If you’re here from iFellowship, welcome and jump in! We’re continuing a little study detour through the book of Judges – yesterday we began looking at some of the reasons why we find such moral and spiritual disaster in the pages of this book.  Today we’re finishing that thought.

Yesterday we looked at the fact that the Israelites were commanded to drive the Canaanites completely out of the land, and yet they failed.  We ended with the question, “Why do you think they couldn’t drive the Canaanites out?  Do you think God had commanded them to do something impossible… or did this display a lack of faith?”

Remember, God had promised to be with them - back in the book of Numbers, Caleb and Joshua were the only two who wanted to enter the land in faith, believing that even the giant Anakites could not keep God from fulfilling His word. In Judges chapter one, we find Caleb single-handedly wiping those feared Anakites out – even while entire tribes failed to drive much less intimidating enemies out of their allotted lands! If 85 year old Caleb can, through his great faith in God, drive out the giants of the land that scared the Israelites off to begin with, why are the tribes failing to obey God’s command? Lack of military power? …or lack of faith?

It’s interesting to read God’s appraisal of this situation in chapter 2:1-3 -

The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.”

(Does that wording sound familiar? Glance back at Joshua 23:12-13)

There is one more thing we need to notice before diving into Judges. The book of Judges has a very clear structure.

• Ch. 1-3 – Scary preview of this book: they have disobeyed, and it will not go well.
• Ch. 3-16 – Downward spiral of spiritual and moral climate during the rule of the judges
• Ch. 17-21 – Two frightening stories that illustrate the problem

During chapters 3-16, there is a four-step cycle that repeats 7 times.

1. The people sin and fall into idolatry (2:10-13)
2. They are oppressed by their enemies (2:14-15)
3. They call out to God in distress (2:15)
4. He raises up a judge to deliver them from their enemies (2:16)

Then the judge dies and they repeat step one – only worse than before. (2:17-19)

Now, hang onto that mentally and glance at the last verses of the book of Joshua. Two clear events occur in the final verses: Joshua dies, and Joseph’s bones (which had been carried with them out of Egypt – fun fact: he likely would have been mummified as a ruler of Egypt!) are buried.

The point: We desperately need a leader – we need THE Leader. These two great men are very obviously gone, and everything falls apart. Then God will raise up judges to lead the people; every time they die, everything gets worse!

Remember the “Land, Nation, Leader” promises from Genesis 12? We’ve got the land (well, partially), Israel is a nation, but that Leader promise is hauntingly empty.

Want to know where we’d be without Jesus Christ? It’s not a pretty picture – hang on to your hat as we dive into this book.

Picture from http://www.travelmania.com

While I am preparing for She Speaks, I thought we would take a “field trip” back through some old posts for the next few weeks.  I decided to repost our series on the book of Judges because this book is so eerily applicable to our day.   I pray this “mini-series” will be an encouragement and challenge to you as we walk through this fascinating book together!

If you have never read through the book of Judges, or haven’t done so in a while, this book will probably surprise you. Nay, shock you. If someone decided to make a movie based on Judges, I’m pretty sure none of us would go see it. The stories in this book go from bad to worse to horrifying.

So, this brings up a question: Why is this in the Bible to begin with? If you haven’t read these Bible study posts from the beginning, I encourage you to take a minute to read “So Why do we Have the Bible?“. Remember that narratives in Scripture are not given to us to be moral guides, IE: “Samson slept with a prostitute, so it must be OK.” Clearly, this violates the rest of Scripture. It’s actually hard to find a story in Judges that doesn’t violate the clear commands in the rest of Scripture!

To figure out what is happening in this book, we need to look back at the end of Joshua. In You Can’t Add God to Your Pantheon, we looked at the people’s response, or lack thereof, to Joshua’s final plea to abandon the foreign gods among them and commit themselves to serving God alone. They were very enthusiastic about serving God, but seemed to be missing a major piece: throw out the foreign gods! Right there they have set themselves up for major spiritual failure which is vividly illustrated in the book of Judges.

There is another element of Joshua’s address that we need to look at, as well. Remember that as they enter the land, the entire army of Israel has wiped out the major coalitions of Canaanites, but as each tribe entered their own territories allotted to them by God they were to finish “mop up” operations and completely wipe out the Canaanites.

First, read Joshua 23:5-13. The people had been told to drive the people out of the land. Why? The Canaanite culture was wicked and polytheistic. The Israelites’ possession of the land was more than just God giving the land to His people; He was also wiping out a stronghold of sin and idolatry. Joshua clearly warned them what would happen if they failed to do this and had association with the people of Canaan:

“But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them, then you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the LORD your God has given you. (Joshua 23:12-13)

Now, quickly scan through Judges chapter 1:

The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots. As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak. The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.

But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them; but they did subject them to forced labor. Nor did Asher drive out those living in Acco or Sidon or Ahlab or Aczib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob, and because of this the people of Asher lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land. Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them. The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain. And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the house of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor.

