“The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.” (Exodus 15:3)

Judges 21:25

“In those days Israel didn't have a king. Everyone did whatever he considered right.”

The book of Judges starts drastically different than it ends. In the start of the book, Judah's troops, with the help of Simeon, went into battle against the Canaanites and Perizzites. God handed them over and they defeated them. Then they attacked Jerusalem and captured it. (Judges 1:4-8)

They were following God and He was with them. Israel was having victory after victory under Joshua's leadership and right after his death. In Judges 1:19, God was with the men of Judah and they were taking possession of their land. Then there is a 'but”, Judges 1:19 goes on to say, “But they could not force out the people living in the valley who had chariots made of iron.

Then from Judges 1:27-33, the narrator goes on to note all the tribes who did not force the enemy out of the land. Manassah, Ephriam, Zebulun, Asher and Naphtali did not force the enemy out but lived among them. Then the Amorites forced Dan out of the valley and into the mountains (Joshua 1:34). They also were determined to live in Hares, Aijalon, and Shaalbim (Joshua 1:35).

It became easier for the Israelites to allow the enemy to live among them then to pursue them and force them out. They had began to compromise. Since they were not really aware of their compromises, God sent a prophet to them to speak to them about it.

In Judges 1:1-3 the prophet spoke, “I brought you out of Egypt into the land that I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, 'I will never break my promise to you. You must never make a treaty with the people who live in the land. You must tear down their altars. But you didn't obey me. What do you think you're doing? So I have this to say, 'I will not force them out of your way. They will be like thorns in your sides, and their gods will become a trap for you.'”

At the time, the people cried loudly and offered sacrifices. However, they still did not force the enemy out of their land. The result was that the next generation who had no personal experience with Yahweh or had saw any of the victories abandoned God for the gods of the people who lived among them.

Judges 2:11-13 says, “The people of Israel did what Yahweh considered evil. They began to serve other gods – the Baals. The Israelites abandoned Yahweh Elohim of their ancestors, the Elohim who brought them out of Egypt. They followed the other gods of the people around them. They worshiped these gods, and that made Yahweh angry.”

Joshua 2:14 goes on to say, “they could no longer stand up against their enemies.” The result of their sin and degradation was that they no longer had the victory over their enemy. Their enemies were oppressing them continually and robbing them of life.

God would have mercy on them and send them judges to set them free. Joshua 2:16 goes on to say, “Then Yahweh would send judges to rescue them from those who robbed them. But the people wouldn't listen to the judges”. God heard their groaning and suffering as they were oppressed and was moved with mercy. Then He would send another judge to rescue them as long as that judge was alive (Judges 2:18). But after each judge died, the people went back to their old ways and acted even more corruptly than their parents (Judges 2:19).

This cycle happened over and over again in the book of Judges as the people fell into greater and greater evil. Even the judges were moving along a path of greater sin and degradation. Jephthah, a judge, agreed to fight and lead a people who hated him and had previously threw him out as garbage because they offered him power to rule over them. To win the victory he offered “whatever” came out of the door of his house to greet him when he came home safely as a burnt offering.

What else would come out of his door to greet him but his only child (daughter) who adored him? He would have anticipated this. He was offering his only child to a god for the victory so he could be in power over a people who could care less about him.

Then He proclaimed to have made a foolish promise he couldn't break. Again he was choosing to save face with those who hated him and had threw him out over the one who genuinely loved him. Rather than break his promise, he told his daughter, “I made a foolish promise to Yahweh. Now I can't break it.” (Judges 11:35)

God also raised up Samson as a judge. God was with him and gave him the power needed for the victory. Out of His mercy for the people, God used Sampson powerfully to free the people from oppression. However, Samson lacked any evidence of character. He was full of lust, sleeping with prostitutes. He was also filled with revenge. The main reason for his acting was against the Philistines was not his concern for his fellow Israelites, but to obtain personal revenge when he believed he was wronged. (Judges 16)

The book of judges eventually ends with the note that they did not have a king to rule them at that point. People began wanting a human king to rule them since they were rejecting God and wanted to be like other nations (1 Samuel 8:4-5). And it ended with everyone doing what they deemed right in their own eyes because they no longer knew what was right in God's eyes.

