JUDGES 1:1-3:31 The story is told of a missionary home on furlough from Africa. Someone asked him this question: What do you do when you can t take the superstition, the ungodliness, the violence, the bloodshed and the immorality any longer? The missionary s reply was: Oh, that s simple, I just get on the plane and go back to Africa. We can relate to that, can t we? We turn on the news in the morning or in the evening and all we see and hear about is violence and bloodshed and immorality and all sorts of ungodliness. I ve said and you probably have, too, that there has never been a time when we were so saturated and inundated with this kind of behavior when God s people were so overwhelmed by such a flood of ungodliness on every hand. It s almost like a tidal wave that threatens to carry everything away and leave only destruction in its wake. But, is it really unprecedented? Has anything like this ever happened before? Has sin so pervaded a nation before? Well, a long, long time ago there was a nation that very much paralleled ours as far as the sin that abounded. We find in the Book of Judges a description of a time of moral, spiritual and ethical anarchy a society without standards and whose lifestyle is captured in a phrase that is found several times In those days, there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The Book of Judges is a book that speaks to our time. It presents us with living examples of people who served God in such a time and survived and even grew spiritually. And at the same time, it presents us with living examples of people who did not survive the wave of sin that surrounded them! God is allowing you and me to live in a very dangerous time. But, it s also an exciting time to serve the Lord. Can Christians maintain their Christian witness and walk in such times as these? YES!! And I believe we re going to learn from the Book of Judges what will keep us from maintaining our Christian walk and also what we must do to walk uprightly before the Lord. I don t believe the Scriptures declare to us any more emphatically or dramatically what happens when God s people draw back from a wholehearted commitment to Him. Now, having said all that let s set forth a few facts about this book Page 1 of 7
The Book of Judges is a very interesting book. I recommend that you read the entire book this week. There aren t but 21 chapters you can read four or five chapters a night. Remember we re going to breeze through this book at a rapid pace and I hate for you to miss any of it. I remember the time I took the Book of Judges in Precept some 15 or so years ago. I remember reading through it and thinking My, this is a depressing little book. But, don t do that!! Read it, knowing that our Heavenly Father has given it to us for our teaching and our reproof and our correction and our training in righteousness! The judges for which this book is named were rulers they were leaders who led Israel after the death of Joshua. Their duties fell under three general headings: 1) military leadership 2) civil administration 3) making decisions about cases at court. These people were raised up by God to deliver His people from oppression and to administer justice. The word judge as used in this book carries with it the idea to defend to deliver. Also, we need to understand that these judges jurisdiction was not always over the entire nation but portions of nations. Sometimes these judgeships overlapped. They would be serving at the same time over different area. All the judges who served Israel aren t mentioned in the Book of Judges. Over in 1 Samuel, we see that Eli and Samuel were also judges of Israel. We ll also see next week, that there was one female judge Deborah. All this is by way of introduction but it s extremely important for us to know the historical setting of this book. The Book of Judges is actually a sequel to the Book of Joshua but it is a very sad sequel!! In the Book of Joshua, the people of Israel obeyed and trusted God. In the Book of Judges, the people distrusted and disobeyed God. The Book of Joshua is a book of faith. The Book of Judges is a book of unbelief. The Book of Joshua portrays a people united in following God. The Book of Judges portrays a people divided by their disobedience. The Book of Joshua tells us the people came into the land and by tribes claimed the territory God had given them. The Book of Joshua ends with the death of Joshua and tells of his burial. Look back with me at Joshua 24:31 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the LORD which He had done for Israel. We ll come back to that in just a moment just hold that thought! The Book of Judges opens with a question and it was perhaps taken from Joshua last address to his people. Page 2 of 7
