And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the LORD to anger. They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.
Judges 2:11-13 (ESV)
Soon after Joshua and the generation that had experienced the Exodus died, the nation of Israel turned their backs on God and began bowing down to Baal and Ashtaroth. This initiated a cycle that lasted for hundreds of years. They would turn their back on God, get punished, cry out, get relief, and repeat. Until finally they went into exile.
Why did God tolerate Israel’s rebellion? The simple answer is that he had made a promise to Abraham and was committed to keeping it. But God knew what he was getting into when he made that promise. So this was more than just fulfilling an obligation.
Jesus was not born in a vacuum. He was born to a people with a history with God. Their history was, for the most part, nothing to be proud of. But they were a people that God had been molding for centuries.
They had the sacred Scriptures, a product of multiple people over several centuries. They had a covenant with God, the law, priests, the tabernacle, sacrifices, and rituals. All of which found fulfillment in Jesus. And they had the promise of a Messiah who would deliver them from their oppression.
When the time was right, Jesus was born into a time, a place, and a people that had been prepared for his coming. And that is why God tolerated Israel’s repeated rebellion. With all their flaws and shortcomings, they played a crucial role in the history of redemption.
Much of the Old Testament, especially the prophets, is a response to their rebellion. The Jewish communities scattered throughout the Roman world were largely the result of their rebellion and exile. These communities provided a launching pad for the proclamation of the gospel in the cities of the Roman Empire. And the history of Israel vividly illustrates the inability of external requirements to fix the sinful human condition.
