I have an older sister and as we are both adults we get along for the most part. We can be around each other and enjoy each other’s company without yelling, “STOP touching me!”Or without hitting each other. It is nice that we can do this now but when we were younger we would get in some gnarly fights. We would yell at each other, we would hit each other, we would say mean things to each other. I have seen some of you with your brothers or sisters and it is the same thing, almost war will break out between you. We normally would get into fights over the littlest things. Either someone was jealous over the other person or angry that they got something that they did not.

In this chapter of Judges we see Japhthah who just delivered Israel from the Ammonites now have a conflict with the tribe of Ephraim.

We Will Burn Your House Down

After his battle with the Ammonites as well as giving his daughter up to the Lord we see that the men of Ephraim came up to him and said, “How come you did not ask us to go to battle with you?” Because he did not they were going to burn his house down. Man, talk about bad attitudes. Could you imagine today if someone was mad because you did not invite them somewhere that they said they would burn your house down. No way, they did not mess around back then. 

Japhthah just took it like a grain of salt and said, “Actually I invited you fools, but you did not want to come and because of that, YOU WILL PAY.” Because of this little skirmish, Gilead, the tribe of Jephthah killed 42,000 Ephraimites. That was a lot of blood shed over this issue.

The Ephraimites were jealous of Japhthah and Gilead’s success and because of their jealousy it lead to fighting. Many times in our families we can get jealous of what our brothers or sisters may receive and we did not. We may get jealous of their opportunities and not like them because of that. Jealousy is a very dangerous deception because it starts eating the jealous person up. One who is jealous can become bitter and hate everyone and everything. King Saul was jealous of David as people would sing, “Saul killed his thousand and David his tens of thousands.” David was one who walked with the Lord, was happy, and was successful. Saul was failing as a leader, not walking with the Lord, and was losing his popularity. Are you filled with jealousy towards your brother or sister? What about a friend or someone at school? Do you act out in your jealousy? Proverbs 13:40 tells us that jealousy rots life away and that is so true. Be careful and know what where you are with jealousy, if you dance with it, it will overtake you. I always need to ask the Lord to take away any of that stuff and be grateful of where I am. Jealousy can ruin you, BE CAREFUL!

In this chapter of Judges we see that Israel is still in bondage to the Ammonites. God raised up Jephthah to free Israel from the bondage. We actually get a little background on this character. He was chased out of his family by his brothers because he had a different mom than them. He decided to go live in an area called Tob. He met some “worthless” fellows. 

This is something that I can picture in our society. There are so many broken homes that the youth feel rejected at home or that there is not a family structure so they turn to other “worthless” people that will teach them bad habits. If you look at statistics of those that get into crime come from a broken home. If there is not structure then they will find what they need in other people and usually those other people are not good influences. Japhthah was one of those statistics but God had a different plan for him. 

We Need You

Word got out to Japhthah that his family was in need of him. They needed him to rescue and lead them so they could be free of the Ammonites. He asked them some questions but in the long run accepted their offer. 

This is just like Joseph in a way. Joseph’s family was in need of some food and the only place they could get some was in Egypt. Not knowing that Joseph was the one they were dealing with for food, Joseph knew who they were. Joseph could have gotten revenge on his brothers but he did not. In Genesis 50:20 Joseph told his brothers this, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.” God made Japhthah for the purpose of deliverance.

The Vow

Japhthah made a vow which he should not have. He told God that if he delivered the Ammonites into his hands that he would give God whatever was the first thing that would come out of his house. God did deliver the Ammonites into his hand and as he was returning home his daughter ran out of the house with a tamborine in celebration of her fathers victory. She was his only child and he regretted his decision but he wanted to keep his vow with God. 

What a vow, God would have given the Ammonites into Japhthah’s hands without the vow. God even talks specifically about vows. In Numbers 30 God warns Israel that if one makes a vow with God then they must keep it. This was the vow that he made not something that God made. 

Do you ever say, “God if you help me with this test then I will…” Or maybe you say, “If you work this situation out for me then I will…”? People do this all the time, in which they treat God like a genie and he will make our wishes come true if we rub the, “I will serve you” lamp. God loves us unconditionally, God works on our behalf (Romans 8:28). God has already done the work by sending his only Son to die on the cross for us. We do not have to bargain with God to work for us. In a matter of fact, God just wants us to serve him and show our love for him, but if we do not, does that change that Jesus died on the cross? Does that change that we are saved by God’s grace? We should want to work and serve and live for the Lord because of what he did for us already not because of what he could or could not do for us. So next time you start to make a vow of God just think, he has done everything for me already, and just give him praise.

