The Complete Tragedy
Today, we are continuing our series on the book of Judges. I thought I would briefly recap where we are before we look into our text. We have seen that Joshua has passed away, and since then, the people of Israel have been returning to serving the Baals and the Astaroth idols. As a result of this, God gave the Israelites over for oppression. But each time the people cry out to God for help, he raises for them judges to help turn them away from that oppression and follow again after God. Unfortunately, this seems to be a cycle for the people, as it looks like when the next judge passes away, they go into idolatry. We have seen five judges so far in the book. That being Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Barak, and Gideon. We are about at the halfway point regarding judges in this book (just in case you were curious). We left off talking about Abimelech last week who was not a judge, but someone who tried to make himself king.
Our passage today is Judges 10:1-16 as we continue our series. We are introduced to two new judges, Tola and Jair.
Two more Judges
Tola 1-2
So, we notice a few things here by reading these verses. The first thing is that not much information is given here about Tola. He is what we would call a "minor judge." Being referred to as a minor judge simply means that little information about him is provided in the text. We have already seen Shamgar, who was also considered a minor judge in the book, as the author dedicates only one verse to him in Judges 3:31.
However, just because Tola is considered a minor judge does not mean he is somehow insignificant in this story.
Tola's family line is mentioned here. He is the "son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar." Tola was an Israelite. He has some deep roots within the Israelite community that the author wants to point out to us. “He is the only judge to have his family line traced back to the past three generations.” People knew of his past and his lineage, and now, people have someone who is their leader.
Tola judged Israel in "Ephriam, “in the hill country of Shamir.” “Issachar's inheritance was located northwest of Manassah.” Tola was not living on the inheritance promised to Issachar, which could mean he wanted to help Israel during this time.
Tola arose "After Abimelech." We are not exactly sure how long the time was between Tola and Abimelech, but the fact that the author mentions that could be significant here. Tim Fehr, who brought us the word last week, mentioned how Abimelech was a deceiver and seemed to kill anyone who did not follow him. He killed his brothers out of his desire to be king. The people of Israel could be hurting deeply from their past leaders and were waiting for someone to come and lead them. There could be some trust issues as Tola comes to judge them.
Tola arose to "save Israel." We have seen these words of our past judges. Tola did not just fill a role while waiting for someone better. Commentators have argued over what exactly Tola came to save Israel from. Did Tola rise to save Israel from oppression or idolatrous ways? The text does not tell us, so we do not want to make any assumptions today. But what we can take away from the Tola is that Israel needed saving somehow. They needed a leader, and Tola did this for 23 years of his life. He passed away and was buried in Shamir.
Jair 3-5
We now move on to our second judge mentioned in these few verses, Jair After Tola arose, another Israelite from Gilead (a part of the Tribe of Manasseh) named Jair. We notice that he is also considered a minor judge in the amount of verses given to him. However, also like Tola, he is not insignificant. The text mentions how powerful of a human being Jair was.
He had 30 sons, which means he most likely had many wives. We saw this from our last judge, Gideon, who had 70 sons.
Jair's sons rode on 30 donkeys, which could even imply that a monarchy could be on the horizon for the people of Israel. “Donkeys are often something that monarchs road on in biblical times.” We see this throughout Scripture. 2 Samuel 13:29 talks about how David's sons mounted on their mules. 1 Kings 1:33 speaks again of Solomon, David's son, mounting on a mule. And when Zechariah prophesies in Zechariah 9:9 how Christ will come both "righteous and victorious lowly and riding on a donkey…" The sons of Jair are showing evidence of their "royal-type power"
He had 30 cities called "Havvoth Jair" to this day. The word Havvtoth means "settlements." So, Jair lived among his settlements. These are places that Jair most likely conquered in his quests. Deuteronomy 3:14 speaks a little bit about that.
