Today's reading: Judges 2; Acts 14
I pointed out yesterday that Judges 1 is an important context to keep in mind as we continue on through this book because it is the root of all the issues and judgements that Israel is going to face, and chapter 2 calls that out explicitly. But there is another aspect of context we see in chapter 2 that we would also do well to remember if we want to think more rightly about God.
We have talked before about how there is this common perception today that God in the Old Testament is vindictive and spiteful, just waiting for Israel to mess up so that He can pour out some wrath. What's interesting though is that while we get a picture of God's wrath in the book of Judges, we maybe more so get a picture of His incredible patience with His rebellious people.
If you look at chapter 2 you see God say that He is not going to drive the people out of the land like He had said He would, but is instead going to leave them there to test the people to see if they will stay faithful to Him. This might sound like God is going back on His promise, but this only comes about because Israel refuses to go drive out the people. This is what we saw yesterday in chapter
1, not that God was unwilling to support Israel in driving the Canaanites out of the land, but that Israel grew complacent and, against God's direct command, didn't go up against all of the peoples to drive them out. So there is a bit of a passive judgment, if you will, in that since they were unwilling to drive the Canaanites out, God is not going to supernaturally strike them from the land, and is going to let Israel experience the consequences of their unwillingness to listen.
So here's the thing. Israel is already rebelling. They are already refusing the direct command of God by not going up against all the different peoples of the land. But does God bring great wrath and judgement down upon them for not listening to Him? Not at all. If God was really like the picture many people seem to have of Him, then He would have driven Israel off into exile the moment they refused to listen to Him, but that's not how it goes. God leaves Israel to experience the natural consequences of their actions, which He has also already told them what those natural consequences would be. He told them to drive the people out of the land because if they don't listen and leave them, they will be enticed after their gods, led astray from Yahweh, and then would suffer the consequences of violating their covenant with Him by worshipping other gods.
Israel thought they knew better than God and didn't need to drive all the people out, and God allowed them to find out how wrong they were. On top of that, as chapter 2 alludes to, we further see the patience of God in the judges. Each time Israel turns away from God, when they eventually realize their error and seek Him again, He supernaturally intervenes by raising up a judge to rescue them and restore the blessings He promised them in the beginning, even though He knows that they will just turn away from Him into idolatry again as soon as their situation is resolved.
God is astoundingly patient with a very rebellious Israel throughout this book, starting even here before the first judge is raised up to defend Israel.
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