February 4, 2011 (Judges 1 - 5)

So now, the Israelites are entering the promised land and are driving out the people that currently live there. They were told to wipe them out - to completely destroy them. And for some areas, they did that, but the second part of chapter one describes all the failures of tribes to completely drive them out. As I read that, I was wondering how that happened? God had told them He would be with them and He would help them to defeat their enemies. Then I read the end of chapter two, beginning of chapter three and it made sense:

^2:20 So the Lord burned with anger against Israel. He said, “Because these people have violated my covenant, which I made with their ancestors, and have ignored my commands, ²¹ I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. ²² I did this to test Israel—to see whether or not they would follow the ways of the Lord as their ancestors did.” ²³ That is why the Lord left those nations in place. He did not quickly drive them out or allow Joshua to conquer them all.

 ^3:1 These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. ² He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle.

He didn't drive them completely out, because if He would have, the younger generation would never have learned 'warfare' - they wouldn't have had an enemy to battle. But instead of persevering and obeying God during this 'time of testing', they chose to let the people live in the land. They not only let them live there, they intermarried with them and began to worship their gods. They failed the test. Judges is all about this scenario:

^3:7 The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They forgot about the Lord their God, and they served the images of Baal and the Asherah poles. ⁸ Then the Lord burned with anger against Israel, and he turned them over to King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim. And the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years.

 ⁹ But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, the Lord raised up a rescuer to save them. 

Different judges, same outcome. The Israelites are oppressed by the people they didn't drive out, they cry out to God for help, he raises up a judge to lead them to victory over these people, they in turn forget about God and so He raises up the people against them, they cry out to Him, etc., etc., etc.

If only when He gave them the victory they wouldn't have forgotten about Him. But don't I do the same thing? When will I realize that God is testing me, to see how much I love Him. Help me God to honor You.