No King, No Rules

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Judges 17:6 and 21:25

To me, the book of Judges is a sad book.  God had given the Israelites the Promised Land and had driven out their enemies.  And yet they still continued to rebel against Him and they continued to worship Baal and other false gods.  The great leaders Moses and Joshua were gone and the nation of Israel had degenerated into a cycle of 1. Worship other gods.  2. Bring judgment on themselves.  3. Cry to God for deliverance.  4. Be delivered.  5. Return to worshipping other gods.  6. Repeat the cycle.  The Israelites would cry out to God in their distress and He would send a judge to judge them. 

As I was reading through the book of Judges the other day, I noticed that the exact same verse was repeated in chapter 17 verse 6 and chapter 21 verse 25. “In those days, there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes”.  When the Bible repeats a verse, it is wise to pay attention to what it is saying.  Basically, this verse tells us that there was no king in Israel and so the people pretty much did whatever they wanted. 

God was supposed to be their king, but they had rejected Him.   Anytime we have no “king” in our lives, we tend to do whatever we want.  When we do not submit to God’s authority, it opens the floodgates of sin.  We know what happened when the Jews rejected their King by saying “we have no king but Caesar”.  It is no different when we reject Him.  When we are in submission to our King, we are not going to do “that which is right in our own eyes”.  We are going to do the King’s service.  The question to ask ourselves is this: are we doing that which is right in our own eyes or are we submitting to the King?.  Food for thought.

They Would Not Hearken

Whithersoever they went  out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.  Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.

Judges 2:15-17

This is a sad passage.  The children of Israel had entered the Promised Land and had rejected the Lord who brought them there.  And, as the Lord had promised, he punished them.  Verse 15 tells us that wherever they went, the “hand of the Lord was against them for evil”.  That is a frightful thought.  I do not want the hand of the Lord following me everywhere I go to be against me for evil.  But that is the position that the Israelites found themselves in because of their sin against God.  They didn’t have to be in that position and we don’t have to be in that position either.  But when we refuse Him and rebel against Him, that is where we find ourselves.

In vers 16, the Bible says something encouraging: “Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them”.  Nevertheless is a good word.  Even though His people had rejected Him to serve other gods, He still loved them and still made a way for them to be delivered.  Even when we reject Him, He still loves us and He has made a way for us to get right with Him and He is ready and willing to deliver us. 

The saddest part of this passage to me is found in verse 17 when the Bible says that, even though He made a way for them to be delivered after they rejected Him, “yet they would not hearken unto their judges”.  They still refused to listen.  After God’s great gift to them of the Promised Land and after all of His blessings, they still rejected Him.  So He punished them and brought judgment on them, and still they rejected Him.  So He made a way for them to be delivered from their punishments, and still they would not listen.  Does that describe us today?  Let us walk with Him and if we get out of the way and feel His hand of chastisement, let us come back to Him.  We don’t have to relive this sad story, but unfortunately, many people will.  Let us not be among them.

They Didn’t Know Him

And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.  And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim

Judges 2:10-11

This is a very sad passage.  In Joshua, the Israelites took possession of the Promised Land.  In the last chapter of Joshua, the Israelites are promising Joshua that they will fear the Lord and will serve Him.  The Lord brought them out of Egypt and gave them a wonderful land. And the Bible says in verse 7 “And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel”.  The people did serve the Lord, but they forgot one very important detail.

 In Deuteronomy 11:19, the Lord told them “And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up”.  The Lord gave the people several reminders in the book of Deuteronomy to teach the things they had seen to their children.  But apparently they didn’t do that.  The people who had seen the Lord’s mighty works served Him, but they didn’t pass that on to the next generation because verse 10 tells us that “there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel”.  They didn’t know Him and they didn’t even know of the works He had done for them.  As a result, they started serving false gods and were destroyed for it.

What are we passing to the next generation?  Are we helping them to “know the Lord” and are we telling them of the “works which he had done”?  The question is this- if we aren’t telling them, who is going to?