God, the Bible and Political Justice: Chapter 15

Part Three: Political Lessons from Jewish History

Chapter 15

Joshua and the Judges

With the reading of the Law, the renewal of the covenant with God and the appointment of Joshua, Israel crosses the Jordan. He has given them the Law.  He has interpreted the Law for them for nearly 40 years.  He has led them in two defensive military victories. Moses is shown the promise land from Mt. Nebo.  Now, he will stay on the wilderness side of the Jordan and we will never know what happened to him. Why this mysterious ending? Surely part of this is to keep Israel from making a god of him.  Even so, they will begin worshipping his Sheppard’s staff centuries later.

Joshua 1405 B.C.

Joshua has been at the right hand of Moses from the very beginning of the wilderness journey.  He, along with eleven others, is sent to spy out the land of Canaan soon after crossing the Red Sea.  Only he and Caleb come back to report in faith, that it is a wonderful land. Yes, there are giants there, but they will not be able to stand against God.  God will fight for Israel.  All the others view their nation-forming task as impossible and themselves as grasshoppers.  God calls Joshua and Caleb “men of a different spirit,” men after His own heart.  All the others do their reconnosince purely from the human perspective of what “they” think they can accomplish on their own.  At 80 years of age Joshua is still looking to God for his strength and His perspective.  He will now lead Israel into the promise of God that has been waiting over 800 years for fulfillment.

God gives Israel a second great miracle of liberation by dividing the waters of the Jordon for the people to cross into Canaan.  Joshua builds an alter and, although they are in enemy territory, he has all the males circumcised at the word of the Lord.  Unlike the sons of Jacob and the Schecamites, where they made the enemy vulnerable by circumcising them, God now makes Israel vulnerable to the enemy by circumcising them.

Israel’s first military victory in Canaan is won by radical obedience. God instructs them to circle Jericho seven times with trumpets and the people shout. And Joshua obeys in detail. He deals with idolatry in Ai.  He and the people renew their covenant with the Lord at Mt. Ebal and the sun stands still for an entire day as a sign from God in response to Joshua’s prayer.  He defeats the united five Kings of the Ammonites and thirty-two Kings in the North and South.  All twelve tribes inhabit their lands although not all of the former resident tribes are gone. Joshua establishes the Cities of Refuge according to the Law as well as dividing out the land in each tribe to be given to the Levites.  Before he dies Joshua has all of the people, again, renew the covenant with God at Shechem.

Joshua is nearly faultless in his leadership. But with all his great strengths it is Joshua who is deceived by the Ammonite people, the Gibeonites, into making a peace treaty contravening the Word of the Lord to destroy all the tribes.  This peace treaty will be broken by Saul fourteen political generations later and will bring consequences into Israel’s history under David who executes seven of Saul’s family in order to placate the Gibeonites for the broken treaty.

Joshua died at the age of 110.

Judges 1350-1100*

The major military challenge of possessing the land is complete. Now Israel begins the system of decentralized government outlined in Deuteronamy chapter one.  Tribal leaders will govern the tribal lands.  They will all come together for worship and the Levites are given land in every tribe to provide access to God and primary health care.  Sacrifices will only be offered at kjlkjlkjlkjlk and a national leader will be needed only when there is a national crisis.

This system will keep maximum authority at the grass roots level of governance.  It will make the people of each tribe more responsible for their own governance, specific laws, consequences and interpretation of the prescriptive Laws of Moses.  It will make unity a choice and it will assure diversity in how the law is interpreted and applied.  Something that seems important to God throughout all of Scripture.

Israel begins well. They serve God throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the tribal elders of his generation. They, as a people, ask God for direction in the next phase of military conquest, clearing the land. The various tribes begin to obey God and work together to take their lands.

Then we read these devastating words in Judges 2:

10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

 

When Israel had problems it was because they had not obeyed God.  The difficulties were not coming because of the devil, or because of the evil in the cultures around them.  The power to be attacked and defeated came from God’s people turning from God themselves.  God’s people were the reason for their own defeat.  God is not emphasizing the power of their leaders, their enemy, or even the lost.  He is emphasizing the devastating power of His people to curse themselves through the consequences of their choices.

Judges chapter two continues:

 16 Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands. 18 Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

Every time the tribes of Israel move towards destructive idolatry, God raises up a political enemy.  When they have a political enemy they must be united under a national leader and God raises up such a leader to deliver them.  In this context, the need for strong national political leadership is not a very encouraging sign about the health of the nation.

