New Land and New Perils

Judges 2:6, 7, 11, 12, 18, 19; 6:11-16

GOLDEN TEXT: “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: For the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”—Joshua 1:9

AS WAS noted in our last lesson, the nation of Israel finally lost the great opportunity offered to them of being God’s royal nation and a kingdom of priests to rule over and bless the other nations of the earth. However, God was patient with them throughout many centuries, and it was not until the first advent of Jesus that those final words of disapproval were pronounced against them, “Your house is left unto you desolate.” During the intervening centuries from the time they were established as a nation until the end of their age of special favor, their obedience to God was intermittent, while frequently they lapsed into idolatry and other sinful practices.

The bright spots of Israel’s history, the times when they seemed to walk closest to the Lord, were usually during those experiences when they were blessed with courageous and righteous leadership. This, however, was not always the case, for in many instances they rebelled against the leaders whom God raised up especially for their guidance and blessing. We recall, for example, the many times they rebelled against Moses. However, the Israelites, like all other members of the fallen race, were influenced greatly by their leaders. If their leaders were faithful servants of God, the entire nation made an effort to be righteous, but when unrighteous leaders took over the reins of government, the people were usually willing to follow their unrighteous ways.

This fact is brought prominently to our attention in this lesson. Joshua, the successor of Moses, was a courageous, God-fearing man, and under his leadership the. Israelites succeeded in ridding Canaan of nearly all their enemies; and before Joshua’s death the division of the land among the various tribes was nearly completed. We read that “the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that He did for Israel.”—Judges 2:7

The elders who outlived Joshua had been closely associated with the great leader and had partaken of his spirit of courage and righteousness. While they lived the people were kept in line, but with their passing there was a national decline in righteousness and in obedience to the true God. As they departed from their worship and service of God, He permitted them to be oppressed by their enemies until they realized their need of Him and returned and sought His help.

In their periods of dire distress which were precipitated by their own sinful course, God raised up judges to deliver them. To the extent that they obeyed these judges, they were delivered from their oppressors and were able to rejoice in the blessings of the Lord. The period of the judges lasted from the death of Joshua until, in the days of Samuel—the last to serve in this special capacity—they asked for a king, and Saul was anointed to reign over them. This was a period of 450 years during which the experiences of the Israelites were very checkered. At times they prospered, at other times they were oppressed and suffered want. Sometimes God was with them because of their faithfulness to Him; sometimes He was against them because of their worship of other gods.

The deliverance of Israel from their oppressors when God raised up judges to serve them, serves well to illustrate a far more important deliverance of all mankind from the great taskmasters of sin and death, when, during the future judgment-day period of a thousands years, Christ and the church will be the judges of the people. It is a mistaken notion of the Dark Ages that the future judgment day is to be one of gloom and despair.

In the days of Gideon, the leader of the renowned three hundred, the Israelites were being sorely oppressed by the Midianites. It was in keeping with the divine arrangement that Gideon was appointed of the Lord to serve as one of Israel’s judges. He also became a military leader, although apparently not by his own choice.

In Gideon we have a good example of humility, caution and courage. Recognizing his own inability to undertake the great task that had been set before him, he made doubly sure that it was the Lord’s will. He knew that if it were the Lord’s will, then he would have the backing of divine wisdom and power. It would be well for all of the Lord’s people to follow Gideon’s example in this respect. It is very easy to embark on some undertaking of our own planning and take for granted that the Lord will help us, only to be disappointed later when we fail.

There is never any failure of the divine purpose, hence to the extent that we can discern His will in our lives we will go from victory to victory. Gideon defeated that tremendous army of the Midianites with his little band of three hundred, not because they were so brilliant or so mighty in battle, but because God wanted the Midianites defeated and because Gideon obeyed God’s instructions as to how it could be done.

QUESTIONS:

For what purpose did God raise up judges in Israel?

What is the antitype of the work of the judges?

What lessons can we draw from the experiences of Gideon?

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