They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD's anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. – Judges 2:12-13

Today's Scripture Reading (April 22, 2025): Judges 2

Have you ever broken a promise? Or are you like George Washington, who never told a lie? I know that I have broken promises; actually, quite a few of them. Oh, there are excuses; sometimes, I just get too busy, and I forget to do what I promised to do. I don't think I ever simply decided not to do something that I had said I would do. However, every time I broke a promise, I regretted it. I wish I hadn't. Have you ever felt that way? Maybe that should keep us from wanting to break our promises ever again.

When Joshua said, "As for me and my household, we will serve the God who brought us out of Egypt and placed us in a new land" (Jeremiah 24:15), all of Israel replied, "That's what we are going to do too. We will serve the God of Israel" (Jeremiah 24:16). But time passes. It didn't take long for the people to move on from the God they promised to serve to the gods of the land into which they were moving. 

As I read this passage, I picked up on the plural Baals in verse 11 and the singular form in verse 13. Maybe I am just geek enough to go back to the Hebrew and see if they were the same word or different. You probably don't care, but the answer is that it is the same word. But there is a point to the change. In the ancient world, Baal was not a singular God. Baal simply means Lord and the term was used for many gods. According to some experts, even Yahweh was sometimes called Baal. So, using the plural Baals in verse 11 is a nod to the likelihood that Israel did not trade the God of Israel for one god called Baal, but the nation likely left the God of Israel to serve many different gods in different parts of the country.

At the same time, there was a god called Ba'al. It was Ba'al that Elijah met on Mount Carmel. And there was some logic to what happened on the Mountain. There had been a drought for three years. Israel needed rain. Yahweh was the God who had led Israel out of Egypt. He was the God who divided the Red Sea and the Jordan River. If they needed a river divided or to escape from Egypt, they would call on Yahweh, the God of Israel. Ba'al was the God of rain and thunder. He was the Thor of the Middle East. On Mount Carmel, they needed lightning and rain from the God of Thunder. And so, the people called on Ba'al.

But it was Yahweh who won the battle. Thor, regardless of how cool he might be, didn't even show up. However, the incident was just another example of Israel breaking the promise they had given to God in the presence of Joshua. 

The author of Judges doesn't identify himself, but it seems likely that the stories of the Judges were gathered together and written down by the last Judge and the one who anointed the first two Kings of Israel. His name was Samuel. Samuel felt keenly the violation of the promise of Israel. He felt betrayed by the people when they demanded a king, and he felt betrayed by the first king, Saul, who left his first love and went on to worship other gods. The people had forsaken their God and broken their promises, and Samuel had to wonder if there was any coming back from these sins for his nation. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Judges 3