When Compromise Becomes a Trap - Judges 1:23–2:10 (Session 2)

Israel’s decline continues in Judges 1:23–2:10 as the people begin making deals with the Canaanites instead of fully obeying God. What may have seemed practical in the moment became spiritually dangerous over time. The Israelites spared people they were commanded to drive out, allowed pagan influence to remain in the land, and eventually placed some of the Canaanites into forced labor for economic gain.

In this session, we examine the danger of partial obedience and why compromise often becomes a trap. The discussion contrasts Israel’s deal with the man from Bethel with Rahab’s faith in Joshua. Rahab trusted the God of Israel, but in Judges the Israelites are no longer acting from faith. They are negotiating with the very people God had warned would turn their hearts away from Him.

Judges 2 then introduces the Angel of the Lord, who confronts Israel for breaking the covenant. He reminds them that God brought them out of Egypt, gave them the land, and would never break His covenant. Yet Israel failed to tear down the pagan altars and made covenants with the inhabitants of the land. Because of this, those nations would become thorns in Israel’s side, and their gods would become a snare.

The session also explains how sin works like a snare. It is often hidden, attractive, and dangerous before a person realizes how trapped they have become. Israel’s compromise with idolatry did not remain harmless. It pulled the nation deeper into disobedience and removed the protection and blessing they had previously enjoyed.

Finally, the study turns to one of the saddest statements in the early chapters of Judges: a new generation arose that did not know the Lord or the works He had done for Israel. The people had failed to pass down the knowledge of God’s faithfulness. This becomes a serious warning for parents, churches, and believers today.

Scripture: Judges 1:23–2:10
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

Questions in this session include:  

• Can I disobey so much that God stops working in my life? 
• What happens when I leave evil in my life? 
• What happens when Israel does not tell their children about God?
• How many of the things that caused Israel to forget the Lord do we see today? 

Transcript

The Cycle of Disbelief in Judges

Speaker 1 0:21

Welcome back to Reasoning Through the Bible . We've been working our way through the book of Judges and we're in chapter one . Last time we talked through the introduction to the book of Judges and we learned that there was a cycle of disbelief that the book of Judges has and because of this disbelief , then God allows a lot of pain to come into the life of Israel . And we also found that because they were all following their own guidance and not following God , there's a lot of horrible things that happen and the book of Judges has a series of unbelief and a series of disbelief and it just gets worse and worse and uglier and uglier , because not following God gets uglier and uglier .

Speaker 2 1:04

And there's two key verses that talk about this cycle that starts with disbelief . One is everyone did what was right in their own eyes , and the second one is the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord . Those two phrases are used over and over again to start these cycles that we'll be going through and looking at as we study Judges .

Speaker 1 1:27

So we're going to jump in at Judges , chapter one , verse 23 . That talks about one of the tribes , joseph . When it says House of Joseph , it's talking about the people of the tribe of Joseph . So Judges 1.23 , the house of Joseph spied out Bethel . Now the name of the city was formerly Luz . The spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him please show us the entrance to the city and we will treat you kindly . So he showed them the entrance to the city and they struck the city with the edge of the sword , but they let the man and his family go free . The man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city , named it Luz , which is its name to this day . Was Israel supposed to make deals with the people of Canaan ?

Speaker 2 2:13

No , as we've seen before , god over and over told them when they went to him that he would go before them . So here they are , talking directly with the people .

Speaker 1 2:24

And they were supposed to destroy all these people . Why ? We talked about that when we were in Joshua , but why were they supposed to destroy all these people ?

Speaker 2 2:33

Because they would influence the people of Israel and have them take over and start worshiping their gods , going their way , going with their traditions , going the way away from God , rather than staying true to God Yahweh .

Speaker 1 2:50

And they had venereal disease because of the sex worship they had , child sacrifice , and before it was over , israel was sacrificing their children and had acquired some of these diseases . Israel had given Canaanites plenty of time to repent and they had rejected God at every turn . So Israel's job was to go in and destroy these people . And here they are making deals . Their question in verse 24 was please show us the entrance to the city . Now , were they not smart enough to find how to get into the city ? How many cities had Israel defeated back in the book of Joshua ? Dozens and dozens . So suddenly now they can't find the door and they're making deals with people , and they weren't supposed to make deals with people . What happens when they make a deal with this guy in verse 26 ? What happens to this man and his family ?

