Israel’s Pragmatism

Transcript

GRS 2-48
11/12/2006
Israel’s Pragmatism
Judges 2:6-3:7
Gil Rugh

We are doing a study in the Book of Judges; you turn to Judges in your Bible. Book of Judges and the 2nd Chapter; Chapter 1 of Judges introduced us to the foundational material for the Book, Israel has been unfaithful. They have not obeyed the Lord by driving out the Canaanites from the land. Remember under Joshua the major opposition; the united opposition in the land of Canaan had been crushed. Then the land was divided among the individual tribes of Israel and their responsibility was to complete the process of destroying the Canaanites.

But as Chapter 1 indicated they did not do that. So Chapter 2 opened up in the first five verses with a remarkable appearance of the angel of the Lord, the messenger of the Lord and we noted in several passages this is the pre-incarnate Christ. It is a theophany or a Christophany, a manifestation of God before man. So Chapter 2 begins, now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he has come to confront them about their disobedience.

He speaks, he reminds them of what they were to do, and he tells them in verse 3, I will not drive them out before you, they will become thorns in your sides, their gods will be a snare to you. Then the people begin to weep as often the case. Why do we wait and rebel and hesitate or fail to obey the Lord, and then oh we are so sorry, so many tears when obedience would have been the road that would have avoided the tears.

Picking up with Chapter 2 verse 6, in verses 6 to 10, we are reminded about Joshua’s death because that’s background. During the days of Joshua, during of the days of the elders and leaders associated with Joshua, the people of Israel were faithful. But the succeeding generations did not maintain that faithfulness. Basically verses 6 to 10 are review of what was found at the end of the Book of Joshua. Joshua 24, were recorded the death of Joshua and the same basic words. Verse 6 when Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. Now we are not being told that Joshua just died because we have read Joshua. But this is a review to remind us of what happened in this process. The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which he had done for Israel. Then Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord died at the age of 110, they buried him.

Verse 10, all the generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there rose another generation after them who did not know the Lord nor yet the work which he had done for Israel. A sad, sad breakdown somewhere here that you have a generation that now comes on the scene that is basically ignorant of the mighty works of God and they didn’t know the Lord and there is no details unfolded for us as why this happened. I mean, did the parents failed and their instruction to the priest of Israel failed and their role as teachers in Israel were not told but it is a catastrophe that you have a generation who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which he had done for Israel and as we noted that is a challenge to pass it on to the next generation.

Or that first generation often parents were come to know the Lord, young people would have come to know the Lord and in that life time somewhere along the line there is a cooling, there is a loss of passion, loss of focus and the generation that comes up does not know the Lord and does not obey him.

Judges Chapter 2 verses 11 to 19 show the cycle that’s going to be repeated throughout the Book. So we are still in that introductory portion of the Book of Joshua. We are not going to get to the first of Judges until we get to Chapter 3 verse 9. So we are preparing the way for that repeated cycle that’s going to go through the Book. So verses 11 to 19 show the cycle that will be repeated and you are familiar with it will use all “ss” here.

Sin, servitude, supplication, salvation, the people sin, God puts them into slavery to their enemies. After years in slavery they come with supplication and beseech the Lord for deliverance and he rises up a Judge who is a deliver to defeat the enemy that is holding them in slavery. And then the cycle goes over again because once they are delivered the pressures off they forget the Lord and they go back to their old ways so the Lord puts them into slavery again to their enemies. After slavery for a while they repent and ask the Lord to deliver them and he raises up another Judge and the cycle goes through a period of 350 years.

We have a condensed year for us but that’s a long time with such a terrible cycle to continue. Verse 11, then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and serve the Baals. They forsook the Lord the God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. And followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were around them and bowed themselves down to them thus they provoke the Lord to anger.

Sad state of a fair, they forsook, verse 13, the Lord and served the Baal and the Ashtoreth. See the pattern now, they failed to drive out the Canaanites and now they had begun to adopt the gods of the Canaanites and the worship of the Canaanites. And so now they abandoned the worship of the living God and they are worshiping the gods of the Canaanites. Baal was a fertility god, we are well familiar his name appears many times in the Old Testament and he was supposed to be responsible for the rains that brought fertility to the land of Canaan and made a productive land and a fertile land.

