Judges 12 Jephthah was not finished with his struggles after defeating the Ammonites. The tribe of Ephraim decided to take issue with the fact that Jephthah and the Gileadites had defeated the enemy without their help.. "Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with you?" 

The fact was that Ephraim should have come to the aid of all of Manasseh, including Gilead, but they didn't.  Jephthah called them on it, "And when I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over... and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then have you come to me this day to fight against me?" 

The two tribes fought against each other with the Gileadites defeating Ephraim.  Gilead took control of the "fords of the Jordan".. which divided Ephraim from Gilead.  They would not allow any Ephramite  to cross over into their territory. They devised a little test to determine if a man was from Ephraim.. For some reason the Ephramitse could not pronounce the word "Shibboleth" correctly.. saying "Sibboleth" instead.  When they would try to cross they were taken and killed. "Thus fell at that time 42,000 of Ephraim." 

Jephthah judged Israel for  6 years. The next judge came from Bethlehem.  Ibzan lasted 7 years and all we are told is that he had 30 sons and 30 daughters.. and they intermarried with outsiders.  After him a man named Elon, from the tribe of Zebulun judged Israel for 10 years.  After him was Abdon, a Pirathonite. Pirathon was in Ephraim's hill country.  He judged Israel for 8 years, but all we know about him is that he had 40 sons and 30 grandsons, who all rode donkeys! 

It is noted in some sources that some of these judges could have served at the same time. They were from various tribes and acted as leaders in various ways.  Some led armies.. but some just judged and had lots of children. But.. things were about to change again for God was about to bring to Israel another judge by the name of Samson. 

What is clear about the judges in Israel was that they were limited in what they could do.. changes did not last.. evil was not conquered.. and Israel remained divided and sinful. We don't hear anything about the priesthood or the tabernacle at that time. Worship of the Lord was almost unheard of.   What Israel needed more than anything was a Redeemer! 

Father in heaven, in all the years that have passed since the times of the judges, there has not been much that has changed in  this sinful world.. in many ways.. but we are so thankful that You have given to us a Redeemer, Jesus Christ who has come to seek and save the lost.  We  are not without hope! We will one day know the One True Judge who will set all things right.  Hallelujah for the Living Word who changes lives and futures for all who will come to worship You in spirit and in truth. Lead us Holy Spirit in the ways of our God we pray, in the name of Jesus our Saviour and King. Amen. 

 Judges 11 The  next judge is a man named Jephthah, a Gileadite. Jephthah was the son of a harlot. Gilead's wife also had sons, who drove Jephthah away from their father's house when they got older.  Jephthah went to live in Tob, just over the northern border of Gilead. There, he gathered a gang of "worthless fellows" who would go "out with him".   But, when the army of Ammon came to fight in Gilead the leaders there went to find Jephthah to fight for them. They promised to make him chief of Gilead.. over the brother's that had sent him away!

Amazingly, Jephthah was the one who looked to the Lord in all of this!  The son of a harlot, the outcast from his father's house, despised by his brothers.. Jephthah came to the rescue. 

Jephthah first tried to reason with the king of Ammon.  He actually gave him a history lesson, telling how Israel had come from Egypt, went around Edom and Moab, and defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites. The land they now possessed was won fairly in war.. the Lord God gave them victory. "Since now the Lord, the God of Israel drove out the Amorites from before His people Israel, are you then to possess it? Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God had driven out before us, we will possess it."   For 300 years Israel had possessed the land, Jephthah told the Ammonite king.. it was never theirs and they had never claimed it before. "I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me; may the Lord, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon." 

The king of Ammon would not listen to Jephthah's message and war was on the horizon. "Now the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah.. "  Before he led the army against Ammon Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, "If Thou wilt indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace.. it shall be the Lord's and I will offer it up as a burnt offering."  Jephthah went to battle, defeated Ammon, and returned home.  Unfortunately the one to come out of his house was his only child.. his daughter. We are told that Jephthah kept his vow to the Lord.  There is some debate as to whether Jephthah actually gave his daughter up as a human sacrifice, or whether she was redeemed as allowed by the Law and spent the rest of her life as a virgin who served the Lord.  Either way, she agreed to the terms of her father's vow. 

Father in heaven, You chose this man for Your purposes.  You anointed him with Your Spirit. You gave him victory over the enemy. You enabled him to keep his vow to You, even if it was not something that You desired.. the sacrifice of this daughter.  You work in the lives of anyone, regardless if they have been rejected or treated unfairly.. or they make foolish vows..  Your plans are perfect and we can learn, like Jephthah to honor You in all we do. Fill us Spirit of God that we might walk in faithfulness and peace with You today. Teach us Your ways today we pray, in the Name of Jesus, Amen 

 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