The Israelites did not set out to do evil. They were deeply grieved when a prophet rebuked them for turning to evil. What took them down a path of degradation was allowing the enemy to live along side of them. They began to compromise in small ways.

It was easier to let the enemy live among them then the energy needed to go to war against them. They began making excuses of how it was too hard and how the enemy was under their control (doing forced labor for them).

Then once they started compromising, their heart's began to become hard towards God. One cannot remain passionate about God and at the same time be tolerant of the enemy. There are many ways to fall into compromise.

Jeanne Terrell notes that when a church turns its head the other way when there is a problem out out wanting to be tolerant and giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, we compromise by not enforcing godly principles. [1]

Their can be many reasons why we tolerate sin. Sometimes it is because we tell ourselves that we want to love and accept everyone [2].

However, acceptance of the person does not mean that we approve of their sin and live among it rather than deal with it. For instance, if someone has a drinking problem, we do not go sit at the bar with them while they drink to keep them company. We offer them a better way because we genuinely care about them.

Jeanne Terrell writes, “When we walk in genuine love for our brothers and sisters, we will not maintain an attitude of toleration toward their sin.” [3]

Sometimes it can be a fear to challenge status quo because of repercussions. Where status quo is based upon maintaining power and control by individuals, if one joins in and follows along, they are compromising.

Other times, it is ignoring what seem to be harmless little compromises. Jeanne Terrell writes, “Sins like 'harmless' thoughts of deception, pride and compromise can drive giant wedges into our relationships with God without even fully recognizing them.” [4]

As this author notes, our tolerance to sin and indifference kills our pursuit of God. [5] Just like in the book of Judges, the more we tolerate sin and live among it, our hearts become hard towards God and sin. As we feel more distanced to God we will seek out other ways to fill us.

For the Israelites in the book of Judges, I imagine that it was “getting there” was a significant part of their battle with complacency. For many years, the focus had been on getting into the Promised Land and settling into their territories. They were finally there. They made it.

More than likely they had their sights on a land rather than Jesus and had forgot that they were to be sojourners passing through this life, looking forward to eternal promises. Success can be the greatest trap at times. We can think to ourselves, “Oh, I made it! Now I can relax and put my feet up!”

We are in a war and there is no putting our feet up and saying, 'now I made it!' 

Judges 3:2 says that the Lord had left the other nations behind to test the Israelites and teach their descendants about war.” God did not want them to leave the next generation without battles to fight.  The battles were to test them to see if they would obey.   Their obedience was tied up in their willingness to fight against their enemy.   (Judges 3:1-4)

 Jesus is a man of war (Ex. 15:3).   Even in the end times, the battle is a war and Jesus "judges and wages war" with the armies of heaven following Him.   He fights against the enemies armies (Revelation 19)

There is always more to do in taking ground from the enemy.  The minute we become lackadaisical about our pursuit of the kingdom, the enemy is taking ground from us.

Another area of struggle can be quitting when things become too difficult. We just give up and sit down. An example of this is Judah with the people living in the valley who had chariots made of iron. Judah had deemed them too strong for them so they never forced the people out. Like the Israelites who wondered the desert their whole lives because they refused to go take the land when commanded, they saw the size of their enemy and not the size of their God.

An example of someone who was the opposite of this and just didn't quit was Gideon. As Gideon and his men were exhausted after their battle, they kept on pursuing the enemy. When they reached Succoth, they asked for food while they continued to pursue King Zebah and King Zalmunna. The generals refused so they kept going. Again in reaching Penuel, they asked the people for food and they were refused.

Beyond exhaustion they finally reached the kings in Karkor. They overtook the kings and their 15,000 men. Overall, 120,000 of the enemies soldiers were killed in Gideon's victory. Then they went back dealing with the people in Succoth and Penuel who refused to help them.

Lord, help me to not be lackadaisical or put my feet up. Sometimes I find I ignore my sin, discount it, think I have made it and put my feet up and other times want to just quit. Forgive me where I have been complacent about sin. Give us hearts that readily go into battle against the enemy, don't quit when things look too hard, but actively pursue continually taking the land.