Judges 3:12

Judges 3:12 says, And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.  This is the pattern we will find throughout the book of Judges.  The people of Israel will do evil against God, He will allow them to be conquered because of their sin, they will eventually cry out to Him, He will raise up a Judge to deliver them, then they will soon fail back in to sin again,and the cycle repeats.  Verse thirteen adds, And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.  This time, God allowerd Eglon, the king of Moab to defeat them   Eglon allied with the people of Ammon and Amalek, and they defeated the people of Israel.  Today, people who may not even particularly like each other will often unite against Christians, but hopefully it won't be because we have turned against God.  Verse fourteen continues, So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.  The people of Israel were under the rule of Eglon for eighteen years.  Until we call on God for deliverance, we will remain under the power of sin if we have turned away from Him.  Verse fifteen states, But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.  After eighteen years, the people of Israel cried out to God, and He raised up another deliverer, or Judge, a Benjamite named Ehud, who was left-handed.  Then, God always raised up the right man at the right time to deliver the people of Israel, but also at the right time He later sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to deliver us from the power of sin once and for all.  Verse sixteen adds, But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.  Ehud was clever in his approach to defeat Eglon.  He made a dagger which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothes.  Verse seventeen continues, And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.  Ehud brought a present to Eglon, who we are told was a very fat man.  Many people today have grown materially fat by abusing those who follow Christ.  Verse eighteen says, And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.  After Ehud presented the present, the people who carried the present in were sent away by Ehud.  Verse nineteen adds, But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.  Ehud returned and told Eglon he had a secret errand for him, and asked Eglon to keep it a secret, so he sent away the others who were there.  Ehud was now alone with Eglon.  We often have to simply get alone with our sins and confront them head on in order to overcome them.  Ultimately, it is always up to us to acknowledge our sins, as the people of Israel were acknowledging theirs, and ask for forgiveness through our Deliverer, Jesus Christ.  Verse twenty continues, And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.  When they were alone in the summer palace, Ehud told Eglon that he had a message from God for him.  We today have a message from God for the lost people of the world, even our enemies, and that is that Jesus Christ died for their sins, and that they can have everlasting life through putting their faith in Him as their Savior and Lord.  Verse twenty-one states, And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:  Ehud retrieved the dagger with his left hand and thrust it into Eglon's belly.  Verse twenty-two adds, And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.  Eglon was so fat that he could not pull the dagger out, because fat closed over the dagger.  Verse twenty-three continues, Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.  Ehud left Eglon alone and locked him in the summer palace to die.  Now, we as Christians are not called on to kill our enemies, but we are called on to kill any sin that enslaves us through the power of the Holy Spirit, and we alone can do that.

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. 

Judges 2:19

Judges 2:19 says, 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.  After the judge that God had placed over Israel died, the people got even worse than they had been before.  People today who have been following a particular religious leader, but who haven't really put their faith in Christ, often become worse than they were before if he dies.  Like the people of Israel, they may see him as the authority instead of seeing Gad as the authority.  We need to make sure that our faith is in Christ alone.  Verse twenty adds, 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;  Once again, God's anger was hot against the actions of the people of Israel, because they had transgressed His covenant.  I believe that it was their actions, and not the people themselves, that God's anger was directed at.  God hates the sin, but loves the sinner.  Verse twenty-one states, I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:  God said He was no longer going to help them defeat the nations that had not been defeated when Joshua was alive.  We cannot fail to keep our covenant with God established when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and still expect Him to give us victory over all our problems in life, but we often do expect Hin to and grumble when He doesn't.  Verse twenty-two adds, 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 said He would use these other nations to see if the people of Israel would walk by faith in Him or not, as their fathers had done. When trials and tribulations come into our life as Christians, God may be allowing them to see if we are in a real covenant relationship with Him or not.  If we are, then these trials and tribulations will only strengthen our faith.  Verse twenty-three continues, Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.  God left those nations that had not been defeated by Joshua and did not drive them out of the Promised Land.  God has not driven all sin out of the world today for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, but He has given us victory over all sin if we put our faith in Him. 

