Judges 2 – God’s Tough Love for His Children

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

Judges 2 shows us that if we desire to walk with the Lord, He will chasten us as He desires for us to grow and be better.

Introduction

Our Bible study this week will take us into Judges 2.  In this chapter of Judges, we are going to see the selective obedience of Israel, from Judges 1, turn into outright disobedience.  How do you suppose God will respond to disobedience?  If you’re going to dwell in fellowship with God, you should certainly understand that He does not tolerate disobedience (sin).  

Something that plagued the children of Israel was the idea that because they were God’s chosen, they could get away with how they chose to live.  Yet, scripture shows us that we must not mistake God’s grace and mercy for toleration.  Yes, the Lord is patient with us as He shows us mercy so that we may correct our wrongdoing.  However, to think that God is OK with your sin, that He condones it, is a grave mistake in understanding.

God will rebuke your sin. If you refuse to heed His rebuke, putting forth an effort of correction, God will chasten you.  Many have a picture in their head that God is a gentle and soft God, and while the Lord does love and show us grace, don’t ever think God tolerates sin to be in His presence.  

Judges 2:1 – God’s Faithfulness

In Judges 2:1, we read of the Angel of the Lord coming from Gilgal to Bochim (moving from east to west), saying to the children of Israel, “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you.’”

The ‘Angel of the Lord’ is the preincarnate Christ.  As shown in Exodus 14:19-20, the Angel of the Lord led the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.  The Angel of the Lord continued to lead the children of Israel, even when they wandered in the wilderness during those forty years. This was a testimony of God’s faithfulness in fulfilling the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This testimony of God’s faithfulness has been shared in response to the children of Israel’s failure to keep God’s instructions, as shown in Judges 1.

Judges 2:2 – God Rebukes Disobedience 

Then in Judges 2:2, the Angel of the Lord pointed to God’s instruction with an important follow-up question. He said, “And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice.” Then the Angel of the Lord asked, “Why have you done this?”

Let’s be clear that this was a rebuke from God.  In the days of Moses, the children of Israel were instructed to drive out the inhabitants of the land. They were also instructed to make no covenants, and to utterly destroy everything of the inhabitants, including their high places and altars of worship (Deut. 7:2; Num. 33:50-53).  Yet, when the inhabitants of the land showed they were determined to dwell in the land, each of the tribes of Israel gave up – they relented and showed mercy.

If you have ever read one of my lessons, studies, or sermons that focus on rebuke and forgiveness, you will understand the steps of forgiveness. When God rebukes you, He will direct your attention to your transgressions with a desire for you to acknowledge your wrongdoing and make corrections. Simply stating that you have sinned and asking forgiveness is a starting place, as more must be done after the confession.

The expectation from God is that we are to be faithful to Him as He is faithful to us.  God’s faith does not end nor does it take a break, does it?  Has God ever given up on you?  Certainly not, as that would mean that He has failed you, and the Lord never fails. So, the acknowledgement and admittance of wrongdoing must be followed up with the effort of faithfulness. 

Does this mean that we need to be perfect?  The harsh truth is that we can’t be perfect.  In those moments when we inevitably fail, God will rebuke us and give us the opportunity to make corrections. God will never immediately jump to condemnation, as His condemnation is finality – there is no point of return.

Judges 2:3 – Israel loses the Promised Land

So, because of their sin, the Angel of God said to the people, “I will not drive [the inhabitants of the land] out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”

Some may disagree with my teaching of this, but here is where the twelve tribes of Israel ‘lost’ the Promised Land.  Now, let me further clarify this statement to you because the land wasn’t forever lost.

The twelve tribes of Israel have never had total possession of the land as God intended for them to possess it. God intended for the Promised Land to be a land of peace, flowing with milk and honey, for the children of Israel. However, because of their failure, the land became a battleground, filled with much blood.

When you look at the maps below, the one thing I want you to understand is that Canaanites also dwelt in each of the tribe’s allotments of land. The first map is what the allotment of lands as promised by God.

