Judges 1
Today's Passage: Judges 1
As the page turns, we are left with the echoing promise of the Israelite people in Joshua 24 to keep the covenant of the Lord. Unfortunately, the book of Judges is named after individuals whom God raised us to correct, deliver, and judge the people of Israel for their disobedience. God’s people begin a pattern throughout the book of abandoning the Lord, God punishing them by raising up other nations against them, the people crying out to God for help, and God sending a judge to deliver them.
This book feels like a dramatic letdown from the book of Joshua. How did they end up here? Chapter 1 gives us the answer. They were commanded to conquer Canaan and devote everything/everyone to destruction. They were commanded to drive out everyone living in the land, and that may sound mean, but the Lord wanted His people to be set apart. Completely devoted to the one true God.
Instead, they failed to drive out the foreigners living in the land and allowed many of them to stay. This would end up being their downfall. God’s people would begin worshiping other foreign gods and start living like the locals. Instead of obeying God’s word to complete the conquest, they did what seemed best in their own eyes and ended up corrupting their land with idol worship.
It’s easy to read the book of Judges and think the Israelite people are so dumb for not obeying God. They invite all this trouble upon themselves and make the same mistakes over and over again. I believe this pattern is repeated over and over in this book partly to show us exactly how we act today. We make the same mistakes and sins daily. Lust, pride, envy, anger, impatience… At the end of the day we cry out to the Lord to forgive us, and through Christ - he does. But as we get into the book of Judges, start asking yourself what patterns of sin do you need to break. Where are small compromises that lead to the same old sins? We are not slaves to our sin any longer, but we often act like it by not addressing the root cause - our hearts.
Written By: Joe Weaver
As the page turns, we are left with the echoing promise of the Israelite people in Joshua 24 to keep the covenant of the Lord. Unfortunately, the book of Judges is named after individuals whom God raised us to correct, deliver, and judge the people of Israel for their disobedience. God’s people begin a pattern throughout the book of abandoning the Lord, God punishing them by raising up other nations against them, the people crying out to God for help, and God sending a judge to deliver them.
This book feels like a dramatic letdown from the book of Joshua. How did they end up here? Chapter 1 gives us the answer. They were commanded to conquer Canaan and devote everything/everyone to destruction. They were commanded to drive out everyone living in the land, and that may sound mean, but the Lord wanted His people to be set apart. Completely devoted to the one true God.
Instead, they failed to drive out the foreigners living in the land and allowed many of them to stay. This would end up being their downfall. God’s people would begin worshiping other foreign gods and start living like the locals. Instead of obeying God’s word to complete the conquest, they did what seemed best in their own eyes and ended up corrupting their land with idol worship.
It’s easy to read the book of Judges and think the Israelite people are so dumb for not obeying God. They invite all this trouble upon themselves and make the same mistakes over and over again. I believe this pattern is repeated over and over in this book partly to show us exactly how we act today. We make the same mistakes and sins daily. Lust, pride, envy, anger, impatience… At the end of the day we cry out to the Lord to forgive us, and through Christ - he does. But as we get into the book of Judges, start asking yourself what patterns of sin do you need to break. Where are small compromises that lead to the same old sins? We are not slaves to our sin any longer, but we often act like it by not addressing the root cause - our hearts.
Written By: Joe Weaver
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