The
Book of Judges
Chapter
10:6, 14, 16
Geneva
Bible
Translation Ed. 1599
6
And the children of Israel wrought wickedness again in the sight of
the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, and
the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children
of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord and
served not him.
14
Go, and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen: let them save you in
the time of your tribulation.
16
Then they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the
Lord: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
Brethren;
The
patience of the Lord is long suffering. Indeed, He is slow to anger
and quick to forgive. Yet there are times when it is we that turn our
faces away from Him, that He allows us to wallow in the misery of our
own making. We are reminded here of the parable of the weary judge in
the Gospel of Luke 18:5-8, of the judge who is entreated by the widow
continuously to take action in a matter. The lesson learned here is
two fold; remain steadfast in your belief and serving of God, and
secondly God does hear, and will take action on your behalf, should
you falter, yet return to him, confess, and put away your sin.
Study
notes
They
were so dreadfully sunk into idolatry, that they had wholly forsaken
the Lord and his worship at the tabernacle, and made no pretensions
to it, but entirely neglected it. They grew worse and worse, and so
ripened themselves for ruin. Before they worshiped God and idols
together, now they forsake God, and wholly cleave to idols. They had
not been forced to worship those gods by their oppressors; but had
freely chosen them before Him.
Gill
and Wesley (Ed. by RPW Sr.)
While
those two judges, Tola and Jair, presided in the affairs of Israel,
things went well, but afterwards: Israel returned to their idolatry,
that sin which did most easily beset them (verse 6). They did evil
again in the sight of the Lord, from whom they were unaccountably
bent to backslide, as a foolish people and unwise. If they did it in
compliment to the neighboring nations, and to ingratiate themselves
with them, justly were they disappointed; for those nations which by
their wicked arts they sought to make their friends by the righteous
judgments of God became their enemies and oppressors. In quo quis
peccat, in eo punitur—Wherein a person offends, therein he shall be
punished. They did not so much as admit the God of Israel to be one
of those many deities they worshipped, but quite cast him off: They
forsook the Lord, and served not him at all. Those that think to
serve both God and Mammon will soon come entirely to forsake God, and
to serve Mammon only. If God have not all the heart, he will soon
have none of it. God renewed his judgments upon them, bringing them
under the power of oppressing enemies. Had they fallen into the hands
of the Lord immediately, they might have found that his mercies were
great; but God let them fall into the hands of man, whose tender
mercies are cruel. Yet later onward we read that they made a humble
confession to God in their distress, (verse 10). Now they own
themselves guilty, like a malefactor upon the rack, and promise
reformation, like a child under the rod. They not only complain of
the distress, but acknowledge it is their own sin that has brought
them into the distress; therefore God is righteous, and they have no
reason to repine. They confess their omissions, for in them their sin
began. It was kind that God took notice of their cry, and did not
turn a deaf ear to it and send them no answer at all; it was kind
likewise that when they began to repent he sent them such a message
as was proper to increase their repentance, that they might be
qualified and prepared for deliverance. True penitents dare and will
refer themselves to God to correct them as he thinks fit, knowing
that their sin is highly malignant in its deserts, and that God is
not rigorous or extreme in his demands. They supplicate for God’s
mercy: Deliver us only, we pray thee, this day, from this enemy. They
acknowledge what they deserved, yet pray to God not to deal with them
according to their deserts. Note, We must submit to God’s justice
with a hope in his mercy. They knew it was to no purpose to go to the
gods whom they had served, and therefore returned to the God whom
they had slighted. This is true repentance not only for sin, but from
sin. God’s gracious return in mercy to them, which is expressed
here very tenderly (verse 16). His soul was grieved for the misery of
Israel. Not that there is any grief in God (he has infinite joy and
happiness in himself, which cannot be broken in upon by either the
sins or the miseries of his creatures), nor that there is any change
in God: he is in one mind, and who can turn him? But his goodness is
his glory. By it he proclaims his name, and magnifies it above all
names; and, as he is pleased to put himself into the relation of a
father to his people that are in covenant with him, so he is pleased
to represent his goodness to them by the compassions of a father
towards his children; for, as he is the Father of lights, so he is
the Father of mercies. As the disobedience and misery of a child are
a grief to a tender father, and make him feel very sensibly from his
natural affection, so the provocations of God’s people are a grief
to him (Psalm 95:10 ), he is broken with their whorish heart (Ezekiel
6:9 ); their troubles also are a grief to him; so he is pleased to
speak when he is pleased to appear for the deliverance of his people,
changing his way and method of proceeding, as tender parents when
they begin to relent towards their children with whom they have been
displeased. Such are the tender mercies of our God, and so far is he
from having any pleasure in the death of sinners.
Matthew
Henry - Theologian - 1662 - 1714 (Ed. RPW Sr.)
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