Let’s see what God chooses to highlight in His Word about the political leadership of the Judges.

§Othniel: Tribe of Judah

Judges 3:7 begins The Isralites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, they forgot the Lord their God and served Baals and the Asherahs…8 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of the Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram…who the Israelites were subject to for eight years. 9 But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel,…        

It takes Israel eight years to get desperate enough to cry out to the Lord. The leader Othniel comes from good stock.  He is the nephew of Caleb, the only other spy who along with Joshua gives a faithful report of God’s ability to help them enter the promise land.  Othniel’s wife is Caleb’s daughter.  The Spirit of the Lord comes upon Othniel and he is raised up to lead Israel in the military defeat of the King of Aram.[1]

Israel, then, has peace for 40 years.

Ehud: Tribe of Benjamin

Judges 3: 12 Once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon king of Moab[2] power over Israel. 13 Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. 14 The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years. 15 Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite.

This time it takes Israel eighteen years to become desperate. The Israelites send Ehud with tribute to the King of Moab as a ruse to assassinate him.  Which Ehud does.  He then calls for the Ephrimites to join him and they defeat and kill 10,000 strong, capable Moabite troops.

Then Israel has 80 years of peace.

§Shamgar: Tribe of Naphtali

Judges 3:31 After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines[3] with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.

That is all we know about Shamgar.  But we can be sure that the theme continues that Israel did evil and God raised up an enemy and when they cried out He gave them help by raising up a political leader.

§Deborah: Tribe of Ephraim

Judges 4:1the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD. 2 So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan[4], who reigned in Hazor[5]. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3 Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help.        

Israel’s insensitivity to suffering is increasing and this time it takes twenty years of suffering.  This time God raised up a woman who has already been functioning as a judicial leader in her tribe.

Deborah calls on Barak of Naphtali to raise an army of 10,000 from the tribe of Naphtali and Zebulun to attack Jabin’s army.  He refuses unless she leads the army with him. Is it possible that he cannot imagine God leading through a woman?

Deborah is full of faith in God’s help.  Barak defeats his army in spite of being completely out armed.  Sisera eludes capture and is killed by a woman while resting in her tent. As Deborah prophesied the victory is assigned to the woman. The Lord continues to give the Israelites strength and they completely defeat King Jabin and the Canaanites.

Gideon: Tribe of Manasseh

Judges 6:1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian[6] was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help. 7 When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.

The oppressiveness of the enemy this time is economically devastating.  They left the Israelites living in caves.  For the first time God sends a prophet before He raises up a deliver.  The prophet tells the people clearly that they are the cause of their own suffering.  The simple diagnosis?  God’s people no longer listen to God.

Gideon is fearful, self-conscious and indecisive but God uses him to rout the Midianites using an army of just 300 men.

Judges 6:14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” 15 “But Lord, ” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

It would seem that not only the people of Israel are more and more idolatress but also “the best leadership God can find” is declining in quality.  Where will a leader come from but from the people they are leading.  As the culture declines so does the quality of those who may lead. First we have a military leader in Sisera that is skeptical.  Now we have the leader God is calling skeptical of God’s ability to save the nation. God raises up political leaders to help them.  Then as the leaders are of less and less caliber He raises up prophets.  With Gideon He sends prophets and angles with miracles to convince the political leader He is able to help the Israelites. The presence of this prophet, the angels and the miracles is not a good sign.  It means Israel is getting more and more hard of hearing. Watch the decline!

Gideon does tear down his fathers alter to Baal and his Asherah pole. He then builds an altar to God using the wood from the poles.  When the people see this they are so angered at this affront to their Jewish idolatry they want to kill Gideon.

The Eastern nations of Midianites[7], Amalekites[8] and others cross the Jordan in mass intending to destroy Israel.  God stirs Gideon and he calls out an army from Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali.  God whittles down the army to just 300 soldiers, making sure Gideon cannot be given credit for the victory.  The invading armies are so terrified by the trumpets of the 300 sounding they rise up and in mass confusion begin to kill each other.  As they retreat the rest of the army pursues them calling in more recruits from the tribe of Ephraim and defeating them.

