Devine Testing of Israel

Judges 2:16–23
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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.