Speaker 2 3:52

It says , the man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and named it Luz , which was its name to this day .

Speaker 1 3:58

He built a city . They let this man go , and he and his family , and he turns into an entire city of Canaanites , keeping these awful traditions going and it's right there in their midst . So now they have an entire . Over time they let this one man go . They disbelieve God and don't destroy this man .

Speaker 2 4:20

Now he stays there , builds a city right in their midst and multiplies , and now you have a greater evil there's also a little bit of a parallel here between these spies and the spies that went into the land first , back in Joshua , when they went into the land , the two spies that Joshua had sent out . They go into Jericho and they go into this house of Rahab's house , but it's Rahab that approaches them . And Rahab approaches them because she says we have heard about your God and what your God has done , and Rahab offers them a deal to protect her because she has a belief in their God when they come and destroy the city . But so the deal is initiated by Rahab . Here's the complete opposite . You have the Israelites going to the man and offering the deal and to make a deal with him . So it's kind of juxtaposed as well .

Speaker 1 5:21

And not only that . There's a big difference between what Rahab had and what this man had , and you mentioned the answer what did Rahab have ? That there's no indication this man does Belief in .

Speaker 2 5:34

God Yahweh . Belief in the Lord , god Almighty .

Speaker 1 5:37

People that do fall on their face and worship the true God always get mercy , and the people that reject them always get what they justly deserve . That's the distinction is that Rahab had faith in the true God . She trusted God , which is why she approached them . Well , let's read Judges started . Verse 27 and 28 says but Manasseh did not take possession of Bethsheen and its villages , nor Tanakh and its villages , or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages , or the inhabitants of Iblim and its villages , or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages , so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land . It came about when Israel became strong that they put the Canaanites to force labor , but they did not drive them out completely . And then the next verses have a long list of several tribes , and there's several verses here where it says this tribe did not drive out , that tribe did not drive out , the other tribe did not drive out . We have here gross unbelief .

Speaker 2 6:43

One thing to point out back in 22 it says the house of Joseph . When we come down here to 27 , manasseh and then 29 Ephraim , those were the two sons of Joseph . So when they go through and change now in 27 and talk about Manasseh and Ephraim , that is the tribe of Joseph or the house of Joseph . Just to bring that out .

Speaker 1 7:06

So in verses 27 through 36 of chapter 1 of Judges it lists about two dozen peoples and locations that the people of Israel did not drive out . There's a couple of dozen of them and they were commanded to drive these people out , but it says over and over again here they did not do that . These people gave Israel trouble for the rest of the entire Old Testament . These people were constantly a thorn in the side of Israel . They were constantly fighting against Israel , stealing their food , bringing in pagan worship . Israel ultimately ended up influenced in a negative way by these people where Israel was doing child sacrifice , israel was doing sex worship , and it just got uglier and uglier because right back here in Judges , chapter one , they didn't drive them out as God commanded to them to do .

Speaker 2 7:59

In warfare in general , you typically , in order to have a good offense , you will have a front and you will drive that and take land , and as you take land , you maintain that front . One of the things that you do not want to do is allow your enemy to come in behind you , your supply chain , logistics and everything else . But what we see here is a picture of them going through and taking little bitty pockets throughout the land , but still being surrounded by their enemy .

Speaker 1 8:31

So the enemy was all in their midst . Yes , all in their midst . So in verse 28 it says what Israel did with some of these people . What did they do with the people of Canaan ?

Speaker 2 8:43

They put them into forced labor , but they didn't drive them out completely Right .

Speaker 1 8:47

They didn't drive them out , they left them there , but put them in forced labor . Now , of what benefit would there be to Israel to have all these people groups there doing forced labor ? It's an economic benefit , right , this is a money thing here that's motivating them because of economics . There's a profit motive here . Oh , now we've got some low rent people , right , we can bring in that's cheap labor or even free labor and we can use these people and we can make money out of this thing . Now , there's a money motivation because of profit that has come to place here and we'll find out later . There's this economic benefit is creating problems . Is there any problem with making money ?

Speaker 2 9:33

No , there's not . But if it overshadows and it keeps you from being able to see the detriment that it'll have in your relationship or on the religious side and the worship of Yahweh God , then yes , it becomes a problem . But in general , no , there's nothing wrong with making money .

