Old Testament - Judges 2-4 - May 30, 2022

 5/30/2022 – Judges 2 - 4

Judges 2

After Joshua died, the Israelites continued their conquest of Canaan, as the Lord had now given the land back to Israel. But during the many years of their stay in Egypt, many others had come to Canaan, and now were firmly settled over much of the land of Canaan. These were people who worshiped idols and did not recognize Heavenly Father, and did not have the same laws of morality as the Lord had given to the Israelites. Because of their wickedness, the Lord commanded the Israelites to push them out of Canaan, and the Israelites did that while Joshua was their leader. When Joshua died, there were still some groups of those who worshiped false gods in parts of Canaan.  Joshua had divided Canaan and given each tribe a specific area of land. Then after Joshua’s death, some of the tribes of Israel did not carry through as the Lord and commanded as they failed to drive out ALL of those who worshiped false Gods. 

The first verse of chapter 2 tells us that an angel came to the Israelites reminding them that the Lord had brought them out of Egypt into the land He had promised to their fathers, for God had told them “I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land: ye shall throw down their alters, but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?”. (v 1-2) The Lord had warned them over and over that the idol worshipers would be “as thorns in your sides and their gods shall be a snare unto you.” (v 3)

V 10 tells us that after Joshua’s death the Israelites did remain faithful to the Lord, but “there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” The Israelites had failed to teach their children of the Lord’s commandments, and the why’s and the importance of keeping those commandments. Then in v 13 we are told that “they forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth”-- who was a fertility goddess and who led all those who followed them into immorality.

The Lord worked to bring this new generation of Israelites back to Him and His laws, by raising up judges who were to “deliver them out of the hands of those that spoiled them” (v 16) But the scriptures tell us that the new generation “would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.” (v 17)

None of this had to happen, but it did…because “they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger.”  (v 10, 12)

Judges 3

V’s 5-6 tells that the Israelites then “dwelt among the Canaanites…And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.”   and that brought the Israelites into greater worshiping of false gods.

V 8: “Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served” under that king for 8 years. 

When the Israelites realized they were in a terrible position, they “cried unto the Lord”, and once again the Lord reached down to help them out. He “raised up a deliverer …who delivered them …and the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel…And the land had rest 40 years.” (v’s 8-11) 

But the problem was that the Israelites continued this pattern of following the Lord’s commandments, then becoming slack in their efforts to stay close to God, and then falling into worse places and practices that took them even further from the Lord, and from the peace that He brings to us. 

Judges 4

The first 3 verses make me want to groan: “And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord…And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin King of Canaan…And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord….”

Deborah, a prophetess, became the judge of Israel. I am glad there were some who did not fall away from the Lord and His commandments. Deborah took the Israelites into battle and reminded her people that the Lord CAN go before them into battle, if they only turn unto him. (v 14) And so, once again, the Lord came to their aide when they turned to Him. 

The Lord gives us many chances to overcome our poor choices. His arms are always open and ready to help. The only thing we need to do is to turn to Him with faith, and with the desire to be better in our ways, and closer to Him in our hearts and mind. I think it’s good to remember that His help often comes from His prompting others to be part of our aid. We need to look for all the gifts that he offers to us, so that we can fully show our thankfulness to Him. 

In his book, The Miracle of Forgiveness, President Spencer W Kimball wrote: “In abandoning sin one cannot merely wish for better conditions. [We] must make them…[We] must be certain not only that [we]have abandoned the sin but that [we] have changed the situations surround the sin. [We] should avoid the places and conditions and circumstances where the sin occurred, for these could most readily breed it again.”  I think that’s true for our big sins AND our small sins—both are harmful to our connection with Him.

5/31/2022 – Judges 6 & 7

Judges 6

 This chapter starts on with the very sad verse: “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.” It is interesting, and sad, that when we stray from the Lord’s path, we often don’t realize our new problems until they become huge. When we are not working WITH the Lord, or communicating with the Lord, we lose the Lord’s protection.  And it is often that only when our problems become unbelievably burdensome, do we finally turn to the Lord asking for His help.  His wonderful promise is that He will always answer us as we try to make the changes that will bring us back to Him.

