“Israel
Backslides - Again”
“Then
the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, served the Baals
and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the
gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus they forsook
the LORD and did not serve Him.” (v.6)
Here the Israelites forsook the Lord their God again, and served the gods of the
surrounding nations. As a result, the Lord gave them up to the power of the Philistines and
Ammonites and left them to groan for eighteen years under the severe oppression
of the Ammonites (v.8), till they cried to Him in their distress (v.10). Later
in chapter 11, He would send them deliverance through Jephthah, though not till
He has first charged them with their sins, and they had put away the strange
gods.
Here
we see that, true repentance is not only for sin but from it as well. Meaning,
we must humble ourselves under His hand, seek deliverance from the powers of
darkness, separate ourselves from sin, and from occasions of it. All the while
realizing that when we freely choose to return and repeat some past sin, God is
able to prolong His mercy until we truly repent.
The
good news is we are not under the law but under grace. And, “If we confess our
sin, He is faithful to forgive us our sin, and cleans us from all
unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)
The
Truth
Jesus
said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who
are sick. Go and learn what this
means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the
righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:12)
