Joshua 2:11

Joshua 2:11 says, And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: It didn't take long for the people of Israel to forget about God.  They began to worship a false god. Baalim.  We today should not be surprised if people who grew up in Christian families begin to worship other gods.  Christianity is based on a personal relationship with Christ.  If we do not reach people, especially the next generation, with the gospel, they cannot know God, even if they know of Him.  Verse twelve states, And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.  They forgot God, Who had brought them out of Egypt and then gave them their land and began to worship other gods.  Had they driven all the people of the land out, they might have been faithful to God a little longer, but if people do not have a personal relationship with God, they can be His people in name only.  Needless to say, God was angry with His people.  Verse thirteen adds,  And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.  We are told of two of the false gods that the people of Israel were worshipping.  Verse fourteen declares, And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.  Even though this says that God sold the people of Israel into the hands of their enemies, I believe that all he really had to do was remove His protective hand from them.  They had already proven themselves to be pretty weak without relying on the power of God.  If we are a follower of Christ today and fall under the power of some evil force in the world and begin to worship some other god, it won't be because God abandoned us, but because we abandoned Him.  Verse fifteen proclaims. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.  When we are not following God, His hand will definently be against us.  Verse sixteen declares, Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.  God had not abandoned His people and rose up judges to delver them from their enemies.  God is not going to abandon those who are called His people forever, but He may allow them to suffer the consequences for their rebellion.  Verse seventeen adds, And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.  Even when God gave them the judges to deliver them, His people still would not follow Him and obey His laws.  God has made salvation available to all who will put their faith in Christ today, but it does no good unless a person accepts Christ personally as his or her Savior and Lord.  Verse eighteen states, And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.  When God raised up a judge, then the people would be delivered from their oppressors.  God has already delivered everyone from their oppressors today if they will only accept His gift of salvation through Christ.  Verse nineteen adds, And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.  When the judges that God gave the people of Israel to deliver them died, they forgot about God again.  Once we have accepted salvation through Christ, we cannot afford to then forget about God. Verse twenty declares, And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;  Then verse twenty-one adds, I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:  This cycle repeats itself throughout the history of Israel.  God delivered them, they soon forgot Him, they were defeated, God raised up someone to deliver them, and then they soon forgot God again.  When we accept Christ as our Deliverer, we cannot afford to then forget about God and chase after the things of this world.  Jesus Christ is the only Savior that there will ever be.  Verse twenty-two states,That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.  God would deliver the people of Israel again to see if they were going to be faithful to Him.  God never failed in His part of the covenant with Israel, nor will He fail in His covenant with those who accept Christ as their Savior and Lord today.  If we fail to allow Christ to be Lord after we accept Him as our Savior, then we will have problems with God, but it will be because of our actions and not God's.  Verse twenty-three states, Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.  This refers back to the time of Joshua, when all these people should have been driven out but weren't.  God allowed them to stay so the people of Israel then had a choice of remaining faithful to God or chasing after the gods of those people still in the land.  God is not going to remove all temptation from our lives today once we put our faith in Christ, but He is going to expect us to remain faithful to Him,