After this astounding military victory Israel wants to create a dynasty from Gideon and his son.  The “king” desire of the tribes begins to rumble. But in true humility, Gideon refuses this temptation and replies, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you.  The Lord will rule over you.” Judges 8:23

However, after showing such Godly wisdom, Gideon then asks for tribute from the plunder.  From the 43 lbs of gold he makes an ephod and places it in Ophrah where the people begin to worship it.  Why an ephod?  Gideon is not a Levite.  Why Ophrah? It is not a Levitical city.  God clearly outlines in the Law of Moses that the priests are to wear the ephods.  But Ophrah is where the angel met with Gideon and called him to lead Israel in the military action against the Midianites.

And then Israel has peace for 40 years.

§Abimelech: Tribe of Manasseh

Abimelech is Gideon’s son, one of 72 by his concubines in Shechem.   He clearly thinks his father has made a mistake in declining the role of King.  He goes to the Shechemite leaders and proposes that they appoint him King.  The tribe agrees.  The people have turned back to worshipping Baal as soon as Gideon is dead and they take 70 shekels of silver from the temple of Baal and give it to Abimelech to hire an army.  That is the first time in Israel that the army was not volunteer.  He immediately goes of Ophrah and assassinates 70 of his brothers.  “All the citizens of Shechen and Beth Milo gather beside the great tree at the pillar in Sechem to crown Abimelech king.” Judges 9:6

We are back to fratricide!

This is the first time God has had no involvement in the selection of a political leader and the first time Israel has appointed a leaders when there was no national military crisis.  It is the first time finances for government have been taken from a temple, and a pagan one at that.  This is the first national political assassination in Israel but it will not be the last.  This is the first time political leadership has been seen as a “family” inheritance in Israel.

Gideon’s youngest son Jotham rises up and calls the Shechemites accountable to God for the way they have treated his father and family and the godless way they have chosen a leader. Judges 9:19 “…if then you have acted honorable and in good faith toward (Gideon) and his family today, may Abimelech be your joy, and may you be his, too! 20 But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume you, citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelech.”

Jothan flees for his life and Abimelech leads for three years.  God sends an evil spirit between him and the people he leads because of the innocent blood shed from Gideon’s sons.  The people take authority back from their appointed King and began to collect their own forced taxes.

During the Baal Harvest Temple Festival an adversary raises himself up as Shechem’s political solution to Abimelech.  The cities Governor sends a message to the King to attack which he does with a vengeance running off the competition.  But then the next day Abimelech’s troops attack the citizens when they go to the fields, slaughtering them.  He sets fire to those citizens who have fled into the temple of Baal to seek refuge burning more than a thousand men and women alive.  He then attacks those citizens who have fled to the cities tower for safety. One of the women drops a millstone on Abimelech’s head severely wounding him and he commits assisted suicide with the help of his armor-bearer.

This is the first civil war and the first time an Israeli army turns on it’s own people.

Judges 9:56-57 Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers.  God also made the men of Shechem pay for all their wickedness.”

We are back to the “red thread of violence.”  Israel is descending back into a total disregard for God as demonstrated in their disregard for human life.  It is wholesale murder as in the days before the flood.  They have political freedom.  They have the thinking of God in the Law.  God is sending prophets to warn them and miracles to inspire their faith.  But they refuse to listen. God holds both the people and their leader responsible.

§Tola: Tribe of Issachar

Judges 9:1 After the time of Abimelech a man of Issachar, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. 2 He led Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.

There is no mention of the people crying out to God for help.  There is no mention that God raised up Tola as a deliver.  There is no mention of what Tola rose up to save Israel from.  Is it possible that Israel is now their own worst enemy?

Tola lead Israel 23 years.

§Jair: Tribe of Manasseh

Judges 9: 3 He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years. 4 He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair.5 When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

God no longer features in the choice of the leader for the people or for the leader himself.  They are no longer chosen to lead only during a national crisis.  They are in power all the time.  In effect Israel, while not instituting the title, have shifted to a top down governance of a King, while still using the term Judge.

§Jephthah: Tribe of Manasseh

Judges 10:6 “ Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD.” 

Again the people of Israel give themselves to foreign gods.  They worship Baal and the Asherah pole and they begin to worship the gods of the Aram, Sidionites, Moabites, Amonites and Philistines.  God raises up the Philistines[9] as an enemy and the Eastern tribes are subjected to18 years of slavery and they invade the tribes of Judah, Benjemin and Ephraim.  And the Israelites cried out to the Lord, seemingly for the first time in 63 years.

