What a tragic story. The generation of Israelites who had entered Canaan and worshiped God gave way to a generation who forsook God and worshiped the Canaanite’s gods. Why did this happen? How could Israel descend into sin so quickly? This would certainly not have happened all at once. No, this would have happened gradually over time. The writing was on the walls. So what would have caused this great apostasy? First, they would have taken God’s blessings for granted. They would have started to delude themselves into thinking they didn’t need God to enjoy the land and that they alone ruled Canaan. They made the rules because they foolishly thought it was their greatness that gave them the land. Second, they would have neglected reading God’s word. One of the causes of sin is to forget about God. Therefore, to combat sin we need to constantly remind ourselves of God. The main way to do this is to immerse yourself in God’s word, which reliably records who He is and what He is like. But Israel chose to listen to Canaan’s ‘wisdom’ instead of the wisdom of God’s word. Finally, and most importantly, Israel had poor leadership. The main reason Israel forgot God and took His blessings for granted is that they did not have strong men and women to lead them in the right way. No one stood up against the idolatry and reminded Israel about God. These ‘leaders’ failed to teach and remind the next generation about God. What this highlights is the importance of handing down our faith to the next generation. We cannot assume that the next generation will simply inherit our love for God based on our beliefs and behaviour. No, faith in God does not come from your ancestry and good examples but through hearing the word of God preached and taught. If no one preaches and teaches about God, then how can anyone worship what they don’t know? Therefore let us be on guard against pride, forgetfulness and negligent leadership. Otherwise, the next generation will be apathetic at best and apostate at worst: "And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress" (Judges 2:7-15 ESV).
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 00:19:46 +0000
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