No matter who we are, no matter where we have lived, and no matter how rich or poor we are, the chances are very high that we are part of an evil “sin” cycle of human history that has shown itself in nearly all places and times in the world. There has never, not once in history, been any large group of people who maintained obedience to the whole biblical covenant for a sustained period of generations. It never happened in ancient Israel, and it has never happened in Christianity. Instead, there have been relatively brief periods of widespread obedience by people who followed godly leaders, followed by a falling away to heresy when those leaders died and their godly habits were forgotten by those who replaced them in power, followed by godly judgment on those who broke faith with their covenant with God, followed by repentance and contrition and the raising up of a new godly leader. And then the “sin” cycle begins again. Today I will talk about where this cycle appears in the Bible, the pattern of Israel’s sins, and its relevance for us today.

They Did Not Cease From Their Own Doings Nor From Their Stubborn Way

We find the clearest example of this “sin” cycle of human history told in Judges 2. Let us turn to Judges 2 and spend a bit of time reading and understanding the cycle of human history told here. After all, this “sin” cycle appears over and over and over again within the book of Judges, and it has happened over and over and over again since then in the history of Israel, Judah, and the Church of God. Let us take Judges 2 passage by passage and see what it has to tell us today.
Judges 2:1-6 is the first passage, and it tells us that Israel did not even obey God’s commands during the time of Joshua. Judges 2:1-6 reads: “Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you. And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their alters.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in you side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’ “ So it was, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept. Then they called the name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the Lord. And when Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land.”

Here we see a very early warning by God about the disobedience of the Israelites while Joshua was still alive. Even under that godly leader, the children of Israel did not tear down the altars of the pagan peoples they conquered, nor did they follow God’s commandment to obliterate and destroy the heathen nations that God had sent them to conquer. Instead, they disobeyed God’s commandment and got lured into heathen worship practices. And the same has been true of Israel and the Church of God on a consistent basis over and over and over again. There is always a lure to leave aside the commandments of God and follow after the heathen traditions of our neighbors because we want to fit in.

Continuing on, Judges 2:7-10 tells us about the death of Joshua. Judges 2:7-10 thus provides the catalyst of the first of Israel’s cycles of rebellion: “So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel. Now Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died when he was one hundred and ten years old. And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.”

This is an ominous sign that we need to pay attention to for ourselves in our own lives. If we only follow God when we have a godly leader over us, and if we lack the character to set a good example for others, then we will be like Israel and follow the crowd into heresy and disobedience because we lack the courage to stand up for what is right. All too often people follow what is right for years, even decades, and then as soon as the godly leader who taught them obedience to God’s ways is gone, they fall into sin because they were always followers and never developed into godly leaders themselves, able to stand against a crowd.

The Disobedience-Punishment-Contrition-Deliverance Cycle

Next, in Judges 2:11-23, we see the cycle of disobedience in full. Let us start by seeing the whole picture of this cycle, and then let us take the cycle part by part. Judges 2:11-23 reads: “Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand against their enemies. Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked. In obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so. And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by the groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and he said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded my voice, I will also no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.” Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hands of Joshua.”

Here we have the whole “sin” cycle of Judges and beyond. Historians of the Bible call this cycle the DPCD cycle. The first D stands for disobedience, the disobedience of Israel. The P stands for punishment, the punishment God gives to Israel for their sins. The C stands for contrition, the sorrow and repentance of Israel for the suffering that their sins lead to. The second D stands for deliverance, where God sends a judge to deliver Israel from their oppressors. The whole book of Judges, and the whole history of God’s people to this time, shows this cycle over and over and over again. We never learn.

The first stage of the DPCD cycle is the disobedience of Israel. We saw this disobedience in Judges 2 when Israel turned to worship the Baals and the Ashtoreths as soon as Joshua died, and when the historian of Judges comments that as soon as any judge was dead that Israel would behave more wickedly and more corruptly than their fathers. Do we not see that today? Do we not behave more immorally than previous generations? Do we not pay less attention to God’s laws and show less interest in repenting from our wicked ways while there is yet time to escape judgment? We may not bow down to Baals and Ashtoreths at altars, but we may worship Korean pop idols and put their posters on our wall and dress up like them. How can we therefore say that we are any better than they were in ancient Israel, for we merely have different idols than they had back then.

The second stage of the DPCD cycle is the punishment of God. God lists a long list of curses against Israel in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28—you can read them if you like—that would come upon God’s people for disobedience. These curses include military defeat, shortages of food, droughts, illnesses, theft, social injustice, and ultimately captivity. All of these things came upon Israel for their disobedience, and if we call ourselves Christians by the name of God and His Son Jesus Christ, and if we do not obey His covenant, these same judgments will come upon us because God will not be mocked forever. And so God sent upon Israel oppressors who would abuse them and exploit them so they could see the contrast between God’s ways and the wicked ways of those delivered to Satan and faced with the cruelty of men.

The third stage of the DPCD cycle is the contrition of Israel. The oppression of Mesopotamians, Moabites, Canaanites, Midianites, Ammonites, and Philistines, among other peoples, made the children of Israel cry out in their suffering toward God. Nor was this true only then. Do not the people of Burma cry out against the oppression of the Burmese army today? Do not the people of Syria and other nations cry out against their dictators and their oppressive armies today? Do we not see oppression all over our own world today? Do we think that God’s judgment has been replaced by the finger wagging of a weak and kind-hearted father who does not ever punish his rebellious and wayward children? If so, we think incorrectly. If we think this, we may find the harsh oppression of a Burmese army rather than the loving care of our Heavenly Father, if we reject His ways.

