Judges part 2
Last week we did an overview of the book of Judges tonight we will begin a closer look of this book. Let us begin with,
Judges 1:1 Now
after the death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the
LORD, saying, "Who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites
to fight against them?" 2
And the LORD said, "
In this first chapter we
see the story begins after Joshua’s death and we see that the Children of
Israel do the right thing by asking God for instructions for what they are
suppose to do and goes as planned in the beginning as we see them being
victorious over these Canaanites as they destroy them. Now we learned in verse
6 that the children of
Now as this chapter
continues you see more battles take place and Caleb even offers up his daughter
as a prize for whoever takes one their enemies city. For the most part this
chapter shows the children of
Judges 2:1 Then
the Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: "I led you
up from
Oh what horrible message
to receive from Angle of the Lord. Now I believe that the angel of the Lord
mentioned here and many other places in the OT is none other than Jesus before
he became flesh. Notice how is talking I lead you, I swore to fathers, you
broke my covenant, you didn’t obey my voice. These are the kinds of things
deity would say and not just a mere angel. But regardless of who this messenger
is one thing is for sure God doesn’t break his covenant but if people do
through disobedience then they violate the covenant. We need to keep this mind
as Christians because when we were baptized we entered to a covenant or
agreement with God that we will serve him and live our life for him and he has
promised eternal life in heaven and he keep his word. However, we through
disobedience can choose to turn our back on God and nullify the agreement
making it to where we will not make into heaven and as we see from our text the
children of Israel’s enemies were going to be a thorn in their side and their
kings were going to become a snare to them all because they disobeyed God by
not driving out the Canaanites as they were asked to do. Now notice there response.
Judges 2:4 So it
was, when the Angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of
Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept. 5 Then they called the name of
that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the LORD.
I am sure this made them
sad and scared at the same time knowing that God would not be helping them and
that they would have to face their enemies on their own. Could you imagine how
sad and scared you would be if you had been told that you had been disobedient
to God and now he will not help you. This example should encourage us to remain
faithful to God because we all know that sin separates us from God and if we do
not repent of sin and continue in it God will not help us until we repent and
turn our life back over to him.
Now in these next verses
we go back in time a little bit to the end of Joshua’s life.
Judges 2:6 And
when Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of
Basically this telling us
that Joshua’s generation was faithful to the Lord and after he died and the
elders who died after him we find out that the new generation because very weak
and doesn’t serve God faithfully.
Judges 2:10 When all
that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose
after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for
As I said last week if we
don’t take the time to teach each new generation about God and what he has done
for us we will raise up a generation that does not know God and they will not
respect God nor hold to his truth. We are always just one generation away from
apostasy. Now notice the result of what happens to this new generation that
doesn’t know God as we continue on in,
Judges 2:11 Then
the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals;
12 and they forsook the LORD
God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they
followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all
around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to
anger. 13 They forsook the
LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
This shouldn’t surprise
us at all. They were robbed of God’s truth because it wasn’t stressed them what
God had done and why they should serve him. So without having a guide line or
someone reminding them of God no wonder they forsook God and turned to other
idols and Gods. But this did not get them off the hook because God is about to
show them that he is a Jealous God and that he wants them to serve him and not
some lifeless idols.
Judges 2:14 And the
anger of the LORD was hot against
This is so sad. We have
went from a generation that was so faithful to God and he fought for them but
now this new generation if unfaithful and now God is fighting against them.
However once again we are going to Gods love and mercy come shinning through in
these next verses.
Judges 2:16
Nevertheless, the LORD raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of
those who plundered them. 17
Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with
other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which
their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do
so. 18 And when the LORD
raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out
of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved
to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed
them. 19 And it came to pass,
when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than
their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them.
They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.
You see even the children
of
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord
is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is
longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should
come to repentance.
You see God doesn’t want
us to fail he wants us to be successful and he wants us to be with him heaven
but we have to choose to do so. As you see in the book of Judges the children
of
Proverbs 26:11 As a dog returns to his own vomit, So a fool
repeats his folly.
Now
as I said last we need to encourage people in our church to be future leaders
because without good leadership God’s church will not function as it should and
it may find itself far removed from scripture.
Judges 2:20 Then
the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and He said, "Because this
nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has
not heeded My voice, 21
"I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which
Joshua left when he died, 22
"so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways
of the LORD, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or
not." 23 Therefore the
LORD left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He
deliver them into the hand of Joshua.
Once again we see it
repeated the God would not drive out their enemies since the children of
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as
is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be
tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the
way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Now
in Judges 3:1 – 6 we learn about the
enemies that were left in that nation that would reek havoc on the children of
Judges 3:6 And they took their daughters to be their
wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods.
You might remember that
it was against the law for the children of
Judges 3:7 So the
children of
This is just the
beginning of a pattern that will occur throughout the book of Judges just as
Chapter 2 told us. They we oppressed by this king and then the Judge frees them
and they remain faithful for 40 years until the Judge died and now they go back
being unfaithful once again. This brings us to our next Judge Ehud. Lets take a
look at what happens starting in verse,
Judges 3:12 And the
children of
This was a well planned
out assassination. I want point out a few things from this story. First of all
when it says that Ehud was left handed from the Hebrew scholars say that this
probably means that his right hand was injured or crippled in some way. You can
see how Ehud gets all the kings people to leave the room. He tells the king he
has a secret to tell him and this fat king didn’t want his people to hear. So
when he says he has a message from God the king stand up and Ehud stabs him
with his knife and it get stuck in this kings body. Now Ehud makes his escape
and then he leads the children of
Now our next and final
Judge tonight is Shamgar.
Judges 3:31 31 After him was Shamgar the son
of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he
also delivered
This all we know about
this judge. He obviously had God helping him because there would is no way he
could sleighed 600 men with an ox goad on his own power. This is great example
of what Paul said in,
Romans 8:31 ...If God
is for us, who can be against us?
Well
this brings to the end of our lesson tonight and hopeful you have seen how
important it us for us to remain faithful to God and to teach the next
generation to know God and to encourage future leaders for Gods kingdom.