Joshua Dies & Israel Forgets God

A visit from God. “The Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim” (2:1). He spoke as God Himself: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land.” God kept His word. He said, “I will never break My covenant with you” (2:1). A covenant is a promise that binds two sides together. God had kept every part of His side. Israel's part. God had told them, “you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars” (2:2). Instead, tribe after tribe let the Canaanites stay and kept their altars standing (Judges 1). A hard question. “But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?” (2:2). God asked them to stop and think about what they had done. Thorns and traps. “They shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you” (2:3). A snare is a trap. The sins Israel let stay would end up hurting them. Tears. “The people lifted up their voices and wept” (2:4). They named the place Bochim, which means weeping, and they offered sacrifices to the Lord (2:5). More than tears. Paul wrote, “godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Repentance means turning away from sin and back to God. What this means for you. When God shows you a sin, being sorry is a good start. Then ask Him to help you turn around and do what is right.

The Angel of the Lord (2:1). This messenger speaks in God's own voice: “I led you up from Egypt.” The same Angel spoke from the burning bush (Exodus 3:2). Many Christians see the Angel of the Lord as the Son of God, appearing before He was born as a man. From Gilgal (2:1). Gilgal was Israel's first camp in the land, where they were circumcised and kept the Passover (Joshua 5). The Angel came from the place of their beginning to call them back to it. Covenant (2:1). The Hebrew berit (say: beh-REET) means a binding agreement. God's side would never be broken. Israel's side already was. Partial obedience (Judges 1). Tribe after tribe did not drive out the Canaanites. Some made them do forced labor instead (1:28). Leaving sin in place looked easier, but it set a trap. Thorns (2:3). Joshua had warned that the nations would be “snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes” (Joshua 23:13). The Angel's words repeat that warning. Bochim (2:5). Bochim (say: boh-KEEM) means weepers. The tears were real, and they offered sacrifices. But the tears did not lead to lasting change (2:11-13). Two kinds of sorrow. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Feeling bad about the results of sin is not the same as turning from the sin itself. Why it matters. God's faithfulness shows up our unfaithfulness. Real repentance is a turning of the heart, and it begins when we hear God's voice and answer Him.

The Angel of the Lord spoke for God Himself. He reminded Israel how God had kept His promise. God had brought them out of Egypt. He had given them the land. God said He would never break His promise. But Israel had not obeyed Him. God asked them why they had disobeyed. They made friends with nations who prayed to idols. Now those nations would hurt them like thorns. The people cried very hard. It is good to be sorry when we sin. But God wants more than tears. He wants us to turn back to Him and obey.

God's Angel told the people the truth. They had not obeyed God. They were sorry and cried. God wants us to obey Him.

Sent home. “The children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land” (2:6). Every family had its own place. Faithful years. “So 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 works of the Lord” (2:7). The servant of the Lord. “Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died when he was one hundred and ten years old” (2:8). That is the same title God gave Moses. Buried at home. They buried him “at Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim” (2:9), on the land he had been given. A new generation. “Another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel” (2:10). Not knowing God. They had probably heard the stories, the way you know facts about someone you have never met. But they did not know the Lord Himself. Passing it on. God had told parents, “You shall teach them diligently to your children” (Deuteronomy 6:7). Psalm 78:4 says, “We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord.” What this means for you. Your parents' faith cannot be your faith for you. Get to know God yourself by reading His Word, praying and following Jesus.

Joshua's last words (Joshua 23-24). Before he died, Joshua called Israel to choose: “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). The people answered, “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!” (Joshua 24:24). Eyewitnesses (2:7). The elders “had seen all the great works of the Lord.” They had crossed the Jordan and watched Jericho fall. Their faith rested on what they had seen God do. Servant of the Lord (2:8). Moses was given this title at his death (Deuteronomy 34:5). Now Joshua receives it. It is the highest honor the Bible gives a leader. Timnath Heres (2:9). The same town is called Timnath Serah in Joshua 19:50 and 24:30. Joshua asked for it last, after every tribe had received its share. Did not know (2:10). The Hebrew yada (say: yah-DAH) means to know by experience and relationship, not only by facts. This generation had information about the Lord, but no relationship with Him. One generation. It took only one generation for Israel to forget. Faith is not passed down automatically like a family name. Psalm 78:6-7 says the next generation must hear, “That they may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God.” Knowing God. Jesus said, “this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Why it matters. Every generation must meet God for itself, and every generation must tell the next one what He has done.

Joshua lived to be one hundred ten years old. The Bible calls him the servant of the Lord. Being God's servant is a very great honor. While Joshua was alive, the people served God. The older leaders helped them remember God too. But then those leaders died. Their children grew up without knowing the Lord. They had heard about God, but they did not know Him. Knowing God is more than knowing facts about Him. It means trusting Him and loving Him. Moms, dads and teachers can tell you about God. But you can know Him for yourself.

Joshua served God his whole life. Then Joshua died. The new children did not know God. You can know God!

