QT 17 Jan 17, Judg 2:20-23, The danger of compromise

Judges 2:20–23 (ESV) —

20 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” 23 So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

NOTE: I like Constable's thoughts on this passage because it makes sense. From this point on, Israel does not conquer any more land, they just react to the oppression for a period of time. Essentially, they remain where Joshua's conquests left them. God did this in response to their failures to cling to him, and their adopting the culture of the land and the worship of its gods. So after, 400 years of slavery to Egypt, we enter 300 years of traps (the appeal of the culture), scourges (the scars left from disobedience), and thistles in the eyes (blinded to truth). They have opportunities where they repent and could begin to turn things around, but they fall back into a comfortable life living in the culture of the land. The interesting thing to consider is what God means by "test" since they have already failed. One possibility is that there remains an opportunity for a future generation to rise up and return the nation to God. The other option for the "test" is thinking of the word not in terms of an exam, but in terms of stress, that is to show Israel that its course of action is wrong and needs to be corrected. What is the application? Certainly, not all culture is bad, but when culture disagrees with God's word, we must take our stand against it. Of course, some things are not entirely clear. The culture has blurred many areas by moving toward the edge of decency and desensitizing us to the difference. I don't want to specify behavior, but each of us need to seek God and ask him to make us aware of how we are compromising truth with culture.