If you were an Israelite during these times, doesn't that sound good to you? Will someone tough, wealthy, and with a big family be our next judge? There could almost be a relief as in, "We finally found our guy," or in this case, "We finally found our king?" Jair is someone who owns lots of settlements, and he could be fit to lead us. Israel could be showing that they are hungry for a king even though they have had one lead them through the wilderness, who led them out of Egypt and into the promised land. At times, humans are naturally inclined to put people with big pockets on pedestals, elect them leaders, and think they are doing better than we are.
Jair judge Israel 22 years then died and was buried in Kamon which was most likely located in Gilead. Even though these are shorter stories in this book, they are, again, by no means insignificant. We can see a few things here. Firstly, there is no mention of a cycle of sin here. Tola died, and then Jair judged after him with no mention of a cycle of sin by the people of Israel. God allowed the people to have 45 years of peace between these two judges.
If we did not know verses six and onward and were looking at Israel from an outside perspective, we would possibly think about how well they seem to be doing now. They have just had two different leaders who lead them in times of peace. And their last leader was very wealthy and had lots of children. They are finally on the up climb. But as we now know, looking onward, not so fast.
The Complete Offence
Forty-five whole years go by. Again, no sin cycle is mentioned here. But that was all about to change
The Offence (6)
But here, we see something unlike the other times when people fell into sin. In the past, we have seen the Israelites serve the Baals and the Astaroth. That was all that was recorded of the gods that they were serving. But now, they have decided to take on more gods here. "There are seven groups of foreign deities that are listed here in verse 6". They were not only going to serve the Baals and the Astaroth, but now they are going to their neighbors and serving their gods. And the number 7 is significant here. "It signifies the list of Canaanite nations listed in Deut 7:1 and, in so doing, highlights the total spiritual corruption of the nation." Scripture sometimes uses symbols to convey a point and the number 7 could certainly mean something here. We see that when God created the world, He did so in 6 and rested on the 7th (Genesis 2:2) In Exodus 22:30, when it came to animal sacrifices for the first 7 days, a newborn oxen and sheep will be with its mother Naaman in 2 Kings 5 was told to bath in the Jordan river 7 times. Joshua marched around the walls of Jericho 7 times to completely bring them down. So that is why this part of the outline is called the "complete offence" because the text is indicating that Israel is completely on the brink of entirely forsaking Yahweh.
And some of these people groups we have seen before. People who have oppressed Israel and also Israel are paying the price for not driving them out. Aram (or Syria, if you have that translation), we see in Judges 3:7-11 with King Cushan-Rishathaim how Yahweh sold them into his hands and delivered them through Othniel. Moab is also mentioned here. King Eglon was the ruler at that time. And God raised Ehud to help lead them. Israel did not like the Sidonites during their conquest Judges 1:31.
The people were now going to anything and everything other than Yahweh. While worshiping other people's idols, the text says that they forsook Yahweh and did not serve him. They did not seem interested in Him anymore and saw different things as more pleasing than Him.
The Complete Punishment 7-14
God would not let this go on anymore. God would stay true to who he is. Deuteronomy. 4:24 speaks of how God is someone who is jealous. He is jealous of his people that they would forsake the covenant and give themselves over to things that He disapproves of. The time for punishment has arrived.
The Ammonites in verses 8-9 show their dominance. "Until then their presence and activates had been confined to Israelite territory east of the Jordan…" They were extending their territory and started to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim so that Israel was severely distressed. They are so severely distressed that their very existence as a nation is starting to be threatened here. The enemy has begun to make its way into the heartland of the Israelites, taking them over. God ensured this would occur for the Philistines and the Ammonites. God is the true orchestrator who made sure that the nation of Israel would be severely distressed for the next 18 years.
The Confession (10)
So, what do you suppose happens next? As Israel continues this repeated offence of falling into idolatry, they follow through with the same solution that they have been doing since the start of the judges. However, the author shows us that this time is a bit different than the rest of the other times.
