Scripture Reading: Judges 1:1–2:6
Judges chapter 1, we're going to look at chapter 1 up to chapter 2, verse 6. It is a lengthy portion, but chapters 1 and 2 as a whole basically introduce the book. It gives us the background for what we find in the larger part of the book from chapters 3 to 16, the various cycles of sin, oppression, and deliverance by God. And then chapter one specifically deals with the conquest, the incomplete nature of the conquest, which serves as the context of their apostasy.
So there's a lot of emphasis on geography in chapter one. There's a reason for that, a theological reason. The fact that they failed to do what God had told them to do ultimately lays the foundation for what we then find in chapter 2, their religious apostasy, their defection from God. In other words, they didn't dispossess the land of the Canaanites, so it wasn't long before they were bowing down before the gods of the Canaanites.
And as a result of that, that then initiates those cycles that we talked about last week. So I'll just pick up reading in chapter 1 of Judges, beginning in verse 1. Now, after the death of Joshua, it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites to fight against them? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up.
Indeed, I have delivered the land into his hand. So Judah said to Simeon, his brother, come up with me to my allotted territory, that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I will likewise go with you to your allotted territory. And Simeon went with him.
Then Judah went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands. And they killed 10,000 men at Bezek. And they found Adonai Bezek in Bezek and fought against him. And they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
Then Adonai Bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him. and cut off his thumbs and big toes. And Adonai Bezek said, 70 kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me. and they brought him to Jerusalem and there he died. Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it.
They struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. And afterward, the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the mountains, in the south and in the lowland. Then Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron. Now the name of Hebron was formerly Kirjath Arba, and they killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir was formerly Kirjath Sefer. And Caleb said, whoever attacks Kirjath Sefer and takes it, to him I will give my daughter Eksa as wife. And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it.
So he gave him his daughter Eksa as wife. Now it happened when she came to him that she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey and Caleb said to her, what do you wish? So she said to him, give me a blessing, since you have given me land in the south, give me also springs of water.
And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. Now the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the city of Palms with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the south near Arad. And they went and dwelt among the people. And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they attacked the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and utterly destroyed it.
So the name of the city was called Hormah. Also Judah took Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. So the Lord was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron.
And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said. Then he expelled from there the three sons of Anak. But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem. So the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
And the house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them. So the house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel. The name of the city was formerly Luz. And when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, please show us the entrance to the city, and we will show you mercy.
So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword. But they let the man and all his family go. And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day. However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Bathshean and its villages, or Tanak and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Iblim and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land.
And it came to pass when Israel was strong that they put the Canaanites under tribute, but did not completely drive them out. Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Getzer. So the Canaanites dwelt in Getzer among them. Nor did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Ketron, or the inhabitants of Nahalal.
So the Canaanites dwelt among them and were put under tribute. Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Akko, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or Aleb, or Aqzib, or Helba, Afik, or Rahab. So the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth Anath, but they dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land.
Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were put under tribute to them. And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley. And the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Harris, and Eijalon, and in Shelbim. Yet when the strength of the house of Joseph became greater, They were put under tribute.
Now the boundary of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabim from Sela and upward. Then the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers. And I said, I will never break my covenant with you and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall tear down their altars. but you have not obeyed my voice.
Why have you done this? Therefore, I also said, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall be thorns in your side and their God shall be a snare to you. So it was when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept. And they called the name of that place Bokim, and they sacrificed there to the Lord.
And when Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land. Amen.
Introduction
Now, verse 6 we'll deal with right off the bat. It just simply connects us with Joshua. It doesn't mean that Joshua is still alive at this particular point. I think it's just a summary statement and a transition statement to bring us from the covenant ratification ceremony in Shechem in Joshua 24 to introduce the apostasy of what we find in chapter 2 beginning in verse 7.
So it's a transition statement. It's not suggesting that Joshua is here alive at this particular juncture in Israel's history. Just so we're tracking there, if you see that he's dead in Judges 1.1, how is Joshua here in 2.6 to dismiss the people? Well, obviously, if you and I spotted something like that, the narrator, the author himself, understood that.
