Rev. Don Campbell
Judges 3-5
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, March 31, 2019
“THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL AND 9/11”
A spike in church attendance occurred after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, but they were short-lived, lasting only a few weeks, according to Mark Chaves, a Duke professor of sociology, religious studies, and divinity, who directs the National Congregations Study, which examines American religious places of worship over time. Reading the last eight verse of Judges 2, which was in yesterday’s reading, I was reminded of this short-lived spike in religiosity.
“Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua” (vv.`6-23).
If there were no overlaps in the rise and fall of the 12 judges, the period lasted nearly 400 years. Three of the judges are found in today’s reading and one of them was a woman named Deborah, who was a judge and prophetess (4:4).
After the first judge, Othniel, the record says, “So the land had rest forty years” (3:11). “Then Othniel son of Kenaz died. And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (3:12). Trouble came and God raised up Ehud who subdued Moab and “the land had rest for eighty years” (3:30). Chapter four opens with the words “And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died” (v.1). After Deborah and Barak defeated Jabin the king of Canaan, the record says, “And the land had rest for forty years.”
Following World War II, during the baby-booming years, there was a religious revival, lasting to the 60s, when all social institutions began to be questioned. For two decades there were the ups and downs of religion, but there was a gradual downward trend. However, over the last three decades, the decline has been twice as great as it was in the 60s and 70s.
CONNECTIONS
1. God is not raising up judges today to defend territories, but this does not mean that God takes no notice of our affairs. Our allies may be God’s enemies and our enemies may be God’s allies. Should we be praying the last words of the song of Deborah and Barak: “So may all your enemies perish, O Lord! But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might”? (5:31).
2. The longest period of “rest” recorded in Judges is 80 years. However, this does not mean that for 80 years the people faithfully followed God. During these periods of rest, the people were doing what was right in their own eyes, leading to their eventual servitude. God does not lay out timetables today, but we are in the sixth decade of overall decline in religion in America. If we place our hope in a political party or an individual, are we misplacing it?
