King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Sunday, March 31, 2024
Chapters: Judges Chapters 3-5
Message: Tradition Over Truth
Hello My Friend,
Happy Resurrection Day! I apologize for getting this out so late, I spent the day with family and went to my brother’s church which was two hours away. It was a very nice day no one rushed around or fought with any one and even the traffic was not that bad. We had a conversation about our churches and how so many have gone rogue that even the pastors are being forced out. It is really getting hard to find one that has not gone the way of the Pharisees so to speak and is about following tradition rather than the Gospel. Oh, they preach Jesus, but they are definitely not living Jesus. Jesus, said it this way when the Pharisees asked Him why the disciples did not walk in the way of the tradition of their fathers.
[Mark 7:6-8,13 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. 13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.]
The truth is that the Pharisees not only placed the precepts of tradition on the same level with those of God, but by their peculiar emphasis upon them actually superseded the Law. These were the very people who put Jesus on the cross to begin with and today are the very same people who keep putting Jesus on the cross over and over again by their tradition, [Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.]
You see, tradition is not the same as truth, one can believe in the Gospel of Christ all they want, but unless they apply it and live it, then their ways are not God’s and therefore they have created a false god. The strange thing is that God will often allow these things and the reason being is to prove them. As we continue in the reading of Judges, God, reiterates that He left the Canaanites and all their false gods to prove Israel. An account is given of which Canaanites were left and we will see some familiar names who are truly became as God said, snares.
[Judges 3:1-4 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; 3 Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath. 4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.]
[Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them,] Think about it, they already had everything handed to them so what would keep them from trusting God should they remain obedient to His commands? They would earn not only God’s respect, but their protection as well. The truth is that God could very well keep us in a bubble so that no evil could get in or even get rid of all the evil, but if He did that then there would be no reason to obey Him, [2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.]
The sad thing in all this is that the Israelites had no clue what their father’s did for them to be on that land, and as far as they were concerned the Canaanites were just their neighbors. Of course, they had not been following God’s commands because they were not aware of the Law either so as you see, they did what they wanted to do and the result was their forsaking God for the nations gods, then God forsaking them. Well, He really did not forsake them, He just delivered them into the hand of their adversaries.
[Judges 3:7-9,11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves. 8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years. 9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. 12 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. 13 And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.]
[and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim] How exactly did God sell Israel to their adversaries? They would invade the land and put them under tribute just as they did to the Canaanites when they were strong. Saved or not, those who choose their own way instead of God’s will always be held in bondage to their sin, that is unless they repent, [2 Peter 2:19-20 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.]
Do you see that, their latter end is worse than their beginning? The word of truth is the water of life, which refreshes the souls that receive it, but deceivers spread and promote error, and pollute the Gospel, this is why it is so important for us who know the truth to spread it and live by it. Even though most of Israel denied God, there were a few who somehow knew the truth and lived by His commands the best they could. When they had enough they cried out to Him and that was when He sent them judges to free them. I will say this, whenever God did send someone to deliver them, they were not subtle about it. While we do not know much about Othniel and how he delivered Israel from the Chushanrishathaim’s we did learn about Ehud.
[Judges 3:15-16,20-21,25 But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. 16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. 20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. 21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: 25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.]
[by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon] Did you ever notice that God is not subtle when He sends judgment upon the wicked? You see, God will use the wicked to oppress His people to repentance, He will not deliver any of us to the enemy unless we are not true in our confession, [1 John 1:5-9 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.]
[And they tarried till they were ashamed:] Can you imagine the shame you would feel for standing outside the door of someones room and not checking on them? We would all feel quite shamed ourselves. This is a reminder that we cannot wait to tell someone about Jesus. I can understand that we might feel as though we are bothering someone if we pressed them about the Gospel, but it is better to check on them now before they died and shame ourselves because we never told them, [2 Corinthians 7:8-9 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. 9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.]
To repent means to turn our heart and mind away from our own thinking that we can be saved by whatever it is that we believe will save us from hell and turn it completely to Christ. We cannot save ourselves because sin will forever be the snare that oppresses us. That is why Jesus paid the price for us with His sinless death on the cross, but is now alive to show us that we can live too. Now, what are we suppose to do once we are saved? Follow Jesus, and never look back. Well, that is what Ehud told Israel to do and it worked until he died.
