Straight Lines & Crooked Sticks | Judges 2:6-3:11

Introduction

Here’s a riddle: What can you keep and pass on at the same time?

A webpage from the Center for Christianity and Scholarship at Duke University states:

“Over the past 50 years, Christians have declined from 90% of the population of the United States to 65%. About 40 million Americans (16% of all American adults) used to attend church but no longer do. #deconstruction, #exvangelical, and #churchhurt are trending terms to describe a massive movement of people disillusioned by experiences within evangelical churches.”

Odds are good that you know someone who used to profess faith in Christ but has gone through a crisis of faith, a “deconstruction” as it’s popularly called these days.

It’s been observed that what one generation believes, the next generation is in danger of assuming. And what one generation assumes, the next is at risk of rejecting.

Faith. Faith is the answer to the riddle.

You can keep your faith and pass it on at the same time. But when that doesn’t happen—where there is generational apostasy, faithlessness following faith—the results are devastating.

Judges 2:6–3:11

6 When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. 7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. 8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. 9 And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. 11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. 

14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress. 16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. 19 But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.

20 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” 23 So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua. 

1 Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. 2 It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. 3 These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. 4 They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. 5 So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 6 And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods. 

7 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. 8 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. 9 But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 10 The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. 11 So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Keep the Faith and Pass It On

This is the second introduction to the Book of Judges. The book has two introductions (or an introduction in two parts) before it gets into the episodes of individual Judges, beginning with Othniel here in Judges 3:7. The first introduction described Israel’s failure to conquer the Promised Land. The second introduction focuses on Israel’s spiritual condition, beginning in the generation that followed Joshua. And both introductions provide a theological framework for understanding the sometimes bewildering, sometimes shocking events in the rest of the book.

Chapter 1 began “after the death of Joshua,” but the second introduction begins with a flashback to the days when Joshua is still alive. Why does it back up? It seems the purpose is to introduce a sharp contrast between the faithfulness of Joshua’s generation and the faithlessness of the generation that followed. “And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel” (Judges 2:7).

Then Joshua died (2:8), and so did the rest of that generation (2:10). “And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals” (Judges 2:10–11). One generation knew the Lord; the next did not. One generation served the Lord; the next served the Baals, the idols of the Canaanites.

The phrase their fathers is repeated seven times in this passage. God is called “the God of their fathers” (2:12), who made a covenant with their fathers (2:20), and revealed his commandments to their fathers (3:4). Thus, their fathers knew the Lord and walked in his ways (2:22). But the next generation quickly “turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked” (2:17). As a result, each subsequent generation was “more corrupt than their fathers” (2:19), a vicious spiral of generational decay that will be on display in the Book of Judges.

But this is the inspired Word of God, and the intended redemptive effect is not to discourage you with Israel’s depressing history, but to motivate you to keep the faith and to pass it on.

To keep the faith and pass it on, pay attention to these three lessons from Israel: 1) Remember God’s Salvation; 2) Reject God’s Rivals; and 3) Respond to God’s Mercy.

Remember God’s Salvation

How did Israel go from “the people served the Lord” (v. 7) to “the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals” (v. 11)? How did they go from those “who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel” (v. 7) to, “there arose another generation … who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel” (v. 10)?

This can’t be a problem simply of not having been alive to see the Exodus from Egypt or the crossing of the Jordan River or the Battle of Jericho. In that case, only that generation could ever know the Lord.

But the Israelites were told how to ensure this would not happen. When Joshua led the people across the Jordan River, he specifically directed twelve men—one from each tribe—to each take a stone from the river, “that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. … So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever” (Joshua 4:6–7).

And Moses commanded the people before entering the Land, “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children” (Deuteronomy 4:9; cf. Deut 6:6–12; Ps 78:1-7).

God desires generational faithfulness—the succession of faith from one generation to the next. And God is pleased to bring this about through ordinary means—parents educating and disciplining their children to know the Lord.

But notice the acceleration of decline in Judges 2:10–13. First, a faithful generation died (v. 10). Then a faithless generation followed that did not know the Lord (v. 10). Instead, that generation worshiped idols (v. 11) and abandoned the Lord (v. 12). And finally, the Lord was provoked to anger (v. 13). Ignorance led to idolatry; amnesia led to apostasy.

It doesn’t say that they didn’t know about the Lord; it says they didn’t know the Lord. There is a difference between knowing about God and personally knowing God. 1 Samuel 2:12 says, “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD.” Eli’s sons knew about the Lord and went through the motions serving in the tabernacle, but they didn’t personally know and trust and love the Lord.

The danger every generation faces—the danger we face—is the trap of going through the outward motions, learning the lingo, repeating the traditions, but without the heart. It’s been said that traditionalism is when the living pass on a dead faith, whereas tradition is living faith passed on from those who are now dead. Is yours a living or a dead faith?

The transmission of living faith from one generation to the next is crucial. Paul told the Philippians, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9). Each generation must be educated, enculturated, and discipled in the faith.

