The Book Of Judges (2 Of 5) Othniel

I told you that when God’s people did evil, God allowed the surrounding nations to become a whipping rod to punish them.

While they were being punished, He told them that heaven would become like brass and He would not hear their prayers.

After God felt they had been punished severely enough for their disobedience, God would hear their prayers and deliver them from their enemies.

To accomplish this, He would raise up a judge to deliver them from their enemies. This was before there were any kings in the land.

God chose twelve judges to do this over a period of two hundred and ninety-six years.

The first judge is a man named Othniel.

WHO WAS OTHNIEL?

You might say he was a NOBODY!

You see, sometimes God uses a NOBODY that no one has ever heard of to do something He wants done. This is the case with Othniel.

• He had one thing going for him in the category of greatness; he was Caleb's younger brother.

• The Bible says this about him also; “The spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war.”

The events in the Book of Judges that took place over 296 years, revealed not only a cycle but a downward spiral of behavior. As time goes on, the people continually grow worse.

• As the people became worse, so did the judges. For example, the last judge was Samson, and he is hardly an example of morality.

• The earlier judges actually are closer to God, and the people are closer to God.

• Othniel, the first judge, is considered by some to be the best of all the judges. Othniel is the model judge. That is, like King David who was a model King to judge all kings by, so Othniel is the model Judge.

However, the Bible only gives five verses to this great judge.

These five verses reveal something very wonderful about this man. Let’s first look at:

I. THE JUDGMENT

Look at Judges 3:7-8 “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.”

Notice, the Bible says when God chose Othniel in this passage of scripture, two things occurred.

A. LOOK WHAT THEY DID

(1) First, we notice, “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD.”

It seems to be a problem with mankind; they do not know God is watching them.

Illus: The children were lined up in the cafeteria of an elementary school for lunch.

At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The cook made a note, and posted it on the apple tray. The note said, "Take only one. God is watching."

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table, was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. One child whispered to another, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples."

God is capable of watching every one of us at the same time.

Did you know:

• There is not a thing you can do without God knowing about it

• There is not a place you can go without God knowing about it

• There is not a thing you can read without God knowing about it

• There is not a thing you can watch without God knowing about it

• There is not a thing you can think without God knowing about it

• There is not a word you can speak without God knowing about it

God knows everything about us. There is not one thing we can hide from God. NOT ONE!

Did you know that God can see in the dark as well as He can in the light?

“The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD.” God saw these people and He was very angry with what he saw.

(2) The Bible says, “…they forgot the LORD their God.”

We are all aware of the fact that as we grow old, we lose our memories.

Illus: It seems to be a problem with men. Someone said, "First you forget names, then you forget faces, then you forget to pull your zipper up, then you forget to pull your zipper down."

Illus: A wealthy businessman forgets his wife's anniversary and boy, she is mad! She was hoping for a new Ferrari.

She said, "You'd better make up for that this time.” She then said, "In fact, tomorrow morning, there better be something sitting out on that driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 5 seconds! AND it better not be second hand!”