Community Group Discussion Guide

Identity Crisis: Week 2 – Judges 1 – 3:6 September 15, 2019

I. Getting Started:

Starter Questions: Have you heard the faith stories of your parents or grandparents? Have you wit-nessed the consequences of turning away from God in your family or friends? Have you shared your faith story with your children, or friends—do they know your struggles and God’s faithfulness to you? Do they know of the consequences or your sin and of the goodness in your life because of God’s res-cue?

First Things: Last week we looked at Joshua 23 and 24, setting the stage for a better understanding of the book of Judges. A central theme of Joshua’s word to Israel was that a faithless generation can arise out of a faithful generation, something each of us have likely experienced in our own families or church experience. Joshua emphasized a passion for, and commitment to obedience to God’s word—something very rare then, and today. But Joshua also tells us that God is our faithful helper, never abandoning His unfaithful children, and when He disciplines us as His children, we can be assured that His discipline is also a demonstration of His faithful love.

II. Discussion of Scripture:

Explanation and Discussion: Judges 1

Judges 1 speaks first of Joshua (“After the death of Joshua…” 1:1) and encourages us to recall his lead-ership as Israel had initiated its work of possessing the land God had given them. Now, it was time for Israel to finish the work—God had promised that He would give them victory through humble depen-dence and obedience. Judges 1 picks up again with the stark reality that the children of Israel, like us, struggle to trust God with their lives.

Judges 1:2&3: God calls on the tribe of Judah first. They are to be the first to complete their conquest. They fail immediately—although ready to go, it was only with the help of the tribe of Simeon that they went. God’s word was, “Judah shall go up…” (vs. 2).

Rather than the trust God desired the tribe of Judah to demonstrate, they placed their depen-dence in the hands of those who were no different than themselves. Immediately, the book of Judges speaks of idolatry—our trust in something, anything, other than God.

On a broader scale, describe the idols of your generation, of our Edmond culture. On a more personal level—do you see areas where, in your actions, you demonstrate the half-heated disci-pleship Judah demonstrated? Perhaps there’s one thing you can focus on, through this study of

Judges, that you would give to God as you seek to overcome your idolatry—your trust in that thing, when God is sufficient to the need.

Judges 1:4-7: Judges raises a very difficult question that both believers and unbelievers struggle to reconcile in their mind—even to the extent that many believers are embarrassed that God would command this brutal act, and don’t know how to respond to it, or explain it. As God pre-pared the people to take the land He promised them, His protection and love for His people was demonstrated in the command to wipe out, to kill those who did evil in His site, and did not acknowledge Him as God. Modern western thought does not comprehend or desire that God be a God of justice. Nor does the unbeliever see the threat to our well-being that God sees in the idols we so quickly run to. God’s command comes from a heart of protection—tolerating the idols of Canaan would mean the destruction of His people.

The command was certainly frightful but must be understood from the Bible’s perspective. We must not forget that the Canaanites were not innocent. In God’s deep love for, and protection of His people, he demonstrated His just and holy character by commanding the destruction of the evil and wicked (see Leviticus 18:6-30; Deut. 9:4-6 &18:9-14). Scripture does not tell us the act would be pleasant, but it does insist that it was just.

It is helpful for us, that in the writing of Scripture, God provided the example of Adoni-bezek, who Judah encountered in battle (vs 4-7). After being captured, Adoni-bezek declared, “as I have done, so God has repaid me” (vs. 7). In his wickedness, Adoni-bezek recognized the just and right actions of a holy God.

Discussion Questions: How can we grow in our trust in God’s justice? Why is it so difficult for us to see, when we read a passage like this one, that God passionately desires our freedom from idolatry/evil influences through obedience to Him? Do you see evil and its threat to God’s plan for you as God sees it?

Judges 1:21-36: In verses 18 through 20, we see that Israel begins to trust their own “common sense” as opposed to God’s protection through His instruction. Judah doesn’t trust God—it’s clear to their understanding that they have no chance against chariots of iron. We see in verses 21-36, unbelief and half-hearted discipleship take deeper root. The house of Joseph makes a covenant with a Canaanite. Manasseh chooses not to drive the inhabitants of their land com-pletely out, but instead, in their superior strength, decide to exploit them as forced labor—it makes good economic sense, right? Ephraim makes the decision to allow the Canaanites to live among them, while Asher doesn’t drive them out at all, but choses to live amongst them.

Discussion Questions: Have you experienced, perhaps in your own life and family, where what seemed like a reasonable decision at the time, revealed itself later as a compromise of God’s in-tentions for you? What was the result? In sowing to our own wisdom, how does our “common sense” show up in our walk with Christ? These are very difficult questions to respond to in a group setting. The experience of the Israelites provokes the question, “where am I telling God that ‘I can’t’, when He is telling me I won’t?” Where am I leaning on my own understanding,

rather than acting in faith and obedience to God?

The Gospel in Judges – Judges 2:1-5: Looking closely at this passage, we see our great need for a savior. In verse 1, God said He would never break His covenant with Israel. Then, in verse 2 God declares, “But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this that you have done?” Do you see the tension here—God has promised to bless His people, and sworn not to bless them as disobedient people. Another way of expressing it is to ask, “will God give up on His people—but what about His faithfulness; will he then chose to give in to His people—then what of His holi-ness?”

How has God resolved this condition of our inability to fully obey, and the demands of His holi-ness?

“For our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Judges 2:6 – 3:6: In this passage Joshua is described as “the servant of the Lord”, while the gen-eration that followed is described as a generation that did not know the Lord or the works of the Lord on behalf of Israel. Verse 11 describes a great rebellion: “they did what was evil in the site of the Lord”. In one generation, God’s people, though they struggled mightily in their faith, served the Lord. The next generation turned from God.

So what happened? Read Duet. 6:4-9 and 20-25. What do these verses describe as our respon-sibility as parents and a church toward the next generation? In your experience, what are the ways in which we do this well? What has worked in your home? What hasn’t worked?

Wrapping Up: Judges 2 and 3 introduce us to Israel’s repeated cycle of turning from God, then experiencing God’s discipline as an outworking of His love for His people. The result is over-whelming distress, bringing repentance. In Israel’s distress, God raises up judges, chosen lead-ers who would deliver the people from their enemies. The work of the judges was short-lived as the people “…soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord…” (2:17).

III. Responding in Prayer:

Pray that God would reveal to you those areas in your life where He is not Lord. Pray that God would reveal to you the false God’s of our culture—those things that provide

to you an identity outside of God’s plan for you. Pray that God would enable you to look honestly at each area of your life—family, career,

possessions, ambitions, time…and ask God if these are idols in your life. Am I willing to accept whatever God desires for me in this area of my life?