To keep your faith and pass it on, you must remember and not forget God’s saving work. Just like the generation after Joshua forgot the mighty works of God in saving their fathers, you must guard your heart and mind from forgetting the gospel. Shortly before his death, Paul wrote to Timothy, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel” (2 Timothy 2:8).

Remember Jesus? Remember the resurrection of Jesus? How could anyone forget? But it’s possible, and your hope begins to shift from Christ to self or sin.  

The author of Hebrews warns, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. … How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation” (Hebrews 2:1). Drift. Neglect. And before you know, an entire generation is going through empty motions or “deconstructing” their faith and deconverting.

That’s why Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:1–3).

What about you? Do you know the Lord? Is Christ Jesus still your first love? Is the gospel still precious and powerful to you? Are you easily edified? Are you rejoicing in the Lord? Or is your heart cold and unaffected by the gospel and searching for something else

Remember God’s salvation—the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Reject God’s Rivals

Not only did the next generation of Israelites not know the Lord, but listen to verses 11–13:

“And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the LORD to anger. They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.”

Once again, the author manually increases the contrast to make sure we don’t miss this. They abandoned the LORD (i.e., Yahweh). That’s God’s personal, covenantal name. He revealed it to his people when he established a covenantal relationship with them. But the next generation served “the Baals,” which is plural here, stressing the generic nature of these “other gods.” The LORD is called “the God of their fathers,” but the Baals come “from among the gods of the peoples who were around them” (v. 12). The emphatic point is that these are foreign gods, strange gods, false gods, literally “other gods” (v. 12), which is a direct reference to the very first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3).

Who are these gods? Baal was the god of storms and rain, associated with the fertility of crops, livestock, and people. And the Ashtaroth (that’s plural) were the female companions of the Baals, goddesses “of love and sensual pleasure or fertility.”

Why did Israel trade the living God for these idols? There was likely a practical element, as commentator Barry Webb points out. The Canaanites lived in this fruitful land flowing with milk and honey, and they believed the fertility of the land came from Baal. The Israelites, on the other hand, had grown up wandering in the desert, eating manna from heaven. They knew nothing about agriculture. Perhaps they felt they had to learn from their new neighbors in order to survive. When the people of God admire and envy the wisdom of the world, it betrays unbelief in God.

But there was another layer to the temptation as well. The Lexham Bible Dictionary explains that Baal worshipers “believed that sexual acts performed in his temple would boost Baal’s sexual prowess, and thus contribute to his work in increasing fertility.” So Canaanite religion was highly sexualized—a lot like our own culture.

We know from the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy that the people living in Canaan practiced all kinds of abominations: incest, bestiality, and homosexuality (Lev 18); they burned their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods (Deut 18:10); they practiced sorcery, fortune telling, divination, and talking to the dead (Deut 18:10–11).

And we know from Numbers 25:1–5 that the people of Israel were lured and enticed by the sensual nature of Baal worship. “While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods” (Numbers 25:1–2).

Look again at Judges 3:6: “And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.” Sexual sin has always been closely linked with idolatry and apostasy. Do not be naive! Every temptation to sin—to find your satisfaction and security apart from God—is always luring you away from the living God.

This is why God commanded Israel to devote all the inhabitants to destruction, and tear down all the altars to the Baals and the Ashtaroth. Modern readers tend to feel bad for the Canaanites, but Scripture insists that the Canaanites were not innocent; they were wicked and perverse. (See Deuteronomy 12 and Leviticus 18.)

So God commanded Israel to completely destroy the Canaanites as God’s justice. But instead, Israel was enticed by Baal worship and lured by pagans into idolatry, sexual perversion, and child sacrifice. Interesting, isn’t it, that the major issues celebrated by pagan culture around us are sexual perversion and child sacrifice?

Dale Ralph Davis correctly notes, “God's people in our day have no revealed mandate to swing the actual sword of God's justice at contemporary pagans. But the principle remains—we must retain a distinct separation from our culture while mounting an active opposition to it, else we will blend with it. We are still called to this separation from and combat with our own godless culture.”

How do we maintain separation from and opposition to our culture, while holding out the hope of the gospel to our culture? First, by proactively building a deep and thick and robust gospel culture. Second, by opposing and combat the culture, not with weapons of this world, but with the power of the gospel.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3–5; cf. Eph 6:11–12).

To keep the faith and to pass it on, you must reject idolatry and resist the pressure to be conformed to the world.

Respond Rightly to God’s Mercy

The dumpster fire of Israel’s spiritual apostasy is an urgent warning, but the glory of God’s character—especially the mercy of God—is our great hope.

God’s righteous anger against Israel’s apostasy is revealed, beginning in v. 14: “So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.” God is perfectly holy and he burns with righteous anger against idolatry and unbelief. While the wrath of God is nothing to trifle with, it must be properly understood. It’s not short-tempered and reactive but an expression of his perfect character—his holiness for sure, but also his faithfulness and his love.

In Judges 2:20, the Lord says, “This people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice ….”  A covenant is a relationship bound by a solemn oath or promise, like a marriage. But Israel “whored after other gods” (2:17).

