Judges: Who is Your King?

1:1-36, 2:20-21, 21:25 (Pastor Heo)

Israel Fights the Remaining Canaanites

1:11-15pp — Jos 15:15-19

1 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?” 2 The LORD answered, “Judah is to go; I have given the land into their hands.” 3 Then the men of Judah said to the Simeonites their brothers, “Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.” So the Simeonites went with them. 

4 When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek. 5 It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites. 6 Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. 7 Then Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there. 8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire. 

9 After that, the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev and the western foothills. 10 They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. 11 From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher). 12 And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.” 13 Othniel (1st judge) son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage. 

14 One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?” 15 She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” Then Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs. 16 The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad. 

17 Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites their brothers and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed the city. Therefore it was called Hormah.18 The men of Judah also took Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron–each city with its territory. 19 The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots. 

20 As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak. 21The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites. 22 Now the house of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them. 23When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz), 24 the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.” 25 So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family. 26 He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day. 

27 But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. 28 When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. 29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. 30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them; but they did subject them to forced labor. 31 Nor did Asher drive out those living in Acco or Sidon or Ahlab or Aczib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob, 32 and because of this the people of Asher lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land. 

33 Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them. 34The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain. 35 And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the house of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor. 36The boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Pass to Sela and beyond.

…

20 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers and has not listened to me, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.

…

25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.

Conclusion:

Romans 15:4 “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us.” (Even the book of Judges was written to teach us – to give us an example, so that we may not sin as they sinned.)

Title: Judges (main character(s) are judges) = 12

At that time, “Judge” is different from today’s Judge in function – he was a political, military savior, deliverer, protector. Also, Judges is a book of failure stories as a cycle – this is a book of Judgment from God.

It covers 350 years of “Dark Ages” – physically, spiritually, morally, mentally, etc.

Last time, the Israelites entered Canaan and conquered and settled the land – but they didn’t finish the mission during Joshua’s lifetime – so the job of conquering and driving out the nations must be continued. Therefore, the first chapter/verse = “After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, ‘Who will be the first to o up and fight for us against the Canaanites?’” – but they failed.

Judges and Joshua are in stark contrast.

1. Joshua = conquered the land through obedience to God
2. Judges = failure time and time again due to their disobedience

Here is the cycle, (5 stages = sin)

1. S-words:
   1. Sin,
   2. solitude,
   3. supplication,
   4. salvation,
   5. silence
2. R-words:
   1. rebellion,
   2. retribution,
   3. repentance,
   4. restoration,
   5. rest
3. Detailed description of each stage:
   1. Followed the ways of the people around them
   2. God sold them to the nations around them
   3. They cried out to God, “we sinned!”
   4. God raised a Judge and delivered them
   5. They enjoyed rest and peace for some time
   6. Then…. they went back to Step #1… again (12 times in Judges – wow, habitual sin is a big deal)

2 steps forward, 2 steps back…

It’s a self-propagating cycle.

Your life cycle is also a cycle. CHECK your life cycle.

Open to Judges 2

Let us repeat this story of Cycle 12 times – until the end of the sermon (I CAN do that)

1. Judges 2:11 “Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD…”
2. Judges 2:19 “They refused to give up their evil practices and … ways.”
3. Judges 3:7 “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD… (again)”
4. Judges 3:12 “Once again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. Because they did this evil, the LORD gave them over to … king of Moab.” Yewood (2nd judge)
5. “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD.”
6. Judges 6:1 “Again…” (7,8 = the story of Gideon)
7. Judges 10:6 “Again… evil in the eyes of the LORD…”
8. Judges 13, 14, 15, 16 = (Samson)
   1. He is a well-known judge – but he is a COMPLETE failure.
9. Judges 13:1 “Again… evil in the eyes of the LORD…” (at least 8 times repeated throughout the book)

