Cyclical Failure
Israel, using their own wisdom, determine the
inhabitants of the land to be too mighty to entirely
remove. They fail to obey God’s Word by choosing to dwell
among the foreign inhabitants in the land. Coexisting with
the idolatrous people serves as a constant snare to Israel,
and they repeatedly reject the wisdom of God’s Word to
follow after the Serpent’s wisdom displayed through the
pagan gods of the nations. Each time, God responds by
allowing them to be dominated by the nations that lived
among them until the children of Israel repent from their
apostasy. God then raises up a deliverer to rescue the
people from the oppression of the nations and to
encourage them to follow the Word of God. These
deliverers, the judges and priests, fail to represent God’s
character and progressively contribute to the increasing
failure of Israel to follow God’s Word and represent God
before the nations.
