REST AND DECLINE (Judges 10:1-16)

INTRODUCTION:

            My message ended last week with the death, the violent death of Abimelech.  When his forces saw that he had fallen and was dead we are told they scattered, each returning to his own home to try and pick up the remaining pieces of their shattered lives.  The nation was wounded and hurting after Abimelech’s rule and rampage.  Israel needed to heal from this dark stain on their history and to do that they needed rest.  One commentator called this an interlude, or a welcome break in an activity that is demanding in some way.  We have just read a sad, sobering, and emotional history and now the author gives us a bit of a break between the history of Abimelech and the history of Jephthah.  A short interlude of five verses that span 45 years and then before launching into the history of Jephthah we are given Israel’s greatest act of treachery and unfaithfulness to the LORD, completely forgetting His grace and compassion in delivering them over and over; and showing absolutely no gratitude for the 45 years of rest to allow them to heal and to prosper in the land He had given to them.  Let’s pray and then get into our passage for today.

--PRAY--

SCRIPTURE:

            Turn in your Bibles this morning to Judges 10:1-16, our passage for this morning.  Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.

     Judges 10:1-16,

            “Now after Abimelech died, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, arose to save Israel; and he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. He judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried in Shamir. After him, Jair the Gileadite arose and judged Israel twenty-two years. He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities in the land of Gilead that are called Havvoth-jair to this day. And Jair died and was buried in Kamon. Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon. They afflicted and crushed the sons of Israel that year; for eighteen years they afflicted all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in Gilead in the land of the Amorites. The sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed. Then the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, ‘We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have forsaken our God and served the Baals.’ The Lord said to the sons of Israel, ‘Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the sons of Ammon, and the Philistines?  Also when the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hands.  Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer deliver you.  Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your distress.’  The sons of Israel said to the Lord, ‘We have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to You; only please deliver us this day.’  So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord; and He could bear the misery of Israel no longer.” (Judges 10:1–16, NASB95)[1]

TOLA – THE HEALER (Judges 10:1-2)

            The first four words of chapter 10 bring Abimelech’s chaotic and violent career and death into sharp focus as the setting to Tola’s contribution to the lives of the sons of Israel in the days of the judges.  The author writes, “Now after Abimelech died, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, arose to save Israel…” (Judges 10:1a, NASB95)[2] In other words, after Abimelech was gone, Israel needed saving, and Tola arose to do just that, he saved and helped heal Israel after Abimelech was gone.  It is interesting to note that the name Tola means “worm” and the narrator’s statement that he came after Abimelech invites the reader to compare this “lowly person,” this “worm” with the loud, violent, unruly son of Jerubbaal.  He wants you to see that they are two vastly different people.  We are not told a whole lot about Tola, we are given his immediate lineage, he is the son of Puah, and the grandson of Dodo, further we are told that he belongs to the tribe of Issachar.  Even though he was from the tribe of Issachar he did not live on the land allotted to his tribe but in the city of Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.  Where Shamir is located is unknown other than in the hill country.  Tola is unknown other than being mentioned here, the family members listed are unknown, and the place he lived is unknown.  Even though it says that Tola arose to save Israel, no military action is attributed to him.  There is no military threat even hinted at during the time that he judged. Furthermore, he is not remembered for any act of heroism.  It is possible though it is not stated in the passage, it is possible he saved Israel from the chaos created by Abimelech’s rule, his salvation may have brought calm and stability to the region after Abimelech.  The only other thing that we are told concerning Tola was that he judged Israel for 23 years, which suggests that he provided a period of stable administration and functioned in a role much like Deborah did.  The lack of any oppressor seems to indicate that the 23 years were years of rest, healing, peace and the people began to prosper again under the stability of Tola’s administration of the land.  At the end of those 23 years, we are told that Tola died and was buried in Shamir.  His career as judge was not spectacular like that of Othniel, or Ehud, or Barack, but he left Israel better than he found it, and that is a mighty good thing for which to be remembered.