Why does the author include the words of the people here? “This is an added literary effect that the author puts to help raise the stakes of what is happening here.” It also put in to show that the Israelites are not dumb as to why they feel they are in the situation that they are in. They know where they went wrong here. They know whom they sinned against. They don't say they sinned against God. They instead say that we sinned against "our" God and have served the Baals. The God who has chosen us to enter into the Promised Land and has saved us repeatedly is whom they sinned against. Israel again is on the brink of being eliminated, and after 18 years of oppression, they cry out to the Lord for help. They feel like this is the best thing they can do right now.
In some ways, this sounds genuine and authentic. Isn't that what people do when they sin is confess to God, and He will forgive them.
Honestly, you can cut the tension here with a knife. How will Yahweh respond to the cry of His people? Will he immediately send another judge as He has done throughout this book? The tension is high, and we see how Yahweh responds to the people's cries.
God's response (11-14)
Before I get into this next part, I would understand that some of you may have some questions about verses 11-14. The following verses are heavy. But they are from the very mouth of God, and as I talk about this, I want you to be thinking about exactly how weighty these following few verses are as God presents His response to the people of Israel. I am going to do this verse by verse. So, Yahweh responds. He doesn't respond by sending a judge. He responds with His voice. He mentions "saved or save" four times in His entire response. He mentions that he has saved the people from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites. This is about 300 years between these seven people groups (and again, we see seven groups here like we did when the people gave themselves to seven groups idols). These are groups that we have seen in the past.
The Egyptians have seen as God brought the Israelites out of slavery (a constant message from Yahweh to His people). God gave the Amorites to them as they approached the Promised Land in Numbers 21. Again, with the Ammonites with Elgon in Judges 3, God delivered them from Elgon's oppression. Shamgar killed 600 Philistines, and God used him. Gideon defeated the Amalekites in Judges 6. So, what God is saying here is that He did not just deliver them from the hands of Egypt over 300 years ago. But these are also recent events that have happened among His people. And God has honoured the wishes of His people by delivering them.
But yet, the people have abused His grace. As soon as the judge passed away, the people fell into sin. We see a constant cycle throughout this book. But look at Yahweh's following words here. And as we look at these following words, we need to think about how huge these next few words are from God. This is almost unlike anything that we have seen from Him.
Think about it. Israel has made the cry to their God. They recognize their sin and acknowledge it before God. And do you want to know what His answer is to them? No. I will save you no longer. He said no to them – even though the people cried out to Him. But wait, isn't God supposed to honor the fact that his people cried to him for help? He has done so in the past through the other judges. This is almost like someone who you love and is always in need of money. But they keep abusing that money to spend on selfish things and try not to get ahead. They keep asking you for money, but you now start to see the pattern in which they are spending it and decide that you will no longer help them, even if they end up poor on the streets. This could be someone you love dearly. You wish you could see change, but they are unwilling to change.
We see much of the character of God here. He will not be mocked by false repentance. As much as there needs to be a confession of sin when it comes to repentance, there also needs to be a change of lifestyle. There needs to be an internal change as well. When the people made their confession, those idols were still around them. They hated their oppression, and it could be that this was out of convenience that they are crying out, not wanting to turn away from the idols in which they are worshiping. Could you imagine hearing those words from God during this time? It should cause us to ponder that God back then was the same God today, and our fake cries will not mock him to Him. He will never be genuine in a lamp or a vending machine, and whenever we hurt him, we can simply just bank on crying out, and He will immediately answer. So you know what? I will not save you anymore. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen—those lifeless stones and images. Let them save you because I will not do it anymore.
God is doing a couple of things here. He wants the people to look at those idols and see they cannot save them. They are not living beings that can help. They are lifeless and useless. And he also wants them to realize that this is your life without me. They have chosen what they want. And God doesn't owe them anything. They were on the brink of being like other peoples in the past, wiped out and simply known in history.
