Judges 10:13 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.

NIV: But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.

NASB: Yet you abandoned Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer save you.

CSB: But you have abandoned me and worshiped other gods. Therefore, I will not deliver you again.

NLT: Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not rescue you anymore.

KJV: Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.

NKJV: Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more.

Taken out of context, without seeing the rest of the story, this verse is terrifying. After repeatedly rejecting God and falling into sin, Israel is once again under oppression (Judges 10:6–9). They call out to God in repentance and beg for mercy (Judges 10:10). God begins listing the nations from whom He has already rescued Israel (Judges 10:11–12). One would expect He will now say, "and I will do so again," or something equivalent. Instead, God says He won't save Israel again.

The idea that God extends incredible patience, (Psalm 86:15), not infinite patience (1 Peter 3:20), should be sobering. Scripture indicates that the Lord can choose to limit His gracious mercy when people are especially resistant (Proverbs 29:1; Genesis 6:3; Romans 9:18). Still, it's jarring to hear God so bluntly and directly tell Israel, "No, I'm not saving you again."

The pronouncement is shocking for how it complicates the pattern of the book of Judges. It also challenges those who think they know how God should react to every cry for help. Every time before this, the Lord has quickly raised up a judge to free Israel from captivity as soon as they begged for help. This time, He does not. Critically, however, the following verses show that God intends a specific lesson through His response. His answer is rhetorical—meant for effect—and leads directly to His sarcastic remark about the idols they have chosen to follow (Judges 10:14).

Before making this statement, God listed all the nations from which He has rescued Israel over her long history. One by one, He has given the Israelites the victory over their brutal enemies. The implication is clear: what has that motivated Israel to do? Have they responded to His grace by committing to serving the Lord their God only? No. They have repeated their sinful pattern, taking it even deeper in this current generation. Instead of gratitude and faithfulness, they have forsaken Him and served countless other idols.

Since God has important plans for the nation of Israel (Genesis 12:3), He will eventually save them (Judges 10:16). However, He will not do so as quickly or immediately as they expect. He will not be manipulated by His people, even if they are a different generation than the ones who have come before. He will not accept their spoken confession, no matter how genuine, until it is proven through action (Luke 3:7–8; Hosea 10:4). More stridently than ever before, God will force Israel to grapple with the consequences of their faithlessness (Judges 10:14–16).

Judges 10:6–16 shows the downward spiral repeated in the book of Judges sinking ever lower. The Israelites once again forsake the Lord, this time serving all the gods of Canaan and the surrounding regions. God hands them over to both the Ammonites and the Philistines. When the people cry out to the Lord eighteen years later, confessing their sin, He initially refuses to save them. This has the desired effect of jarring Israel to action. The people repent, anyway, serving the Lord and getting rid of their idols.

Two more judges, Tola and Jair, rescue Israel for a time. Little detail is given about either. Once again, the people return to idolatry and depraved sins (Deuteronomy 12:29–31). In response, God submits His people to the Ammonites and Philistines. After eighteen years, they confess and beg for mercy. God bluntly refuses, this time. And yet, Israel shows humble repentance, getting rid of their idols. As God prepares to save the people, an army of Israelites in Gilead gathers to face an army of Ammonites. But the Israelite army lacks a leader.

After Gideon rescued Israel (Judges 6—8), his son, Abimelech, murdered his siblings and became a despotic ruler (Judges 9). That ended with further tragedy and bloodshed. Judges 10 begins with a brief description of two judges who ruled after the time of Abimelech. Then Israel falls further than ever into the worship of false gods. Nearly two decades after God turns the people over to their enemies, they confess their sinfulness. The Ammonites encamp against Israel in Gilead. The leaders of Gilead search for someone to lead them in battle. Chapter 11 details the call and success of the next judge, Jephthah.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).