Judges 1:1-10

The Continuing Conquest of Canaan

¹ After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the Lord, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” ² The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.” ³ And Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will go with you into the territory allotted to you.” So Simeon went with him. ⁴ Then Judah went up and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek. ⁵ They found Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶ Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. ⁷ And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Today we begin a new study. After completing the Book of Ruth and studying the significance of the ‘Virtuous Woman” in Proverbs 31:10-31, let’s draw our attention to the Book of Judges. This is the book immediately before the Book of Ruth in the English Bible. This being a historical narrative, the author is not identified. The Reformation Study Bible says the book was written sometime within the early reign of King David when he was in Hebron. They attribute this to the book’s support and sympathetic view of the tribe of Judah, from which King David came, as oppose to the tribe of Benjamin, which was the tribe of King Saul and Jonathan. In other words, this is a ‘tale of two tribes, even though the time of the narrative in this books occured after the death of Joshua and before Israel became a monarchy. This is important, given that Jacob’s blessing to Judah in Egypt just before he died was a messianic prophecy, which said in Genesis 49:10, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.”

Judges 1:1 opens the narrative by saying, “After the death of Joshua.” Moses and Aaron, by the miraculous works of God, led the freed Hebrew salves out of Egypt. They were on their way to the Promise Land of Caanan. However, the people sinned. Time and time again, they rebelled against Moses’ leadership and refused to go into the Promise Land. For their sin, God caused the nation to wander in the desert for forty years until the last person of that generation died, except for Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, a Kenizite. These were the only two of twelve spies who encouraged Israel to go and take the land. However, Moses was not allowed to enter the ‘Promise Land” because of his sin. After the death of Moses, God appointed Joshua to replace Moses and to lead the Isarelites into the land of Caanan. After many years of conquest, Joshua is also dead. And sad to say, the Israelites did not drive out all of the inhabitants out of the land. Some remained and became a snare to the Israelites. However, during this time, God did not appoint a leader for the Hebrew nation. He wanted to be their king (e.g., a theocracy and not a monarchy). The people were to follow God and His law. When the Israelites rebelled and asked Samuel to give them a king like the other nations. God told Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:7, “And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.” Instead of living the blessed life, walking after and following God, the Book of Judges illustrates how the Israelites rebelled against God to worship the false gods and idols of the nations surrounding them and of those who they did not drive out from the land. So, instead of enjoying the Promise Laned, the Israelites, God’s chosen people to bless the world, became idolatrous. They rebeledl against God. The days during the times of the Judges were a dark period of time. The people did want was right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6 and 21:25).

The Book of Judges opens with the nation of Israel making an inquiry to the Lord. This sets the stage for all that will happen next. It is good that God’s people go to God for guidance. Because when they do, God answers prayer! That’s what happens. Now that Joshua is dead, who should lead and take the nation to go up and drive out the Caananites out of the land as God promised. God gave them a definitive answer to their prayer. The Lord said in verse 1:2, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.” Judah, one of the most numerous and blessed tribes, sought help from the tribe of Simeon, a lesser tribe. Matthew Henry finds application of this to the workings within the church, the body of Christ, when he said,

“That the strongest should not despise but desire the assistance even of those that are weaker. Judah was the most considerable of all the tribes, and Simeon the least considerable, and yet Judah begs Simeon’s friendship, and prays an aid from him; the head cannot say to the foot, I have no need of thee, for we are members one of another.”

The two tribes fought together as one and God gave them success. The fought against the Caananites and the Perizzites. The king of the Caananites was captured, takened to Jerusalem, and he died.

In application, we too need to go first to God in prayer. Jesus Christ teaches us to prayer persistently in Luke 18:1, “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Then Jesus proceeds to tell his disciples the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow. The widow keep going to the judge for the injustice given to her. The judge, who did not fear God, did not want to bother himself with the woman. Yet, because of her persistency, the judge relented and listened to the woman. In the same way, we also must pray persistently, as our Lord taught his disciples. James and Paul also give the churches reasons to pray consistently and fervently. We are to come to our Lord Jesus Christ and cast all our cares upon Him, for He does care for us and He wants us to pray. And the beauty of this command, God answers our prayer; in His time and not in ours. His answer may not be what we want. Yet, God gives us what we need for our good. Therefore, let us go to God in Prayer! He will deliver us from our enemies and bring us a walk of victory in our faith.

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Our Blessed Jesus, thank You for teaching us to pray and giving us the Holy Spirit to comfort us in our time of need. I worship and praise You for all the answered prayers in my life. I praise You when it seemed like You were not there, and I praise You for making it so obvious that You, and no other, is to be first in my life. Lord God, I confess that I struggle in my daily walk by faith and I need You every hour of every day. Help me, Lord Jesus, and give me faith that pleases You. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen!

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O God, Our Help In Ages Past, by Isaac Watts in 1719