DAY 92

DOWNWARD SPIRAL

Judges 16, 17 & 18 and Luke 7:1 – 30

I titled yesterday’s blog “Looking for One Good Man” largely because of Easter, but also because of the Story of Judges.

I know we are almost through this book, and you may think I should have written this earlier, but I wanted you to experience the story without giving you the outline.

No doubt you have realized that the label judge in this context has less to do with a judicial system, and more to do with a military commander who will be a deliverer. I also expect by now you have realized that “a judge” is not functioning as a “judge” over ALL Israel. You may not have understood that, but you can see this situation given how the tribes are interacting and in fact ready to fight with each other.

I wanted to let you simply be drawn into the story of Judges. It serves in many ways as the period of time that connects the Moses/Joshua (leaders over all Israel) to the period of Kings that we will soon be into reading.

The book of Judges has a simple three part outline: From 1:1 – 3:6 we have the introduction and introductory story that introduces the theme and repeating cycle. The theme is Israel’s abandonment of Yahweh; verse 3:6 ends with intermarriage and the phrase “they served their own gods” (not the One True Living God). The cycle is played out in story after story of the Judges from 3:7 – 16:31, and then the epilogue from 17:1 to the end has two stories that further illustrate the primary theme (we will read one of them today).

The repeating cycle: 1-Israel does what is “evil in the eyes of the Lord”, 2-they end up in bondage to a foreign power such as the Moabites or Canaanites or Philistines (for decades we have read), 3-they cry out to God to send a deliverer, God does, and so they are rescued, 4-but as soon as they are rescued or the judge dies they turn again from God and repeat the pattern.

This cycle is first laid out in chapter two when Israel disobeys God and allows the Canaanites to live, and then ultimately they serve the Canaanite their gods. Yahweh proclaims that He will therefore not eliminate the Canaanites, but rather leave them as a thorn in their side (chapter 2).

While that pattern repeats, it repeats in a downward spiral. Today we finished reading Samson. He has gone into a prostitute and apparently is so vain that he thinks he can always defeat anyone, so much so that he breaks the Nazirite vow by allowing his head to be shaved. The end is tragic and with Samson out of the way, the Philistines can again oppress Israel. When we are reading about Saul and David, and their struggle with the Philistines, think back to this moment – these “cats” are not going away.

From Samson we move to one of the two stories that I indicated were in the “epilogue”: one where they literally make an idol and go off independently with this idol to war. Don’t be confused, in chapter 18, the victory they have won is not a “God-honoring” victory – it ends with the statement that they have set up this idol as a replacement for the Tent of the Meeting which is in Shiloh – all of this very bad and evil in the sight of the Lord.

This has not been a good “season” for Israel. They have entered the Promise Land under Joshua and subdued much, but not all of it. They are poised to live as God’s Chosen People, if only they follow Yahweh, but of course they don’t…and it is unraveling.

Tomorrow we will finish Judges with one more story.

I am asking myself, “Is the New Testament connected with any of this?” Remarkably, the answer is “yes”! Think about it for a moment. Jesus is walking around talking to…Jewish people. While they are not a nation, they are a people group. What is He saying to them? Basically He is saying, “You are not following, really following God, you need to turn around (repent) and follow me, I will show you the way.” Their reaction, “NO, we will do what we believe is right in our own eyes.” Sounds a bit like “Judges”. Jesus even finds a non-Jewish person to embarrass them. The Centurion’s faith leads Jesus to exclaim, “I haven’t found this faith in ALL of Israel”. He then raises a widow’s son in the small village of Nain.

John the Baptist in many ways puts a nice “punctuation” on the blog today. He is in jail. He knows the people need to turn around. He has even proclaimed Jesus is the one. Jail has him wondering though, maybe he was wrong, after all it doesn’t seem to be working out as he, John, expected.

Jesus’ answer is to quote Scripture and in doing so proclaims he is the one – “the dead are raised up.” John’s doubt is what the Israelites faced and it is what you and I face. When things don’t go as planned or as we think they should, doubt creeps in. Or maybe we simply get distracted, or we get tempted, or… “it appears right in our own eyes”. When something “appears right in our eyes” it in fact might be right, or it might be that we have rationalized it for ourselves. It is easy to do. I doubt the Israelites woke up one morning and said, “Let’s disobey God”, I rather imagine they rationalized their way right into this spiral…we can too. The solution: keeping our eyes not turned inward, but rather outward, focused on the Crucified and Risen Christ.