This might be the saddest sentence in Scripture. An entire generation grows up having never experienced God's mighty works. They've heard the stories, sure, but stories aren't the same as knowing. I think about spiritual transmission and how fragile it actually is. You can't inherit faith. You can't pass along a genuine relationship with God like you pass along a house.
My college minister used to say that every generation has to meet God for themselves. He was pointing to this verse - how the children of Israel who didn't see the plagues, didn't cross the Red Sea, didn't eat manna in the wilderness, they had a gap. They had knowledge about God but not knowledge of God. And that gap led to idolatry.
I see this in churches now. We talk about discipleship and spiritual formation, but a lot of it is passive. We expect people to absorb faith through proximity or tradition. But Judges is saying that's not enough. Joshua had to intentionally lead the people into remembering what God had done. Once that generation died, there was no one who could say 'I was there when God did this.' The practices continued, but the power drained out. That's a warning about spiritual complacency.
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