12 Judges:

1. Othniel (chp 3) = nephew of Caleb, saved Israel from the hand of Aran
2. Yehu (the left-handed)
3. Shamgar
4. Deborah (woman/prophetess)
5. Gideon – there was a war between the Israelites and Middionites -God said, “Yo, there are too many soldiers here. I can’t help you win with so many guys. Tell some of them to go home.” (22,000 left – 10,000 remained).God said, “Woah, woah, that’s still too many. Just let them drink and I’ll choose the best water drinkers.” (kneeling, with 2 hands = 300 (stay); lapping water with mouth like a dog = 9,700 (go home fellas)) -Gideon divided this 300 into 3 groups – and he gave them trumpets and jars with torches inside (no weapons at all). “When I blow my trumpet – you blow yours. When I shout, you shout. When I break the jar, break yours.” – they did it “For the LORD!” – 300 men with torches and trumpets and shouting surrounding the Midianite camp – they were so surprised and shocked that they killed each other. This was God’s strategy shown to Gideon. After this, they enjoyed peace and rest for 40 years.But then………….. “evil in the eyes of the LORD”
6. Torah (23 years)
7. Gial (22 years)
8. Jepsah (6 years)
9. Ipsan (7 years)
10. Elon
11. Abdon (8 years)
12. Samson (last judge) – 20 years leader – his story is a COMPLETE failure (not a success) – chp 13-16

Samson

One day, an angel of the LORD appeared to a woman and told her she would conceive a son and he would deliver his people from the Philistines – he would be a Nazarite (consecrated, set apart, NO wine, NO cutting hair, NO touching bad things (corpse – even his own family members) from the day of his birth to his death (sounds a lot like Jesus actually – foreshadowing~~~but a failure)

• Samson was so strong physically – he killed 1,000 dudes at once with just the jawbone of a donkey.
• Yet, he was SO weak toward a woman. He married a Philistine woman (enemy of Israel) – he went to prostitutes, he fell in love with ANOTHER Philistine woman (Delilah).

The Philistine ruler asked her to figure out his power and how they could capture him. Via “pillow talk” she tried to get his secret out. And he eventually let her know.

1. (At first, it was false – “If anyone ties me up with 7 new, fresh, ties, I will become weak – my Kryptonite”) – Delilah did it and yelled “Samson, oh no~~~ They got you!” But he snapped them like strings. (Stupid Samson didn’t catch on the first X number of times – she’s tricking you, buddy)
2. She tried again – this time with rope. Again he busted it. Delilah kept at him (lose the girl Samson, she’s not good for you…)
3. Now he says, “Don’t weave my hair, baby…” She did it (obviously) and tried again (oops he passed again) – Dude – get rid of your temptations. This is the 3rd time. Geez, just run like Joseph.
4. Delilah KEPT pushing and nagging and Samson became “tired to death” and finally just told the big secret (“don’t cut my hair baby”) – immediately, the power of God (Spirit of God) left him – he didn’t know it at that time.

He was arrested, put in prison, bound by bronze shackles, eyes poked out.

One day, they praised their god Dagon and had a huge party to entertain themselves over the capture of Samson – he prayed, “Oh God, remember me, let me die with the Philistines – give me back my strength.”

He reached out his hands to the two pillars beside him and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he brought down the house – killing all the Philistines in the building with him.

Chp 17-21 (last 5 chapters) = one of the WORST stories of depravity in the whole Bible. Idolatry, immorality, civil war.

How terrible, the story of Judges.

Their mission was to fight against the 7 nations in Canaan, and yet… they ended up fighting amongst themselves – a civil war (like North/South Korea).

This is the story of Judges.

Conclusion:

Romans 15:4 “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us today so that we may not sin as they sinned.”

What lessons can we learn? MANY We have MUCH to learn from the stories of failures – often more than from the stories of successes.

Let me point out 3 things that we can apply in our practical, daily, faith lives today:

They did not have 3 things they should have had.

