Devine Testing of Israel
February 6, 2020
Commentary
Because Israel forsook the Lord, He forsook them. He turned them over to their enemies time after time. When the judgment became so severe that the nation finally did cry out to God, He would send a deliverer in the form of a judge (vv. 16-17). Sad to say, the people would turn to the Lord only when in trouble and once the judge was gone, the nation would fall back into sin again (vv. 18-19). These failures are often seen in professing Christians today. Instead of overcoming the enemy, we compromise and let the enemy drag us down. When this happens, God must chasten us, and the only remedy is for us to repent and return.
In the book of Joshua, there was one leader, and God worked with the whole nation; but in Judges, there are many leaders, and God is with the leader only and not with the nation (2:18). In this portion of Scripture, we find a very important lesson of the Judges. Unconquered enemies must not be tolerated, and unconfessed sin must be confessed and abandoned. The enemies of the Israelites acted as a thermometer recording the spiritual temperature of the nation. Her continued relationship with the Canaanites would be a test of her disloyalty to God (vv. 20-23).
Application
When I am with non-Christians do they influence me or do I influence them. I need to talk to my family about the dangers of dating an unsaved person or going into partnership with an unsaved person. Compare this to what happened to the Israelites in this portion of Scripture.
Judges 2:16– 23 (NET)
16 The Lord raised up leaders who delivered them from these robbers. 17 But they did not obey their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their ancestors had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. 18 When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them. 19 When a leader died, the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one. They would follow after other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them. They did not give up their practices or their stubborn ways.
20 The Lord was furious with Israel. He said, “This nation has violated the terms of the covenant I made with their ancestors by disobeying me. 21 So I will no longer remove before them any of the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died, 22 in order to test Israel. I want to see whether or not the people will carefully walk in the path marked out by the Lord, as their ancestors were careful to do.” 23 This is why the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately; he did not hand them over to Joshua.