Identifying with the Fallen Condition of Judges

As you study the word of God you should try to develop an eye for the gross sin that is being perpetrated in the text (and identify with that sin), but you should also be looking for the redemptive hope that is likewise seen. Just examine Judges 10:6-18:

6 The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the LORD and did not serve him. 7 So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites,8 and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.9 And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.10 And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, "We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals."11 And the LORD said to the people of Israel, "Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines?12 The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand. 13 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.14 Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress."15 And the people of Israel said to the LORD, "We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day."16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel.17 Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at Mizpah.18 And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, "Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

1. The people did evil by serving other gods (ironically they served all the gods that were not gods to the exclusion of the only True God). The way we identify with that passage is by asking: how have I been serving other gods (great excesses with food, drink, materialism).

2. The other thing that we see is that result of their sin ends in the people being crushed, oppressed, and distressed. How has our serving of a false master led us to our misery today? Or this past week? Or this season that we have been in?

3. One of the redemptive aspects of this passage stems from the fact that God "became impatient over the misery of Israel." Now agitation doesn't sound like redemption it sounds like annoyance (and it is to some extent). But ultimately the misery of Israel points out their greatist need their need of a King who can remedy their misery forever (King Jesus).

4. Everything in this passage is pointing to a savior, but the savior will be someone that nobody really wants. Jephthah is a man who is rejected by his brothers and his countrymen, he lives with worthless fellows because the helped his cause, and he lived in a place that was considered the wrong side of the tracks (sound familiar?). You'd have to be pretty desperate to want that savior. However, Jesus is just as unwanted as Jephthah. You'd have to be pretty desperate to want Christ . . . praise God! I'm pretty desperate.