Speaker 1 9:51

Nothing wrong with making money , as you said . There is a problem with making money in a way that's going to cause me to compromise my obedience to God and my belief in God . It says over and over again here they did not drive these people out . Is there any verse in here says they ask God for directions ? No , there's not . So they're now by the end of chapter one . It's not very far into the book by the end of chapter one . They're losing on every front and they're not asking God , they're not fasting and praying , they're not appealing to God for answers . They're just living with the loss and living with the sin , and it's an ugly place to be .

Speaker 2 10:32

In verse 34 it says then the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill country , for they did not allow them to come down to the valley . You also get a picture of the Israelites in specific areas , or certain areas had just lost complete control and are being pushed around as well . So they're not going to God in relation to their conquest of the land .

Speaker 1 10:58

So , steve , we'll move to Judges , chapter 2 . If you could read the first three verses of Judges 2 .

Speaker 2 11:04

Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgall to Bochum and he said I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers . And I said I will never break my covenant with you . As for you , you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land . You shall tear down their altars , but you have not obeyed me . What is this you have done ? Therefore , I also said I will not drive them out before you , but they will become the thorns in your side and their gods will be a snare to you .

Angel of the Lord and Consequences

Speaker 1 11:43

So the very first sentence in chapter 2, . Who is this speaking ?

Speaker 2 11:47

It talks about the angel of the Lord and I want to point out here for the listeners that the text here of Lord is all capitalized L-O-R-D in all caps . Anytime that you see that in Scripture , capitalize the word behind . That is Yahweh , which is God's name . So you can say here now , the angel of Yahweh came up from Gilgall .

Speaker 1 12:13

God actually has a name . Our translations often use the capital L-O-R-D to indicate that we don't always grasp the distinction between like an English Lord , which would be a lowercase O-R-D , and what it's using here , which is really God's name , when it says the angel of the Lord . We can have some indication here of who this really is . The word angel just means messenger , right . Look at what it says in these three verses that we just read and listen to all the personal pronouns and how many times it says I or my . It says I led you up from Egypt . Now , who led Israel out of Egypt ? God , god did so . He says I led you up from Egypt , the land I swore to give to your fathers . I will never break my covenant with you . You have not obeyed my voice . I will not drive them out . So , over and over again , this is a first person , I be my , and there's no indication here . This being doesn't say thus says the Lord Every other place .

Speaker 1 13:26

When it's a prophet or any other just plain angel , they always say the Lord says I've come to give you a message from the Lord . Well , this , when it says the angel of the Lord just says here's what I did and here's where I'm going to do , and things like that . So from that we can conclude that whenever it says the angel of the Lord , it's really the Lord , god Almighty , and most of the Bible scholars would hold this to be a pre-incarnate Jesus Christ . It's a physical manifestation of the second person of the Trinity . We would hold that places like this he's obviously a messenger , so it's not the Father , but yet he's saying I did these things . This is only one of the many , many places in the Old Testament that would hold that this is God Almighty speaking and would support the doctrine of the Trinity .

Speaker 2 14:25

And we're going to have a separate session that deals with this angel of the Lord , angel of Yahweh . We'll go through each one of the different times that it's mentioned this angel of the Lord , and we'll discuss it and walk through why it's approved that it's the second of the Trinity , the Son and Jesus Christ .

Speaker 1 14:48

That doctrine isn't just built on one or two spots Correct . There's a lot of evidence for this . So , chapter two , verse two , what are the two things that God reminds Israel that they were to do ?

Speaker 2 15:00

not to have any covenants with the inhabitants of the land and Tear down their altars .

Speaker 1 15:06

What did they actually do ?

Speaker 2 15:09

They made deals with them and we'll also see they made more than just deals , but the covenants with them . And they didn't always tear down the altars . Sometimes they did , sometimes they didn't . Sometimes they actually helped them build others .

Speaker 1 15:23

Sometimes they , as we'll see , they're worshiping at the altars . Not only didn't tear them down , verse 3 . God says he will not drive out their enemies and that the idols will be a snare for Israel . How does a snare work ? What's the purpose of a snare and how does it work ?

Speaker 2 15:41

Well , the first thing is that it's hidden . It's not visible to the prey that it's to attract .

Speaker 1 15:48

It's not like a big sign that says no trap here , no no , it's , it's invisible , so that they don't see it .

