Judges 1:1-81Now 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? 2And the Lord said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. 3And 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. 4And 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. 5And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. 7And Adoni-bezek 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. 8Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. (Judges 1:1‑8).
REST from war lasted only until Joshua was taken away from Israel. But now again the sword must be unsheathed and the spear must be furbished, for the Canaanites were not yet driven out of the land, and it was God’s wish that they should be exterminated. Peace cannot be known, rest cannot be realized while foes are on every hand. So the children of Israel ask the Lord who shall be first to go up against these enemies. The Lord said to them, “Judah shall go up; behold I have delivered the land into his hand.” Judah then asked Simeon his brother to go with him to the battle, and to this he consented. The Lord was with them, as He had said He would be, and their efforts were crowned with victory. They slew ten thousand men in Bezek; but the king, Adoni-bezek, escaped from their hands and fled. It was not their purpose, however to allow him to escape, so they pursued and captured him. Now that he was their prisoner, they resorted to a strange and cruel punishment. They cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
Does my young reader think this was too severe, or that it was an unjust punishment? Listen to the words of the king who had been thus treated, and you will see that he himself recognized that he had been dealt with as he deserved. “Three score 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.”
Think of it! seventy king’s, captured by this monster, had groped about tinder his table, seeking with their poor, thumb-less hands to gather up the crumbs, or whatever might be thrown there, to keep them from starving. And upon this sad scene, Adoni-bezek had no doubt gazed with cruel delight. Now, however, his turn had come. God had put into the hearts of Judah and Simeon to do to him what he had done to so many others. The words he spoke were quite true, for God had requited him according to his doing.
Dear young reader, you can readily draw, from this dark picture, a lesson for yourself. Do you sometimes use cruelty to others? Are you unkind? Do you speak in an ugly way to your parents? Are you disobedient? Ah, then, beware —take care! God tells us we shall reap as we sow; and His word is, “Thy reward shall return upon thine own head.” How carefully we should walk through life!
ML 04/22/1906