The Downward Spiral and the Stubborn Grace Text: Judges 2:16-23
Introduction: The Covenantal Merry-Go-Round
The book of Judges is a hard book. It is not for the faint of heart, and it is certainly not for the sentimentalist who wants a god made in his own image, a deity who is all Hallmark card and no thunder. This book is a raw, unvarnished account of a nation coming apart at the seams. It is the story of a people who had been given everything, a miraculous deliverance from Egypt, the very law of God written on stone, and a land flowing with milk and honey, and who proceeded to squander it all in a fit of spiritual adultery.
But more than that, it is a book that reveals the very character of God in the face of our persistent, stiff-necked rebellion. The central theme of Judges is a cycle, a downward spiral that repeats itself with nauseating regularity. Israel sins, God disciplines them through foreign oppression, the people cry out, God raises a deliverer, and there is peace. But as soon as the deliverer dies, the people rush back to their idols, often with more enthusiasm than before. It is a covenantal merry-go-round, and with each rotation, the nation sinks deeper into depravity. This pattern is not just ancient history; it is the pattern of the unregenerate human heart, and it is the pattern of backsliding for the believer.
Our text today lays out this cycle with theological precision. It is the divine commentary on the historical narrative that will follow. Before we get to the bloody details of Othniel, Ehud, and Samson, God gives us the interpretive key. He shows us the engine that drives this whole sorry business. And in doing so, He shows us two profound truths that we must grasp. First, the utter corruption and foolishness of the human heart when left to its own devices. And second, the astonishing, stubborn, and often severe mercy of a God who refuses to abandon His covenant people, even when they do everything in their power to make Him.
We live in an age that despises authority and definitions. We want to be our own gods, to define our own reality, and to erase all the lines that God has drawn in His creation and in His Word. The book of Judges is a stark warning of where that path leads. It leads to chaos, to bondage, and to the final, terrifying statement of the book: "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." This passage is God's diagnosis of a nation with a terminal disease, and it is also the first hint of the only possible cure.
The Text
Then Yahweh raised up judges who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges either, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of Yahweh; they did not do as their fathers. Now when Yahweh raised up judges for them, Yahweh was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for Yahweh was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and suppressed them. But it happened when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has trespassed against My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, I also will no longer dispossess before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.” So Yahweh allowed those nations to rest, not dispossessing them quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
(Judges 2:16-23 LSB)
God's Provision and Man's Prostitution (vv. 16-17)
We begin with the first movement in the cycle: God's gracious intervention and Israel's immediate infidelity.
"Then Yahweh raised up judges who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges either, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of Yahweh; they did not do as their fathers." (Judges 2:16-17)
Notice the source of the deliverance. "Yahweh raised up judges." The deliverance does not bubble up from the people. It is not a grassroots political movement. It is a sovereign, top-down act of grace. God initiates. He sees their plight, brought on by their own sin, and He acts first. The judges are not self-appointed saviors; they are divinely commissioned agents of rescue.
But look at the response. "Yet they did not listen to their judges." The very men God sent to save them, they ignored. This is the nature of rebellion. It is not just a rejection of abstract principles; it is a rejection of God's appointed authorities. And the root of this rebellion is idolatry, which the Bible here describes in the most visceral terms possible: "they played the harlot after other gods."
This language is not accidental. The covenant between God and Israel is consistently pictured as a marriage vow. Yahweh is the husband, and Israel is the bride. Therefore, idolatry is not merely a mistake or a difference of opinion; it is adultery. It is spiritual prostitution. It is taking the love, devotion, and resources that belong to the covenant husband and lavishing them on cheap, worthless lovers, the Baals and the Asheroth. This is a profound betrayal. They are cheating on the God who brought them out of Egypt, the God who is the source of their very life.
And notice the speed of their apostasy: "They turned aside quickly." This is not a slow, gradual drift. This is a headlong sprint into rebellion. The memory of deliverance is short. The allure of the idols is strong. This shows us that external deliverance is never enough. You can rescue a man from slavery, but you cannot rescue him from his love for slavery unless his heart is changed. Israel was saved from their enemies, but they were not saved from themselves. This is why the temporary salvation of the judges would never be sufficient. They needed a greater Judge, a greater Savior, who could not only defeat their external enemies but could also conquer the internal harlotry of their hearts.
The Pity of God and the Perversity of Man (vv. 18-19)
The text then elaborates on this cycle, contrasting the motivation of God with the motivation of the people.
"Now when Yahweh raised up judges for them, Yahweh was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for Yahweh was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and suppressed them. But it happened when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways." (Judges 2:18-19)
Here we see the heart of God. Why does He act? "For Yahweh was moved to pity by their groaning." This is a staggering statement. The word for "moved to pity" speaks of a deep, gut-level compassion. It is the same emotion that Jesus displays when He sees the crowds, harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Their groaning was not the cry of true repentance. The context makes it clear that their hearts were unchanged. It was the cry of pain, the cry of misery under the consequences of their sin. They didn't hate their sin; they hated the boot on their neck.
