Sin Makes You Stupid
Learning from Israel’s Rebellion in Judges 10
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Some parts of the book of Judges are breathtaking. Like, stop-you-in-your-tracks crazy. One such place is in Judges 10:6–16, where the account of Jephthah is introduced with the familiar report of Israel’s rebellion.
Except, this time, the rebellion seems more egregious than we’ve seen in the book thus far. The biblical author says, “The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the LORD and did not serve him” (Judg. 10:6).
That’s all one verse! And that verse paints a dark picture of the covenant community’s behavior. The Israelites are idolatrous, and not just a little bit—even though a little poison can still kill you. The Israelites are giving themselves eagerly and broadly to idol worship.
Sin makes you stupid, and idolatry is the peak of human folly and rebellion. Idolatry is the rejection of true worship in exchange for false worship. The author of the book lists seven groups of gods in order to symbolize the “complete” or “perfect” rebellion the people have engaged in.
What were these Israelites thinking? They’ve been through the cycle over and over again. The pattern has been established in the book: the Israelites rebel, the Lord raises up an adversary against them, the Israelites cry out to the Lord, and the Lord raises up a judge who delivers them.
Did the Israelites think it would be different this time? Maybe they could get away with it. Maybe judgment wouldn’t come. Maybe the Lord would deliver them before things got too bad or too out of control.
Sin makes you stupid. It blinds and deludes. It deceives and distorts. Astoundingly, the Israelites have pursued foreign deities despite the fact that the Lord has delivered the people from foreign enemies. He told them, “Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand” (Judg. 10:11–12).
The Lord lists seven groups, a literary response to the seven groups of deities. He has been a perfect deliverer and refuge. God saved the people, and now the people have forsaken him. He told them, “Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress” (Judg. 10:13–14).
The Israelites have had to face the horrible reality that the idols they’ve served are no saviors at all. Their idols are enslavers. Their idols are worse than the Pharaoh of the exodus. In this case, the Israelites have chosen their captors. God told them, “Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen.”
Their idolatry was no slip-up, no accident. It was premeditated rebellion of the highest sort.
Sin makes you stupid. These people have defied their Deliverer and have chosen captors. They have rejected the blessing and life of true worship and exchanged it for the darkness and depravity of false worship.
Their confession comes in Judges 10:15: “We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.”
They don’t deserve deliverance. They can’t merit mercy. They speak words that entrust themselves to the righteous judgment of God. They have sinned, and God will do what is good.
Sin brings distress, and the people feel it. False worship is their core problem, and the ramifications of it are huge. If forsaking the Lord is what they have done, immediate repentance is what they must do. No matter the consequences. If false worship is what they’ve embraced, they must now pull their arms away from these idols and flee to the living God.
Sin brings forgetfulness. These people need to remember the past mercies and goodness of the Lord, and this remembrance needs to orient them afresh to the God who has saved them and who still promises to be the refuge for all who trust him.