You would think that after God’s mighty acts of salvation, God’s People would stay on the straight and narrow. Sadly, this was not what happened. God’s People once again forgot God’s goodness to them and fell into sin.
You would think that after God’s mighty act of salvation, we would stay on the straight and narrow. Sadly, this is not what happens. We often forget God’s goodness expressed to us through Jesus, and fall into sin.
Often in these situations, God disciplines us to draw us back to him. When we cry out, God will deliver us. But sometimes, before doing so God reveals the reasons for the discipline first, so that we might follow the path of holiness. Yet this discipline and criticism, just as in Judges 6, comes with the promise of his goodness and grace towards us.
After Deborah and Barak’s victory over Sisera and Jabin, the land was at peace for forty years (5:31). God’s deliverance of Israel from her oppressors led to songs of praise, which should have reminded God’s People of their saviour and encouraged them to thankful obedience.
Sadly, as before, this did not happen. “The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (v.1) once again, inviting God’s anger and discipline once again.
This discipline came in the form of the Midianites, from the south (v.1). In Deborah and Barak’s day, salvation in the form of rain sent by God to bog down Sisera’s chariots came from the south (5:4). Now discipline comes from the south.
The description of the discipline Israel endured is quite detailed. At first is a slightly cryptic statement – “the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds” (v.2). Why would Israel see the need to hide away in caves and dens, or build forts to hide inside?
The answer is that the Midianites were like a horde of human locusts. Whenever Israel planted crops for food to eat, “the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them” (v.3).
Then they would eat. They would “devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey” (v.4). They came with the animals and stripped the land clean of food; just like locusts, the book of Judges describes them (v.5).
Imagine years of this. You plant your crops to feed yourself, your kids, and your animals. And then the Midianites come like a swarm of locusts, swallowing it all up. You are tired, defeated, hungry, and poor. Feeding yourself and those you love is hard. You have to hide as much food as you can in caves and dens. No wonder Israel was brought low by Midian, and “the people of Israel cried out for help to the LORD” (v.6).
In this situation, no doubt God’s People wanted God to strike down the Midianites as he had oppressors beforehand. But this is not God’s first act in response to their cry for help.
Instead, God sent a prophet (vv.7-8), because Israel needed to know why they were in that position. What they need is a miracle of deliverance, yes, but before that they need a reminder. It was not a random chance that saw them subjected to Midian’s stripmining, but God, whose voice they did not obey when they worshipped once again the false idols of the land (v.10).
Yet in this reminder, there is also a reminder of God’s goodness, graciousness, and past acts of salvation. God reminds them of who he is, in relation to them: the God who rescued them from Egypt and gave them the land they dwelt in (vv.8-9). None of these things were what they deserved, yet God had mercy on them.
While these words instead of acts might seem mean, they are actually kind. The prophet sent by God expresses God’s sympathy for their situation, because while it indicates God’s willingness to once again act, he does not leave them unaware of the reason for their strife.
God does the same for us too. Discipline comes to our lives in many shapes and forms. Perhaps it comes in subtle ways, rather than the dramatic modern-day equivalent of a Midianite stealing your food. But nevertheless, if we are God’s children then he does discipline us (Hebrews 12:4-11). It might be unpleasant, but it is for our benefit; that we might turn to God and not to the idols of our heart or this present evil age. We cannot blame God, because he is always good to us.
That goodness is expressed in the salvation we have received through Jesus, received every time we repent, and every breath we take. And accompanied with the reminder through his word – preached, taught, read – that our misery comes from our sin. But our redemption and release comes from God.