And yet, God responds. This is pure, unadulterated grace. He is not responding to their righteousness, for they have none. He is responding to their misery. His compassion is triggered not by their merit, but by their need. This is a foretaste of the gospel. God does not save us because we are good; He saves us because we are dead in our trespasses and He is rich in mercy.
But this divine pity is met with human perversity. "But it happened when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers." The moment the restraining influence of the judge was gone, they didn't just go back to their old ways; they got worse. Each generation slid further down the slope. Their sin was not a momentary lapse; it was a "stubborn way." The Hebrew speaks of a stiff-necked refusal to bend. This is total depravity in action. Left to themselves, men do not get better. They get worse. The external grace of a deliverer provided temporary relief, but it could not cure the underlying disease. The nation had a terminal heart condition.
Covenant Lawsuit and Divine Discipline (vv. 20-23)
Because of this persistent, high-handed rebellion, God announces a change in His dealings with Israel. This is a covenant lawsuit.
"So the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He said, 'Because this nation has trespassed against My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, I also will no longer dispossess before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.' So Yahweh allowed those nations to rest, not dispossessing them quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua." (Judges 2:20-23)
First, we see the holy anger of God. "The anger of Yahweh burned." This is not the petty temper tantrum of a pagan deity. This is the settled, righteous, holy opposition of a Creator to the sin that is destroying His creation and His people. It is the fury of a spurned husband. A God who is not angry at sin is not a God of love, for love must hate what destroys the beloved. Their sin is defined as trespassing His covenant. They had broken the sworn terms of their relationship with Him.
Because of this breach, God enacts a disciplinary measure. He will no longer drive out the remaining Canaanite nations. This is a classic example of God making our sin our punishment. The very thing they sinned with becomes the instrument of their judgment. They wanted to flirt with the Canaanite gods, so God says, "Fine. You can live with them. You can have them as a permanent thorn in your side." The idols they refused to tear down will now become the snares that trap them.
But notice the purpose. This is not merely punitive; it is probationary. He leaves these nations "in order to test Israel by them." God is sovereign over this entire situation. He is using the wickedness of the Canaanites to achieve His own holy purpose. The test is simple: "whether they will keep the way of Yahweh." The presence of temptation is not an excuse for sin; it is an opportunity for obedience. God leaves these pagan nations in the land to reveal what is truly in Israel's heart. And as the rest of the book shows, what is in their heart is harlotry and rebellion.
This is a severe mercy. God's discipline is a sign that He has not abandoned them. He is turning up the heat, not to destroy them, but to purify them. He is using the pain of foreign oppression to drive them back to Himself. He is a loving Father who will use the rod of correction on his wayward sons.
The Greater Judge and the Final Deliverance
This entire cycle cries out for a solution that the book of Judges itself cannot provide. The problem is not external. The problem is the stubborn heart of man. The judges were temporary fixes, Band-Aids on a cancer. They could win battles, but they could not grant new hearts. With every turn of the cycle, the need for a different kind of deliverer becomes more and more apparent.
Israel needed more than a judge; they needed a King. But not just any king. Saul would fail. David would sin. Solomon would build temples to foreign gods. They needed a King who was also a perfect Judge, one who would not die and allow the people to slide back into sin. They needed a King who would be with His people forever.
And they needed more than a King; they needed a new covenant. The old covenant, which they had trespassed, revealed their sin but could not remove it. They needed a covenant that was not written on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. A covenant that would not depend on their fickle obedience, but on God's sovereign grace.
This is precisely what the gospel announces. Jesus Christ is the final and perfect Judge. He is the one whom God raised up, and God was with Him. He saved us from the hands of our ultimate plunderer, Satan, sin, and death. But unlike the judges of old, His salvation is not temporary. He does not die and leave us to our own devices. He died, yes, but He rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us.
And through His death and resurrection, He inaugurated that new covenant. He deals with the root problem of our spiritual harlotry. Through the Holy Spirit, He gives us a new heart, a heart that desires to obey. He does not simply save us from the consequences of our sin; He saves us from the love of our sin. He breaks the cycle. He is the deliverer who becomes our life.
The cycle of Judges is our story apart from Christ. We sin, we suffer, we cry out, and we are graciously delivered, only to wander again. But in Christ, the cycle is broken. The anger of God that burned against Israel was fully poured out on His Son at the cross. The pity of God that was moved by their groaning finds its ultimate expression in the incarnation. And the stubborn way of man is finally conquered by the stubborn grace of God. He is the Judge who does not die, the King who establishes a permanent peace, and the Husband who secures for Himself a faithful bride.