Basic HTML Version
354
The Beginning of the End
More Backsliding and More Misery!
After the death of Abimelech, the rule of judges who respected
God helped to hold back idolatry for a time. But before long the
[280]
people returned to the practices of the heathen around them. Apos-
tasy quickly brought punishment. The Ammonites conquered the
eastern tribes of Israel and, crossing the Jordan river, invaded the
territory of Judah and Ephraim. On the west the Philistines came up
from their plain beside the sea, burning and looting wherever they
went. Israel seemed to be hopelessly under the power of unyielding
enemies.
Again the people looked for help from Him whom they had
forsaken and insulted. “The children of Israel cried out to the Lord,
saying, ‘We have sinned against You, because we have both for-
saken our God and served the Baals!’” But the people did not mourn
because they had dishonored God by breaking His holy law, but
because their sins had brought suffering on themselves. True repen-
tance is a determined turning away from evil.
The Lord answered them through one of His prophets: “Did I
not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from
the people of Ammon and from the Philistines? ... You cried out to
Me, and I delivered you from their hand. Yet you have forsaken Me
and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more. Go and
cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in
your time of distress.”
The Israelites now humbled themselves before the Lord. “So
they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the
Lord.” And the Lord’s heart of love “could no longer endure the
misery of Israel.” Oh, the long-suffering mercy of our God! When
His people put away the sins that had shut out His presence, He
heard their prayers and began to work for them immediately. He
raised up a deliverer named Jephthah, who made war against the
Ammonites and completely destroyed their power. At this time Israel
had suffered under the oppression of her enemies for eighteen years,
but the people again forgot the lesson taught by suffering.
As His people returned to their evil ways, the Lord permitted
them to be oppressed by powerful enemies—the Philistines. For
many years they were constantly harassed, and at times completely