Scripture Daily

Context No. 1621 of 4322 · Judges

Context · Reflection

Judges 2:17-23: in context

17Yet they didn’t listen to their judges; for they prostituted themselves to other gods, and bowed themselves down to them. They quickly turned away from the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the LORD’s commandments. They didn’t do so. 18When the LORD raised up judges for them, then the LORD was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it grieved the LORD because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them. 19But when the judge was dead, they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers in following other gods to serve them and to bow down to them. They didn’t cease what they were doing, or give up their stubborn ways. 20The LORD’s anger burned against Israel; and he said, “Because this nation transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to my voice, 21I also will no longer drive out any of the nations that Joshua left when he died from before them; 22that by them I may test Israel, to see if they will keep the LORD’s way to walk therein, as their fathers kept it, or not.” 23So the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily. He didn’t deliver them into Joshua’s hand.

The book of Judges describes a recurring cycle. Israel forsakes God and worships idols; God gives them into the hand of oppressors; then, moved by their groaning, he raises up a judge who delivers them, and they are saved as long as that judge lives. But when the judge dies, they turn back, and behave even more corruptly than before, refusing to give up their stubborn ways. So God determines to leave the surrounding nations in place, to test Israel, to see whether they will keep his way.

The saddest thing in the cycle is how quickly Israel relapsed. God delivered them again and again, and each time, as soon as the pressure eased and the deliverer was gone, they turned back to their idols, more corrupt than before. They could seek God in trouble but not sustain faithfulness in relief; the moment the crisis passed, they forgot him. This is a deeply human pattern, and one worth recognizing in ourselves. In trouble we turn to God, cry out, promise faithfulness; and when he delivers us and the pressure lifts, we drift back to our old ways, our devotion cooling as the crisis recedes. The faithfulness that seemed so real in the trouble does not survive the relief. Israel's whole history in Judges is this cycle, deliverance followed by relapse, and it exposes something in the heart, the tendency to seek God only when we need rescuing and to forget him when we are comfortable. But notice, alongside the relapse, God's persistent mercy. Again and again, despite the cycle, despite knowing they would turn back as soon as they were saved, God was moved by their groaning and raised up another deliverer. His mercy outlasted their fickleness; he kept rescuing a people who kept forgetting him. There is both a warning and a comfort in that. The warning is to examine whether our own devotion survives the passing of the crisis, or cools the moment we are comfortable. The comfort is that God's mercy is greater than our fickleness; he keeps reaching for a people prone to relapse, moved still by their groaning.

Does my devotion to God survive the passing of the crisis, or do I, like Israel, seek him in trouble and forget him in relief, and can I be humbled by my own fickleness while marveling at a mercy that keeps reaching for a people prone to relapse?

Sources