One time I remember I told a lie. I know that is hard for you to imagine that I would ever tell a lie but I have told some lies before. This one particular lie that I told was so I would have to get out of doing some kind of chore for a friend. As I thought my friend took my lie, I thought I was off of helping in any sort of way. Before I knew it the lie I gave that was a cover up then turned out that I had to actually make happen. It turned out that I spent more time trying to make my lie true than I would have just being honest with my friend. This happens all the time when we choose to sin. We choose sin and find ourselves in some sort of problem and ask how did we get into this situation? We find ourselves so deep in sin that we cry out for deliverance from it.

In this chapter we read about the sin cycle that Israel is in and the witty response God gives Israel

Tola and Jair

These two were judges for Israel after Abilmelech had died. Not much is known about them other than they judged Israel for some amount of time and died. Jair had 30 sons who rode 30 donkeys who also had 30 cities, that is interesting I guess. What this chapter really focuses on is the sin cycle that Israel is in.

This is Your Fault

Israel again cried out to the Lord from deliverance from their enemies. They again fell into the same sin, that Israel has been falling into. They went back into idol worship; they served Baal and Asheroth. This time the Philistines have taken over Israel and are ruling over them. 

When the people cried out to God, he asked them a question, “Why would I deliver you from these people when you keep on forsaking me?” He also said, “Why don’t you ask for help from the gods that you have been pursuing?” God had a point with this question. If they knew that God would be so great in delivering them from their enemies, then why don’t they worship him when things are going good?

As I was thinking about this for a moment, we do the same thing with sin in our life. Sin is pleasing for a time. We like to sin but it also brings about consequences that we do not like. There usually is some sort of hardship, hurt feeling, issue that needs more work to fix than before you started down that road. We always run to God when we need something, someone is sick, or that we are at a point of breaking; but what about the good times. Israel would be delivered and then that generation would pass and then they would start in the same cycle over and over again. What sin cycles do you have in your life? What areas of sin have you not killed yet? What areas of sin are you not willing to give up? What areas get you into the bondage of sin and you ask, “How did I get here?” We need to run to God now and  get rid of that stuff. We need to not look back at it. We need to keep our eyes fixated on the cross in which we are saved because of Christ. God is so gracious when he hears our pleas of forgiveness that he forgives us. We get ourselves into trouble because we give into sin, may we learn from Judges that the sin cycle is not good and creates problems.

I am somewhat of a competitive person. I can be competitive when it comes to playing sports to board games. There is a game called Risk that I can not play with Adam because we are both so competitive in our conquest of global domination. We both try to get other people to attack the other person so we can have control over the other person. Obviously this is the strategy of the game but it somewhat shows what happened in this chapter of Judges.

Gideon a.k.a. Jerubbaal has died and out of his 70 sons Abimelech has decided that he wants to lead over Israel. As you read this chapter remind yourself that you are in an Old Testament Soap Opera.

The Plan

Abimelech decided that he would use his mother to share with all the leaders of Shechem that he would be a great leader. He used the why should you have 70 leaders when you could just have one awesome leader, me line. His mother took the bait and told all the leaders and they agreed. The plan was now how to get rid of the other leaders. Abimelech then took some worthless men and killed all of the 70 brothers except the youngest who was hiding. How sad that Abimelech who was going to be able to fill his father’s shoes has fallen so short. He is going way beyond the opposite way that Gideon had gone.

Be Careful For What You Ask For

Now Israel let Abimelech rule over them 3 years and for some reason they decided they were not so happy with their so called leader. They started to complain about him and think it would be better to follow after someone else. Word got out to Abimelech and he decided to let the leaders of Shechem have a little taste of complaint. He made war against the city and all those that lived in it. The leaders fled to the stronghold in which he set fire and killed them. As Abimelech decided to make war on more he did the same to the city of Thebez. There the leaders went to the strong hold and as he was about ready to set fire to that a woman threw a millstone and it crushed his skull and he died right there.

As Christians we can easily think the grass is always greener on the other side. We think if only we had this or did that, life would be great. Remember Israel while they were in the wilderness would complain that they had it better in Egypt. Here Israel wanted a leader in which they realized that he was of no good and brought evil and lead the people to do evil. Because of what Abimelech did the people realized they needed an out. 

Be careful as Christians to not complain and grumble against what the Lord has given you. We want the world or certain things right now that we do not wait on the Lord and his timing in things. When we do that we compromise on what really matters, God and his provision. We rush in relationships, we overspend in finances, and we make hasty decisions. Israel needed to rest in the Lord as their leader and king but also go before him with electing who they did. May we always go before the Lord in our decisions because he already knows what the future holds. I need to ask God still and continue to for patience and to trust him because I do things impulsively and I know his way would have been better.

