The Breach with Jehovah: The Cycle of Decline
Judges 2:6 – 3:6
Judges 2:6 – 3:6
Judges 2:6 – 3:6. The death of Joshua and the elders marked the end of a bright era and the rise of a generation who “knew not the Lord,” holding truth only second-hand. Israel soon forsook Jehovah for Baal and Ashtaroth, and God’s anger gave them over to oppression. Yet in compassion He raised up judges, bringing temporary revivals and victories, though each ended with deeper relapse when the judge died. God left the nations in the land both as chastening and as a test, that His people might learn warfare and cleave to His Word. Instead, Israel compromised through intermarriage and idolatry, showing man’s repeated failure and the need of a greater Deliverer than any judge.
End of the Faithful Generation (2:6-10)
6 And Joshua dismissed the people, and the children of Israel went every man to his inheritance to possess the land. 7 And the people served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders whose days were prolonged after Joshua, who had seen all the great works of Jehovah, which he had done for Israel.
vv.6-7 End of the Conquest Era. These verses repeat what closed the book of Joshua, linking the decline of Judges with the brightness of the earlier days. While Joshua and the elders lived, the people served the Lord, helped by leaders who knew Him and the works He had done. If Joshua is a picture of the Lord Jesus, the elders might represent the apostles. Their presence restrained open failure, just as the apostles did in the early church. But seeds of worldliness and corruption were already present, and once faith’s energy was gone, these seeds would spring up. It is a solemn reminder that outward order and prosperity can remain for a time, even when inward decay has begun. After the apostles passed on, the Church slid downhill rapidly.
8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Jehovah, died, a hundred and ten years old. 9 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-Heres, in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the mountain of Gaash.
vv.8-9 The Death of Joshua. The death and burial of Joshua is recorded again, but with a striking difference. In Joshua it was Timnath-serah, “abundant portion”; here it is Timnath-heres, “portion of clay.” In the bright days of conquest God’s inheritance was seen in its richness. Now, with failure beginning, it became a tiresome thing when faith was absent. Joshua had no successor. The people were responsible to the Lord alone. Yet Joshua’s departure exposed the hearts of the people.
10 And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, which knew not Jehovah, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
v.10 Rise of the Ignorant Generation. A new generation arose that “knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which He had done.” They had heard the truth second-hand, but had not learned it in personal experience. Head knowledge without heart reality cannot stand the test of time. This is really a two-fold failure: first, the younger generation’s failure to learn, but also the older generation’s failure to make them understand.
The Cycle of Decline Established (2:11-19)
11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and served the Baals. 12 And they forsook Jehovah the God of their fathers, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods of the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and bowed themselves to them, and provoked Jehovah to anger. 13 And they forsook Jehovah, and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
vv.11-13 Sin and Apostasy. Israel forsook the Lord and turned to Baal and Ashtaroth. What a change! They turned from the God who had redeemed them and shown such loving-kindness, to the dead idols of Canaan! These false religions combined idolatry with immorality, dragging the people down to the level of the nations around them. To turn away from God always leads to moral corruption (Rom. 1:19-32).
14 And the anger of Jehovah was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about; and they could not any longer stand before their enemies. 15 Whithersoever they went out the hand of Jehovah was against them for evil, as Jehovah had said, and as Jehovah had sworn unto them; and they were greatly distressed.
vv.14-15 Judgment and Oppression. The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of spoilers. When they went out to battle, His hand was against them, so that they were distressed and sore pressed. This was no accident, but the hand of God allowing them to taste the fruit of their departure. It is part of His government that turning from Him results in bondage and loss. Yet even here we see mercy, for the Lord was not abandoning His people, but using discipline to bring them back. As we find in Hebrews 12, disciple is a proof of the Father’s love for us!
16 And Jehovah raised up judges, and they saved them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. 17 But they did not even hearken to their judges, for they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves to them; they turned quickly out of the way that their fathers had walked in, obeying the commandments of Jehovah; they did not so. 18 And when Jehovah raised them up judges, then Jehovah was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it repented Jehovah because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and crushed them.
vv.16-18 Deliverance and Temporary Peace. In compassion, the Lord raised up judges to deliver Israel. These men, though weak in themselves, were used to bring revival and victory. Each revival was short-lived, but God’s mercy was always ready when they cried to Him. Yet their repentance was shallow, and the cycle soon began again. Even so with us: if self-judgment is not deep and lasting, the heart soon slips back into the old ways.
19 And it came to pass when the judge died, that they turned back and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them: they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.
v.19 Cycle Recurrence. When each judge died, Israel returned to corruption, but worse than before. So in the history of the church, revivals have come and gone, but they have never corrected the root problem. Unless a heart is separated to God, the same pattern repeats. It shows the utter failure of man under the dispensation of judges, and the need of a better Deliverer: the Lord Himself!
God’s Purpose in Leaving Remaining Nations (2:20 – 3:6)
20 And the anger of Jehovah was hot against Israel; and he said, Because this nation hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and hath not hearkened unto my voice, 21 I also will not henceforth dispossess from before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died; 22 that through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of Jehovah to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. 23 Therefore Jehovah left those nations, without dispossessing them hastily, neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.
vv.20-23 The Reason for Continued Presence. The Lord declared He would no longer drive out the nations, but would leave them to test Israel. This was both chastening and mercy. God uses the very presence of evil to prove His people. Will they walk in obedience, and separate from what is unclean? Just as 2 Timothy speaks of vessels to honor and dishonor in the house of God, so here the nations remained as a trial of faith. God’s way of recovery is to send us back to His Word, the same Word given at the beginning, our only safeguard.
CHAPTER 3
1 And these are the nations that Jehovah left, to prove Israel by them, all that had not known all the wars of Canaan; 2 only that the generations of the children of Israel might know war by learning it, at the least those who before had known nothing thereof: 3 five lord ships of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwell on mount Lebanon; from mount Baal-Hermon unto the entering into Hamath. 4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of Jehovah, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
vv.1-4 List of Remaining Peoples. Then we have the list of nations left to test Israel. The Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites all remained as thorns and snares. Yet the Lord turned this into blessing, that Israel might learn war. The believer too must learn what conflict is, not with flesh and blood, but with spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12). In Joshua the warfare was to gain possession; in Judges it is more often to deliver the oppressed. God allows enemies to remain, that we might learn dependence and spiritual warfare in a day of ruin.
5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites: Hittites and Amorites and Perizzites and Hivites and Jebusites; 6 and they took their daughters as wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
vv.5-6 Israel’s Failure of the Test: Inter-marriage and Idolatry. Instead of overcoming, Israel dwelt among the nations, inter-married with them, and served their gods. There is a solemn moral order in this declension: first dwelling among them, then taking their daughters, then giving their daughters, until idolatry followed. Separation was God’s command, but compromise was Israel’s choice. One consequence of this was subjugation to Mesopotamia, the very place where idolatry had first sprung up, showing the moral link between the corruption of false religion and the elements of the world. In striking contrast, Othniel’s marriage was formed in faith and brought springs of blessing, not like these corrupt inter-marriages that brought idolatry. How solemn the warning for us! When believers link themselves with the world, its objects and affections soon steal the heart, and idolatry follows. This is the story of Judges, and the story of Christendom too: worldliness first, then false worship. The only safeguard is separation to God and delight in His Word.