And it’s often the case in pagan places; they worship what they would call the forces behind nature. Baal was the god of fertility and he brought fertile need of a lion. Ashtoreth was the concert of Baal, a goddess. She is a goddess of war and the goddess of fertility. We are familiar with the name many of you are she was worshipped in Babylon as Ishtar back to – if you were to look at one of the current Books on Babylon and they show you there were remains of old Babylon, they have the Ishtar Gate, gate devoted to the goddess Ishtar. Here she is known as Ashtoreth.

Now the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth involved animal sacrifice, temple prostitution, and even human sacrifice. The sacrifice of your children as an offering to Baal. It was a very immoral and degrading system with temple prostitution being part of it. Can you believe? That we left the Book of Joshua, we are in the Book of Judges and Israel is already degraded to the point that they are worshipping the fertility gods of Canaan, involved in the immoral temple prostitution practices of this worship system and even sacrificing their own children.

Look at a passage on that in a moment. You say, how could it happen, well there is definite appeal to it. So now you are looking and your first thought is unbelievable and yet there were certain appeal and things that draw you in, obviously if the devil is going to make false worship which is really the worship of demons appealing there has to be something that draws you.

First thing here with the tribes being dispersed into various areas throughout the land, Shiloh which has been their worship center and we will till the time of David and the conquering of Jerusalem. Well, that center now is diffused and you loose that central focus of worship so now you have tribes from the north to south and east to the west. And they are more inclined to try to fit in with their neighbors; they haven’t driven the Canaanites out, the various groups of where you lump under the title Canaanites. And so there is a desire to fit in and be accepted by them.

So you don’t want to make your religion “an issue” always be offending those that you have chosen to live longer. Secondly, we are intended to be influenced by what works, pragmatism is not new and Israel was not blind. They have seen the fertile valleys and the areas where the Canaanites had raised such luxurious crop. Remember this is a land flowing with milk and honey. It is fruitful, it is prosperous, it is a very fertile land. And they are among the Canaanites and this is the way the land was when they came in and the Canaanites are worshiping Baal and Ashtoreth and they claimed that these are the gods that bring them a fertile land and we live among them now and as I think about it the land was already fertile when we got here.

So it seems that there may be something too their worship system. And if you have a little bit of drought time and things don’t go well, may be you think, well, may be the Canaanites were on to something.

Turn over to the Book of Jeremiah. Just pass the middle of your Bible, the prophet Jeremiah. Just go to Chapter 44, Jeremiah 44. In Jeremiah 44, many years had gone by; we are about 500 years before Christ. So 800 or so years have transpired from where we are in Judges. But Israel has come under again the domination of their enemies, the Babylonians and they run that the Babylonians had left in Jerusalem, Palestine have fled into Egypt after a mini revolt against Babylonian authorities and they have taken Jeremiah with them.

In Chapter 44, and Jeremiah had warn them not to go to Egypt. In Chapter 43, but they didn’t pay any attention. Verse 44, the word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, those who were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, the land of Pathros saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you yourselves have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem, all the cities of Judah, all this day they are in ruins and no one lives in them because of their wickedness which they committed so as they provoke me to anger by continuing to burn sacrifices, to serve other gods which they had not known, neither they, nor your fathers.

Yet I sent to you all my servants the prophets again and again saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing which I hate.” They did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their wickedness, not to burn sacrifices to other gods. Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and burnt in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that become a ruin and dissolution to this day.

Now thus says, the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, why are you doing great harm to yourselves? So as to cut off from you man and women, child and infant, from among you to leaving yourselves without remnant? Provoking me to anger with the work of your hands, burning sacrifices to other gods, the land of Egypt where you are entering to reside and on he goes with talking about judgment.

He reminds them in verse 9, have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah? Verse 10, but they have not become contrite even to this day. They have not feared or walked in my law or my statues. So more judgment is to come, beginning with verse 11, jump down. So verse 15, now the response to the word of God through Jeremiah, the prophet. Then all the men who are aware that there was burning sacrifices to other gods along with all the women who were standing by as a large assembly including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt responded to Jeremiah saying, as for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord we are not going to listen to you.

