Generations Turning

As I began praying about how to address the kings of Israel after Rehoboam, God began to put it on my heart to look back a little farther in history. Let us take a look back at the book of Judges. This is in reference to the Israelites after taking possession of the Promised Land. All of the generation that had experienced the miracles in the desert had died and the next generation was in charge.

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. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12 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 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 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. 15 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.
16 Then the LORD raised up judges, [c] who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 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. 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. 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. (NIV)

After this passage the book of Judges says six more times “again the Israelites did evil in God’s eyes.” Why continue to repeat the same thing over and over? Isn’t it said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing again and again expecting a different result”?

Previous to the book of Judges the people of Israel were commanded in Deuteronomy, multiple times, to write down the laws and experiences so that their children would not forget them, so that they would not turn from them. We know that they were written down because we have these writings. We can read them thousands of years later. For example:

Deuteronomy 31:19 "Now write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them. 20 When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their forefathers, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. 21 And when many disasters and difficulties come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath." 22 So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites. (NIV)

God warned them that they would turn from Him. Why wouldn’t they have prepared themselves against turning? I would think that they would have been determined to serve God and strengthen themselves in the Lord. Doesn’t it make sense that if God told you that something bad would happen if you did or didn’t do something that you would want to live by what He said? Yet what happened to their children? They did not take heed to the warnings and they turned their hearts from God.

This is what I want to look at throughout the Old and New Testaments. Yes, there are examples in both, I will continue with the Israelites in the Old Testament for now. Just in the book of Judges there are multiple examples of how God’s warning were not heeded and hearts turned from Him. Look at Sampson, God specifically told to separate himself, to take the vow of a Nazarite. Sampson did not listen, even after God had done many mighty and miraculous things through him. This lead to him being beaten, having his eyes gouged out and being placed into captivity. How many times in my life have I found myself in this same condition, blinded to what God wanted me to see and in bondage brought about by my sin?

As the book of Judges comes to a close, just shortly before the first king of Israel, there lived a man named Eli. If you go to the book of 1 Samuel you can read a more detailed discussion of Eli and his two sons but the summary of their story is as follows.

Eli was the priest at the temple and his sons had become very wicked in their positions as next in line to become priests. They were greatly abusing their authority and Eli was overlooking this abuse because it was giving him a very cushy life. Because he didn’t deal with his sons appropriately, God promised to judge him and his family. At this time Samuel was born and the circumstances around his birth were quite miraculous. His mother promised God that if she had a child she would dedicate this child to serve God in the temple. Thus, Samuel was brought to the temple and given to Eli, the priest, to be trained in service to God.

Samuel was brought up in the temple. He saw how Eli and his sons were living. He saw the abuse of their power and what it was doing to the nation of Israel. God even spoke through Samuel to tell Eli that the promised judgment was about to take place. Samuel then saw Eli and his sons die and the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God’s presence, captured by a foreign nation.

Samuel then became priest and became a man who was greatly used by God. He heard from God and lead the people of Israel very justly and according to God’s will.

What would be the logical conclusion to this story? To me it would make sense that after everything that had happened, after everything that Samuel had seen and been through, that his sons would have grown to be mighty men of God. That they would have become men who followed in their father’s foot steps and became priests. That they too would have heard from God and listened to His direction and lead the people according to the precepts and laws that God had set forth. Unfortunately this is not what happened.

If we read in 1 Samuel 8:3, “But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice” (NIV) we can see that his sons became much the same as Eli’s sons. They began to abuse their power in the temple and caused much strife in the nation of Israel. In fact, they caused so much strife that the people of Israel cried out for a king, a king, just like the other nations around them. The nation of Israel had been set apart, different from the pagan nations around them, now they wanted to be like them. This desire to become more like those around them had been very evident but now they had an excuse. This excuse was very much a result of the actions of Samuel’s sons.

How did this happen? How did Samuel’s sons become just like the sons of Eli causing tremendous turmoil within their nation? Why does it continue to happen today? How many times have you seen or heard of the children of a Christian leader walking, or frantically running, away from the life that had been taught to them? Do these actions not cause turmoil within the Body of Christ? Why does it get worse with every generation?

We read in Judges how each generation would become more perverse than the previous one. Their actions would remove God’s protection from them and open the door for their enemies to come in and attack. Each time this happened God would send a Judge to bring the nation back to God and after things were restored the people would again turn. Why did they continue to turn? Better yet, what has happened to me? I have these examples, yet I have continued to turn from Him. I turn from the one who loves me only to worship the things of this world such as, money, possessions, or status. Is this why the next generation turns? Is it my example of “Christianity” that leads them in their downward spiral?

If we continue after Samuel we then come to the kings of Israel. I could write pages along these lines about Saul, David, and Solomon but I really want to get back to the kings after Rehoboam. If God doesn’t take me in a different direction again