And the children of Israel said to Jehovah, We have sinned. Do thou unto us according to all that is good in thy sight; only deliver us, we pray thee, this day.
God had already turned Israel's first cry away and told them to call on the gods they had chosen. Verse 15 is what they said when they came back: no bargaining, no excuse, only an admission of guilt, a blank cheque handed to God, and one plea.
This is a further step beyond their earlier cry. They own the sin, they agree that God's judgment would be right, and then they appeal to His grace.
When they heard these words, the children of Israel took a further step along the healthy path in which the Spirit of God was leading them. "We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to You." They confessed their sin, they judged themselves, and they acknowledged that God's judgment was righteous. Then they added: "Only please deliver us this day" (v. 15). They appealed to His grace. Could He turn a deaf ear to their cry? Impossible! Repentance led them to a fuller knowledge of the Lord than they had ever had before.
Israel is further from God here than at any earlier point in Judges. Yet this is where their self-judgment goes deepest.
It is a remarkable fact that as the falling away from God nears its final stage, the awakenings of conscience become deeper. I do not say they become wider. We only have to recall the song of Deborah, which brought out in the clearest light all the privileges of the people of God. But Israel at that time had only a slight sense of their responsibility. Their conscience was less aroused, and their self-judgment less marked. Here, for the first time, we find God's light reaching the conscience of the people and leading them to judge themselves deeply.
Israel leaves the discipline with God and asks for one thing only.
What could Israel do? They knew their idols had no ability to help them. They could only confess their sin before God again. They could only show themselves willing to accept whatever consequences God might send. They only beg Him to deliver them (v. 15). At the same time they put away their foreign gods, and took the place of serving the Lord (v. 16)... They disobeyed over and over again. Yet their turning to Him in their misery always awakened His compassion.
Israel does not walk away from a God who has just told them to go elsewhere.
Then they cried to Him and confessed their sins. The Lord reminded them of all His goodness in past deliverances, and warned them that He would not deliver them: "Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress." But they kept on pleading and confessing. They put away the foreign gods. They began to serve Him again. Though He had denied their first cry, His soul was grieved for Israel's misery. What a compassionate Lord He is!
Confession here is not just speech. The same people who say these words throw out their idols — and God answers real repentance.
They are forced to confess their sin. They throw off the yoke, they put away the false gods from among them, and they serve the Lord. They make a true confession to God and hand themselves over into His hands... How infinitely tender our God is; He cannot look at misery unmoved, even misery produced by sin. Whenever repentance is real, our blessed God will not leave His people without at least some deliverance.
One commentator applies this pattern beyond Israel, to any season of recovery among God's people.
God wants this to be the character of revivals in the sorrowful days in which our lot is cast. It is good for souls to know their privileges and heavenly position. But a deep work in the conscience must go with the revival too. Then Christians bear the fruits of true holiness, humble devotion and complete consecration — without show, and without pushing themselves forward to talk about themselves, but forsaking idols to serve the Lord.
- Refused first. God answered their first cry with a rebuff: "Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen." They kept pleading anyway.
- Deeper conscience. The worst decline brought the sharpest self-judgment yet. God's light reached their conscience for the first time in this way.
- Blank cheque. "Do to us whatever seems good to You" leaves every consequence with God, with no conditions attached.
- One plea. They agree that any judgment would be just, then ask for grace alone — deliverance, today.
- Proved by fruit. The idols went out and service to the Lord came back. Where repentance is real, God gives His people at least some deliverance.
And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served Jehovah; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
Israel's own idolatry had brought them into misery, and at last they confessed it. This verse is the turning point: the idols go out, the people serve the Lord, and God is moved by the suffering they brought on themselves.
Israel had already said the words of confession. Here that confession reached their idols.
This restoration would not have been real if it had not borne fruit. "And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served Jehovah" (v. 16); turning to God from idols they served the living and true God. Then Jehovah opened to them the treasures of the pity of His heart.
The verse has two halves. Israel changes, and God responds to their misery.
All they could do was confess their sin to God again. They showed they were willing to accept any consequences He might send. They only beg Him to deliver them (v. 15). At the same time they put away their foreign gods, and took the place of serving the Lord (v. 16). God, seeing this change in their attitude, "could no longer endure the misery of Israel." They disobeyed over and over again, yet their turning to Him in their misery always awakened His compassion.
Israel brought this suffering on themselves. That did not shut off God's pity. Where the ESV says He became impatient over their misery, older translations read that His soul was grieved by it.
Their very misery forces them to confess their sin. They throw off the yoke, they put away the false gods from among them, and they serve the Lord. Our God is infinitely tender. He cannot look at misery unmoved, even though sin produced it: "His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel." Whenever there is true repentance, our blessed God will not leave His people without at least some measure of deliverance.
These words open a window into God's character, and show how little He waits for before He forgives.
What touching words! What exquisite tenderness! What deep compassion! How such a statement lets us into the profound depths of the heart of God! The misery of His people moved the loving heart of Jehovah. The very faintest and earliest signs of brokenness and sorrow, on the part of Israel, met with a ready and gracious response from Israel's God. It did not matter how far they had wandered, how deeply they had sunk, or how badly they had sinned. God was always ready to welcome the weakest breath of a broken heart... the very moment His people take the place of confession, He enters the place of forgiveness.
God's grief did not stay inside Him. It stood behind every judge He raised up.
Their unfaithfulness brought them into misery, and that misery moved God's compassion. His mighty grace raised up deliverers by His Spirit among the fallen and wretched people. "For his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel." "And Jehovah raised up judges, who delivered them out of the hand of those that plundered them."... But Israel was unchanged... This is the sorrowful history of the people of God; but it is also the history of the grace of God, and of His compassions towards His people.
This grief runs right through Israel's story, and it reaches to Christ Himself.
In the wilderness, His people grieved God again and again (Ps. 78:40). In the land, their idolatry and self-will brought them again and again to a state where "His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel" (Judges 10:16). The Psalms express similar thoughts. The prophets give the same evidence, for example: "In all their affliction He was afflicted" (Isa. 63:9). Christ as God must have entered into everything these Scripture references convey.
Rossier reads this recovery as the pattern for every real revival.
God wants revivals in our own sad days to have this character. It is good for souls to know their privileges and their heavenly position. But a deep work in the conscience must go with the revival. Then Christians will bear the fruits of true holiness, humble devotion and full consecration — not with show, and not pushing themselves forward to talk about themselves, but leaving idols behind to serve the Lord.
- Misery — Israel's suffering was the harvest of their own idolatry, yet God could not look at it unmoved.
- Removal — Repentance became real when Israel carried the foreign gods out and served the Lord. Confession without that fruit was no restoration.
- Response — When God saw the change, He could no longer endure their misery. The faintest sign of a broken heart met an answer at once.
- Rescue — That grief raised up judges to deliver them. A sorry history of failure became a record of God's compassion.
- Reach — The same grief runs from the wilderness through the prophets to Christ. It sets the pattern for every real recovery: a searched conscience, idols dropped, the Lord served.