Judges 2:16-23 English Standard Version

The Lord Raises Up Judges

16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. 19 But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. 20 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” 23 So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

You can read for yourselves what led up to the installation of judges in chapter one and the preceding verse of chapter two. If I were to summarize it then I would say it came down to a failure to know the Lord their God.

Judges 2:10

And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

No one likes to be judged but we bring it upon ourselves if we do not know and obey our Lord.

The time of the judges are over, from a biblical sense, but judgment has not surrendered.

Is anyone out there tired of being judged?

What is to be done about it?

Be careful what you ask for, because that wish just might become your new reality.

Acts 8:3

But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Here we find the introduction of Saul into the New Testament in Acts 3.

Acts 13:9

But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

Here we discover Paul’s new identity in Acts 13. What is significant in Saul’s conversion that we can learn about ourselves?

Galatians 1:17-18 English Standard Version

17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.

Paul was not immediately accepted in his new identity. He waited for three years to make his approach to Peter and the counsel in Jerusalem. We have no record of the time he spent away from the ministry he was about to lead in the gentiles. It might be that Saul had to find himself in this new identity. His conversion was one of the most dramatic of any in the bible.

We become a new creation in Christ and we should not expect to embrace this new identity without understanding what has really changed and what remains unchanged. None of us should have to expect the same troubles that Sual found, but some of things are very similar.

Acts 23:12

A Plot to Kill Paul

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.

Associates from a former life will no longer trust us. They might not try and kill us, but trust has been lost. Breaking off contact with our past may not always be an option for us. Sometimes they are family members, work associates, maybe even life long friends. We must accept that they need to see we have changed, not for our sake but for theirs.