Study InJudges

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Conquest And Failure [2]

Chapter 1v22-2v5

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IntroductionWe have already placed this book in the context of salvation history. It is a history of first failure and then redemption. And sadly, this pattern of failures is one that a

great many Christians can so easily identify with.

However, the purpose of this book is not that we might merely identify with Israel’s failure - ‘they failed, we too have failed’ - but more importantly, we are to ask how

we can learn from these failures.

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IntroductionWhile Joshua’s death doesn’t take place until Chap.2v8 the

writer clearly wants us to know that the seeds of spiritual declension did not suddenly appear after Joshua’s

death. Those seeds were already sprouting

in the hearts of the people and Joshua’s death simply helped to accelerate their

growth.

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Capture of BethelThe description of the capture of Bethel v22ff is very

reminiscent of the earlier capture of Jericho. Following an earlier, successful precedent [the

mercy shown to Rahab] mercy is now shown to the Bethelite. Others, view the incident very differently.

R.A. Watson, writes;“We are inclined to regard the traitor as deserving of death, and Ephraim appears to us disgraced, not

honoured, by its exploit. There is a fair, straightforward way of fighting; but this tribe, one of the strongest, chooses a mean and treacherous

method of gaining its end. A view contradicted by the simple statement of v22

‘the Lord was with them’.

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Capture of Bethel

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Surely we are expected to contrast this Bethelite with Rahab. Rahab’s actions were motivated by faith. God’s revelation of himself in history had won her heart. She wanted to serve him and so she changed sides.

In contrast, the Bethelite’s motivation was fear for his own safety. God’s mighty acts did not win him over to a place of faith. He did not benefit spiritually in playing a key role in advancing God’s work. He remained entrenched in his rebellion against God’s rule. His life was spared and while he had tasted the grace of God he did not swallow and absorb it. Cf Heb 6.4

Capture of Bethel

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This is the significance of his turning his back on Bethel, [which means the dwelling place of God] and going off and founding a city called Luz. Bethel was called Luz before the days of Jacob from whom the name Bethel came. This man did not want to associate himself with God’s work, God’s people, God’s name.

Symbolic name changes are common in our own day. Stalingrad and Leningrad were renamed Volgograd and St Petersburg. Renaming is a very public way of dissociating oneself from a distasteful association. When Saul changed his name to Paul he was saying, ‘I am not the man I used to be.’ This Bethelite was saying, “I don’t want to be connected with Israel’s God”.

Israel’s Failure

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These verses are noteworthy for the monotonously repeated ‘Neither did’ and ‘nor did’ as the writer records Israel’s failure to subdue the Canaanite tribes. And their failure to do all that God had expected of them led to untold trouble in their subsequent history thus shedding light on God’s comment to Joshua’s in Josh. 13v1 “there are still very large areas of land to be taken over”.

Those words were a robust challenge and warning to Israel to follow God’s instructions to the letter. They failed to do so. It is sobering to realise that many of the subsequent wars in Samuel and David’s time, were against these very tribes.

Israel’s FailureIf only the dedication of the earlier days under Joshua had been

maintained, the later history of the people of God would have been very different. How true to spiritual life this all is!

Battles that are fudged, or avoided when they ought to be fought become far more serious

issues in later life. How often can we look back over our lives and say of them,

‘If only I had dealt with that at the time, how much trouble I would have saved

myself!’

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Israel’s Failure

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The angel of the Lord confronts the people with their failure. The emphasis is on the broken covenant. In a brief summary of their history, the angel reminded them of God’s faithfulness to His promise to their fathers, and of their own subsequent deliverance from Egypt and entrance into the Promised Land in fulfilment of it.

He also reminded them of the response of faithfulness to the covenant that was expected of them!

Israel’s FailureIsrael’s attitude towards, Canaanite

religion and practice should have been uncompromising. Their failure in this is

summed up in simple terms ‘disobedience’v2. The ‘therefore’ in v3

is equally simple and clear-cut: the enemies whom they had neglected to deal with would be as thorns in their

sides while their gods would be a snare to them.

This is the tragic story that is unfolded in the chapters which follow.

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Israel’s FailureOne commentator writes,

“The Canaanites were eventually to disappear as a people. They became

assimilated into the nation of Israel which thereby showed its superior virility, but

the leaven of Canaan eventually permeated the whole nation. Nowhere

else in the sacred record, perhaps, are the disastrous effects of compromise seen so

clearly as in this chapter of Israel’s history…

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Israel’s Failure

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…Absolute loyalty and obedience and the rejection of the claims of expediency and selfishness are required of those who would follow the Lord.

But the graciousness of God became the more apparent through this sad chapter of events. He did not cast off the nation irrevocably because it had broken the covenant. Rather he raised up judges and, later on, prophets, to woo and to win the nation back from its infidelity.

Israel’s FailureAnd even when His final judgment fell upon the nation in the catastrophes

of 721 and 587 BC he did not abandon his redemptive purposes,

but, working through a purified remnant, prepared the way for the New Covenant, sealed by Christ’s

death, with a new and inward dynamic making for that filial

obedience so sadly lacking in Israel’s chequered history.

Truly it can be said of our God, “I will never break my covenant with you”.”

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Israel’s FailureConfronted with their sin the children of Israel wept, but in the light of their subsequent history the tears spoken

of here are evidently superficial. They bemoaned their folly but took no

practical steps to correct it. There was no evidence of a true and abiding

repentance. God is not deceived by crocodile tears; he looks for the rent

heart, not the rent garments. Cf. Ps 51:17.

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