My parents would always tell me that I needed to work hard because nothing would be handed down to me. As Christians we need to realize that the world will not really go out of their way for us. Instead they sometimes can make things harder. They are looking to see if you will fall or push your buttons so that they could see you react in sin. 

In this chapter we will see Gideon finishing up the Midian army and how he lived in his last days alive.

Exhausted but Still Pursuing

After the miracle that God did with the 300 men of Gideon against the Midian army of 120,000 they were still in pursuit of the kings of Midain. God was giving them strength to carry on. Gideon and his men came to an area called Succoth and asked for some bread for his men. The leaders of the city asked if the kings of Midian were dead because they feared the Midianites and they did not want any retaliation from them because they helped their enemy out. They said, “No.” They did not want to help the men. Because of this, Gideon said, “I’ll be back,” like the Terminator. Again he asked another city for bread for his men and they said, “No way.” Again Gideon gave them the watch out, I will come back and you will be sorry speech. 

Just like this, there is no rest for those who are doing God’s work in the world. They will sometimes make life harder and tasks more difficult but we need to realize our rest comes not in this world but from the Lord. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all who are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give  you rest.” True rest does come from the Lord we need to be like Gideon and his men, exhausted but still moving and doing the work of the Lord. May we go to the Lord to renew our strength.

The Downfall

Gideon caught up with the kings of Midian and killed them. As soon as Midian was gone and the people were delivered from their oppressors, they asked Gideon to be their leader but this was more than a leader they wanted him to be their king. This was a honored request but Gideon new their hearts. The people of Israel were weak and they wanted someone to lead and allow them to do evil in the sight of the Lord. The people cried out for help to be delivered of their enemy but not to be delivered of their sin. Gideon responded by saying, “No.” He told them, God will be your leader. This was what was to be intended by God. That he would be their king and ruler. He was the one who showed Israel how to get around in the wilderness. God is the one that fought before them in battle. God is the one that delivered them, but they were too much in their sin to see that.

This was the same temptation that Satan asked of Jesus. He said, If you worship me, I will give you this world. Power and authority is a very tempting vice that Satan will push upon Christian leaders. As tempting as that may have been Jesus said NO. Charles Spurgeon said, “Learn to say, ‘No’; it will be more use to you than to be able to learn Latin.”  

I wish we could say that was how Gideon ended by denying temptation but instead he built an ephod which was to stand for civil rule and not priestly rule but this became a snare to Gideon and the people. It became an idol for the people. The downfall of pride got in the way. We read before Gideon’s death that he also had 70 sons because he had several wives another sin he fell into. 

Temptation will come at you as Ephesians tells us that they are the flaming arrows from Satan. He does not stop nor take a break but constantly is trying to hit you, the target. He tries to find your weak spots and have you fall. May you put on your shield of faith and guard yourself from the enemy. Your strength is in the Lord and not in this world. The ability to withstand temptation is in the Lord, not in this world.

Have you ever not believed one of your friends when they told you a story? Maybe it was something way too hard to believe and you asked for them to prove it. You say, “I don’t believe you, prove it.” Sometimes it is hard to believe when something seems so far fetched. 

In this chapter we read about a new judge in town, Gideon. 

Gideon

Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (this should sound familiar if you have been reading along). The Midianites were the ones who have oppressed Israel. The state of is Israel was so bad that they would hide in caves from the Midianites. They were not able to harvest their crops outside because the Midianites would come and ravish their fields and make it so they could not even have any donkeys or oxen. 

Israel was in a bad place and they cried out to God and he heard their request. He was going to use Gideon. The name Gideon means “Hacker.” Gideon was confronted by the Lord while he was working. The Lord told Gideon what was going to happen and Gideon somewhat did not understand. He said, “Why is God allowing this trouble to happen to Israel?” As the Lord just listened he still had a plan for Gideon

Signs

Gideon asked to see a sign, and fire consumed Gideon’s little lunch and the Lord vanished from his site. Gideon was asked to complete a task of tearing down the altar of Baal in his area. He did and the town mob decided they did not like it. Nothing happened to Gideon but all of a sudden the Holy Spirit was upon him and he took charge to lead Israel against Midian. He blew the horn and gathered the troops but before he goes out to battle he asked the Lord for another sign.

He asked if the wool fleece that was laying on the ground would be filled with dew but the ground would be dry then he would know that God was with him and this war thing would work out. The next morning Gideon awakes and finds the fleece covered in dew while the ground was bone dry. Instead of being amazed, Gideon asked for another sign. 