I think it's a literary device, as I said, simply to connect the two books together. We have a positive statement in Joshua 24, they swear their fidelity to the covenant and to the covenant Lord. And here beginning in chapter 2 at verse 7, it starts to detail their defection and disobedience to God in the covenant. So that's kind of what's going on there in verse 6.
Now as we take up this particular chapter, as I said, chapters 1 and 2 as a whole are introductory. Chapter 1 summarizes Israel's conquest of Canaan and specifically emphasizes the incomplete nature of that conquest. It's because of the reality that they did not dispossess the land of the Canaanites in violation to what God had said in Deuteronomy 7 And in other places, that provided the context or the framework for the apostasy from God that then follows in the rest of the book. Now, chapter one is primarily structured according to geography.
Basically, it starts in the south, moves to the central, and ends up in the north. We begin with Judah and Simeon. Remember that Simeon is a smaller tribe. basically finds its place inside of Judah. They are fraternal brothers or they are real brothers.
Both of them are sons of Jacob and Leah. So then moving up from there we see the exploits of Judah and then we see this interlude between Benjamin and then the house of Joseph, and then it goes up to the northern tribes. So that's kind of the flow, at least geographically, in Judges chapter 1. Literarily, it's kind of an interesting structure.
Basically, it's historical narrative. They go from place to place to place. But there are three human interest stories sort of inserted along the way. This instance of a pagan governor, this Adonai Bezek.
Then this hero's daughter, Eksa, in the Caleb narrative. And then later on, this Canaanite spy in verses 22 to 26. So there is this narrative just basically listing places and whether they won or not. But then there's these three stories sort of punctuating the whole thing. just, I think, to show us the slice of life, the reality that these things took place in a historical context.
It affected real-life human beings. And we'll look at that as we move along. Just one quote from a man by the name of Daryl Block. He says, the author devotes the most time and space to Judah and Simeon in the south and Joseph.
But reflective of Benjamin's geographic position, this tribe is sandwiched between these two. Thereafter, the narration mentioned successfully the northern tribes, ending with Dan in the far north. So that's kind of the way it's structured, as I said, in chapter 1.
The Presence of God with Israel
So we'll look at, first of all, the presence of God. I think that is conspicuous that we need to see and appreciate in this particular chapter, the priority of God's presence among his people. Secondly, we'll look at the exploits of Judah. Thirdly, the failure of the remaining tribes And then fourthly, the divine response to Israel in chapter 2, specifically verses 1 to 5.
So first, notice the presence of God, verse 1. Now after the death of Joshua, it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites to fight against them. So Joshua is dead. But as we've noted along the way, when a good leader dies, it doesn't mean the people are abandoned.
It doesn't mean the people are now on their own. It's still a theocracy. That means it's a people ruled directly by God the Lord. So in the absence of Joshua, they then call upon the commander-in-chief.
They ask him specifically who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites to fight against them. And it's a very positive way that this book starts. I mean, in chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, it seems like everything is going to go along according to plan. God is with them, God answers them, God directs them, God punctuates or highlights the reality that he is present with his people, but we see that as we move on from this particular vantage point, everything radically declines.
Again, Bloch says, the opening scene of the book offers so much promise. Joshua dies, but they ask the Lord. He goes on to say, the theocratic system is still in place, Israel is sensitive to the will of God, and God responds to the overtures of His people. In its present position, after the book of Joshua, the reader expects a continuation of the triumphant narrative encountered in the previous book.
When we read verses 1 and 2, we think everything's just going to continue on the way that it did. But we know that man is a sinful being. Man rebels against God. In fact, this book of Judges is very interesting in that particular way.
Remember in the book of Deuteronomy, they're told to obey, and they will get blessed. They're told if they disobey, they will be cursed. Now, of course, they disobey, and they do get cursed. There is oppression.
There is repercussion for their sins. But there's still deliverance. The emphasis is always upon the grace and the mercy and the kindness and the goodness of God. Every act of deliverance that you find through these human judges is affected by a God who is full of kindness toward his people.
The book really highlights, yes, the depravity of man, the wickedness of man, and his rebellion and rejection of God, but it highlights the gracious character and the kindness of our God. As the author will demonstrate throughout the book, God typically operates on Israel's behalf in mercy and grace. not in terms of a payment for their obedience or for their merit. Certainly the Israelites should have been the loudest singers of amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me, because they were certainly not faithful to the obligations imposed upon them by their covenant God. So the Lord directs them.
