Our passage ends on a cliffhanger. Tola and Jair provide 45 years of stability, but then the Israelites engage in evil and idolatry again. In fact, they apparently engage in such atrocities that God says, “I will save you no more,” even in the midst of their repentance. But the people cry out even more and put away the foreign god’s they had been worshipping. God, seeing the depth of their repentance, is moved. Perhaps He was testing them. If so, they passed (this time)!
Thought for the day: God doesn’t respond to transactional worship. He won’t do what we want just because we give, pray, or study. However, He can be moved by our heartfelt repentance, worship, and service.
Matthew 6:5-6 (WEB) “When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
