Judges 2:16-3:31

Judges 2:16-3:31

Israel’s disobedience only grew worse from this point forward in their history. There would be times of greatness that would still come, leaders who would turn the nation back to God. Israel would still have great moments like they had had with Joshua, but for the most part, they would find themselves on a downward spiral. The book of Judges is best seen as a circle: Israel would disobey God, find themselves being oppressed by their enemies, cry out to God, and have a successful and peaceful time under a judge (ruler). Sadly, the peaceful times only lasted as long as the judge was alive, and Israel immediately went back to their disobedience afterward. So God allowed them to live in their disobedience. He came to their rescue when He found them sincerely crying out to Him for help, but once they turned from Him and went back to their wicked ways, He removed His hand of protection.


Judges 3 shows how God knew this would happen all along. He knew that Israel would not remain obedient to Him forever, which is why He was sure to state in the Law what the punishment for disobedience would be. That is why He made sure that both Moses and Joshua stressed the differences in the blessings and the curses that they would receive based on how they acted. The nations that had been left in the Promised Land was partly Israel’s fault for not taking the initiative to go out and completely conquer the land, but it was also God’s plan to leave these nations. It was going to be through those hard times that God would see if Israel really trusted Him or not. It was easy for them to obey Him when everything went well. Now, Israel had to decide if they would continue to trust Him in the difficult times, and they proved that they did not.

As a result of their initial disobedience, God allowed the ruler of Mesopotamia to take over, and Israel served him for 8 years. Consider the cycle mentioned above. Israel recognized their mistakes, knew that they did not want to be under the control of Mesopotamia, and cried out to God. He supplied them with a judge, Othniel, and they experienced peace in the land for 40 years under his rule. He was chosen by God and obeyed God’s commands. He led the Israelites back to God, and they experienced God’s blessings once again, ultimately defeating the men from Mesopotamia.

But instead of learning from this experience, they fell back into the same trap and turned away from God again. So God allowed the Moabites to take over, and they reigned for 18 years. Israel cried out to God, and He chose Ehud as the next judge. Again, under his leadership, Israel was able to defeat their enemies and bring peace back to their land, this time for 80 years. Ehud’s story is a little longer, for Scripture explains exactly how Israel defeated the Moabites. It shows how Ehud snuck into the king’s house and single-handedly killed the king. Ehud knew that God had given them victory and did not let any obstacle get in his way.

One more judge is mentioned at the end of Judges 3, Shamgar. Only one verse is dedicated to him, but in it we can assume that Israel must have gone through the same cycle of disobedience and repentance. God once again delivered Israel, but one has to wonder why they never learned. Before we jump on Israel’s case, we must consider our own lives. It is easy to look at someone else’s actions and see where they messed up. It is easy to point out their mistakes and criticize them. But we must also think about how we act. How many times do we fall back into the same mistakes over and over again? Instead of reading these stories and criticizing Israel, we should read these stories and learn from Israel.

Matt