Verses 1-3 are a good review to remember just what the entire situation is about. Against God's commands, God's own people DID make a league (to unite) with the inhabitants of the land - they did NOT throw down their altars. In other words, according to verse 3, they did not obey God's voice!
...but ye have not obeyed my voice:
God's response was not to take away the problem! Instead, He allowed the enemy to be as thorns in their sides - those gods became a snare unto them.
Their lives became miserable. Over and over, the people would finally decide that they had had enough, they would cry unto the LORD. And despite their sin, God always was there for them and would provide a deliverer - a judge to get them back onto God's narrow path. But notice that God would allow them to become miserable enough to call on him BEFORE He would give them the deliverer - the judge!
Do you suppose, as parents, that when our children go down the stray path, that we oftentimes go to their rescue too soon? God waited until they were miserable and cried to Him before He would step in. Those miserable times were exactly what they needed to then finally be willing to return to God. Unfortunately, they return to the wrong leader - one that will die - and then they fall again. They need to return to God himself - not be a Hosea Christian who doesn't return to the most High!
God says that our children will return: Prov:22:6
Train
up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart
from it.
But sometimes, they choose to
learn things the hard way. But there is certainly a warning here
- not all people get a second, or third chance!
Ecc 7: 17
Be
not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before
thy time?
2nd Generation Christians
Judges
2:10-13
10
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers:
and there arose another generation
after them, which knew not the LORD,
nor yet the works which he had
done for Israel.
11 And
the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD,
and served Baalim:
12 And
they forsook the LORD God of their fathers,
which brought them out of the
land of Egypt,
and followed other gods, of
the gods of the people that were round about them,
and bowed themselves unto them,
and provoked the LORD to anger.
13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
Baal (lord, master) - the chief god worshipped by the people of Canaan. The Israelites were continually tempted to worship Baal instead of the true God of Heaven (Nu. 22:41; Ju. 2:13; 6:28-32; 1 Ki. 14:24; 16:31-32; 18:17-40; 2 Ki. 21:3; 2 Ch. 17:3; 21:6; Je. 19:4-5). The worship of Baal was frequently connected with immorality, which is one of the reasons the Israelites were so sorely tempted in this direction (Nu. 25:1-18)
Ashtaroth (wife) - A goddess of ancient heathen nations (Ju. 2:13; 10:6; 1 Ki. 11:5; 2 Ki. 23:13)
Why is it when the kids of
good Christian parents
still choose to 'go wrong'?
Before you get into this too deeply because of a wrong direction your kids have chosen - or will choose, make sure the direction would be considered wrong according to the Book, amen? They may be going down a path that YOU don't want them to go down, but it would still not be considered a wicked & 'wrong' path.
They might even be going down a path that you taught them BEFORE you got excited about the Book, amen?
But if the children are obviously ignoring God's voice, then this may apply to yu'uns!
A. The Parents did not
teach them?
Deut 31:12-13
12 Gather
the people together, men, and women,
and children, and thy stranger
that is within thy gates,
that they may hear, and that
they may learn, and fear the LORD your God,
and observe to do all the words
of this law:
13 And
that their children, which have not known any thing,
may hear, and learn to fear
the LORD your God,
as long as ye live in the land
whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
Deut 6:5-9
5 And
thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart,
and with all thy soul, and with
all thy might.
6 And
these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children,
and shalt talk of them when
thou sittest in thine house,
and when thou walkest by the
way,
and when thou liest down,
and when thou risest up.
8
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand,
and they shall be as frontlets
between thine eyes.
9
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
The New Testament along with Proverbs is full of verses commanding us as parents to be teaching our own children. An excellent study of our parental responsibility regarding our own children is available at: http://www.bmi.net/paulsonm/BiblicalParenting.html
We need to always teach our kids how the Lord blessed the day - especially through the difficult days and how the Lord worked them through according to that Bible. Our kids need to see us get your comfort and direction from that Book! They need to learn 'the Book' as we learn it, not just from a good Sunday School curriculum of good works, manners, etc.
B. They chose not to learn from their parents?
A. If the child is not wanting to learn in their early years, they need to be 'taught' that they should 'want' to learn or it will be 'uncomfortable' life they will choose to lead!
B. But in the older years, they must be seeking or they will not be very responsive. They may have heard it, but did they learn it? Were they even seeking the Lord and all his ways?
