So it’s going well with reading the Bible every day, and while the Daily Bread’s program guarantees that I’m done with the entire book by the end of the year, I think I’ll be done a little earlier than that. The tracker states I should still be at Deuteronomy, but I’m going through the book of Judges now.
And now, going through the book of Judges (the earlier chapters, to be precise), I was already expecting to read about how after the death of Joshua and those in his generation, the people were quick to turn away from the commandments of God, and quickly ‘played the harlot’ with the gods of their neighbors.
That’s a lesson on its own. The way I see it, it’s not just with the absence of a good leader, but a good generation, that people and entire nations go astray. A leader can only do so much wherever he or she is brought to… but capabilities increase exponentially when a leader has the backing of his tribe – so much so that, apparently, while the leader and his tribe and even as far as their generation is represented, the rest of the nation stays in line.
Okay, just back there I stated the tribe out of nowhere, and now I’m thinking, is this just between a leader and his generation? Was what we witnessed regarding the passing of Joshua and his generation a lesson, one that states that a leader has his or her impact on an entire generation?
Maybe so, but I think another lesson here is that a leader doesn’t impact his or her generation without impacting his or her tribe, first. And now what comes to mind is Jesus (also Yeshua, close to Joshua) had His own ‘tribe’ of apostles, who then impacted whole generations, and whole nations (all at once at the marketplace, imagine that)… and Christ rose from the dead and ascended to the eternal heavens, His disciples who have seen Him face to face also lived and died so long ago… yet their impact still remains with all of us today, much so that we’re calling ourselves the body of Christ.
Wow, I didn’t think I’d go so far on that… lesson. Guess we’re all learning as we go along here, huh.
But anyway, that really wasn’t what I wanted to point out. Or, you know what? It probably will play into what I really want to share today.
Going back to the readings through Judges, it was clear that even before Joshua passed away, the Israelites had their great successes in driving nations out of the land promised to them, but they were not able to fully subdue the land and its people. Some verses on the matter:
Judah also captured Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. And the LORD was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron. And Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had said. And he drove out from it the three sons of Anak. But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
Judges 1:18-21
And the ESV wasn’t nice, because this set of scripture had the header, ‘Failure To Complete The Conquest’:
Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely.
And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor.
Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon or of Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah or of Aphik or of Rehob, so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.
Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.
The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain. The Amorites persisted in dwelling in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labor. And the border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.
Judges 1:27-36
So what happened was that those they couldn’t drive out were put to what I guess was the ‘next best thing’, or if they couldn’t beat them, they subject them to forced labor… with the exception of the ‘inhabitants of the plain’; in fact, they were the ones who weren’t driven out, but they themselves drove the people of Dan and Judah back.
What was the issue here? I mean, we all read in that earlier portion of Judges 1; Before it was mentioned that Judah could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain, it was stated there: ‘the LORD was with Judah’. Wasn’t it supposed to be a done deal?
I think we have something else to consider here. Now, I’m reading from the second to the last chapter of the book of Joshua:
Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. The LORD your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, just as the LORD your God promised you. Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall cling to the LORD your God just as you have done to this day. For the LORD has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the LORD your God who fights for you, just as he promised you. Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God. For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you.
Joshua 23:4-13
First of all, take note of how it wasn’t just about taking possession of the land, and driving the nations out – Joshua was very clear and thorough in telling the people to keep their integrity; that is, to stay consistent in obedience to ‘all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses’. He told them to ‘cling to the LORD’, specifically telling them that they may NOT ‘mix with these nations’.
In the final chapter of the book of Joshua, we read how Joshua was, again, very thorough (as I suppose any leader should be) in stating the goodness and faithfulness of God, recounting how He was with them through all their time in the wilderness… and then we read this exchange he had with the people; Joshua 24:14-27 reads:
Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Famous frameable verse aside, Joshua reiterates… He said at one point, ‘cling to the LORD’, then ‘love the LORD’… here, seemingly for good measure, he tells them to ‘fear the LORD, and serve Him in sincerity and faithfulness‘. The people respond:
Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods, for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. And the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”
Here we read that the people clearly communicated that they understood Joshua’s point. They were aware of God’s goodness to them through it all, and they said, as Joshua serves the Lord, so they will serve the Lord – also going as far as to specify that it was far from them to forsake the Lord to serve other gods.
But I guess Joshua, even then, saw through them – warning them of who God is, and what they have done… but still they said, ‘we will serve the LORD’.
