Day Six – Judges 2:6-23

Day 6 – Judges 2:6-23

Today, we come to the time in history when Ruth lived. The book of Ruth begins with these words: “In the days when the judges ruled in Israel …” I thought it might be important for us to get a sense of what those days were like. They weren’t pretty, were they? We watch a steady progression towards greater and greater evil as we read the book of Judges.

Notice that it started out quite well. As long as Joshua was alive and even the people who knew Joshua, the Israelites by and large followed the one true God. However, they somehow were unable to convey to their children and grandchildren the supreme importance of worshiping only the true God. Perhaps that song Moses taught them back before he died ceased to be popular. Perhaps the parents just assumed the kids would do what they did, without careful teaching. Or perhaps the grandkids just wanted to do their own thing. I suspect there were many differing reasons for this falling away, but the result was dismal, wasn’t it?

This sobers me. Am I pouring into my grandkids spiritual truths as I walk and talk with them? Do they know that their Nina loves and adores Jesus with all her heart and that she wants them to know Him, too? That surely is my goal. Moses instructed parents in Deuteronomy 6 in a famous passage known as the “Shema.” Here is a portion of it from the New Living Translation: “Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up” (Deuteronomy 6:1-7 NLT).

This is no passive, lackadaisical commitment, is it? God wants our whole hearts. He wants us to care enough about the next generations to repeat, repeat, and repeat again the glory of His Name and ways. For our good. For their good. For the generations that follow thereafter. Let’s pray that all our descendants from now until Jesus returns, wholeheartedly follow after God!

The story, however, in Judges is the opposite. People forgot. People moved on. People grew increasingly calloused to kindness and goodness and started worshiping idols that even demanded child sacrifice. And a cyclical pattern emerged. The Israelites would disobey. They would become weakened by their slothfulness at following God and then they were easy victims for other peoples to harass and attack them. Then they’d ask God to help them and He would. He’d raise up a judge from among them and empower that judge to rescue His people. All would be well until they fell away once again. And yet God continued to rescue every time they turned to Him with a new judge and new chance to get it right. Now that, dear friends, is Steadfast Love. That same God loves you and me today and as often as we turn, He’s there to set things to rights again. Astounding.

Now we are ready for the beautiful story of Ruth, which abounds with human steadfast love and God’s great Steadfast Love throughout. We know Ruth’s dubious ancestry. We’ve learned laws of gleaning fields and helping widows whose husbands die before they have children. Are you ready? Oh, it’s a beautiful story that starts out sad and ends up triumphant. I love a happy ending! But for now, let us know what stood out to you in our passage on Judges today.

My verse: Judges 2:17 “Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves by worshiping other gods. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commands.”

My response: Keep me on the path, Lord. Help me to listen to Your voice. You are jealous for Your people. You want us focused on what is good and right and pure. Help me to “walk in obedience” to Your commands.