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Judges Chapter 3
- Judges 3:1 Now these
are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them,
even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
- 2 Only that the
generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them
war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;
- 3 Namely, five lords
of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians,
and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount
Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.
- 4 And they were to
prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto
the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers
by the hand of Moses.
- 5 And the children
of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites,
and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:
- 6 And they took
their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to
their sons, and served their gods.
This is in direct violation of God's
commandments:
- Exodus 34:11
Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive
out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite,
and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
- 12 Take heed to
thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the
land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of
thee:
- 13 But ye shall
destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their
groves:
- 14 For thou
shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous,
is a jealous God:
- 15 Lest thou
make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a
whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and
one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
- 16 And thou take
of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a
whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after
their gods.
God was not a racist since He was the one to
create all ethnic groups. He loves all of them. It was the false
gods and idolatry that causes the evil. Evil satanic spirits
accompany every single false religion, idol and any other thing that
is worshipped instead of the real God. In turn that leads to
violence, hatred, persecution, torture, sacrificing children to
those idols, murder, witchcraft and many other abominations that
kill, steal and destroy the souls that get involved in it. That is
why they were not to intermarry.
We see though that through God's mercy there
is always exceptions made. Ruth was from Moab which was a nation
that was decended from Lot, Abraham's nephew. The Moabites forsook
the real God and worshipped Baal and other false gods. Ruth's husband was
from Israel but she rejected her own nation's god and chose to
follow her mother in law Naomi back to Israel and serve the God of
Israel. There was also the harlot Rahab that believed that God was
with Israel even though she was an inhabitant of Jericho, a city
that was cursed of God for their sin. Rahab escaped the destrucion
of Jericho when she helped the
spies from Israel to escape being captured. God is out to save rather
than destroy which is why He makes commandments but He still opens
the door to those that want to believe in Him even if they were not
part of Israel. God used both Rahab and Ruth to be the lineage from
whom Jesus Christ came into the world many generations later.
- Deuteronomy 7:6 For
thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God
hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth.
- 7 The LORD did not
set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in
number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
- 8 But because the
LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had
sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a
mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from
the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
- 9 Know therefore
that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which
keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his
commandments to a thousand generations;
God chose Israel. A tiny nation to be His
chosen people. Through Israel, He chose Judah to be the line from
which God would send His own Son to become human flesh and redeem
the lost back to Him (God). We know Him now as Jesus (Yeshua in
Hebrew), the very Son of God. This Son was to bring us into eternal
life and all even the Gentiles or non Jews who believe in Jesus that
receive Him into their lives can receive this inhertance and escape
God's judgment. God's judgment will eventually have to destroy all
that rebel and prefer to sin, harm and do evil. God is a just God
but true religion is one of faith in Him. We can never force this on
anyone. God doesn't want puppets. He wants those that willingly turn
from sin and turn to Him for salvation.
Man brought sin into the world and a man that
never sinned in any point had to undo what Adam did. The second
Adam, Jesus, allowed Himself to be crucified and killed for sins that
He never committed so that His death can count for all who believe
and receive this new and living way.
Othniel
- Judges 3:7 And the
children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat
the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
- 8 Therefore the
anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into
the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the
children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
Bondage to the very things we seek
after, mimic or copy is what happens when we get away from our first
love for our Lord. In this case they had to serve 8 years under the
rule of Chushanrishathaim. This happened because they forsook the
Lord and served Baalim instead.
Groves were places for worshipping idol
gods. So we see that what God warned about in the previous
generation is coming to pass. They inhabitants that were supposed to
be driven out are becoming a thorn in their side.
-
Judges 3:9 And when the
children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a
deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even
Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
Like many of us, they finally remember
the Lord when they get into trouble. They cried to the Lord and God
raised up Othniel the son of Caleb's brother.
- Judges 3:10 And the
Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went
out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of
Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against
Chushanrishathaim.
- 11 And the land had
rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
We can learn a lot from this little book of
Judges. We see first how easy it is to get sidetracked and lose our
first love for the Lord, how disobedience of the previous generation
caused the next generation to not be watchful and obedient
themselves, we see that God has to send judgment, we see that God
has mercy when they cry out to Him and we see God raise up a
deliverer. In all this though, we see that the deliverer has no power
in himself but has to be full of God's Holy Spirit.
Ehud
They rested from trouble for 40 years until
Othniel died. Shows us that good leadership is important but we all
need to seek God for ourselves at the same time because the very
same thing happens again. They do evil. This time the years of
bondage increases from 8 years to 18.
- Judges 3:13 And he gathered unto
him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and
possessed the city of palm trees.
- 14 So the children of Israel served
Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
- 15 But when the children of Israel
cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the
son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children
of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.
- 16 But Ehud made him a dagger which
had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his
raiment upon his right thigh.
- 17 And he brought the present unto
Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.
- 18 And when he had made an end to
offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.
- 19 But he himself turned again from
the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand
unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him
went out from him.
- 20 And Ehud came unto him; and he
was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And
Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of
his seat.
- 21 And Ehud put forth his left hand,
and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his
belly:
- 22 And the haft also went in after
the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not
draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.
- 23 Then Ehud went forth through the
porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.
- 24 When he was gone out, his
servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the
parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his
summer chamber.
- 25 And they tarried till they were
ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour;
therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord
was fallen down dead on the earth.
- 26 And Ehud escaped while they
tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.
- 27 And it came to pass, when he was
come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the
children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before
them.
- 28 And he said unto them, Follow
after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into
your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of
Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over.
- 29 And they slew of Moab at that
time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and
there escaped not a man.
- 30 So Moab was subdued that day
under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.
This time they had rest for 80 years. They
cried to the Lord and God raised up Ehud, a Benjamite who was left
handed. Ehud was very sneaky and plotted to kill the leader before
raising up an army against him. When he escaped from those that
tarried and didn't check on their leader when the doors were locked,
he then raised up an army after God assured him that He would
deliver the enemies into their hand. He blew a trumpet and they went
forth to victory. Rest from evil returned for 80 years. But alas,
they never learn but forgot God again.
Shamgar
This deliverer either came at the same time
or after the death of Ehud but he slew 600 with an ox goad. This was
a pole 8 feet long that had a sharp end to prick the oxen when they
slowed down too much.
In the next chapter of Judges, we will see
how God used women. A woman named Deborah. DC
Judges Chaper 4
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