The second map shows what the land became during the period of the judges.   

The Promised Land ended up being conquered after the days of David and Solomon.  The Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom, Israel, filling it with more Gentiles. The northern kingdom became Samaria and Galilee.  Judah, the southern kingdom, was eventually conquered by Babylon, and though those of the southern kingdom did return to the land of Judea, many Gentiles dwelt there as well.  

All of what we see happening today is a result of Israel’s failure to take possession of the land as God instructed them to do.  No matter how much man tries to force the land to be Israel’s land, it is not goign to happen until Christ’s Second Coming.

As I said earlier, when God rebukes you, you should move to heed His rebuke.  Failing to heed God’s rebuke will only make matters worse.  The twelve tribes of Israel chose sin. 

Judges 2:10 – A Faithless Generation Rises

Now, I’m going to skip over the verses that cover the death of Joshua since I covered that in Judges 1. 

The new generation

Judges 2:10 tells us, “When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had for Israel.” 

“All that generation” is a reference to the generation that crossed the Jordan River under Joshua’s leadership.  Those who were 20 years and older, of Joshua’s generation (the wicked generation), were denied entrance into the Promised Land – Joshua’s generation died during the forty years in the wilderness (Num. 14:29).  

The only other person from Joshua’s generation to cross the Jordan with him was Caleb (Num. 14:30), which is something I covered in the Judges 1 study.  The son of Aaron, Eleazar, was permitted to enter the Promised Land, as he was a faithful priest during the wicked generation.  Eleazar became the chief priest, and his son, Phinehas, was also permitted to enter the Promised Land because God made a peace covenant with him due to his zeal (Num. 25:10-13).  

Those who entered the Promised Land were from the generation that was under the age of twenty.  However, keep in mind that by the time that generation entered the Promised Land, they had wandered the wilderness for forty years with the wicked generation.  When they crossed the Jordan under Joshua’s leadership and began the conquest of Canaan, the oldest of that generation would have been 59 to 60 years old.

So, the generation that was gathered to their fathers is a reference to that younger generation that followed Joshua.  The generation that arose after the younger generation may reference their children directly, or it could be their children’s children, and so forth.

A new generation falls into sin

Now, I often wonder to myself how such a generation comes forth and does not know the Lord.  But honestly, we can look at our world today and see how that happens.  The small local church is fading away quickly in our land.  Each Sunday, I teach and preach to a small gathering, and while I am grateful for that, I am also saddened by it.  I am saddened because I remember the zeal for coming together not all that long ago.  

Personally, I could do better at outreach, but even with that outreach, I wonder if we have crossed a line of no return.  The local church is fading because a generation has risen that does not care to know the Lord.

Consider today how widely available the gospel is.  Yes, one can, and ought to, attend worship service.  However, one can also find a website or download an app to read the whole bible for free if they don’t personally own a Bible.  Sermons, studies, and lessons are widely available for free on websites, YouTube, and short content platforms like TikTok, Instagram reels, and Facebook.

Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, yet this generation is seeking everything else but the Lord.  How did we get to this point?

Those who don’t turn to the Lord will say that it is because this generation is smarter than those who have come before.  I would highly disagree with that notion as we are still arguing over the same things that have been argued for centuries.  We treat one another as badly today as was the case in ancient times.  The only thing that separates us from them is our technology, which many will say has only made things worse.

Yet, it is the notion that we are “better” that I believe is behind this generation’s fall into sin.  Pride was what led to Satan’s fall.  Pride is what we will see led to many of the problems for the twelve tribes.  Pride is what is behind the fall of this mighty empire today.  The pride of one generation can doom another.

Judges 2:11-13 – The Sin of Israel

Judges 2:11-13 tells us that this new generation did evil in the sight of God by forsaking Him and serving the Baals and the Ashtoreths – the gods the Canaanites served.

I want to reference Deuteronomy 7:2-5, which is a reference to God’s instructions to the people for when they entered the Promised Land.  Not only were the tribes supposed to drive out the Canaanites, but they were not supposed to marry the Canaanites.  God said, “For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods.”

