The
Book of Judges covers the history of the nation of Israel from the
death of Joshua, until the time of Samuel (almost four hundred
years). During this time, there is no national leader. There was no
successor
to Joshua, and as a result the nation neglects God’s ordinances.
They begin to worship false gods and fall into a dark period of
strong influence by the neighboring tribes. Are you are surrounded
by ungodly influence? This book has a message for you. It serves as
an example to us of the result of this rebellion and compromise, but
more importantly the transforming power of sincere repentance.
During this time period: “The
Lord raised up judges who delivered them from those who plundered
them”
(2:16), hence the name of the book. We will see many personal
applications to our own imperfect spiritual lives. Interesting, the
word used for judge is “shaphat”, which means to pronounce
sentence (both for and against) to vindicate or to punish. These men
and women are not sitting behind a desk listening to arguments; they
are prophets that boldly speak God’s word. They are not elected by
the people, but appointed by God for His purpose. Perhaps God is
lifting you up for His purpose today?
The
chapter begins,
“After
the death of Joshua, the people asked the Lord, ‘Who will be first
to go up and fight against the Canaanites?’ And the Lord answered,
‘Judah is to go first.‘
The tribe of Judah invited their brothers the Simeonites to “Come
up with us”
and they fought together. Next we read, “When
Judah attacked, the Lord gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into
their hands and they killed ten thousand men at Bezek“.
And they continue their conquest together, “Judah
attacked Jerusalem and took it… fought the Canaanites in the hill
country… and defeated (them)… attacked the Canaanites living in
Zephath, and they totally destroyed the city… the Lord was with the
men of Judah“.
All is going wonderfully as God wins victory after victory, until we
read, “But
they were unable to drive out the people of the plains because they
had iron chariots“.
Their faith in God is not as big as the iron chariots they see. If
your situation LOOKS impossible, remember 2 Corinthians 4:18, “For
the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are unseen
are eternal“.
It is not HOW MUCH faith we have, but WHO our faith is in.
From
this point on in the chapter, every tribe leaves the job undone.
They only partially follow God’s command. “But
Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan… for the
Canaanites were determined to live in the land… they pressed the
Canaanites into forced labor, but never drove them out completely…
Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites…nor did Asher… Neither
did Naphtali…”
We even read, “The
Amorites forced the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to
come down to the plains“.
These tribes have fallen far short of God’s command to wipe out
the inhabitants completely. Slowly and imperceptibly they begin to
settle for less and less of God’s best. Any time we compromise and
let just a little sin into our lives, other parts of our lives are
ultimately affected. This is why we seek to know God’s unchanging
truth from Holy Scripture. “All
scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man
of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”
(2 Tim 3:17).