Judges 2:13-17

Judges 2:13

And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

 

The word “forsook” in the Hebrew is an interesting word.  It carries with it the idea of loosening.  What the Israelites did was instead of clinging to the Lord as they said they would, they loosened the bond between them and the Lord which caused them to finally abandon the Lord.  As would be expected, when you abandon one thing you need something else to fill the void.  What they did was to serve the false gods of the Canaanites which now started to become a snare to them and forsaking God and worshipping false gods would be a part of their life even beyond the times of the Judges.  Here they served Baal which was not necessarily only one deity for all the Canaanites but normally each city or province had their own patron “Baal.”  Baal means Lord.  Here Baal may have been the sun god which was worshipped by the heathen nations such as the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Sidonians, Carthaginians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.  God had warned Israel back in the time of Moses.  Deuteronomy 4:19 (KJV)   And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.  Baal is mentioned 64 times in 52 verses so it really became a snare to Israel.  Ashtaroth was a Canaanite female deity normally associated with Baal.  She is also known as Astarte and is the goddess of the Zidonians.  She was also known as the Queen of Heaven.  Jeremiah 7:18 (KJV)   The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.  Astarte is still around today but she is known under different names:

 

1. Isis - Egypt

2. Shing Moo - China

3. Parameta - Hindu (many others also)

4. Diana - Ephesians

5. The Celestial Virgin - Blavatsky - New Age

6. Mary - Roman Catholicism

7. Ishtar - Babylon

 

Judges 2:14

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

 

The fact that Israel went after the false gods of the Canaanites had angered God tremendously.  The word “hot” in the Hebrew carries with it the meaning of “to glow or blaze up.”  God had given them so many warnings through Moses and Joshua yet they forsook the Lord.  So what God did was to deliver them into the hands of spoilers which were those who plundered.  They literally were plundered of their possessions and their homes and further He sold them into the hands of their enemies.  This carries with it the idea of a slave auction where people are sold into slavery.  The Israelites at this point were no more than slaves rather than being the people of God or known as “people of the other side” which is what the name Hebrew means.  As a result, they were so weakened by being taken captive, they could no longer stand against their enemies and were now a subjugated people.  They were now learning the lesson of what it means to be disobedient to God.  Before we point the finger at them, it is also our responsibility to be obedient unto the Lord, just because we are under grace does not mean we shirk our responsibility of being obedient Christians.

 

Judges 2:15

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.

 

Now instead of being under the protective hand of God, their disobedience had to be dealt with and no matter what they tried or whatever they attempted, the Lord’s hand was against them.  The word “distressed” in the Hebrew carries with it the meaning of “narrow, straitened, or vexed.”  It was like they were in a very narrow passage and they had to slither to get passed it but they could not because the opening has become too narrow.  It seemed no matter what they attempted whether it be a business venture or anything, the Lord was hot against them for their idolatry.

 

Judges 2:16

Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.

 

Here the mercy of the Lord shows through.  He knows exactly when they have learned their lesson and as a result He raised up Judges to deliver them out of the hands of those who plundered them.  These Judges were all qualified by God to challenge the enemies of Israel and to deliver the people which were in their captivity.  We know of some like Samson and Gideon who were given the strength to go against the captors of Israel.  God could not leave Israel to remain under the heathen nations permanently because eventually the Messiah would come through them but God’s patience did grow thin in both 721 B.C and 70 A.D. where they were completely taken from their land because of unbelief and disobedience and in the case of 70 A.D. when Jerusalem was sacked, the majority of the Jews were taken to Rome as slaves.

 

Judges 2:17

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.

 

Even as God showed great mercy in chastisement by sending the Judges to deliver them from their captors, their hearts were so hardened by unbelief that they would not even pay attention to the Judges that delivered them from oppression.  They went whoring after other gods which means they were committing spiritual adultery.  By bowing they were not just in a bowing position but they were in the mode of doing obeisance to the false gods plus they were also worshipping these false gods.  Isaiah 42:8 (KJV)   I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.  A few hundred years later through Isaiah God told them that His praise belongs to Him and not to be given to graven images which are nothing.  It was God who brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, not these false gods.  It is also interesting to note that the verse tells us that as soon as they were delivered they “quickly” turned out of the ways of their fathers such as Moses and Joshua.  The word “quickly” carries with it the meaning of “speedily, haste, or hurrying.”  In other words, as soon as they were delivered they could not wait to go back into idolatry, in fact, they hurried to disobey God.

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