Listen to His response: Judges 10:11 The LORD replied, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12 the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? 13 But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. 14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!”

Israel responds: 10:15 But the Israelites said to the LORD, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” 16 Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.

Jephthah is a mighty warrior, son of the patriarch of the Gileadites.  His mother was a prostitute and his half brothers run him out of the family and he is left with no inheritance.  He raises up an ad hoc army and lives in Tob.  When the Ammonites camped prepared for battle in Gilead it is Jephthah the people ask to lead them.  He is hesitant but when promised by the elders of Israel that they will make him their leader permanetly he agrees to return.

Jephthah sends diplomats to find out why the Ammonites are preparing to attack.  They respond that it is because the Israelites took the Ammonite lands when they came out of Egypt.   Jephthah responds with an astute retelling of the facts.  Israel had not taken their land until the kings of the Moabites and Edomites had refused them compassion and just leave through their lands as they fled Egypt. Then they ask King Sihhon of the Amorites for safe passage and he denied them as well.  But unlike the other kings King Sihhon marshaled his troops against them and attacked.  Israel defeated them and took their land.  They have now lived there for 300 years.  He challenges them that they will wage war and God be the Judge.

Jephthah appears to make a vow to the Lord that if he gets victory he will sacrifice whatever comes out of his house first on his return home.  He wins the battles and defeats the Ammonites.  On his return home, his daughter comes out to meet him dancing with a tambourine to welcome him home.  And he sacrificed her.

This is the first account of human sacrifice in Israel.  Of course Jephthah is not relying on the God of his forefathers, their faith in the God of Moses is long gone.  He is using the language of his ancestors but he is talking to the new gods of Israel.  These gods gladly accept human sacrifice.

An old feud with the Ephraimites rises up again and they come to Jephthah. Why has Jephthah not ask them to help fight the Amorites? They proceed to enter Israel’s first civil tribal war. The decline continues.

Jephthah led Israel six years.

The next three judges don’t take up much space in the history of the Judges.

§Ibzan: Tribe of Judah

Judges 12: 8After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel. 9 He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years.

§Elon: Tribe of Zebulun

Judges 12:11 After him, Elon the Zebulunite led Israel ten years. 12 Then Elon died, and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

§Abdon: Tribe of Asher

12:13 After him, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, led Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel eight years. 15 Then Abdon son of Hillel died, and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

We are not at the bottom of the decline in Israel yet.  The sin in Israel increases even more and God raises up an enemy, a very familiar one by now, the Philistines.

Judges 13:1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines[10] for forty years.

*Samson: Tribe of Dan

We finally arrive at the most memorable of the Judges.  Samson is born for the job.  Meaning, there was no one living in Israel, man or woman, God could use to lead.  The moral fiber of the nation is so destroyed from within that there is no leader God can raise up to deliver them.  We will soon see the same disparate situation in the call of a two year old named Samuel.

God has delivered Israel into the hands of the Philistines because “again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord” Judges 13:1 They are oppressed by this enemy for 40 years. God sends and Angel to tell a man named Manoah that his sterile wife will conceive a son.  The parents are to consume no wine nor eat anything unclean for their son will be born a Nazirite and “set apart to God from birth.” 13:5 He will begin a deliverance of Israel.  Samson is born and “the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him…” 13:24-25

In spite of the miraculous nature of Samson’s conception and birth, in spite of the dedication of the parents and the blessing of God, Samson has issues.  Most of his revolve around women.  In spite of his fathers advise he wants to marry a Philistine woman.

 

The marriage rituals begin and Samson is “given” 30 Philistine “friends” to help him celebrate.  He gives then a riddle and promises they can have 30 sets of garments as a prize if they guess the meaning.  They cannot so they coax the bride into weaseling it out of Samson.  Samson is furious at the roué, murders 30 of the men and gives their clothes to the ones who answered the riddle.  His wife is given to another Philistine in marriage.

Samson seeks revenge by destroying the Philistines harvest of grain, vineyards and olive groves.  The Philistines then burn the ex-wife and her father for bringing this terror on their community.  Samson responds by slaughtering many then hides in a cave.  3,000 men from Judah come to get him to turn him over to the Philistines because he has caused them so much trouble with their oppressor.  They swear they won’t kill him, tie him up, take him to the Philistines and turn him over.  “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power.”  The ropes broke; he picks up a donkeys jawbone and kills a thousand Philistines.  God provides water from a rock and he is revived.

