GOD'S GRACE (Judges 2:16-3:6)
INTRODUCTION:
All that we have covered so far in the book of Judges has been an introduction, preparing us for the rest of the book, setting the stage for the coming of the judges. The author wants us to understand the condition that Israel was in before introducing us to the judges. In the rest of chapter 2 the author gives us a summary of the rest of the book, he explains to us how God will use the judges that He raises up and what the result will be for each judge and what effect they will have on their region. As we begin to look at the judges it is important to understand that these judges are not national figures. They are not saving the nation as a whole but are heroes or deliverers that are raised up for a geographical portion of the nation, they may save just one tribe or there may be several tribes involved, but never is it for all 12 tribes. The term judge might also be a bit misleading because of how the term is used in English. When we speak of a judge, we understand that to mean someone who presides over a court and decides legal disputes. That is not what the term means here in the book of Judges, a judge is someone raised up by God to deliver or rescue the people of Israel from an enemy or oppressor, to bring the judgment of God on that people or nation that is oppressing God’s people. It is important that we keep this distinction in mind because we do have at least one judge in this book who is a judge in a judicial sense for the nation of Israel.
As we begin to look at this summary of the book that we will be covering in the latter half of chapter two we will also discover another aspect of God’s character. The act of raising up judges is an act of God’s grace brought about by His love and compassion for the people of Israel. Remember that the definition of grace is God giving sinners what they do not deserve. We will see that Israel by their behavior, by their apostasy, they do not deserve to be delivered from their oppressors, but God in grace raises up judges to give them the deliverance that is not deserved because of His love and compassion for them. Let’s pray and then read our passage for today.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Please turn in your Bibles to Judges 2:16-3:6, our passage of Scripture for this morning. We will see how far we get today. Please stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Judges 2:16-3:6,
“Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do as their fathers. When the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, ‘Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.’ So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua. Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan; only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly). These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses. The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.” (Judges 2:16–3:6, NASB95)[1]
GRACE GIVEN (Judges 2:16-18)
The first verse of this passage which gives us a summary of what we are about to read in the rest of this book begins with an action of God, it says, “Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them.” (Judges 2:16, NASB95)[2] This first verse tells us that the history we are about to read in the rest of this book beginning with the account of the first judge in chapter 3 is primarily a history of grace. Israel has sinned, they have done evil in the sight of the LORD and abandoned Him, God is angry with His people, Israel suffers the consequences of their choice. But God’s basic attitude toward them was one of grace, He raises up judges to save them, not one judge, but many, not on only one occasion, but again and again. This is amazing, notice how amazing this grace is.
First, this is grace in the face of the most appalling unfaithfulness. After God had delivered Israel out of slavery in Egypt, He made a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai. It was not a covenant that was forced upon them, but it was graciously offered and freely accepted. It was like a covenant of marriage that Israel entered into that day with the LORD who had delivered them, they solemnly swore to be faithful to the LORD by honoring and keeping the covenant. We read about this in Exodus 24:3, it says, “Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!’” (Exodus 24:3, NASB95)[3] Then in verses 6-8 the covenant is ratified before the people, it says, “Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!’ So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.’” (Exodus 24:6–8, NASB95)[4]
Then after the death of Moses, Joshua led the people of Israel into the land of Canaan and the LORD fulfilled all the promises to the people of Israel by giving them the land through Joshua, they freely renewed the covenant with the LORD and again vowed to be faithful to Him. We read this in the last chapter of Joshua, chapter 24, verses 22-24 say, “Joshua said to the people, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord, to serve Him.’ And they said, ‘We are witnesses.’ ‘Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.’ The people said to Joshua, ‘We will serve the Lord our God and we will obey His voice.’” (Joshua 24:22–24, NASB95)[5]
But then, we learned two weeks ago that when the last of the elders of Joshua’s generation died, the people of Israel did exactly what they vowed they would not do. They abandoned the LORD forgetting that He had given the land to them as a gift, forgetting that He had fought for those who had taken the land, they became more focused on the new opportunities that life in Canaan offered them, the circumstances had changed, and the new ways seemed more attractive. And when this new way does not work out and they become oppressed and severely distressed, what does the LORD do? He raises up judges to save them. That is grace.
Second, this grace poured out on the people of Israel by God is an act of compassion. Notice that the this first verse of our passage this morning, this first verse that speaks of God raising up judges to deliver Israel comes right after the last verse of our passage from two weeks ago which spoke of Israel being severely distressed by the plunders and the enemies before whom they could not stand. God gave them into the hands of plunders and sold them into the hands of their enemies as judgment for their apostasy and they were severely distressed and then the next verse, nothing in between God sends judges to deliver them from their distress. There is no confession of sin by the people of Israel, no repentance, no turning away from the gods of the peoples around them that they have begun to worship, not even a cry for help. We will see that these things do happen from time to time in the events that take place in the history of the judges that we will be looking at in the coming weeks, this summary by the author is telling us that these things: confession, repentance, turning from foreign gods, or even a cry for help is not the cause of the LORD’s gracious rescue missions. The LORD knows that if there is any repentance by Israel, that repentance is shallow and only temporary. It never signals a true change of heart, remember true repentance is discovering the evilness of our sin, mourning that we have committed it, and a resolution to do it no more. It is to change our attitude to hate what we once loved (sin) and to love what we once hated (God). Israel’s repentance, if there ever was any was shallow and temporary, it never signaled a true change of attitude about their sin and never led them back to a true and lasting loyalty and love for God. The only thing that stirs the heart of the LORD and moves Him to intervene by raising up a judge is Israel’s distress. The LORD sees their distress, He cares about it, and He remembers they are His, and He raises judges to save them, to deliver them from their distress. That is grace, grace that reaches out in compassion. We see this in the end of verse 18 where the author writes, “…for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them.” (Judges 2:18b, NASB95)[6]
Third, the grace of God that we see in this passage is a grace that persists. We see this in the plural use of the word “judges” in verses 16 and 18 and the phrase of verse 18 that opens the verse, “When the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them…” (Judges 2:18a, NASB95)[7] The author is telling us that there was not just one judge, but that there were many judges that God raised up and that there were many acts of salvation or deliverance over a period of 200 years. This book is just the latest chapter in God’s grace to Israel. From the beginning of Israel’s history in the calling of Abraham forward we see God’s grace. His grace had survived the willfulness and failings of the patriarchs, it had survived the worship of the golden calf, it had survived the ungrateful grumbling of the generation in the wilderness. This grace of God persisted, it was patient, it was longsuffering. It continued up and through the whole period of the judges. We will see that the LORD in His grace raised up judges again and again and again, His grace went the distance. This persistent grace outlasted disappointment and betrayal and saved over and over.
