Caught Red-Handed!

Ever watch White Wolves? For those of you that haven't had the privilege, a group of teens and their leader go on a backpacking trip, very much like the wilderness trip, with less canoeing. Their goal is to get to the top of Eagle Rock. They eventually make it to the top and disaster strikes! Their trip turns into a rescue mission and they go through struggle after struggle on the way. Before they go, they trained for the trip. Some had prior knowledge on camping and hiking. There is also a ranger who gives them specific instructions, including that fires can only be made in designated areas. At one point, Benny has distanced himself from the group and makes a little fire on his own. Mr. B comes looking for him and catches him red-handed with this fire.

Last week we studied Judges 1, which is basically the political background of the book. This week we studied Judges 2, which we will see is basically the spiritual background of the book. An important thing to note, is the Judges is not chronological. So in chapter 1 we read that Joshua died and he's going to die again in chapter 2. Nothing funny is going on, we're just learning about the same events but with a different reason each time.



As we will see outlined for us in this chapter and repeated throughout the book is that Judges is written to show us this cycle of sin and deliverance the Israelites are in. We'll talk about it more later, but here's a diagram of this cycle from my Ryrie Study Bible:

The Cycle of the Judges (from my Ryrie Study Bible)

Now in Sunday School, we read a verse or two and then recap/discuss what's going on in those verses. So the rest of this won't make sense unless you open up your Bible to Judges 2 and read along with me.

Read verses 1-2: (A little Bible college knowledge for ya: when it refers to the "angel of the Lord" in the Old Testament, it is a theophany, which means a preincarnate Jesus. So even though Jesus won't be born for a few hundred more years, He appears a few times throughout the OT and is referred to as the angel of the Lord.)
Now what does He say? Basically that He's caught them red-handed. They were given instructions (Deut. 7) and they haven't followed them (Judg. 1).

Read verse 3: God doesn't remove the enemy for them. Sometimes He leaves us to deal with the consequences of our decisions, not as punishment or for spite, but to teach us through them.

Read verses 4-5: in case your Bible doesn't mention this in a footnote- Bochim means weepers.

Read verses 6-9:Remember this is not chronological. This is like a flashback showing us the cycle of the past that we will see repeated throughout the book.

Read verse 10: "arose another generation after them" means who? their kids!! Parents have a responsibility to teach their children about the Lord. "You shall love the Lore your God with all your heard and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding to you today, shall be on your heart, you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up" (Deut. 6:5-7).
However, as one of the teens wisely pointed out, the kids also have to listen.

Read verses 11-13: Israel sins.

Read verses 14-15: Israel is enslaved.
Read verse 16: God raises up a judge (even though the people don't cry out).
Read verses 17-18: Israel is delivered (even though the people don't repent).
Read verse 19: Israel serves the Lord for the days of the judge and then they start sinning again.
This is the basic cycle of the judges that we will be seeing repeated chapter after chapter the remainder of the book.

Read verses 20-23: This is another one of those passages we don't like to see. God's angry and He's testing the people. It just doesn't seem like the God we learn about in the New Testament loving us. But really God testing us is a very good thing. It is like a father who disciplines his children. Through the testing or discipline, God wants to teach us and dealing with consequences to a decision does that.
"God tests us to bring out the best in us, but Satan tempts us to bring out the worst in us." -Warren Wiersbe We need to keep in mind that even if we don't like it, God really is doing these things for our benefit. It is Satan who is tempting us to sin and fail.

When Mr. B catches Benny making the fire, Benny has disobeyed and needs to be corrected. There is a logical reason to only make fires in designated areas-it's safer! Mr. B is trying to help Benny make the most of this trip. Likewise, when God catches the Israelites red-handed, they have disobey and need to be corrected. This is for their benefit.

How is this applicable to us? Just like Benny and the Israelites, we will sin. If we repent, God will forgive us. Yet there still will be consequences. Luckily for us these consequences are often the very things that God is using to teach us and to grow us.

"My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD or loathe His reproof,  for whom the LORD loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights." Proverbs 3:11-12

**All Scripture is quotes from the New American Standard.
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I'm currently teaching on the book of Judges for the youth group Sunday school class. We normally spend half our time playing a game and the other half studying the Bible. These are my lessons and some funny tidbits that happen during the course of the morning.