But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouth, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven, pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings, and our princess did in the cities of Judah and in the street of Jerusalem for then we had plenty of food. We were well often so no misfortune. See how the thinking goes.

Back we are in Judah and we are worshipping other gods, it seems we were doing well. They can’t even put two and two together when God gives them the answer. We were prospering then; you know what the problem is we stop worshipping those other gods like we should. But Jeremiah we won’t listen to a word you have to say. We are going to worship these other gods.

Verse 18, since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven; they worship today in Roman Catholic system. We don’t have to read much Roman Catholic literature to come across the queen of heaven under a different name but the same personage. We stop burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven, pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything, we have met our end by the sword and famine. The women said when we are burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven, we are pouring out drink offerings to her was it without her husband that we made sacrificial cakes and her image poured our drink on it, everything was good and we had our husband. Now without husbands being killed and all because we stop worshiping queen of heaven.

You see that kind of connection and evidently that kind of thinking easily comes in 800 years earlier. People begin to think oh, it was good when we weren’t worshipping the Lord faithfully, they don’t connect it, we are under judgment now. This is real today, look and say all our problems are result of our rejection of our Messiah, our rejection of the word of God that he gave to us and now we are under his judgment. We must repent, bow before him. No, they stubbornly refuse his word and the judgment goes on.

So that’s the first reason was being dispersed and having the Canaanites now living among them. They like to be accepted by their neighbors; secondly, the pragmatism is seemed like Canaan was blessed when the Canaanites were worshiping the gods of fertility. So may be there is something to their worship.

Third reason is temple prostitution. Sex has powerful influence in our lives. And here is an opportunity to worship and also be moral without being considered immoral because this is part of your worship. So that would have its sensual appeal. Then you have the alliance as with the Canaanites that often involve then recognition of worship and with this going on today. You have the Pope talking to Muslims and we have to talk about what we could agree on with our religion. You have the so called evangelicals talking about with the Roman Catholics. We have to talk about what we can agree on. Now you have the Jews living in Canaan, among Canaanites they were supposed to drive out and destroy the religion, now we have to talk about adjustments.

Furthermore now we are going to intermarry. Now my son or daughter is married to a Canaanite who worships the gods of Canaan and we have to get along as family. Now we are family and so these things break down. We wonder how could Israel do it.

Back in Judges, Chapter 2. Pattern in verse 12, you may have these words underlined, if not, you should underline them, highlight it, circle it, verse 12, the word forsook, they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. Circle or underline the word followed and followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were around them.

And then mark the word bowed, they bowed themselves down to them and the word provoked, and provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook, followed, bowed, provoked, all starts here with they forsook the Lord and in the pattern one, they did do what he had said. Is that a major element in disobedience? I mean, the sin start out as full blown rebellion doesn’t seem, they just didn’t wipe out the Canaanites like they were told. But they put them to slavery.

As we know we studied that, seems like a workable compromise. But anytime you don’t obey the Lord you are on a road that only get worse. In the sense they didn’t destroy them, now they become influenced by them. And as they are influenced by them pretty soon their women seem like they would make good wives, their men seem like they would make good husbands, now we are going to intermarry with them.

And now we are all mixed together we can let religion split families and pretty soon we are all going to worship in the corrupted worship of the Canaanites. So back in Chapter 2, verse 14, the anger of the Lord burnt against Israel so now you have servitude. Sin leads the servitude in the Book of Joshua. So here you have the pattern in verses 11 through 13 Israel sin.

Now verses 14 and 15, they are going to be in slavery. The anger of the Lord burnt against Israel; he gave them into the hands of plunders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went the hand of the Lord was against them for evil as the Lord had spoken and as the Lord had sworn to them so they were severely distressed.

There is no rebellion against the Lord that ends up successfully. I mean, I disobeyed the Lord here but I for myself in saying that will be okay. It is never okay to disobey the Lord. I mean that is always an upfront to the living the God, a challenge to him. So punish me like he said he would. We know what happens when the punishment is delayed; we think it wasn’t so bad, nothing happened. We sin and we almost hold our breadth the first time and rollover and you have a pain and you think, oh, no, the Lord is punishing me for my sin. Then you find out that pain just didn’t went away in a few days, go buy and everything is good as always think it couldn’t too bad and so we commit the sin again and pretty soon we love then we think to do it regularly the Lord doesn’t mind it.