Verse 2, the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Indeed, I have delivered the land into his hand. So God not only directs them, but God has delivered them. He gives this assurance that Judah shall go up.
Indeed, I have delivered the land into his hand. And then again in verse four, the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. So you see, when we come to this book of Judges, who's the first and primary character that we need to focus upon? It is upon the Lord God.
He has not left his people. Joshua is gone, but their God is still upon His throne, and He is still leading His people. And then He highlights the fact that He's present with them. Notice in verse 19, so the Lord was with Judah.
And then again in verse 22 at the house of Joseph, the Lord was with them. So even in the midst of the trials and the difficulties that Israel faces, God, the Lord, is present with His people. It truly is an encouraging look at the way that God has purpose to be among his people.
The Exploits of Judah
Now note secondly the exploits of Judah, and this is broken down into two broad categories. First is the upper campaign and then second is the lower.
Judah's Upper Campaign
Notice the upper, verses 4 to 8. So Judah said to Simeon his brother, come up with me to my allotted territory that we may fight against the Canaanites. Certainly this is a good thing here. Fraternal relations are a good thing, not just physically, but I hope that we can appreciate something of the spiritual element involved with this.
Churches, people of God, individuals, ought to engage in unity when it comes to battling our common foe. When it comes to thwarting Satan or resisting Satan or fighting against the gates of hell, it ought to be the people of God, not the person of God. We ought to be like those locusts. We have a king, but we ought to advance with cooperation.
There ought to be that endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Judah realizes the task is great, so they tell Simeon, why don't you come with us, help us to decimate our foe, and then we will, in kind, come along and help you also. It is a good pattern that we ought to follow here. And then verse 4 says, Judah went up and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand and they killed 10,000 men at Bezach.
And they found Adonai Bezach, this would be the Lord of Bezach, or the governor, the mayor, whatever his particular title is, but Adonai is lord of Bezek in Bezek. They fought against him and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. Then Adonai Bezek fled and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. Now there's a problem here, isn't there?
If we weren't online, I'd say, what was the problem? You'd say, well, it sounds like they're engaging in warfare similar to Canaan. They're cutting off toes and they're cutting off bums and all. They should have cut off nothing but his head.
Their task, according to Deuteronomy 7, is to destroy the king. It's not to capture him. It's not to incapacitate and humiliate him, which is more than likely what that means, to cut off his toes and his thumbs. Certainly you're incapacitated without thumbs and without big toes.
You'd fall over and you wouldn't be able to pick things up. That's a very incapacitating situation. But as well it would be quite humiliating for the Lord of Bezek to now not be able to put on his own hat or tie his own shoes and to get extra special shoes because he no longer has a big toe to stuff in those shoes. But they should have never got to this point.
They should have killed him. You see, with the exploits of Judah, already we're seeing they're not being faithful. They're not doing what they're told. Our task is not to be innovative.
Our task is not to be creative. Our task is to obey what God the Lord says. If He tells you to go in and kill everybody in Bezek, you go in and you kill everybody in Bezek. Now, I must say and qualify that in the New Covenant we are not under the obligation to engage in a physical holy war.
We will never be told to go into Bezek and kill Adonai Bezek. We will never be told to go and kill Adonai Chilliwack or Adonai Abbotsford or Adonai... Vancouver. That is simply not corresponding to what we have to face today.
But in this theocracy, in this old covenant arrangement, in this particular situation, they were tasked, they were charged, they were commanded to go in and utterly destroy and to utterly kill these people. They defeat the Canaanites and Perizzites, they caught Adonai Bezek, they cut off his thumbs and his big toes, and they brought him to Jerusalem, and eventually he dies. Does he die as a result of blood loss? Does he die because they finished the job back in Jerusalem there?
We simply do not know. But something that is very intriguing is this.
Adonai Bezek's Theological Reckoning
Note that Adonai Bezek interprets things theologically. This pagan king or pagan governor in pagan Bizek thinks more theologically than probably a lot of Christians do today. Note what he says in verse 7. Adonai Bizek said, 70 kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table.