Judges 1:19-21, 27-35

The mop-up operations were a giant failure. Why do you think they couldn’t drive the Canaanites out?  Do you think God had commanded them to do something impossible… or did this display a lack of faith?

Tomorrow we’ll discuss more… and give a better understanding of what we’ll be looking for through the book of Judges.

In our ABF on Sunday mornings we’ve started watching the video series based on the book The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church.  Yesterday the topic revolved around generational differences in the church (seniors, builders, boomers, genXers, millennials.)  I always love thinking about culture shifts, especially within the church, so this topic has always been one I have enjoyed learning about.  What struck me yesterday was a comment that Reggie McNeal made about small groups.  He mentioned that in general, Boomers consider small groups in terms of an organization, a curriculum – and genXers just do life together.

NP and I have led a small group for 4 or 5 years.  Occasionally people at our church make comments to us about how impressive it is that we have done this for so long – and every time that surprises us.  We need our small group.  They are our friends, they are our family.  We can’t imagine not doing small group.  In McNeal’s words, I suppose we are some kind of genX “gang” of friends that stick together.

Last night we met for our weekly Sunday night small group.  We take turns fixing dinner for the tribe – last night we were treated to Nick’s amazing pulled pork that he had started smoking at 8pm the night before.  I sat with some of our group in the dining room.  We ate and laughed and discussed our high school years – the good times, the challenging times, weird reunions on facebook, who was a “good” kid, who was rebellious, and who had cheated her way through Latin!  Kids run like maniacs around the house.  Eventually NP tells us it’s time to find our way into the living room for the study.

We’ve been going through Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas – an excellent book/dvd that has been profound for us.  We watch the dvd while eating dessert, some taking notes, some quietly thinking.  Last night’s main thought – what if we thought of God not only as Father, but also as our Father-in-Law?  How would it change our relationship with our spouse if we focused on serving and pleasing God by how well we love His child rather than fulfilling our own felt needs?  Heads nod.  We are quietly contemplative as the segment ends.

We discuss.  We share.  This group has walked together through traumas, through spiritual ups and downs, through the arrival of new babies, through unemployment, loss of loved ones, and the difficulties of life.  Week by week, we are building relationships.  We give glimpses into our hearts, into our marriages, into our pasts.  Gradually, we build a sense of security – it is safe here.

We close in prayer.  Chatter resumes.  We spread jewelry from Women at Risk, what is yet unsold from a party one of the group members had hosted, across the dining room table and shop.  We have a shared burden for this ministry, a love for what they do… and who doesn’t love jewelry?  NP tells me to get the ring I’ve been eying on the WAR website for months. :)  After the WAR items have been put away and everyone else has dashed to their cars through the stormy evening, NP and I stay.  We joke that we are the ones in a sweat shop as sewing machines, iron, and fabric come out – we are helping to make 40 table runners for Amber’s sister’s wedding.  Amber and I discuss our grandmothers and their funny antics at our weddings, the best way to press and pin a seam, whether to do a single or double hem.  We have put NP to work cutting lengths of fabric while Shane balances his checkbook and pays bills on a TV tray.

We leave late.  We gather our kids from sleeping bags in the next room and carry them through the drizzle to the car.  It is midnight when we get home, but we don’t care.

From our perspective, small group doesn’t feel like a “ministry.”  It’s not an obligation.  It’s just part of our life.  A few hours of the week we greatly enjoy and look forward to when we can share a meal, share our hearts, share our lives with a group of friends we have grown to love.  Small group is just life in community.

Next week we’re grilling out.  I hope it doesn’t rain, but it really doesn’t matter if it does.

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…please forgive me!

Back in March I had mentioned that I was hoping/planning to go to the She Speaks conference this year.  Unfortunately I didn’t receive a scholarship and I kept putting off registering because of cost, and when I finally took the plunge to register the conference was already full!  I asked to be put on the waiting list, but figured that I most likely would not be going.

Read: I put off working on the book. ;)

Well, last night I received an email that a spot has opened up for me to attend!!  I am thrilled and also a bit overwhelmed at the amount of writing I have to do before July 30th rolls around.  [The 30th is also my 30th birthday - happy She Speaks birthday to me!] NP pointed out that even if I had known all along I was going I probably wouldn’t have much more done than I do now – I am a terrible procrastinator, sad but true! Deadlines are my friends.

So, for the next month or so I will probably be  posting less on the blog so I can focus on my book proposal.  I am guessing I will probably only post twice a week, and will also be posting some “oldies but goodies” from the archive that most of you haven’t seen – and my fellow Scripture Dig writers [who are also all attending She Speaks!!] may be contributing some guest posts for me from their archives here and there, as well.

So, thank you for your patience.  And if you feel led to pray for me as I prepare and write, I would deeply appreciate it.

Ready or not, here we go…