September 4, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Psalm 90:1-93:5; 1 Corinthians 2:6-3:10

Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

I am switching to Judges this morning because of the online education that I have started.  It is going to take a while for me to learn to balance the student work with the Bible study, and in the meantime, I thought it might be smart to study some books that require more of an overview than an intense study.  I am not sure how I will be focusing on the books; it may be verse by verse in some cases, or simply a few observations at the end of the chapter.  I promise that I will make every attempt to keep the studies short and manageable.  If at any time you have any comments, please write in, I love to hear your comments. 

Judges 1:1-10

1     Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”

     2     The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.”

     3     Then Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into the territory allotted me, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I in turn will go with you into the territory allotted you.” So Simeon went with him.

     4     Judah went up, and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek.

     5     They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

     6     But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

     7     Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me.” So they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there.

     8     Then the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.

     9     Afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country and in the Negev and in the lowland.

     10     So Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba); and they struck Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai. NASB95^[1]

To begin with, let's discuss the leadership of Israel for a moment.  God led Israel out of Egypt, at that point it was a people led by God.  If they screwed up, God would judge them almost instantly.  During the forty years in the wilderness we have recorded accounts of their blunders and of God executing judgment on them.  What we do not have is a lack of recorded times where Israel was walking and having fellowship with the Lord on a daily basis.  The assumption is that Israel went from one trial to the next without really understanding that they were intended to have a personal relationship with God.

Consider Moses and Joshua, neither of these men were great kings, they were prophets.  God placed His word in their lives, and they acted upon the knowledge that God gave them.  In that way God used them as leaders or as ambassadors through whom He worked.  The authority that they had was directly proportional to the relationship that they had with God.  

I can't really say why God saw it important to wean Israel away from the relationship that He had with them, unless it was simply because Israel did not really want a close relationship with God.  Consider for a moment what it is like when you have a relationship with a friend and all he does is take from you.  Nothing is ever returned, the love and companionship is forced because if you don't make contact, the contact won't be made.  Friends like that are very hard to have because they are like emotional leaches who want to suck you dry and give nothing in return.  In a very real way that was the relationship between God and Israel.  They couldn't suck Him dry, but they took from God and returned their love to idols and other gods.  In other words, their lives were not consistent with the relationship that God desired to have with them.  I think that part of the reason that God allowed them to have control in their own lives is similar to how you treat a leaching friend, God drew back.  If they wanted to follow Him, then it must be according to their desires. 

In this book, we will see a transition from the people being led by prophets to judges, who were military and civil leaders.  I don't really understand the ramifications of this change; I hope that we can pick that up as we study the book.   I recorded a few of my thoughts in the previous paragraph, I'd be interested in hearing why you think that God changed his policy with Israel, or if you think that no change was ever made at all. 

In today's text, Joshua has died, and Israel is left without a leader. (This can be a little confusing because it is addressed again in Judges 2:6.) Notice that they did not seek out a prophet, but had learned enough from the prophets to seek the Lord themselves.  They followed the words of God and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites in an incredible victory.

I found the king to have his thumbs and big toes cut off to be interesting.  God used the same judgment on him that he had used on the kings he had conquered.  He was incredibly heartless making the men eat like dogs under his table.  Imagine what it was like when he faced God.  The Bible Knowledge Commentary indicates that the reason for this act was that the person would no longer to be able to effectively wield a sword, and no longer would effectively fight in battle because they were on unstable footing.

Genesis 29:33-35

33     Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.

     34     She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi.

     35     And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

Joshua 15:63

63     Now as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out; so the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem until this day. NASB95^[2]

Isn't it interesting that God used the un-favored son from the un-favored wife to lead His people?  Jacob did not love Leah, and he made her life quite miserable.  Not only that, Simeon was also one of Leah's sons, so the two sons of the un-favored wife became the leaders.

Concerning Jerusalem, this does not record utter defeat of Jerusalem, but it does record Israel bringing the city under their control. 

I was way to wordy today, partly because of the introduction to a new book.  If you have remarks please feel free to send them in.

Father, as we start Judges, give each of us insights into this book, and how that we can learn from the lessons written here.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

September 5, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Psalm 94:1-98:9; 1 Corinthians 3:11-4:6

Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

Judges 1:11-36

11     Then from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir (now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher).

