Lesson for September 2, 2020
Knowing the Bible
Lesson 16
The Book of Judges
After the death of Joshua, the nation of Israel did not have a man of God to take his place, so leadership was given to fifteen judges. These judges ruled the thirteen tribes (tribe of Joseph spilt into Manasseh and Ephraim). These judges were to act as God’s representatives to the nation. As a nation, Israel quickly forgot the deliverance and grace of God and “did that which was right in their own eyes.” (Judges 17:6)
This attitude of self-will resulted in the corruption of the nation. The men of Israel began courting the pagan women and eventually began worshipping false gods. Each time, God allowed the nation to be opposed by their enemies and each time, Israel cried out for deliverance from the Lord. They never learned the lesson that the judges attempted to teach them. If they had simply obeyed the commandments of God, they would have prospered both spiritually and materially.
The book of Judges covers a period of about 300 years and can best be summarized by four key words: sin, sorrow, suffering and salvation. Time and again God delivered Israel from the hands of their enemies and time and again Israel returned to their evil ways by ignoring the commandments of God. Therefore, failure is theme of this book. How sad that the nation of Israel could not simply obey the Lord and prosper, but their constant disobedience to God’s command to drive the Canaanites out of the Promised Land resulted in intermarriage with the pagans.
There are a few believers who stand out in this book, such as Deborah, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. All of these, except Deborah are mentioned in Hebrews 11 as persons of great faith. However, we do know that Deborah was a woman of great faith and an excellent ruler in Israel. Her story is found in Judges 4:4 – 5:31. Deborah stands out in the Old Testament as a person of valor and a judge of Israel. She was married, she was a ruler, she was a prophetess and she was a warrior. Barak, who was the leader of the army, followed Deborah’s lead into war with their enemies. It was Deborah’s faith in God and His deliverance that inspired Barak and the army to defeat their enemies. Chapter 5 is an entire victory song that Deborah and Barak sang in honor of their victory over Canaanites.
Gideon was also a judge of Israel and judged for forty years. He too was a person of valor and a great warrior and leader. Gideon is famous for putting forth a “fleece” to God twice. Gideon could not accept God’s word that He would deliver the Midianites into the hands of Israel, so he asked God for a sign that it would really happen. God honored Gideon’s request despite Gideon’s doubt and granted his “fleece.”
Gideon was a man of faith as seen in Judges 6:33-40. God rewarded his faithfulness by allowing him to put out a fleece in order to confirm his faith in God. In verse 34 we see the doctrine of enduement of the Holy Spirit. Enduement meant that God the Holy Spirit would indwell and fill a believer for a specify task in the Old Testament. When that assignment was completed the Holy Spirit was removed. In the Church Age in which we love, the Holy Spirit indwells us permanently and the filling of the Holy Spirit is temporary based on staying in fellowship with God by using the Rebound Technique.
Gideon learned by experience that God is One Who fights our battles for us. Those greatly outnumbered by the Midianites. Chapter 7 tells the story. To teach this principle, God reduced Gideon’s military force from 32,000 men to 10,000. First, those who were afraid were send back to camp before the battle. Second, God reduced the force from 10,000 to 300 using a test of drinking from a body of water. All who knelt to drink water were sent back to camp leaving 300 who had drunk by lapping the water like a dog.
Using surprise and confusion, Gideon’s army of 300 attacked the Midianites whose forces were said to be as numerous as the sand on the seashore. When they attacked, they blew trumpets, broke pitchers and carried torches while crying “The sword of the Lord and for Gideon.” The Midianites were so startled and afraid they began to turn on one another and were soundly defeated and fled the city. We later learn that the army of they defeated number more than 130,000. Gideon pursued the enemy and routed the 15,000 troops that were still alive still with his 300 men. After this resounding defeat of the enemy, the nation of Israel implored Gideon to become king over them but Gideon refused and instead said to them, “The Lord shall rule over you.”
Chapters 8-14 give a narrative of Israel failure and God’s gracious patience and sometime divine discipline. Characters such as Abimelech, Gideon’s son did evil by killing the sons of Gideon and setting himself up as the king of Israel for three years until God struck him down at the hand of an unknown woman.
Jephthah, the nineth judge of Israel, an illegitimate son of Gilead who was driven out of the land by the legitimate sons of Gilead. However, God had a different plan involving Jephthah who was a great warrior. When Israel was threatened by Amorites, they hurriedly came to Jephthah with a plead to become the commander of the army so that they could defeat the Amorites in battle. If he agreed, they would make him chief over all of the land of Gilead. He accepted and ultimately defeated the Amorites, but no before trying to make peace with them, which they refused. Later the same thing occurred with Ephraim and God delivered them into the hands of Jephthah.
Chapters 14-16 is about Samson, a well-known character in the Old Testament. He was the thirteenth judge of Israel who fell in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah. Delilah was bribed by the Philistines to find out the source of Samson’s great physical strength. After being deceived by Samson, Delilah was able to find out that his strength was in his long hair, which was a sign of “the vow of the Nazarite” that he had taken as a youth. His vow set him apart to God’s service and was taken seriously by Samson. The result was that God used Samson to defeat the enemies of Israel on several occasions. With the help of Delilah, the Philistines cut Samson’s hair causing him to lose his strength and they were able to capture him. After blinding him and putting him in prison, Samson was brought into the pagan temple so they could “make sport” of him. He managed to get his hands on two support pillars and God returned his strength to him so he could push the pillars down and bring the temple down killing hundreds of Philistines. We see clearly the result of an Israelite marrying a pagan which God had forbidden them to do. Only disaster results when we disobey God.