Judges 2:1

Judges 2:1 says,  And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.  The people of Israel still had Joshua as their earthly leader, but God was still their real leader.  God sent an angel to speak to them and remind them of all that God had done for them.  Even if we have an earthly leader in our local congregation, God is still in charge, just as He always should be.  The angel said that God would never break His covenant with them.  Verse two states, And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?  The angel then reminded the people that they had also made promises to God to not make any covenants with the people of the land and to destroy all their altars, and that they had not done this.  The angel then asked them why they had not done so.  We make a promise to God when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord thst we will remove all other gods from our lives, yet I believe that He too often has to ask us why we haven't done this.  Verse three declares, Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.  The angel then said that God was not going to drive the people out of the land for them, but that the people would be a thorn in their sides and that their gods would be a snare to the people of Israel.  God could have done this, just as He could force everyone to follow Christ today, but He gave them a choice to do what He commanded, and He does the same for everyone today.  God does not remove all temptation from us, but He gives us the power to overcome all temptation.  The question then is whether we want to obey God or chase after the things of this world.  Verse four states, And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.  After the angel finished speaking, all the people wept.  If we realize that we have not been obedient to God, we should weep tears of sorrow before the Lord.  Verse five adds, And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD.  They then named the place and offered a sacrifice to God.  When we find ourselves disobedient to God and repent of our sins, then we need to once again offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God.  Verse six declares, And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.  This is still speaking of the time before the death of Joshua, and states that the he let all the people go to their inheritance.  Verse seven adds, And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.  Though they had not been totally obedient in driving out all the people of the land, the people of Israel served the LORD until Joshua and all the elders of that day died.  These people had seen the great works of God.  We today as followers of Christ have seen an even greater work of God, and that is salvation through Christ.  As long as we reach the next generation there will never be a time when there are not people who have seen the great work of God.  Verse eight declares, And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.  Then verse nine adds, And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.  Joshua died and was buried, as was stated at the end of the book of Joshua.  Then verse ten continues, And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.  After all the elders died, there arose a generation that did not know God and all that He had done for the people of Israel.  We have to conclude that the elders had not done a good job of teaching their children about God, and the children had no personal knowledge of Him.  If we today do not each our children about God, then the next generation will not know the gospel.

Judges 1:21 says, And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.
Though they were told to drive out all the people who inhabited the land, the tribe of Benjamin did not do so either.  We really never can remove ourselves from all the worldly influences around us, but God expects us to remove them from our lives.  Verse twenty-two states, And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them.  The house of Joseph went up against the people of Bethel.  Verse twenty-three adds, And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)  We are told that the name of Bethel had once been Luz, but not when nor why it was changed.  Verse twenty-four declares, 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  Spies from the tribe of Joseph encountered a man coming out of the city and offered him mercy if he would show them the entrance to the city.  Verse twenty-five adds, 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. The tribe of Joseph defeated the city and had mercy on the man and his family.  We have to work with the people of the world quite often, and if we make agreements with them, as long as the agreements are not contrary to God's word, then we need to honor them.  If they are not in accordance with God's word, then we don't need to make them to begin with.  Verse twenty-six continues, And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.  The man did not stay in the land, but went to the land of the Hittites and built a city called Luz.  Not everyone that we show the mercy of God to is going to want to be a part of His kingdom, but that does not exempt us from sharing the gospel with them.  Verse twenty=seven says. Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean 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.  The tribe of Manasseh failed to drive out several people from their land, which God had told them to do.  When we fail to drive all the worldly influences out of our lives, it is going to cause us problems later on.  Verse twenty-eight declares,  And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.  Then verse twenty-nine adds, Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.  Another of the tribes of Israel failed to drive out the people of the land, but instead attempted to profit from them being there.  We need to be careful that we don't allow the things of this world to remain in our lives simply because they are profitable.  Verse thirty declares, Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.  Then verse thirty-one adds, Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob:  Verse thirty-two continues, But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out.  The tribes of Zebulon and Asher also failed to drive out all the inhabitants of the land.  Verse thirty-three says, Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became tributaries unto them.  The tribe of Nephtali did not drive all the people out, but they did make some of them pay tribute to them.  In none of these cases was this what God had told them to do.  We cannot compromise what God tells us to do and still be successful in our spiritual life, even if doing so might be the easiest or most profitable thing to do.  Verse thirty-four declares, And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:  Verse thirty-five adds, 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.  The Amorites prevailed against the tribe of Dan, forcing them up into the mountain, but the tribe of Joseph prevailed against the Amorites and forced the Amorites in their land to pay them tribute.  Verse thirty-six concludes, And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.  God had given specific instructions that the people of Israel were to drive out all the people in the land, but over and over they failed to do so.  God had said He would be with them to give them the victory, but they often failed to claim it.  God did not change or fail them, so the failure had to be a lack of faith or concern on the part of the people.  When we fail to carry out God's calling that He gives us today as followers of Christ, then it must be due to a lack of faith or concern on our part.  God will never fail us.

