Context No. 4093 of 4322 · Judges

Judges 2:1-16: in context

1The LORD’s angel came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, “I brought you out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to give your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you. 2You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you have not listened to my voice. Why have you done this? 3Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’” 4When the LORD’s angel spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people lifted up their voice and wept. 5They called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to the LORD. 6Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel each went to his inheritance to possess the land. 7The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD that he had worked for Israel. 8Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being one hundred ten years old. 9They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. 10After all that generation were gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who didn’t know the LORD, nor the work which he had done for Israel. 11The children of Israel did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and served the Baals. 12They abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger. 13They abandoned the LORD, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. 14The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15Wherever they went out, the LORD’s hand was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken, and as the LORD had sworn to them; and they were very distressed. 16The LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.

This passage marks a tragic turning point in Israel's history. The generation that had served the LORD under Joshua, having seen the great works God did for them, passes away. And then comes a sobering line: there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work he had done for Israel.

This new generation, without a firsthand knowledge of God, quickly turned to idols and abandoned the LORD. Here is a warning about the fragility of faith across generations. The faith of one generation is not automatically inherited by the next. Joshua's generation knew God because they had seen his acts and served him; but somehow that knowledge was not passed on, or not taken up, and the next generation did not know the LORD. Faith cannot be inherited secondhand; each generation must come to know God for itself. Those who know God must labor to make him known to those coming after them, and each of us, whatever faith we were raised in, must come to know God personally, not merely inherit the forms of religion.

Do I truly know the LORD for myself, not merely inheriting the forms of faith, and am I doing my part to make him known to the generation coming after me, so that they too may know him and his works?

Sources

Judges 2:10: "Another generation arose after them who didn't know the LORD, nor the work which he had done for Israel."
Judges 2:7: "The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD."
Judges 2:12: "They abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers... and followed other gods."