Bible Commentaries

Divine and Human Influence

Judges 2:7)

What a noble influence may be exerted by one consecrated life! "The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua." We have had similar experience. We say: Since the leader died the followers have gone sadly astray. Or we say: Had the leader lived, it would not have been thus; he would have kept us together; his gracious domination would have ruled us aright; our reverence for him amounted to a species of religion. Or we say: Since the just critic died things have become demoralised; he was a just judge; he was generous withal; he saw the best side of every Judges 2:8)

Joshua gone. All that generation gathered to their fathers:—"There arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel"—a blind generation, utterly poor, historically penniless; men without anything that was more than one day old. These are the weights which time has to carry; these are the burdens of the ages; these are the men who let history die. What men should we be if we realised our history! Could we see the past as it ought to be seen, it would be like a cloud of spirits, a great army of angels, a sky shaded rather than darkened by heroic spirits, master souls that ruled their time. The other generation is always coming—the poor, penniless generation, the non-related generation; the generation that thinks every man a separate atom, or individual without any relation to the sum-total of things,—this is the generation that loses religion. Why? Because religion is historical. Religion binds man fast to the past. Religion does not incline itself towards the future in some selfishly expectant attitude; it lies back upon the past, and by the past seizes the future. We should be ashamed of some people—the people that talk mincingly, vain-gloriously, with affectation, with superficiality, win look upon life as a thing begun yesterday, and to be enjoyed today, and left tomorrow; they make us sore of heart; we feel poor in their presence; they have not seen "the great works of the Lord;" they have not bowed down to some worthy leadership and accepted its discipline and chastisement; they have influence only for a moment because they speak of things that endure but for a moment. Let us pray for the preservation of heroic memories. Let us remember that we never could have had a Bible to read if some men had not printed it as with their blood and bound it with their martyrdom. Let us think that we could not meet in many a Protestant church if there had not been men who counted not their lives dear unto them that they might stand up for liberty and defy the whole brood of hell. Now we ask little questions about things that our fathers died for! We now use the liberty they bought to praise the very tyranny which killed them.

So the generations come and go:—

"And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth" ( Judges 2:11-13).

How did the Lord answer them? He could not answer them in words. There are times when words are useless. The answer is in the fourteenth verse:—

"And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered (hem into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies." ( Judges 2:14)

Selected Note

"And they called the name of that place Bochim" ( Judges 2:5).—Bochim (the weepings) was the name given to a place (probably near Shiloh, where the tabernacle then was) where an "angel of the Lord" reproved the assembled Israelites for their disobedience in making leagues with the inhabitants of the land, and for their remissness in taking possession of their heritage. This caused the bitter weeping among the people for which the place took its name.

Prayer

Almighty God, thou hast heard the prayers of thy saints, and answered them with great love. We ourselves know this, and our hope in God is as a strong trust. We know when we have prayed unto thee, because the answer is in our hearts whilst we are yet speaking. We know the heavenly Presence; we can tell when we have reached thy throne: behold, thou dost come to us and turn our prayers into sweet replies in the very act of offering our supplications at thy throne. We are thankful as we look back upon the years that are gone. We will think of thy mercy, and not of our sin; we will dwell upon the lovingkindness of God, and not upon the rebellion of our own hearts. The years have been full of thy mercies; thy compassions glitter in them like jewels: thou truly hast been good unto Israel, even to them that are of a clean heart; and thou hast also been kind unto the unthankful and to the evil: whilst thy rain and thy sunshine have fallen upon the good, they have not been withheld from the unjust. We look onward with hope. Thou wilt not forsake us in the seventh trouble; thou wilt redeem thy covenant to its utmost letter, yea, thou wilt add to it and exceedingly multiply thy grace towards us. Keep us in the holy way; show us the sanctuary that is on high, and may our hearts desire to be in it night and day; may we measure all things by its weights and balances and standards: then shall we know when we are right and when God is pleased. Give us to see more and more of the grace that is in Christ Jesus, Son of Judges 2:18.

A picture of society when divinely constructed.—The economy of mediation is here, as everywhere, observed.—The great principle of election is here also affirmed.—The judges were raised up by the Lord.—Men did not make themselves Judges , nor did the people arbitrarily appoint and dismiss the judges.—The appointment was divine.—So it ought to be considered in all magistracy, judgeship, and government.—Society is a piece of mosaic wrought out by the loving hands of God.—God will only speak through the judges whom he himself has created and appointed.—The judge should recognise this himself, and be modest and self-restrained in proportion.—The true leader is always himself a follower of the divine guidance.—Elevation to office does not mean release from responsibility, but rather a responsibility that is enlarged and sanctified.—In times of national crisis men should pray that God would send the right leaders into the land, and clothe those leaders with appropriate influence.—It is in vain to have an orthodox Church and an atheistic State—that is to say, that the Church may be guided by God, but that the State may attempt to govern itself.—The Church should continually pray for the State, and thus acknowledge that God is the God of nations as well as the God of churches.—It is marvellous to observe how throughout the whole Scripture, all great appointments are acknowledged to be in the hands of God.—The children of Israel cried unto the Lord, and Moses was sent; again they cried, and judges were raised up; and so throughout the whole historical line, until Jesus Christ says, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest."—This is a lesson quite as much to those who suppose themselves to be appointed to high authority, as for the peoples whom they rule or attempt to direct.—The true Judges , minister, leader, statesman, will recognise that he is divinely appointed, and therefore accountable to God.—This will give moderation to his counsels, and invest all his thoughts and purposes with supreme solemnity, and will subdue the pomp of office by the consciousness of personal obligation to God.