Day 89 — Now that we’ve passed Day 66, we have established a “habit.” So, CELEBRATE our habit of daily Bible reading! We are in the third month so far! Praise God! TODAY, we begin the eighth book in our Bible reading!
Day 89 – Judges 1 – 2 (Mopping up, but failing. idol worship and judgment, pleas and rescue)
Chapter 1 begins where Joshua left off, although it is written by a different author. The large tribe of Judah wants to obey God and drive out all the Canaanites in their land. They enlist the tribe of Simeon—living in the middle of Judah territory—and go to war. God gives them victory, even in Jerusalem (but they soon lose that city again). Then, the Judahites help Simeon fight the Canaanites still in their section of land.
All the other tribes fight the pagans in their areas, but every time (except for Issachar), they put the enemy to “forced labor” but are unable to drive them out ultimately.
Because of this, in Chapter 2, God tells them He will not continue to drive out their enemies. Instead, the people they allowed to remain will become “thorns in your sides,” and they will go further beyond toleration to actually serve them.” These useless gods will become “snares” to them.
There is a brief review of the end of Joshua’s life. and the sad proclamation that a new generation rose up “who did not know the LORD or the work He had done for Israel.” This shows that fathers in the families disobeyed God at the very core of their lives, for they were instructed to teach their children the law of their God, speaking about it when they rose up, went out, ate, and slept. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
But Israel went farther, beyond toleration, to actually serving those idols. They abandoned the LORD their God and went after other gods. And the LORD was angry and let them be plundered by surrounding enemies to the point that they could no longer stand.
Then, out of mercy, God raised up “military leaders” (judges) who temporarily saved them out of the hands of the plunderers. Safe again, Israel went right back to their old sinful ways. God let their enemies afflict them until they cried out to him again.
The book of Judges records SEVEN such cycles of sin.