We are just storing up judgment for the coming day. I want you to turn over to Saul 106, so we look at something of the detail of their sin here. Saul 106, and Saul 106 is an account of Israel’s rebellion and the Lord’s forgiveness, not just in the days of Judges but Israel’s history here starts out the Saul praise the Lord, thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love and kindness is everlasting. And who can speak of the mighty deeds of the Lord, who can show forth all his praised.

Blessed are those who keep justice, who keep practice righteousness at all time and asking the Lord’s blessing on him as he writes this. Then verse 6, we had sin like our fathers, we have committed iniquity and our fathers in Egypt, verse 7, and he goes on caring on that history. Come down to verse 34, because this comes the way we are the days of the Judges.

Verse 34, they did not destroy the people, verse 32 and 33, talked about events with Moses at the water of Meribah and so on. Some of the events leading up to this verse 34; they did not destroy the peoples as the Lord commanded them. That’s the days of the Judges where we are. They mingled with the nations; they learned their practices and served their idols which became a snare to them. Now note this, they even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to their demons.

And shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. And the land was polluted with the blood. They became unclean in their practices and played the harlot in their deeds. Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this people and he uphold his inheritance. He gave them into the hands of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them. Wasn’t that a terrible thing?

How low you sink in your sin, you become what you never thought it would be. You do what you would have never in a thousand years thought you would do. They scarified their own children to the demon gods of Canaan. Remember we saw in First Corinthians Chapter 10, the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrificed to demons. All false worship is the worship of demons. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters, I mean, they are drawn in, it starts out with what we had not major rebellion, they just didn’t wipe out all the Canaanites but they put them to slavery. And it ends up with murdering their own children as an act of sacrifice to demon gods.

I mean, there is no bottom to our depravity. Scare us, frighten us that we think if I may commit the sin, it doesn’t seem major. But I am free to commit the sin; I am not free to control the consequences of my sin. And once I commit that act of rebellion against God I have opened the door that is frightening.

Come back to Judges Chapter 2. So what we have stated in summary fashion here, they have come to the depths of depravity. Verses 16 to 19, you have God bringing salvation, you don’t have included here, they are supplication and beseeching the Lord for forgiveness that will come out in the actual events in the Book unto the individual Judges will see them crying out to the Lord. Here we just jump to the fact that the Lord raised up Judges in verse 16.

So verses 16 to19 talk about the salvation that the Lord graciously provides. Then the Lord raised up Judges who deliver them from the hands of those who plunder them. The Judges are not rendering decisions among the Israelites they are here as delivers. Yet they did not listen to their Judges for they played the harlot after other gods and bow themselves down to them. They turn to sight quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked and obeying the commandments of the Lord. They did not do as their fathers.

When the Lord raised up Judges for them, the Lord was with the Judge and deliver them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the Judge. For the Lord was moved the pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. But it came about when the Judge died that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers.

Sin is always taking us a step down, a step down, a step down. You have the decline of generations till ultimately you are going to have the whole northern kingdom going in the captivity and slavery. Then the southern kingdom going into captivity and slavery.

Verse 19, they would act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, bow down to them, they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. Sad, sad account. The Lord is a gracious God, a merciful God. Now here you have a summary of the cycle that is going to take place through the Book of Judges, you will note the end of verse 18, the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those oppressed and afflicted them.

What would you like to with our own children, right? They do wrong even if they get older and they become somewhat on their own and they get themselves in trouble and yet you don’t abandon them. You think well, can I help them out one more time. They know, they seem remorseful there and I don’t have a great hope that they won’t get into trouble again. But I helped them through this time. The Lord is gracious, he keeps reaching out and you think these acts of mercy and compassion and forgiveness.

As soon as the pressure is off, Israel is back to its old ways. So that’s the pattern, the corruption will get worse and worse and worse. Verse 20, so the anger of the Lord burnt against Israel; and he said, because this nation has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers has not listened to my voice I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died in order to test Israel by them.

Whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in and as their fathers did or not. So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua. Now these are nations which the Lord left to test Israel by them. That is all would not experience any of the wars of Canaan. Only and order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war those who had not experienced it formally. These are the nations the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.

They were for testing Israel to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers through Moses. And verse 5 gives you more of the names of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites and usually when we talk about these people we just talk about them as Canaanites.

But you know the Canaanites are just one of the particular people because this is land of Canaan we usually just talk about the Canaanites. Now when I use the term the Canaanites, you keep in mind they are not one unified people, just the Canaanites throughout the land, they are Canaanites and they are Hivites and there are Sidonians and so on as listed here. So we don’t have to list them all the time, we just call them the Canaanites.

And these verses tell us of the anger of the Lord and it’s a result of Israel’s unfaithfulness. The Lord gives four reasons why he doesn’t drive out the Canaanites. I want to just list these because sometimes you read and say, well it’s a little bit confusing, it seemed like he said the reason he didn’t drive them out was one thing here and the reason he didn’t drive them out over, here is another reason. Well, there are four reasons to give why he doesn’t drive out the Canaanites.

Now let me just list these reasons for you. The first reason was to keep the land under control until Israel was ready to posses it. That was back in Deuteronomy, Chapter 7, verses 20 to 24. And just wipe out the people in the land of Canaan like we said, he could have just send a plague through in and they all been dead when Israel got there.

But then the wild animals would have multiplied and there would have been nobody to take of the land and so on. So the Lord said I won’t drive them out all at once. That was first reason. Now God’s intention was that under Joshua all major resistance large united forces be destroyed. So then each tribe would have responsibility to take possession of their individual portion of land and destroy the people living in that land, that portion of land.

Second reason, God doesn’t drive out the Canaanites, it’s the punishes refer their apostasy of not obeying the covenant. In verse 2 of Chapter 2, when the angel of the Lord spoke and he said it is for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land; you shall tear down their altars reminding them of what their agreement was. But you have not obeyed me, what is this you have done? Therefore I said I will not drive them out before you. They will become thorns in your sides; their gods will be a snare to you.

So first reason was to keep the land under control until Israel was ready to posses it. The second reason they didn’t follow through and clean out the Canaanites as they took possession of each portion of the land. Then because of their apostasy God would no longer drive out their enemy. The enemy would be there to be a constant source of trouble for them. We see that’s what is going to happen in the Judges.

So as Israel gets a little weak, the people of the land are going to overpower them until God raises up Judges to deliver them. So Israel couldn’t enjoy the land the way God intended them to enjoy it what he promised to them. If you keep my covenant, if you make no covenants with the people of the land. Then I will drive them out before you, then you will enjoy the land and it will be all for you but to punish Israel. They have continual problems now with the Canaanites.

So third reason is to test Israel’s faithfulness to God himself in Chapter 2, verse 22. Verse 21, I will no longer drive out before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died in order to test Israel by them. Whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did or not. Chapter 3, verse 4, these nations were for testing Israel to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord which he had commanded their fathers through Moses.

Each new generation would have to demonstrate their faithfulness to the Lord. They would stand in the face of the pressure and the opposition. The problems of the Canaanites, the allurements that they presented and be faithful to the Lord and fourthly it was to give Israel experience in warfare, Chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. These were generation, now they rise up; they hadn’t experienced the wars under Joshua, the conquering of the land.

So the verse 2 in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war those who had not experienced it formally. They not only have to learn to fight but they have to learn to trust the Lord because one of things come clear there is no victory apart from the Lord’s power operating on their behalf. They couldn’t stand before their enemies.

At the end of verse 14, they no longer could stand before their enemies. So as they learned warfare, they learned warfare, the people of God not only how to battle, become battle tested people if you will but to learn that Israel’s only hope is their dependence on the Lord and reliance upon him for his victories.

So those are the four reasons why God left the Canaanites in the land or find its background in the fact Israel was unfaithful to these other things. Why did Israel has to learn warfare because the Canaanites were leaving, because God wouldn’t drive them out, because Israel didn’t drive them out when God told them to, doing what God told to do then you find you can’t do it when you think you might do it.

