The Book of Judges covers the roughly first 350 years of Israel’s history in the Promised Land. This is the period of the theocratic regime, in which God Himself was Israel’s “King invisible”. According to Jewish tradition, the book’s authorship is ascribed to Samuel.
The records preserved for us are of course historically true. It is not a scientific history of the period with which they deal – that is, a careful attention to chronology. This is a characteristic which is markedly missing from the Book of Judges. Rather, what we have is a collection of events (narratives) selected because of their strong bearing on the main design of the book.
This Book of Judges is not so much concerned with forging a historical chain as with driving home a vital lesson – which is its picture of Israel.
The moral character of the Israelites, as described in this book, seems to have greatly deteriorated. The generation who were contemporaries with Joshua were both courageous and faithful, and free in a great measure from the weakness and obstinacy which had dishonoured their fathers.
Their first ardour, however, had now somewhat cooled, and more than once they fell into a state of indifference which Joshua found it needful to rebuke. As each tribe received its portion, they became so engrossed in cultivate it, or so much fonder of ease than of war, that they grew unwilling to help the rest. Another generation arose.
Living amongst idolators, the Israelites copied their example, intermarried with them and became contaminated with their abominations. The old inhabitants of the land, left alone, gathered strength to make head against the chosen race. Surrounding nations and tribes, as the Syrians, Philistines, Moabites and Midianites took advantage of their degeneracy to attack them; while the licentiousness, ease, and idolatry, to which the Hebrews were giving way, impaired their powers of defense.
The Judges whom God raised up were living object lessons by which God sought to preserve in Israel. The understanding that faith in God, the only true God, was the one way of victory and well being. But the people only responded so far as served the selfish end of the moment – the saving of their necks from bondage, and the grabbing of fleshly advantages. They did not love God one whit more for His painstaking patience; nor did they even take the lower level of serving Him from a sense of duty.
Generally speaking, the God of their fathers, was simply a convenient resort in time of extremity. When things were tolerably comfortable, barefaced betrayal of God was the order of the day.
From time to time, out of sheer pity for His humiliated and groaning people, God raised up these men – the judges – through exploits of deliverance.
The central lesson of the book is failure through compromise. Every page of the book contributes to the driving home of this central truth. Of course, the exploits of the Judges teach the lesson that a return to the true faith brings renewed victory. Yet in their very teaching of this they but accentuate the main, stark reality: That all the failure is due to compromise.
How did it all begin? It began when they failed to drive out the Canaanite nations as God had commanded. Incomplete mastery of an evil at the outset always means constant trouble from it afterwards, and often, defeat by it in the end. So it was with Israel; so it has been with others.
Let us beware for ourselves. It is ruinous folly to try half-measures against sin! The divine command to Israel was severely austere, but necessary.
Let us mark well these stages: Incomplete mastery, military leagues, intermarriage, idolatry and complete apostasy – followed by humiliating captivity.
The tragic story of the Book of Judges is: Failure through compromise.
We can never enjoy God’s promised rest for long if we tolerate only partially crushed sins to continue with us. If we make league with questionable things because they seem harmless, we shall soon find ourselves wedded to the desires of the flesh again, and down from the heights to which God had lifted us.
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