These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): … They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses. (Judges 3:1-2,4 NIV)
The Lord promised that He would help Israel slaughter everyone in the Promised Land. But He didn’t. Instead, since some had iron chariots, He couldn’t defeat them, so He claims He left them on purpose, to test the people. Well, they failed.
In fact, the book of Judges seems to have a simple plot line:
- Israel is in bondage for a long time.
- The Lord sends someone to lead Israel to victory and free them.
- Israel lives in peace for a while.
- Eventually, they start ignoring the Lord and disobey Him.
- The Lord sends another tribe to enslave Israel.
Repeat ad nauseam.
Israel and the Lord need couples counseling, since they seem to have a cycle of distrust. The Lord makes promises He can’t keep, which makes Israel disobey Him and follow other Gods, which causes Him to get angry and keep even fewer of His promises.
Reading Judges feels no different from reading any of the other bronze age mythology. Everything good or bad that happens is because some God is happy or angry, but you can never guess which way He’ll go until it happens.
Next: Judges 6-7.