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Attempts to Manipulate God's Deliverance - Judges 10:6-16

Sermon Series: In Need of a Greater Rescue

Judges 10 begins with the mentioning of two deliverers who arose to deliver Israel after Abimelech’s death. The author and narrator doesn’t detail their lives like he does some of the other judges though. In fact, he only spends a total of 5 verses between the two of them. This doesn’t mean, however, that these deliverers/judges were secondary, lesser deliverers. It more likely means that what was taking place in Israel and the accomplishments of these judges did not fit into the context and message of what the author and narrator was wanting to convey in this book. As a result the author and narrator is satisfied to simply mention them by name and gives some historical context, but he does not develop their stories like he has with Othniel, Ehud, Barak, and Gideon. The two deliverers mentioned in verses 1-5 are Tola and Jair. These two judged Israel for nearly 50 years combined and seemed to have overseen a rather stable and orderly season for the Israelites. But once again we see that when God’s appointed judges die the Israelites turn away from God to pursue their own desires.

As the author and narrator moves on from mentioning these two deliverers he turns his attention to what the readers have been anticipating - the Israelites’ apostasy. But this time he records the apostasy with greater intensity than he has in his past accounts. The Israelites’ idolatry was encompassing more and more foreign gods, while they continued to forsake the one and only true God. “The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtorath, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him” (10:6). The author lists more than seven gods that the Israelites had turned to worship and serve, and in the same breath says that they were refusing to worship the one true God. How ridiculous does this sound? The Israelite’s were supposed to be a monotheistic people, devoting their worship to God and God alone, yet they had turned into a polytheistic people, worshipping many gods. And the great irony of what we see transpiring is that while it seems that the Israelites were happy to worship any and every god of the surrounding nations and people they wouldn’t even include God in their worship. They chose to exclude Him altogether. The Israelites were willing to give up their worship and devotion to the one and only living god in order to worship and serve multiple gods who had no life at all.

We know from Scripture that God is a jealousy God. Because He is the only God who is unmatched in glory, splendor, and majesty, He will not share the worship and devotion that belongs to Him alone with any other. So as God observes this great sin being committed by the Israelite people it does not surprise us that their sin greatly angers Him. “So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel . . .” (10:7). This is consistent with what we have already seen in the book of Judges, but the degree of God’s punishment seems to be greater this time than in times past. Notice that verse 7 tells us that God gave the Israelites over to two enemies (the Philistines and the Ammonites) instead of one (which has been the pattern in the past). Additionally the language that the author and narrator used to describe the oppression in verse 8 is much more severe than he has used in the past, "and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel . . ."  It appears that this oppression started east of the Jordan River in the Israelite territory which was near the land of the Amorites, but that the Ammonites made their way across the Jordan River into the Promised Land where they broadened their oppression and increased the distress of the Israelite people.

The anticipated pattern of the book of Judges seems to be in place again. The Israelites have turned away from God to do what was evil in His sight; God has placed His hand against the Israelites by raising up different nations to oppress them; and in verse 10 we see the Israelites calling out to God as a result of their severe distress (see vs. 9). “And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, ‘We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals’” (10:10). Verse 10 demands some special consideration in our examination of the text this week because this is the first and only time in the book of Judges that we see the Israelites confessing sin. This is completely unexpected and completely out of pattern, so it begs the question, “Were the Israelites sincere in their confession of sin and was there any repentance to accompany this confession, or were the Israelites attempting to accomplish something else with their confession of sin?” On the surface the confession does appear to be a genuine one. But a closer examination of the context raises several concerns. Notice first that while the Israelites confess their sin to God, there isn’t any request for forgiveness that accompanies the confession. There is acknowledgement of a wrong done, but no forgiveness sought for the wrong that they had committed. Second, as we continue to move forward in the text there is no sign that God believes that their confession is genuine or that He takes their confession seriously. Instead he recounts His past demonstrations of faithfulness, compassion, mercy, and salvation and how the Israelites have continuously responded to those demonstrations by turning away from Him. “And the Lord said to the people of Israel, ‘Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more’” (10:11-13). If their confession had been genuine and sincere we would fully expect God to act on their behalf. Instead God refuses to deliver the Israelites, saying that He will no longer save and deliver them. Not only does he refuse to act on their behalf, but He continues by calling on them to be consistent. They had chosen not to worship God as the only living and powerful God. Instead they had chosen to worship, exalt, pray to, and serve other gods. Now God calls them to be consistent in their behavior and prayers, “Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress” (10:14). To cry out to God for relief from their distress was inconsistent with the rest of their choices. They didn’t want God to be a part of their lives when things were going well, so why should they want Him to intercede when things were going poorly. If they were going to be consistent they needed to call on their false gods in good times and bad, and if those gods were truly powerful to save then they would be able to deliver the Israelites from the oppression that they were facing. We’ll discuss this further in just a moment.