How would you expect a loving husband to respond to news that his wife is having an affair? If he was not deeply hurt and angered, you would doubt his love for her. Dale Ralph Davis writes, “To have a God who loves his people is to have a jealous God, and to have a jealous God is to have an intolerant God. ‘Love divine’ is not soft laxity but blazing intolerance, an absolute claim (cf. Matt. 10:37-38). Such is the God of Israel whose jealous love makes him faithful in his anger toward you.”

As an expression of his faithful anger, Judges 2:14–15 says, “He gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them for harm, as the LORD had warned, and as the LORD had sworn to them.” That is justice—the punishment fits the crime. They abandoned the Lord (v. 12), and God sold them and gave them over to their enemies (v. 14). They did evil in the sight of the Lord (v. 11) and his hand was against them for evil (v. 15).

Yet even God’s punishment was merciful because it was discipline and not destruction. The Lord could have destroyed Israel. Instead, he caused all things to work for their good, including the wicked kings who oppressed them and the pagan nations they were supposed to destroy. Scripture indicates that God left the pagan nations as a consequence, and yet his purpose was to test them (2:22; 3:1, 4) and to teach them, which is the goal of discipline.

And so Judges 2 gives us a biblical paradigm for reading history—including our own story. God often draws straight lines with crooked sticks. When you see wicked rulers rising up, you can be confident that their reign is intended by God to accomplish God’s purposes (not theirs) and they are on God’s timeline (not their own). Our own times provide us with God-appointed opportunities to trust the Lord, to obey him, to be firm in our convictions and bold in our witness.

And this does not come from you; it is the mercy of God that will keep you to the end. Look at vv. 14 and 16 together: “So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel” (v. 14), “Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them” (v. 16). This is the sheer mercy of God.

They provoked the Lord to anger, and the Lord who saved them. There is no mention here of any repentance. It simply states that God was moved to pity: “Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. … For the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them” (vv. 16, 18). God keeps and preserves his people by mercifully limiting the affliction of his people and taking the initiative to alleviate their suffering before they ask for it, and certainly not because they deserve it.

But how did Israel respond to God’s mercy? Verse 17 says, “Yet they did not listen to their judges.” And verse 19 says, “But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.”

This is the pattern that will be on repeat throughout the rest of the Book of Judges. With each cycle, it gets worse and worse—a vicious spiral down. It’s been said that history doesn’t repeat, but it does often rhyme.

This is a dire warning to us today. Americans are tempted to put their hope in political saviors. If the right candidate wins, that buys us four years of relief from our oppressors. But what happens if we do not respond to the mercy of God in genuine repentance and faith? It will only get worse and worse. This nation needs more than the right administration in the White House, though that is undeserved kindness from God. We need reformation in our churches and revival in our land, the kind suggested in v. 19: dropping idolatrous practices, forsaking stubborn ways, and turning to the Lord.

Does that seem hopeless and impossible when you think about the state of our culture? If human sin was the final word, it would be. But the glory of God in the Book of Judges is that where sin abounds, the mercy of God super abounds. The deeper they plunge into the abyss, the deeper God’s mercy reaches.

That’s apparent in the description of the first Judge, Othniel.  At first, it seems he is described rather generically; his story lacks details. But his story is carefully told in terms that echo almost verbatim the pattern introduced in chapter 2. Only now, the names of a specific oppressor and a specific deliverer are mentioned.

The villain is Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia (3:8). In Hebrew, 3:8 reads, “Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim.” There is a bit of a rhyme. Double-wickedness, king of double rivers. His name suggests his excessive wickedness, which Israel endured for eight years. And the text reminds us that it was the LORD who “sold them” into his hand (3:8).

The deliverer is Othniel, Caleb’s nephew, who already made an appearance in Judges 1. Othniel stands out. Not only is he the first judge we meet, but his life is free from the scandal of judges like Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. Othniel is an example of enduring faith in the midst of a faithless generation. While his peers were marrying Canaanites and worshiping idols (3:6), Othniel’s marriage to Achsah, the daughter of Caleb (1:13), stands out. It was the Lord who responded to the cry of his people and raised up Othniel as a deliverer (3:9), the Lord empowered Othniel by his Spirit (3:10), and the Lord who gave Cushan-rishathaim into Othniel’s hand (3:10).

Notice where the episode starts and where it ends. It begins with Israel’s sin and idolatry; it ends with God’s merciful deliverance … and a question for the next generation. The last sentence says, “Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died” (3:11). Remember Judges 2:19? “Whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers.” So the death of Othniel raises a question. Will Israel be faithful, or not?

Conclusion

What about you? Will you be faithful, or not?

Will you keep the faith? Will you pass it on? Will the next generation be faithful?

Othniel’s death raises the question; only the death of Jesus could provide the remedy to our unfaithfulness and our descent into worse and worse corruption and misery. There is One who was faithful to the end, to his dying breath. He was tempted, he was mocked, he was rejected, beaten, and crucified, and yet he perfectly trusted and fully obeyed God the Father. And what makes his faithfulness good news is that he offered his perfect life as a substitutionary sacrifice for your life of disobedience, idolatry, and unbelief. By his blood he paid for all your sins. And by his resurrection from the dead, he secured your perseverance and endurance.