How come they got there? It's because he was responsible for cutting off their thumbs and cutting off their big toes. He knew that. Now note what he says, as I have done, so God has repaid me.
Now probably he does not mean by this Yahweh of Israel. He probably means his own God. Perhaps he means the God of Israel. He doesn't use the covenant name Yahweh.
He does use the generic name, or the general name rather, for God, Elohim. But it is very intriguing that this pagan, way back then, is thinking theologically. He's interpreting things according to something transcendent, something outside of himself. And what he does perceive is absolutely accurate.
He says, as I have done, so God has repaid me. Adonai Bezek had the doctrine of accountability before the living and true God. He may not have agreed with all the particulars of the theology of the Apostle Paul, but certainly he would give the nod when Paul says, therefore, we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of deeds done in the body, whether good or bad. Adonai Bezek interpreted things theologically.
Not that he ought to be our hero, but rather it ought to show us how far we have fallen. You know, a couple of hundred years ago, everybody just gave the nod to things like providence. They gave the nod to the fact that the Bible was the Word of God. It's hard to find Christians today in some sectors that will affirm the providence of God and the fact that the Bible is indeed the Word of the living God itself.
So certainly, Adonai Bezek could teach us something about responsibility before the God of heaven and earth. And then notice they've got victory at Jerusalem. Verse 8, now the children of Jerusalem fought against Jerusalem and took it, they struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire." Now, if you are paying attention to the reading, you might perceive a bit of a difference to what we find in verse 21. Look at verse 21.
But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem. So the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. It's two different types of things going on here. The tribes of Judah and Simeon took Jerusalem.
They decimated its population. They broke the back, essentially, of the resistance. In Benjamin's case, they did not possess the city's residents. And therefore, they did not possess and control the city according to verse 21.
Davis makes this perceptive comment. What has been taken by Judah may later need to be retaken in order to possess it completely. Unless a site was settled when it was taken, the remnant of the conquered town could filter back and control it again. So we go in, We conquer, but we don't dispossess.
We don't utterly destroy. Then what's going to happen? What will happen is that these people will come back. And that's what faced Benjamin.
And they were unable at this point to drive out these particular Jebusites. So there's no contradiction. It's just that entry or that initial conquest, there's a mop-up task that needs to be done that wasn't done successfully or effectively. But again, we're tracing out the exploits of Judah here.
Judah's Lower Campaign
Now notice, in verse 9, we have a bit of a summary and outline for up to verse 20. And afterward, the children of Judah went down to fight against, there's three regions here, the Canaanites who dwelt in the mountains, in the south, and in the lowland. And that's how the remainder of this section flows out. They fought against the Canaanites who dwelt in the mountains, in the south, and in the lowlands.
So that's what's going on here. Verse 10, victory in Hebron. Verses 11 to 15, victory at Debir. This is the instance with Caleb.
This is an interesting situation as well. Caleb said, whoever attacks Kirjath-sephir and takes it, to him I will give my daughter Eksa as wife. And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it. So he gave him his daughter Eksa as wife.
Now it happened when she came to him that she urged him to ask her father for a field, and she dismounted from her donkey. And Caleb said to her, what do you wish? So she said to him, give me a blessing, since you have given me land in the south, give me also springs of water. The land that was given to them was a deserty-type place.
And she understood that, and she wanted a place with springs. See, sometimes we jump into a passage like this and say, wow, that seems pretty beastly. Here this man promises his daughter to somebody who'll go in and invade tribes. And we think, well, that just wouldn't flow in the 21st century.
We have a much more positive view of women. This is a very positive view of this particular woman. to be sure. In fact, women pretty much fare very well in the book of Judges. I mean, it's J.L. and Deborah and lots of good things going on in terms of ladies in the book of Judges.
There's whole studies on ladies in the book of Judges. Some feminists take the ladies in the book of Judges and try to make the case for feminism from the book of Judges. All that to say, what we find here is quite an interesting story. Caleb was committed to the agenda of conquest.
Caleb was also committed to securing a good husband for his daughter, right? You would want her to have a faithful man. You would want her to have a faithful warrior. You would want her to have a noble man.
