Day 86: God’s Presence in Cycles of Rebellion

Today we read Judges 1-5 and Psalm 129. This story falls on the heels of the story of Joshua. Another generation, but this one had forgotten the story and Yahweh God, they had integrated into their neighboring Canaanite ways of worshiping other gods in morally depraved ways including child sacrifice. When God calls His people to be in the world to bless the world, but not of it, remembering and obeying God’s commands are critically important - this wasn't it. In response, God gave the people of Israel over to the adversary they wanted and that adversary oppressed them. But, then in their suffering and distress, they remembered and called out to God and He delivered them. This starts a cycle of rebellion where the people sin grievously against God, they become oppressed by their adversary, they repent, are delivered and find rest. Then it happens all over again. The first few judges God raised up to deliver Israel seem aligned with what we’ve seen the pattern of leaders to be like such as Joshua and Moses. We are introduced to Deborah, the second woman to be named a prophet. She is described as a rescuer and military aid to Israel which echoes back to Genesis 2, where Eve was described as Adam’s “ezer,” which is Hebrew for rescuer, ally, the one who can help. Yet, the cycle of rebellion and God’s faithful deliverance continues but the leaders will get progressively worse from here.

 

Resource:

Solomon, Marty and Billings, Bret (2017) The Redemption Cycle, Episode 36. BEMA Discipleship Podcast https://www.bemadiscipleship.com/36 

Dr. Mackie, Tim and Collins, Jon. Judges Summary, Bible Project. https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/judges/ 

 

Credits:

Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.