Judges 10:6-14
“And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.”
This passage chronicles one of the several declensions of the children of Israel during the period of the Judges. It obviously was not the only one, but well may have been one of the most severe. It appears that the people had engaged in a wholesale abandonment of the covenant of their fathers and rebelled in the most blatant manner. They accepted and pursued the idolatries of practically every other nation in the region. No matter what they intended to gain by this rebellion, the hand of the Lord came forcefully upon them and He brought them under the vexing oppression of the Philistines and the Ammonites. And they were under this oppression for some eighteen years before it occurred to them that repentance might be an option.
This is perhaps one of the most severe passages in all of the Scriptures. To our contemporary ears it sounds most offensive. It challenges our perception of Who God is. We are used to a God Who comes and grants mercy and grace at our beckoning call and on our terms. This passage teaches us, among other things, that this is not the case. While He is indeed gracious and full of mercies, He grants these mercies on His terms, not ours. God’s response to the people’s confession of their sins is to essentially tell them to call someone who cares. This sort of thing offends our preconceptions and our sensibilities about God, and how His mercy operates in this world.
This passage illustrates the principle declared by God in Genesis 6:3 that, “My Spirit will not always strive with man…” Further, the New Testament writer of the letter to the Hebrews declares (thereby confirming the content of Psalm 95) that we are obliged to avoid a hardness similar to that which the Israelites demonstrated, saying, “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the day of provocation…” (Hebrews 3:7 ff).
With these examples and warnings in mind, we need to answer the question: Is there a point at which a people can so offend God by their hardness of heart and rebellion that there is no turning back, no repentance? Will God turn such a people over to their very own hardness? These examples more than suggest that this is an open possibility.
So, where are we in our nation, today? Remember, this nation was fundamentally founded on the Biblical principles of law and political order by men with more than a cursory knowledge of what that means. One of their main concerns was to establish a nation where the practices of faithful Christians could not be brought into question, and the Gospel of Christ could flourish, conquering not only this continent but, indeed, also causing it to spread throughout the world.
But things have changed, have they not? Where is the Gospel and this sort of enthusiasm for it today? No, the Good News no longer occupies a preeminent place in our national conscience. We are no longer guided by the precepts, laws, and commandments of Almighty God, but rather by the many and varied ideas of atheistic humanists. Our nation no longer acknowledges the One, True God, but a pantheon of gods. Just take your pick. Baal, Mammon, Molech, Aphrodites, Jupiter, oh…and Jesus also. They are all there. But there is only one of these gods that you dare not blaspheme. That is the god of the State. The State is supreme and eternal, and will destroy anyone who dares to claim otherwise or defy its claims to deity. Like the vicious leviathan, its appetites are never satiated. It wants all….until all is consumed.
The Lord is jealous for His own Name. He will not permit any pretending competitors for long. As in the days of Israel, His wrath will wax hot. And as it does, what will become of us, and this nation? Will it be added to the rubble of the wannabe empires of antiquity? Perhaps. But wouldn’t this be a sad epilogue to a nation begun on such sound principles? And wouldn’t it be even more of a shame were it to become a shambles while the vast of majority of the population claims to be Christian? What is wrong with this picture? More importantly, what is wrong with us? Have we become ever so comfortable with the many idols of our day? Is there no turning back?
I want to suggest that God has brought us to a day of reckoning. The fundamental question here is really a simple one. Whom will we serve? A man cannot have two masters, Jesus tells us. He will love the one and cleave to Him, or he will despise Him and serve another. Those are the only two choices. We, as a nation have tried to walk the fence for some time now, and the top rail is not only narrowing, it is getting sharp. What are we doing, Who are we going to serve?
We need a rebirth of patriots in this day. But not the sort of patriots that we frequently think of. We need a band of patriots like Jeremiah the prophet, who never shrank from the duty to tell his fellow citizens that they must repent and follow the Lord. He was a man who clearly understood the only answer and cure that would save his failing nation. He knew that there needed to be more than a rearranging of the liturgical chairs on the deck of the sinking ship. As he advocated, all of the sins and corruptions of his fellow citizens needed to be repented of and forsaken. This sort of repentance leads to a dramatic change of life and of the manner in which we “do business” day by day. Are we up to it? By God’s grace I hope so.
So, we are here to celebrate today. We need to remember what a group of faithful men attempted to do some 233 years ago. They wanted to establish a nation in righteousness. They wanted a society that reflected Christ’s grace, righteousness, and justice. Are these goals less attainable today? I think not. Christ is still enthroned in heaven, and continues to rule over the earth.
Let us pray then that, as in the days of the Judges, the Lord will relent and will accept our confessions of sin and grant us repentance. May He send us faithful, wise, and courageous men to help deliver us from the consequences of our disobedience, as He sent Jephthah to the Israelites in that former time. May God help us.