Judges 2:11

Judges 2:11 says, And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:  The people of Israel, God's chosen people, did evil in His sight, and served Baalim, a false god.  God chose them, but they did not choose Him.  If we are God's people, we should not do evil in His sight, and we can certainly never follow other gods and be a part of His chosen people.  Verse twelve adds, 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.  Those who were called God's people forsook Him and worshipped other Gods.  This provoked God's anger.  If we who are called Christians today are following other gods, we really are not His people and we will earn His wrath.  Verse thirteen continues, And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.  I don't think we can ever forsake our salvation if we are truly saved, but some people who profess to be saved instead follow other gods.  Verse fourteen states, 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.  God,who had delivered the people of Israel from Egypt by His power, now removed His protective hand from them, and they were defeated by other nations.  They could not stand by their own power, and neither can we in the world today.  Verse fifteen adds, 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 the hand of God was against them, they were under the power of evil.  I don't believe God sends evil our way when we refuse to accept Him as our one and only God, but He does allow evil to have power over us.  Of course, like Sodom and Gomorrah, if we reach the point where there is no hope of redemption, God may utterly destroy us, but this is not the same as sending evil on us.  Verse sixteen declares, Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.  Things were not forever hopeless, because in time God raised up judges to deliver the people of Israel from their oppressors.  When the time was right, God sent Jesus Christ to deliver anyone who will put their faith in Him as their personal Savior and Lord from the oppression of sin and the death penaty it brings.  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.  Though God raised up judges, the people of Israel wouldn't listen to them and  continued to chase after other gods.  Though the gospel is preached today, many people will not listen to it and continue to chase after all sorts of other gods.  Verse eighteen continues, 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. God was with the judges and delivered them from the hands of all their enemies.   God is still with Christians today, especially preachers, and will deliver them spiritually from all their enemies, no matter what happens in this lifetime. 

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 had Moses and prophets speak God's word to them, and they often did not obey.  Now, God sent an angel from heaven to speak to them.  The angel, speaking for God, reminded them that God had brought them out of Egypt, gave them the Promised Land, and never failed to keep His part of the covenant He made with them.  We as followers of Christ enter into a covenant relationship with Him and He will never fail to keep His part of the covenant.  Verse two adds, 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 said that their part of the covenant was to make no leagues with the inhabitants of the land and to tear down their idols, but that they had not done this.  He then asked them why.  As Christians, we are to make no compromises with the world and are to tear down all the idols in our life, but too often God has to ask us why we haven't done this.  Verse three continues, 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 told them that because of their disobedience, God was not going to drive the people of the land out, but was going to leave them as thorns in their sides.  God does not drive out all the idols in the world once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, but they are there for us to choose whether or not we will allow them to become a temptation.  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.  We are told that when the angel spoke these words that the people lifted up their voices and wept.  We have One greater than an angel, the Holy Spirit, to point out our sins when we allow them back into our lives, but instead of lifting up our voices in repentance and weeping, we often just ignore Him.  Verse five adds, And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD.  They called the place Bochim, which Matthew Henry says means Weepers, and they sacrificed to God there.  We need to come to God weeping and offering ourselves as sacrifices when we know that we have been unfaithful to Him.  Verse six says, And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.  After Joshua, who was still alive to lead them when this happened, let the people go and they returned to claim their inheritance.  We need to repent when we sin today, and then go out and follow Christ once more.  We cannot allow the sin to go unchecked, nor can we allow it to keep us from going out and declaring God's word once we do overcome it.  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.  We are then told that the people served God as long as Joshua and the elders who had seen the great works that God did in deliver them from Egypt lived.  We have no living witnesses to the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ today, but we must accept it by faith and then allow the Holy Spirit to guide our life.  Verse eight states, And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.  Verse nine continues, 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.  Now,both Moses and his successor were dead.  We may have been led to Christ by a particular person today, and they may die, but the Lord of our salvation never will.  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 the generation that had witnessed God's deliverance of them from Egypt died, a new generation arose that did not know God.  The people of Israel who had witnessed it must not have effectively taught the next generation about God and all that He had done.  As Christians today, we cannot afford to do the same thing.  We must reach the next generation, or they will grow up not knowing about Jesus Christ, the Savior and the only way to salvation. 