Fourth and finally, this grace was abused and scorned, which brings us to another persistent theme in this summary that the author gives us leading into the main portion of the book.
GRACE SCORNED (Judge 2:17-19)
God’s grace was abused and scorned by the people of Israel; they were willfully rebellious toward the God who poured out His grace on them. Someone who is willful will not be corrected, no matter how foolish, dangerous, or evil his behavior is. This is where God’s people were in the time of the judges. Willful seems to be too mild a term for them. For Israel perverseness was not an occasional feature of their stubbornness, but rather was the essence of it all the time. They were willfully persistent in doing evil and nothing even the LORD could do would halt their headlong pursuit of evil for long. Look at how Israel’s behavior is described in verses 17-19, their willfulness is spoken of in these words, “Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do as their fathers.” (Judges 2:17, NASB95)[8] “But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.” (Judges 2:19, NASB95)[9]
The pattern that appears in these verses has commonly been described as circular you can see it on the screen above. It begins at the top of the circle where it says that “Israel serves the LORD then progressing clockwise around the circle, next it says that Israel falls into sin and idolatry. Third, they are enslaved as a punishment from God, fourth, Israel cries out to the LORD. Fifth, God raises up a judge, sixth, Israel is delivered. This circular pattern is not accurate according to the summary given to us by the author. There was no reference to Israel crying out to the LORD. They are not delivered because of their plea for help, but only because of God’s compassion for them in their distress. The other problem with this pattern is it should be a downward spiral instead of a circle of repetition. This is made very clear in verse 19 which says, “But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.” (Judges 2:19, NASB95)[10] In other words, with each cycle the situation got worse, each generation did more evil, became more corrupt than the generation before them. So, as I said it is not a repeating cycle, but a downward spiral into which Israel is drawn ever more deeply into the grip of evil that they have chosen. This was despite the discipline that God used in handing them over to plunders and selling them into the hands of their enemies to be persecuted and oppressed and severely distressed and in spite of the judges themselves who tried to warn them, verse 17 tells us that they did not listen to their judges. This period of history, the time of the judges was characterized by sheer, mind-boggling, willful persistence in self-destructive rebellion. Understand what is being said in this passage, the people of Israel in this period are persistently willful as they return again and again to the same sin becoming more involved and more corrupt. They are abusing and scorning God’s grace each time He sends a judge to deliver them. This is not just a case where someone has slipped up and needs to be lifted up so they can begin their walk of faith again. The Israelites of this period were persistent, willful sinners. According to both the Old and the New Testaments, willful sin is an abuse of God’s grace that is without remedy. It cannot be atoned for by sacrifice, it is inexcusable and exposes those who commit such willful rebellion to God’s wrath. In the Law of Moses one who committed such sin was to be cut off from the community, we read in Numbers 15:30-31, “But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him.” (Numbers 15:30–31, NASB95)[11] Last time we looked briefly at a passage in the New Testament that is sobering for those who abuse God’s grace by their willful defiance, the author of Hebrews wrote in chapter 10, verses 26-31, “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:26–31, NASB95)[12] As I mentioned last week, the Lord takes apostasy very seriously and after reading about this downward spiral of willful defiance and sin it should not surprise us at all that what follows is an announcement of judgment. But we will save that for next week.
CONCLUSION:
This morning we have looked at two characteristics that become themes in the book of Judges, the first was the characteristic of God’s grace that He poured out on the people of Israel because of His compassion for them in their distress. God’s grace will be seen in this book in the midst of the most appalling unfaithfulness, this grace will be seen as an act of compassion, this grace will be seen in its persistence as God raises up judges over and over and uses them to deliver His unfaithful children again and again. Finally, this grace will be seen abused and scorned by those that it was poured out on. The second characteristic that is seen in this book is the persistent willfulness of the people of Israel, God pours out His grace and they turn their back on His grace and go after other gods, bowing down to them and serving them, becoming more and more corrupt with each passing generation.
This characteristic of persistent willfulness or defiance still exists today in our world. The author of Hebrews spoke of it in the passage that we just looked at where he spoke of people willfully sinning after receiving the truth. God’s grace is still available today, God giving sinners what they do not deserve. God’s grace is a precious gift to be treasured, purchased with the death of Jesus Christ, do not abuse it, do not scorn it, do not go on willfully sinning. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ in true repentance believing that His death and resurrection make God’s gift of grace available to you. Paul told the believers in Ephesus in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8–10, NASB95)[13] Learn from the example of the Israelites and do not follow in their footsteps, instead come in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved from the judgment to come. As the author of Hebrews said if we have not been saved by God’s grace through faith then, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31, NASB95)[14]
[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. (Emphasis mine)
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995. (Emphasis mine)
[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.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.