Judges
2:1-7 (NIV) The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said,
"I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to
give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, 2
and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall
break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3
Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will
be [thorns] in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."
4 When
the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people
wept aloud, 5 and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices
to the Lord.
6 After
Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land,
each to his own inheritance. 7 The people served the Lord throughout the
lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the
great things the Lord had done for Israel.
NOTE: The failure in
Judges to remove the Canaanites is actually preceded by another failure.
Chapter 1 lays out the results after the death of Joshua, but chapter 2 lays
out the preceding failure during the time of Joshua. And so two conclusions
jump out from this passage. 1), verse 7 reiterates the importance of good
spiritual leadership, but 2) the preceding verses show that the requirement of
obedience goes beyond the leadership. Even good leadership does not equate to
good obedience. The people failed in one major area, they did not destroy the
foreign altars. Even today, our tolerance-fed society would probably disobey as
well, but for different reasons. We keep things that have historical or
cultural value, and decry the destruction of ancient artifacts. But in this
case, God had ordered the destruction of all the altars, no matter how
beautiful they might be. This was not a permanent decree, that is applying to
all Christians today, but it was a requirement for the Exodus generation as
they conquered the land. Because of the failure to destroy all the altars,
which were probably at the high places, God says that he did not drive out the
people. In other words, God did not help the people to clean out the land,
since the people failed to clean the things there were required to clean. So,
what things do we need to take the first step of obedience to clean out in
order to see an even greater work of God in our lives?
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