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In Judges 2
● notice that covenant (1, 2) matters in the words of the Lord brought to the people and in God’s later declaration (20),
● notice that Joshua is not named in the episode with the message-bearing angel (1-5),
● understand that the people “served the Lord” (7) as long as Joshua lived and the elders who were with him, but “another generation … who did not know the Lord” (10) arose,
● see that God’s people were indeed caught in the “snare” (3) of the gods of the land as they chose to “serve the Baals” (11, 13),
● notice how that serving is intensified by phrases like “went after” (12) and “bowed down” (12), suggesting eager pursuit more than reluctant submission,
● consider how the report that God “gave them over” (14) sounds somewhat like Paul’s threefold language in Romans: “God gave them up” (1:24, 26, 28),
● notice that the giving up is followed by intervention as God “raised up … saved” (16, 18),
● make the connection: faithfulness and restoration lasted while the major individual lived (Joshua or a judge) and then came the reversion to unfaithfulness- “going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them” (19)- even being “more corrupt than their fathers” (19),
● understand that this increasing corruption suggests more of a downward spiral than a mere cycle, and
● ponder three parts of God’s test: Will his people “be careful to walk in the way of the Lord” (22)?- the Lord has “a way;” people can “walk” or live in it; and care is needed.

Thank you,

Randy Tumlinson