Chapters 17-21 relate the continued failure of Israel to obey the Lord and the corruption and reversionism of the leaders, which ultimately lead to civil war among the tribes. All these heroes of the book of Judges, though not perfect, were people of great faith. They were able to drive fear from their lives by exhibiting faith in God and His promises. It is this same kind of faith that should be exhibited in the life of every Christian. Everyone is susceptible to fear, even the spiritually mature believer. Fear is a mental attitude sin that shuts down thinking and makes application of Bible doctrine impossible. When fear catches us off guard, it is important to know the correct recovery procedure, which is the Faith-Rest Technique.
Uncontrolled fear is the opposite of courage. Fear causes self-induced misery and often carries with it a punishment of its own. For example, a believer who succumbs to fear has placed himself in a position of weakness. This weakness causes him to make poor decisions, which often bring with them poor results. He has become the product of his own decisions to disobey God by failing to name his sin and to resume his spiritual life. So, to what conclusion are we drawn? Fear can be controlled! The answer is yes it can be controlled by an advancing believer utilizing the Faith-Rest Technique.
The Faith-Rest Technique involves claiming a Bible promise, applying a doctrinal rationale and reaching a doctrinal conclusion. We cannot apply what we do not know. Therefore, we need to be consistent in our intake of God’s Word for the purpose of growth. Growth means learning to use the Word of God resident in our souls to combat and control our sin nature and the influences of Satan’s world system. Since fear is a sin, the first step to recovery from fear is the utilization of I John 1:9. By naming “fear” as our sin, we are forgiven and under the control of the Holy Spirit. Now we are in a position to use the Faith-Rest Technique.
The best illustration of the Faith-Rest Technique is Romans 8:28-32. We can easily follow the progression from claiming a promise, to application, to reaching a conclusion. Romans 8:28 says “We know that God works all things together for good for those that love Him, for those that are the called ones according to a predetermined plan.” This is the Biblical promise to those who are maturing in their faith (executing God’s plan for their life). This promise is guaranteed by God and when a believer claims this promise, it can reduce a very complicated situation into a very simple one. When we claim this promise that God is working all things for our good, fear is brought under control because we are now thinking, not emoting. Fear is an emotion.
Once thinking is resumed, we can move on to step two, application. A doctrinal rationale can be any doctrinal truth that you have learned and stored in your memory. In our passage the doctrinal rationale is a series of five related doctrines.
- Foreknowledge – God’s awareness of all the assets that He prepared for the believer in eternity-past. This assures us that God was thinking about each of us in eternity-past.
- Predestination – God predesigned a plan for us in eternity-past. That plan calls for us to be set apart unto God both now and in eternity.
- Election – God chose each Church Age believer to be spiritual royalty. Since Jesus Christ was elected as royalty, we share in His election because of our union with Him.
- Justification – God declares believers to be righteous. God actually credits His righteousness to each believer, setting up the potential for divine blessing both now and in eternity.
- Glorification – God gives all believers a glorified body. He also gives eternal rewards based on execution of the Protocol Plan of God.
These five doctrines in Romans 8:29-30 outline God’s plan for every believer of this age. By recalling these doctrines, ta believer can remember his place in God’s overall plan, which is another step in driving out fear.
Finally, in Romans 8:31-32, a believer is able to reach a doctrinal conclusion. This passage says, “To what conclusion are we forced? If God be for us, who shall be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up in behalf of us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?”
Reaching the doctrinal conclusion “that God is for us,” allows us to retake control of our situation and restores confidence in God and in our ability to make good decisions. If the problem is too overwhelming, and beyond our ability to solve, we are still able to cope by placing ourselves in the mighty hand of God and trusting Him for the solution. (Exodus 14:13)
Utilization of this technique restores the most important ability God has given us: thinking. This technique does not need to be a mechanical, “step one, two, three,” but can be if the situation demands it. The key is to stop fear in its tracks and restore the thinking process.
A companion sin to fear is worry. Worry is a result of fear. Worry causes all kind of problems: spiritual, emotional and physical. Worry keeps the believer from experiencing all that God has designed for him to enjoy. God did not place us on this earth to be miserable and worry about every detail of life. The Word of God says in John 10:10, that God has given us life and given it more abundantly. God wants us to be free of worry and anxiety by having a relaxed mental attitude. A relaxed mental attitude is possible only when we are executing God’s plan for us under the control of the Holy Spirit. This means staying in fellowship with God a maximum amount of time. It also means using the Faith-Rest Technique, having a personal sense of destiny and being oriented to God’s grace policy. An understanding of who we are and what we have as a result of our relationship with Jesus Christ should cause us to relax and stop worrying. Stop worrying about things over which we have no control, about what others think of us and about the future. (Isaiah 41:10; Matthew 6:25-33; Philippians 4:6-9)