The Lord Tests Israel
Comments for Study 2
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I. The Angel of the Lord (2:1-5)
>1. What are angels and who is the angel of the Lord? (1)
* Judges 2:1 "The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you,"
* Genesis 16:7-10 "The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered. Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."
* Genesis 22:11-18 "But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
* Exodus 3:2-4 "There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up." When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."
* Psalm 34:7 "The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them."
* Zechariah 1:11-13 "And they reported to the angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace." Then the angel of the LORD said, "LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?" So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me."
* Matthew 1:24-25 "When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus."
* Hebrews 1:3-4 "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs."
* Hebrews 1:14 "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?"
* 2 Peter 2:11 "yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord."
>What had he done and said?
* "I brought you up out of Egypt"
* "led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers"
* I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you,"
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>What had he required them to do that they did not do? (2)
* Judges 2:2 "and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?"
* "you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land"
* "you shall break down their altars"
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>What would be the result of their disobedience? (3)
* Judges 2:3 "Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be [thorns] in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."
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>How might similar things happen today? (John 14:23-24)
* John 14:23-24 "Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."
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>2. What was the united response of all Israel? (4)
* Judges 2:4 "When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud,"
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>Why might they offer sacrifices to the Lord? (5)
* Judges 2:5 "and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD."
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>What should follow spiritual remorse? (James 1:22)
* James 1:22 "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
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II. Disobedience and Defeat (2:6-23)
>3. What did the Israelites do after the angel of the Lord spoke to them? (6)
* Judges 2:6 "After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance."
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>How is Joshua's generation described? (7)
* Judges 2:7 "The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel."
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>How is Joshua described and what might it mean to Israel? (8-9)
* Judges 2:8-9 "Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash."
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>4. How is it possible that children do not know the Lord as their parents had? (10; John 1:12-13)
* Judges 2:10 "After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel."
* John 1:12-13 "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."
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>What happens to anyone who does not know the Lord? (11-13)
* Judges 2:11-13 "Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths."
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>What did the Lord do and why? (14-15)
* Judges 2:14-15 "In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress."
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>5. Why did the Lord raise up judges? (16, 18)
* Judges 2:16 "Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders."
* Judges 2:18 "Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them."
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>Did the people listen to the judges that the Lord sent? (17)
* Judges 2:17 "Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the LORD's commands."
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>After the judge died what did they do? (19)
* Judges 2:19 "But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways."
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>What does this say about human nature? (Rom. 1:21-25, 9:6-9)
* Romans 1:21-25 "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen."
* Romans 9:6-9 "It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
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>6. What did the Lord promise? (20-23)
* Judges 2:20-23 "Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, "Because this nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers and has not listened to me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their forefathers did." The LORD had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua."
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>How are the Lord's testing and training one in the same? (James 1:12)
* James 1:12 "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."
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III. The Nations the Lord Left to Test Israel (3:1-6)
>7. How does verse 1 explain why certain types of people are in our lives? (1)
* Judges 3:1 "These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan"
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>How does verses 2-3 further explain the Lord's ways?
* Judges 3:2-3 "(he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath."
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>How did Jesus interact with those who did not believe him? (Mark 2:5-12)
* Mark 2:5-12 "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
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>8. Why is obeying the Lord so important? (4)
* Judges 3:4 "They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD's commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses."
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>Did Jesus give us commands to obey?
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>9. What is sighted as a problem? (5-6)
* Judges 3:5-6 "The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods."
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>How is marriage important? (2 Cor. 6:14-16)
* 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
* Deuteronomy 22:10 "Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together."
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>How is it a mark of faith?
* John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me."
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