With our nation in moral decline it is important that Christians consider what the Book of Judges has to say on the matter. Upon viewing the four hundred year span of Israel?s history, as recorded in this book, we can attribute the spiritual and moral decline of the nation of Israel to two things: Their failure to drive out the inhabitants living in the land of Canaan and their failure to destroy the altars that the Canaanites had erected to their gods.
Judges 2:1-5 captures God?s warning to Israel for its failure in doing these two things:
The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said to the Israelites, ?I brought you out of Egypt into this land that I swore to give your ancestors, and I said I would never break my covenant with you.2?For your part, you were not to make any covenants with the people living in this land; instead, you were to destroy their altars. But you disobeyed my command. Why did you do this?3?So now I declare that I will no longer drive out the people living in your land. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a constant temptation to you.?4?When the angel of the Lord finished speaking to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.5?So they called the place Bokim (which means ?weeping?), and they offered sacrifices there to the Lord. (NLT)
There are two major consequences listed here for Israel?s failure. First, the inhabitants that the Israelites failed to remove from Canaan would become thorns in their sides. This expression means that they would cause Israel pain, which they did. They rose and oppressed Israel on numerous occasions throughout the four hundred year history recorded in Judges.
Second, their gods would be a constant temptation to the Israelites. Here?s what tempted them about these gods. The inhabitants of Canaan worshiped Baal and the images of Ashtoreth. These were the gods/goddesses of fertility. They worshipped these gods in order to secure fertility for themselves, their livestock and their fields. And their worship included sexually immoral practices. Although God had promised to bless the Israelites with a bountiful harvest if they obeyed him, the Israelites considered the worship of the Canaanite gods a form of insurance, should God fail to keep his end of the deal. And, of course, they were particularly drawn to the sexual practices tied to the worship of these gods. Thus, they gave in to temptation and worshipped the Canaanite gods generation after generation. This practice was strengthened as the Israelites intermarried with the various peoples of Canaan, as this led them to more readily accept and worship the gods of the people they had married (cf. Judges 3:5-6).
By adopting the cultural practices of the Canaanites and by worshipping their gods, the Israelites began a downward spiral toward moral decay that increased with each new generation. This followed a cycle that looked like this. The people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. God turned them over to their enemies, who oppressed them. After enduring the oppression for several years the Israelites would finally cry out to the Lord. God would have compassion on them and would raise a judge/deliver that would free them. During the lifetime of the judge/deliverer the people enjoyed peace and God gave them victory over their enemies. But once the judge/deliverer died the people went back to worshipping their gods to a greater degree of evil; and the cycle would continue (cf. Judges 2:10-21 and Judges 3:1-30).
There are two things worth mentioning about this cycle. First, the Israelites endured the oppression, distress and suffering imposed on them by their enemies in increasing lengths of time throughout each generation before crying out to God. They endured as little as eight years (Judges 3:8) and as much as 40 years (Judges 13:1); and in the latter case we’re left in the dark as to whether or not they ever cried out to God before he sent them a deliver. It seems that in contrast to previous generations this generation did not cry out to God for deliverance, despite the fact that they had endured 40 years of Philistine oppression. Apparently they had become so complacent with the status quo that they accepted their oppression as a way of life. What would make people endure so many years of oppression, distress and suffering and do so with their children suffering alongside them when they knew that God would deliver them if they simply cried out to him? Apparently it was their unwillingness to part with their sin. Crying out to God would have meant having to stop their sinful ways. So they waited until they could no longer take their agony before calling on God for deliverance. That’s how sin works. Once we start on a sinful path it isn’t long before we and our family begin to suffer the consequences. We can love sin so much that we will endure the pain it causes us and our family in order to hold on to it, regardless of the consequences.
The second is that every time the Israelites cried out to God and he sent them a deliverer we are never told that they took down their altars and destroyed the images of their gods. Apparently they stopped worshipping their gods overtly as long as the judge/deliverer lived. But once the judge/deliver died they went back to their gods. I believe they never destroyed the altars. In fact, we can see this in Judges 2:4-5, which we read earlier. It says, “When the angel of the Lord finished speaking to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.5?So they called the place Bokim (which means ?weeping?), and they offered sacrifices there to the Lord.” Notice that they cried and offered sacrifices to the Lord, but never tore down the altars. This is why they always went back to their gods.
There are parallels between the time period recorded in the Book of Judges and our day.
1.????? That culture was in moral decline
2.????? America is in Moral decline
3.????? The Israelites embraced the sinful cultural practices of the peoples of Canaan
4.????? Many Christians have embraced the sinful cultural practices of the day
5.????? The Israelites worshipped on the altars of gods whose cult involved sexually immoral practices
6.????? Many Christians also worship on the altar of sex. Sex is a god in their life.
Let me explain point number 6. A god is anything we give our time, focus and devotion to. Many Christians speak against homosexual sin but fail to acknowledge heterosexual sin. Here’s a list:
????????? Many heterosexual Christian couples have sex without being married.
????????? Many heterosexual Christian couples live together either before getting married or without ever planning on ? ? ? getting married
????????? Many heterosexual Christian couples commit adultery
????????? Many Christian men and women watch porn regularly
As Christians we need to ask ourselves two questions that we must seek to honestly answer. The first is a two part question. How has our sexual immorality impacted our walk with God? Judges teaches us that it places people on a path to moral decline. And, how has it affected us and our family? Judges teaches us that it brings oppression and suffering.
The second question is this: How has our sexual immorality affected our Christian witness? Judges informs us that the Israelites were no different than the other peoples living in Canaan. They were as sinful or worse and they did not impact the surrounding culture in a positive way.
Please consider this. How can we turn our nation from its moral decline if we are worshiping at the same altar? How can we bring America back from its spiritual malaise if we are not being salt and light? We must tear down the altar of immorality if we are ever going to speak prophetically to our society. This will require us to repent of our sins and to break down the altars that we have erected to sexual immorality. You see, we can cry before God because we feel remorse over our sin and we can even worship him and ask for his forgiveness. But unless we tear down the altars in our life, like the Israelites, we will always return to worship on them. We must judge ourselves and deal with our own sexual immorality if we are ever going to reverse the spiritual decline of our nation.
