They Did Evil in the Sight of the Lord.

Steven’s Scribbles
“They Did Evil in the Sight of the Lord”
Judges 2:11
    Here lately I’ve been meditating on a sermon that I heard many years ago. It has the same title as this article. The gist of the sermon was about leadership. The preacher was talking about how many of Israel’s kings did evil in the sight of the Lord, spoiler alert… all of them. There was not a single instance in northern kingdom where there was a "good" king. In the North’s defense there were only two kings in the southern kingdom, Judah, that were good of the twenty kings, kings Josiah and Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 17 & 34). So I began to wonder how far back this went. We know that God did not want to give Israel a king, but by their request he did (1 Sam. 8). So was it just the kings who did evil in the sight of the Lord? The answer is no! One thing I have learned from this endeavor is that man has to fight against idolatry. All of the kings, sans two, were evil in the sight of the Lord because they worshipped Baal, or some other man made god. Israel had been doing this for years! Fighting with serving the Lord vs serving other man made gods. All the way back in Judges 2, shortly after Joshua dies, Israel does evil and serves Baal (Judges 2:11). This should not surprise us! Back up further to Gen. 32 and we see Jacob, who’s name is changed to Israel, wrestles with a man and comes out saying “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” (Gen. 32:25-29) The word Israel means to wrestle, strive, or struggle with God. That happens throughout the entire old testament. It got me thinking. If the people of God, who saw Moses part the Red Sea and walk on dry land, saw enemies fall to their swords, saw the walls of Jericho fall, and many other miracles. if those people struggle with God; what makes me different? I have to stay humble and strive, struggle, and wrestle everyday to stay faithful to God, because I, just like all of the members of the Lord’s church, am now a part of spiritual Israel (Gal. 3:26:29). I love you all!


In His service,
Steven Hugley