What Goes Around

WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND

Judges 1:1-7

1 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?

2 And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.

3 And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him.

4 And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.

5 And they found Adonibezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

6 But Adonibezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.

7 And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

In these verses we have just read, the children of Israel ask God for directions on which of the tribes should attempt to clear their country of the Canaanites.

God had appointed that the tribe of Judah to go up first and even promised them success (v2). I have delivered the land in his hand.

Judah was the most the most numerous and more powerful tribe, therefore God let Judah venture up first.

We should note that Judah ask the weakest of the tribes, Simeon to help in this attack. It’s knowing that God can use the powerful but still needs the weakest to be there for assistance.

In this attack over 10,000 of the enemy were killed. The assault was a complete rout and now it was time to find the leader of this gang, the King of Bezek.

(Verse 6&7)

Here we find King Adonibezek. He was the king of Bezek. The Bible only mentions him three (3) times in the entire Bible. Here in verses 6, 7 and 8, that’s it., we hear no more from him.

Years ago, there was this book called, Jabez Prayer. An entire book was written on this prayer yet there are only two (2) verses in the Bible about it. People swarmed to get it, buy it and read it.

I have also noticed another example of how someone was just mentioned a few times in the bible but also made a drastic change in another person life.

1 King, Chapter 21, we read about a man name Naboth and his vineyard. (Tell about how the King killed Naboth over his vineyard)

There are times in the bible a reference is mentioned to bring an example of how people were treated or a fact of how things happened in a certain account.

Here we see in these verses we hear about King Adonibezek just 3 times in the bible but he affect many people lives.

Not only the 10,000 men that were killed when the tribes of Judah and Simeon attacked but 70 rulers or priest, town officials, even kings of other lands.

Adonibezek had those men’s thumbs cut off along with their big toes. Then he fed them crumbs from his table, he treated them like yard dogs maybe even worse.

I want to use for a subject preaching just a few minutes on this line.

WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND.

Adonibezek had cut off the thumbs and big toes of 70 kings he had captured, or his army had conquered. Now the time had come when the same was going to happen to him.

He had disgraced these men in doing what he did to them.

By cutting off their thumbs they were useless in battle, they could no longer grasp a weapon and fight. By cutting off the big toes, he knew they could not run fast enough to escape the arrows and the men with their swords attacking them.

Plus, Adonibezek knew that anyone that was physically mutilated disqualified a person from holding a religious or civil office.

Knowing this was coming from the law of Moses from the Book of Leviticus 21 in the verses from 16 to 24

One thing this tells me is Adonibezek knew something about God. He knew of the Law of Moses.

Also note here with me in verse 7, Adonibezek said, “As I have done, so God hath requited me”, in other words he knew about God but chose to go in a different direction.

Thus, a righteous God sometimes in his providence makes a punishment fit the crime.