*The following is a letter written by Judy Basye to Eric Basye (her son) and her brother Terry. Judy is a true disciple of Jesus and resides in Jackson, Wyoming.
Good morning Eric and Terry,
I am currently reading through the Bible – just finished Joshua and now reading Judges. As I read I am also listening to a Chuck Swindoll CD on each book of the Bible. This morning I listened to the “Survey Through Judges”, which was very good. Terry, you shared with me a few years ago that you didn’t think that the Bible was relevant to today’s world. Well, this was a great CD and one I think you would enjoy. I’ll just share a little of it with you guys.
The great civilizations of the world have each lasted approximately 200 years. Judges shows what Israel had gone through: bondage, spiritual faith, great courage, liberty, abundance, leisure, selfishness, complacency, apathy, dependence, weakness, and finally, bondage. And so the cycle continued to repeat itself in the life of the Israelites as it does in our own country, I believe. Here are a few of my thoughts as I truly believe that Scripture still speaks to us today…
The book of Joshua is a book of victory – the Israelites were motivated to fight for what they believed, they had unity and determination, patriotism and national zeal. Judges is a book of defeat – disunity, anarchy, national indifference, etc.
It reminds me so much of how patriotic Dad was (a WWII veteran) and all those of his generation. He would have gladly died for our freedom. The men and women of the WWII era were courageous and in my opinion were the “greatest generation” as Tom Brokaw once said. Do you remember, Terry, how dad was so offended if someone left the American flag up at night or when it was raining and how he made us fold it exactly right? You may not remember this as you were younger than me but I definitely remember it. I also remember Mrs. Klingerhofer in our country school and how strict she was about how we raised the flag and took it down each day. It seems that the generations before us had high standards for nearly everything, unlike today.
In the book of Judges it says repeatedly, “There was no king in Israel – everyone did what was right in their own eyes,” which meant that no one was in control. It was a permissive society where everything was rationalized. Erosion was silent – it just happened – little by little. This is how it was during Old Testament days, but also it is happening today, right now, before our very eyes.
As with Israel in the Old Testament times, so I think it is a picture of today: disobedience to God, idolatry and intermarriage with other religions. I think about all the religions in the world today – Mormonism, Buddhism, Islam, etc. We represent all of these religions in our nation as we have become a nation of rationalization and compromise. We are expected to accept and embrace each of these different belief systems. I find this particularly difficult for me as I have many good friends of the Mormon faith. One such friend is Dr. White – he is a faithful husband and father, a hard worker, and overall a good man. The only trouble is that he doesn’t know the One True God. We dialogue of our faith often, but I don’t want to offend him. WHAT? Get a grip, Judy. We are so worried about offending others that we don’t share the truth when we need to. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t love everyone but I feel that we need to stand up more for what we know to be true.
As I continue to look at Judges, these two chapters seemed incredibly relevant to me and our nation today:
Chap. 2 of Judges shows “the cycle” of erosion:
v. 11 – disobedience
v. 14 – bondage (slavery of the worst kind)
v. 16 – deliverance and rest in the land
v. 17 – compromise (they didn’t listen to God)
And so the cycle repeated.
Chapter 19, the lowest level of depravity (Dr. Swindoll’s concluding statements):
1. Depravity results in permissiveness when righteousness is ignored.
2. Permissiveness leads to rationalization when holiness is ignored (in our world today it is no longer vogue to refer to something as bad as things have been redefined – even families).
3. Rationalization encourages rebellion when repentance is ignored.
Is marriage on the chopping block, even in the church? Yes, as are families. All you have to do is look at the inner cities plagued with violence, poverty, and shattered homes where there are no dads present. A dad to be a role model (demonstrating the ways of Christ, hard work, providing for your family, being a good neighbor, etc.), someone to teach the ways of manhood, and of course, a dad to do the simple things such as wrestle, play, fish, hunt, etc. Yes, I fear for our country, children, grandchildren and the generations yet to come. May we embrace the relevancy of Scripture, listen to God as He speaks to us today, and let us repent for our wrongful actions and turn once again to the One True God. O Lord, have mercy on us!
I miss and love you both. I hope to visit soon.
Judy
Judges 2:10 – After the death of Joshua the “whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who neither knew the Lord nor what He had done for Israel”… and so began the falling away of Israel. So shall this be a warning for us today. We are to know the Lord, remember what He has done in our lives and the generations before and instruct the younger generations in all His ways.
