Judges 10  After the death of Abimelech came a judge named Tola from the area of Issachar.  We are told 2 things about Tola.. he "arose to save Israel"  and he judged for 23 years.  After him rose "Jair" from Gilead who judged 22 years. We are  told that he had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys and had 30 cities. Then Jair died and was buried. ( Jair, was a descendant  of Manasseh, the son of Joseph.)

"Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord."  This time seems even worse than before.. they "served the Balls and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him." 

The Lord gave the Israelites into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites. For 18 years things got worse and worse, especially in Gilead.  (Gilead was an area first divided among the three tribe that settled to the east of the Jordan River - Manasseh, Gad, and Reuben.)   The Ammonites crossed the Jordan and also attacked the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim... "so that Israel was greatly distressed." 

"Then the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying 'We have sinned against Thee, for indeed, we have forsaken our God and served the Baals. ' "   But.. this time the Lord did not immediately rescue His people, He reminded them of how He had delivered them over and over again.. "and I delivered you from their hands. Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will deliver you no more." God told them to go and cry out to the "gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your distress." 

This time the Israelites confessed their sin, put away the foreign gods, and submitted to the Lord's will, and "served the Lord; and He could bear the misery of Israel no longer."

How many people in our day have chosen other idols and "forsaken the Lord"?  How many have found themselves miserable because of those choices?  How many have had chance after chance, known God's mercy, and then turned back to the gods of this world?  This Old Testament story is more than just a story about a country far away in time and place.. it is a picture of real life.  We see it every day.. people who love money, love sin, love power, or love themselves so much that they completely deny that there is a God who sees them and loves them.. A God who is greater than their addictions.. greater than their obsessions.. greater than their fears..  A God worthy of their worship!

Father in heaven, let those who live in the darkness see a great Light.. Come, Jesus, come and heal blind eyes and enslaved souls.. Come and convict and convince the lost to seek the salvation that comes only by repentance and surrender to God, the One and Only True God. Holy Spirit move mightily in our land today, convicting of sin, righteousness and judgement. We see the misery of oppression and violence all over the world, Lord God, and we cry out, once again, on their behalf.. that they would put away the idols and turn to You, for You alone can rescue the perishing. Be exalted in all the earth we pray, in Jesus' name Amen. 

 Judges 9 Gideon failed to stay faithful to the Lord, making a golden ephod that became an idol to the people of Israel.  Gideon married many women and had 70 sons! Even that was not enough for he took a concubine also from Shechem and had another son named Abimelech. As soon as Gideon died trouble began. Israel went back to idol worship.. and Abimelech went to Shechem, his mother's hometown.  He convinced his relatives there in Shechem to support him instead of any of Gideon's legitimate sons.. and they did. 

Abimelech killed all but one of his brothers. Jotham hid himself during the massacre but lifted his voice from the top of Mount Gerizim pronouncing a curse upon both Abimelech and the men of Shechem. Jothem used a parable to illustrate the folly of Shechem:

 "Once the trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, 'Reign over us!' But the olive tree said to them, 'Shall I leave my fatness with which God and men are honored and go to wave over the trees?"  Jotham's story also mentions the fig tree, that would not leave its sweetness.. and the vine that would not leave its place in God's plan.  All that was left then was "bramble".  Jotham suggested that their choice of Abimelech was the choice of the "bramble"... worthless for anything but burning. " .. if you have dealt in truth and integrity with Jerubbaal and his house this day, rejoice in Abimelech and let him rejoice in you. But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume the men of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come from the men of Shechem and Beth-millo, and consume Abimelech." 

It took three years for Jotham's curse to be fulfilled. Abimelech ended up starting a fire around the base of a tower where a thousand men and women form Shechem were sheltering, killing them all. Then he went to another town, Thebez and tried to do the same thing there. "But a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head crushing his skull." Abimelech had too much pride to allow himself to die by the hand of a woman, so he begged his armor bearer to draw his sword and kill him. And he did. 

"Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father, in killing his seventy brothers." 

