Living Below Provision
Series: Lessons from Judges
Judges 1:1-2:20[1]
7-17-05
The book of Judges begins with some wonderful victories for the people of God. God has given Israel Canaan land and told them to possess the land. In Deuteronomy 7:1-6 He told them to utterly destroy the Canaanites. There was to be no compromise—no treaties—just go in and defeat the enemy and possess the Promise Land.
In Judges 1:2 we see Judah leading the way[2] in that great commission God had given them in that day. They defeated the Perizzites and some other Canaanites. They captured a king named Adoni-Bezek (ad oh nigh-BEE zek) and cut of his big toes and thumbs. That seems like a mighty strange thing to do to someone but in Judges 1:7 we find that is exactly what this man has been doing to other people. In fact, he himself acknowledges this as payback from God. The principle of reaping what you sow is introduced early on in this book. And we will see a lot of it as we go on.
Old Caleb is still going strong. He is an outstanding leader and man of faith. When he and Judah come up against the city of Debir (DEE-buhr) he offers to give his daughter in marriage to the man courageous enough to capture the town. That’s when we get introduced to the first Judge in this book. He is a member of Caleb’s clan and his name is Othniel (AHTH-nih-el). What a woman he gets when he marries Acsah (AK-suh), Caleb’s daughter. At this point in the story we are seeing some upright, admirable people. Acsah is a woman of character and vision, just like her dad. She encourages her new husband to ask her father for land. That was probably in addition to her dowry.[3] But she doesn’t stop there. In verse 15 she also asks him to give her springs of water. The land and the water were symbolic of spiritual inheritance and blessing. She had a vision for fruitfulness. Even in that patriarchal society she asked boldly of her father and received. “You have not because you ask not.” It was Caleb’s good pleasure to give that inheritance to Acsah and it is your Heavenly Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. We are reminded of Caleb’s request to Moses in Joshua 14 for Mount Hebron. That was a powerful demonstration of Caleb’s faith and is now in his daughter, Acsah, is manifesting the same kind of faith.
But the positive tone of this whole story begins to turn in Judges 1:19. Instead of experiencing complete victory, God’s people begin to enjoy only partial victory. Verse 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..” Verse 21 “The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.” In other words, these people settled for partial victory in their lives. They came to accept the enemy in their lives as “just the way it is.” I think most of us know something about the temptation to do that.
All the way through the rest of this chapter we see God’s people settling for far less than God had for them. Verse 27 “But Manasseh did not drive out the people...” Verse 28 ends with the words “but never drove them out completely.” Verse 29 “Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer ....” Verse 30 “Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron...” Verse 31 “Nor did Asher...” Verse 33 “Neither did Naptali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh...” Verse 34 “The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country...” The point of all this is that God’s people are not pressing into full victory that is theirs in God. They don’t have to live in half-defeat. God has provided for them all things that pertain to life and godliness.[4] But the battles were real—and they simple decided to settle—settle for less—live below their provision.
I can tell you from personal experience—the battles we face are just as real. They are spiritual battles—but we too become tempted to settle for less than complete victory.
In the beginning of Chapter 2 God confronts them about this. He reminds them of what great things He has done for them in the past and what great promises He has given them. Then He concludes verse 2 with these words, “Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?” That would be a hard word to receive, wouldn’t it? Can you imagine what it would be like to have God send an Angel to us this morning and the word of the Lord through that Angel be “Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?” How should a person respond to a word like that? Their united response in recorded in Judges 2:4. They wept loudly. They even offered sacrifices to the LORD. That’s quite a response. It sounds like genuine repentance. But if it was, the repentance was short lived.[5] The rest of the book gives a story of spiritual decline—not revival.
I know that God has to grant repentance for us to really make a significant turn around.[6] Repentance is not something we can do without God. It’s not something we can make happen and then give it to God. It is something we do in cooperation with God. My concern when I read this story is that my personal repentance be more than superficial. I don’t want to weep because I’m disappointed about my circumstances. I don’t want to sacrifice and do religious things to somehow buy off God. I want to have a deep change of heart when I have failed God. It seems like the repentance in these people’s hearts were as half-hearted as their warfare. It seems that it produced no permanent change in the way they lived. May God give each and everyone of us deep repentance when repentance is needed. Amen?
We find in the last part of Judges 2 insight as to why and how these people are falling into spiritual decline.
(1) They failed to teach their children the way of the Lord. Perhaps that is our first and most important responsibility as parents. We can do a lot of things right in raising our kids—we can provide for them well; we can teach them moral values and how to be a success by the world’s standards. But if they don’t come to know the LORD and serve the LORD as adults what good is all that? Judges 2:10 says “After that whole generation (speaking of Joshua’s generation) had been gathered to their fathers (or died), another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what He had done for Israel.” That statement is foundational to everything else we’re going to see in this book. Judges 2:11 “Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.” Circle that word “Then” because it highlights the importance of passing our faith on to our children.
