W. Robert Godfrey

We've been in the land of promise.

God has brought us to the land flowing with milk and honey.

He's blessed us by giving us this land.

And now it's like we're right back in the wilderness.

It's almost like we're back in the slavery of Egypt because the enemy has oppressed us this protracted period of time, 40 years.

Forty years.

And it's a sign, it's a symbol of how far they have fallen, that it's as if they've been taken out of the promised land.

And of course, that's ultimately what will happen to Israel, isn't it?

They'll be exiled after centuries of kingship, but already it's all being anticipated here.

They're enslaved in their own country.

Forty years.

Think how long that is.

And here is the tragedy that is besetting Israel.

What's the solution?

Well, the solution has to be that God will raise up a judge again.

And God has been doing that.

But the judges have become progressively weaker.

And the judges themselves have become progressively more sinful.

And the fruitfulness of their deliverance has become shorter term.

And so we can almost anticipate what's going to happen with this next judge who's about to come.