Chapter 1:1 Now, we need to remember that although Joshua did what God had called him to do, Joshua died before the occupation of the land could take place. One Jewish commentator says that Joshua and his armies fought wars they fought battles but they always returned back to their camp. There s a big difference in fighting a battle and occupying a land. The occupation of the land began in Joshua s time, but it continued after his death and that s what we see in Judges 1. Exodus 23:27-30 In our minds, or at least in my mind I think Okay, they re in the land and God said He would give their enemies into their hands all they have to do is run these people off and live in the land. But, things are never that simple, are they? They were to take the land little by little. See, the occupation would be a gradual process. It would take longer than a year to complete. But because they took it little by little, the land would not be devastated because of warfare. And may I say to you that God enables us to defeat our enemies little by little. I mean how many of you got rid of all of your sins and all of your bad habits the moment you got saved? Well, some of you did, I guess! But, most of us had to little by little allow God to drive them out, didn t we? Judges 1 gives us a summary of the cities the children of Israel occupied. But, I want us to notice some very significant verses as we glance down through chapter 1 Verses 21; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 33. Do you see what s happening? They re beginning to become complacent. They re beginning to lack the ambition and the drive and the fortitude and the determination to follow God s plan and let me tell you, Beloved that s where all disobedience begins! Willful disobedience rarely happens quickly or overnight! It usually happens when our determination to obey God has weakened, and we have become complacent. So, I believe you and I should take this as a warning this morning that if we detect in ourselves a lack of commitment and determination to follow the Lord Jesus, we need to repent we need to go back to the Cross and make sure our commitment is steadfast and sure and certain! Chapter 2:1-5 The Lord reminded the people that He had redeemed them out of Egypt and had established with their fathers a covenant. Which covenant was this, by the way? It was the Abrahamic Covenant and it was an unconditional and an everlasting covenant. It was given to Abraham and his descendants and God said in that covenant that the land would always be theirs. Later God amplified it and gave two requirements that they would need to meet in order for them to STAY on the land He had given to them 1) that they make no treaty or covenant with the Canaanites 2) that they avoid the idolatry in the land of Canaan But, what does God say in verse 2? Page 3 of 7
But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? Why had they not obeyed God? I believe the answer is very simple they didn t want to! Something in God s people wanted what they saw in the land of Canaan. They liked what they saw their human nature responded to the heathen worship they had seen. One commentator I read this week said: The prospect of involvement with male and female prostitutes made their blood tingle with excitement. That was a totally new way of life and all that was in them cried out for this culture. Verses 4 and 5 tell us the people lifted up their voices and wept and sacrificed to the LORD. But we know from what follows that their tears were more signs of their regret than tears of sorrow of their repentance. We ve all wept over our sin, haven t we? Let me just say this repentance must go beyond tears of regret and turn to tears of true sorrow and cause us to make a U turn and begin traveling in the opposite direction. True repentance means changing from disobedience to obedience. And, this the children of Israel were obviously not willing to do. Verses 6-10 seem to be a review of Joshua and the elders a transition from the old generation to the new generation. Verse 10 repeats what we saw in Joshua 24. When God s Word repeats something it s for a purpose Beloved, a new generation had come on the scene a generation who cared nothing for the things of God. We ve said this before we re only one generation away from paganism. One generation removed from following the Lord. One generation removed from calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. One generation removed from being led by the Holy Spirit. One generation removed from including our Heavenly Father in all decisions. If our generation and our children s generation don t teach the next generation, who will? And the flip side of that is that our children and our grandchildren will look at our lives and if they see compromise and complacency when it comes to following the Lord Jesus, what are the chances that they will do otherwise? We must be sure that we are about our Father s business and that our children and grandchildren see it! Verses 11-18 These verses summarize for us the entire history of the period of the Judges 1) Sin Rebellion Apostasy 2) Servitude Retribution Chastisement 3) Supplication Repentance Prayer 4) Salvation Restoration Deliverance 5) Silence Rest Period of Peace Now, if this happened once or twice, we would not think much about it but, it happened over and over and over again, didn t it? Page 4 of 7
