Judges - 2 (Chapter 1, Verses 1 - 36)
Total Warfare
Before we examine in closer detail the individual judges and the work they did, we are going to take a look at the opening section of chapter one of the book. In this first chapter we learn of the partial conquest of Canaan by Israel. I say partial for this reason: In the book of Joshua the Israelite tribes broke into Canaan to take possession of the land promised to them by God. Joshua assigned each tribe their own special area to possess. However, they did not posses the land all at once. Substantial pockets of Canaanite resistance remained, and so the occupation was gradual. In those areas where it was incomplete there were problems later on.
There is a vital lesson in all of this for us. Warfare against the enemies of our soul is to be total and unremitting. It has to be waged constantly. We are to fight increasingly against the evil that tempts us on all sides and the corruption that is in us. No peace is allowed where sin is concerned, otherwise it takes root in our personal life or in our churches. When it does it starts to weaken us and drag us down. As Paul writes in First Timothy chapter six and verse twelve, we are to “fight the good fight of faith.” Also, in Second Timothy chapter two and verse three he reminds us that the Christian is to be “a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
The enemies that surround us come in different forms. It may be friends or even members of our family who try to persuade us to do things or go to places that will take our hearts away from the Lord. It could be people at our workplace who want us to operate in questionable ways so as to make quick money for the business, even if that means harm to the customer. Then there are the more blatant temptations to get involved, like those around us, in immoral behaviour and the misuse of drugs and alcohol. There are the subtle messages peddled by television and the media generally encouraging us to live for today and the things of the world; messages that ignore God and his laws for our conduct. However the enemy comes, there is a fight to be fought and it is ongoing for the Christian believer.
This opening section of Judges is important as it gives us the political background to the period of the judges themselves. It also gives useful geographical information, linking the various tribes with the cities that they conquered. For instance, chapter one verses one to twenty-one concentrate on the conquest of southern Canaan by the tribes of Judah and Simeon. Their exploits are a clear example of how God blesses action that is decisive and aimed at eradicating evil. In verses four to eight we read that the tribe of Judah fought against the Canaanites and the Perizzites with determination. They pressed on and caught up with the evil ruler of the Perizzites, called Adoni-Bezek. He was a butcher of a man, who mutilated seventy kings and had them scrambling for food under his table. He was put to death in Jerusalem. We then go on to read of further successes by Judah against other cities. Verses twenty-two to twenty-six outline the conquest of Bethel in central Canaan by the tribe of Joseph. In each case it states that the Lord was with them, making clear just why they had success in their warfare.
This matter of having the Lord with us is all important in the total warfare in which we engage. We cannot hope for success without Him. In Acts chapter eleven verse twenty-one we see that the hand of the Lord was with the early Christians as they were scattered across the Roman Empire preaching the Gospel. Because of this a great number of people believed and turned in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. What success could they have hoped for if the Lord had not been with them? None at all! We read in Psalm one hundred and twenty-seven verse one: “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain.” True victory in the conflict with evil needs the power of God’s Holy Spirit to cast down the strongholds of Satan.
At the end of chapter one, in verses twenty-seven to thirty-six, there is a list of various cities that Israel failed to take in the remaining parts of the land. There was an incomplete occupation on the part of the tribes of Benjamin, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Naphtali and Dan. In each case it is recorded that they did not drive out the evil Canaanites but allowed them to live alongside them or entered into some kind of compromising pact with them. Such toleration of their enemies would eventually lead to God’s people falling away into Canaanite worship and immorality.
What was different with these other tribes? There is no mention of the Lord being with them and blessing them, only that they failed to drive out the enemy. Were they half-hearted and unbelieving in their efforts and so failed to have God’s blessing and success? That certainly seems to be the case as we shall see when we come to look at the opening verses of chapter two of Judges in our next study.
Can you see how all of this speaks to us today? Where you have individuals and churches without clear biblical standards of belief and behaviour, who are not fully committed to the Lord, not avoiding compromise with sin and worldliness, that is where you will not find God’s blessing and spiritual victories. The opposite is also true.
You can see then how we need to be like the tribes of Judah and Joseph in our spiritual warfare: determined, decisive, intent on victory with the help of God. If we fight on in this way then we may be sure that as the Lord was with them so He will be with us, His faithful warriors today. May the Lord bless and strengthen you in this for it is not an easy battle we are in.
One of the first things to do is to recognise who the enemy really is. The Israelites could easily pick out Canaanites by the way they lived, their style of dress or their speech. Yet often Christians today are easily deceived by modern day Canaanites, or are too willing to compromise with them It is vital to be on our guard in case we are influenced in the wrong way. Let me explain what I mean by watching out for the Canaanites of our day. If someone speaks in an evil, filthy way, or is dishonest, or leads an immoral, corrupt life, then clearly such a person has no place in the Christian church as a member as long as they continue to behave like that. That is straightforward, an assessment that can easily be made.
But what of those people who worm their way into a church fellowship, who seem genuine, pleasant and acceptable and make all the right sounds? They appear to be true and yet in time they start to suggest all manner of things that undermine belief and sound biblical practice. Christian believers, listening to them, begin to wonder if they have been going wrong before these new ideas came along. Yet they need not be unsettled. They must be unwavering, and they must hold on to their biblical principles.
Where do you usually find a sense of God and Christians advancing in their faith? It is in those situations where there is a love for the Lord Himself, a delight in His Word, a concern for prayer and faithful witnessing. That is where you will find blessing and advance against spiritual forces of evil. That is usually where you will see true and lasting conversions and a fellowship based on love for the Saviour and each other.
Isn’t that what you long to have for yourself and your own group of Christian believers? Yet isn’t it also true that too many Christians and church groups are so often like those Israelite tribes which waged a half-hearted battle and did not see glorious conquests? We can so easily drift into compromise with unbelievers, the Canaanites of our day. Many of them are outside the church, but sadly some are inside, bringing their standards and their lifestyles with them.
This is the time for resolve and determination. There can be no living alongside the “Canaanites”. A distinction has to be made between what God has said in His Word and what men dream up for themselves. Everything false must be rejected. A true repentance and genuine faith in the Lord Jesus must be required of all who wish to join with us and become members of Christ’s church.