Speaker 2 15:55

The second thing is is that whenever they step into it and trigger it , it's quick , it's immediate and it's Depending upon the snare it gets them off balance and it takes them out of their element and puts them in a bad position , an indefensible position , you're in it and you're caught before you realize it .

Speaker 1 16:14

Yeah , what's the application here ? Obviously , when we sin , does our sin become a snare for us , and how's that work ? I mean , I would submit that that , just like a snare , you , you create a snare for an animal You're trying to catch . Well , the animal doesn't realize it's there until it's too late and they get drawn into something . There's bait in there of something looks appealing . Same thing with sin . We see sin , it looks appealing , and God may say , hey , don't go in there .

Speaker 1 16:42

But I decide hey , it , really it's okay , I've looked at it , I've evaluated the situation . I think I know more than God , so I'm gonna go in there anyway . And once we start getting into sin , suddenly , now it's a trap , I'm in it . It's trapped me before I know it . It's like a drug addict . We take the drugs because so you think it feels good . But once you're in it now you realize you're trapped . And that's how sin works . Is there ever a time when we Continue to disobey so long that God will stop working in our lives ? Because that's what he's saying here , right , he's saying I will not drive them up before you . That's what he says verse 3 , flat out . So Israel had gotten to the point where God's saying I'm not gonna drive these people out . You've disobeyed so much . Does that ever work with you and I ? Do we ever get into a point where we have sinned so much that God says my power I'm removing from you and I'm not gonna work in your life ?

Speaker 1 17:39

Well , I think yes , I think it happens whenever we sin . We get into a snare and God will remove his power from our lives . God will remove his blessing . God will allow , besides the just plain Consequences of the sin , and we're gonna see here in judges like Samson later , he's gonna lose his eyesight because of his own sin .

Speaker 2 17:58

There are times when our sin , we get caught up in this and God just removes his power and and we see it in the in the New Testament Many times when Paul is writing his letters to the churches , he'll use the word in conjunction with sins and maybe he'll list out some of the sins immorality , lines , stealing , other items . But before that he'll say of these things that you practice , practice means a perpetual . When you practice an instrument you repeat over and over and over again .

Speaker 1 18:28

You do it over and over again to get good at it .

Speaker 2 18:30

Yeah , exactly so . It's that type of sin that you're doing over and over and over and repeating . You're practicing that sin . That's a main area when God turns them over to your point . Everybody sins , including us , oh yes , Just ask my wife .

Speaker 1 18:50

So where it gets to be a problem is when we get comfortable with it . The people here in Judges , they got comfortable with these other people and these idols there and they just got tired and they didn't dig it out and they didn't repent . There's no indication here that they ever went to God in true repentance and asked God to change and correct the situation . They just lived with it . There's a point where we continue in disobedience and that's when it's a problem . So here's a question . God says right here in these first three verses of Judges 2 , he says I will not drive them out before you . Did they stop being God's chosen people at that point ? No , they were still God's chosen people . When we as the church sin , do we stop being God's children ?

Speaker 1 19:42

No no , it's . When we continue in sin , though , what can happen ? Suffer the consequences Besides the just human consequences of the sin . God can treat us like he did Israel . I'm not going to protect you from your enemies , right . Painful things happen to me . It's just because God's trying to show me that I'm on a bad path . That happens sometimes , now , not all the time . Sometimes there's reasons that God's just wiser than us and we don't know , but there are times when painful things happen because I'm in disobedience . Read the next few verses , judges 2 , starting in verse 4 . When the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel , the people lifted up their voices and wept . So they named that place Bochum , and there they sacrificed to the Lord . When Joshua had dismissed the people , the sons of Israel went , each to his inheritance to possess the land . Here's a question what do they do , people of Israel ? What do they do when they're confronted with their disobedience ?

Speaker 2 20:46

Oh , I'm sorry , they cried , they went because they got caught .

Speaker 1 20:50

Because they got caught , which is really where I was going with this . They cried because they got caught . What did they not do here ?

Speaker 2 20:58

They done the show that they repented , which is a turning away from a picture of an 180 degree about face .

Speaker 1 21:05

That's the repentance and it doesn't show that they've repented here Exactly , they wept , they cried about it , but they do enough to actually change .

