The Treason of the Heart: Israel Serves Baals Text: Judges 2:11-15
Introduction: The Gravitational Pull of Idolatry
We live in a culture that believes it has graduated from idolatry. We look back at ancient Israel, with their golden calves and their Asherah poles, and we flatter ourselves. We think of idolatry as a primitive business, something involving crude statues and unenlightened pagans. But the human heart is an idol factory, and it has not been decommissioned. It has simply retooled for modern production. Our Baals are not fertility gods of bronze and stone; they are gods of comfort, approval, security, and power. They are the gods of the self. And the central lie of every single one of them is that we can have God's world without God's rules. We can have the fruit without the Root.
The book of Judges is a brutal, cyclical, and necessary story. It is the story of a nation given every possible blessing, a land flowing with milk and honey, a covenant with the living God, and a clear memory of His miraculous deliverance. And it is the story of how they threw it all away for the cheap, tawdry gods of their neighbors. It is a story of spiritual adultery. This is not a quaint historical account of a backsliding nation. This is a mirror. This is a diagnosis of the human condition apart from grace. The pattern is cyclical and predictable: rebellion leads to ruin, ruin leads to repentance, and repentance leads to rescue. But then, tragically, rescue leads to rebellion all over again.
In our passage today, we find the foundational summary of this entire cycle. It is the thesis statement for the entire book of Judges. It lays out the logic of sin and judgment with terrifying clarity. Israel's apostasy was not a minor slip-up. It was high treason against their covenant Lord. They did not just add a few new gods to their pantheon; they forsook Yahweh entirely. And in doing so, they did not find freedom, but bondage. They did not find life, but death. They did not find blessing, but a curse. This is the unalterable spiritual law of the universe. What you worship, you will become like. Worship mute idols, and you will become spiritually deaf and dumb. Worship a holy God, and you will become holy.
We must understand this dynamic because our culture is currently engaged in a massive, society-wide project of forsaking Yahweh. We are chasing after the Baals of sexual liberation and the Ashtaroth of self-definition. And we are seeing the predictable results: plunderers at our gates, enemies on every side, and a severe, national distress. The story of Judges is our story, and we must learn its lessons, or we will be doomed to repeat its judgments.
The Text
Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and served the Baals,
and they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked Yahweh to anger.
So they forsook Yahweh and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
And the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
Wherever they went, the hand of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken and as Yahweh had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.
(Judges 2:11-15 LSB)
The Great Betrayal (v. 11-13)
The indictment begins with a blunt and damning summary.
"Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and served the Baals, and they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked Yahweh to anger. So they forsook Yahweh and served Baal and the Ashtaroth." (Judges 2:11-13)
Notice the standard of judgment. The evil was not defined by what was evil in their own eyes, or in the eyes of the Canaanites. The standard is absolute: "in the eyes of Yahweh." This is the foundation of all morality. Without a transcendent lawgiver, the word "evil" is just a noise we make to express our distaste. But here, evil has objective content. It is a violation of the character and commands of the holy God.
And what was this evil? They "served the Baals." Baal was the Canaanite storm and fertility god. The Ashtaroth were the female goddesses of sex and war. This was not a sophisticated, philosophical system. This was raw, carnal religion. It was a religion of the appetites. Baal worship promised rain for your crops and children for your wife, and the worship involved ritual prostitution and often child sacrifice. It was a religion that deified nature and sanctified lust. It was, in short, a religion perfectly tailored to the fallen human heart. It offered all the ritual and none of the righteousness. It offered the thrill of transcendence without the demand of repentance.
But to serve Baal, they had to forsake Yahweh. The text emphasizes this twice. This is the language of covenant violation. It is the language of adultery. Yahweh was not just some generic deity; He was "the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt." Their apostasy was not just theological error; it was profound ingratitude. They were spurning the God who had redeemed them, who had parted the Red Sea, who had fed them with manna, who had given them victory. They were trading the glory of the transcendent Creator for a glorified farm animal. They exchanged the God who demanded holiness for gods who demanded orgies. This is the essence of all idolatry: trading down. As Paul says in Romans 1, they "exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images."
This act of cosmic treason "provoked Yahweh to anger." This is not the petty, volatile anger of a pagan deity. This is the settled, righteous, holy opposition of a spurned husband and a betrayed king. God is not a stoic philosopher, indifferent to the actions of His creatures. He is a person, a husband to His people, and His jealousy for His own glory and for the good of His bride is a consuming fire. When His people run into the arms of other gods, He is not amused. He is provoked.
The Covenant Curses Unleashed (v. 14)
This divine anger is not an impotent rage. It has consequences. God's holiness demands that sin be judged, and His covenant promises that it will be.
