APOSTASY - PART 1 (Judges 2:6-15)
INTRODUCTION:
We have all heard of the generation gap, that difference in terms of attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, experiences, and taste that exists between people born a certain amount of time apart who are living at the same time. Often a generation gap exists between parents and children. Those differences can be about unimportant issues to much more important issues. It might be about knowledge, for example when I was in high school the internet was unknown, compact desk computers were just coming out and they did not do a whole lot unless you programed them. Today’s generation has never been without the internet, knowledge is at your fingertips and the smart phone does way more than those original desktop computers could ever do or we of the older generation ever imagined they would do. Each generation is shaped by the circumstances and experiences of its own time. The generation gap is created because generations overlap and those of one generation must learn to live with and try to understand the other generation. Eventually the last of each generation passes away, and only the memory and legacy of that generation remains and as time goes on even that begins to fade and diminish. The new generation must make its own way in life, engaging with its own world and shaped by its own values.
For many this causes great anxiety, because the values of our own generation instilled in us through our upbringing, seem so right to us that we have difficulty accepting the values of the new generation. As Christians, we fear for our children who live in such a different world and are influenced by things that pull them in a different direction from the one we feel they should take. Especially when we consider our basic values are not just simply passing fashions but eternal truths. We do not want to lose our children to the world, we want them to walk in the faith and hold onto the same spiritual values of life that are found in God’s Word. How difficult it is for parents when their children depart from the faith and from the spiritual values you tried to instill in them. Losing our children to the world is no light thing and something I pray no parent must experience. Losing a whole generation is infinitely worse. Pray for our nation as this is the brink on which we stand. We will see this morning what happens when the last of the old generation passes away. Let’s pray and then get into our passage for this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Judges 2:6-15, our passage for this morning. The author takes us back to the days of Joshua again to make his point, to set the stage for the rest of the book. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word. Follow along as I read.
Judges 2:6-15,
“When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel. Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten. And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel. Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the Lord to anger. So they forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken and as the Lord had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.” (Judges 2:6–15, NASB95)[1]
THE DEATH JOSHUA, THE LOSS OF A LEADER (Judges 2:6-9)
The opening verses of Judges record the fact that Joshua had died, using it as a boundary event in the nation of Israel. Then we come to verse six of chapter two and we read, “When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land.” (Judges 2:6, NASB95)[2] Here in Judges two we meet Joshua, and he is still very much alive! With this verse we are suddenly back not at the beginning of the judges’ period, but even earlier than the beginning of the judges’ period. The dismissing of the people done by Joshua here, where each went to his inheritance to possess the land is not the assembly that is described in Judges 1:1-2 where Israel had inquired of the LORD after Joshua’s death. Nor is it the assembly that had just been described in verses 1-5 of this chapter and the rebuke of the angel of the LORD. The assembly described here is a much earlier assembly which took place in Joshua 24 at which Joshua himself had officiated. At this assembly, Joshua knew that his own death was near and with it fast approaching knew that with it Israel would approach a critical moment as a nation. Much had been accomplished in the lifetime of Joshua. Major battles had been fought and won. God had given victory after victory, so many victories that at the end of those battles Joshua had been able to say in Joshua 23:14, “Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed.” (Joshua 23:14, NASB95)[3] God had broken the back of the Canaanite resistance, Israel had been victorious. The land was subdued before them, and the division of the land had taken place with each tribe being assigned the inheritance given them by God. The LORD had been faithful to Israel, and under the leadership of Joshua, the sons of Israel had been faithful to the LORD. Much remained to be done but the decisive battles had been won, all the tribes had to do now was take possession of the land of their inheritance, the land that God had given them.
Joshua knew at this assembly that his long life was coming to an end, it was time to hand over the reins of leadership to the next generation. Joshua charged them to fear the LORD and serve Him only, and the people promised to do so. This would be harder to do when Joshua was gone, when he was no longer there to inspire them by his godly example and strong leadership. Joshua knew this, that is why he renewed the covenant in the assembly at Shechem and bound Israel by oath never to forsake the LORD. Joshua knew that the time after his death would be a testing time for Israel. Without his firm, guiding leadership they would become susceptible to the huge temptations to unfaithfulness that life in the land of Canaan would offer. Joshua’s concern was like that of a father anxious about how his children will fare when they leave home and must make their own way in the world that offers much in the way of temptation, a world that is often hostile to the Christian faith. The events that occur after the death of Joshua show that he was right to be concerned. The death of Joshua would be a huge loss to Israel.