Their response (15-16)
Israel may have seen the problem at this point. They make another confession to him. This sounds a bit ingenuine at first. It is almost like they are saying, thy will be done, but not really as we want to be delivered today. In other words, we are very desperate now. The words of their God were heeded and taken into account. We know you are angry with us, and we deserve punishment. But deliver us today. Also, in response to Yahweh, we see something different now from Israel. We see that not only are they confessing their sin, but they decide to take action
As much as we have seen the character of God in his justice towards the people of Israel, we also see it in how he looks upon the people and has misery over their suffering. He does not take pleasure in seeing His people having to be punished for their sins. Think about how Christ personifies this in the New Testament. When Jesus healed the person with leprosy in Mark 1, the text says that Christ was "moved with pity" as He stretched out his hand to touch him. Christ, again in Matthew 20:34 had pity on these two men who were blind. And He shows His ultimate action by taking your sins and the sins of all who believe and repent upon His shoulder so that your greatest need can be met: the gift of salvation. And that is where we will end our passage today.
Application
So, what exactly do we take away from something like this today? How can we apply this to ourselves today? There are three main things that we can take away from today.
PUT AWAY THE IDOLS THAT ARE IN YOUR LIFE
Let's keep this simple as we think about the application; we see this right in our text today. So, it is essential to look at your life and ask, what are some of the idols I am giving myself to or holding onto in my life? I think we need to understand that an idol is anything that takes the place of God in our lives. We don't physically have to bow down to these things. We don't physically bow down to things like money and possessions. But with our lives, we can show that it is the most important thing to us. You don't bow to the idol of approval. This is true of all of us, but I think it is especially true of the young people in the room. How much time do you spend seeking the approval of those around you over seeking the approval of God? This one could include some of the most influential people in your life—family members, husbands, wives, children, bosses, etc.
To help us look at these things more closely, I left you with some questions in your bulletin today that should help you examine yourself as you continue to think about this. They are from the Gospel Coalition website and help examine our inward self as we think about idolatry. This is something that I would challenge you to go through this week. And as you go through these questions. Apply them to God's word as you submit yourself to Him. It is amazing how blind we can sometimes be to the idols in our life. So, as you examine, devise a plan to remove these things from your lives and submit them to God.
Understand what repentance is and do likewise
When I think about this topic (and you may as well), my mind goes to 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." While this passage stands true today to who God is, our passage today also tells us of who God is. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, but this does not mean that we neglect responsibility here. Think about the prodigal son in Luke 15. Once he realized how he was living, he turned back and went to his father. And his father was proud. He welcomed him back. But only after he turned away from his sinful life and went back to his father. This is repentance. Completely confessing our sins and having the attitude to change our inner self and outward self as to how we live for Christ.
So it would be best for us to not only to confess, but to also move to action in our repentance. As in, don't confess your sin simply when your problem is right over there! Don’t simply confess your sin and feel like at any moment you can go back unless you do something about it. Again repentance is not just words out of our mouths. But words and action. Confessing our sins because He is faithful and just to forgive us, but say no to sin and mean it.
Permanent problems require permanent solutions
We look back to when we started our passage. Just like the rest of the judges, Tola and Jair were never meant to be the permanent solution for our issue of sin. They served for only a short time. This passage should cause us for the one who is both true and better and has taken our sins to the cross. We have a permanent answer for the sin in our lives, and His name is Jesus. He has allowed us to become more than conquerors through Him who loved us. He is not simply a man in history who died, and we will never see him again. He is still reigning, ruling over his people, and we await His return. Let us not go to the temporary things of this world that may or may not cause us not to sin. Let us long for His return and not put idols in the place where he should be.
This is such an appropriate time for us to go to the table and remember the price that he paid for us. As we approach the table, I think today would be appropriate to examine ourselves and remember the price He paid for our sins. Ask Him if you have idols set in your life, and ask Him to reveal them to you. As you examine, find ways and ask for strength to remove those things from your life. Also, as you examine, reflect on the passionate love of our God. Who will forgive those who repent and turn away from sin? Church, we do not deserve the grace of God. But by sending His son on our behalf, we can be forgiven. Please reflect and be amazed at all that he has done for you.