If the fleece would be bone dry but the ground be covered in dew, then he would go out in battle with Israel against Midian. He woke up the next morning to find at his amazement that the ground was covered in dew but the fleece was bone dry. God did his little requests all three times that Gideon and his lack of faith self asked. 

What does it take for you to go out? Gideon first complained about his circumstance by saying if God is for me than why is the world the way it is. People ask that question all the time, “Why is the world the way it is if God is so good?” As they ask the question they do not realize that God has a big plan and that there is sin in the world. Israel was in that place because they fell away from God and sometimes he humbles us to get our attention. Sometimes things are going bad because there are bad people in the world. One day Jesus Christ will come again but this time it will be to reclaim the world and to judge it. 

Do you ask for signs? Gideon asked 3 times for proof that he was to do what God had asked. Thomas asked to see the pierced Christ in order to believe that he rose again. We ask for security, safety, well-being all the time. God has given us a great sign which is Jesus who died on the cross and rose again for us. He has given us the Bible to serve as a reminder of his GREAT promises everyday. We become timid and ask for proof if we should take a step of faith in go for the Lord. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:16 to take up our shield of faith and we know that Hebrews 1:1 tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. We have faith that God is real and we know that he works and moves and is active in our daily lives because he loves us.

Have you ever watched a show that broke out into a song, Disney films are renown for that. You could be watching Beauty and the Beast and all of sudden cups and a candlestick are singing. At the end of the movies there usually is some happy ending and with that happy ending means a song. Now some of you may be all about those movies, good for you and I know when our kids come I will need to be too. Now besides movies have you ever been so excited about something that you just sang about it? Just wondering…

Here in this chapter we see something that was common to the Israelites when God has delivered them from the hands of their enemies, a song breaks out. This is the song of Deborah and Barak after God had delivered the Canaanites into their hands and the people are free from the bondage of the enemy. 

A Cool Song

We see throughout the Bible many recorded songs and they are not all just in the book of Psalms. Remember we read after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea all safe from the pursuing Egyptians and God let the walls of the water fall on them they broke out in song (Exodus 15). Singing is a very special privilege and it shows that we were created to sing to our God. How cool is it that we can sing out loud to an awesome God as an act of worship. God is deserving of all of our praise, he has done mighty acts and will continue to do mighty acts for us and for his glory. Psalm 150 tells us to praise the Lord for all of his mighty deeds and according to his excellent greatness. This is what Deborah did, praised God for hiss greatness.

She praised God because the people actually took leadership. She praised God because he was the one that went out before them in battle and delivered the enemy into their hands. She praised God for the different tribes stepping up and fighting. She praised Jael who drove a tent peg into the head of Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army. She praised God for who he is and ends the song with this, “So may all of your enemies perish, O Lord! But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.” 

You may have read this and say, “I don’t get how this could be a song.” “It is not that catchy.” We need to not think about the catchiness of the song but the words. God is great and greatly to be praised. There is no enemy to powerful for God. There is no enemy that he cannot overcome. Do you praise God for all that he has done? It was 1 Leper out of the 10 that came back and thanked Jesus for healing him. How appreciative are you for eternal healing? 

I talked with a boy on Wednesday night who was sharing how times are difficult at home. His dad lost his job, his mom same thing. He was somewhat freaked out because he did not know what to do. I told him to praise the Lord because God will not drop his promise of taking care of his children. He will give them everything they need to live. Be content in that and praise the Lord for his never ending promise. May we learn to do the same thing during good or bad. May we be able to sing out loud even when our plans may change but not for God. May we sing out loud for his never ending love and grace and mercy.

Do you have any habits that are bad? Maybe it is like not washing your hands or something like. We have habits all the time. They are either good or bad but we are full of habits. The weird thing with habits is that sometimes we do not even know when we do them because we are constantly. Sometimes it is important for us to be able to be aware of all the stuff we do.

In this chapter of Judges we see the same story again. Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died.

Deborah

This time Israel was under the oppression of the Canaanites. The king of the Canaanites was Jabin and he had 900 chariots. The chariot during this time was a very great advantage when it comes to war. It would be like infantry against a tank, the tank has a huge advantage. The king suppressed the people of Israel for over 20 years.

Deborah was the judge during this time. God raised her up. We see that she was wise as people would go to her to handle their problems and we see that she was brave as she was not afraid to even gather the troops and to go up to war. We do not see a woman taking the leadership role that much in the Bible but here is a woman who leads.

