LEARNING DAILY

 

Judges 2:10-11, When all the generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals;

 

In the book of Judges, we are told the result of the Israelite’s failure to drive out those who inhabited the Promised Land. This is compounded by what the verses above allude to – not teaching the future generation about the Lord and what He had done for Israel. God’s warning was to totally drive the inhabitants from the land; He knew compromise would occur if Israel did not do this.

 

With the verse above begins a cycle that is seen throughout Judges. A generation flirted with evil, began to worship the false gods (the Baals), and walked in disobedience to the Lord. This caused them all sorts of problems as the Lord had promised; life was finally so unbearable that they cried out to the Lord until He raised up a judge to deliver them. All was well until the judge was dead. It did not take long for the people to fall back into idolatry and evil. The process is repeated seven times in the book of Judges.

 

This pattern has been seen before in Israel. There came a generation who did not know the Lord or His work after the people left Egypt, had not seen the Red Sea dry up, and had not known the way the Lord provided in the wilderness. Now a generation had grown up not knowing about the Jordan Sea being crossed by the power of God, the walls of Jericho falling and all the provisions of God in the Promised Land. This generation might have heard the “stories” about what had been done – but wasn’t that just stuff in the past? The Lord’s provision just simply faded away and as it faded away so did His influence on the people’s hearts. With this new generation, there were new influences that were fresh and seemingly were powerful in the activities of their life. As Israel intermarried with those they should have driven out, they began to worship the idols of the land. And as a result, they forgot about God. The Bible states they did evil in the sight of God.

 

This new generation had grown up possibly hearing the stories about what God had done but they had not experienced the power of God in their own lives. They were too busy safely living in the cities they had not built. They had been taken in the conquest of the land. They were too busy eating and drinking from the vineyards already planted, enjoying all they had taken. They experienced no hardship, or sacrifice; there was no need to trust God for anything. And they believed the worship of the gods of those they had let stay around had done this for them. It seems to me they had too much ease, too much time to pursue the pleasures of life. When this happened, this lifestyle became their god because it was easier. And God allowed oppression and bondage in the form of Israel’s enemies to come.

 

Look around. Look at the decisions being made and ask the question if “my” generation has failed to teach the next about the love, the power and the judgment of God! I am concerned that even when attempted, the next generation has not listened very well. To be continued.