2. (Judges 2:14-15) God's wrath upon their sin of idolatry
The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Whenever they went, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken and as the LORD had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.
The anger of the LORD burned against Israel: Literally, the first words of verse 14 say, "The aph of the LORD burned against Israel," which word for word translates as "The nostrils of the LORD burned against Israel." The LORD is furious about Israel's idolatry. They were bowing down to the Baal gods. They were presenting burnt offerings to the Baal gods and then also presenting these same offerings to God. These tainted offerings were unacceptable to God; they were defiled and anything but holy.
In the first five books of the Bible, God mentions that the smoke of Israel's offerings from the altar of burnt offerings would float up to God, and He would find them to be a pleasing aroma to His nose. The offerings were pleasing because they were offered in obedience. They were offered properly from the altar at the tabernacle/temple and were made by the proper mediators (the Levitical priests).
In verse 14, we find the opposite. When the LORD smelled the smoke of the burnt offerings it caused His nose to BURN. The odor of Israel's offerings were not pleasing to Him because they were offered according to pagan standards from pagan altars at pagan sanctuaries and many times by whatever official they wished to use.
God's people cannot substitute unclean offering for clean offerings and give them to the LORD. God's people cannot declare something good if God declares it evil. God's people must never think that we can without consequence wander after things we are told to reject because the result (at some point) can be that God will no longer block our path. At some point, He will let us go the way we have determined we will go. He will open His hand, and we will be allowed to be as the world. Think this is only an Old Testament curse?
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them...For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for the which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the women and burned in their desires toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper." (Romans 1:18-19, 26-28)
Just as Israel convinced themselves that God preferred peace with their Canaanite neighbors to war, so have many modern Christians convinced themselves that God prefers tolerance and inclusiveness to obedience and standing up for what is right. The commandments of God are crystal clear, but men have decided that any kind of love is godly love. Is there a consequence for doing this? According to Paul there is.
From the spiritual and heavenly point of view, there were five reasons recorded in Judges for Israel's fall from grace.
1. The tribes no longer fought for a common cause and were in a state of disunity. They even began to war among themselves. This led to the Wilderness Tabernacle becoming dilapidated. Even the Ark of the Covenant became dissociated from the Tabernacle in such a way that it would soon be seen as no longer necessary that the Ark of the Covenant be kept in the Holy of Holies. This led to a breakdown in the priestly system and the sacrificial system.
2. The 12 tribes decided that rather than following God's instruction to deport all Canaanites from the Promised Land and annihilate those who refused to go, they would establish good relations with them. Such a thing exposed Israel to customs and cultures that held too much temptation to resist.
3. The gods of the Canaanites were nature gods. As Israel had won the hills but not the productive valleys and plains, Israel had a hard time growing crops on their rocky ground while the Canaanites had almost ideal conditions to sow and plant. Israel would watch the Canaanites worship the sun god, rain god and goddess of fertility and concluded that unless they did the same, it was nearly hopeless that they could grow substantial crops in less suitable soil. So the Israelites followed the Canaanite ways.
4. Although it is not typically talked about in our religious institutions, sex played an enormous role in primitive societies. It was key for growing the families large, and it was just as key for the animals to procreate freely in order to grow the flocks and herds. Sex was seen as an integral part of worship practices. Temple prostitution (which is the scholarly name for sex acts as part of religious services) was normal and customary. In fact, it must have seemed strange for Israel to NOT employ sacred sex during services. Can you imagine what your worship experience would be like if suddenly it was deemed that no music or singing would be included during services? Most folks would find congregational assemblies less fulfilling and exciting. It would seem as though an important ingredient was missing. That is how ingrained and expected that sacred sex was among the Babylon Mystery Religions. This illicit mixing of Israel with the Canaanites and thus becoming intimately near their worship customs proved too attractive to Israel. Henceforth, they too adopted sacred sex as a part of their integrated worship of God and Baal.
5. Syncretism was the result of blending the politics and economics of the Canaanites with the Israelites. The two different societies looked almost identical because their condition before God was becoming identical. While they did not plan for this to happen, they also did not resist it.
The consequences of this apostasy were that God responded by turning Israel over to their enemies. Thus, they could not stand against them as they did under the godly leadership displayed by Joshua.
He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them: The purpose of this was to turn Israel's heart back to the LORD. God's goal was not punishment in itself but repentance. Therefore, we should see this as a manifestation of God's love for Israel instead of God's hate. The worst judgment God can bring on a person is to leave them alone and to stop trying to bring them to repentance.
We see the same principle in the relationship between parents and children. Though children often wish their parents would just leave them alone, it is really their worst fear that no one would love them enough to correct them.
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