But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.”
Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.”
From here I could go two ways. First, I could say that there’s a difference serving God, and trusting Him. Joshua told them – ‘cling to the Lord’, ‘love the Lord’, ‘fear the Lord’; but they responded (twice) ‘we will serve the Lord’.
The difference is in priority. I guess we could extract that it’s best to trust in the Lord before serving Him, rather than serving the Lord first, according to our own ideas. After all, applying it to this day and age, we’re in this life together.
Second, and I think this is more important – serving the Lord is not mere lip service. We could convince Joshua (and even then, he probably won’t be so impressed), but it’s where we serve from that matters. If we serve from our own efforts, then we’d either fail or make negotiations and/or compromises. But if we serve from the heart, it’ll at least be a lot less likely that we would fail.
Which leads me to probably my third (secret) revelation – Trust in the Lord, and your heart would be geared to serving Him right.
I could stop here and we’d have some nice lessons: (1) trust in the Lord before serving Him, (2) serve the Lord with all your heart, and when that’s an issue go back to (3) trust in the Lord, so your heart will serve Him right.
But as always, we have to thank God even further… for all that’s done for us by Christ and His finished work.
I mean, thinking about that, right there: Christ’s work WAS finished because He trusted in God… and you know what else that tells me? The reason why we stake so much in the finished work of Christ and its benefits to us who believe – that is, the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of the only begotten son of God completely separating us from sin and proclaiming us righteous, new creations – is ONLY because Christ TRUSTED God FIRST.
Christ trusted God, and with His body crucified, He served God by serving us right, and with all of His being.
The only reason we can trust God, so much so as to run to His throne of grace, crying to our Father at our time of need, is because Christ trusted Him for us first.
The only reason we can serve God right, is because Christ served us for Him first.
And the only reason why we can serve God with all of our heart, is only because – what, because Christ served us for Him, and Him for us with all of His heart?
Sure, but the thing is, He did us one better.. or TWO better, for that matter:
First, He fulfilled Ezekiel’s prophecy. In Ezekiel 36:25 God tells Israel: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.”
Take note of that, before we read verse 26: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.“
Obviously I only wanted to point out verse 26, but I couldn’t help but state how we, through Christ, have had clean water sprinkled on us – we all know how He made us clean, but look: “from all your idols I will cleanse you.”; Now, I am aware that the Lord was speaking to the people of Israel at this time, but I certainly want this for me as well! Gentile or Jew, we have our own struggles with idols!
But, here, the second thing Christ did for us through His finished work is in Romans 6:17: But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed…
And while I couldn’t make as much claim for the promises of the Lord to Israel through Ezekiel before the New Covenant, LOOK – we have so much better! We can say now that we trust in the Lord, we serve Him right and serve Him with all our hearts, not merely because we see Christ as an example, or the One who did it first… Here, we see that Christ not only gave us a new heart, but He made us OBEDIENT FROM THE HEART.
God took no chances. Christ took no chances. The Holy Spirit did not take any chances. God loved the world, that whosoever believes in Christ shall not perish but, by the Holy Spirit, would have everlasting life. We know this. But let’s not stop at that – because besides everlasting life, we have not only been made new creations, we have not only been given a new heart, we have been made obedient from the heart.
This means that we are not so quick to serve God before trusting His counsel… but it also means that we are not so slow to serve Him; Personally, knowing God has made me obedient from the heart has given me confidence of His presence and His being for me during times I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was right.
Knowing God has made me obedient from the heart has me grounded in the Truth of His everlasting love for me, and how I am never separated from it – and that has brought me great success, sure… BUT I’ve also failed greatly, yet this also reminds me and humbles me of His grace, His mercies that are new every morning, and His faithfulness, even when I am faithless.
The Israelites tried their best to conquer… and I’m not judge to where their hearts were, but if they trusted the Lord more, then I’m pretty sure we’d be reading different stories regarding their conquests.
We have something totally different. Christ trusted the Lord, and therefore served the Lord with everything, saving us – by making us new creations, giving us new hearts, and making us obedient – not merely lip service, but obedient from the heart.
I’ve spent more time on this that I had planned, but this was fun. Thank You, Lord.
God bless us all.
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#TrueObedience #TrueService #Truth #JesusChrist #HolySpirit #NewCreation #NewHeart #GodsGrace #Joshua #Judges #Bible #BibleStudy #Revelations #Reflections #BenefitsOfSalvation #PracticalChristianity
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