Judges 3:1

Judges 3:1 says, Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;  God had told the people of Israel to drive out all the people that they found in the Promised Land, but they didn't obey Him and do so.  God could have removed them Himself, but He left them instead to prove the faithfulness of Israel.  God could remove all sin from our lives today as Christians, but He doesn't, leaving it up to us to be faithful in the face of temptation.  Verse two adds, Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;  God left these nations so that the new generation of Israel might know about war, when they had not before.  We cannot know how to defeat sin by faith in Jesus Christ if we never face the temptation to sin.  Verse three continues, Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.  Then, we are given a list of all the enemies of the people of Israel that remained.  We may not be able to list all of our spiritual enemies in the world today, but we do know that they are numerous.  If we live by faith in Jesus Christ though, He gives us the power to defeat them all.  Verse four concludes, And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.  We are told that these enemies were left to prove Israel's faith.  We will never know if we will be faithful to God if we never face temptation.   God tells us that we are to go into all the world sharing the gospel, and we will certainly face many enemies and temptations when we do.  Still, God gives us the power to overcome them all by faith.  Verse five states, And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:  Verse six adds, And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.  Not only did the people of Israel not drive out all their enemies, they intermingled with them by marriage.  We may not have all our enemies driven out today, but we should never intermingle with them by marriage.   Though we are commanded to go into the world, we are not commanded to allow ourselves to become the same as they are.  As followers of Christ, we are to be a people set apart from the world spiritually.  Verse seven declares, And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.  When the people of Israel began to intermingle physically with other people around them, they soon forgot God and began to worship the false gods they worshipped.  We cannot follow God by faith and allow any false gods to begin to control us.  Verse eight adds, Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.  Because of their disobedience, God allowed the people to Israel to be defeated by the king of Mesopotamia, and they served him for eight years.   If we allow other gods into our lives today, we will be under their power until we turn to God and ask for His forgiveness.  Verse nine says, And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.  After they were once again enslaved, the people of Israel cried out to God for deliverance, and He raised up a deliverer.  If we are under the power of sin today as Christians, we simply need to cry out to God, because He has already provided the only deliverer we will ever need, and that is Jesus Christ.  Verse ten adds, And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim.  Othniel, Caleb’s younger brother, was the deliverer that God raised up, and he through the power of God defeated Chushanrishathaim.  God sent Jesus Christ to deliver us from all our sins, and as long as we are faithful to Him, they will never again have power over us.  Verse eleven, And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.  Under the leadership of Othniel, the people of Israel lived at peace for forty years, then he died.  Of course, this peace came from faithfulness to God, and if we want to be at peace today, we must be faithful to God and follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit, Who will never die, nor forsake us, as long as we are obedient to His leadership.