Judges 1:11

Judges 1:11 says, And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher:  This is still speaking of the tribe of Judah in their battle against the people of Canaan.  Verse twelve states, And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.  We have the account of Caleb offering his daughter as a wife to any man who defeated Kirjathsepher.  This seems to be a retelling of events mentioned chapter fifteen of the book of Joshua.  It may be mentioned again here because this was a part of the land of Canaan that was to be defeated, and it had already been done so by Otheniel, Caleb's now son-in-law, and this was a review of what had happened..  Verse thirteen says, And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.  Othniel, Caleb's nephew, took Kirjathepher and Caleb gave him his daughter to be his wife.  Again, we may not really understand the way things were back then, or even in parts of the world today, but we do know that Caleb was a man who put this faith in God, so I believe that he was doing what he thought would be best for his daughter.  She would have a strong husband to care for her once Caleb was gone.  Verse fourteen adds, 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?  Caleb's daughter was also looking out for what would be best for her husband.  She was moved to have her husband to ask Caleb for a certain field.  I don't believe that this was from greed, but from knowing that it was going to be needed because of the water there.  When we as followers of Christ ask God for anything, it should never be out of greed or selfish desire, but should always be because we have a need for whatever it is that we ask.  Verse fifteen adds, 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 and the nether springs.  She asked Caleb for the springs of water to go with the southland as well, and Caleb gave it to her.  Again, I believe that Caleb was attempting to insure her safety and security after he died.  We need to do the best that we can to help our children find safety and security after we die, and the best thing that we can do is to tell them about Jesus Christ.  This is the only blessing with everlasting security.  Verse sixteen declares, 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.  Some of the descendants of Moses' father-in-law went to dwell among the inhabitants of the wilderness of Judah.  Verse seventeen states, 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 people of Judah utterly destroyed the Canaanites that lived in Zephath, in the city of Hormah.  The people of Israel had been told to destroy all the inhabitants of the land, and sometimes they did and at other times they didn't.  We may think that destroying all the inhabitants was cruel, but once again, God sees things from an eternal spiritual prospective.  Verse eighteen says, Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof.  The people of Judah continued to defeat the people in the land, just as we must continue to defeat our spiritual enemies today.  This does not mean that we are to kill them all though, but that we are to reach out to them with the love of God.  Verse nineteen declares, And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.  We are told that the people of Judah were successful through the power of God, except against the people of the valley, who had chariots.  I don't believe that the chariots were more powerful than the people of Judah under God's power, but that they more likely saw the chariots more than they saw God's power.  We today as followers of Christ may see certain things as being to powerful to overcome if we see the problem more than we see God.  Verse twenty adds, And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak.  We are told once again that Caleb was given his land as Moses had said for him to be.  Caleb had remained faithful to God, and his faith was rewarded.  When we remain faithful to God today, our faith will be rewarded, if not in this life, then in the one to come.

Judges 1:1

Judges 1:1 says, 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?  Although it says after Joshua died, some of this will be a repeat of what was said in the book of Joshua.  After Joshua died, the people of Israel had no one earthly leader as they had with Joshua and Moses before him, but they still had their real Leader, Who was God Himself.  There may be times when a local church is without a pastor, but that does not mean that they are without a leader, nor that they have no purpose during that time.  God is still their leader as always.  The people of Israel were still charged with fighting the Canaanites.  Verse two states, And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.  God answered the question of who was to go against the Canaanites.  God said the tribe of Judah would go, and He also promised them victory.  We can be certain that when God sends us into battle against evil in the world today, that if we go by His direction and under His power, that victory is ours ultimately.  This does not meant hat we will always be victorious in this world, but we know that God has given us the everlasting victory.  Verse three declares, 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.  The people of Judah asked the people of Simeon to go with them to fight, and promised to go with the people of Simeon when they fought.  It is always nice to have fellow believers with us in the fight against evil today, but we really aren't told that this was God's guidance.  If God had assured the tribe of Judah of success, if they went in faith, then they would have been successful by themselves.  God may have led them to this decision, but it doesn't really specify that He did.  When we work together with other Christians today, we need to make certain that it is by God's direction and not from a lack of faith on our part.  Verse four adds, 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.  When Judah went up against the people of Canaan, God gave them the victory.  They slew ten thousand men.  Judah was not successful because of who they were, but because of who God was.  We as followers of Christ today will not be successful because of who we are in our battle with evil in the world but because of Who God is.  He gives us the victory.  Verse five continues, And they found Adonibezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites.  Judah continued to be successful in their battles because they were following God's guidance and putting their faith in Him.  Verse six declares, But Adonibezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.  One of the kings fled, and they caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes.  This made him unable to fight or run effectively.  Verse seven says, And Adonibezek 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.  Adonibezek said that he had cut the thumbs and big toes off seventy kings who were then subjected to him, and now God had done thr same to him.  We can be certain that one day people who do not believe in God and fight against His people will face their judgment by God.  Verse eight states,  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.  The people of Judah took Jerusalem and burned it.  Verse nine declares, 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.   Verse ten adds, And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.  Then verse eleven concludes, And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher:  The people of Judah continued to be successful against the Canaanites because tey were doing what God had instructed them to do under His power.  We today will be successful against the enemies we face as long as we are following God's commands and are relying on His strength.

