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| JUDGES AND DISOBEDIENCE |
| (REVIEW) Joshua replaced Moses in leadership for the Israelites. Joshua displayed brilliant military strategy in the way he went about conquering the land of Canaan. He first captured the well-fortified Jericho to gain a foothold in Canaan and to demonstrate the awesome might of the God of Israel. Then he gained the hill country around Bethel and Gibeon. From there he subdued towns in the lowlands.. Then his army conquered important cities in the north, such as Hazor. In all, Israel conquered land both east and west of the Jordan River, from Mount Hermon in the north to beyond the Negev to Mount Halak in the south. Thirty one kings and their cities had been defeated. The Israelites had overpowered the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Other peoples living in Canaan were yet to be conquered. Joshua told the Israelites to throw away their foreign gods, or idols, to follow God requires destroying whatever gets in the way of worshiping him. ( Today people have their own form of idols -- greed, wrong priorites, jealousies, prejudices--that get in the way of worshiping God. God is not satisfied if we merely hide these idols. We must completely remove them from our lives.) The covenant between Israel and God was that the people would worship and obey, the Lord alone. Their purpose was to become a holy nation that would influence the rest of the world for God. The conquest of Canaan was a means to acheive this purpose, but Israel became preoccupied with the land and lost sight of the Lord God. The Book of Joshua opens with a new leader being handed a seemingly impossible task--to lead the nation in taking over the land of Canaan. By following God closely, Joshua led the people through military victories and faithful spiritual obedience. The people were sure they would never disobey God, and contributed this to the many years they were led by Joshua, because his leadership was a tribute to the God he served faithfully. At the end of the Book of Joshua, we learn that he dies, along with Eleazar, but not before laying before the people the fundamentals of what it means to have faith in God. The lesson that would apply to our lives today is to trust and have faith in God and at the same time have the fear of God in you and to serve Him and Him alone. By choosing God as Lord, we enter into a covenant with him, whereby he promises not only to forgive and love us, but also to enable us by His Spirit to do His work here on earth. This covenant requires us to renounce the principles and practices of the culture around us that are hostile to God's plan. This is not to be done alone, but by binding ourselves together with others who have faith in God. |
| JUDGES AND DISOBEDIENCE |
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| The book of Judges was possibly written by Samuel. It's purpose was to show that God's judgment against sin is certain, and his forgiveness of sin and restoration to relationship are just as certain for those who repent. During this time in the land of Canaan, later called Israel. God had helped the Israelites conquer Canaan which had been inhabited by a host of wicked nations. But they were in danger of losing this Promised Land because they compromised their convictions, and disobeyed God Judges 17:6 ~ In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. *~*~*~* This book's main feature is that it records Israel's first civil war. The key people are Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Abimelech, Jephthah, Samson and Deliah. The book breaks up into three themes: 1. THE MILITARY FAILURE OF ISRAEL 2. THE RESCUE OF ISRAEL BY THE JUDGES 3. THE MORAL FAILURE OF ISRAEL The tribes had compromised God's command to drive out the inhabitants of the land. Incomplete removal of evil often means disaster in the end. Repeatedly we see the nation of Israel sinning against God and God allowing suffering to come upon the land and the people. Sin always has its consequences. Despite the efforts of Israel's judges, the people still would not turn wholeheartedly to God. They all did whatever they thought was best for themselves. The result was the spiritual, moral, and political decline of the nation. We must be aware of compromising with wickedness. Rather than living in an endless cycle of abandoning God and then crying out to Him for rescue, we should seek to live a consistent life of faithfulness. Our lives will also fall into decline and decay unless we live by the guidelines God has given. After Joshua's death, the people started a cycle of decline in obedience to God. Eventually they would cry out to God for help. So God started appointing Judges to deliver his people, and for a time, there was peace. Then complacency and disobedience would set in and the cycle would begin again. The Book of Judges spans a period of over 325 years, recording six successive periods of oppression and deliverance, and the careers of 12 deliverers. Whenever a judge died, the people faced decline and failure because they compromised their high spiritual purpose in many ways. They abandoned their mission to drive all the people out of the land, and they adopted the customs of the people living around them....... There are many interesting stories in this book, and it would take a lot more pages to cover them all, but there is one that most know well....the story of Samson.. He served as a judge for 20 years, was a Nazirite who killed a lion with his bare hands, burned the Philistine wheat fields....killed 1,000 Philistines with a donkey's jawbone, tore off an iron gate, was betrayed by Delilah, and destroyed thousands of Philistines in one last mighty act. His life begins in chapter 13 and ends in chapter 16, God gave him super human strength to fight the enemies of his time. When his mother conceived him, she was told by God never to cut his hair. His obedience to God was in his favor, and his hair held the secret to his strength. Samson fell in love with a prostitute named Delilah. She was a deceitful woman with honey on her lips and poison in her heart. Cold and calculating, she toyed with Samson, pretending to love him while looking for personal gain. She kept asking Samson for the secret of his strength until he finally grew tired of hearing her nagging and gave in. Then one night he lay sleeping with his head in her lap, so while he slept, she did what he revealed to her. "If I lose my hair, I will lose my strength, for my mother promised God when I was born never to cut my hair." So Delilah out of greed for herself, shaved his head. Samson the mighty warrior became a slave, rather than kill him, the Philistines preferred to humiliate him by gouging out his eyes and making him grind grain. Samson now had plenty of time to wonder if Delilah's charms were worth spending the rest of his life in humilation. Blinded and without strength, Samson was taken to Gaza where he would spend the rest of his short life. Ironically, it was in Gaza that Samson had earlier demonstrated his great strength by uprooting the city gates. Now he was an example of weakness. *~*~*~* DISOBEDIENCE The gifts of God are given, To be used for His kingdom. Not a luxury for our gain, Or a tool to give us fame. *~*~*~* Temptation is on every hand It has no respector of man, If you give in to sin You will pay the price in the end. *~*~*~* Tis better to not make promises Then disobey in your weaknesses God knows that we are merely man But He expects our best when we can. *~*~*~* In Samson's day, the debt was driven He broke the confidence he was given. He disobeyed and all was naught He gave into sin and all was lost. *~*~*~* The men of old who lived, Before Christ the sacrifice gives. Were destined for heartache If God they did forsake. *~*~*~* Compiled and written By Shirley Barr February 7, 2004 |
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