“These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. These are the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. These people were left to test the Israelites—to see whether they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors through Moses.”Judges‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭

God’s intention here was not to destroy them, but to reach the next generation. To teach them how to overtake, not be overtaken, by the enemy.

Maybe this was why over and over Moses said to the first generation of Israelites to tell their children of the good things that God had done. Pass along your knowledge of the character of God in order to give the next generation a hunger for a great, great God. So that they would know what God had done, and have a hope for what He would do in the future.

We can certainly look at scripture and see where the Israelites messed up over and over again. It was a pattern of sin, suffering, salvation. It is easy to wonder how they could reject God after all that He had done. The Red Sea, provision after provision in the wilderness, the great miracles and victories He performed through Moses and then Joshua.

Though all this was factual, the people now are not the same people that went through those hard times and victories. Decades have passed. The God-fearing leaders have died. The elders were gone. The people of the generation who warred with Joshua were also gone. What is left is a group of people doing what was right in their own eyes with no longterm, God-fearing leader. Sure they had times of good leadership in Gideon and Deborah, but it wasn’t enough to change the course they were on.

In Deuteronomy, Moses told them over and over to share their testimony with their children so that they would not forget. I just wonder if this was practiced from generation to generation as there was such a lack of a fear of the Lord. How much do we need to do this now? Our testimony will not save our children, but it will likely give them a hunger to truly know God.

We get to the end of Judges with a sickening feeling in our stomach with how wretched the sin had become. We can feel deeply the undeniable truth that our need for a Savior is so great. How great the need for the people in Judges, but also how great our need for Him today. In the day to day. In the ups and downs. Great, great is our need.