Judges Chapter 2 Part One (Introduction)

Introduction
Judges chapter one gave us a short background on the political situation in the land of Canaan that reflects the time approaching Joshua's death and then perhaps the next decade as the elders closest to Joshua took over leadership after he was buried. In a nutshell, the people of Israel failed to conquer Canaan. After the land was divided up, it became each tribe's duty to finish ridding itself of any remaining Canaanite tribes and pagan worship sanctuaries.

It is important to understand that the land was divided up based NOT on what was actually conquered, or on merit. Rather, it was divided up based on how God had assigned the territory through lots at the time of Moses. That allotment put the various tribes in general regions of the Promised Land--the north, south, near the Jordan River, near the Mediterranean Sea, etc. Joshua fine-tuned this arrangement with another ceremony whereby the relative SIZE of each territory was adjusted to account for the population difference among the tribes, i.e., the bigger the tribe, the bigger the territory. Moreover, these land assignments were meant to be a responsibility to each tribe to finish up the job of conquering their own particular land holding.

In the Book of Joshua, we see the LORD defeats His enemies using Yehoshua (Joshua in English) as His earthly, physical agent. We are told of the great battles of northern and southern Canaan. We see these battles fought with vast armies on both sides, employing hundreds of thousands of soldiers. And we saw that as the LORD decisively won these battles, Israel won the battle. This meant that Israel could now attain sufficient rest in the land that they could rightfully declare as their own.

However, after Joshua's victory and death, the battling did not end. Each tribe was obligated to continue the fight for his own immediate territory indefinitely. Israel was told repeatedly that IF they were obedient to the LORD, then He will fight for them and victory would be theirs. If not, then the struggle would be painful and full of many difficulties and defeats.

This is a great illustration that foreshadows the battle that the army of another Yehoshua who came 1300 years later would face--the one known as Jesus of Nazareth, whose name is indeed Yehoshua, grammatically shortened to Yeshua. He would also lead us to a great victory IF we will follow Him.

Perhaps the picture is already forming in your minds. God through Jesus fights an enormous battle and defeats His great enemy, Satan, for our benefit. Jesus is the physical human agent of this Holy War, but God is the one who fights and leads the victory. Jesus dies in the process, and then each of His followers who are part of the victory must continue to fight his or her own turf--our lives--as the battle will continue until a time preordained by God but unknown to man.

It is interesting that BOTH the major but incomplete victories of Joshua and then Jesus will become complete at the same moment: the Battle of Armageddon. All the daily turf wars and individual battles we fight will be finally over because the Holy War will finally be complete. The conquest for earth and for the eradication of evil will finally be at an end.

Judges chapter one went into some length to show that NONE of the tribes properly carried through with their own individual turf wars. Some tribes won additional cities and surrounding area. Some tribes lose some areas. Other tribes were not able to gain an inch. Again, I see an illustration so perfectly paralleled to the daily life of a Believer. We will fight every day; some battles we win, and others we lose. Some of us will be more determined and dedicated. Others of us will sadly put up little resistance. But, in the end, none of us will have perfectly executed God's plan for our lives.

Moreover, we are told that the Israelites tended to make forced laborers out of the residents of areas they did gain control over instead of destroying them as the LORD had instructed them. In other cases, the Israelites simply went through a process of assimilation and blended with their neighbors.

All of this led to Israel sliding so rapidly into idolatry that it is truly breath-taking. We tend to see everything from ancient times as happening in slow motion as compared to modern times. This is not necessarily so. There are wicked actions that we can take, some turns down a road that is not God's will that can be so drastic and explosive in their consequences that the negative changes begin to happen almost overnight. Israel's behavior and decision process at the end of Joshua's time and then during the ear of the Judges was one such action.

I greatly fear that the unease we Believers feel today within the Western World in general as we watch millions of our fellow citizens enthusiastically revel in moving rapidly toward a secular society will lead us to exactly a similar point as we will read in the era of the Judges. The eerie parallel between the time of the Judges and today is amplified when we consider that it was a huge population of people of a false religion that Israel decided to appease rather than extinguish. They decided to engage them in diplomacy and compromise. They decided to give up some land to them, and in other instances let them live in Israel. The Hebrews found ways to rationalize away God's instructions, the immediate principles that govern this universe. They forgot mankind's own history which proved at every turn that in compromise only evil wins when at first it may seem like the peaceful and logical thing to do.

Chapter 2 begins with God's only possible response to Israel's collective decision to follow their own way and abandon Him. God's nature is such that He can do nothing else but employ righteous justice upon His own set-apart people when they rebel and sin against Him.

I marvel in disbelief when Christian leaders proudly tell their flock that the days of God's justice upon His own people are over. If that is true then we have no choice but to drop our assertion that God never changes. We are told that we indeed have purchased our Heavenly fire insurance policy at salvation. We are then exempt from expecting discipline and punishment when we freely rebel and trespass against our LORD. This is NOT true! Nowhere in the Old or New Testament is that said. Such a license to sin so long as we are redeemed is so against God that it boggles the mind. It is terribly dangerous to the spiritual health of each Believer and to the body of Messiah in general.

The people of Israel during the time of the Judges generally adopted this exact same attitude. They believed since they were the LORD'S redeemed people that the Father would NEVER do anything but BLESS His own people. However, this doctrine was quite erroneous. They were able to find out that if God does not administer His justice then He is not truly holy. As we have learned, the LORD is so perfectly holy that He will destroy the entire universe and everything in it to protect that holiness. This is the same divine purity and righteousness that He places upon all who freely choose to call upon His name.