JAIR – THE PROSPEROUS (Judges 10:3-5)

            If the record of Tola’s judgeship refers back to the reign of Abimelech, then this record about Jair the Gileadite sets the stage for the history of Jephthah the Gileadite which follows our passage of today.  We are told that after the death of Tola, Jair arose and judged Israel for 22 years.  He came to rule after the chaos of Abimelech’s rule and rampage was past, the nation had enjoyed 23 years of stability under the administration of Tola.  What Tola had achieved during his judgeship, Jair received as a gift.  He came to rule during a good time in Israel, she was still in that resting state and she was prospering.  Not only that, but Gilead was a good place to live.  It was the central and northern part of Israel’s territory on the east side of the Jordan River, the area of Gilead fell into the allotments of the half tribe of Manasseh and Gad.  The tribe of Manasseh had truly settled it.  It was excellent grazing land that the Israelites had acquired on their way to Canaan after defeating the Amorite kings who occupied the area before Israel arrived.  The three tribes who received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan crossed over the Jordan and fought with the other nine tribes until they had conquered the land and then they returned to their inheritance on the east side of the river. 

            We are not told much about Jair; we receive no lineage just that he is a Gileadite because he lives in Gilead.  We learn that he had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys, and they had 30 cities in the land of Gilead called Havvoth-jair which simply means the villages of Jair.  In other words, Jair delegated some of his rule to his sons.  The fact that he had 30 sons probably meant that he had multiple wives, but also speaks of the peacefulness of the times and the prosperity and prestige that could be had in the land at that time.  The time of the judges was not all crisis and turmoil.  We have been told repeatedly in the preceding chapters of times that the land had rest, ranging from 40 to 80 years, but we have very little detail about what life was like during those times of rest.  Here we get a view of what it was like for this one judge and his family on the east side of the Jordan.  The land was prosperous, and the economy was good, and it was a time of relative peace.  We will get a glimpse of this again in the book of Ruth and what a time like this was for a family living in Bethlehem.

            There is nothing wrong with peace and prosperity, it is a blessing to be enjoyed with gratitude to God, because even though He is not mentioned in these five verses He is the one that ended Abimelech’s reign of terror and brought about the rest needed for the land and nation to heal and prosper again.  The problem that can come from these times of peace and prosperity is that we are lulled into a false sense of security, and we fail to prepare ourselves for the next crisis that is to come.  Also, we can begin to believe that this peace and prosperity is of our own doing, and we begin to pat ourselves on the back and forget to be thankful to God and soon God is no longer a part of our life.  22 years after Jair the Gileadite began to rule he died and was buried in the unknown town of Kamon in the land of Gilead.  All of Israel had been lulled into a false sense of security and they had forgotten their God, they had forgotten that all this blessing was from His hand.

ISRAEL – APOSTATES AGAIN (Judges 10:6-16)

            After the death of Tola and Jair we read those words that have become too familiar in this book, “Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD…” (Judges 10:6a, NASB95)[3]  The people of Israel again forsake their God and turn to the Baals and the Ashtaroth, but this time it is even more than that, it is even more evil because this time we have a detailing of the gods they had turned to and it is appalling.  It is not just the Baals and the Ashtaroth of the Canaanites, but it also includes the false gods of all the surrounding nations, the gods of Syria and Sidon to the north, the gods of Moab and Ammon to the east, the gods of the Philistines to the southwest.  This listing is to stress the gravity of Israel’s apostasy, they turn to any and every god except the LORD.  Their tendency to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD has gone from bad to worse.  In this apostasy they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him, they forgot Him in their lust for any and every other god that could be found.  They exchanged their devotion to the living God of Israel for the lifeless gods of the nations.  They had become like the pagans living around and among them.

            The LORD’s anger again burns against His people for their evil in forsaking Him for what was false, what was wicked, what was dead.  They exchanged the blessing of rest and prosperity for oppression and destruction.  God does not just sell them into the hands of one nation, but this time he sells them into the hands of two nations, the Ammonites and the Philistines.  The Ammonites will be in the oppressor in the history of Jephthah and the Philistines will be featured in the history of Samson.  The LORD sells them into the hands of two nations whose gods the Israelites were serving.  The punishment by the Ammonites and the Philistines was severe, they afflicted  and crushed the Israelites that year and then for 18 years they afflicted all the Israelites who lived on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead in the former land of the Amorites.  The people of Gilead were not prepared for this, and they were crushed.  Then the Ammonites crossed the river and fought against Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed.  This oppression is severe and there is no quick fix.  Jephthah will bring them a brief reprieve by defeating the Ammonites, but the Philistines will prove to be a much harder foe to deal with.  They will harass Israel from this time on until the time of David.  There are consequences for sinning against the LORD and in this case the consequences were very severe.

