Leaders for Troubled Times

GOLDEN TEXT: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” —I Corinthians 10:13

JUDGES 2:11, 14-23

WITH the death of Joshua, the successor of Moses, there followed in the history of Israel what Bible scholars generally refer to as the Period of the Judges. This era in Israel’s experiences lasted for 450 years. During this time there was no central government in the land. Indeed, there was no government at all. The record is that every man did what was right in his own eyes.—Judges 17:6

After the elders who served with Joshua had died, the nation soon became corrupt. They worshiped other gods; and Jehovah, the God of Israel, permitted his people to suffer defeat at the hands of their enemies, and to be oppressed by them. This was in keeping with God’s covenant with his people, as outlined in Leviticus, chapter 26, and Deuteronomy, chapter 28.

But in keeping with his covenant God did not forsake his people permanently in these situations, but whenever they cried to him for help he raised up a judge to deliver them. These judges were the only representatives of Jehovah in the nation during this particular period of their history. They raised armies to fight Israel’s enemies, and exercised authority along all needful lines in order to extricate the nation from the many difficulties into which it had fallen through the worship of idols and other transgressions of the divine law.

Othniel was the first of these judges whom the Lord raised up to deliver his people. (Judges 3:9) Samuel was the last. Gideon was also one of the judges. All will remember the account of Gideon and his little army of three hundred defeating the mighty army of the Midianites, thus delivering the Israelites from oppression and exploitation.

Much of the Israelites’ difficulty arose from the fact that many of the idol-worshiping Canaanites were allowed to remain in the land. Joshua did not drive them all out in his conquest of the land, and the Lord allowed them to remain as a test to his people. On this point the Lord said, “I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: that through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.”—vss. 21,22

In most instances during this period the Israelites yielded to the temptations which surrounded them, and transgressed the law of the Lord. The judges whom the Lord raised up from time to time delivered them from their oppressors, and they rendered a measure of obedience to the Lord as long as the judge lived. But left to themselves, they soon wandered away from the Lord again, and another judge would be needed to get them out of their trouble.

God does not shield his people from tests of faithfulness. He could have shielded Adam, but he did not. He could have driven all the idol worshipers from the Promised Land and thus have shielded Israel from temptation to worship other gods. But the Lord desires the worship of those who willingly and gladly acknowledge him as the true God, regardless of the circumstances with which they are surrounded. So it is with spiritual Israel of the present age. It will be true of the restored world of mankind during the Millennial Age.

The Golden Text is a precious promise, and to the point. The Lord knows that his people have trials and temptations. He knows that these are good for them. Many times our experiences are not any different from those through which the world is passing. The difference is that the Lord is with us in our trials, giving us strength to bear them, pointing out to us by his providences the meaning they have for us as we are being prepared to live and to reign with Christ.

In this promise we are also assured that the Lord will not permit us to be tested above that which we are able to bear. When the trial becomes too great, he will provide a way of escape, that we may not be crushed by it. What a wonderful arrangement this is! The Lord helps us in every time of need; and when necessary, his help is in the form of deliverance. May we respond to such love and wisdom by being faithful to him, even unto death! —Rev. 2:10

QUESTIONS

What was the Period of the Judges? How did God deal with his people during this period?

Does the Lord shield his people from trials?

What blessed assurance is given us in the Golden Text?

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