Chapter 82. Judges 1, 2. Declension and Idolatry.
FOR a while, that is as long as the elders of Israel, who had known Joshua, lived, the Israelites continued to fear God and worship Him. But this did not last long, and little by little they got away from Him, counting upon themselves to keep the land God had given them. Joshua had told them that as long as they served the Lord, He would be with them, but if they forsook Him, He would turn upon them to consume them. But God is slow to anger and He bore with them in patience for many years, and sought to bring them back to Himself.
Soon after Joshua’s death, the children of Israel inquired of the Lord: “Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites and fight against them?” The Lord answered: “Judah shall go; I have delivered the land into his hand.”
But Judah did not quite trust the Lord, and called the tribe of Simeon to help them fight, promising they would go and help the Simeonites when their turn came. So the two tribes went to war, and the Lord in His grace, delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands and they killed ten thousands of them. The king of these nations Adoni-Zedek had fled, but they pursued him and caught him; but instead of destroying him, as God had commanded, they cruelly cut off his thumbs and great toes. It was not because God took pleasure in the death of those heathen people that He wanted them destroyed, but that Israel might not learn by them to worship strange gods, and this cruelty must have grieved Him. However, He used this to touch the conscience of Adoni-Zedek who remembered that he had done this very thing to seventy kings, who gathered round his table in the days of his strength and ate their meat at his feet. “As I have done” said he “so God hath requited me”. He was brought to Jerusalem where he died.
From there the tribe of Judah passed on to Hebron where they fought. Caleb and Othniel, his nephew, as we saw some time ago, took the city, driving from thence the three sons of Anak. And the Lord was with Judah and Simeon, and gave them victory over other cities and the inhabitants of the mountains. But when it came to the inhabitants of the valley, Judah, not counting on the Lord for strength, could not drive them out, and feared their chariots of iron, although God had distinctly promised He would be with them to drive out the Canaanites, “though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.” Josh. 17:1818But the mountain shall be thine; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down: and the outgoings of it shall be thine: for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong. (Joshua 17:18). How much we lose when we do not take God at His word! Thus the people were deprived of their best, the valley where the ground is richest, because they did not trust the word of the Lord. Are we ever like them? The tribe of Benjamin also did not drive their foes —the Jebusites—but allowed them to dwell with them.
ML 01/28/1912