            At last, the oppression has become so extreme that Israel cries out to the LORD to save them, to give them relief from their oppressors.  Surely the LORD will save them again as He has done over and over in the past.  This time when they cry out there is even an admission of their sin, a repentance on their part that they have sinned against the LORD by their doing evil in His sight.  Surely God will save them again, then God speaks to them, and it is not the response they wanted to hear.  We are not told how the LORD spoke to the people this time, before He had sent a prophet or He had spoken through the Angel of the LORD, this time we are told simply that the LORD spoke to them.  God’s response begins with a reminder of all the times God has delivered them in the past.  He delivered them from the Egyptians, He defeated the Amorites before them and the sons of Ammon, He delivered them from the Philistines through the hand of Shamgar.  He reminds them that when the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed them and they cried out to the LORD, He delivered them, He saved them.  Yet, the LORD says, I delivered you and you forsook Me and served other gods over and over again, therefore I will no longer deliver you.  The LORD has had enough, He will save them no more.  He tells them to go and pray to the gods they have chosen and see if they will deliver you from your distress.  If we persist in sin, if we persist in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, we cannot presume that His grace will always be available.  This was the disaster that Israel had brought upon herself. Their relationship with God is on the very brink of total breakdown.  Is there any hope?  Is there even a possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation?  And if there is not, does Israel have any kind of future?

            As you can imagine this was not the response the Israelites expected, and they panicked.  They again confess their sin, and throw themselves on God’s mercy, pleading with Him to save them one more time.  They even renounce their foreign gods and begin to serve the LORD again.  Without a doubt, this is the closest thing we have seen in this book to repentance, but the question must be asked, is this repentance real, can they be trusted?  How genuine is their change of heart, and how long will it last?  The only way we can know the answers to these questions is by how the LORD responds to their repentance, and His response is less than enthusiastic.  We do not read that He relented, or that He forgave them, or that He raised up a deliverer to save them.  Instead, we read that He “became impatient” or literally “His soul was short” over their misery.  In other words, this tells us that it was not their repentance (whether it was sincere or not) that moved Him, but their misery.  He could not bear to see it continue.  It is still a long time before we will see what the LORD will do to end it, but at least at this moment there is a glimmer of hope that the LORD will do something.  Again, when there seems to be no hope we see the astonishing grace of God, and that is the only hope for sinners.

CONCLUSION:

            From this passage we first learn that at times God provides us with times of rest.  It is at times when God intervenes in our lives to deliver us in some way, He lifts our burdens and gives us rest.  These periods of rest are pure gifts from God.  The rest or the interlude that we looked at in the first 5 verses of today’s passage illustrate for us the opportunities and challenges that such rests can provide.  Israel needed this respite from the chaos and horror of Abimelech’s rule, and suddenly there it was!  This was something that the LORD provided for Israel by bringing Abimelech’s disastrous reign to an end.  Tola and Jair provide us with two examples of what should or should not be done during these rests provided by God.

            First, these rests provide the time needed for healing.  Tola provided this by his wise administration by bringing a stability that was not available under Abimelech’s reign.  Second, a rest such as the one looked at this morning gives opportunity to plan for the future.  When we are in the midst of a crisis that claims all of our attention, but an interlude gives us a time to reflect on lessons learned and how to be better prepared for future crisis.  This did not happen under the rule of Jair, instead they relaxed and enjoyed the peace and prosperity that had returned to them, they were lulled into a false sense of security and began to assume that the good times would last forever and therefore no preparation is needed.  When this happens, people become self-focused and forgetful of God.  They live in the present with no thought of the past or the future.  When the next crisis comes, it finds them and those that lead them tragically unprepared.  And we saw that at the end of Jair’s life the LORD was already forgotten, and the people again turned to the worship and service of the gods around them, and no longer remembered the LORD or served Him which resulted in the end of their rest as God handed them over to the Ammonites and the Philistines to afflict and crush them so that they were greatly distressed.  It was only because of their great misery which reached a point that the LORD could bear it no longer, and we are about to see the amazing grace of God again, the sinners only hope.  This is the same grace that God poured out on us while we were still in rebellion against Him.  While we were yet in our sin, God crushed His own Son on our behalf that we might have our sins forgiven and escape God’s wrath that’s coming upon the wicked.  Praise God for His grace and beware of forgetting Him when He gives us seasons of rest.

[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.