Carnal in Canaan
Thoughts on
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel
Copyright 2018 by Steve Phillips
ISBN

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Contents
Egypt to Canaan Introduction     Page 1

1      Much Land To Be Possessed
         Thoughts on Joshua     Page 4

2      Right In Their Own Eyes
         Thoughts on Judges     Page 68

3      Under His Wings
         Thoughts on Ruth     Page 129

4      Rule of Man – Rule of God
         Thoughts on I Samuel     Page 148

Appendix
A Man After God’s Own Heart     Page 208

Carnal in Canaan

Egypt to Canaan Introduction

 

The Lord redeemed His people from Egyptian bondage by a mighty hand and outstretched arm. Wrath from heaven descended in fury upon all the firstborn of the land. Death reigned within Egyptian homes without exception, leaving terror, destruction, and wailing in its wake.  Victims lay slain in every household, even behind Israelite doors.

But no child of Israel was taken by the destroying angel, not one of their sons perished in the horrific plague.  While shrieks of anguish rose from tormented hearts through the midnight skies of Egypt, joy, light, and gladness was the portion of the children of God.

They had the lamb! O bless the Lord for the Lamb!  Behold, the spotless substitute that was slain to deliver them from certain doom!  Behold, its blood applied to every dwelling as the sure evidence that judgment had already fallen within that saved household!

Hear the solemn declaration from heaven recorded in Exodus 12:1,13: “For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment; I am the Lord.

“Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

In an instant, chains of bitter bondage snapped when the blood of the lamb covered the Israel of God. Freedom’s door burst open releasing the weary slaves of countless years when the Passover lamb was received as their own.

O Dear Reader, this contains a parable of deepest meaning. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, has been slain to save you from wrath and destruction!

His blood is the redemption price paid to rescue you from impending judgment. Only if His shed blood covers your own sin will you be safe from the anger of the Holy One.

The blood of the Passover lamb was applied to their houses in Egypt. The blood of Jesus must be applied to where you live, to where your true self dwells, to your very heart of hearts. Have you done so? Are you truly saved?

If so, you will immediately move out of slavery to your sin as Israel left that very night their Egyptian bondage.  There was no such thing as an Israelite who received the lamb and yet remained in Egypt.

God’s people do not belong in bondage to sin in the world. No! If you are redeemed by Christ, you must come forth from enslaving sinful ways into the fullness of God’s provision in Christ.

Deuteronomy 6:23 shows us the Lord’s purpose in saving us for Himself out of the world. “He brought us out from there that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers.” This is the will of God, to bring us out in order to bring us in.

Listen, there is a Canaan’s rest to be enjoyed, its fruit to be tasted, and a wide inheritance to be occupied. The blessings and inheritance of Israel in Canaan picture for us the heavenly blessings that God has secured for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Dear Reader, let us arise and enter!  Let us actually live in what God has provided for us in the Lord Jesus! It is our portion and for His pleasure to do so.

This is the theme of the book of Joshua: occupying the land of God’s inheritance. Possession does not come through claiming it by faith, it must be walked in by obedience.

Spiritual opposition will be met by any who will advance and possess the abundant life that Christ has obtained and called us to enter. But the Lord Himself will empower any who are determined to glorify Him by dwelling in His fullness.

Let us now consider together the steps of faith that will lead us out of bondage and slavery to sin into the blessing of the fullness of life in Christ Jesus the Lord.  May the Lord guide our feet along this glorious narrow way for His Name’s sake.

These reflections are designed to be read with open Bible, following along in the various passages referred to.

 

 

1

Much Land to be Possessed

Thoughts on Joshua

 

God prepares His servant before commissioning his works. Character is the bedrock of usefulness in the kingdom of heaven. The man must first be made ere heaven commits the souls of men into his care.

And so it was with Joshua: the servant of Moses in his youth [Num.11:28], trained to do battle with the sword against assaulting Amalekites [Ex.17:9f], and who had ascended the mount to behold the glory of the God of Israel [Ex.24:9-14].

As such he can serve, for he is a servant. As such he can command in conflict, for he has mastered the use of the sword. As such he can guide, for he knows his God.

