The book of Judges is considered a difficult book of the Bible. So this month we start a new ‘Scriptural Thought for the Month’ looking at the book of Judges to see how in dark and desperate times, when men do dark and desperate things, God is still working through the most unlikely people!

‘So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become “thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” As soon as the Angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the people of Israel, but people lifted up their voices and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim. And they sacrificed to the LORD’ (Judges  2:3-5).

It had started so well. In Judges chapter I we see Israel working in harmony after the death of Joshua as they continue the conquest of the Promised Land. But slowly the rot sets in. There’s a reluctance to see the Lord’s instructions right through when it comes to driving out the inhabitants of the Land, and, by the time we get to chapter 2, there’s real problems as Israel had made numerous compromises with the various peoples of the land.

Not surprisingly the Lord intervenes. The Angel of the Lord delivers a stern reprimand that they have broken their covenant with him. Therefore, the people of Land would become: ‘thorns in your sides and their gods shall be a snare to you’ (v3). The message is met with a typical Israelite response, great weeping and wailing followed by the offering of a sacrifice. I don’t doubt they were sorry, but one gets the feeling this was probably because they going to suffer judgement rather than genuine heartfelt repentance.

What follows (vs6-23) is really an overview of the whole of the book of Judges. It starts by reminding us: ‘the people serve the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua’ (v7). But, a few verses later we read that: ‘there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work he had done for Israel’ (v10). I don’t think for a second that they had no knowledge of the Lord, but rather what the text is conveying here is they acted as if they were ignorant of his deliverance of them from Egypt!

The upshot of this is Israel assimilates the culture of their pagan neighbours. So, from now, on Israel could only expect the Lord’s judgement and in verse 14 we read that he: ‘gave them over to plunderers who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies so they could no longer withstand their enemies.’ But, amazing as it may seem, even in the midst of his judgement the Lord was gracious to them as, in verses 16-18, he raises up a succession of Judges to deliver his people. However, each time a Judge died the people turn back to worshipping the ‘detestable’ gods of the people of the Land. Eventually the Lord vowed he would: ‘no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died’ (v21). When people reject God, there’s a danger that eventually the Lord will leave them to the consequences of their own actions!

By this point we might be in despair. How could something that started so well could end up in such a mess? But the start of chapter 3 shows us that the Lord is not absent as, despite how things looked, he’s carrying out his purpose. In verses 1-2, he’s preparing his people for the future as not all of them had experienced warfare. So, in verse 4 we read that the nations that were left in the land: ‘were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord.’ What’s interesting about this verse is that in the Hebrew the verb is open. It’s not for us to say that they’re going to succeed, or fail. In fact we will see both success and failure as we continue through the book of Judges! So, even if the Israelites continued to be assimilated even more into the culture of the godless nations of the Land by intermarrying with them, creating an even bigger mess, God was still present. They were his people and therefore his mess, even though he was not responsible for it, and because of = his grace and mercy he had not deserted them!

In Romans 5:20 the apostle Paul writes: ‘Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.’ Paul is alluding to the work of Christ as a saviour to all who turned to him to have their sins forgiven. In the book of Judges we will see the graciousness of God as he raises up Judge after Judge to deliver his undeserving people. In the end, despite their many imperfections, could it be possible that these Judges act like a signpost to point us to the perfect and therefore greatest deliverer of all, Jesus?