"And the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies." (Judges 2:14)
Here we see the terrible logic of idolatry play out. Israel wanted to be like the nations, so God gave them what they wanted. He "gave them into the hands" of those very nations. They wanted the gods of the Canaanites, so God gave them the armies of the Canaanites. This is a direct fulfillment of the covenant curses laid out in Deuteronomy 28. God had promised them, "The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies" (Deut. 28:25). Now, He is making good on His word.
Notice the active sovereignty of God in this judgment. It is not that God simply withdrew His protection and let nature take its course. The text says He "gave them" and He "sold them." God is the one orchestrating their defeat. The plunderers and enemies are not independent actors; they are the rod of His anger, the instrument of His righteous discipline. This is a hard truth for our sentimental age, which wants a God who is all unconditional affirmation and no judgment. But the God of the Bible is the Lord of hosts, and He uses pagan armies to chastise His own rebellious people.
The result is total military and political collapse. They "could no longer stand before their enemies." The very people they were commanded to drive out are now driving them into the ground. Their sin has rendered them impotent. This is always the way. Sin promises power and freedom, but it always delivers weakness and bondage. They forsook the source of their strength, and so they became weak. They bowed down to the gods of the land, and now they were being crushed by the people of the land.
The All-Encompassing Misery (v. 15)
The judgment is not limited to the battlefield. It is a comprehensive, pervasive misery that touches every aspect of their lives.
"Wherever they went, the hand of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken and as Yahweh had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed." (Judges 2:15)
This is a terrifying verse. "Wherever they went." There was no escape. Whether they went out to plant their fields, to trade in the market, or to fight in battle, the hand of Yahweh was against them. The same hand that had once been for them, delivering them from Egypt, was now turned against them for their own destruction. The Hebrew says "for evil," which here means for calamity, for disaster. God was actively working against their prosperity and peace.
And this was not arbitrary. It was "as Yahweh had spoken and as Yahweh had sworn to them." God is not making this up as He goes along. He is a covenant-keeping God. He keeps His promises of blessing for obedience, and He keeps His promises of cursing for disobedience. His judgments are not a sign of His unfaithfulness, but of His faithfulness. He is doing exactly what He said He would do. The Israelites were not surprised by this; they were without excuse.
The final result is that "they were severely distressed." This is the dead end of idolatry. It promises satisfaction but delivers misery. It promises freedom but delivers oppression. It promises life but delivers death. The party of Baal worship always ends with a hangover of divine judgment. The people are crushed, hemmed in, and in agony. And it is in this place of severe distress that the cycle will eventually turn. It is only when they hit rock bottom that they will remember to look up.
The Gospel According to Judges
This grim account might seem far removed from the good news of Jesus Christ. But it is not. This passage, in all its darkness, is designed to make us long for a better rescuer, a better Judge, and a better King.
First, we see our own reflection in Israel's sin. We, like them, have forsaken the God who made us and redeemed us. We have done what is evil in His sight. We have chased after the Baals of money and sex and the Ashtaroth of power and pride. We have provoked Him to anger. The covenant curses that fell on Israel are the same curses that we deserve. The hand of the Lord should be against us for evil. We, too, are severely distressed, enslaved to the enemies of sin and death.
Second, we see the holiness of God. God's anger against sin is not a flaw; it is a feature of His perfection. A god who is not angry at child sacrifice, sexual degradation, and high-handed treason is not a good god. He is a moral monster. God's burning anger against Israel is a sign that He takes sin seriously, and He takes His covenant seriously. And it is this very holiness that requires the cross.
Because on the cross, the entire cycle of Judges finds its ultimate fulfillment and its final end. On the cross, Jesus Christ, the true Israel, stood in our place. God "gave Him" and "sold Him" into the hands of His enemies. The hand of Yahweh was against Him for evil. All the covenant curses, all the accumulated wrath that we deserved for our Baal worship, were poured out upon Him. He experienced the ultimate plunder, being stripped naked and mocked. He was severely distressed, crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
He took the judgment so that we could receive the grace. He absorbed the curse so that we could receive the blessing. He endured the forsaking so that we could be forgiven. The cycle of sin and judgment is broken by the final Judge who took the judgment upon Himself. Therefore, for those who are in Christ, the cycle is over. We may still sin, and God will still discipline us as a loving Father. But the curse is gone. The burning anger has been satisfied. We are no longer sold to our enemies, but have been bought back by the blood of the Lamb.
The story of Judges shows us the futility of trying to save ourselves. Israel needed a savior from outside the system, one who would not just rescue them temporarily but would break the cycle permanently by giving them a new heart. That is what Christ has done. He is the great Judge and Deliverer who does not just give us another chance, but gives us a new life.