Notice as well that when Exa makes this request, Caleb gives it to her. Caleb says to her, according to verse 14, what do you wish? And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. This woman was savvy.
She knew that giving us this Negev-like or this south-like piece of land, it is wilderness, it is deserted. If we don't have water, we won't be able to sustain our family. Exa does not express concern over being devalued as a person. That's not where her concern lies.
Her concern is completely legit in terms of, I just want to make sure I have water so that I can wash diapers and make sure that my kids, you know, eat and drink and do everything they're going to need to do. Both Aixa and Caleb come out of this particular passage quite nobly. Aixa does express concern at an apparent inadequacy in terms of the land. And Aixa very respectfully, very honorably, and yet very firmly asks, please give me also springs of water.
And Caleb delivers to her in this regard. Again, human interest. These are real people, real-life folk, conquering a particular land with real-life interests. I can't have a piece of land that doesn't have any water.
I need water to sustain land and to sustain my life. You see, what we find here in Chapter 1 is bouncing from place to place to place with occasional stops along the way to hear a bit of theology from a pagan governor and to see a real-life mead in the life of Exa a hero's daughter that will ultimately marry off the L and live, hopefully, happily ever after. You see, what Judges does is it not only gives us the facts, but it weaves throughout all of the interesting things that make us want to read all of these details in this narrative so that it's exciting for us. Now notice, the south, verse 16.
The children of Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the city of Palms, that's probably Jericho, with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the south near Ered. And they went and dwelt among the people. Again, foreshadow. Were they supposed to go and dwelt among the people?
No, they were supposed to go and kill the people, get rid of the people, and then dwell. We're all along the way seeing this, aren't we? It's just old hat for us as we're reading. It gets even more prominent when we get to these northern tribes.
In the lowland, verse 17 rather, is at Horma, Judah went with his brothers Simeon and they attacked the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and utterly destroyed it, so the name of the city was called Horma. And then the Philistine region in verse 18, the coastal lowland, they take Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron. Verses 19 and 20 sort of summarize for us in this particular respect. So the Lord was with Judah.
They drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland because they had chariots of iron. Now it doesn't explain all of the particulars there, but we have to make a bit of an implication. If God was with them and they could not drive out the chariots, whose problem was it? It wasn't God's.
Perhaps they were paralyzed with fear. Perhaps they failed to trust in the living and true God. The author does not tell us why, but the statement of verse 19a would indicate that the people of Israel, specifically the Judahites here, feared the men who had the iron chariots. They didn't fear the God, ultimately, who was sovereign over the men in the iron chariots.
It doesn't matter if our enemies have iron chariots. It doesn't matter if they're 10 feet tall and they swing a battle axe that can knock us into next week. It doesn't matter what the enemies of God have if we have the Lord on our side. We have everything.
The Apostle highlights this in Romans the 8th chapter. If God be for us, what can man do? Certainly these people needed a good healthy dose of faith. in what Paul speaks of there in Romans chapter 8. And then in verse 20, they gave Hebron to Caleb as Moses had said, then he expelled from there the three sons of Anak.
Again, a summary statement concerning the final allotment to Caleb. We've seen that in the book of Joshua. So there is the exploits of Judah.
Failure of the Remaining Tribes
Now notice the failure of the remaining tribes in verses 21 to 36. block again says, in verse 21, the tone changes. Notice. But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem. So the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
Notice, dropping down in verses 27 and following. Manasseh did not drive out. Ephraim did not drive out. Zebulun did not drive out.
Asher did not drive out. Naphtali did not drive out. Not only did Dan not drive out, but they were driven up into the mountains by the Amorites. So Block says in verse 21, the tone changes, becoming increasingly pessimistic as the narrator observes what was to be a triumphant campaign of conquest turn into an expedition of compromise.
I love that statement. It was to be a triumphant campaign of conquest it is turned into an expedition of compromise. Every single time we read, they did not drive out, we ought to think of Deuteronomy 7. They did not obey.
They did not obey. They did not obey. They did not obey. So when we get to chapter 2 and they're bowing before Baal and they're forsaking Yahweh, does that surprise us?