Samson’s next escapade finds him with a prostitute in Gaza surrounded by Philistines.  He escapes only to later fall in love with Delilah.  Delilah is co-opted by the Philistines to collaborate in finding out the source of his great strength.  For this they will pay her the equivalent value of 275 slaves.  We go back and forth in this plot until Samson finally succumbs to her pleading.  His hair is cut and he is captured, tortured and put on display in the temple of the Philistine god.  The God of Israel pours strength through him again and he pulls down the pillars of the temple killing everyone inside including himself.  More died in his death than died during his life.

Samson ruled Israel for 20 years.

Why?

Good heavens!  What does this all mean?  God has selected these terrible accounts of Israel’s history and preserved it for more than three millennium to teach us what?  This is the history of Israel’s political leadership thus far.  God is not making the stories up.  God is telling us what happened.  What are we to see, understand and apply?  What, on earth, does this have to do with civil governance and justice in the 21st century?

As we finish this era of political history is Israel what stands out?

The People

The moral decline of the people seems to precede the moral decline in their political leadership.  For the first four generations we read “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord” as the reason they had a political enemy. Only because they had, as a culture, moved towards idolatry were they in need of God’s intervention.  And only after they, the people, has cried out to God did He raise up a defending national leader for them.  It takes the people longer and longer to turn to God.

As the decline continues throughout the time of the Judges we will see that both the people and then the leaders themselves contribute to the nation’s demise.  And they will both continue to escalate that decline. The idolatry of the people will build from worship of other gods to human sacrifice, assassination, civil war and violence as a means and solution.

In the beginning however, Israel’s decline is the result of the people and the culture at large, the Jews themselves move away from God.  Is this where some believers in history got the concept that we get the political leadership we deserve?

The Political Leaders

It is interesting that the Judges come from nine of the twelve tribes of Israel.  Perhaps it would have been twelve if Manasseh had not begun to hog the stage. God is clearly spreading the leadership around.  This builds the value of “representation” but it does something else.  As the culture declines it reveals that no matter where the leaders come from they are less and less able to represent God.  Even when they are the best God can find and raised up by Him.

The first four judges do a pretty good job of the brief God has given them.  They deal with the enemy, reinstitute peace and return to their daily lives.  By the time we get to Gideon, the best leader God can find is not sure God can do the job. (Ironically this is the one where God defeats the enemy with 300 soldiers.) He does defeat the enemy but when it is all over, Israel wants to make Gideon a king and dynasty.  They give credit for the victory to the man rather than God.

Gideon still has enough understanding of God to turn them down.  But his son will not.  The Manasseh conspiracy to rule all of Israel will plaque their politics for the rest of their Biblical history.  And as we will see in the days of the kings is the beginning of the divided kingdom and final dispersion. The quality of Israel’s leadership is in freefall from here.

The Enemy

Every time Israel has a political enemy in the Book of Judges God has raised them up.  Every time God raises up a political enemy it is to show His people they are drifting from Him.  God’s emphasis is not on the foreigner in Israel of the foreign invader.  God’s emphasis is on God’s people ceasing to be God’s people.  When God’s people turn back to God He delivers everyone.

Like the history of the believers in the New Testament Epistles the gravest danger is from within the community not from without.  But we will get to that in Part Five.

God

For God’s part, He does nothing but increase His efforts to get Israel to listen.  He reminds them of His laws, He warns them, He raises up leaders when they cry out to Him, He sends prophets, He performs miracles to get their attention, He calls leaders from birth to circumvent the moral decline of the culture.  And?  God’s people listen less and less!

This is a very heavy history.  Nothing speaks to me more of the inspiration of the Bible than the fact that, left to themselves, no nation would chose to document this history of themselves.  It is too awful.

But we are not done yet!  Are you willing to suffer God’s pain for generations more?  Are you willing for God to tell His story His way and prepare our hearts for what is to come?

[1] Modern day……

[2] Modern day

[3] Modern day

[4] Again

[5] Modern day…….

[6] Modern day

[7] Modern day

[8] Modern day

[9] Modern day

[10] Modern day

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