10:15,16
Israel replies by once again confessing their sin. They also entrust themselves to God’s judgement, if only he will rescue them from their present trouble. This reminds me of 2 Samuel 24:14 where David chooses to fall into the hands of the Lord after his sin of counting the fighting men. Israel then takes action in line with repentance. They got rid of all their idols (indicating how endemic idol worship had become) and served the Lord instead. “And He could bear Israel’s misery no longer”. Throughout the Old Testament we find two rhythms. One is God’s hatred of sin, and anger against the people who sin, the other is His love and compassion for Israel. If we want to understand the Bible, to understand God, we must give full weight to both of these. If we favour one against the other then we will go astray. It is only in the cross and resurrection that the apparent paradox is resolved. The cross is both a judgement on our sin and the source of our forgiveness.
10:17,18
So the scene is set for a battle. The Ammonites were amassed in Gilead, and the Israelites at Mizpah. Israel still had a problem.Who would lead them? We can see parallels here with the cry that there is no one, not even one who is righteous (Rom 3:10). Notice that the scene is set by portraying the moral state of the nation, and the scene is set for rescue when the people have confessed their sin, and have taken action in keeping with repentance (Matt 3:8). The same lesson applies to our own country.
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