Verses 19-23 Well, after God s grace was shed upon them time and time and again, He finally said Okay, if you don t do your part I won t do Mine. See, as we said a few minutes ago, the Abrahamic Covenant was an unconditional covenant, the land would always theirs! but God gave them a choice They could drive out the enemy with God s help OR they could compromise and allow the enemy to stay. Since they chose to compromise, they one day would be exiled from the land, but the land would still be theirs!! Did you notice that God said these nations would be a test for the sons of Israel! What was the test? Was it a written exam on the culture of the nations around them? Was it a physical test was God interested in giving Israel some kind of technical training in military strategy? No! Remember when we mentioned a couple of weeks ago that there was no single great leader chosen to replace Joshua when he died? Well, the reason for that is that God desired to be the people s leader. God was going to test them to see if they would fully follow Him or if they would look at the nations around them and follow their gods. God desired a people who knew how to trust Him and would trust Him! God wanted His people to know that their victory would not come from military strategy their fathers had certainly seen that at Jericho they had surely heard about the miracle God wrought at Jericho! Their victory would not come from man s courage or wisdom or skill it would come from obedience to a faithful and by His mighty hand they would have success. (I watched a tremendous documentary on the History Channel Wednesday. It told of the Jewish Brigade. This was a brigade of all Jewish soldiers in WWII. It told of their efforts during the war and then after the war ended how they helped to save thousands of Jewish refugees who had no home to go back to. It was a great documentary. If you ever get the chance you need to watch it. But, what I wanted to say about this is that they interviewed many of the survivors of that brigade. And only one of these men gave God any credit for how they were able to do all that they did for the Jewish people.) And of course, this is still true today. If you go to Israel today and ask a Jew how they were able to overcome tremendous odds to obtain their land back after 2000 years, and then how they have been able to stay there, surrounded by enemies, they will stick out their chests and claim it is because of their strength and ingenuity. There s very little difference in the Jew of the time of the judges and the Jew of the time of WWII and the Jew of today, is there? And there s very little difference in them and you and me, either! Well, Chapter 3 goes on the give us the beginning of the cycle we mentioned before. This was a cycle that was Page 5 of 7
really a downward spiral in Jewish history. If we looked at this chapter, we would see that Israel sinned, then were captured by their enemies, then cried out to God, were delivered and then sinned again!! Chapter 3 also gives us the names of the first three judges Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar. Well, that s a basic introduction to the Book of Judges. But before we leave this morning, I want to ask you a few questions Are there enemies still in your land? If there are, have you ever wondered why God didn t take away all your enemies when you came to Him? Have you ever wondered why you still have a problem with some sin in your life? Well, at least part of the answer to those questions is found in 3:2 that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war The Lord uses those difficulties to teach us how to wage war. He wants to shake us out of our apathy and complacency and He wants to teach us to trust Him in the midst of our struggles. I don t know about you, but often it is only when the enemy has run all over me and really done a number on me and all my own strength and resources are gone that I have a teachable spirit. These are times when the roof caves in and the floor gives way in my life. Those times of failure and difficulty and crises become teaching times as the Lord shows me how to make war and the way He desires me to make war is to simply trust Him and obey Him. I believe the application for you and me in today s lesson is clear We cannot stand still in our walk with the Lord. We cannot settle down in this world and be at home with the heathens!! Look at 3:5-6. There are enemies to be faced and there are battles to be fought and there is ground to be gained! If we stand still, we can be certain that the enemy won t!! He will come against us in all the areas he can and we will lose the battle! Also, we must understand that sin is a very serious matter to the children of God. The Jews sinned, were taken captive, called out to God and over and over He delivered them. That s God s grace, Beloved but there were always consequences! There is no compromise, no peaceful coexistence with sin and if we try to compromise or go partway or are partially obedient in our commitment to the Lord Jesus, we will find ourselves in the same downward spiral these folks did. Page 6 of 7
Well, let me end with this illustration An old man was traveling on an ocean liner, when a huge storm blew up without warning. One woman lost her balance and fell overboard. People stood frozen with horror. Suddenly, a man plunged into the waves, grabbed her, and held her until a rescue boat came. When they were pulled out, everyone was astonished and embarrassed to discover that the hero was the oldest man on the boat a man in his eighties. That evening they held a party to honor him. When they called on him to make a speech, the old man rose slowly. He looked around at the people, then said, I would like to know just one thing. Who pushed me? Sometimes that is the only way we start moving. The Lord will keep pushing us out of our complacency, out of our half-hearted commitment to Him. Sometimes He uses you to push me and sometimes He uses me to push you. So, I want you to ponder this question this week Am I moving in my walk with the Lord, or do I need a push? Page 7 of 7