Does it make us say, how in the world could such a thing happen? When we initially disobey God, it does not make for a holier life. When we disobey and reject the commandments of our covenant God, it never promotes blessing and health and prosperity and all the good things that we so desperately love. It is through obedience to our God that ultimately those good things come to us.
Now again, It's a general statement. Job was a godly man. He suffered a lot of things. It happens.
The Apostle Paul, godly man, suffered a lot of things. But as a general rule, when we obey God, when we pursue the things of the Lord, generally speaking, he keeps our enemies at bay, and he causes things to work for our good. And again, even in the midst of trial and tragedy, he is working things for our good. We're speaking in general terms here.
So he goes on to say, throughout the author laments the diminishing commitment of the Israelite tribes to the wholesale destruction of all Canaanite things and people and Israel's increasing co-residency with the natives. You see, if you co-resident with them, it won't be long before you're bowing with them. If you hang out with them, you will eventually marry them. And instead of walking down the aisle to make your vows to the living and true God, you'll be walking down the aisle to make your vows to Baal and Asherah.
It just happens. We're not that holy. We're not that godly. It's not the case that we go in and positively affect an environment, it is more likely the case that when we go into a situation, we will be negatively affected by that environment.
This is why the New Testament authors tell us to watch ourselves, to guard ourselves, to keep ourselves, to keep away from those things which would ultimately pollute and affect us in a negative way. We've got Benjamin, verse 21. We've got Ephraim. Verses 22 to 26.
Ephraim is the house of Joseph. Remember that Joseph, the two tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim make up the house of Joseph. And verses 22 to 26 is an interesting life story as well, human interest story. There's a reconnaissance mission.
What does this make you think of? Anybody? Who do these spies make you think of? Caleb, yeah, Caleb and Joshua back in Numbers 13, but something even closer in their time frame.
Remember those men that went to spy out Jericho, and they made a treaty, or they made an agreement, or they made a covenant with Rahab? The same sort of thing seems to be going on here in this particular instance in Bethel. So the house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them, verse 22. So the house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel.
The name of the city was formerly Luz. And when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, please show us the entrance to the city, and we will show you mercy. Now, this is an interesting statement. We will show you mercy.
It's hesed, which is a covenant term, which is what God shows to his people. This is treaty. This is covenant. This is agreement language.
This was forbidden according to Deuteronomy 7 and verse 2. Not a good thing going on in this particular instance. Please show us the entrance to the city. This doesn't mean the gate.
Any passerby would see the gate. Perhaps it was a secret entrance. Perhaps it was a place where the city was most vulnerable. The spies appealed to this Canaanite man and said, help us to get in there so we can decimate and destroy.
So he showed them the entrance to the city and they struck the city with the edge of the sword. but they let the man and all his family go. And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day." You say, well, what's the difference between this and Rahab? Rahab made a confession of Israel's God, didn't she? This man didn't.
Rahab, the covenant agreement, the treaty they made with her, stipulated that she would come into Israel. In fact, we see that arrangement in Joshua 2. When we get to Joshua 6 and Jericho falls, we see that Rahab and her family are now a part of Israel. That's not the case with this man.
This man does not become a part of Israel, but rather they allow him to go on his way, and he remains a Canaanite. He remains an enemy of the state of Israel, a nation of Israel. The man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day. Again, though it may have some similarities with what we see in the Rahab incident, it is completely dissimilar in most important ways.
Again, they are not being faithful to the mandate in Deuteronomy 7. They've entered into a political agreement, they've made a treaty or a covenant with this man to show him mercy. That's not theirs to give. It's not theirs to specify.
It's not theirs to mandate. And so this, again, shows us their decline. We see the tribe of Manasseh, verses 27 and 28. Again, they did not drive out.
They put the Canaanites under tribute, but they did not completely drive them out. They were not supposed to put them under tribute. They were supposed to destroy them. They were supposed to rid the land of them.
The tribe of Ephraim, verse 29. The tribe of Zebulun, verse 30. Note the tribe of Asher, verses 31 to 32. The previous tribes, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, at least they are the occupants of the land. and the Canaanites remain.
Escalating Canaanite Co-Residency
By the time we get to Asher, notice verse 32. So the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. Now it's the Canaanites that is the default population of this part of Palestine. You see, they didn't do their job.