Joshua is thus qualified inwardly and outwardly to conquer Canaan at the command of Christ. The resemblance of his life to that of Christ fits him to lead by example coupled with the persuasive power of truth.

In Christ’s school, he learned that God’s work is dependent upon the Spirit of God rather than proceeding under the direction man [Num.11:28,29]. He was taught therein to abide in what God has said in unswerving obedience to that truth. Extreme opposition from cowardly and carnal multitudes did not dissuade him from reproving disobedient millions [Num.14:6-10].

Joshua was a man in whom was the Spirit [Num.27:18]. No action was to be taken apart from discerning the mind of the Lord by recourse to the great high priest by Urim and Thummim [Num.27:21].

Along with Caleb, He followed the Lord his God fully [Num.32:12] and had Divine assurance that he would take possession of the promised inheritance and lead the Israel of God into it as well [Deut.1:38].

Dear Reader, the land is before us. It is God’s eternal purpose to bring you into it: for you to dwell there, to feed there, to abide in every spiritual blessing therein in Christ Jesus who has secured all by His victorious conquest.

It is time to enter. Arise; He brought you out in order to bring you in.

 

Joshua Chapter One

He brought us out from there in order to bring us in

Deut.6:23

 

God’s people do not belong in Egyptian bondage.  Bitterness, corruption, and terror of certain judgment are found there. But listen! There is a glad gospel to rescue from the destroying angel at midnight.

Take to yourself the Lamb! He is your sinless substitute. He is mighty to save, slain to satisfy infinite justice. Apply His blood to your soul’s dwelling and be sheltered from coming wrath!

Heaven’s judgment will look upon the blood of Christ covering your guilt and destruction will pass over you. We are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb! “For Christ our Passover has also been sacrificed” [I Cor.5:7].

But the redeemed are not to continue in Egypt. They partook of the Lamb in haste. Their staffs were in their hands. Sandals were on. They escaped that wretched place with joyous hearts that very night.

God brought them out in order to bring them in. Dear Reader, the mighty One has done great things for your soul.  You have been redeemed from eternal fury by the blood of Christ. You have tasted of Him.

Judgment, bondage, and bitterness are past. But the Lord of Grace is leading you on. This is not yet all. A wide inheritance awaits you. He wants you to dwell in all He has secured for His people in Christ’s mighty redemption.

Have you entered in? Are you abiding in His fullness of which we have all received (Jn.1:16)? His is an abundance far richer than any milk and honey available in Canaan.

The book of Joshua opens up to us the vast inheritance of God in Christ Jesus the Lord. Let us enter. Let us walk throughout its limitless borders and dwell therein.

Come; step by step, possess and abide. Though it is gained by conflict, despite hostile foes, you shall find rest for your souls.

 

Joshua Chapter One verses 1,2

 For what the Law could not do,

Weak as it was through the flesh, God did:

Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh

And as an offering for sin,

He condemned sin in the flesh,

So that the requirement of the Law

Might be fulfilled in us,

Who do not walk according to the flesh

But according to the Spirit

Rom.8:3, 4

 

Moses is the man who brought us the Law. But Moses is now gone. He had fulfilled his purpose and has passed from the scene, making room for the one who can lead the people of God into their inherited portion.

Moses gives way to Joshua. Law is set aside for Grace.  The partial is replaced by fullness. The Law has done its job; it has brought us to Christ (Gal.3:24). Christ alone can lead His people to possess what He has secured for them.

Dear Reader, have you come to Him? If so, why do you continue to labor under the Law’s yoke which no one has been able to bear [Acts 15:10]? “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” [Rom.10:4].

The man who brings the law can never bring anyone into life in Christ Jesus. The law can only demand but can never supply. Its requirements come with no provision.  You are left to yourself to meet its standard however you may. But you cannot.

Our weakness is our very selves. Our sufficiency is Christ Himself. He can do in us what we could never hope to attain in ourselves. No law can produce what He alone is capable of doing.

No formula, no system, methods, or techniques will do what only Christ can. Your steps to success lead to further bondage. Your codes and regulations only restrain some outward behavior but are powerless to change what you are in the depths of your inner man.

