Judges 6:1-10
AN IMPLACABLE ENEMY In the previous cycles of the fall into sin of the children of Israel, they usually followed the same pattern of departure. There was a decline of faithfulness to God that led them to compromise. Compromise leads to a decay in spiritual living and people begin to accommodate to sin. Decay leads to apostasy when people turn away from God and find ways to justify what is wrong and think they are the ones who can interpret what parts of God's word they will obey and what they will ignore. Decay and apostasy lead to defeat in the Christian life because the standard of righteousness is no longer effective in the believer. The Spirit of God has been grieved and quenched, and our guard against the enemy has been let down until we are subjugated to the oppression of our foes. Thank God that when there is true repentance and genuine turning to God, He gives deliverance. In the case of the children of Israel, God raised up judges who were heroes of faith.
Othniel, the ideal judge, speaks of the defeat of the world, Chushanrishathaim. Shamgar was the pilgrim and stranger judge. Ehud, the diplomatic judge speaks of the defeat of the flesh, Moab/ Eglon. Deborah, the eloquent judge, and Barak and Jael speak of the defeat of the devil, Canaan. Now we have a new enemy, Midian (strife). Midian was one of the sons of Abraham by Keturah (Gen.25:1). He had five sons. Even though relatives may have close ties, "strife" is ready to spring into action at any time. When we get away from God and act independently of His revealed will, strife may be a discipline of God to bring us back from the path of waywardness. At times even though no one around us may know and we are keeping up the appearances of being who and what we should be, in heart, we forget the Lord. Strife causes, instead of friendship, confidence, freedom, and openness: silence, separation, suspicion, whispering. Instead of "love one another with a pure heart fervently," we find we are "biting and devouring one another." The Midianites were "as grasshoppers." They were everywhere. Strife does the same thing. It can spread rapidly from one conversation to another and before long a whole company of God's people is divided. Midian came into the land "to destroy it," not just to gain from its wealth. It wanted nothing less than annihilation of the testimony of God through the people of God. Israel was "greatly impoverished." Israel lost their freedom (v.2) even to live in their own homes, and had to resort to hidden shelters to survive. The people of God lost their fruitfulness (vs. 3,4) to the ravages of strife and all its associated connections. They even lost their food (v.4) to the grasping hands of strife that claimed the very source of their survival.
There had always been conflict between Midian and Israel. In an earlier battle Israel had nearly annihilated the Midianites but now they had repopulated and regrouped. Strive is never done with its objective of dividing, conquering and destroying God's people. Even so, Israel as a people had to be brought down to nothing. They couldn't claim the fruit of their labor for themselves. Their homes were no longer theirs. Their only shelter was makeshift hiding places in caves and hidden shelters. They had to hit "rock bottom" before they turned to God in desperation.
So, whose fault was it that all this happened to the people of God? Was it the enemy of the children of Israel who was at fault? The enemy, Midian, was used of God to deal with His own people and their own incomplete obedience to Him. That incomplete obedience, although it starts out well, when left undone leads to idolatry, intermarriage and everyone doing "what is right in their own eyes." In this fourth downward spiral, the cycle of sin gains momentum and the devastating effect is greater than before. When we sin, we can expect suffering and difficulty to be allowed by God as a corrective measure to stop us and bring about repentance that is genuine, not just words. To know something is wrong is one thing. To repent, turn from and forsake that sin, is quite another thing.
When the children of Israel cried to God because they were "greatly impoverished," God, who knows the hearts of all men, did not send deliverance to them. He sent a prophet. The prophet told them plainly why the disaster had fallen upon them and who was at fault in the situation in which they were found. In order for us to remain in fellowship with God, we must daily be in communication with Him through His word and the fellowship of prayer. This needs to be a constant commitment, not an intermittent practice to be engaged in, in times of emergency. When things begin to go wrong, instead of waiting for the problem to go away and we are in the middle of struggles and despair, it is incumbent upon us to halt immediately and turn to the Lord in confession and forsaking of sin.