God at Work in History #18Judges: When a Generation Forgot
Scripture: Judges 1–2
The story of Israel after Joshua—and the God who remained faithful when His people forgot Him.
Joshua was dead. The great leader who had brought Israel across the Jordan, led the conquest of Canaan, and called the people to serve the Lord had finished his work. His final words still rang in Israel's ears:
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” (Joshua 24:15)
The people had answered with conviction. They declared that they would serve the Lord, remembering what He had done for them. Joshua had renewed the covenant, set up a stone as a witness, and sent the people away to their inheritance.
But what happens when the great leader is gone? What happens when the people who witnessed God's mighty works are replaced by people who know the stories but have never seen the miracles?
The Book of Judges answers those questions with one of the most searching accounts in all of Scripture. It is a story of courage and cowardice, faith and compromise, oppression and deliverance. Above all, it is a story of the patience of God with a people who repeatedly turned away from Him.
The opening words take us into the unsettled years after Joshua's death. Israel had entered the Promised Land, but the conquest was not complete. The tribes still had work to do, and they faced enemies who had not disappeared simply because God had promised them the land.
The question was no longer whether God had kept His promises. The question was whether Israel would trust Him enough to finish the work.
The Work Was Not Finished
Judges begins with a question that sounds promising: “Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?” (Judges 1:1).
Israel asks the Lord for direction, and the Lord answers that Judah shall lead. There are victories, and the people make progress. But the chapter repeatedly records a troubling fact: the Israelites did not drive out all the inhabitants of the land.
Some Canaanites remained in their fortified cities. Others continued living among the tribes of Israel. What began as an incomplete military task would become a spiritual danger.
The issue was not that Israel lacked the power to overcome every obstacle. God had already demonstrated His power at the Red Sea, at the Jordan, and at Jericho. The issue was whether Israel would obey Him completely.
The people who had seen the walls of Jericho fall were now settling for less than God had commanded.
There is a difference between entering the inheritance God has promised and possessing it fully. Israel had received the land, but the work of occupying it faithfully remained unfinished.
The compromise of one generation would become the temptation of the next.
A Messenger with a Warning
Judges 2 brings us to a solemn encounter. The angel of the Lord comes to Israel with a message reminding the people of God's faithfulness.
The Lord had brought them out of Egypt. He had led them into the promised land. He had declared that He would never break His covenant with them.
But the people had failed to obey His voice.
The consequences would be painful. The remaining nations would become a snare to Israel, and their gods would tempt the people away from the Lord.
When the Israelites heard the message, they wept. They named the place Bochim, meaning “weepers.”
It was a moment of sorrow, but sorrow alone would not solve their problem. Tears are not the same as repentance, and a moving religious experience does not guarantee lasting faithfulness.
The story presses us to ask a difficult question: Will the people who weep over their disobedience actually change their ways?
The answer unfolds in the verses that follow.
The Generation That Did Not Know
Here is the sentence that explains the tragedy of the entire book:
“And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10, KJV)
Think about what that means.
The generation of the Exodus had seen God's mighty hand. Their children had entered Canaan under Joshua. They had heard the accounts of the wilderness, the crossing of the Jordan, and the fall of Jericho.
Yet the next generation did not know the Lord or understand His works in a way that governed their lives.
The verse does not necessarily mean that nobody had ever told them the stories. It means that the knowledge of God had failed to take root in their hearts. The history remained available, but its spiritual power had been lost.
The consequence was swift. The people forsook the Lord and served the Baals, the local pagan gods of Canaan. They turned from the God who had delivered them and began worshiping the gods of the people around them.
This was no small change in religious preference. It was a rejection of the covenant that defined Israel's relationship with God.
And here is a lesson for every generation: the faithfulness of our fathers cannot substitute for our own faithfulness to God.
A family may possess a Bible, attend church, and know its hymns. A nation may celebrate its religious heritage. But none of these things can guarantee that the next generation will know the Lord.
Faith must be taught, lived, and embraced. The works of God must be remembered, and His Word must be allowed to shape the present.
Joshua's generation had made its choice. Now another generation had to make its own.
The Cycle of Forgetting
Judges 2 gives us the pattern that will repeat throughout the book.
