(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Judges 10:10–18, “And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpeh. And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another, What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
The Lord put Israel in the position where they realised that they had ignored the Lord and they understood that they had rejected Him. The prayed to the Lord and begged Him to save them. However, they still had the idols and other objects of worship in their homes so the Lord encouraged them to ask these gods to help them. Israel realised their folly and everyone threw all their idols and other objects of worship so they could exclusively follow the Lord. The Lord knew that they were now sincere in their desire to serve Him so He decided to help them. The next stage was to look for a leader who would be able to save Israel from the occupying powers.Israel wandered away from keeping the Law and followed the practices of the people who were in the Land before they took possession. They also chose to follow the gods of their neighbours as well. Because Israel didn’t keep their part of the contract they had made and remade with the Lord, the Lord invoked the penalty clauses of the contract and handed them over to the tender mercies of the gods they chose to serve. Consequently, the Philistines and the Ammonites came and occupied Israel so that they could experience the truth of their choices. During this period Israel experienced great hardship, as anyone who choses to ignore the Lord God in the long term can expect.
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