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Introduction
It was a precarious time in the history of the young nation of Israel. Both Moses and Joshua had passed away, and since God was to be the King of the nation, there was no human king (see 1 Samuel 12:12). Rather, the leadership was simply passed from one "judge" to another.
Without Moses or Joshua to guide them, the people quickly fell into idol worship, favoring the false gods of the people they had dispersed: "they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them." (Judges 2:12 ESV).
This blatant idolatry was a slap in the face of the One True God Who had so miraculously brought them out of Egypt and given them the Promised Land: "So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers...And they were in terrible distress." (Judges 2:14a, 15b ESV).
God, however, had not abandoned His people. He still loved them, and the moment they turned their cry for help to Him, He delivered them through judges: "Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them." (Judges 2:16 ESV).
We know that Judges led Israel from the time of Joshua's death until the death of Samuel, the last judge. This time-period likely spans about 350-400 years of history, and if you have a close read of the book of Judges, I believe we will all agree that it was a pretty rough historical period.
The purpose of the judges, however, was not to "rule" Israel. Rather, as outlined by Moses in the book of Exodus, "when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” (Exodus 18:15-16 ESV). And we can be sure that this was the primary role of the judges: "Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment." (Judges 4:4-5 ESV). A far more well-known role of the Judges, however, is that they arose to deliver Israel from one enemy or another: "But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel..." (Judges 3:9 ESV).
Previously published in The Nugget is a series that expounds upon leadership tips that can be learned from the Judges of Israel (See Lessons in Leadership). Are there other valuable lessons to be learned from this turbulent time in Israel's history? Lessons that can be applied to our lives today?
This is the purpose of the upcoming series, "The Time Before the Kings" that will be appearing every Saturday for the next few weeks. We invite you to join us!
Obedience!
Today's lesson takes us back to the very first chapter of Judges. The grand conquest of Canaan is over, but the individual tribes are left to continue to free the territories they were allotted. Some of the tribes did a great job of this! For Judah, accompanied by the tribe of Simeon, everything is victory, victory victory: "Then Judah went up and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek." (vs. 4); "And the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire." (Vs. 8); "And Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba), and they defeated Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai." (vs. 10), etc.
Likewise the house of Joseph: "The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them...And they struck the city with the edge of the sword," (Judges 1:22,25b ESV)
From here, however, things go downhill: "Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants … for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land." (Judges 1:27 ESV); "And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them." (Judges 1:29 ESV). And so it was with Zebulon (vs. 30), Asher (Vs. 31-32), Naphtali (vs. 33), Dan (Vs. 34-36) etc.
The first lesson to be learned here is that sometimes we are called to fight! The Bible doesn't record that all of the tribes actually fought their enemies...You may be the recipient of a promise that hasn't yet materialized. Could it be that the enemy is trying to block God's blessing? Could it be that God is calling you into spiritual warfare?
Whatever you are waiting for, be prepared to fight! God will go before you, you will be the victor!
This isn't why most of Israel's tribes failed, however. It is recorded that most of them did go to battle. Why, then, did they fail?
The answer is clearly articulated in the second chapter of Judges: "I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘...you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. " (Judges 2:1-2 ESV)
The people failed because they didn't obey God, and victory or defeat hinged on that one fact!
Have you ever been given a promise from God, yet that promise didn't materialize?
There may be many reasons for this, not the least of which being it isn't yet God's time. Nonetheless, if you find yourself in this situation, I would suggest you take lessons from Judges chapters 1-2! Go into spiritual warfare! And spend some time soul searching. If God does not show you any form of disobedience, you can rest assured that in His time that promise will materialize, for God keeps ALL His promises. If, however, God reveals even the tiniest bit of disobedience in your life, the fulfillment of your promise will hinge on you ridding yourself of everything that even vaguely resembles disobedience!
Please join us next Saturday for the Part 2 of “The Time Before the Kings”!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
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