One of the benefits of preaching through the book of Judges is that chapter 10 provides a glimpse into the doctrine of repentance. Repentance is not a doctrine that gets much press these days. You probably are aware that it is a critical doctrine that greatly affects one’s justification and sanctification. Judges, however, is not the place you would likely look to find teaching on repentance.
Actually two kinds of repentance are mentioned. The first one is readily acknowledge: the repentance of God’s people. The second one is hotly debated: the repentance of God.
First, after committing more idolatry, God’s people finally say in vv. 15-16 “‘We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.’ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord…” God’s people finally repent of their idolatry.
Notice two parts of their repentance: (1) they stopped worshiping “the foreign gods”; (2) they started (re-started?) serving “the Lord.” They stopped sinning and started serving. It’s a pretty simple definition of repentance.
Second, after severely judging His people, God finally responds to Israel’s repentance. The omniscient narrator tells us: “and [the Lord] became impatient over the misery of Israel” (v. 16). The Lord stopped punishing and started saving even though He said back in v. 13, “Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.”
I don’t claim to understand what was happening in the mind of God. Neither arguments for or against God being able to repent have been completely satisfying.
I am convinced, however, that our congregants need to hear the importance of confessing their sins, turning from their sins, and replacing their sins with righteousness.
Preach repentance and our Lord will continue to receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).
Randal
This post was originally published on October 31, 2016.
It’s kind of dangerous to speculate too much on things God doesn’t tell us or explain to us, but I think that maybe here, God’s repentance is a model for us–if God is willing to repent, what does that mean if we are not willing to? And there, I just speculated. 😉
It’s always good to hear from you, John. Sorry about my delay. That’s a great thought about God setting an example for us to follow. It’s interesting that the doctrine of the impassibility of God is a hot topic in some circles. I am not the world’s best systematic theologian, but preaching through books of the Bible forces me to think hard about how God has revealed Himself. Thanks for speculating about speculating! Keep up the good work of faith.