“And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.”
This passage chronicles one of the several declensions of the children of Israel during the period of the Judges. It obviously was not the only one, but well may have been one of the most severe. It appears that the people had engaged in a wholesale abandonment of the covenant of their fathers and rebelled in the most blatant manner. They accepted and pursued the idolatries of practically every other nation in the region. No matter what they intended to gain by this rebellion, the hand of the Lord came forcefully upon them and He brought them under the vexing oppression of the Philistines and the Ammonites. And they were under this oppression for some eighteen years before it occurred to them that repentance might be an option.
This is perhaps one of the most severe passages in all of the Scriptures. To our contemporary ears it sounds most offensive. It challenges our perception of Who God is. We are used to a God Who comes and grants mercy and grace at our beckoning call and on our terms. This passage teaches us, among other things, that this is not the case. While He is indeed gracious and full of mercies, He grants these mercies on His terms, not ours. God’s response to the people’s confession of their sins is to essentially tell them to call someone who cares. This sort of thing offends our preconceptions and our sensibilities about God, and how His mercy operates in this world.
This passage illustrates the principle declared by God in Genesis 6:3 that, “My Spirit will not always strive with man…” Further, the New Testament writer of the letter to the Hebrews declares (thereby confirming the content of Psalm 95) that we are obliged to avoid a hardness similar to that which the Israelites demonstrated, saying, “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the day of provocation…” (Hebrews 3:7 ff).
With these examples and warnings in mind, we need to answer the question: Is there a point at which a people can so offend God by their hardness of heart and rebellion that there is no turning back, no repentance? Will God turn such a people over to their very own hardness? These examples more than suggest that this is an open possibility.
So, where are we in our nation, today? Remember, this nation was fundamentally founded on the Biblical principles of law and political order by men with more than a cursory knowledge of what that means. One of their main concerns was to establish a nation where the practices of faithful Christians could not be brought into question, and the Gospel of Christ could flourish, conquering not only this continent but, indeed, also causing it to spread throughout the world.
But things have changed, have they not? Where is the Gospel and this sort of enthusiasm for it today? No, the Good News no longer occupies a preeminent place in our national conscience. We are no longer guided by the precepts, laws, and commandments of Almighty God, but rather by the many and varied ideas of atheistic humanists. Our nation no longer acknowledges the One, True God, but a pantheon of gods. Just take your pick. Baal, Mammon, Molech, Aphrodites, Jupiter, oh…and Jesus also. They are all there. But there is only one of these gods that you dare not blaspheme. That is the god of the State. The State is supreme and eternal, and will destroy anyone who dares to claim otherwise or defy its claims to deity. Like the vicious leviathan, its appetites are never satiated. It wants all….until all is consumed.
The Lord is jealous for His own Name. He will not permit any pretending competitors for long. As in the days of Israel, His wrath will wax hot. And as it does, what will become of us, and this nation? Will it be added to the rubble of the wannabe empires of antiquity? Perhaps. But wouldn’t this be a sad epilogue to a nation begun on such sound principles? And wouldn’t it be even more of a shame were it to become a shambles while the vast of majority of the population claims to be Christian? What is wrong with this picture? More importantly, what is wrong with us? Have we become ever so comfortable with the many idols of our day? Is there no turning back?
I want to suggest that God has brought us to a day of reckoning. The fundamental question here is really a simple one. Whom will we serve? A man cannot have two masters, Jesus tells us. He will love the one and cleave to Him, or he will despise Him and serve another. Those are the only two choices. We, as a nation have tried to walk the fence for some time now, and the top rail is not only narrowing, it is getting sharp. What are we doing, Who are we going to serve?
We need a rebirth of patriots in this day. But not the sort of patriots that we frequently think of. We need a band of patriots like Jeremiah the prophet, who never shrank from the duty to tell his fellow citizens that they must repent and follow the Lord. He was a man who clearly understood the only answer and cure that would save his failing nation. He knew that there needed to be more than a rearranging of the liturgical chairs on the deck of the sinking ship. As he advocated, all of the sins and corruptions of his fellow citizens needed to be repented of and forsaken. This sort of repentance leads to a dramatic change of life and of the manner in which we “do business” day by day. Are we up to it? By God’s grace I hope so.
So, we are here to celebrate today. We need to remember what a group of faithful men attempted to do some 233 years ago. They wanted to establish a nation in righteousness. They wanted a society that reflected Christ’s grace, righteousness, and justice. Are these goals less attainable today? I think not. Christ is still enthroned in heaven, and continues to rule over the earth.
Let us pray then that, as in the days of the Judges, the Lord will relent and will accept our confessions of sin and grant us repentance. May He send us faithful, wise, and courageous men to help deliver us from the consequences of our disobedience, as He sent Jephthah to the Israelites in that former time. May God help us.
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