For a time, all seemed well. Those Joshua dismissed from the assembly at Shechem left with a purpose as we are told in verse 6, each went to take possession of his inheritance. They knew where they were going and left the assembly confident that they could accomplish the task before them. After all, this was the inheritance promised to them by God, they had experienced the victories under Joshua’s leadership, and they went ready to take the land encouraged by Joshua’s exhortations and by his godly example. Joshua also went to his inheritance as described in verse nine and there he died and was buried at 110 years of age. The Israelites knew that just because their leader had died, God had not. There was no reason at all why the death of Joshua should mean the loss of God or of what God intended for them. Verse 7 tells us, “The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:7, NASB95)[4] Joshua’s words and example were powerful, but the Israelites had something that was even greater that gave them confidence as they faced the future, they had the memory of the great work of the LORD. God had already done a great work that they had personally experienced under Joshua.
Memory is such a powerful confidence builder and motivator. In an important sense we are defined by our history. We are who we are because of what we have been through, where we have failed, and where we have succeeded, the circumstances and experiences of our history make us who we are today. If we do not have a clear memory of our history, we can forget who we are. We must anchor ourselves in the past so that we do not go adrift in the present, to keep us focused on our destiny. Those who had experienced the great work that the LORD had done for Israel under the leadership of Joshua had that kind of foundation that gave them stability and purpose for their lives, and it showed in that they served the LORD all the days of the elders who survived Joshua. But memory is a fragile thing, it must be reinforced by constant teaching and recall. If not, it will grow weak, too weak to keep us anchored to what is foundational to our existence. When this happens, we go adrift. That is what happened to those Israelites who came after Joshua and the elders who had served with him.
THE LOSS OF A GENERATION (Judges 2:10)
All that generation who had seen the great work of the LORD died and a new generation arose. Verse 10 tells us, “All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10, NASB95)[5] This next generation did not know the LORD, nor the work He had done? How are we to take this, what exactly does this mean? The two things mentioned about this generation must be closely related. There is a necessary connection between knowing the LORD and knowing what He has done. To “not know” this great work was to “not know” the One who did it. The great work that is being referred to is the victory over the kings of Canaan that God had given to Joshua and those who went to battle with him under his leadership. Joshua 12 lists the 31 kings they had defeated. All this victory is attributed to the LORD and His faithfulness to fulfill His promises (Joshua 21:43-45). None of it was Joshua’s work, it was what God had done for Israel in fulfillment of His covenant promises. To experience the “great work” of God was to experience firsthand the mighty power and the trustworthiness of God. Just the generation before the one who experienced this great work had experienced the “great work” of God in the exodus from Egypt in the time of Moses. Such experiences do not happen every day, but when they do happen, they are powerful enough to shape a whole generation and even a whole people for generations to come if they are remembered. This is the challenge to each generation, to make sure, as best you can that what God has done in your life to shape you into the person that you are and what is foundational to your faith, is not forgotten by those who come after you.
In Israel, this responsibility fell first to the parents. Moses had written in Deuteronomy 6:6-9, “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:6–9, NASB95)[6] The annual celebration of the Passover was meant to keep memories alive and give parents the opportunity to answer vital questions. Moses wrote in Exodus 12:26-27, “And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’” (Exodus 12:26–27, NASB95)[7] The importance of keeping these memories alive became a part of corporate worship, so that each generation would remember the solemn responsibility God had entrusted to them. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 78:5-7, “For He established a testimony in Jacob And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children, That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and tell them to their children, That they should put their confidence in God And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments,” (Psalm 78:5–7, NASB95)[8]
This responsibility of teaching and reminding the next generation of the great works that God had done for Israel was not the responsibility of the parents alone. The parents were supported in this effort by the nation’s leaders, especially the Levites. Deuteronomy 31:9-13 says, “So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. Then Moses commanded them, saying, ‘At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law. Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.’” (Deuteronomy 31:9–13, NASB95)[9] On these special occasions all the Israelites, adults and children, would gather to be reminded of the Law of God and their duty to obey it. The Law was not just the commands, but it was also the story of God’s saving acts, especially His deliverance of Israel’s ancestors from slavery in Egypt. There were laws to be kept but there were also great works of God that were never to be forgotten, and it was the duty of each generation to teach and remind the next generation.
