And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
One thing you always hear about types is that types always break down. And the typology of the Spirit-filled life and the promised land is one of them. You expect great things as you go through Joshua because you’ve read so much about the failures of the children of Israel; forty years of wandering, complaining, thirsting, hungering, dying, and such. You’re ready for some victory! Yeah!
Well, you get to Jericho and praise the Lord! It’s a textbook victory! It’s an astounding defeat! The walls come tumbling down! It was an awesome display of the mighty hand of God. It was an example of complete obedience on the part of Israel. Or was it?
You soon learn that some Achan(dunek) troubled Israel by taking of the spoil to his house. Because of his sin, thirty-six soldiers lost their life when they went up to Ai for battle. Well, that’s not exactly a victory. I mean 1 for 2 is not real good.
Well they clean that mess up and go on and they do good. Thirty-one kings altogether are conquered and their lands. But then Joshua dies, and everything goes to pot. Most of the tribes fail to drive out all the inhabitants in the land. They almost kill each other over a misunderstanding. Then you get to the book of Judges, and it get’s real ugly. They’re worshipping other gods. Sodomy had run rampant in the land. They’re slaughtering the whole tribe of Benjamin.
You can’t help but think, “Thank God the type breaks down! Why do I want to cross over Jordan into this Spirit-filled life, if this is what is going to happen? I thought it was going to be victory after victory?”
Well, I’m not so sure the type breaks down; not quite yet at least. We understand that Israel in Egypt is a type of being lost; their deliverance from Egypt is a type of being saved; but their wanderings in the desert are a type of a carnal saved person (which most everybody starts out as); and the promised land is a type of the Spirit-filled life, walking in obedience to God. But what about when the victories are over at the end of Joshua, and the turning away from God in the book of Judges? What is that?
Perhaps the truths of these events still pertain to us, but now our life is not just our life. We have children now. There arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD. Throughout the wanderings, the law, the second reading of the law, the words of Joshua, there is a concerted effort by God to encourage his people to teach their children the law, the word of God, the commandments of God, and the works of God. Time does not allow for me to just list all the events throughout the first five books of the bible that specifically deal with the blessings and curses of the future generations of the children of Israel.
Well, when we get to Judges, that future is now present. There’s a great number of the children of Israel that were born free; knew nothing of Egypt, the Red Sea, or Pharoah. As we wonder as to why the victories stopped and why things got so bad, consider that this first chapter of Judges lays down probably the greatest challenge for the Christian:
I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. (Joshua 2:21,22)
God is now concerned about and dealing with the children. The fathers are no longer God’s concern for they are now off the scene. God kept his promise and delivered Israel into the promised land. But now Joshua is dead. Eleazar is dead. And their children are now to be proved, just as their fathers were proved in the wilderness.
O that God would save all my children; that they would know God and serve him all the days of their life. The lovely Lord Jesus Christ is my exceeding great reward. I pray He would be theirs also. What are we teaching our kids? This is the picture I’m seeing as we transition from Joshua into Judges. Whatever you don’t drive out, will grow to be a snare and a trap to your children; scourges in their sides, and thorns in their eyes. Here’s some Old Testament biblical family advise:
Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. (Deuteronomy 12:2,3)
We better figure out how this Old Testament applies to this New Testament church. We better find those places; those high mountains; those hills; those green trees; those altars; those pillars; and those groves. Where are the graven images? Where are those places?
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