Verse 5, the sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites. And they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. Here are the three steps that Israel took, verses 5 and 6. The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites etc. They lived among the Canaanites. They weren’t supposed to do that. They were supposed to drive them out.

Secondly, they intermarried with them, they took their daughters for themselves as wives and they gave their own daughters to their sons. Turn back to Deuteronomy 7; look at the opening verses of this Chapter. When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it and clears the way many nations before you , the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you. And when the Lord your God delivers them before you; you shall defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.

You see the breakdown. Joshua dies, the land has been divided, now the individual tribes loose heart. We don’t want to just keep fighting, we want to stop. We want to enjoy the land. The sites we considered we enslave the Canaanites that will just help us get down, they will be there to help us build our cities. They will be here to help us care the land; they will be here to do the dirty work, the hard work. That’s what God said; don’t come up with a better idea than God.

His word stands you shall make no covenant with them, show no favor to them, you utterly destroy them. Furthermore you shall intermarry with them, you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. Now leave your finger Deuteronomy 7 and come back to Judges 3 and read the end of verse 6, not only did they gave their children in marriage to Canaanite people, they served their gods. There are three steps, they lived among the Canaanites, they intermarried with the Canaanites, they serve the gods of the Canaanites.

Come back to Deuteronomy 7 which verse 4 says you don’t intermarry; you don’t make covenants for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will quickly destroy you. But thus you shall you to them, you shall tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, hew down their Asherim, burn their graven images with fire for you are a holy people to the Lord your God.

The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any of the people; for you were the fewest of all people. Remember he chose Abraham, it’s a about a small nation as you can get one man with a barren wife. But because the Lord loved you, doesn’t go back any further than that. Well, why? Because the Lord loved you, it was an act that came from his own being. He kept the oath which he had sworn to your fathers, he brought you out the leverage.

Verse 9, Know therefore the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps his covenant, his love and kindness to a thousand generation with those who love him and keep his commandments. But he repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not delay with him who hates him; he will repay him to his face.

Therefore you shall keep the commandments, the statutes, the judgments, which I commanding you today to do them. Now you read that Israel had that, Israel had heard it. And you come over and you read Judges Chapter 3, verse 5, the sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites. They took their daughters for themselves as wives, gave their daughters to their sons, serve their gods.

I mean, what’s the problem here. Any of us can read this, may be Deuteronomy 7 says that’s clear. How do you find the people of God, in Chapter 3 of Judges verses 5 and 6 living among the Canaanites, intermarrying with the Canaanites and serving their gods? Back up a few pages, this is Joshua’s farewell address. He reminds them of all that the Lord has done. Verse 3 of Joshua 23, to all these nations for the Lord your God he has been fighting for you. Joshua 23, verse 4, see I have a portion to you these nations which remain as an inheritance for your tribes with all the nations that I have cut off. The Lord your God, verse 5, he will thrust them out from before you, drive them out before you, you will possess their land just as the Lord your God had promised you.

You see the responsibility now. Each of your tribes now the Lord will do for you individually as a tribe but he did for us as a nation and breaking the back of the Canaanite opposition. Verse 6, be very firm than to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses so they may not turn aside from to the right or to the left. So you will not associate with these nations which remain among you or mention of the name of their gods, or make anyone swear by them or serve them, or down to them. But you are to cling to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.

For the Lord has driven out great and strong nations before you. As for you, no man had stood before you to this day. One of your man puts the flight to thousand; for the Lord your God is who fights for you just as he promised you so he take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God.

What a guide we serve. Why do we become pragmatic? I have to work out and comprise solution here. Verse 12, if you ever go back, and cling to the rest of the these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them so that you associate with them and they with you. Know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you. But they will be a snare and a trap to you and a whip on your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given to you.




Now, behold, today I am going the way of all the earth: you know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one word of all the good words which the Lord our God has spoken concerning you as failed; all had been fulfilled for you are not one of them has failed.

So come about the just as all the good words which the Lord your God spoke to you have come upon you so the Lord will bring upon you all the threats until he has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord has given you. When you transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down to them; then the Lord God, will, burnt against, you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given you.

