Message 7
Chapters 2—16
(5)
Scripture Reading: Judg. 10:6-18; 11:1-40; 12:1-15
I have the burden to speak further concerning forsaking God and being joined to Satan. This matter is fully revealed and recorded in the Scriptures. The first man was poisoned by this, and the first family was devastated by this. Ever since the time of Genesis 3, man has been forsaking God and joining to Satan, taking many things as replacements of God. In his fourteen Epistles, Paul ministered the all-inclusive and all-extensive Christ, but he also dealt with all kinds of replacements of Christ.
The book of Judges shows us how degraded and corrupt Israel had become. It is hard to imagine that the children of Israel, who had been chosen, taught, trained, and disciplined by God and who had God’s law, could have become so rotten. Their degradation began with their forsaking of God and their worshipping of idols, and it issued in their indulgence in fleshly lust and in wanton self-destruction. Samson, the last judge mentioned in this book, was very powerful, yet the factor of his failure was his indulgence in sex. At the end of Judges, there is an account of wanton slaughter, describing how the entire tribe of Benjamin was nearly extinguished by Israel. The factor that led to this degradation was that they forsook God to the uttermost and turned to idols. Here we see that idol worship is closely linked to fornication and murder. If someone becomes an idol worshipper, he will become a person who is very indulgent in sex and full of hatred toward others.
I have been serving the Lord for nearly sixty-one years and have had much consideration concerning these matters. My realization is that all the sins, all the evils, all the iniquities, come out of one source — forsaking God and joining to something which becomes a replacement of God. This is true even in small things. For example, a sister’s combing of her hair can be an idol. If a sister pays too much attention to her hair, honoring it excessively, that kind of honor is a worship. Such a sister may not have time in the morning to spend ten minutes with the Lord, but she has plenty of time to comb her hair. The sisters may need to check with the Lord regarding this, saying, “Lord, is the way I care for my hair a replacement of You?” If a sister checks with the Lord in this way, the Lord will tell her, her conscience will tell her, and her intuition in her spirit will also tell her.
In recent years, certain ones left us and formed divisions. It seems that the leaders among them are doing nothing but traveling from place to place in order to create and strengthen such divisions. Division has become a thing that motivates and energizes them. The goal of their activity is to separate the saints from the enjoyment of the New Testament ministry. Their intention is to poison the saints in order to deaden them, cool them down, and cause them to have doubts about the Lord’s recovery. The main factor with these ones is that they have left the church and joined themselves to the “demon” of division.
I have published a book called The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion, presenting the whole story, fully documented. That book concludes by saying that we need to “reject any kind of division (1 Cor. 1:10), to stand against any wind of teaching and any spreading of spiritual death (Eph. 4:14; 2 Tim. 2:16-17), and to separate ourselves from the contagious ones — exercising to quarantine” (Titus 3:10; Rom. 16:17). Some, however, have not agreed to quarantine these ones and have embraced division. They have been deceived to such an extent that they take the matter of division as an idol.
In our spiritual life, even to take a small thing, such as combing our hair or buying something, may be to take another husband. To some extent, this is to forsake Christ. Even in holding a thought preferring this or that thing, our preference can become an idol. You may say that you are still with the Lord, but you may be with the Lord in a general way, but particularly, in a certain thing, you may not be with the Lord.
God’s Spirit is indwelling us and is speaking to us all the time. Sometimes I would like to speak something to my wife, even something spiritual, but someone within is saying, “Don’t talk.” To take my preference to speak that thing would be to make that thing an idol and would bring me into chaos. But to obey the inner speaking is to hold to our one Lord, one Master, one Head, one Husband.
Let us now turn to Judges 10:6—12:15 and consider the sixth cycle of Israel’s miserable history.
Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. They served the Baalim, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines, forsaking Jehovah and not serving Him (10:6).
The anger of Jehovah burned against Israel, and Jehovah sold them into the hand of the Philistines and of the Amorites, who oppressed them eighteen years. The children of Israel were greatly distressed (vv. 7-9).
The children of Israel cried out to Jehovah, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have forsaken our God and have served the Baalim” (v. 10). Then they prayed for deliverance and returned to Jehovah (vv. 15-16a).
In verses 11 through 14 we have Jehovah’s rebuking of Israel. First, He asked them if He had not saved them from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the children of Ammon, and the Philistines. He also reminded them that He saved them when they were oppressed by the Sidonians, Amalek, and Maon. Then He went on to say, “But you forsook Me and served other gods; therefore I will not save you again. Go and cry out to the gods that you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress” (vv. 13-14).
In verse 16b we are told that Jehovah was no longer able to bear Israel’s misery.
Verses 17 and 18 speak of the pressure of the Ammonites and the need of a head over Israel to take the lead to fight against the Ammonites. The princes of Gilead said each to his companion, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead” (v. 18).
Judges 11:1-11 records the rising up of Jephthah, a mighty man of Gilead, the son of a harlot. He was rejected by his stepbrothers but was received by the worthless men (vv. 2-3). Eventually, he was requested by the elders of Gilead to be their head and chief to fight the Ammonites for them (vv. 4-11).
Jephthah negotiated with the king of the Ammonites. His negotiation was based upon the fact that during a history of three hundred years, there had been no reason for the Ammonites to fight against Israel (vv. 12-27). However, the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah (v. 28).
The Spirit of Jehovah came upon Jephthah, and Jehovah delivered the Ammonites into His hand (vv. 29-32).
Jephthah defeated the Ammonites and took their twenty cities. Thus the Ammonites were subdued before the children of Israel (v. 33).
In verses 30 and 31 Jephthah made a vow to Jehovah. According to verses 34 through 40, Jephthah’s daughter kept this vow with her whole life’s virginity.
In 12:1-6 we see that the Ephraimites quarreled with Jephthah and that he fought against them.
Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then he died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead. After him, Ibzan, who had thirty sons and thirty daughters, judged Israel seven years (vv. 7-9). Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem, and then Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel ten years. He was followed by Abdon the Pirathonite, who had forty sons and thirty grandsons, judging Israel eight years. In total, these judges judged Israel thirty-one years (vv. 10-15).