     12     And Caleb said, “The one who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will even give him my daughter Achsah for a wife.”

     13     Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah for a wife.

     14     Then it came about when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. Then she alighted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?”

     15     She said to him, “Give me a blessing, since you have given me the land of the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

     16     The descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the city of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.

     17     Then Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites living in Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called Hormah.

     18     And Judah took Gaza with its territory and Ashkelon with its territory and Ekron with its territory.

     19     Now the Lord was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots.

     20     Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had promised; and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak.

     21     But the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

     22     Likewise the house of Joseph went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them.

     23     The house of Joseph spied out Bethel (now the name of the city was formerly Luz).

     24     The spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city and we will treat you kindly.”

     25     So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go free.

     26     The man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and named it Luz which is its name to this day.

Places Not Conquered

     27     But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land.

     28     It came about when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.

     29     Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

     30     Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.

     31     Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob.

     32     So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

     33     Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.

     34     Then the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley;

     35     yet the Amorites persisted in living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim; but when the power of the house of Joseph grew strong, they became forced labor.

     36     The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward. NASB95^[1]

There are two things that I see going on in these verses.  First, Caleb offered his daughter's hand in marriage to the one who captured Kiriath-sepher.  In that day, in order for a person to get the bride, they had to offer a dowry to the parents, this was wavered because the capture of the city took its place.  Her request was similar to the dowry request, she was asking for a wedding gift of the springs of water.

Note that in verse 17 the inhabitants of the land were utterly destroyed.  This was the standard that God had placed on the people for conquering the Promised land.  The important thing in these verses is that you can see that this was not repeated through the rest of the conquest.  The text points out that not only were the inhabitants of the land not totally defeated, but they were also allowed to continue to exist in the land, and in verse 35, they were used as forced labor.  The tragedy of these verses is that they did not carry through with what God had commanded them.  Instead of utterly defeating the inhabitants of the land, they hewed out a place among the inhabitants to exist. 

Hurricane Katrina:  I am going to stop the study here, and am a bit tweaked by what I am hearing from Christian people concerning the disastrous flood in New Orleans.  What I am hearing is that God has placed judgment on that city because of the blatant sin that it has been involved in.  Here is a hyperlink that gives the gist of this thought. Link to press release: http://www.repentamerica.com/pr_hurricanekatrina.html  I was discussing that with a few of our members and since the disaster was being compare to the great flood, and to Sodom and Gomorrah, I thought a few verses along that line might be appropriate. 

Ezekiel 16:49-50

49     “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.

     50     “Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.

Jeremiah 23:13-14

13     “Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing:

They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

     14     “Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:

The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood;

And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,

So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.

All of them have become to Me like Sodom,

And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

Isaiah 3:9

9     The expression of their faces bears witness against them,

And they display their sin like Sodom;

They do not even conceal it.

Woe to them!

For they have brought evil on themselves.

Luke 17:26-29

26     “And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:

     27     they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

     28     “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building;

     29     but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

Jude 7-8

7     just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

8         Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.  NASB95^[2]

I believe that it is fine to draw parallels if we keep it in scriptural perspective.  Look at the reasons that God judged Sodom and Gomorrah according to the Bible.  It wasn’t just because of homosexual sin, it was because they were arrogant, lived in abundant ease, committed sin before God and refused to repent of their sin.  They no longer acknowledged God as God, falsehood became rule, and people began to revel in their sinful lives.  In effect, the sin that they committed was no longer viewed as sin, it was on open display for everyone to look at. 

A strong parallel can be drawn between that and the “Southern Decadence” festival, Mardi gras, and other activities.  Before we point fingers at the unfortunate people of New Orleans, we need to first make sure that we understand that all of our communities all across the states are condoning sin in similar ways.  The exception is that we do not allow similar sins to be publicly displayed in our city streets.  This is not at time to point fingers at the disaster, but rather a time to rally together with churches, and practice God’s love by finding ways to help. 

Father, as we consider the way that You work, and Your command to us to carry out Your will in our lives, open the doors so that we can rightly speak Your word, and not agitate people by making light of the disaster.  Open doors so that we can speak your word, pray effectively, and lead others to a deeper understanding of Your Word.

In Him,

Joe Turner.