Judges Part 4

Judges 3. A. This chapter begins the details of the repetitive roller-coaster pattern of sin, bondage, crying, deliverance, rest and return to corruption. We see here three judges/saviors: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar. B. The closing verses of JDG 2:20-23 are here given more details (vs. 1-4), a typical pattern of God’s communications to us in Scripture, adding line to line, here a little, there a little. ISA 28:10. 1. It is specified that a purpose of God here “...was to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof” (v. 2). 2. As Christians, we are at constant war with the devil, the flesh and the world. We are fools to think otherwise. EPH 6:10-18. 3. We are best equipped to fight the battle with knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ. EPH 4:11-15. a. God’s people may be destroyed through lack of knowledge (HOS 4:6), lack of knowledge about our salvation and its power based on God’s promises, lack of knowledge about sin and its auxiliaries, lack of knowledge of doctrinal truth which sets Satan’s lies in sharp relief, etc. b. The unlearned and unstable are easier prey. 2PE 3:16. c. The first and most important step is accepting God’s word as God’s word. 1TH 2:13. d. Truth can not only make us free (JOH 8:32) but keep us free. We should not be overcome because of ignorance of Satan’s devices (2CO 2:11) which are plainly exposed in the Scriptures. Overcoming him and his allies is directly owing to familiarity with and implementation of God’s word. 1JO 2:14. e. Fight the good fight of faith by knowledge, strategy and implementation. Know the truth about Christ and Satan’s devices, devise a strategy for avoiding risk and/or fighting lies with truth, and DO. This is faith in action. JAM 2:21-22. 4. Churches need the occasional hiccup to hone their spiritual senses and “separate the men from the boys.” MAT 18:7; 1CO 11:19. a. Handled properly, these hiccups can be both sanitizing and instructive. b. Handled improperly, or not handled at all, is a certain path to the withdrawal of God from the program or the arousing of His wrath. JOS 7:11-13; REV 2:4-5. 5. NOTE: the choicest and brightest of God’s people may well be hobbled by something which God leaves in them as a reminder of their place in His program. Judges 6-26-25 Page 6  GEN 32:24-32; 2CO 12:7-9. 6. NOTE ALSO: Those lusts and sins which we are not thoroughly disgusted with in ourselves (and we are indifferent to them as long as they are not exposed) can easily become our masters and undo us, and they that are the servants of lusts have ever so many masters. DO NOT assume that a spiritual/moral weakness you struggle with is greater than the power of Christ in you to overcome it or at least bear it strongly until the day of full deliverance. 1CO 10:13; 1JO 5:3-4. 7. The five lords of the Philistines were later the golden emerod club (1SAM 6:16-17) an example of stupid, superstitious ignoramuses running a land (or a megachurch). C. “And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites...” (vs. 5-11). 1. This wording sounds as if Israel was the one living by permission: this is not the attitude of conquest! 2. Christ has fitted us with His Spirit and given us His word for victory. Do not let the fact of your native wretchedness with which you have to live con you into thinking that you through Christ are not the master of your personal realm. Be a “can do” believer. PHIL 4:13 c/w ROM 7:21-25. 3. Their mingled relationships with the remnant of the devoted nations which were supposed to be “off-limits” to them did not help them in their weakness but rather facilitated their further fall to where God became their enemy. PSA 106:34-42. 4. Israel was auctioned off to Chushan-rishathaim (Cush of double-wickedness). v. 8. a. It took them eight years to cry to God whereas it took them eighteen years to cry to God later (v. 14). Life under Chushan-rishathaim was rough. b. Stubborn sin will drag punishment out to ridiculous extremes. PSA 78:34. 5. God in mercy raised up Othniel who had earlier shown himself valiant. JDG 1:12-13. a. Othniel was not only a good warrior but a good leader. The land had rest for forty years while he lived. v. 11. b. But then... D. After Othniel’s death, they sinned themselves again into oppression. vs. 12-30. 1. God then did not just raise up an oppressor, He strengthened him against Israel. v. 12. a. Moab had been earlier “off-limits” to Israel (DEUT 2:9) but was now empowered to punish Israel. b. This reminds me of a saint who by scriptural instruction knows that he cannot impose law upon someone else’s liberty (such as wine consumption) but then himself ends up being overcome by the very liberty he was to permit. 2. Eglon means “calf-like” and in this case a fatted calf. v. 17. 3. Moab got Ammon and Amalek on his side and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken (ECC 4:12) so Israel was oppressed for eighteen years before they finally cried unto the Lord. vs. 14-15. E. God raised up Ehud of Benjamin, a left-handed man from a tribe that had no shortage of left-handers. vs. 15-30 c/w JDG 20:16. 1. This left-hander became God’s right-hand man. c/w PSA 80:17 2. Ehud’s tactics of deception were justified by God and the mission, and what he did he did with all his might, heartily as unto the Lord. ECC 9:10; COL 3:23. 3. In a cautious sense, we may be justified in “deceiving” a gainsayer by letting his own foolish argument hang himself out to dry, sometimes publicly, in hopes that he will see the error of his ways. 2TI 3:7-9; 1CO 15:12-13, 29. Judges 6-26-25 Page 7  4. Two of the components of Christian victory are boldness and confidence, like Ehud had. ACT 4:13; PHIL 1:6. 5. Ehud’s forwardness and boldness inspired others. vs. 27-29 c/w PHIL 1:14. 6. Some of the most inspiring moments of Christian experience occur when saints see a brother standing against great pressure. 7. The land rested for eighty years, a notably long season. Would to God that every saint upon conversion would hold fast in the rest of Jesus Christ for that long or more. PSA 71:17-18. F. Shamgar had but one tool/weapon and he used it effectively (v. 31). One faithful man with a Bible which pricks the heart can get great victories without seminaries, computers, denominations, etc. Judges 6-26-25 Page 8