Just as we thought that the Israelites will settle into a rhythm with God, Judges describes the cyclical downward spiral of the Israelites.

Judges 2 begins with the reminder that Yahweh, who had brought the Israelites out of Egypt into the Promised Land had also promised that He will never break His covenant with them. His commandment to the Israelites were that they were not to make any covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and that they shall break down their altars (verse 2). The result of their disobedience is that Yahweh will no longer be on their side, that the Canaanites shall share the land indefinitely with them, and that the Canaanite gods shall be a snare to the Israelites. Lest we think that God did not give them any chances, the decision to implement this was only narrated again in verse 21, after generations.

What happened in between?

While the generation of Joshua and of those who saw the great deeds that Yahweh had done were faithful, the generation after was described as a generation “who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel”. They did not have a relationship with Yahweh, nor did they even know about the mighty acts that he had done on their behalf. Consequently, they did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh and served the Baals.

As a result, God’s anger kindled against Israel, and He gave them over to their enemies. However, on account of the Israelites’ groaning caused by the persecution of their oppressors, Yahweh has compassion on his people and raised up judges to deliver them.

Despite the appointment of judges to deliver the Israelites, they continued to turn away from God and were more corrupt than their forefathers. The narration in verses 18 to 19 suggest that it was not just a one time occurrence, but over a long period of time. It was a cyclical disobedience towards Yahweh’s commandments, and they got more and more corrupted. This cyclical downward spiral of disobedience resulted in the implementation of Yahweh’s punishment. He will no longer drive out the Canaanites, and they will share the land indefinitely with the Israelites.

Clearly, the Israelites continually abandoned their allegiance to Yahweh in favour of allegiance to other gods. Clearly, it was a violation of Yahweh’s covenant with Israel. There is little wonder that God’s anger kindled against the Israelites.

However, is the cyclical disobedience that we are in clear to ourselves? Have we shown allegiance to any other gods other than to the Lord? Has coveting money and material possessions become our idols? Have we been more concerned with advancing ourselves in terms of our work, our education, our standard of living, without any thought of our Creator? Have we felt our faith to be too absolute that we will rather form our own standards? Have we placed our self on the throne, rather than God? Do we really know the Lord? In what ways do we know Him? Is He only our Saviour? How intimate is our relationship with Him?

True worship of the Lord requires an exclusive allegiance, are we willing to place our trust and faith in our Lord? May we worship Him alone, and obey His commandments. May we continue to share the truth of God and the works He has done in our lives to our children, and our children’s children, so that generations after us may also know Him.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you because You are faithful and unchanging. Thank you, also, for your mercy and grace. Help me, O Lord, to be faithful to you, to trust you, and to obey you. Help me, Lord, to testify of your goodness to the people after me, so that they too, may give glory to you. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.