(2) Verse 12 gives us both sides of the problem. One the one hand “They forsook the LORD...” That seldom happens in one decisive moment. It usually happens rather gradually so that the person hardly notices the change. There is just a little less passion for God—a little less hunger for the word of God—a few more services missed here and there. If it came all of a sudden the person would be horrified at the thought. But when we back off from God and His people little by little it seems so reasonable—we always have our reasons why we don’t press into God. We may even intend to press into God even while we’re pulling back on our commitment. They forsook the LORD. While they were doing that the vacuum was being filled with other things. That’s the other side of the problem. That’s partially why it goes so unnoticed. They are just as busy as before. The time is filled up. They are even drawing some temporary satisfaction from what they are doing. Verse 12 continues “They followed and worshipped various gods of the people around them.” It’s easy to read those words and miss the application in our own lives. “They followed...” What are you following? What are you pursuing in your life? Has anything taken on an inappropriate prominence? “They followed and worshipped various gods of the people around them.” Devotion is a word closely akin to worship. They devoted themselves to something other than the LORD. Their commitment and alliance shifted from the LORD to something else.[7]
Then look what God does to His own people as a result of their unfaithfulness.
(1) Judg 2:14 “In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.”
It’s helpful to understand how God dealt with these people because He does not change.[8] These people (1Cor. 10 tells us) are examples for us to learn from. Their defeat was not essentially because of the Devil. It was essentially because of the bad choices they were making. Warfare is real. But when we are fully obedient to the LORD victory over the Devil and his forces are a sure thing. We may not understand all the dynamics of what is happening around us. But our key to victory is very simply—obedience to God. It’s human nature to try to find some religious formula or relic or something to circumvent this issue of obedience. But in the final analysis obedience works and nothing else will. Israel was defeated not because they didn’t know how to speak in faith or because they misused some formula. They were defeated because they chose to live in disobedience.
(2) God’s correction of His people in both OT and NT is always seasoned with grace. He sends the difficulties not for their destruction but for their redemption. It is designed to get their attention and turn them back to the only One Who can help them. Verse 16 says “Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.” God’s motive is clearly stated in verse 18 “...for the LORD had compassion on them...”
It is very, very important for every Christian to understand how God is dealing with His people here in Judges. If we miss this we will be baffled about a lot of things that we really don’t need to be baffled about. If we miss this we will be rebuking the Devil when we need to be repenting of our sins. If we miss this we will be looking for some silver bullet to save the day when what God is looking for in our lives is obedience. The LORD only requires one thing from you and me—and it’s the same thing for everyone of us: obedience. “To obey is better than sacrifice.”[9] In the history of Israel they made all kinds of attempt to get around that one thing. They gave God sacrifices. They went through rituals. They tried fasting.[10] But only when they obeyed did the answer come.
As I read through the book of Judges this last week I became convinced that what is obvious to the writer of Judges and what is obvious to you and me as we read this book was not so obvious to those people. Most of the time, they were backslidden and hardly realized it. They knew something was not right somewhere somehow. But they thought that since they were God’s people it should all work. Where was the God who had promised to be with them? Why weren’t they experiencing more victory? In truth, He was there and He was at work calling them to obedience.
I have entitled this message, “Living Below Provision.” Are you living in the fullness of victory that Christ has provided for you at Calvary? As I ask myself that question I had to honestly admit that I am not living in the fullness of my provision in Christ. In what ways am I being robbed by a lack of full obedience to God in my life? If we are living a half defeated life it is not God’s fault. He has provided everything we need for victory. We must take responsibility for our own choices. Don’t blame it on the Devil. Don’t blame it on your husband or wife? Don’t blame it on the church. Go to God and ask Him to bring you into full victory. If God is speaking to you the way He has been speaking to me I invite you to open your heart to Him during these next few minutes and allow Him to show you any area of incomplete obedience in your life.[11]
Invitation
TEXT: Judges 1:1-2:19
1:1 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 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. 21 The 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. 23 When 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. 34 The 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. 36 The boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Pass to Sela and beyond.
Judges 2
2:1 The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, ’I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be [thorns] in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."
4 When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, 5 and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD. 6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. 7 The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel. 8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
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. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress. 16 Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the LORD’s commands. 18 Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
(from New International Version)
Richard Tow
Grace Chapel Foursquare Church
Springfield, MO
www.gracechapelchurch.org
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[1] Deut. 7:1-6 was read at the beginning of the service. The Judges text is provided at the end of this manuscript. All Scripture quotes are from New International Version unless otherwise indicated.
[2] In Genesis 49 we see Judah emerging into prominence the honor having been forfeited by his older brothers because of bad choices.
[3] Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth (Volume 6) in The New American Commentary, ed. E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2002) 96. According to Block Debir was the dowry.
[4] 2Peter 1:3
[5] The chronology of the book of Judges is difficult. Block’s analysis (p. 61) concludes that some of the Judges must have overlapped one another for the years to match 1Kings 6:1.
[6] Acts 11:18; Romans 2:4; 2Cor. 7:10
[7] In one service I followed this up talking about how we can tell what our commitments are by looking at our check books and our Daytimers. Commitment can be measured by time and money while talk is cheap.
[8] Mal. 3:6; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17
[9] 1Samuel 15:22
[10] This is clearly demonstrated in Isaiah 1 and 58.
[11] In the first service we used a video clip (1:29:17 to 1:31:26) from “Spanglish” to illustrate how people’s bad choices can rob them of life’s best.