Speaker 2 21:15

And the word Bochum here means place of weeping , so they commemorated the place of their weeping , but it's not a place of repentance .

Speaker 1 21:24

So imagine God comes to you and says I'm removing my blessing from you . I'm going to let your enemies come in and they cry about it and go home . They cry about it and go home . They're just okay , I'm in a bad spot , too bad , so sad they don't do what Joshua did back in Joshua , which is fall on their face before God . This is what David did when he was in a spot fall on his face before God .

Speaker 1 21:52

So oftentimes it's not the sin you've done , it's how you react when you realize , oh , my goodness , I've been sinning . How do I react ? Do I just okay , yeah , I'm crying because , yeah , I'm in a bad spot ? Or do I cry because of I've violated the commands of a holy God that loves me and beg God for mercy , in which case he always gives mercy ? That's what happened here . Every other time , when Israel fell on their face before God and pleaded for mercy , he blessed them . Now , judges , chapter two , verse seven , says the people serve the Lord . All the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua , who had seen all the great work of the Lord which had done for Israel , and then , down at verse 10 , all that generation also were gathered to their fathers and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord , nor yet the work which he had done for Israel . Why would it be that this new generation had not heard about the works which God had done for their ancestors ?

Speaker 2 22:55

Because they hadn't been told by the previous generation , it hadn't been passed down . What are we supposed to do for our children ? We are supposed to pass it down . And if you go back to verse one where it says the angel of the Lord , he starts off . He says I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I sworn to your fathers . We see that verse over and over and over again . The Exodus from Egypt and God bringing them out was a big deal and God continually to remind them to pass it down from generation to generation . In fact , you mentioned before in one of our sessions the Passover came out of that .

Speaker 1 23:38

Right Long list of things that he did for him . Remember , back at the end of Joshua , Joshua was dying . I think it was chapter 24 . What was the last thing that Joshua did ? He went to them and he made them promise something . He made them promise obey the Lord , follow these things . And they said , yeah , we will . And he said no , you're not . No , you won't . And they said , oh yeah , we will .

Speaker 2 24:04

So we made him promise two , three times yeah , and he mentions it over and over and he says you're a witness , You're your own witnesses , that you're making this commitment and this covenant . I mean , that's the famous where he says you choose who you're going to serve . As for me and my house , we're going to serve the Lord .

Speaker 1 24:21

And these people said , oh yeah , we're good . Well , here they are , not very long after where they didn't even teach it to their children and they're in full blown disobedience . They've got idol worship in their midst . They don't get rid of the idols . They've got idol worshipers there that they were supposed to get rid of that they didn't . They allow them . They make deals with these people . When they get into a bad spot , they don't even repent and turn to the Lord . So they're in full blown disobedience and they're not repenting even after they get caught . They're in a bad spot . That's a bad place to be . So once the people get into the promised land and saw the benefits , they forgot about the Lord .

Don't Forget Lord, Pass Down Knowledge

Speaker 1 25:00

So what would make somebody forget about the Lord ? What types of things would get somebody's eye off of God ?

Speaker 2 25:08

Could it be doing what's right in your own eyes ? Doing what's right in your own ?

Speaker 1 25:13

eyes Affluence . A lot of the western culture is affluent and what happens when we get fat ? Dumb and happy , right , we get our eyes off the Lord . Plenty of food , no enemies around . They stop thinking about all the good things that God did for me .

Speaker 2 25:30

And thinking that we have accomplished these things on our own , without the help of God .

Speaker 1 25:35

How many of these things do we see in our day ? How ? Many of these things do we experience , and how many times have I not pulled my children aside and said here's how it used to be in my life and here's what God did for me . Every Christian parent should do that . Is there ever a chance that we would forget the Lord in the future ?

Speaker 2 25:56

Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 1 25:58

Right . What will happen to us and what happened to our generations if we fall in the same position ?

Speaker 2 26:04

One last thing and passing down to the next generation , it also refreshes our memory , or that generation's memory , in regards to who God is , what God has done . So it's not just a passing down , but it's also a refreshing to that generation that should be passing it down .

Speaker 1 26:22

So we're learning some very important things here and I think we'll wrap this session up here . Next time we'll start off in Judges , chapter 2 , verses 11 . And we're going to find out about these idols , some of these specific idols , and what they were doing and how God responds . So we'll see you next time on reasoning through the Bible .