Father in heaven, what a patient God You are. We are thankful that You give us chance after chance to come back to You. We are so sorry that we.. all of us..  as a people.. fail over and over again to remember You and to serve You only. Deliver us, Lord God, from those who seek only power and position, who live in pride and selfish ambition. Deliver us from those things in our lives that come from those same self-centered desires. May we fully surrender our whole selves to You, walking in Your Light, and obeying Your commands.  Be glorified in our lives and in the lives of our children and grandchildren.  May we stay faithful Lord.. Keep us from becoming stumbling blocks to others.. keep us walking in truth and integrity we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 

 Judges 7-8 What starts out as a wonderful story of deliverance... Gideon, the judge, leading the army of Israel against the Midianites.. takes a sad turn. 

At first, Gideon humbly obeys the Lord. His army of over 30,000 was ready to go to war.. but the Lord wanted to show Israel that this victory would be won by His power and not their own.  22,000 men were dismissed because they were "afraid and trembling".  Another 700 were dismissed because they were not needed. "And the Lord said to Gideon, 'I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands..."  And.. He did!  God gave them victory using trumpets and lanterns. 

Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh entered into the final pursuit of Midian's army.  The tribe of Ephraim joined in and killed the two main leaders, Oreb and Zeeb.  Gideon and his army continued to pursue the kings Zebah and Zalmunna.  When they arrived in Succoth, in Gad's territory,  he asked that they provide some food for the army, but they refused.  The same in Penuel, another city in Gad.  Gideon told them that they would suffer at his hand when he returned from his pursuit.  Gideon successfully completed his mission, captured the kings, and routed the entire army of Midian.  Like he said, he returned to Succoth and "disciplined" the 77 elders with thorns and briars.  He also tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of that city.  Then he killed the two kings of Midian.

Here's where the story of Gideon takes a sad turn.  When the men of Israel wanted Gideon to rule over them, he refused.. but asked for some of the spoils the men had gathered.. just 1 earring from each of them.. ending up with 1700 shekels of gold.  He also kept some of the kings pendants, purple robes,  and  neck bands. "And Gideon made it into an ephod and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household." 

God gave Israel 40 years of peace, until the death of Gideon.  However, Gideon did not live like a man who put God first. He had 77 sons and many wives. He also had a concubine who had a son named Abimelech.  The story is not good.  Israel fell back into their old ways of idol worship and "did not remember the Lord their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; not did the show kindness to the household of Gideon in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel." 

There are consequences for sin.. consequences for actions we take that do not exalt the Lord our God. Many people start out in their Christian walk with thankful, humble hearts.. but they become like the church of Ephesus.. they have lost their "first love". ( Revelation 2:4).  It's not a matter of perseverance, Jesus told the church. "you have perseverance"... they had endured a lot.. they had not grown weary.. but they had "fallen".  They needed to repent.. they needed to love the Lord as they had at the beginning.  Gideon needed that same message.  Perhaps.. we all do. 

Father in heaven,  let the fire of Your Spirit fall on us anew.. let the love that You have given us overflow in our hearts once again. We want to persevere.. but even more we want to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord.. we want to "know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge" that we may be "filled up to all the fulness of God."  We want to walk in love like Jesus did. Be exalted O God!  Let Your Name be glorified in us, Your servants and Your children in Christ Jesus. Let Your will be done!  We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

 Judges 6  Once again Israel "did what was evil in the sight of the Lord." This time the Lord used the tribe of Midian to oppress Israel. "And the power of Midian prevailed against Israel."  Remember that Midian was a descendant of Abraham and Jethro, a Midianite priest, was the father-in-law of Moses.  There had once been close ties between these two nations, but now Midian joined with the Amalekites to overcome Israel.  Their tactics were brutal. They would watch Israel plant their fields and then come up and destroy their crops... "they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it." 

"So Israel was brought very low."  They lived in dens and caves in the mountains.  They suffered for 7 years and finally "cried to the Lord."   The Lord answered this time by sending a prophet to the sons of Israel.  The message was clear.. "It was I who brought you up from Egypt, and brought you from the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land, and I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the god of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not obeyed Me.' " 

Then an angel of the Lord visited Gideon.  Gideon was from the tribe of Manasseh and he was chosen to deliver Israel from the Midianites. "The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior."  the angel addressed him.  He was beating out wheat in a wine press.. hiding the harvest from the enemy.  Gideon was skeptical. " O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has this happened to us?"  Gideon was assured that the Lord was with him and would use him to deliver Israel. 

Gideon asked for a sign and was given more than one.  The first sign was when the offering of bread and meat was laid on a rock the angel of the Lord touched it with a staff and a fire consumed it.  The angel disappeared and Gideon reacted with  a statement of faith, "O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said to him, 'Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.' "  Gideon built an altar to the Lord right then. 

