Third Presbyterian Sunday Morning Bible Study - September 6, 2020

Below is the Bible Study written by Jim Rudiger for his Sunday School Class which meets at Third Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia. It's based on Judges 2:11-19.

Tradition!  Tradition!  That’s what Tyvia sings in “Fiddler on the Roof” in describing what is important.  What is tradition?  Something passed down from generation to generation.  It is the glue that cements the generations together.  The common thread that we can see traveling back through our parents, our grandparents and even further back.  It not only bonds us to our ancestors but will bond us to all of those who follow after us.  Our lives are rich with tradition.  We stand up for the seventh inning stretch at baseball games because President Taft got tired of sitting and wanted to stretch his legs.  Bingo, a new tradition is started and enlarged by singing “Take Me Out to the Ball game” and now hearing Kate Smith belt out “God Bless America.” 

Indians help Pilgrims with a family night supper and we have Thanksgiving broadened to include Turkey, oyster dressing, candied yams and the only time of the year that I eat cranberry sauce.  What are some other national traditions we celebrate?  When I was in school I was taught to salute the American flag by placing one hand over my heart while I recited the Pledge of Allegiance. When I said “to the flag,” I was to extend my arm straight out and point to the flag with the palm of my hand facing DOWN.  Then came World War II and that salute looked a whole lot like the Nazi salute, so we were instructed to not point to the flag with a straight arm but with the palm up.  A tradition changed and later pointing to the flag was eliminated all together.

What family traditions do you have?  When I married Jackie I married into a Christmas Eve tradition.  Her grandmother always had the family over for a party on Christmas Eve.  When she was no longer able to host the party, Jackie’s mom took over and then in the eighties, we inherited hosting the party.  When we started to having the party, we added sing-a-longs of the familiar carols and the sing-a-long book we passed out every Christmas Eve grew to 34 songs.

If traditions truly unite the generations and we believe that, then the only way the tradition will keep on going is if we pass them on to the next generation.  If the tradition is disrupted for a few years, it fades into just a golden memory.  We all have memories of traditions that are no longer observed.  The lost of a tradition can just be a sad fact of changing times, but, sometimes, it is a disaster.  Traditions of love of our country, respect for women, not using foul language particularly in public - all of these have been lost.  Remember the problem that arose when Rhett Butler at the end of “Gone With the Wind” turns to Scarlett after she asked what would become of her if he left and he replied, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”  That really shocked most people .  I remember Jackie and I going to see “The Last Picture Show” in the sixties.  The theater was packed and we had to sit on the front row.  After a half an hour, I was so embarrassed that Jackie was hearing such foul language, we got up and walked out.  Now that language pales compared to what is on TV sit-coms every night.  Somewhere down the line, our generation didn’t do enough to instill the traditions we learned from the previous generation into the next generation.  In today’s study we see the Israelites failing to pass on their traditions to the next generation and what happened.

Last week the Israelites all of the sudden weren’t able to beat the second rate city of Ai.  Joshua was stunned and confused about why God had deserted him and the Israelites and allowed this defeat.  Why had God withdrawn his support? Remember?  A guy broke the rules and took stuff that had been devoted to God.  How was the problem resolved?  He and some of his family were stoned and I don't mean that they were high on drugs.  I mean people dropped big rocks on them until they died.  Then the bodies and everything the guy owned was burned.  This put Israel back in God’s good graces.  For the rest of the book of Joshua, the people pretty much behaved themselves and were successful in taking over most of the promised land.  As the story of Joshua ended, he was close to 110 years old and he was one of only two people who  remembered back to how times really were in Egypt.  Can you imagine?  He had seen the plagues fall on Egypt.  He had stood at the Red Sea and saw the sea parted and then come crashing down on the army of Pharaoh drowning them.  He had seen God in a pillar of fire lead his people out of Egypt and through the wilderness.  He had gathered the manna and tasted it’s sweetness.  He had drank water flowing from a rock.

