Wednesday, March 18

Scripture: They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them, and bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. (Judges 2:12).

Observation: Now that Joshua has died and there is no central figure for Israel to rally around, the Israelites will turn to the judges for leadership. When we hear the word “judge,” we imagine a lawyer dressed in a black robe who rules over a courtroom, hears civil or criminal cases, oversees a fair process for arriving at a verdict, and renders a sentence. But the only part of that image that would have applied to a judge in ancient Israel is the part where the judge hears a case and renders a verdict, and that was the minority of the job. The majority of what it meant to be a judge was general over a militia. In the absence of a standing army and a centralized government, when there were invaders threatening the people of Israel, the people of a local area, village, or tribe turned to whomever among them was the most respected, feared, and commanding of a following, and that leader would call up a militia of farmers and shepherds who would look to the leader as their general to lead them in battle; and not only a general, but a spokesperson for God, such that when the leader rallied the troops for battle, they spoke with God’s own authority. It is this type of leader – a Braveheart-like warrior rather than a college-educated lawyer – that Scripture calls a “judge.” The judges arose when Israel “abandoned the Lord,” in the seasons of Israel’s history post-Joshua and pre-King when they stopped worshipping the one true God and turned to the gods of the Canaanites. The word “abandon” is the Hebrew word azab, which means “leave behind” as in leaving an object, person, or relationship behind. In the times when Israel left God behind, when they forsook the relationship and turned their backs on the God who saved them in Egypt, and when they simply forgot about God, danger was close at hand, and inevitably the people would need saving again.

Application: There are some Christians who are concerned with being “left behind” after a rapture takes the faithful to heaven, but the overall concern of Scripture is not people being left behind on earth but rather people leaving God behind in life. The Book of Judges is the story of Israel leaving God behind again and again and again, and each time they do, God shows up, calls a judge, and saves the people. God will deliver them and bail them out as if the betrayal never happened. God’s response to Israel’s betrayal is betrayal’s opposite, that is, grace. There is a two-fold message here. First, there are consequences to leaving God behind. The consequences include the social fabric falling apart, righteousness and holiness forgotten, the decay of character, people forgetting how to love at home and love in public, and confusion over what “good” is and what “evil” is. Second, God doesn’t leave us behind when we leave God behind. We’re the ones who scootch away from God, but God doesn’t scootch. God draws closer.

Prayer:

Prayer is whatever arises from a heart pivoted in Your direction, and what arises today is a simple tug on Your shirtsleeve as a child would call for parent’s attention to say, “See me. See me wanting to be better. See me trying to draw closer to what You care about. See me when I pull away from the good and the noble. See me, and please never leave me. See me, and remember me when I am away from You. See me, and help me to see where your heart is facing.” Onward we go: amen.