Then the Lord called on Gideon to act in faith by doing something dangerous.  He was commanded to tear down his father's idols.. Baal and the Asherah.  He was to use the wood of the Asherah to burn an offering of his father's bulls.  Gideon completed his task during the night because he was afraid of the men around him. In the morning these men were ready to kill him, but his father would not allow it saying that Baal would have to avenge himself. 

When the Midianites and Amalekites came against Israel again, Gideon was almost ready.. "So the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet.. "  Gideon called upon all of his father's household, the Abierzrites; plus he called on all of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali to come up and fight.  Even with all that, Gideon had one more request of God.. he wanted another sign.. just to be sure he was hearing the Lord right.  So the fleece was wet and the land dry; then the fleece was dry and the land wet.. and Gideon had no more doubts that the Lord would deliver Israel through him. 

Father in heaven, thank You for the promise that You will be with us when we belong to You and walk with You in faith. Help us to keep on believing and trusting You every day of our lives. May we fear only You and obey Your Word always.  Sanctify us through and through as only You can. Preserve us, transform us, fill us with Your Spirit that we might be conformed to the image  of Jesus Christ our Lord, ready to do Your will.. with faith and with courage.. We ask this in His wonderful Name. Amen 

 Judges 4  "Then the sons of Israel again did evil..."  This time the Lord "sold" Israel into the hands of Jabin, the king of Canaan.  Jabin ruled from the city of Hazor which was located in the territory of Naphtali.  Jabin's army was led by Sisera. This army was quite powerful. There were 900 iron chariots.. this was a powerful enemy that oppressed Israel "severely" for 20 years. 

Deborah was a prophetess and the judge in Israel at this time.  She lived in the territory of Ephraim near Bethel where she would sit under a tree and receive those who needed her to make a judgement for them.  The Lord spoke to Deborah and told her to summon Barak from Kadesh to lead an army against Sisera.  Barak's home was in Naphtali.. just north of Hazor where Jabin ruled.  Barak was commanded to gather 10,000 soldiers from Naphtali and Zebulun ( just south of Naphtali). They would find Sisera at the River Kishon at the southern tip of Zebulun. 

Barak agreed to the assignment that Deborah gave him, but only if she would go with him.  Deborah went, but Barak lost the honor of taking Sisera, for he would die at the hand of a woman... not Deborah, but a woman named Jael. 

Sisera and his army and his 900 iron chariots went to the River Kishon. Barak and his 10,000 men met them there. "And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak... "  Sisera ran away while his army was pursued and struck down by Barak and his men.  This is when Sisera hid in the tent of Jael.  Jael covered Sisera, gave him some milk to drink and allowed him to rest in her tent. But.. when he fell asleep she took a tent peg and a hammer and drove the tent peg into his head so that he died.  When Barak came to Jael's tent she showed him the dead body.  

"So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. And the hand of the sons of Israel pressed heavier and heavier upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin, the king of Canaan." 

Chapter 5 is a song that Deborah and Barak sang together after the victory that God had given them over the enemy.  This song tells the story of how the Lord went before them and delivered Israel from the army of Sisera.  It also tells of those tribes of Israel that didn't come to help their brothers.  Zebulun and Naphtali needed help.. but Reuben, Dan, and Asher were too busy to help them. It was the Lord's help that brought the deliverance they needed.. "The stars fought from heaven," Deborah declares.  Her song is to the Lord who blessed a woman with the courage and strength to strike a cruel commander of a powerful army.  

"Thus let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord; But let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might."  The Lord gave Israel peace for 40 more years. 

Father in heaven,  we learn from Your Word that no enemy can stand against You. There is none too powerful, none to great, none that can fight against You.  You will always be victorious when we call upon You and obey Your Word.  May we have courage like Deborah and like Jael. May we rest in You, knowing that the enemy of our souls has been defeated and will be struck down forever on that day. Lord, subdue those who are doing evil to Your people.. in Israel and in all the nations of this world. May those who call upon the name of the Lord be  rescued from the enemy that oppresses and persecutes them.  We pray that they will be steadfast and strong in faith and hope.. in Your Mighty Name. It is in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen

 Judges 3:9-31 Because Israel began serving idols and had forgotten the Lord their God, the "anger of the Lord was kindled".  The Lord "sold" Israel into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim of Mesopotamia for eight years. Finally, Israel woke up and "cried to the Lord."