I remember back in the early fifties, the last Confederate soldier’s reunion was held right here in Norfolk.  There were only about five old men attending who had served in the Confederate Army.  They had served as young boys, some as drummers.  These old men represented our last chance to touch the Civil War.  As Joshua gave his final address to the people, I imagine there were some people there who marveled at what he had seen and heard.  He had been with Moses when all of the exciting, spiritual events happened.  Now, he was an old man challenging them to serve God and stay away from the gods of the Canaanites.  Without Joshua, were the Israelites rudderless?  No need to worry.  God thought of that too, and created something new for the people.  What was it?  Let’s find out.

The book of Judges is one of the most exciting books in the Bible.  It has everything to make it a best seller.  There are stories of political intrigue, assassination, murder, courage, fear, power and greed, sex and suicide, love and death, wars and military victories.  If you weren’t careful, you might think it was a script for an HBO movie.  Judges covers the time between Moses and Joshua and the time that Israel would begin to be ruled by kings.

Chapter 2 of Judges opens with Joshua dead.  While Moses had appointed Joshua to succeed him, there was no one chosen to succeed Joshua mainly because there wasn’t anyone of the stature of Joshua left.  The Israelites were on their own and that wasn’t a good thing for Israelites.  Do you think that the Israelites acting on their own will be able to maintain their relationship with God? 

It wasn’t long before they were back to their old ways chasing after other gods.  Where did these other gods come from?  Canaan.  But didn’t Israel take over Canaan as their Promised Land and get rid of their gods like God told them to do?  You see, when Joshua led the Israelite army in it’s victories over the nations that made up Canaan, he didn’t engage and defeat all of the nations.  There were nations left who were always a threat to the security of Israel.  One nation, the Philistines, would be a thorn in their side all during this time and right up to King David.  Scripture suggests that these nations were left so that the people would respect what God had done for them and they would depend on God to hold off these undefeated nations in the future.  It was kind of like an insurance policy and God is saying, “You’re in good hands with God.” 

Left on their own, Israel started flirting with the gods of the other nations, so, God steps back and lets events play out.  The other nations poke at Israel and find that Israel’s God doesn’t raise up some obstacle to prevent them from beating Israel.  Before long, bits of the land that the Israelites had fought so hard to conquer with the God’s help, was being siphoned off by these other nations.  Now, while Joshua was alive, there was a union between all twelve tribes, a mutual defense pact.  If one tribe is attacked, all of the other tribes would come to their defense.  With the passing of Joshua, there was no strong charismatic leader to hold the collision of tribes together.  So, it wasn’t long before they started to looking out for their own rear ends.  Each tribe became isolationist.  Now if two tribes shared a border with the same enemy nation and that nation attacked one of them, then the other tribe might help out because it was in their best interests.  The enemy nations were not only attacking the border towns but they were stirring up the Canaanites who were living within Israel’s borders.  All of this made the people reassess their actions and they moaned and groaned and complained to God saying, “Where is God when you really need him?”

Isn’t this just like humans?  While things are going along fine, God is just a luxury that you can accept or put way back on the highest shelf in the closet.  We can pull God out and look at him and maybe even shine him up a bit, but, as for the real world, you are handling that fine right now, thank you.  But let a little trouble pop up and the chorus starts, “God, where are you?”  You scramble all over the house trying to find where you put God so you can get him back on your side.  That is what happened to the Israelites.  It began to look like everyday brought on new problems.  It wasn’t like that when Dad was living.  He was always talking about God like he was some sort of a magic shield for Israel.  Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to ask this God for some help.  And this is where we pick up our study.

Judges 2:11 Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and worshiped the Baals: 12 and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them and bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger.  13 They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Astartes.  14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them to bring misfortune, as the Lord had warned them and sworn to them; and they were in great distress.

Here is what has happened.  While Joshua was alive, the people did what they had promised and stayed away from other gods.  Joshua dies.  No sooner was he buried than the next generation took over and what did they do about God?  They abandoned him.  Why would they do something so dopey?  Religious dementia.  They forgot what God had done for the them.  How is it possible for them to forget?  After all, they were only one generation away from the death of Joshua.  Only about twenty years.  Of course the wins at Jericho and Ai and all of the other nations in Canaan might have happened, say, fifty years earlier, but, that still isn’t too long ago.  You should be able to remember back fifty years.

