The ABCDE’s of the Israelites
God’s people continuously sinned and turned away from Him-Abandoned
They were punished- Bondage
They Called out to Him- Cried
God faithfully delivers them- Deliver
They lived Happily- Ease
This was the Israelites lifestyle.
The main lesson we learn here is about the consequences of sin and Gods deliverance.

God delivers the Israelites from their enemies by sending a Deliverer. Similar to how Jesus Christ was sent for us.

Israelites sinned and God gave them in the hand of their enemies, they cried out and God delivered them through Othniel, Ehud & Shamgar. God used them mighty to deliver Israel and the spirit of Lord was upon them. Are we living a life worthy to be used as deliverers?

“The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (vv. 7, 12). We can dismiss this vaguely as breaking the commandments or we can figure out specifically what the evil was. I believe it’s simply this, “they forgot the Lord their God and served [other gods]” (v. 7).He was not punishing them because someone had murdered or another had committed adultery or for their false witnesses, though these might have been external manifestations. He is a jealous God. He cannot tolerate his people going after other gods. He expects his people to honor him, glorify him, consult him, in short, he wants to be their culture. Think God and breathe God.

The Israelites forgot the Lord their God. Even now with our busy schedules we can forget God.

If we allow the culture of this world to take control of us, we too could be misled. We should influence the culture we live in and not the vice versa.

The Israelites served the other Gods and He didn’t like that. Even now we may be serving the other gods in our life, even with out our knowing, which our God hates. We need to examine ourselves and see who we really are serving. And set our hearts straight to serve our God.

This Chapter tell us about Isralites fail to serve God continuously They went back and forth for the upcoming generations . But whenever. They seek God he helps them with deliverer . It shows his mercy and grace to them always . In my life I too went back and forth many times depends on situation without knowing his Grace , Love , Mercy . whenever I come back he always redeems me as first time believer . The message is we should teach our kids until 1 step ahead from our faith and to trust our God . If so then our generations will not even think back and forth in this dynamic world for ever .

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.what evil? Serving other God’s. Our God is very possessive of his children.he does not want his children to serve other God’s. Only he is worthy of all praise and worship.( I am glad that I am his child and he is possessive of me.)We may be doing this evil (giving more importance to worldly aspects than God)in our daily life. Let us analyze.

The DELIVERED Israelite (3:1) are TESTED by God (3:4) where they FAILED (3:6) so they were JUDGED (3:7) and PUNISHED (3:8) by God. When they realized and REPENTED (3:9) God DELIVERED them again (3:9) which goes back to 3:1. I see this vicious cycle with Israelite’ from the bondage in Egypt again and again. But I see Moses and Joshua are out of this vicious cycle. Out Faith journey with God needs to be like Moses.

Even though God was angry(v8) he showed his grace (v9-11). When they cried to him, he send judges to deliver them. But the change of heart of the Israelites was temporary, they soon forget everything that God did and went back to sinful life.This continuing pattern, (God mercifully raised a deliverer — the enemies are defeated– people rest –again after years they continue to do the same– cry out to the Lord) is a warning and a good lesson for us. We should not let ourselves turn away from God. We need to serve our God faithfully. Once when we start to “truly love God”, we will not do anything that makes God angry.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only”

The Lord was “always” with the Israelites, He punished them whenever they did evil things, and delivered them whenever they repented.
-Why did the Israelites keep on doing evil things? Because, the priests (Levites) had failed to do their duty?
-I believe it is each and everyone’s responsibility to remain in His word. God expects each and everyone of us not to turn aside to the right or to the left from His word.

v.4 கர்த்தர் மோசேயைக்கொண்டு தங்கள் பிதாக்களுக்கு விதித்த கற்பனைகளுக்கு இஸ்ரவேலர் கீழ்ப்படிவார்களோ என்று அறியும்படி, இஸ்ரவேலரை அவர்களாலே சோதிப்பதற்காக அவர்கள் விடப்பட்டிருந்தார்கள்.- some think, when Jesus comes, if we are pure (if we are lucky) we will be in Heaven
– But God’s process design seems to be different. It is not like a lottery system.
– To my understanding, there will no direct entry to Heaven; one will be tested enough and proved to get in. It is a long process. Am I ready for that?

(v. 15) When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer- This shows the mercy of our God. When Israel repeatedly moved away from God, he had every right to cast them off completely but he still responded when they finally did call on him for deliverance. God sent to us his son, Jesus Christ, a deliverer for us who will indeed save us from all our sins. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer…

Joshua vs Judges This passage as everyone above has noted directly and vividly points out that God cannot ( Note: not does not) abandon his children. Yes he is mad at us but when we repent he will never leave us alone.
The narrator shows something I find very perceptive:
In Joshua we read (24:31) that Israel served Yahweh all of Joshua time. So overall it is better.
In Judges, they serve local idols. Therein lies the heart of the problem. Yahweh has one attribute that he does not like to share: His Glory and His love. God of Canaan had taken over Israel and they are facing the covenant curse. This why God does not abandon us.
Here is the picture: in Joshua it is a story of victory. call it “the entering into the land” phase. In Judges, it the story of defeat failure and getting up again. The story of real believer in modern Canaan is Judges. Let us fight as New Testament warriors with our weapons from Ephesians!