Slices
Prepare
What promises have you made, both recently and in the distant past? What helped you keep them?
Bible passage
Disobedience and defeat
6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. 7 The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshipped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshipped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshipping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
20 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, ‘Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22 I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.’ 23 The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.
Explore
God made a covenant with Abraham, the founding father of the people of Israel. Once the Israelites were freed from Egypt, under the leadership of Moses, he made a second covenant, claiming them as his own and promising to bless them (Exodus 19:3–8). He called them to worship him faithfully, and him alone (Exodus 20:1–11).
Generations had come and gone. The stories of God’s greatness and knowledge of this covenant may have been faithfully enough passed on to future generations. But then what happened (v 10)? Read verses 11–15 again to reflect on what followed as a result. Even God turned against them, as he had said he would (v 15).
Yet God remained faithful to his side of the covenant. Despite everything, he did not desert them but longed to draw them back to himself, using tough tactics (vs 20–22) so that they might follow him as earlier generations had done. He raised up leaders who oversaw a temporary relief. Notice, there’s no mention here of anyone crying to God for mercy.
Respond
We live under the new covenant made possible by Christ’s death and resurrection. God remains 100 per cent committed to it, with the result that ‘… now you are the people of God … now you have received mercy’ (1 Peter 2:10). What in practice does this mean to you?
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 37,38; Psalm 88
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray that working relationships will continue to flourish in the team of Mission Partner The Wave Youth and Children working in Swanage. Join them in giving thanks for increased opportunities in local youth groups and mentoring in schools and pray for increasing support from the local Christian community.