Here we are, think about all of Israel’s history right down to today. And Israel is in the land again by the grace of God. Believe on every side, despised in the world. Why do we disobey the Lord and here we are the church of Jesus Christ today. And we think we become wise because we’ve learned to be pragmatic. We’ve learned to adjust and compromise with the world and use the world and fit into the world and be like the world and we are successful. We are worse than Israel.

I mean, we have the history of Israel to learn to from, in addition to the completed revelation of God through the new covenant or New Testament. And we still think there is something to be said before compromise with the Canaanites. If I can make that analogy, learning to live with the gods of this world and finding out they are not all wrong.

We have nothing to learn from them. We have nothing to gain from them. All the resources we ever need are found in our God and that’s his intention for us. Two spiritual lessons we are done. Number one, spiritual and theological apostasy is a settled process. We mentioned this several times. The decision not to obey God and drive out the Canaanites, prepare the way for intermarrying with them, prepare the way for the corrupted worship.

That process of learning to be pragmatic with the world then learning to become involved, intermarrying not so bad is with the believer recently son anticipating marrying and we don’t have believer involved that there is any concern here. Well, it’s probably not the best, it’s far worse than that. What you mean it’s probably not the best? I mean, can we be clear, I realized the grace of God many have experienced unfaithfulness in this area and the grace of God has overruled and they have seen their spouse come to know the Lord, how gracious God is. Don’t presume upon the grace of God and think, well; see it works, it’s okay.

Secondly, enemies not dealt with may come back the conquerors. We are deluded in the thinking you can make little compromises with sin. We chose not to deal with sin biblically; we opened the door for it to assert its control over us. When Israel chose not to obey God by casting out the Canaanites, destroying the Canaanites, they didn’t necessarily think this man I am opening the door to worshiping their gods, to sacrificing my children, shedding the blood of my children in an act of worship to demons.

How many times you have talked to people, they are just going to taste the enjoyment of sin. Somehow you know you opened the door and you let sin put its arms around you, it was like that constricting snake. All of a sudden the arms are wrapping tighter and tighter and tighter. Now I would like to be free but I can’t get free, I am in slave what do I do?

Don’t open the door; don’t embrace sin, not even little sins. This can’t be that major; it will squeeze the life out of you. It will destroy you, how do I know for sure. Well, I read it. I am not super intelligent, I just read it. And when God speaks like he said I keep all of my covenant promises for blessing I keep all of my covenant promises for judgment. He is a God who keeps his word.

The wicked will go to hell. No matter how many theologian say I don’t think there is any eternal hell, I don’t think, God keeps his word. He does what he says he will do. He is not swayed by emotions. He won’t relent. He won’t quit.

Is that the way to start a Book? This is to prepare the way now we begin to look at the individual Judges beginning with Othniel and the cycle will go on. Sometimes there will be under in slavery to their enemies for eight years, some times for 18 years, the time varies, sometimes their period of deliverance will be 40 years, sometimes it will be as long as 8 years but the cycle goes on. What do we want to learn? We want to learn what God has done in history with Israel and then we want to be reminded these things are written for our admonishment upon whom the ends of the ages have come. So we might learn not to do the things they did that brought the discipline and judgment of God into their lives.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord for your grace. We don’t understand why you chose the place you love upon Israel. Not a great nation but nothing of a nation. When you called Abraham from earth, from the worship of idols, and chose to put your hand upon him as descendants and make them a might nation, a nation for yourself, people to be holy because you are a holy God. Lord, we see the consequences of sin in the nation Israel right down to our day and the worst is yet to come. But you know your word is true and even as your mercy has been poured out again and again through their history, there is coming a great climax of your mercy and grace that will result in their salvation we rejoice in that.

Lord, that same grace has taken hold of us when we were lost in our sin, worshiping the demons of the false worship systems of this world and yet we were brought to salvation in your son Jesus Christ through an act of your mercy and grace. Now we are called to be the people as the church of Jesus Christ purchased with his own blood, to live holy, godly lives in obedience to your word. May we learn from what it had been recorded about your people Israel, about the seriousness of sin that there are no little sins to be tolerated. And we have a passion for obedience that we might be holy as you are holy in all areas of our lives. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.