audience, and Ehud tells him it is a message from God. Then swift as the lightnings flash, he pierces him to the heart with the hidden dagger, and strikes down the life of his country’s oppressor. Many commentators have tried to excuse Ehud’s act, or at least to exonerate God from all responsibility for it, by calling attention to the fact that it is not said, as in the case of Othniel, that the Spirit of God came upon Ehud. They seem disposed to apologize for him or to make him responsible for his own act, leaving it as a doubtful thing. But a candid reader cannot fail to notice that the inspired writer made no such attempt to evade responsibility. He frankly speaks of Ehud as the deliverer whom God raised up to save His people. He further recognized his whole career as that of a divine leader and judge. How then shall we justify his act of apparent murder? Surely, the answer is plain. It was not Ehud’s act; it was not an act of private vengeance or even patriotic fervor. The answer is found in Ehud’s message to Eglon: “I have a message from God for you” (Judges 3:20). He was acting as a divinely appointed judge and executioner of God’s sentence against a wicked and condemned man. “I have a message from God for you” is his solemn word as he suits the action to the word and strikes down the bold and impious transgressor at his feet. He was simply acting as the judge upon the bench when he sentences the murderer to his doom, or as the public executioner when he fulfills the decree of the State and takes the life that has been forfeited by law for a public crime. Ehud acted by divine command and in the divine name. His victim stands before us as the type of our spiritual oppressor. And Ehud stands as the example of the faith that meets the enemy, not in its own name or strength, but in the name and strength of Jehovah, triumphing even as He did. An Inspiring Lesson There is an inspiring lesson in this attitude. Is it not our privilege to identify ourselves with God in all we say and do, to go forth in victory in His name? Is not this the meaning of that strong expression, “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17)? Is it prayer? As we pray let us identify ourselves with Him until it shall not be our prayer, but God’s prayer in us, and we shall know that the answer must be given. Is it temptation? As we are tempted let us meet the devil as a conquered foe. Standing in the Person of our victorious Lord, let us say to him, “I have a message from God for you. He bids you flee. Get behind me, Satan, in the name of Jesus.” In that mighty name we shall cast out demons and tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy. Or is it service? Are we called to speak for our Master to our fellow men? Let it be not our message, but His; not our ideas and opinions and pleadings, but the word from the throne, delivered to men with the authority of God. Let us look into their conscience and say in the name of our Master, “I have a message from God for you.” Our words will be clothed with power, and the Holy Spirit will convict men of sin and righteousness and judgment and seal our message with precious souls and lasting fruits. This is the true spirit of ministry: “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11).