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Judges · Men's Leadership Study

Week 2: The Generation That Did Not Know

Judges 2:1 - 3:6

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Read Together

Judges 2:1 - 3:6

Read the whole chapter aloud before discussing the handout.

Hidden in the Text

Weekly Devotional

The angel of the LORD travels from Gilgal to Bochim. Gilgal was where Israel renewed its promise to God. Bochim means “weepers.” Israel had gone from being set apart for God to crying without obeying. God also left some enemies in the land so the next generation could learn how to fight. Those enemies were not proof that God had left them. They were a test of whether Israel would obey. Some battles remain because God is training you and showing you what is in your heart.

Discuss Honestly

Hard Questions

  1. 01

    Verse 10 says a generation did not know the LORD 'nor yet the works.' Whose responsibility was that failure, and what does that mean for the men you are discipling right now?

  2. 02

    Have you ever wept at an altar and changed nothing by Thursday? What made the difference in the times you actually changed?

  3. 03

    Israel's deliverers kept dying and the people kept collapsing. What in your ministry right now depends on your presence rather than on the men's own walk with God?

  4. 04

    God left nations 'to prove Israel, to know whether they would hearken.' What is the current test in your life that God is clearly not removing?

  5. 05

    When you begin to drift from God, what goes wrong first: your relationships or your worship? Think about the last time you fell and answer honestly.

  6. 06

    Are you living on someone else's faith instead of knowing God for yourself?

  7. 07

    Where are you giving the men a testimony of what God did in your past instead of what He is doing in you this month?

Look Them Up

Cross-References

  • Deuteronomy 6:6-9

    God told parents to teach His words to their children. Judges 2 shows what happened when they failed to do it.

  • Psalm 78:5-8

    A lasting family commentary on this exact cycle: 'that they might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation.'

  • 2 Corinthians 7:10

    Godly sorrow leads us to turn from sin. The people at Bochim cried, but their lives did not change.

  • Hebrews 3:12-13

    'Take heed... lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.' Daily exhortation is the answer to the cycle.

  • 1 John 1:7

    Walking in God's light brings cleansing. We do not have to build our lives around falling and being rescued again.