The first judge called to deliver Israel was Othniel. This was Caleb's nephew and son-in-law. "And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him."  Othniel led Israel in battle against Cushan-rishathaim and prevailed by the Spirit of the Lord. Israel was at peace for 40 years while Othniel lived. 

After Othniel died Israel "again did evil in the sight of the Lord".  This time the Lord sent Eglon the king of Moab against Israel.  For 18 years Eglon ruled.  When Israel finally had enough and cried out to the Lord, he raised up "a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamin.. "  Ehud was very clever but we are not told that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.  Ehud was left-handed. He made himself a dagger and hid it on his right thigh. He was sent to offer a tribute to the king of Moab. Eglon was "a very fat man."  Ehud managed to be alone with Eglon and came close enough to him to draw the dagger and plunge it fully into Eglon's belly. Then, leaving it there he went out, locked the door behind him and got away.  It took the king's servants a little while to figure out there was a problem.. but finally they unlocked the door and found him dead. 

Ehud then led the Israelites into battle agains the Moabites and struck down 10,000 "robust and valiant" men. This time the nation was "undisturbed for eighty years." 

The third judge was Shamgar," who struck down 600 Philistines with an oxgoad and he also saved Israel." 

A hundred forty- six years into the occupation of the Promised Land.. and Israel continued to fail the test.. they continued to do evil. These first 3 judges were able to give temporary peace to the nation, but they did not succeed in turning the hearts of the people back to the Lord in the way that Moses and Joshua had done.  

One day.. the Scriptures remind us.. there will be a greater victory for Israel.. when the King will come.. not with a sword or a dagger.. or an ox goad.. but with the Word of His mouth..  and He will rule over all the earth and every nation will exalt Him! Then there will be Peace for 1000 years.  What a glorious Day that will be!

Father in heaven,  let us learn the lessons we need to hear from Your Word.. let us learn to cry out to You.. to look to You alone for deliverance from evil and from the evil one.  Let us look to You and be ready for the coming of our True Judge, Jesus Christ the Lord.. our King forever!  We wait on You and know that You see us in our trials and in our failures.. and You wait for us to cry out to You.  We know that You do hear us and You will grant us peace even in the times of trouble.  Thank You Father! Amen. 

 Judges 3:1-8

 Chapters 1and 2 give us an overall view of the times of the judges.  Beginning in chapter 3 we get more details from this unknown writer.  Verses 1-8 sum up the main problem which Israel had.. they failed the test.  "Now, these are then nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them.. " 

A generation after those who had fought for the promised land, there was a new generation who did not know how to fight. They were surrounded by Philistines, Canaanites, Sidonians, and Hivites. The Lord tested Israel "to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses." 

But.. instead of fighting and fearing the Lord and keeping His commandments.. the people compromised and took the easier road.. they intermarried with them; they gave their daughters to the sons of the enemy.. "And the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth." 

"Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.. "  

What kind of people are we?We are surrounded by people who have no knowledge of the One True God.. people who think that God does not exist.. or that He doesn't care.. people who do what is right in their own eyes and feel no remorse or regret... Do we stand apart as servants of the Lord.. do we pass the test?  Or are we more like the Israelites than we care to admit?  How many churches today have compromised the clear Truth of the Word of God and intermingled with those who do not believe in a Holy God who declares that evil is evil?  Too many.. even 1 is too many.. they have not passed God's test. 

Paul warned Timothy to watch out for those who "accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. "  Preach the Word.. "reprove, rebuke, exhort.. " Paul tells Timothy and we are reminded that every pastor and every believer must be constantly in the Word of Truth! "Be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.. " 

Father, may we be strong and courageous in the midst of unbelievers who would have us accept what is unacceptable in Your eyes.  Help us to have discernment and wisdom.. help us to teach our children and grandchildren how to walk with You.. how to fight the good fight.. how to stand firm in Your strength. We arm ourselves with Your Holy armor.. truth, righteousness, peace, salvation, faith, and the Holy Spirit who fills us and works in us all that You have purposed for each of us according to Your will. Our surrender is to You, the Lord God Almighty and we trust You to fight for us.. and we.. with Your help.. will not forget our God. Amen!