Judges 2:10: “When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.”

April 16th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The children of Israel that entered the Promised Land had vivid, personal recollections of all the miracles and judgments that God Almighty had done among them. They remembered and were careful to walk with the Lord in faith and purity. But they failed to teach their children sufficiently about the Lord. And so the next generation was ignorant of the experiences of their parents and fell easily into sin. This new generation did not have a personal relationship with God, and were not true believers. However, many of the judges did genuinely know the Lord, and some who did not initially live by faith eventually threw themselves on God’s mercy.

A relationship with God is not biologically transmitted, but must be believed and developed by each new generation. God has no grandchildren, only children. So here we find a new generation that did not know God or what He had done for their parents. This is really a failure of the parents to share their faith in their own homes. How we need to tell our children and grandchildren (and any other young person who will listen) just what God has done for us. We need to do everything we can to ensure that they know God. Deuteronomy 4:9 says:

Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren

But it wasn’t just that the parents forgot to tell their children; it was also the result of them living with Canaanites all around. The Canaanite’s gods snared the children of the new generation. We parents not only have a duty to pass on the knowledge of God and what He has done for us to our children, but we also have a duty to keep them away from Canaanites who will snare them with their bad values!

“LORD, give us grace and boldness to speak well to the younger generation of Your love. Make our lives reflect that reality in our own hearts.”

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Judges 2 KJV

¹ And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.  ² And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? ³ Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. ⁴ And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept. ⁵ And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD. ⁶ And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. ⁷ And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.  ⁸ And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. ⁹ And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.  ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: ¹² And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. ¹³ And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. ¹⁴ And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. ¹⁵ Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. ¹⁶ Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.  ¹⁷ And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so. ¹⁸ And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. ¹⁹And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselvesmore than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.   ²⁰ And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; ²¹ I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: ²² 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. ²³ Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.