CRYSTAL THOMAS MINISTRY

REVEALING THE VOICE OF GOD TO THE NATIONS

Judges Ch. 2

Study Notes
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Overview

  1. The Angel of the Lord – verse 1-5
  2. The state of Israel and why we need the judges (pretty much the whole book)
    1. The Israelites obeying and worshipping God while Joshua and the elders lived – verse 6-10
    2. Their revolt afterwards to idolatry – verse 11-13
    3. God’s displeasure and his judgments upon them – verse 14-15
    4. His mercy towards them and raising them up deliverers – verse 16-18
    5. Them falling to idolatry after the judgment was over – verse 17-19
    6. The Lord burning with anger and removing his favor off them – verse 20-23

Verse 1

“The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said to the Israelites…”
The Angel of the Lord is not just any Angel. The way I describe this angel and believe it to be like the Spirit of God coming down to speak to them. Remember this is the Old Testament they did not have the Holy Spirit yet. The Angel of the Lord is God incarnate. God was (is) never a far off God. The Angel of the Lord is a manifestation of God that is tangible to the human senses: Theophany.

Theophany

the·oph·a·ny /THēˈäfənē/

noun

  • 1.a visible manifestation to humankind of God

Verse 1-5

God reminds them of all He did for them, and what He said:
“I brought you up from Egypt..”
“I swore to give you your inheritance..”
“I will always keep my promises..”
“I told you what to do… and you did not.”
God ask:
“Why?? Why didn’t you do what I said?”

He was giving them a moment to humble themselves and seek forgiveness. They probably all stared at each other like, “you answer him, I’m not.” No one probably knew what to say. For me I could hear them all thinking, “Ummm because we are stubborn and wanted everything our way.” God wasn’t looking for them to say some profound thing, or have all the right words, they could have said exactly that, “we repent for being stubborn.”  Did they even truly know why they didn’t obey, were they that deceived? Manly they just did not want to do what God said; their lust of fleshly desire rang louder than the voice of God in their ears.

Stubbornness will cause you to live your days with thorns that were never meant to pierce you.

The Angel of the Lord continues and basically says since you won’t drive the enemy out, I won’t. Reminds me of this scripture in Matthew 18:  “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Now, the enemy is there to stay and he let them know, “but they shall be as thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”

When The Angel of the Lord said that, now they wept, now they knew what to say, now they cried out and lifted their voice because they were sorrowful. Weeping in remorse is not the same as weeping in repentance. Remember, all choices have consequences, saying what He said to them does not make God a bad God, it makes Him a loving Father who is teaching the value of discipline.

  • In the Old Testament, the name of a person or place = meaning
  • Bochim (bakah = to weep, sob, cry, mourn) = “the weepers.”

Verse 6

  • “Joshua let the people go…” = this may have been his last order before he passed away

Verse 7

  • They had reformation, but temporary.

Verse 8

  • Joshua dies.
    • beginning of the days when there was no king in Israel

Verse 10-13

Do you know what happens after Joshua’s death? If you guessed falling away from God (again) and bowing to down to Baal and Ashtaroth, you are correct. These verses alone hold enormous weight into how important it is to raise the next generation in the ways of the Lord. There arose another generation who did not know the Lord or even what He did for Israel. They forsook the Lord, and the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Wow, some sure enough dropped the ball on training and equipping the next generation. Are you? Will your generations forsake the Lord, will your generations bow down to false idols and do evil, over and over, again and again? If your answer is anything but firmly planted on a solid “NO,” I’d suggest you (we) got work to do.

Only when obeying God do we really begin to experience Him personally.

  • Baal = male sun god
    • Baal worship, which was conducted by priests in temples and outdoors, in fields and on hilltops called “high places.” Cult activities included animal sacrifice, ritualistic meals, and provocative dances. Near the altars the Canaanites placed symbols of fertility: the sacred pillar (massebah) and a wooden cult object (asherah). High places housed chambers where male prostitutes and harlots practiced cult prostitution.
  • Ashtaroth = Hebrew, moon goddess
    • Babylonian = Ishtar 
    • Greek = Aphrodite 
    • Phoenicians = Astarte
    • Sumerians = Inana     
    • Roman = Venus 
    • Roman =  Easter (I felt the side eye when you read that)

Quick detour from Judges because it is valuable information:

EASTER: WHAT ARE YOU REALLY CELEBRATING?!?

The Sumerian goddess Inanna is known outside of Mesopotamia by her Babylonian name, “Ishtar”. In ancient Canaan Ishtar is known as Astarte, and her counterparts in the Greek and Roman pantheons are known as Aphrodite and Venus. The word Easter is derived from the ancient name Ishtar, a pagan goddess. She is known as Ashtarte in historical literature and as Ashtoreth in the Scriptures:

Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” So the Israelites got rid of their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the Lord. 1 Samuel 7 vs 3 – 4

As the bringer of light after a long dark winter, the goddess was often depicted with the hare, an animal that represents the arrival of spring as well as the fertility of the season. The egg as a symbol of fertility and of renewed life goes back to the ancient Egyptians and Persians, who had also the custom of coloring and eating eggs during their spring festival.” In ancient Egypt, an egg symbolized the sun, while for the Babylonians, the egg represents the hatching of the Venus Ishtar, who fell from heaven to the Euphrates.

The Lord tells them to remove all things connected to this deity. Yet, we mark our calendars, head to the store for all things Easter, and set our kids up to do the total opposite. I am not saying that we do not celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, but I am saying we may need to take a step back and evaluate what is actually taking place. If God told the Israelites to stop worshipping this demon, shouldn’t we?

Moving on 😊

Verses 14-15

We see the anger of the Lord, and Israel is about to reap every single thing they sowed. Following fleshy desire may seem like the fun and free thing to do, my body my choice, but sin is deceptive, what looks like freedom only brings bondage.

Verse 16

“But the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hands of those who robbed them.”
How can anyone say that God is not a Loving Father?? He had plenty of opportunity to turn His back and He didn’t, instead he raised up men to help them. In full understanding of covenant, we learn we can not live independently from Him.

judges = supernatural anointed rescuers

Judge: Shaphat
shaphat, shaw-fat’; a primitive root; to judge, i.e. pronounce sentence (for or against); by implication, to vindicate or punish; by extension , to govern; passively, to litigate (literally or figuratively): — + avenge, X that condemn, contend, defend, execute (judgment), (be a) judge(-ment), X needs, plead, reason, rule.

to judge, govern, vindicate, punish
to act as law-giver or judge or governor (of God, man)
a. to rule, govern, judge
to decide controversy (of God, man)
to execute judgment
a. discriminating (of man)
b. vindicating
c. condemning and punishing
d. at theophanic advent for final judgment
b. (Niphal)
to enter into controversy, plead, have controversy together
to be judged
c. (Poel) judge, opponent-at-law (participle)

Verse 17

“YET…. they did not listen to their judges. For they played the Harlot (went whoring) after other gods, and bowed down to them.”

Verses 18-23

The ending of chapter 2 we see a cycle laid out for what we are to expect to see the remaining of the book: The Israelites will fall, God will raise up a judge, the Israelites will reform, the Israelites will have deliverance and rest while the judge is alive, the judge will die, the Israelites will fall again, God would always raise up another judge again and the cycle would continue.

Judges were a manifestation of God’s faithfulness to the Israelites.