The final stage of the DPCD cycle is the deliverance of Israel by judges whom God raised up. These judges were leaders of God’s people who, however unworthy they thought themselves, were possessed of the Spirit of God and were able to encourage and motivate the people of God to repent and follow God for a little while. And as long as the judge lived, whether it was Othniel or Ehud or Deborah or Barak or Gideon or Jephthah or Samson or Samuel, the people would pay lip service to God. And then once the judge died they would revert to their pattern of sin even worse than before. They did this over and over and over again. Unless we ourselves become godly leaders, we too will be followers copying the example of those around us, whether it is good or bad, and we will be unable to slow down or reverse the moral decline of our own wicked and rebellious societies and churches or provide a godly counterexample for others to follow. Is this what we want for ourselves?

The Pattern Of Israel’s Sins

But not only do we find that the history of Judges follows a spiral pattern of increasing corruption and wickedness, but we also find a pattern of sins that is mentioned here in Judges 2 as being characteristic of Israel. If we are not careful, this also describes the pattern of our own sins and wickedness against God. Let us therefore examine the sins that are listed by the historian of Judges 2 so that we may see the severity of Israel’s wickedness against God.
In Judges 2:11-13 we read that the children of Israel served and bowed down to the Baals and the Ashroeths. In so doing they violated the first commandment, where God said: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before me.” In Judges 2:2 we read that the Israelites failed to tear down the altars of the heathen nations around them, violating the second commandment not to have or make any graven images. In Judges 2:10 (and many cases in Judges) we read that Israel forgot God as soon as the previous generation was dead. They did not honor either the memory of their physical fathers and their (comparative) righteousness, nor their heavenly Father’s demand for exclusive worship. Thus they violated the fifth commandment. Judges 2:17 states that Israel played the harlot with other gods. This was not only adultery in the sense of violating their covenant with God to obey His every law, the same covenant we make with God at our conversion and baptism, but often involved literal ritual prostitution in pagan temples. Thus the people of Israel violated the seventh commandment. Additionally, because Israel, in Judges 2:2, had failed to obey their oath to God to exterminate the nations around them, they also violated the 9th commandment against bearing false witness.

Nor was this all, as if violating five of the ten commandments according to the explicit statements of the historian of Judges 2 was not enough. Let us look in greater detail at one of the other laws that Israel was stated to have violated. In Judges 2:2, it reads: “And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land.” This law appears twice in the Law. Let us look at both locations and examine why this law was so important to God. The first time the law appears is in Exodus 23:31-33. Exodus 23:31-33 reads: “And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the [Mediterranean] sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the [Euphrates] river. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” Deuteronomy 7:1-2 speaks similarly. Deuteronomy 7:1-2 reads: “When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.”

This is very plain language. Israel was to make no treaties with these nations, show no mercy to these nations, and completely destroy them from the face of the earth. That was why God gave them the land, to show judgment on wicked societies who committed abominable sexual immorality and perverse worship practices. And yet Israel did not do it. Why not? Did they want to fit in? Did they think it was too cruel to destroy all traces of the heathen worship practices of their neighbors? Did they see their heathen neighbors as more civilized and not want to destroy the art and sculpture of such a civilization? Perhaps all of the above. But in violating God’s commandment they brought misery upon themselves and were lured into improper worship practices. Could that also be the case for us if we are overly tolerant or curious in the heathen worship practices of others?

The Relevance Of Judges 2 For Us Today

Let us conclude today by looking at the relevance of God’s warning in Judges 2 for us today. Let us start by asking ourselves a few questions. Do we behave like the Israelites? Do we think ourselves loyal to God and followers of God and yet our practice and worship violates many of God’s commandments? Do we call for God’s help only when we are in trouble and forget God and His ways when all is well? Do we depend on godly leaders to set a good example for us to follow or are we godly leaders setting a good example for others around us? Do we see the same “sin cycle” in our own lives, in our own families, in our own churches, in our own communities, and in our own societies that Israel saw over and over and over again in the book of Judges?
Let us look at the history of our churches. Do we only obey God’s laws when there is a godly man in charge, or are we strong enough to stand against evil in high places and refuse to go along with a crowd that follows heresy or rebellion? Let us look at our societies. Do we see the powerful exploiting the weak? Do we see corrupt militaries overthrowing legitimate governments and oppressing their people? Do we see our societies and communities show periodic revivals when things get better for a little while, only to fall back into the same lazy and corrupt ways after a while because no one can be bothered to follow up and continue behaving in a proper manner, even if it requires us to change the way we behave?

All of these things are far too easy to see in the world around us. We all live the Judges cycle. We all see good times and bad times, brief periods of obedience and diligence, times of rebellion and laziness, and the inevitable and lamentable consequences of such rebellion against God’s ways in the suffering of our own lives. The only way to break the cycle is to live consistently righteous and godly lives, in all aspects of our lives, not only being godly for ourselves, but setting godly examples in our families, in our churches, in our work, in our public life, so that we are recognized for our good example in our communities and in our society. We all could use a lot of work, and I speak as much for myself, if not more, than I do for anyone else here. But if we want to break the Judges cycle in our lives, it is we who have to change. May God give us all the strength to do so, and the vision to press on as long as it takes for us to be made into the image and likeness of our elder brother and soon-coming King, Jesus Christ.