AN EPIC FAIL – Judges 1:1-36

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on March 4, 2015 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group; March 4, 2015 from Judges 1:1-36

Theme: The first chapter of Judges describes the failure of obedience that led to all the problems Israel suffered in the rest of the book.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

What would you think about a surgeon who would tell his patient, “Good news!  I got most of the cancer out of your body.  Only most of it, though.  I did leave some of it because—well—let’s face it; sometimes cancer is a little hard to get rid of.  I tied once or twice; but it put up quite a fight, and just wouldn’t come out as easily and quickly as I initially expected.  In fact, in some spots, it really made a rather compelling case for staying.  And so, after a few attempts, I got to thinking that we can’t be to strict about things.  A prudent compromise with cancer really seemed to be in order.  After all, there’s virtue in being tolerant and in learning to get along.  And on the positive side of things, whatever cancer is still there I was at least able to restrict to certain regions of your body that don’t seem all that particularly important.  I was even able to make it serve a few productive functions here or there.  We’ll keep it subjugated, of course.  You’re strong enough to handle that.  And who knows?—you might even grow through the relationship.”

That’s basically what the people of Israel did.  This first chapter describes the great failure of the people of Israel—after their dramatically successful times of faithfulness under Joshua.  They did not obey God and drive the people out of the land.  From the very beginning of their history, God had warned them that they must completely destroy the Canaanite peoples of the land, lest they make any covenant with them and be dragged down by their sins (Exodus 23:23-33).  Someone might think that that’s harsh.  In fact, many people reject the Bible because of it.  But there are three things to say: (1) you just have to read about the unspeakable immorality of the people groups of Canaan to see why such a drastic measure was necessary (see Leviticus 18:6-30 and Deuteronomy 18:9-14); (2) it’s plain throughout the Book of Joshua that God Himself put His stamp of approval on it all by helping His people in destroying them from the land; and (3) the failure of the people to do specifically as God told them resulted in just the very downfall that He warned against (Judges 3:5-6).

This first chapter begins with a statement that the events that follow were after Joshua’s death (1:1)—even though Joshua’s activities are still described in the book (2:6).  This is probably because the book is meant to describe how the people failed to completely conquer the land after Joshua’s leadership had come to an end (2:7-10).  This sad story of the people’s incomplete conquest of the land is an illustration of what happens whenever we compromise with the sins that God has declared war on in our lives!

I. GOD’S MANIFEST FAITHFULNESS TO EMPOWER HIS PEOPLE (vv. 1-19a).

A. One of the great tragedies of the people’s failure is that it occurred in the light of so many demonstrations of God’s faithfulness.  The people groups of Canaan might have been hard to conquer; but it is clear that the people of Israel could have done it if they kept on trusting God and going forward.

1. The first proof of this was the experience of the people of Judah in their cooperation with  their nearby brother-tribe to the south Simeon.  Judah was a large tribe; and Simeon was a small tribe. But together—as they followed the Lord’s lead (vv. 1-2)—they were an unstoppable force.  They began by conquering the people of Bezek (v. 4), and by paying a retribution to their king Adoni-Bezek that even he recognized as just (vv. 5-7).

2. Then came a steady conquest of the Canaanites in the south.  They conquered Jerusalem (v. 8), and the peoples in the mountains, in the Negiv, and in the lowlands (v. 9), and the people and kings in Krijath Arba and Kirjath Sepher (vv. 10-11).  We’re given the repeat of the story of how Calab offered his daughter to whoever would conquer Kirjath Sepher; and of how Othniel arose and took him up on the offer (vv. 12-15; see also Joshua 15:16-19).

3. The successes of the people of Judah continued to be told with respect to the settling of the Kenites (v. 16), the conquering and utter destruction of Zephath (v. 17), and of Gaza, Askelon and Ekron (v. 18).

B. The reason for their success was because they trusted God and obeyed Him.  When they asked God at the beginning of their campaign who should go first, God said, “Judah shall go up.  Indeed I have delivered the land into his hand” (v. 2).  We’re told that it was the Lord Himself who delivered their enemies into their hand (v. 4).  Even Adoni-Bezek—the conquered king—admitted that his defeat was God’s doing (v. 7).  The testimony of it all was, “So the LORD was with Judah” (v. 19a).  So long as they arose and did as God told them—no matter how hard it may be at times—they could be assured of eventual victory from His own hand.  But sadly, as this first chapter goes on to tell us, they didn’t keep obeying.

II. THE PEOPLE’S FAILURE TO TRUST GOD AND KEEP CONQUERING (vv. 19b-36).

A. The beginning hints of failure show up in the later half of verse 19; “And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron” (v. 19b).  Some time before—during the time of Joshua—it was made plain to the people that chariots of iron could not stop a people who trusted in God (Joshua 17:17-18).  But the difficulties involved—and the misplaced fear of chariots—made the people give up and compromise.  They had been able to conquer mighty peoples before then (v. 20)., but they gave up too easily this time.

B. Judah had been a leader.  But as Judah compromised, other tribes began to follow its example:

1. Benjamin didn’t drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem; and so, they continued to dwell there (v. 21).

2. The House of Joseph (that is, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh) showed promise and ingenuity (v. 22-26); but they too failed to drive out the Canaanites who “were determined to dwell in that land” (vv. 27-29)—settling instead for simply putting them under tribute (v. 28) in disobedience to God.

3. Zebulun failed to drive out the inhabitants from their region; likewise settling for simply putting them under tribute (v. 30).

4. Asher failed to drive out the inhabitants of its land—to the point, in fact, that the Bible puts it in a very humiliating way; “So the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out” (vv. 32-32).  Note that the Canaanites didn’t dwell among them; but rather, they dwelt among the Canaanites!

5. Naphtili likewise were said to have failed—not only simply settling for putting the Canaanites under tribute, but by ending up being described as dwelling among them (v. 33).

6. Dan’s story is particularly shameful.  We’re told that “the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains, for they would not allow them to come down into the valley” (v. 34).  The peoples of the tribes that came from Joseph helped later to subjugate them (v. 35); but they nevertheless occupied defined territories that could be drawn on a map (v. 36).

* * * * * * * * * * *

The sad consequence of these failures are told to us in 2:1-3.  The Angel of the Lord told the people; “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 gods shall be a snare to you.’”

Let’s learn from this not to compromise with sin in our own lives.  God’s word warns us that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (1 Corinthians 5:6).  But there is no sin in our lives that we cannot conquer through God—if we trust Him, do as He says, and keep at it.