Evil in God's sight. “Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals” (2:11). Forsaking God. “They forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt” (2:12). Forsook means turned away from and left behind. Baal and Ashtoreth. “They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths” (2:13). The Canaanites believed Baal sent the rain for their crops and that Ashtoreth gave them children and harvests. People hoped these idols would keep them rich and safe. Idols cannot help. “They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see” (Psalm 115:5). God's anger. “The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel” (2:14). God's anger is not a temper tantrum. It is His holy anger at the sin that was hurting His people. Warned ahead of time. God let plunderers rob them, “as the Lord had said” (2:15). Joshua had warned that this would happen if they served other gods (Joshua 23:16). Loving correction. “For whom the Lord loves He chastens” (Hebrews 12:6). Chastens means corrects. God's discipline was meant to bring them home. What this means for you. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). Ask God to show you anything you love more than Him.

The Baals (2:11). Baal (say: BAH-al) means lord or master. Each town had its own local Baal, so the Bible speaks of the Baals. He was worshiped as the storm god who brought rain. The Ashtoreths (2:13). Ashtoreth (say: ASH-toh-reth) was a goddess of fertility and war. Her worship included practices God hated, and Judges 3:7 adds the Asherah poles that stood beside her altars. Why it tempted them. Israel's land depended on rain, and their neighbors said Baal controlled it. Israel did not stop saying the Lord's name. They added gods to cover every need. But Joshua had said they must choose (Joshua 24:15). Provoked to anger (2:12). The Lord loves His people with a love that will not share them with idols, the way a faithful husband will not share his wife. That is what the Bible means when it calls Him a jealous God (Exodus 34:14). Sold (2:14). God “sold them into the hands of their enemies.” At the exodus He had bought them out of slavery. Now He handed them back to it, so they would see what life without Him was like. As He had sworn (2:15). Joshua had said, “When you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God… then the anger of the Lord will burn against you” (Joshua 23:16). God keeps His warnings as surely as His promises. Discipline (Hebrews 12:6). “For whom the Lord loves He chastens.” The trouble in 2:14-15 was not God giving up on Israel. It was God calling them back. Why it matters. An idol is anything we trust to give us what only God can give. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).

The new people did evil in God's eyes. They began to worship Baal and other false gods. Baal was a false god the nations prayed to for rain. People made statues of Baal and bowed down to them. But a statue cannot see, hear or help anyone. Only the Lord is the real God. Israel left the real God who had saved them. That made the Lord angry. So God let enemies rob them. Israel kept losing their battles. God was not being mean. He was trying to bring His people back to Him. Anything we love more than God is like an idol. God wants first place in our hearts.

The people forgot God. They prayed to idols. Idols cannot help anyone. Only God is real, and He loves us.

Help they did not deserve. “Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them” (2:16). Israel did not deserve help, but God sent it anyway. That is grace. What was a judge? A judge was a leader God chose to rescue Israel from its enemies and then lead the people. Most of them were not courtroom judges. God was with them. “The Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge” (2:18). God heard their groaning. “For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning” (2:18). God heard their cries, even though their trouble was their own fault. Not listening. “Yet they would not listen to their judges” (2:17). Worse each time. “When the judge was dead… they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers” (2:19). Reverted means went back. Round and round. Sin, slavery, crying out, rescue, rest, and then sin again. The book of Judges follows this pattern over and over. A test. God left the nations “so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord” (2:22). What this means for you. Every judge died, and the people slid back. Jesus is the Rescuer who lives forever and gives us new hearts.

Judges (2:16). The Hebrew shophetim (say: shoh-feh-TEEM) means leaders who rescued and governed. The book is named for them. They led armies, settled disputes and called Israel back to God. Raised up (2:16, 18). Every judge was God's idea. No judge chose himself, and the victory always came because “the Lord was with the judge.” Groaning (2:18). In Egypt, “God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant” (Exodus 2:24). The same God still heard His people's groaning in the land. Moved to pity (2:18). The Hebrew nacham (say: nah-KHAHM) means to be moved with compassion. God's heart was moved by their pain, even when they had caused it. A downward spiral (2:19). Each generation “behaved more corruptly than their fathers.” The pattern is less like a circle and more like a staircase going down. Testing (2:20-23). The nations that remained would test whether Israel would “keep the ways of the Lord” (2:22). Judges 3:2 adds that they taught war to a generation that had never fought. The limits of the judges. The judges died, and some were badly flawed, like Gideon and Samson. Rescue from enemies did not change hearts. The forever Deliverer. Jesus “always lives to make intercession” for those who come to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25). God promised, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:26). Why it matters. Israel's problem was not only its enemies. It was its heart. Only Jesus deals with both.

Even when Israel sinned, God still loved them. He heard them groan and cry. God felt sorry for them. So He chose leaders called judges. A judge was a leader who rescued God's people. The Lord was with each judge. But when the judge died, the people went back to idols. Each time they got even worse. This happened again and again. Israel needed a better Rescuer. They needed someone who would never die. And they needed brand new hearts. Jesus is that Rescuer!

God sent judges to save them. But the people forgot again. They needed a Savior who never dies. That is Jesus!