The Israelites were in bondage to the Midianites for seven years. (v 1) The Israelites tried to run away by hiding in caves, in the mountains, in dens of animals. The Midianites could not find them, so they combined with the Amalekites to destroy the land where the Israelites were hiding. They destroyed all the plant growth around them, and all the animals leaving “no sustenance for Israel”. (v 4)

The Israelites were in a very bad situation, and they turned, once again, to God; and once again, God came to their aid for they were now humble. The Lord uses this as a teaching time, reminding them of His help, that of miraculously getting them out of slavery in Egypt. And then He says: “I am the Lord your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.” (v 10) 

The Lord then calls Gideon, sending an angel to tell him that the Lord is with him, and because of that Gideon can be “a man of valour”, and the one who will “Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?” (v14) Gideon finds this hard to believe and reminds the angle that his family is poor and that “I am the least of my father’s house”. (v15)

The Lords’s answer to Gideon’s worries was: “I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.” (v 16)  Gideon then shows his great humility, asking the Lord not to leave until he can get a sheep and unleavened cakes and broth and present them to and for the Lord. That is when “the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched” Gideon’s offering and it was immediately consumed by fire. That’s when Gideon realized that his visitor “was an angel of the Lord” and that he had “seen an angel of the Lord face to face”. (v 22)

Gideon then builds another alter and made offerings to the Lord. The Lord then gave Gideon more instructions. Gideon took ten men of his father’s servants. He was afraid of his father’s household and afraid of the men of the city where the Lord had told him to go with the 10 servants. Gideon waited until night to do the task the Lord had given him.

In the morning, the city awoke, seeing that “the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it” (v 28) The men of the city discovered that it was Gideon who had done this. They went to Joash, Gideon’s father, to put Gideon to death. Joash wouldn’t give them his son, Gideon, and Joash told them that if Baal was a god, then Baal could come get Gideon. (v 31)

Baal didn’t come to get Gideon, but the Midianites and the Amalekites came together to make war against Israel. “Gideon said unto God, if thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said…” (v 36) and then Gideon asks for one more sign that he was to do this work for the Lord. Gideon put down a fleece of wool on the floor and told the Lord if morning brought dew only on the fleece, then he would go into battle. The morning brough a very wet fleece and a very dry earth. 

But Gideon is nervous: “And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me PROVE, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.” (v’s 39-40

Judges 7

This chapter starts with Gideon, now assured that the Lord is with him, who has gathered a great army to go against the Midianites. The army has camped in a place that will give them the advantage over the Midianites. Gideon and the army woke early, and “the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianties into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.” (v 2)

So Gideon tells the men who have gathered, that anyone who is fearful should return to their homes, and 22,000 men left, leaving 10,000 to fight.

The Lord told Gideon that there were still too many men, for if they win the fight now, the men will take the glory unto themselves. The Lord told Gideon to have the 10,000 go to the water to drink, and any who bend down to lap the water (thus being able to see only the water) are to leave the army—only those who stayed alert watching and simply putting their hand in the water and bring the water to their mouth would be those who would stay to fight.

The number who would fight was 300 men.

The Lord now continues to direct Gideon, who is to now wake before light and go into the enemy’s camp which is said to look like grasshoppers covering the earth and their camels were without number. The Lord kindly tells him that if he is fearful, to have his servant Phurah to go with him. The Lord continues to tell Gideon how this will all work: “thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host.

Gideon did as the Lord had directed, and while he was in the enemy’s camp he heard one of their men talking about the dream he had just had, and also an interpretation of that dream was that “this is nothing else save the sword of Gideon…for into his hand hath God delivered Midian and all the host.” (v 14)

Gideon was now sure of the Lord’s help. The scriptures tell us over and over, if we follow the Lord’s commands with exactness and always acknowledge our dependence on Him, then He will help us overcome our challenges.  

Gideon then divided his 300 men into 3 companies. In the dark all the soldiers surrounded the huge army while they slept. At Gideon’s command they all blew their trumpets. And each of the 300 also smashed the pitcher they had brought with them. And they all shouted “THE SWORD OF THE LORD AND OF GIDEON”. Then, as they had surrounded the camp, they all stood up and blew their trumpets again. 

The enemy “stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.” (v 21) And Gideon’s men used their swords and the enemy ran faster. Gideon’s men chased them beyond the borders of the land.