If we go back fifty years, it would be 1970.  What was your life like in 1970?  Was your life different then?  I was 36 years old and living at 8038 Moose Ave.  In one month I will be celebrating fourteen years married to Jackie and we would have three children.  John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King had been assassinated and Richard Nixon is President.  Grand Furniture was having a sale - a nine piece maple bedroom suit for $149.00.  Hofheimer’s had a sale on stockings - $1.09 a pair.  And Swartz had all weather coats with zip out linings for $17.98.  A coke was five cents and a box of pop corn at the Norva was a dime.  The Vietnam war was tearing the country apart.

If we can remember these things, why didn’t they remember what had happened to them?  Because the last generation didn’t pass down the traditions.  As a result, what were the people doing?  Getting cozy with the gods of Canaan.  Who were these Canaanite gods who looked so attractive to the Israelites?  Baal and Astartes.  Baal actually means “lord” or “owner” and was the most important god in Canaan because he was the storm god and the god of fertility.  He brought the rains and made the ground fertile.  In other words he represented the two most popular aspects of a materialistic society - wealth and sex.  Baal’s girl friend was Astartes.  The weird thing about Baal was that he lived in a tree.  No, not in a tree house in the branches of a tree like Tarzan.  Baal lived inside the trunk of a tree.  If a worshiper wanted something from Baal, he leaned against a tree and asked Baal.  To make sure that Baal was paying attention, he would tap on the trunk of the tree.  When you say something and you hope that it will happen and there is a wooden table or door close by, what do you do?  Knock on wood.  Did you know that knocking on wood started with Baal?  So every time you knock on wood, you are asking Baal, who lives in that wooden door, to pay attention to what you are saying.

So, why would the Israelites give up a proven God for an unknown god like Baal?  Israelites were farmers like the Canaanites.  If the Canaanites prayed to Baal and it resulted in a good harvest, maybe it will work for them too.  Nobody would know.  If the Israelites were really thinking straight they would realize if Baal was so great, why hadn’t he done something to stop the people God was supporting from taking over his turf?  Even the Canaanites marveled at what God had done in parting the Jordan and blowing down the walls of Jericho.  They recognized that their Baal could never do anything like that.  The Israelites were choosing an unknown god without a winning record over a known winner.  This a classic example of the “grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”

Did God take this sitting down?  No.  What happened when they went to war against their enemies?  God not only sat it out, he actually worked against their winning.  How did the people feel?  They were depressed and distressed.  Poor babies.  Don’t you feel real sorry for them?

Judges 2:16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who delivered them out of the power of those who plundered them.  17 yet they did not listen even to the judges; for they lusted after other gods and bowed down to them.  They soon turned aside from the way in which their ancestors had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord; they did not follow their example.  18 Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord would be moved to pity by their groaning because of those who persecuted and oppressed them.  19 But whenever the judge died, they would relapse and behave worse than their ancestors, following other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them.  They would not drop any of the practices or their stubborn ways.

This new generation of Israelites recognized they were in big trouble, so, they begged God to help them out.  Did God ignore these guys?  These guys who obviously didn’t respect what God had done or could do?  Earlier, I told you God had some creating to do, Remember. God, being the gracious being that he is, responded by doing what?  Here come da judge.  Now when we hear the word judge, what do you think about?  Somebody sitting in a court room deciding who is telling the truth and who is lying.  The judges that God appointed were not that kind of judge.  These judges were more like military leaders raised up by God to protect the people.  If the people saw God’s judges helping them out, maybe it would inspire them to get right with God.  And it worked - kind of. The only problem was that the people straightened out only while that judge was alive.  When he died the people went right back to their old bad ways and dusted off the old statues of Baal that they had buried in the back of their closet.

This happened with each judge God appointed.  Don’t you see a tradition developing?  What was the tradition?  The Israelites misbehave and worship Canaanite gods.  God withdraws his support and bad things happen to the people.  The people start crying to God for help.  God listens and because of grace sends a judge to straighten things out.  The judge whips them into shape and everything is going along fine until the judge dies.  Then the people forget how bad things were before God sent the judge and start partying with the Baal again.  This happened over and over again.  Why didn’t the Israelites learn from experience?  Tradition!  Tradition!  They would not pass on to the next generation what had happened with them and how God had sustained them.