Ps:70:4
Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee:
and let such as love thy salvation
say continually, Let God be magnified.
Ps:105:3
Glory ye in his holy name: let
the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
Ps:105:4
Seek the LORD, and his strength:
seek his face evermore.
Heb 11:6
But without faith it is impossible
to please him:
for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him.
II Chron 26:4,5
And he (Uzziah) did that which
was right in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that his father
Amaziah did.
And he sought God in the days
of Zechariah,
who had understanding in the
visions of God:
and as long as he sought the
LORD, God made him to prosper.
Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not
depart out of thy mouth;
but thou shalt meditate therein
day and night,
that thou mayest observe to
do according to all that is written therein:
for then thou shalt make thy
way prosperous,
and then thou shalt have good
success.
Proverbs 30:11-14
11 There
is a generation that curseth their father,
and doth not bless their mother.
12 There
is a generation that are pure in their own eyes,
and yet is not washed from their
filthiness.
13 There
is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes!
and their eyelids are lifted
up.
14 There
is a generation, whose teeth are as swords,
and their jaw teeth as knives,
to devour the poor from off
the earth,
and the needy from among men.
Such children!
Ex:21:17
And he that curseth his father,
or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
Where is the law when you need
it?!!
Prov 22:15
Foolishness is bound in
the heart of a child;
but the rod of correction shall
drive it far from him.
C. They changed their
place of confidence!
Judges 17:6
In those days there was
no king in Israel,
but every man did that which
was right in his own eyes.
Kids are taught in our schools
that they are OK!
They think they know what they
want to do and what they can do!
Their confidence is in themselves,
not in God - & especially in a "book"!
2Pt:2:13
And shall receive the reward
of unrighteousness,
as they that count it pleasure
to riot in the day time.
Spots they are and blemishes,
sporting themselves with their
own deceivings while they feast with you;
II Tim 4:3,4
For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine;
but after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
And they shall turn away their
ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
1Tm:6:10
For the love of money is the
root of all evil:
which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith,
and pierced themselves through
with many sorrows.
Eph:4:19
Who being past feeling have
given themselves over unto lasciviousness,
to work all uncleanness with
greediness.
2Cor:10:12
For we dare not make ourselves
of the number,
or compare ourselves with some
that commend themselves:
but they measuring themselves
by themselves,
and comparing themselves among
themselves, are not wise.
Rom:13:2
Whosoever therefore resisteth
the power,
resisteth the ordinance of God:
and they that resist shall receive
to themselves damnation.
Rom:1:22
Professing themselves to be
wise, they became fools ...+++
See
http://www.bmi.net/paulsonm/BiblicalParenting.html
for
scriptural warnings
regarding Wayward Kids of parents
who refuse to bring their children up under God's command
and don't try to stop this wicked
path the children of today are going down.
D. They tolerate sin!
/ No separation! / No conviction!
Kids have a tendency to forget
what their parents and God have done together!
In many cases, they do not even
know - or even care to know!
Deut 6:10-18
10: And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
11: And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
12: Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
13: Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
14: Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
15: (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
16: Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
17: Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
18: And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,
Gal:4:3
Even so we, when we were children,
were in bondage under the elements
of the world:
Gal:5:1
Stand fast therefore in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,
and be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage.
But the people would not hearken to those judges!
Judges 2:17
And yet they would not hearken
unto their judges,
but they went a whoring after
other gods, and bowed themselves unto them:
they turned quickly out of the
way which their fathers walked in,
obeying the commandments of
the LORD;
but they did not so.
So, when God's children chose to go against His voice,
God responded.
Judges 2:14,15 And
the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel,
and he delivered them into the
hands of spoilers that spoiled them,
and he sold them into the hands
of their enemies round about,
so that they could not any longer
stand before their enemies.
15
Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for
evil,
as the LORD had said, and as
the LORD had sworn unto them:
and they were greatly distressed.
Judges 2:20-24
20 And
the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said,
Because that this people hath
transgressed my covenant
which I commanded their fathers,
and have not hearkened unto
my voice;
21 I
also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations
which Joshua left when he died:
22 That
through them I may prove Israel,
whether they will keep the way
of the LORD to walk therein,
as their fathers did keep it,
or not.
23 Therefore
the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily;
neither delivered he them into
the hand of Joshua.
Next week - Othniel and Ehud