The Israelites respond to God calling them out with more self-interest in mind. “And the people of Israel said to the Lord, ‘We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to You. Only please deliver us this day. So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord . . .” (10:15-16). Once again it seems that the Israelites believed that their acknowledgement of their sin was enough. But it doesn’t seem that the Israelites understood the severity of their sin or the extent of sin’s consequences. When they acknowledged their sin they then gave God permission to do whatever He deemed appropriate to do to them. But in the Israelites’ minds they weren’t expecting more than a little pop on the hand or the bottom. They failed to realize that this was in fact what God had already been doing. The severe oppression that they were experiencing from the nations around them had been God doing what He seemed good to do. Their idolatry and self-centeredness was incredibly offensive and God had chosen to punish that sin with hard and weighty seasons of oppression. But the Israelites did not understand this. It never crossed their minds that their oppression was the punishment for their idolatry because in their minds a punishment that severe certainly didn’t fit the crime. In their minds their sin was so small and insignificant that it didn’t even require a request for forgiveness. They were looking for God to rescue them from the great physical oppression that they were under. This is the driving motivation of their words and actions in chapter 10. If God would grant them their selfish desires, then they would be willing to receive a soft and gentle rebuking for the sin they had committed. After acknowledging their sin the author and narrator tells us that they also “put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord.” Again, this has the appearance of genuine repentance. The Israelites are apparently putting away the objects of their idolatry to serve the Lord again. But remember that most important word – “context.” The rest of verse 16 ends, “and He became impatient over the [misery] of Israel.” The author and narrator tells us that God had grown impatient over something. The more challenging question is “what has He grown impatient with?” The Hebrew word that the author and narrator used has two different meanings, “misery/trouble” or “toil/works/effort.” Most of the editors of English translations have opted to translate the word “misery/trouble,” so that the end of verse 16 reads, “and He became impatient over the misery of Israel.” This leads the readers to believe that God had grown impatient over the oppression which the Israelites have had to endure, and makes for a great segue into the next narrative about Israel’s next deliverer. But we can also reasonably question if God has really grown impatient with Israel’s oppression and misery. He was in fact the One who had brought it upon Israel because of their disobedience. On the other hand we could consider the other translation which would render the end of verse 16, “and He became impatient over the efforts of Israel.” Choosing to translate the word “efforts” would mean that God had grown impatient with Israel’s efforts to try to manipulate Him. This doesn’t make for as smooth of a transition into the next deliverer narrative, but it does seem to be consistent with God’s frustration with Israel in this chapter. I think “efforts” is actually a better fit given the context and what it appears that Israel is attempting to do. The Israelites wanted God to provide them with deliverance and rescue from their distress. They had “confessed” their sin to God (but did not seek forgiveness or repent of the sin) and God had responded in frustration, challenging them to call on the gods they had chosen to worship and serve instead. Their words alone had failed to manipulate God and produce the results that they had desired. It appears now that they have attempted to go a step farther. Perhaps if they put away their gods then God will see their actions and give them what they desire. But their efforts are nothing more than attempts to manipulate God and God has grown tired of it. He is a jealous God who wants their undivided worship – not for a season or a time, but always. What He wants from the Israelites is for them to repent and return to worship Him and Him alone.

One thing that we have to be constantly evaluating is our “worship.” “Worship” is much more than just showing up to church on a Sunday morning, singing a few songs, and letting our mind wander while the pastor teaches. And yet so many of us use this as our functional definition of worship. We would throw our hands up in great protest if someone ever accused us of worshipping other gods. But could this be the case? When we’re spending the rest of our weeks exalting athletes, idolizing bloggers, investing ourselves entirely in our jobs, and putting our hope in politicians, are we really worshipping God the Father? Some of us look to an hour a week of half-hearted involvement at church as evidence of our worship of God, while the rest of the week we are giving more of our time, more of our passion, more of our finances, and more of our devotion to other things. Others of us spend our days loving ourselves more than God. We make choices based on what is going to please and gratify us the most, what is going to make our name and position great, and what is going to cost us the least amount of time, money, and effort. At the center of every choice we make is not God, but ourselves. When this is the case we are worshipping the idol of self over and above God. And make no mistake – this isn’t a small sin, it’s an enormous sin with enormous consequences.

Is God calling you out this morning in regards to sin and idolatry? Maybe God’s been calling you out this week in regards to your integrity (which we looked at last Sunday). Or maybe God’s been calling you out in some other area of sin in your life this week. If so, how are you going to respond (or how have you been responding)? Are you going to try to fool God by doing more works? It doesn’t work! God is calling us to recognize our sin and to turn from it – not to try to bury it beneath a bunch of “good works” which we’re really only using to try to manipulate God and get Him to rescue us from or keep us from any punishment. God sees past our words and behaviors to the intentions of our hearts. God knows when we are genuine and sincere and when we are only trying to manipulate Him. And God gets incredibly tired of all of our self-centered efforts to try to convince Him not to hold us accountable and to only bless us! God is calling us to genuinely repent and to worship and follow after Him!

Connection Point Questions for Discussion:

1. Tell us about a time when you knew that the poor decisions you had made were going to result in you experiencing trouble, and when you attempted to manipulate the situation in order to get out of trouble. Were your attempts to manipulate the situation successful? What was the outcome?

2. Do believers in Christ ever try to manipulate God? If so, how? Why do believers in Christ sometimes attempt to manipulate God (what is their motivation)?

3. Do you believe that God can be manipulated? Why or why not (What evidence do you have)? Do you believe that God’s frustration toward sin can be appeased and covered over by our good works? Why or why not? If verse 16 suggests that God grows impatient with our efforts to try to manipulate Him, and that He is not interested in our works, what does God desire when we sin against Him? What implications should this have on the way we live and interact with God?

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