The Asherites are now dwelling among the Canaanites rather than, in the previous instances, at least it was just Canaanites dwelling among the Israelites. This is not good. The author here is a theologian. The author here, according to Davis, is a preacher.
The author here is trying to get these people's attention and telling them, you're failing, you're disobeying, you need to stop. He's banging the alarm. He's highlighting this as an emergency situation. You cannot continue to do this.
And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley. Now, thankfully, later on, the southern tribes assisted. Or rather, the Ephraim tribes became greater. The Canaanites and the Amorites, in this instance, were put under tribute.
Let me just read now a summary statement to kind of put this into perspective. And this is Davis. He highlights that there were certainly strategic and pragmatic reasons why Israel should have dispossessed the Canaanites. When you look at geography, there's certain trade routes, strongholds, places that would be very good to have, right?
I mean, if you were the owner of the bridge that went from one body of land to the other, you could charge people money, right? It's good to have that land. It's good to have that bridge. It's good to have strongholds.
It's good to have places that are good for battle, that you control. So there are really good strategic reasons and pragmatic reasons why Israel should have dispossessed the land of the Canaanites. But he highlights or he comments on the spiritual reason. He says,
The Spiritual Reason for Dispossession
the motivation for driving out Canaanites was not pragmatic, that means practical, but spiritual. Yahweh had warned through Moses, do not let these people live in your country. If you do, they will make you sin against me. If you worship other gods, it will be a fatal trap for you.
Exodus 23, 33. Remaining Canaanites would not be so much a military threat as a spiritual cancer. That's why Israel was to eliminate the Canaanites and the other Ites. That's why Israel was to wreck and demolish all their worship centers.
To be sure, Yahweh would make them able to do this in a gradual manner, but it was to be done. If Canaan's native populations were tolerated, it will lead Israel willy-nilly to intermarriage with them, and you can kiss covenant faith goodbye. So our writers, they did not dispossess, rings with spiritual emergency. It is the preacher's accusation of God's people for covenant failure.
They are like a surgeon who removes only part of the cancer because even cancer has a right to grow and find fulfillment. Tolerance and suicide are congenial bedfellows. That's the point here in Judges 1. It may seem a bit dry to march from place to place to place to place, but when you consider the spiritual and practical implications for New Covenant Christians, we cannot allow for a moment these Canaanites to continue to dwell in the land.
We're not talking about killing people with guns and knives and swords and all these sorts of things. The Puritans, as I've referred to, referred to the remaining corruption in our hearts as Canaanites. We've got to dispossess that. We cannot allow truck with those sorts of things.
We have to maintain fidelity to our God. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone, so that we may be holy and blameless. so that we may put on those things which are pleasing to our God. We cannot compromise when it comes to things that the Lord our God has commanded us. That's very clear in this passage.
Every did not drive out, did not drive out, did not drive out, punctuates the reality that these people sinned against God. And sin begets sin, as we follow in the narrative in chapter 2. It is never a good practice. It is never a good thing.
No good will ever come from us having a lax attitude towards wickedness.
The Divine Response: Angel of the Lord
And then finally, note the divine response to Israel. Chapter 2, verses 1 to 5. The address by the angel of the Lord. Three instances in the book of Judges of the angel of the Lord.
I take this as the pre-incarnate Christ He also appeared to Joshua in Joshua chapter 5 at verses 13 to 15.
Covenant Grace Reviewed
Notice he reviews the covenant grace they had received. Verse 1, chapter 2, Then the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochem and said, I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers, and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. I led you up from Egypt, I brought you to the land, I said, I will never break my covenant." You see, God is reviewing here, via the angel of the Lord, this special envoy, that he's been faithful to them. He's reviewing Covenant history with them.
He's highlighting the reality of His goodness and His nearness to them, which should highlight for them the despicable nature of their unfaithfulness against Him. Note the reminder of Covenant command, verse 2a. You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall tear down their altars.
Remember, they offer hesed or mercy to this man in Judges 1.24. Perhaps the Gibeonite references on the mind of the angel of the Lord at this particular point. Remember in Joshua chapter 9? The Gibeonites concoct this whole story that they've come from a long way, they dirty their face, they got moldy bread, and they go to Joshua and they cast themselves on his mercy and Joshua makes a covenant with them and what happens?
