The Days of the King

"In those days, Israel had no King." That line really haunted me as I read through Judges. It was kind of like there was an underlying sense of melancholy over those generations because something felt incomplete. I started thinking about how great it is to live in the days of the fully revealed King. The King who is patient, humble, loving and powerful enough to work all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

Then I noticed something. Whenever Israel goes back to worshipping ephods and ashera poles, God gets mad and inflicts punishment on them. They repent, destroy their idols, tear their clothes then God relents and delivers their enemies back in to their hands. In God's eternal kingdom, he has always worked for the good of those who have loved him. Even when there was no covenant, he has always responded to repentance. I guess he really is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

One more thing. Do you think Japhthah (Judges 11:34) had ever heard of Abraham? Do you think that he figured that when he went to sacrafice his daughter that God would do the same thing for him that he did for Abraham (provide a goat instead of having him sacrafice his daughter)? Do you think that the reason God didn't is because Japhthah offered it to God instead of God asking him ( like he did with Abraham)? Do you think that God would have given the Ammonites in to Japhthah's hands even if he didn't make that silly promise? Do you think this is an illustration about how we shouldn't make promises to God which we can't or might not want to keep?