Given all this information, should the responsibility for the loss of this generation that came after the generation of Joshua be blamed on the parents, elders, and leaders of Joshua’s generation? Had they been so involved in the task of conquering Canaan that they neglected this vital task of teaching their children the Law of God and instilling in them the memories of the great works of God in their midst. Some have believed this, but a careful reading of the passage does not support this.
First, we have already noted that the that the “great work” of God that is on view here is the conquering of the land under Joshua, not the exodus from Egypt, which was central to the repetition of the Law to the people. The next generation did not “know” the LORD because they had not seen this “great work.” Second, since not knowing and not seeing are linked together in this way, we cannot take the lack of “not knowing” as ignorance caused by a lack of instruction. The point is not that they had no awareness of the things in question, but simply that they had not experienced them firsthand. Third, and most importantly, in what immediately follows it is the next generation, not their parents or the leaders of the previous generation, who are blamed for what happened. The text says, the sons of Israel, the new generation, did evil in the sight of the LORD…they forsook the LORD (Judges 2:11-12). In other words, their not knowing was willful, not innocent. It was rebellion, a deliberate refusal to acknowledge the obligations entailed in their covenant relationship with God.
This generation knew their calling as a nation, their “doing evil” did not arise from a failure on the part of their parents or the former generation, but from their own choice. Not having experienced what their parents had experienced was a contributing factor, but it was no excuse. If it were, then all generations later than Moses could be excused for their wrongdoing because they had not experienced the exodus from Egypt. These things were known and therefore, placed each succeeding generation under the same obligation to be faithful to the LORD their God. But the post-Joshua generation rejected this obligation, and the author of Judges lays the blame squarely on them rather than on their parents. They were the rebellious children of faithful parents.
There are other notable examples of this in Scripture. The godly Hezekiah is followed by his godless son Manasseh. The godly and reforming king Josiah was followed by his son Jehoahaz, who “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.” (2 Kings 13:11a, NASB95)[10] And even when parents clearly do sin, the character of their children varies. Adam and Eve had Abel, whose offering pleased God, and Cain, who murdered his brother. Instructing children in the way of the Lord is an extremely serious responsibility. However, careful readers of the Bible will be careful of drawing a connection between the faithfulness or unfaithfulness of parents and the eventual character of their adult children.
CONCLUSION:
I am going to stop here this morning, I know I have gone long the last couple of weeks, but there was no way to break up those passages. I think I can safely break here and come back to this passage in two weeks when we will look at what this new generation did that was evil in the eyes of the LORD and how they forsook Him. We will also look at the response of the LORD towards His covenant people that did evil in His sight and forsook Him.
What can we take from this passage? Most importantly, the serious responsibility of instructing our children in the way of the Lord. Making the most of opportunities to talk about our faith and modeling our faith to them with our words and our actions. Beside my promise to teach the whole counsel of God, I preach from the Old Testament because Paul when writing to the Corinthians about avoiding the mistakes Israel had made said in 1 Corinthians 10:6, “Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.” (1 Corinthians 10:6, NASB95)[11] We can learn from the mistakes the Israelites made so that we do not make the same mistakes and do evil in the sight of God and forsake Him who gave up His life for us. As you are reminded of these things, teach them to and remind your children and grandchildren about them. Remember your responsibility is to teach your children in the way of the Lord, then they must make the choice of what they are going to do with that instruction, if they are going to take it to heart and make it their own or whether they will reject it. The ultimate decision is theirs as long as you are faithful to train your child in the way he should go.
Young people, you are the next generation, learn from Israel’s mistakes. You have heard of the great work of the Lord during your lifetime. You have been reminded of it in Sunday School and Church. You know what the Lord Jesus Christ did for you on the cross and through His resurrection. Do not turn your back on His grace, love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. The choice is yours, but the decision you make will affect you for all eternity.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.