This is a very important lesson we can apply today.

#1. They have no education of the Word of God from parents to children

(BIG MAJOR point here) we must put this into practice today. Remember Deuteronomy and Joshua – the final sermons of Moses and Joshua. In BOTH,

• Moses said, “Hear O Israel, the Lord God is one, love the Lord with all of you and the Word of God are to be into your hearts – impress them ON YOUR CHILDREN. Talk with them – when you lie down, stand up, go home, – put this on your gate, on your arms, on your foreheads – IMPRESS this on yourselves and your children.”
• Joshua: “Meditate on the Word of God day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it – THEN you will be prosperous and successful.”

This is a MAJOR point for all of us today. But there was no education of their children in Judges 2:7:

• Judges 2:7 “The people serve the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the elders who outlived him who had seen the great things the LORD had done for Israel.”
• Judges 2:10 “After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD NOR what he had done for Israel.”

That generation should have been the NEXT generation (in the Covenant) but they became just another generic generation.

Remember – THE MOST IMPORTANT EDUCATION for your children is education in THE WORD OF GOD.

1. If you educate them, they will become the NEXT – better generation.
2. If you do not, they will become just any other generation – a worse generation – who doesn’t know God.

#2. They had no standards.

Do you have standards?

The nickname of the Bible is a “canon” – a “measuring line” – or “standard.”

• Also, in the final sermon of Moses, he said, “DESTROY THEM ALL – do not marry them, do not allow them to marry you – if you do so, they will turn you from serving the LORD to serve other gods – do not follow their lifestyle, their culture, smash their idols, burn all their idols, do not associate with them.”
• Joshua 23 in his final sermon “Do not associate with them.”

But they didn’t follow those warnings.

In Judges, twice repeated, “they did as they saw fit” – “they did what they thought was right in their own eyes” (last chapter, last verse)

Judges 17:6 “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

No standards, they were faithful to follow their emotions/feelings.

• “You are a chosen priesthood – a treasured possession” – they should be holy, yet they mixed with the culture – they BECAME Canaan.
• Transformer of the World vs. Conformer to this world. (Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.”)
• (2 Cor 6:14 “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. What do righteousness and unrighteousness have in common? Is there any fellowship between light and darkness? No.”)
  • Like this, we must be holy.
• (1 Peter 2:9 “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a people belonging to God so that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his glorious light.”)

1. Where Bible says, NO, we must say, NO
2. Where Bible says, YES, we must say, YES

We must have things to do and things not to do because we are children of God. Today, the absolute standard is collapsing (even within the church) – God asks us to keep HIS standard.

#3. They had no king. (Who is your king?)

Yes, having no king, this was natural to them because they’d never had a king previously.

Because they had no king, they had no standards. No king = cause; no standards = result.

1. Chp 17:6 “In those days, Israel had no king. That’s why everyone did as he saw fit.”
2. Chp 18:1 “In those days, Israel had no king.”
3. Chp 19:1 “In those days, Israel had no king.”
4. Chp 21:25 “In those days, Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.”

This means (KJV) “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” This is repeated 4 times (“in those days” of Judges).

“They had no king” = “They had no God” as their king in lifestyle, practice. Whatever they were doing and they thought “eh, it’s alright” was terrible in the eyes of God.

JESUS = (OUR) KING

There are two lines from Genesis to Malachi:

1. Jesus = Savior
2. Jesus = King

These two are always together. Do you believe in Jesus as Savior? Yes? It is impossible to accept Jesus as Savior but not King. If he is Savior, he IS King.

If he is not King in your heart, lifestyle, etc, whatever you think and do in your life as “it’s alright” – this is EVIL in the eyes of the LORD because Jesus is not KING.

1. Accept Jesus as KING in your heart.
2. Acknowledge Jesus as KING with your language before others.
3. Adore Jesus as KING with your spirit.
4. Apply Jesus as KING in your daily practice.

Let’s pray.