Israel turns away from God. Enemies oppress the people. In their distress, they cry out to the Lord. God raises up a judge to deliver them. For a time, the land has rest. Then, after the judge dies, the people turn back to their old ways—and often become even more corrupt.
It is a cycle of rebellion, suffering, crying out, and deliverance.
The judges were not merely men who sat in a courtroom settling disputes. God raised them up as deliverers, rescuing Israel from the power of its enemies and helping restore order. Some would become famous warriors. Others would surprise us by the means through which God used them.
But the cycle reveals a deeper problem. The people wanted relief from their suffering, yet they repeatedly returned to the very disobedience that had brought them into trouble.
Their need was greater than a succession of military victories. They needed hearts that remained faithful to God.
And yet, in the middle of this dark account, there is wonderful news.
God did not abandon His people.
Judges 2:16 tells us that the Lord raised up judges who delivered Israel from those who plundered them. When the people were in distress, God acted. His mercy was not a reward for their consistent faithfulness. It was evidence of His own steadfast character.
Israel's repeated failures were real, and the consequences were real. But the Lord continued to work in their history.
God Was Not Finished with Israel
We are now ready to meet the remarkable people whose stories fill the Book of Judges.
There will be Ehud, the unexpected deliverer;
Deborah, the prophetess who helped lead Israel to victory;
Gideon, the reluctant man whom God called a mighty man of valor;
Jephthah, whose story contains both courage and tragedy; and
Samson, a man of extraordinary strength whose personal weaknesses brought devastating consequences.
These are not polished heroes without flaws. Their stories contain human courage, foolishness, faith, and failure. The Bible does not hide the weaknesses of its characters to make its history more attractive.
Instead, it shows us the God who works through imperfect people while remaining perfectly faithful to His purposes.
As the book progresses, the spiritual condition of Israel will grow increasingly dark. The closing chapters will describe a society in which people repeatedly do what is right in their own eyes. The absence of faithful leadership will become painfully evident.
But before we reach those dark days, we must understand the fundamental truth established here in the opening chapters.
Israel's greatest problem was not simply its enemies. It was the people's departure from the Lord.
And Israel's greatest hope was not its own strength. It was the mercy of God.
The Lesson for Our Own Time
The Book of Judges begins with a question that every generation must answer: Will we remember the Lord and walk in His ways, or will we allow the faith entrusted to us to fade into a story about the past?
We cannot live forever on the spiritual victories of an earlier generation.
We must know the Lord ourselves.
We must teach His Word to our children and grandchildren.
We must remember what He has done, and
we must trust Him in the circumstances we face today.
Yet Judges also offers hope to anyone who has watched faith weaken, families drift, or a society turn away from its spiritual foundations.
God's patience should never be mistaken for indifference.
His discipline is real, but so is His mercy.
He hears the cries of His people, and
He is able to raise up deliverers when the situation appears hopeless.
The Book of Judges will show us what happens when people forget God. But it will also show us that human failure cannot make God unfaithful to His purposes.
And as Christians, we see the larger story moving toward the coming of Jesus Christ, the Savior whose deliverance reaches deeper than the rescue of a nation from its enemies. He came to deal with the bondage of sin itself.
The days of the judges were troubled days. But God was still at work in history.
Next in our series: Ehud—The Unexpected Deliverer.
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IT IS NO SECRET WHAT GOD CAN DO.
The chimes of time ring out the news,
Another day is through.
Someone slipped and fell.
Was that someone you?
You may have longed for added strength,
Your courage to renew.
Do not be disheartened,
For I have news for you.
It is no secret what God can do.
What He's done for others, He'll do for you.
With arms wide open, He'll pardon you.
It is no secret what God can do.
There is no night for in His light
You never walk alone.
Always feel at home,
Wherever you may go.
There is no power can conquer you
While God is on your side.
Take Him at His promise,
Don't run away and hide.
For it's no secret what God can do.
What He's done for others, He'll do for you.
With arms wide open, He'll pardon you.
It is no secret what God can do.
There is no night for in His light
You never walk alone.
Always feel at home,
Wherever you may go.
There is no power can conquer you
While God is on your side.
Take Him at His promise,
Don't run away and hide.
For it's no secret what God can do.
What He's done for others, He'll do for you.
With arms wide open, He'll pardon you.
It is no secret what God can do.
For it's no secret what God can do.
Stuart Carl Hamblen, 1950
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