Judges 1:27

Judges 1:27 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.  Next, we are told that the tribe of Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of many towns, which was not what God had told them to do.  Today, as followers of Christ, God tells us to drive sin out of our lives, but we too often want to just coexist with it.  Verse twenty-eight adds, And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.  Even as Israel became stronger, they did not drive the Canaanites out, but had them pay tribute to Israel.  Maybe sometimes we don't drive all the sin out of our lives because we are profiting from it materially.  Of course, God was just as strong at the beginning as He was later on, and He was the One Who empowered the people of Israel.  We may think that when we become stronger Christians we will deal with certain issues in our life that may be contrary to God's word, but it is by faith that we are successful, and not by our own strength,  Verse twenty-nine continues, Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.  The tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph's descendants, did not drive the Canaanites out.  Joseph may have been devoted to following God's will, but his descendants weren't so much so.  As Christians, our descendants may not follow God's will, because they lack a personal relationship with Him or a total commitment to that relationship.  Verse thirty states, Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.  It seems that many tribes failed to do as God instructed them to do, even though they were His chosen people and He had already shown them His power.  We as followers, of Christ do not need to be the same way today.  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.  We are told the tribe of Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of many cities, and it seems that the Canaanites might have been more in power than the Asherites.  We as Christians should never leave the power of sin more in control in our lives than the Holy Spirit is.  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 Naphtali did not drive all the inhabitants of two cities out, but they did become tributaries of the people of Naphtali.   Verse thirty-four states, 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 tribe of Dan not only failed to drive out the people in their land, but they were forced to live in the mountains and concede the plains. Matthew Henry points out that in Jacob's blessing of them, Judah was compared to a lion and Dan was compared to a serpent, and now Judah with their strength was victorious and Dan with their subtlety was not.  We cannot be victorious as Christians if we do not live by the power and direction of God instead of attempting to compromise with the world.  Verse thirty-six continues, And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.  Though the people of the tribe of Ephraim helped the people of Dan by putting some of the Amorites under tribute,  the Amorites continued to control a lot of the land.  Though our fellow Christians may help us at times, it is ultimately up to us to drive all sin out of our life.  We cannot be content to compromise. 

Judges 1:17

 Judges 1:17 says, 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.  Together, the people of the tribes of Judah and Simeon killed the people of Canaan in Zephath and utterly destroyed it.  This was Simeon's land that the were working together to capture, just as the people of Judah had promised.  We as followers of Christ need to keep our promises to others, and we need to help one another defeat sin in the world.  Verse eighteen adds, Also Judah took Gaza with the coasts thereof, and Askelon with the coasts thereof,  and Ekron with the coasts thereof,   We are then told that Judah took Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron with their coasts.  These were cities of the Philistines, not the Canaanites, and all the inhabitants were not destroyed.  We cannot allow any sin, which is our true enemy today, to continue live in our lives as Christians.  Verse nineteen  continues,  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 God was with Judah and that they were successful in driving the people out of the mountains, but not from the valley, because the people there had chariots.  This was due to a lack of faith on the part of the people of Judah, because if they put their faith in God, chariots wouldn't have mattered.  If we are faithfully following God, we don't have to worry about what weapons our enemies may have, because nothing is more powerful than God.  Verse twenty states, And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. Caleb was given the land of Hebron to conquer as Moses had promised, and he drove out three sons of Anak who lived there.  Though he was now old, he was still faithful to God and successful because of his faith.  No matter how old we may be as Christians, as long as we are faithful to God, He will continue to give us success as we undertake doing what He calls us to do.  Verse twenty-one 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.  The tribe of Benjamin did not drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem, as God had commanded.  We as followers of Christ cannot compromise our faith and be totally devoted to God and allow sin to continue to live in our life.  Verse twenty-two states, And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them.  The people of the tribe of Joseph, through Ephraim his son, went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.  Verse twenty-three adds, And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)  Verse twenty-four continues, 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.  While the people of the house  of Joseph were on their way to Bethel, which had been called Luz, they had sent spies to find the best way into the city.  They met a man coming out of the city, and told him that if he would show them the way in that they would let him live.  Verse twenty-five states, 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 man showed them the entrance and the people of the tribe of Joseph killed the people there.  Matthew Henry says the man who showed them the way in was not looked down on for compromising his people.  If a non Christian helps us today, even at the cost of other non Christians, we should not look down on him for his actions.  Verse twenty-six adds, 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.  Though he could have, the man chose not to stay with the people of Joseph, but went into the land of the Hittites to live, where he built a city and called it Luz.  He may have helped the people of Joseph, but he didn't want to become a part of them.  Non Christians may help us today and yet still not want to be a part if God's family.