Apathy. What is especially striking about this cycle is the incredible apathy of the Israelites toward both spiritual matters and the oppression in general. It is hard to understand how a people who have experienced God’s grace and tasted the good gifts he gives can be so unresponsive, dull, and indifferent about their spiritual lives. For example, the fact that Manoah’s wife needs to be reminded about the law concerning the eating of unclean things suggests that this law is not being observed in the manner Yahweh intended. The Israelites seem to have a total lack of interest in the things of
...more