Joshua Review Continued

We will continue to look at some things learned from Joshua.  The first thing is that we must rely on God to be behind whatever we are blessed with in this life.  The people of Israel did not just see a particular area and claim it for their own, but they relied on God to distribute the land.  Had they just claimed what they wanted, they could have been fighting each other over a particular area.  We today as followers of Christ must ask not for what we may want but for God's will to be done in our life.  We also saw that in some of the areas that the people of Israel did not destroy all the other people living there.  In one case, they were tricked into making a covenant, and in at least a few others it was stated that they were unable to drive them out.  We cannot afford to compromise with the people of this world, but must drive all ungodly attitudes out of our lives.  God had given them the ability to do this, and He gives us that same ability today.  We are told that when the people of Israel were faithful to God that they were victorious and that God gave them the land and an ability to live at peace.  When we are living by faith in Christ, we should be at peace in our lives.  God has already given us our heavenly home, so the question then becomes how content we will be in this life.  We also see that those who are God's leaders die.  The book of Joshua began after the death of Moses and basically concluded with the death of Joshua.  We need to realize that the earthly leaders of the church today are going to die, but that we need to look to God for the next leader.  Sometimes, they don't die but simply move to another place to serve, but God is still in charge.  Just as the people in that day had to accept Joshua as Moses' replacement, we today must accept new leaders when they come.  Finally, we see that at times there can be misunderstandings even about worshipping God, but if they occur, we need to get the facts under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  When we do, we like the people on the one side of the Jordan may find that the people on the other side really aren't being disobedient to God.  Just because we do not all worship exactly the same way does not mean that the way that others worship is wrong.  I do believe that we have a responsibility, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, to make sure that nothing that is not consistent with God's word is done in His name though.  Next, we will look at the book of Judges.

Joshua Review

We will review some of the things we learned from Joshua.  The first is that the earthly leadership of God's people changes, but God does not.  Moses was dead, and Joshua took his place.  Our faith today should never be in a earthly leader of the church, the people of God.  Even in the local fellowship of believers, the earthly leadership is going to change, but God's leadership will not.  We also see that lack of faith can cause us to wander in the wilderness, but if we return to faithfulness in God then we can go where God wants us to be.  A whole generation, except for Joshua and Caleb, were denied access to the promised land.  They were still God's chosen people, but they didn't receive all the benefits from being God's people.   A lack of faith on our part as followers of Christ today may keep us from enjoying all the blessings that God has in store for us, but that does not mean that we are not a part of His people if we have truly accepted Christ as our Savior and Lord.  We also see that even though they already had the land promised to them, that the two and a half tribes were still responsible for helping the rest of the people of Israel to possess the rest of the promised land.  Just because we feel secure and prosperous in the world as followers of Christ does not exempt us from helping others, especially fellow Christians, in their struggles.  I don't believe that God blesses us just so we can enjoy His blessings and ignore those less fortunate.  I do not see anywhere in the Bible where God said keep it all for yourself, but I find many examples where He said share with others.  Even the feeding of the five thousand began with one person, a boy, sharing what he had to help the others.  Also, we see that if we look to God instead of at the problem, then we will be successful.  The people that the Israelites were going to war with had not changed in the years that the people of Israel wandered in the wilderness, nor had God.  Once they put their faith in God, they went over the Jordan to claim the land promised to them by God.  If we put our faith in God, even those enemies that once seemed so insurmountable will seem small.  It is always a question of faith in God.