[Judges 3:27-31 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them. 28 And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. 29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years. 31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.]
[Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies] Do you have any clue what Jesus delivers us from? I will be honest and tell you that I have a little bit of a clue, but I am still learning. The list keeps piling up as to all the things that Jesus saves me from, hell, the second death, the dead works from years past, not to mention my past life before I gave it to Christ, [1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.]
We must understand that this was not just one person or family doing evil in the sight of God, it was the majority of them. God, will not just sit back and watch His people acting like they know Him, and leading so many into sinful and immoral living, He will send judgment. However, He is faithful to forgive and help those who come to Him willingly. Once again, they turned their backs on God, this time He delivered them into the hands of the king of Canaan, and for twenty years they oppressed them.
[Judges 4:1-5 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. 2 And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. 3 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. 4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. 5 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.]
[she judged Israel at that time…And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah] I always love reading about Deborah, often relating to her, in fact, I often think that God sees me as being like Deborah. Of course, I need to be careful in saying that as not to be boastful because I know how weak I can be, but I have always been a natural leader, which I believe God raised me up as. She kept her office so to speak under a palm tree, and the people would literally come to her too solve their problems. Deborah, actually led an army of men, captained by a man name Barak, in order to deliver Israel from Sisera.
[Judges 4:6-9 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? 7 And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand. 8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. 9 And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.]
[but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.] You do not understand what this would have meant should he have a woman in command over the men. It would be to his own shame and ridicule, but at this point he did not care, he would only go if Deborah went with him. And she still had to tell him to get moving.
[Judges 4:11-14 Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh. 12 And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor. 13 And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon. 14 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.]
[Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera] More often than we think, God uses strong faithful, Christian women to lead men in the right direction. Back then, and still in many parts of the world today, if a man was led by a woman, it was a disgrace. Deborah knew this, but she still obeyed God and led the people for forty years. We as Christians must understand that if we want to see God heal our land, then we need to come to Jesus first. He will not deliver us unless we are willing to let Him come in and work through us. Never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit, use Him, and He will deliver us. There was a great victory the day that Deborah delivered Israel from oppression, her and Barak led the congregation in a song.
[Judges 5:1-4,7-9 Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying, 2 Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. 3 Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel. 4 LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. 7 The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. 8 They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? 9 My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD.]
[I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.] I love this, and always say that God did not give me any children of my own because He made me a mother of many. Mothers are not always biological, true mothers are nurturing, very protective, and disciplined. I do not care whose kids they are, if they are in my possession, then I am like a mother bear to all of them, and I will fight to protect them. God is the same way with us, it does not matter what we have done in the past, present, or future, we just need a reminder of that sometimes, especially when we need a healing from Jesus, [Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. – Psalms 107:19-20]
Me, knowing that I am a sinner, has such a hard time understanding why God continues to use me. You know, there is difference between those who sin against God and those who forget Him, the ones who sin against Him cry out to Him daily, knowing they are sinners, they feel the pain they caused by failing their Father. Deborah, continues the song with some rather strange verses.
[Judges 5:12-13,15-17,23 Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam. 13 Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty. 15 And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart. 16 Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. 17 Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches. 23 Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.]
[Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD,] Deborah, signifies that the curse did not proceed from any ill will toward Israel, but from God Himself. God, uses every willing soul for His work, if the men will not step up, He will appoint a woman to do it. Strong women of their faith have always been the influence of both men and women, but a Godly faithful woman is truly a virtue to those who God places in their lives, [Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. – Proverbs 31:10,30-31]
Jesus Christ Revealed/Magnified: [Judges 5:23 Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.]
Today’s Prayer: God, I know that I am nothing without You and that everything in my life, good, bad, and the ugly, are allowed to prove my faithfulness to You. Lord, purge me from the things that prevent me from being who You want me to be, lead me and guide me, help me to find the strength to stand before You as a vessel of honor, let me be an encouragement to others, the Light that leads them to Your truths, be strong for those who may need a helping hand, and to keep serving You however You lead me. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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