Why do the Israelites keep making the same mistake over and over again?  Maybe they were just arrogant.  When the judges were around and things were quiet and their enemies were held at bay, they began to think that it was because of something they had done.  It was their power and superiority that finally made their enemies leave them alone.  There was a movie a few years ago starring Bert Reynolds.  He goes to a doctor and is mistakenly told that he is going to die.  He cries to God to save him and if God does, Burt promises to give everything he has to helping unfortunate people.  As time goes on and he sees he ain’t dying, so, he begins to reduce his commitment to the unfortunate.  It ends with him not even saying thanks to God for being alive.  Don’t we promise anything if things really look bleak, but try to take back the promise when things smooth out a bit?

Maybe they expected that God would bail them out.  After all, all they had to do was cry a few crocodile tears and God sent a judge to bail them out.  Eventually, when the judge died, the Israelites would stray from what Moses and Joshua had set for them and adopted the customs and practices of the Canaanites.  God would look down and would allow them to suffer the consequences of their new adopted lifestyle.  It was just as if God was saying to them, “You made your bed, now lie in it.”  To tell the truth, when the judge died, the people probably secretly rejoiced because now they could be free to do what they wanted.  There wouldn’t be a goody two shoes telling them that all the fun things were bad.

When we were young, we wanted to be free from the dictates of our parents.  Freedom is something special, but, what is it?  Generally, we think of freedom in negative terms.  Not being constrained.  For Israel, freedom was linked to obeying God.  They didn’t find freedom in independence, but in dependence on God.  It was only when the people asserted their independence from God that they lost their freedom because then their enemies could invade and limit their freedom.  Now if we believe that freedom is the lack of constraint, then the idea of freedom being obeying God is a bit hard to swallow.  But, in reality, if freedom is only about the lack of constraints, then we are never going to be free.  There are always things that will constrain us.  There are laws limiting how fast we can drive our cars.  There are relationships with other people that restrain us from doing what we want because it may harm somebody else.  We have to work and take orders if we are going to get paid and provide a comfortable environment for yourself and your family even if you would rather be free to go fishing or play golf.   

So how do we deal with freedom?  Scripture tells us we have the freedom to choose - free choice.  This means that the trick is to make choices that enhance not only your life but the lives of those you care for and keep away from the choice that offers the path of the least resistance.  The path of least resistance is also the path of the least constraint.  Too often, that is the choice we make because it appears the easiest for us.  And that was the choice that the Israelites kept making, mistaking the path of least constraint with the freedom to obey God.  When they did that, they lost God’s protection and their enemies took away their freedom.  It makes no sense to exercise freedom in choice if that very choice destroys freedom.  I have a T shirt I got from a veteran’s organization that says it best.  Freedom is not free.

The only thing that saved the Israelites is the same thing that saves us.  God has an abiding interest in human beings and how we live.  God set before Israel the choice of life and death and then pleads with them to choose life.  To be free, Israel only had to obey God. 

Tradition!  Tradition!  It may be that tradition has more effect on us in our time than even with Tyvia.  We are the only ones who can let the next generation know about the freedom we have found in Jesus Christ.  If we don’t tell them, who will?  I had a preacher tell me one time that Christianity is one generation away from extinction meaning that if we don’t pass on the Gospel, the next generation won’t hear it and won’t accept Christ.  It sounds neat, but, I don’t believe it because that means that man controls the saving power of Christ.  Just as God provided the Israelites with judges to pass on the tradition, he will provide people today to spread the Gospel.  We’re past the time of “here come da judge.”  Christ was and is our only “judge” - that perfect person of justice.   And in Christ there is that perfect freedom.

Prayer: Father, grant us the wisdom to make choices that leads to a closer more obedient walk with you and the courage to pass the value of this choice on to the next generation.  In Christ name we pray.  Amen.