Judges 6:1 – 10 “Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; so He delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.
Whenever the Israelites would plant their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east would come up and invade them, encamping against them as far as Gaza and destroying the produce of the land. They left Israel with no sustenance, neither sheep nor oxen nor donkeys. For the Midianites came with their livestock and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were innumerable, and they entered the land to ravage it.
Israel was greatly impoverished by Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD. Now when the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian, He sent them a prophet, who told them, “This is what the LORD God of Israel says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. I delivered you out of the hands of Egypt and all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you: ‘I am the LORD your God. You must not fear(worship) the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.’ But you did not obey Me.”
It’s forty years later. Deborah is dead. Barak is dead. Most of the men who helped defeat Sisera are probably also dead. And Israel has gone back to worshiping the baals, the local demonic gods. Never mind that God did all kinds of miracles to rescue Israel from Sisera and his troops. Never mind that women are still singing the Song of Deborah as they draw water from the well. The Israelites have fallen back into idolatry again and are paying the price. The Midianites, the Amalekites, and other tribes from the east are coming through like a plague of locusts, leaving nothing in their wake.
What happened? As long as Deborah was alive, the Israelites stayed on a straight path…. well, fairly straight anyway. But as soon as Deborah died, idolatry became the order of the day. Why? The answer lies in the failure of the Israelites to follow God’s commands. God used Moses to warn the Israelites repeatedly that they must study His Word and teach it to their children.
Deuteronomy 6:6 – 15 “These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you did not build, with houses full of every good thing with which you did not fill them, with wells that you did not dig, and with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied, be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Fear the LORD your God, serve Him only, and take your oaths in His name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you. For the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.”
What happened? The vast majority of the Israelites got lazy and failed to study God’s Word for themselves or to teach it to their children. Preoccupied with making a living and entranced by the wealth of Canaan, the Israelites wandered off just like a flock of sheep looking for one more tender blade of grass. Refusing to annihilate the idolatrous tribes of the land, the Israelites settled for second best, compromising and prevaricating.
Were there still some righteous people among the Israelites? Yes. God always had a remnant who were faithful; however, these people were likely regarded as weird or fanatics.
Finally after marauders picked the entire land clean and after the idols failed, the Israelites cried out to God. God’s prophet advised the Israelites that they were the ones at fault; they had broken covenant and God was only following His part of the bargain.
APPLICATION: Bad things can happen to anybody; just ask Job. Job was a righteous man whose faith was tested repeatedly as he lost everything and then developed sores all over his body. And just when Job was hoping his friends would encourage him, they dumped all over him, blaming Job, that he must have committed some secret sins for which God was punishing him. These self – appointed comforters were actually vicious critics who only made Job feel worse.
Job never fell away from God, despite his suffering. But the Israelites refused to keep the covenants with God that their ancestors had made, an unthinkable failure in a culture in which covenants were sacred. In a society with strong oral traditions, fathers should have been passing on this information to their sons. Refusing to teach about the covenant and to abide by it resulted in disaster.
We may be tempted to criticize the Israelites, but how faithful are we to God in our own lives? How many times has God helped us, only for us to fall back into the same habits we had before? The term “repentance” literally means to turn away from whatever wrong we have been doing. The Israelites never really repented; they just cried for help. As soon as God delivered the Israelites, it was business as usual.
Do you want the peace of God in your life, that peace that is beyond understanding? Ask God to show you the things that are separating you from Him and then turn away from those things permanently. Rest assured that when you do so, God’s peace will come.
PRAYER: Father God, please help us to repent from anything that is separating us from You. Help us not to fall back into the wrong things that we have been doing but to totally change the course of our lives so that we follow hard after You. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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