God delivered the Canaanites and the 900 chariots into Israeli’s hands. The general of the Canaanites got away and fled to the tent of Heber and Jael. Jael took Sisera into the tent and gave him water and he fell asleep. While he was asleep she took a tent peg and hammered it into his head. The Israelites were delivered from the Canaanites.

Stand strong in the Lord and do not waver left or right (Joshua 23:5). There will be people that will fall away and get distracted. There will be some that do not get distracted. There will be some that are called to lead and some that will not listen to that call. Deborah was there and not afraid to lead and to even go to war. She new that the Lord was the one who was in charge. We need to remember that our integrity is what needs to be what shines. In 1st Timothy 3:7 Paul tells Timothy to make sure that outsiders even look at you with respect. He was telling Timothy that even those that are not believers need to be able to see that you are full of integrity. How do your friends at school look at you? Do you act one way around them and then another around your church family? We need to be the same for the Lord whoever we around

Have you ever wondered what was your purpose was on this earth? I also wondered that because I was left handed. You know it is hard being left-handed in a right handed world. Left handers smudge the ink when they write. They can not just pick up a mitt and play some baseball unless for some reason there happened to be a left handed mitt (A rare specialty). As a left-handed person you actually had to buy left handed scissors. Spiral bound notebooks were not very fun because the spiral would be in the way when you write on the right page. Even to play the guitar you need a left-handed guitar which costs double the price of a right handed one. Man oh man, I wondered why was I left handed. Today, I figure out that I am left-handed because left-handed people are better looking, smarter, and funnier than those that are right-handed (this may not be true but at least I think it). 

Today we are going to read about a couple of the first Judges that delivered Israel in the time of suppression from the different surrounding nations. 

Othniel

This man was raised up by God for the deliverance of the people of Israel. The reason why the people of Israel were in need of deliverance was because they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They served after Baal, and Asheroth (idols of the Canaanites). Because of this, king of Mesopotamia reigned over them for 8 years. They cried out to God for help and he raised up Othniel who was a relative of Caleb (see Numbers 14; 32:12; and Joshua 14:6) Through God using Othniel they were delivered from the king. He made war on the king and they were set free.

Ehud

The same cycle as before took place. All of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord allowed King Eglon, who was king over Moab to take over Israel. Again the people cried out for help and God raised up Ehud who was a left handed man. Ehud knew the trouble of being left-handed. Ehud was like an Israeli ninja because he assassinated King Eglon in his chamber and fled without being caught. He rallied all of Israel to make war on Moab and God was with them. 

Shamgar

Not much is said about this judge but that he killed 600 Philistines with an ox-goad. An ox-goad was about 10 feet long and about 6 inches around. It had a sharp metal tip and was used to prod and turn oxen. The other end was flat and had curved blade for cleaning a plow. With this farm tool, he killed 600 Philistines. The other part we see is that he served Israel. He was a good leader as he wanted to serve his country and not himself.

These men were raised by God at the right time to deliver the people from the hands of the enemy. You may be thinking what am I here for or what is my purpose and I wish I could tell you each in detail what you will be doing in a specific way. The only think I can tell you is to seek after the Lord with all your heart. When you do, you will see what your purpose is for. Ephesians 5:15-17 says, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

When my wife told me that she was pregnant I was really excited. I was somewhat afraid because I know I am responsible in how I raise my children. I need to raise them up in the ways of the Lord and the reason is so that they may need to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and not depart from Him. In this chapter Joshua passed away and all the elders have died too. All that is left are a new generation that does not know the Lord.

Israel is Unfaithful

In verse 11 we read that this new generation did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They abandoned the Lord and served after the idols. They went after fake gods. These gods were what the other inhabitants worshiped. Because of this the Lord gave them into the hands of the enemy. This was a warning that Joshua gave them and Moses, but yet this new generation did not know or even listen. 

God Still Cares

God will raise up Judges to save them out of the hand of the enemy. Even though He did this but they still did not stop completely. They would stop when the time was bad but when they were delivered by God they would fall into the same cycle again. A generation that was delivered would die and the new ones would forget who God is and fall into sin again. 

We can be like this when it comes to sin in our life. We can get far into sin and get so far we cry out for help, God who is faithful will rescue us. But when life is good we can forsake God and fall into sin again and cry for help, God will rescue us. We need to not fall into this cycle which many Christians do. They all live for the Lord on days when they are hard, but when life is good they can forget God. Where do you fall into with that mold? Are you someone who follows after the Lord no matter when life is hard or good? Do you know that God is there when things are tough and when things are good? Do you know that God has our plans all laid out? Don’t be like the next generation that forsook God, be one that passes on the knowledge of the Lord.