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Judges Chapter 1
The Continuing Conquest of Canaan
- Judges 1:1 Now after the death of
Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD,
saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to
fight against them?
- 2 And the LORD said, Judah shall go
up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.
How God spoke to them is not stated here.
Some bible theologians say it was by Urim and Thummim which has
something to do with the breastplate the priests wore. God was able
to speak directly to some like in the case of Moses so who knows
maybe He spoke some other way. Today He speaks to us by His Holy
Spirit and the written word. To those that have receive His Holy
Spirit after coming to Jesus for salvation, we have the witness of
the Holy Spirit to rely on. Sometimes it is not instant and we have
to wait for answers but there are times when the answer comes
immediately especially in emergency situations. We do have to
discern between the our own imaginations and whether it is the Holy
Spirit. There is a difference.
God chose Judah in this case but also
Judah is the line from which God chose to bring His own Son to us.
That was the awesome time that God became a man and lived among us,
grow up and then die for our sins so that those who believe in Him
and renounce sin, can receive salvation and inherit eternal life. Jesus
didn't sin but kept the law in all points so when He died
physically, it was a death He didn't deserve. So it can count for
all who believe in Him. Our sins was paid for. The wages of sin is
death. He was raised from the dead physically so that we who believe
will also have a resurrection.
The name of Judah means praise. Judah
was the one who repented first when Joseph was sold into Egypt. He
was willing to give himself as a prisoner instead of Benjamin out of
fear that if Benjamin didn't go back with them to their father
Jacob, it would have killed Jacob since Benjamin was the brother of
Jospeh who Jacob thought was dead. That whole story is in the book
of Genesis.
- Judges 1:3 And Judah said unto
Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight
against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy
lot. So Simeon went with him.
- 4 And Judah went up; and
the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their
hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.
- 5 And they found
Adonibezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew
the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
- 6 But Adonibezek fled; and
they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs
and his great toes.
- 7 And Adonibezek said,
Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great
toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have
done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to
Jerusalem, and there he died.
This sounds absolutely horrible but we do see
that it is a case of reaping what one sows. He did it to others so
it was done to him.
- Judges 1:8 Now the
children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken
it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city
on fire.
- 9 And afterward the
children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites,
that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the
valley.
- 10 And Judah went against
the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron
before was Kirjatharba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and
Talmai.
- 11 And from thence he went
against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before
was Kirjathsepher:
We must remember in reading these passages,
that God brings down kingdoms that do evil without repenting. The
cities in the land of Canaan were very wicked. Sacrificing live
children to idols is only one. These were not innocent people. This
is why the land was promised to the decendents of Abraham, then
Isaac, then Jacob whose named was later changed to Israel. Abraham
was not allowed to take this land in his lifetime, neither was Isaac
or Jacob. The reason being that God gave the Canaanites space to
repent. Over 400 years passed before Joshua was given authority by
God to go in and conquer the land of Canaan. Ninevah at one time
repented when Jonah was sent to warn against God's judgment for
their wickedness. God reversed the judgment and they were spared.
However they later returned to their old ways and they were judged
at a later time. No one that does evil will escape judgment if they
fail to repent.
That is why God sent Jesus to be born of a
human woman and become a natural man. Man brought sin into the world
and a man who didn't break the law of God in any point had to suffer
death that He didn't deserve because He never once sinned. God had
become a human person in order to die in the place of those that
believed and received His gift of salvation. Our bodies still die
but our souls live eternally with God. Jesus was raised from the
dead ushering in the way for all who believe in Him to also be
raised from the dead.
Our souls do not die. Our souls live forever
either in hell or in Heaven with God. Our old bodies will change and
we never die again. This is a gift given to those that believe. It
is free to all to receive. In the Old Testament times God required
repentance and after Jesus came repentance is also required for true
salvation. No one will get by with sin that we have not repented of.
Repent means to stop sinning, turn around and start walking with our
Lord.
The people of Canaan had the witness of
Abraham, Isaac and others. God waited until the time that they had
no excuse for their sin before allowing Israel to wipe them out.
- Judges 1:12 And Caleb
said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will
I give Achsah my daughter to wife.
- 13 And Othniel the son of
Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah
his daughter to wife.
This is something they did back then
that is still in some cultures today but we in the United States
would think it very strange to not have a say in who we are to
marry. They could marry cousins back then but now it is not
advisable because geneic genes too close in kinship could cause
inherited mental illness or disease.
- Judges 1:14 And it came to
pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her
father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said
unto her, What wilt thou?
- 15 And she said unto him,
Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me
also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and
the nether springs.
It doesn't seem as if she is worried about
her marriage though and she desired to have a land inheritance.
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Judges 1:16 And the children of
the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city of
palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of
Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt
among the people.
That city of palm trees was Jericho
according to Deuteronomy 34:3
- Deuteronomy 34:1 And Moses
went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to
the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD
shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan,
- 2 And all Naphtali, and the
land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto
the utmost sea,
- 3 And the south, and the
plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto
Zoar.
God revealed to Moses before he died, that
what he labored for was finally coming to pass.
- Judges 1:17 And Judah went
with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that
inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the
city was called Hormah.
18 Also Judah took
Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof,
and Ekron with the coast thereof.
19 And the LORD was
with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain;
but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because
they had chariots of iron.
Judah was helping Simeon in their
conquests just like Simeon first helped Judah. We know from modern
times that Gaza and Askelon still exists.
They could have driven them out but
feared because of the chariots of iron. Here we see many of the
tribes start to fail in what they were commanded of God to do.
Perhaps they were just tired and wanted to give up.
- Judges 1:20 And they gave
Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the
three sons of Anak.
- 21 And the children of
Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited
Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin
in Jerusalem unto this day.
- 22 And the house of
Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with
them. This also caused trouble later on.
The children of
Caleb seemed to be stronger in faith. The house of Joseph was Ephraim and Manasseh
who prevailed against Bethel.
- Judges 1:23 And the house
of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city
before was Luz.)
- 24 And the spies saw a man
come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we
pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee
mercy.
- 25 And when he shewed them
the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of
the sword; but they let go the man and all his family.
Here is someone who out of fear showed
them the way into the city causing the city to be destroy but this
man and his family were spared.
Failure to Complete the Conquest
- Judges 1:27 Neither did
Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns,
nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her
towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the
inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would
dwell in that land.
- 28 And it came to pass,
when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute,
and did not utterly drive them out.
Notice God didn't give any commandments
for them not to drive out the inhabitants and put them to tribute.
- Judges 1:29 Neither did
Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the
Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.
- 30 Neither did Zebulun
drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of
Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became
tributaries.
- 31 Neither did Asher drive
out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor
of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of
Rehob:
- 32 But the Asherites dwelt
among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did
not drive them out.
- 33 Neither did Naphtali
drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of
Bethanath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of
the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of
Bethanath became tributaries unto them.
It would seem like when one tribe
decided to stop driving out the inhabitants, the others follow suit.
- Judges 1:34 And the
Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they
would not suffer them to come down to the valley:
- 35 But the Amorites would
dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand
of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became
tributaries.
- 36 And the coast of the
Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and
upward.
In Judges chapter 2, we will see that
the Lord was displeased with these events. DC
Judges Chapter 2
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