Now, when we look back to Judges 2:7, we are told that the generation that crossed the Jordan ‘served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua.’  However, as seen in Judges 1, after Joshua’s death, every tribe gave up on taking total control of their land allotments and chose to let the Canaanites dwell with them.  

Again, that failure gave way to the children of that generation doing exactly what God did not want them to do.  They ended up dwelling with the Canaanites, learning their ways, forsaking God, and worshiping the fertility god and storm god of the Canaanites.  So, the failure of that generation gave way to the sins of that rising generation.

It is scripture like this that should have all of us taking pause today to consider our actions.  Are your actions not only setting a good example for the rising generation, but are the works you are doing today going to be a benefit to that generation?  This is a question that we must ask ourselves today.  

All of us who confess faith should understand that we have a spiritual obligation to the generation that is rising today.  Therefore, we must consider whether or not how we live is giving way to sin or to righteousness.  Not only must we consider it, but we must put forth the effort to live in a way that gives way to the righteousness of God.

Judges 2:14-15 – God’s Harsh Punishment

What happens when one refuses to heed God’s rebuke?

There are levels that one would pass through when it comes to how God responds to disobedience.  God, I want to remind you, is as a loving parent on a much higher scale.  God’s love for us far exceeds even that of a mother’s love!  The Lord told Jeremiah that His thoughts towards us are thoughts of peace, and not evil, to give us a future and a hope (Jer. 29:11).

However, one should not think that means God will rollover to our disobedience.  The image of God being a soft and gentle God, I believe, is overblown today.  I also believe it is the overblown image of the soft and gentle God that leads one to misunderstand what love and peace look like.

God warns us of our wrongdoing – this is the softer side of God’s rebuke.  The Lord will tell you to “stop that” a time or two, allowing you to make corrections.  However, if you choose to disregard His rebuke, as the twelve tribes had chosen to do, God will chasten – the punishing side of God’s rebuke.

This is the side of God that we see displayed towards the twelve tribes in Judges 2:14-15.  We are told, “The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel.  So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around… Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.”

Let’s make no mistake about this: continued disobedience will not be permitted.  God will whoop you.  In Hebrews 12:11, it is said, “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Consider what was said about how God delivered His chosen into the hands of those who would plunder them!  Consider that God would also deliver them into the hands of their enemies!  And again, God wasn’t doing that for pleasure – it does not please the Lord to punish His children!

In Ezekiel 33:11, God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.  Turn, turn from your evil ways!  For why should you die, O house of Israel?’”  

If one turns from their wicked ways, they do so for the better; the chastening of God will cease.  However, if one does not turn from their wicked ways, the Lord will give them over to a reprobate (sinful) mind.  The sinner will then stand before the throne of judgment and be cast from God’s presence, having chosen to live with the reward of disobedience for everlasting life.

Judges 2:16-23 – The Cycle of Sin

Something that you will quickly realize about the Book of Judges is the repeating cycle, or loop, of disobedience that plagued the children of Israel.  

We could actually point to this loop beginning in Egypt, when the children of Israel cried out to God (Ex. 3:7).  God heard their cries and sent them a deliverer in Moses, who led them out of bondage to Mount Sinai.  Then, the children of Israel sinned and did evil in the sight of God by worshiping the calf of gold as their god and deliverer (Ex. 32:7-8).  God showed them mercy, they made temporary corrections before inevitably sinning again in the Wilderness of Paran (Num. 13-14).

In Judges 1, we saw that loop starting to repeat itself with the children of Israel refusing to take total control of their allotted land.  This loop of disobedience is what makes Judges so important for us to study because we often end up in such a loop, and it hinders us in our walk of faith.  The key thing for us to learn is how to avoid ending up in such a loop.

Now, what Judges 2:16-23 does share with us is that there is still a light of hope even when one ends up in such a cycle of disobedience.  The hope of God is that one will turn to the light and choose to walk in it.  God does not give up on us.  However, if you give up on God, He will let you go in your way.