They lie. Joshua didn't consult, he didn't seek, he didn't inquire of the Lord, a legitimate use of inquire of the Lord in that particular instance. That unfortunately can be abused in some quarters, but for Joshua in chapter 9, he did not inquire. of the Lord. Some things never leave, do they?
They never pop out of the old melon. 2A though, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall tear down their altars. Now do you think that when they didn't dispossess the Canaanites that they tore down their altars? Of course not!
If we're not gonna kill these nice people We're going to go ahead and let them have their religious symbols, because after all, we're so holy, we'll never bow down to those things. They were told not to do these things, make no covenant, tear down their altars. Notice the rebuke for covenant violation, 2B. but you have not obeyed my voice." Why have you done this? This is the rub.
This is the issue. It wasn't a lack of military planning. It wasn't a lack of strategy. It wasn't a lack of weaponry.
It wasn't a lack of earnestness. It was that they did not obey God. When all is said and done, take responsibility. We're in the position we're in because we did not obey the Lord.
This is what God says. And then notice the requirement of covenant judgment, verse 3. Therefore, I also said, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you. This is judgment.
When the people of God, or the professing people of God, disobey God and say no to God, and they don't tear down those altars, and they make covenant with false religion, then God gives them over. Again, we see this in Romans 1, 24, 26, and 28. God gives the heathen over. But He also gives the covenant community over as well when they turn their backs upon Him.
And that's precisely what He is promising here and the same sorts of things that Joshua promises in chapters 23 and 24. Now notice, as we bring this to a close, the response by the children of Israel, verses 4 and 5. So it was, when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to the Lord.
Bochim means weepers. That's what they called the place. It was a place of weeping. They were struck.
They were convicted. The angel of the Lord spoke to them, and they saw it. They had failed to obey God, and so they cried.
Weeping Without Repentance
Notice what thing is missing, though. They cry. They offer sacrifice. But what else?
There's no repentance, is there? And certainly when we move through the chapter, there's no repentance. Matthew Henry said it beautifully. He says, this was good that they cried.
This was good that they sacrificed to the Lord. And I think it kind of goes along with that parable of the sower we looked at the other day, the kinds of guys or the kinds of girls that hear the word, they receive it, and they make a good show. but there's no root or there's no reality to their conversion. He says, this was good and a sign that the word they heard made an impression upon them. He says, it is a wonder sinners can ever read their Bible with dry eyes.
That's a good point. But this was not enough. They wept, but we do not find that they reformed, that they went home and destroyed all the remains of idolatry and idolaters among them. Many are melted under the word that harden again before they are cast into a new mold.
That's the important thing to see here. They wept, they sacrificed, but they went home to their altars and to their Canaanites. God doesn't want that. God's not about us just booing because we disobeyed him and offering up a sacrifice to try and appease him.
It is repentance. It is a change. It is a killing of the Canaanites and a dispossessing of the land. and a tearing down the altars so that we do not bow and in that defect from and reject the living and true God. So that is the theological geography that introduces this particular book.
It shows us their incompleteness, which is not just militarily, but it shows us the reality of their disobedience to the Lord God Almighty, and from that vantage point, the religious apostasy that will follow, God willing, next Wednesday, in chapter 2, verses 7 and following, will then be obvious to each and every one of us. So, I know tonight was a little walk through some geographical places, not always the most exciting and thrilling stuff, but chapter 2, holds out more in terms of the religious aspect. And then 3 to 16, we're going to have nothing but fun looking at those deliverers or those judges that God uses. People from different walks of life, people with different places and stations in life, but all used by God to deliver his people from their oppression.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for your grace to us. We would truly say that you are present in our lives, and we thank you, God. We pray that you would help us to be faithful, help us to be obedient, help us, Lord God, as those who've been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and to make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. We just pray now that you would go with us, that you would watch over us.
Again, we ask that you would look with favor upon those in our church that are suffering with physical trials, and we pray that you'd bring us together on the Lord's Day, that we may worship you in spirit and truth. And we ask through Christ our Lord, amen.