Year 1, Week 26, Day 3 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 26, Day 3

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Judges 2-3.

Today’s reading takes us into the cycle of Judges that the LORD would raise up to rescue Israel from their bondage. Judges 2 continues with introductory matters for the Book of Judges. Judges 2 overlaps with Judges 1 (as well as some of Joshua 24), retelling matters already recorded, but with a slightly different emphasis. Judges 2 also introduces us to the pattern cycles that Israel will be shown to experience in this period of their history. Judges 3 begins the main section of the Book. While twelve judges will be mentioned in Judges 3-16, the Book’s arrangement while focus upon six judges, arranged in two groups of three, each introduced with a line much like this first statement: “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (Judges 3:7; see also Judges 3:12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; and 13:1).

One of the things that struck me in today’s reading was the parallels that the LORD shows between Joseph and Joshua and thus between the state of things in the generations after these two men: “Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love…So he saved them from the hand of the foe and redeemed them from the power of the enemy” (Psalm 106:7a,10). The condition of Israel and the rescuing power of God, which we saw back at the Exodus, will be displayed once again throughout the Book of Judges. This paralleling pattern will be set up as the Book of Judges describes the generation after the death of Joshua: “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” (Judges 2:10). Both Joseph and Joshua were 110 when they died (Joshua 24:29; Genesis 50:22). After their deaths, there is an immediate shift in the condition of the people of God. The Book of Exodus opened with a new generation after Joseph, who were in bondage. Just as the Egyptians placed the Israelites in bondage, so now various groups of Canaanites will place the Israelites in bondage: “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” (Judges 2:14).

The book of Judges is reminiscent of the immediate aftermath of the Fall from Eden: "But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” As soon as the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept” (Judges 2b-4). Just as Adam disobeyed the voice of the LORD and was barred from returning to the garden by the angel of the LORD, so now the angel of the LORD re-emerges with words about thorns as found in the curses from Genesis 3, and reflective of the difficulties that Israel would now face because of their idolatry: “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. And they abandoned the LORD…They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them” (Judges 2:11-12).

The Book of Judges is arranged in a carefully arranged pattern. This pattern, introduced in Judges 2, serves as the outline of Judges 3-16. The presentation of the Judges throughout the Book is most likely overlapping, as some of the Judges were raised up in one region or location while another Judge was raised up, about the same time in another region or location. Altogether, the period of Judges lasts about 350 years. The pattern that the Book establishes is a series of cycles. These cycles are repeated throughout the Book, but as the cycles reoccur, they are presented to show that things are cycling downward in a morally deteriorating way. The pattern is: Israel rebels against the LORD==the LORD hands Israel over==Israel cries out to the LORD==the LORD raises up a Judge to rescue and lead==the Judge dies. While the Judge lives, there is rest: “So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died” (Judges 3:11). After the Judge dies, the cycle repeats: “And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (Judges 3:12).

An important matter that must not be missed is the heart of the LORD displayed throughout the period of the Judges. When the Israelites were in Egyptian captivity, the LORD’s heart was moved: “During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew” (Exodus 2:23-25). So now during the period of the Judges, the LORD heard their cries “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” (Judges 2:18). Yes, the hand of the LORD was against them in their idolatry, but the heart of the LORD, full of pity, would rescue them.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe