The BOOK OF JUDGES "Conquests. Israel and Other Nations." "By Judah [1-21], By House of Joseph [22-36]." This Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's transcription is provided by theseason.org The Title of this book of Judges is from the name "Shophetim" which means rulers; from the verb "to put right and then rule". It is not the word "Judges" that we have in the modern English. The origin and description of this name will be discussed in Judges 2:7 - 19. In the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Greek word for "Judges" is "kritai", while in the Latin, "Liber Judicum". However, the point that is made here, is that this office of "Judges" is peculiar to Israel. This book of the Judges records the history of thirteen Judges, of which twelve were called by God, and one is a usurper of the power. The reason for the office of the judge was to ensure that justice was maintained in all the land and in every community. The governmental rule of the people of Israel then was handled from this office. Twelve of these Judges were men and one was a woman called Deborah. Many commentators and teachers exclude Deborah because she was a woman, however, their hang-ups do not exclude the fact that she was there and she ruled as a Judge, and she was one of the best. She was the Judge for her time. Probably the hardest reason for these critics to accept, is the fact that not only was she a good Judge, but she was a prophetess also. She has to one of the favorite women of the Bible. For a trial to be good, neither the defense nor the prosecution looses, for the outcome is that the truth comes forth and is taken care of properly, according to the law. If the person is guilty, then the violator is given his or her just reward, hanging or paying the fine. However, if it person is innocent, then he or she is set free from those charges against him or her. This is why the primary verb "Shophetim" is used, "to put right and then rule". The reason that it is important for us to have the knowledge of what took place way back here in the Old Testament times, is that it is an example of things that will take place in the end times. Paul said in I Corinthians 10:11,12 "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our adomonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." The book of Judges starts when Joshua has died, so this is the first generation that lived after God had made His last promise to Joshua that "I will never cleanse the sanctuary again until I return". This is to say, that time when Jesus Christ returns to set up His kingdom right here on earth. This first generation that knew Joshua, and their fathers and Grandparents that went through and were born in the wilderness died off, then the next generation turned from those lessons that were taught and learned in that time of wandering. This new generation had not observed the miracles that God preformed because of Joshua, and the people of Israel, the next generation began to fall away from God, and revert back to heathen customs and practices. Any time the governmental rule is that of a religious order, it is a theocracy, What this means is that the rule of the people is from God, and the people in charge take their orders direct from God. So what we will see here in the book of Judges is that the people as a nation start to go against God's instruction, and the disobey the laws that our Father had given to them by Moses in the wilderness, and taught to them by Joshua. God ordered the Israelites to either kill or chase out the Canaanites of the land that God had promised them. The reason for this of course, is that where you have the Canaanites, you have their heathen customs, and their Baal worship to influence the Israelites that live amongst them. By mixing the peoples of the children of Israel with these Canaanites, in due time there will be an influence of the heathen religions with the laws and beliefs that God had given to the Israelites. It doesn't take much time before God's children are completely consumed by those heathen ways. We especially see such a thing happening today in our nation, as we are being influenced by the eastern religions that have been given a equal or higher footing in our land. It has crept into our schools, homes and even into the churches, and the teachings that are being taught. So we can see where this book of Judges is a very good example of where we are today. We will be able to see what will transpire when we leave off "YHVH", our God Jehovah, the Heavenly Father, and take Him out of all parts of our government, our home and daily lives. A Socialized society in government, medicine, and the society at large is the pulling away of God's control, and allows men's minds to take complete control of man, instead of being under the control of God. Friend, this is why it is important to read and study the book of Judges to see how God "put right, and ruled" the people of Israel when they strayed to far away from Him. We will see the hand of God in action here, and we will have a better feel of how things should be. Of course we are not in a theocracy in our land, but we are living under a democracy in which the people under God still vote their conscience and can control this nation. Keep this in mind as you study this book of Judges. Judges 1:1 "Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, "Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?" The death of Joshua happened about 1434 B.C. The word "Joshua" in the Hebrew tongue means "Jesus" in the Greek form. So what we really read is "after Jesus died" in a prophetic sense. So prophetically speaking this is applied as a type for after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is a view of what would happen to the people after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. It is an ensample or example of something that happened before that shall happen again, as Paul wrote, and we discussed earlier. "...there is nothing new under the sun", as Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9; Ecclesiastes 1:9 "The thing that hath been ,it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." What flesh man has done before he shall do again, for that is the nature of man. Judges 1:2 "And the Lord said, "Judah shall go up behold, I have delivered the land into his hand." God is saying that He has made it possible for Judah to walk right through the land and take it over completely. What is this then that we should learn from this? It was prophesied way back in Genesis 49:8. Genesis 49:8 "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee." Genesis 49:9 "Judah is a lions whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?" God revealed to Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, that Judah would be the Judge or set the laws and judge the people. The tribe of Judah did not have to worry about doing the job on their own because God said, "I will deliver them out of the hand of their enemies." Judges 1:3 "And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot." So Simeon went with him." Simeon was one of the full brothers of Judah by Leah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. Here we have the two full blooded brother, and their binding was a position foretold by God. When Judah was the champion, and he picked his brother that stood by him. Judges 1:4 "And Judah went up; and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men." God gave Judah the victory in taking the land that He had promised to them. Judges 1:5 "And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites." The word "Adoni" in the Hebrew tongue means "Lord". So what this is saying is that in the battle they captured the "lord [king] of Bezek" in his home in the town of Bezek. In the battle they slew ten thousand of the Canaanites and the Perizzites and to take the land, however they did not slay them all. Remember that the Perizzites were tied in directly and intermixed with the Giants, or the second influx of the fallen angels. Where ever you had Perizzites, you had a mixture of Kenites there also. Judges 1:6 "But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursed after him, and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his great toes." This cutting off of the thumbs and his great toes, was not because of something that God ordered, but because this action was using something that Adoni-bezek had done to all the leaders of the peoples that he had conquered. It was a marking on those rulers to show them that they could not fight against him. They could not hold a weapon, nor could they run because their large toe was removed. It was an indication that that person had lost the battle and could not defend himself, so he would be a slave for the rest of his life. Judges 1:7 "And Adoni-bezek said, "Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died." Adoni-bezek had seventy kings in captivity to him. Notice, "gathered their meat under my table". When the woman described in Mark 7, whose daughter was filled with the unclean spirit came to Jesus and asked that He cast the devil out of her daughter: Mark 7:27 "But Jesus said unto her, "Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs." Mark 7:28 "And she answered and said unto Him, "Yes Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs." Though it wasn't the law of Israel that Judah spared the life of the king Adoni-bezek, but Judah granted the same judgment upon Adoni-bezek that he placed on all of their captives. The bread or teaching that Jesus was giving to his disciples was not for the heathen Gentiles at this time, because Christ had not gone to the cross yet; and in the same manner the woman used what she understood, to get Jesus to do the act for her. The point being made here is that those that eat the crumbs from under the table know their position, relative to those that eat at the table. It was Adoni-bezek's custom to do this act of cutting off the thumbs and great toes of the kings that lost the battles, and that would demonstrate not only to the king but all the people of his domain that they were subject in like manner to Judah. The point made here is that when you deal with other people of other religions, pretty soon you begin to pick up their fragments or their teachings and traditions. This is one of the things that Jesus Christ taught as He walked the earth. Matthew 16:11 "How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadduces?" Matthew 16:12 "Then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." It is the picking up of the crumbs from other peoples tables that Judah knew this man Adoni-bezek, for he had done this to seventy other nation's kings. Adoni-bezek was quite powerful, and all of the peoples of the area knew what this meant to them also. Judges 1:8 Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire." This was just a quick pass through for when Israelites on their first pass through Jerusalem, for when they left Jerusalem, or "Jabez" as it was called then, they had left many Canaanites alive their. Jerusalem was an area that was set aside for the tribe of Benjamin. So because of the Israelites disobedience to God, and not ridding the land of these heathen Canaanites, Benjamin will see much sadness because of these Canaanites that were left there. Judges 1:9 "And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley." The "mountain" is the hill country that is south of Negeb. Judges 1:10 "And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai." Judges 1:11 "And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher:" This name "Kirjath-sepher" identified this city as the "city of books". These were not the kind of books that Israel would have anything to do with, for those books gave the instructions of their religious order, customs and traditions. When those books were destroyed their identity would be changed. As the Bible is removed from schools and changed in the churches, think for a moment how the identity and actions of our people are being changed also. Judges 1:12 "And Caleb said, "He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife." Kirjath-sepher are the lands and the cities that Caleb was promise by Moses and Joshua for being faithful servants of God, when Caleb was sent with Joshua to spy out the land. The people took the word of the other ten spies and refused to enter into the land and thus God made them wander in the wilderness for forty years. Joshua wanted what was rightfully promised to him as an inheritance, even in his old age. This is also discussed in Joshua 15:13-19. Joshua 15:13 "And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, even the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron." Joshua 15:14 "And Caleb drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak." Joshua 15:15 "And he went up thence to the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher." Joshua 15:16 "And Caleb said, "He that smitheth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife." Joshua 15:17 "And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife." We see that Judges then is a second witness to what was written in Joshua 15. Judges 1:13 "And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Ashsah his daughter to wife." Judges 1:14 "And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, "What wilt thou?" Judges 1:15 "And she said unto him, "Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water." And Caleb gave her the upper springs of the nether springs." Caleb gave his daughter the inheritance of lands to the south of Jerusalem that were hot and dry. The lands would be difficult to live upon, and she knew that there had to be water wells dug and fresh water springs for the land to be livable. Caleb loved his daughter and he gave his daugher both of these springs. We can go back to Joshua 15:18 for review here. "And it came to pass, as she came unto him, that she moved him to ask her father a field: and she lighted off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, "What wouldest thou?" Joshua 15:19 "Who answered, "Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water," And he gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs." So what does this say to us? Remember that Caleb was a special person to God, going all the way back to Egypt when Caleb was a boy. Caleb was honored through the times in the wilderness with Moses, and he was always honest as a servant to both God and Moses. Achsah, the daughter of Celeb did not wait on Othniel her husband to ask for the field, and the water, she did it herself. Celeb and his family were all [can do] type people, when they saw that a task needed to be done, they went ahead and got it done. Judges 1:16 "And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the People." We have to stop here and get something straight in our mind. First of all, Moses' father-in-law is not a Kenite, a descendent of Cain [Kenite] but he and his family lived in the land where the Kenites were, and he held the position of "Jethro" or leader there. We can find Moses' father-in-law's name written in Numbers 10:29; "And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in law, "We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." Moses' father in law's name was "Raquel", and not Jethro, which is a title. He was a Midianite priest, and being a Midianite priest he had to be of the lineage Midian who was from the lineage of Abraham by Abraham's second wife. This is of the same bloodline as Abraham, and not of Cain, [the Kenites]. Abraham took Keturah to be his second wife after Sarah had died, and Isaac and Ishmael had left Abraham's household. Genesis 25:1 "Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah." Genesis 25:2 "And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah." The "Midianites" believed in the one true God, the same as Abraham. So we see that the promises that were given to the family of Raquel, the father in law of Moses, were given by God as a covenant to Raquel and his family, that they would live and dwell with the Children of Israel, not only in the wilderness, but would have their inheritance in the promised land also. Though this family is not Kenite by lineage, they are Kenite by the fact that they lived in the land where the Kenites dwelt. A Chinese person can move to the United States and become an American. It doesn't change his lineage, but his identity as to where he lives. When a Kenite [the offspring of Cain from the garden of Eden] moved to the land of Judah, by lineage he is still a Kenite in tradition and custom, and in his skin color, even though he then becomes a Jew by the identity of his residence. Requel had to be full blooded Midianite to be a Midianite priest, and it was for this reason that Requel's daughters had to wait until after all of the Kenites had their fill of water, before they could fill their water pots to water their sheep. Judges 1:17 "And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. (And the name of the city was called Hormah.)" The word "Hormah" in the Hebrew means "a place of waste", or "utter destruction". Judges 1:18 "Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof and Ekron with the coast thereof." These names are commonly heard on the news today, when we see the turmoil that is going on in the middle east today. Judges 1:19 "And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountains; but could not drive out the inhabitants for the valley, because they had chariots of iron." Now even though the people of Judah had a few Kenites that they did not destroy along with them, the people had not turned against God at this time. These same Kenites were with Judah way back in the fourteenth century before Christ, and we read that they had taken over the important duties of the scribe and priests some seven hundred years later. I Chronicles 2:55 "And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez [Jerusalem]; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab." The duties of the scribes were to keep the records and the words of the laws and of the prophets. Judah had delegated these duties to the offspring of Cain. This is the record of how things were when Judah came out of Babylonian captivity to return to Jerusalem. We note from Ezra chapter two that about one half of the forty three thousand were the nethinims, the Kenites that had so mixed with the house of Judah, that they were even considered of Israel. When Ezra stopped on his way back to Jerusalem, to take account of those returning with him, he noted that there was not one levitical priest with him. All of the priest were of the Kenites. Notice that when the men of Judah went against the people of the mountains, he was successful, but when he came against the people of the valley, they could not drive them out. Judah failed even with God's help and assurance because of their iron chariots. They tried by military means to get rid of them and it failed, however it will be with the help of a woman that they finally are driven out. A woman did the job when men failed, and that happened to be God's way of keep men a little humble. God uses whomever He will. We will get to Deborah in the fifth chapter. Judges 1:20 "And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak." Celeb and his family had receive Hebron because of Moses' promise to Celeb for being truthful when he was spying out the land. Anak was one of the giants that possessed the land. Judges 1:21 "And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin unto this day." These Jubsites that possessed the land in the days of Joshua and Celeb still occupy and live the land of Jerusalem even in our day today. The Jebusites were the ones that founded this city of Jerusalem in the first place, and it was named "Jabez", as we say from I Chronicles 2:55 earlier. When Jabez was founded it was full of heathen religions, and it would not be founded as a city of God and righteousness until David took it about four hundred years later. The Benjamites never liked to follow the orders that God gave them, and that order by God was to run the foreigners out. They mixed with them and absorbed their traditions. It did not take very many generation for the God's Word to be changed by them to something other then what Moses gave to them. When they mixed with the Jebusites, they started to absorb their five religious forms and change their worship habits to conform to the Jabez heathen thought. Now stop and look around you today in America. It hasn't been very many generations back that we were founded as a Christian nation, and our constitution and bill of rights were bounded on those principles. Today those same documents have been so watered down with polluted laws and half-truths that any demonic though that can be imagined in the minds of men is accepted. We have moved from the point of stating that our government could not start a religion and form a church, to it's present position. There is a great difference in the two positions. The founders, writers and promoters were all schooled in church schools, and they saw the need for the separation and independence between the government and our religious rights. They knew that if the people picked their leaders that did not have strong religious grounding in God's ways, then we as a people would lose God's blessing for us as a nation. When there is a breakdown of the teachings of God's laws in the schools and in the home, backed by the government, then there will be a breakdown in the social and spiritual order and life of the people. From the lack of spiritual understanding of course comes confusion, anarchy, and the breakup of the family. When the tribe of Benjamin took over Jabez or Jerusalem from Judah, this is exactly what happen, for the heathen religious forms of the Jebusites soon took over the minds of the tribe of the Benjamin. God had his opinion of the Jebusites and their city in its heathen form, and it is recorded in Ezekiel 16:2-5. Ezekiel 16:2 "Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations," The abominations that took place in Jerusalem at her beginning is as those abominations shall be in the end times. Ezekiel was to let those people who lived in those times be aware of that they were. Those abominations that take place will be at the coming of Satan the Antichrist, when Satan sits on his religious beast in Jerusalem and declares himself to be God, and rules the world. When Satan, the Antichrist declares himself to be God, and the world accepts that as fact, the abominations by this desolator will have taken place. Then from Jerusalem to the entire world, the truth will be barren from off the earth. Ezekiel 16:3 " And say, `Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; ` Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite." When Jerusalem [Jabez] was first established as a city, it was a Canaanite city. It was dirty and rundown, with all the heathen forms of idolatry worship. The Jebusites lived in tents and God is calling attention to the filth of its people. "Thy father" is in reference to the builders of the city, while "thy mother" is in reference to their forms of worship. The fathers were of Canaanite descent, while their forms of worship were of the Hittites, or Hamath. Remember what it was said of the Kenites, from I Chronicles 2:55? "These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab." These people were not of the seed of Abraham, but once Satan heard of the promise to Abraham, Satan moved his people in to occupy the land that Abraham would have. Ezekiel 16 :4 "And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all." Establishing Jerusalem was a bloody dirty mess, for there was no form of order at the beginning in Jabez, or Jerusalem. Ezekiel 16:5 "None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. " When a person died in Jebez, or Jerusalem, their bones were tossed into the corner and left, for there was no respect of one another. When God took a love for this city, it went far more than a love of a city or location, His love was for the people that He intended to occupy that city. Many times people feel that because their past is so sinful that there is no way that God could love them, and when God took Jerusalem, or Jabez as it was called in its sinful state, is was full of sin. It was the most filthy sinful and degrading place on the face of the earth. Yet God loved it, forgave it and took it to wife, so to speak. The love of God for His people is far greater that any plot of land, and if any soul will love him, and repent of their sins and ask forgiveness in Jesus name, God will forgive. God's mercy will forgive any sin, and it is God that will turn your mind around. As you read on in Ezekiel 16 we see where God describes Jerusalem as a baby girl growing into woman hood, and being cleaned up to where He takes this location to wife. The marriage is is a covenant that God makes with the city of Jerusalem, that He will love that city for an eternity. God lets us know that the Jebusites were a filthy people, but in due time His people will control and live in the city forever. Judges 1:22 "And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el: and the Lord was with them." The difference between the house of Joseph and the people of Benjamin was that Joseph's people cleaned out their area, and ridded themselves of the filthy Canaanites that occupied the land. They followed the instructions that God gave to them through Moses. Benjamin had his eyes set on the people and how he could make money off them, to tax them and use them as slaves and servants. The problem that Benjamin overlooked is that before it would all be over, the wickedness that came into their midst so corrupted them in Sodomy that it would almost destroy them as a tribal people. This will be pointed out later in the book, and we will see that it took the intermarriage of Benjamin women with men of other tribes of Israel was to rebuild the stock of Benjamin back into a tribe. This will happen even today, when you allow the mixing of other religions, and heathen thought with the Word of God. This is what will happen. God was with the people of Joseph, of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh who were the sons of Joseph. Their city was called "Beth-el" meaning "the house of God". Remember that the houses are what we call nations today. Some four hundred years later the tribes of Israel would be split into the "house of Israel" would become the nation to the north, and the "house of Judah" or the southern kingdom. Judges 1:23 "And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)" To "descry" means to pass the word to all the people of the victory at Beth-el. Judges 1:24 "And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy." The men of Joseph made a promise to this man from Luz, only now that the promise was made, would they keep their word? Judges 1:25 "And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family." You could say that this man and his family were saved by the grace of the honesty of the men of Joseph. When the knife was at his throat, a man can be very honest. These people kept their word, and it is important to remember this. Judges 1:26 "And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name of Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day." This is so even to our day, this nation exists north of Syria, and this fact is born out in Eqyptian inscriptions from the fifteenth century before Christ. Judges 1:27 "Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land." God told all the tribes to kill them or drive them out of the land, it is for you to inhabit your land, and you alone. Yet we see here that the people of Manasseh did a very poor job in keeping the word that the Lord gave to them. They did not follow God's instruction and they went against God's Word. Judges 1:28 "And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out." This bunch of people that were suppose to be dead or out of the land, yet the people of Israel did not do as God ordered them but in time taxed them heavy, and made money off them. They made an alliance with them, when God told the Israelites to get rid of them. Judges 1:29 "Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them." This is the same that Manasseh did in the prior verse, for they were not obedient to God's order. It is also the same thing that Christians are doing today when the sit in their church houses and allow the Kenites to do their interpretation of the Word of God, and make all their decisions for them. Most Christians are not even aware of it, because they don't even know who the Kenites are, nor do they have the very basic understanding of God's Word. Christians today are basically biblically illiterate. Gallup recently had a poll amongst Christians to find out how many are biblically illiterate, and one of the questions that was asked was; "Who gave the sermon on the mount, of Matthew five? and of all those polled only four out of ten could answer the question. These were people polled that claimed to be church goes, and grounded in their church doctrines. If you did not know it was Jesus Christ, you should hide your head in shame. This ignorance comes from having Kenites doing your teaching for you, where they spend all their times in fairy-tales and story telling, and never get around to teaching chapter by chapter and verse by verse. Today even many of the leaders within the church systems do even believe that God is real, so how in the world can you expect their congregations to have proper biblical teaching. Many even entertain the ideas that Jesus did not die on the cross, and that it was some sort of act. Those that do this are worse than someone that would kill ones physical body, for they are promoting the killing the souls those around them. There was a time in this country that they would have been killed for saying such a thing, and for they would have been branded an heretic. It is time to wake up to what is going on around you, and what is being taught. Judges 1:30 "Nether did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Ketron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries." Here again is the good old buddy stuff; let them live and tax them a bit, and see what you can get out of them. Judges 1:31 "Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor or Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob:" Judges 1:32 "But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out." Zebulun, and Asher did not drive the inhabitants out of the land, instead they moved right in next door to them and became their good neighbors. When you study later on in the books of the Kings, it becomes obvious that the minds of the house of Israel was so polluted with the heathen thoughts and rituals of these same Canaanites that God and His prophets were scorned and murdered. Judges 1:33 "Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries unto them." They became good old buddies, strive for good government, anything goes as long as there are good business deals. The goal of the Israelites became how can we use them to make money, tax them and use them for our gain. Has anything changed in the last 3,500 years? They closed their mind to what God said in His Word, for the only thing that matters to these Israelites was to have a good time and get along with others. We will see in later chapter that this attitude with cause the children of Israel a lot of trouble. Judges 1:34 "And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:" It didn't take long to where these Canaanites saw the weakness that the Israelites had and they started to fight back. The fear of God's people had weakened so much that these Canaanites started to hold their ground and the rest of the Israelites that had worked out their deals with their Canaanite neighbors, didn't even think twice of their brother Dan, and his inheritance that was kept from him. Are you starting to get the picture? The enemy has become so friendly that they are not looked at as enemies anymore. Judges 1:35 "But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the House of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries." Even the Amorites became so friendly to the house of Joseph that all the power that they once had, coming across the Jordan river and taking Jericho, and on in their other battles was completely gone. Shortly there will not even be enough strength to collect those taxes. Judges 1:36 "And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward." Do you know what is going to happen to Israel? It is the same thing that is happening to our nation today. These tribes of the children of Israel are going to continue digressing, and loosing respect in the eyes of the Canaanites living around them, to the point that it will take a woman in Israel to stand up, and say "That is enough!" It will take a woman to make the difference and give a back bone back to Israel, and yet so called Christian leaders today don't even like to recognize here. God will use whomever He chooses, whenever He chooses. Stop and think for a moment, if every pastor and teacher in this nation were to be graded by what their congregation knows about the Scriptures and the Plan of God, and then be paid on how well their congregations could answer the questions. Most of the so-called spiritual leaders would have died of starvation years ago. This is what happened in those early days when the children of Israel took over their promised land. They lost sight of what Moses and Joshua had instructed them, and they turned to their own desires. They lost their will to fight and stand strong. They lost sight of the commands that Moses warned them, of the blessings and the cursings that would befall them for violation of God's instructions. When the Tribe of Dan could not achieve their inheritance, it should have bothered all the other tribes, but they were so content with their enemies that became their neighbors, that they didn't even think of Dan and his troubles. It is time to be about our Father business, and that is to become familiar with the sword of the Lord, which is the Word of God. The time of the day of the Lord is drawing near, and yet the people of our generation simply could not tell the enemy of God from their friendly neighbor. While many are preparing themselves for some make believe warfare of the end times, they have no idea that the real enemy is right in their own minds. The battle that was lost to the Canaanites when they moved into their promise land was also lost in their minds, by contentment with the enemies of God. They could not tell the difference between the people of Satan, the Canaanites who were their next door neighbors, and the warnings that God gave to them. Time and listening and entertaining the heathen religious thoughts and watching their traditions and customs became so familiar that they simply became numb to God's warning about it. Remember the warning that Jesus gave to his disciples that we read earlier from Mathew 16:11, 12? The "leaven" in the bread of the parable was the lies and distortions that had been added to the truth to make the entire teaching a lie. Jesus warned them to be "aware of the doctrine" or teaching of the Kenites that would creep in when you are not aware, and take you off guard. The doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees will take the Word of God, and mix it with a heathen thought here and change the meaning of a word there, and throw out another word to where what they are teaching is an outright lie, and it sounds so true that it is believable.
Home .~
Plough .~ Seeds .~ Vine .~ Potter .~ Seasons .~ Sonshine .~ Rain .~ Field |