You who are wearied under your man-made commands, hear this question from the Spirit of God: “Since you died with Christ to the basic spirits of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’?” [Col.2:20].

Will they accomplish your longed for rest and peace of soul? They will not, nor cannot. Is the shadow the substance? Is the partial the fulfillment? Will you continue to embrace the illustration in the presence of the reality?  God forbid!

Dear Reader, what says the Scripture? “But now that you know God – or rather are known by God – how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?” [Gal.4:9].

Weak, miserable, and man-made religious formulas!  Be done with them! Cast them all aside as the worthless substitutes that they are! “They lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence” [Col.2:23].

Flee to the greater Joshua, mighty to save, Jehovah’s salvation, Christ Jesus the Lord! He alone can bring your soul to possess what Moses’ law is utterly powerless to do.

Canaan’s land of rest, plenty, and victory is before you.  Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the Captain of our salvation. He will bring you in, to dwell in this blessed spiritual bounty.

Moses, the servant of God is dead. Jesus, the Son of the Blessed One, is alive forevermore! He leads because He lives. He triumphs for He has defeated every foe. He gives for His is the purchased possession: Firstborn from the dead, Firstborn of all creation.

 

 

Joshua Chapter One verses 2,3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessingIn the heavenly places in Christ  Eph.1:3

 

The land has already been given [v.3] and is yet to be given [v.2]. It is their possession but is not yet in their hand.

Israelites are the rightful heirs even while Canaanites dwell therein. Trackless acres belong to them though not one step has been taken upon promised soil.

This is the mystery of spiritual reality. All is ours in Christ Jesus. Every spiritual blessing has already been freely and fully granted to every true believer, even unto the least of His flock.

All has already been secured by an uncountable purchase price: the precious blood of Christ. All has been provided and reserved for the redeemed of God. It is there in heavenly places in Christ.

What accounts, then, for our beggarly condition below? Why do we continue to scrape for dry crusts when heaven’s feast is before us? The answer is plain.

We are not walking in the inheritance of God. Our feet have not trodden upon Divine provision. The message is, “Walk, and it shall be yours.”

Steps of obedience lead to the realization of personal possession. Arise from the seat of scorners! Do not loiter on the path sinners! Flee the counsel of the wicked!

Walk! With eyes fixed upon Jesus! Walk! Full of desire to move on from where you are at present! Walk!  Forgetting what lies behind and pressing on to what lies ahead! Walk!

Take not one step, nor two, or a hundred, no, not merely a thousand! The land is vast! Every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus lays before you which can only be known if you walk in them.

Dear Reader, how far have you gone? What do you have in possession for all your laborious life’s journey thus far?

Listen! The promise is as sure as Him who spoke it:  “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you.”

 

Joshua Chapter One verse 4

That you, being rooted and grounded in love,

May be able to comprehend with all the saints

What is the breadth and length and height and depth

And to know the love of Christ

Which surpasses knowledge,

That you may be filled up to all the fullness of God

Eph.3:17-19

Before us a mighty expanse extends until the eye is weary with gazing. Turn as you may, Northward, Southward, Eastward, or Westward, the land stretches on to its seeming limitless horizons.

Much of it is stranger to human tread. Dwellers are few. Explorers are rare. Yet the land is there as a divinely secured and promised possession for those who will walk therein.

Even in the time of Solomon, its limits were untouched. Jesus Himself said to His own disciples, “I have many more things to say to you” [Jn.16:12].  Paul confessed, “I press on so that I may lay hold” [Phil.3:12].

Who has yet plumbed the depths of the heart of Christ?  How can such great salvation be fathomed?

Uncountable are its riches. Chartless are the boundaries. Unscaled are those lofty heights. Arise! Gird up your loins for the journey. Turn your back upon the world and move in haste from its bitterness, bondage, and corruption.

Canaan is before you. Tranquil rest awaits you [Deut.12:9,10]. Bounteous provision graces its hills and valleys [Deut.6:10,11]. Mighty deliverance fortifies its inhabitants from every foe [Lev.26:7,8].

Come. Drink from the waters which distill from heaven [Deut.11:11]. Abide under the watchful eye of Him who cares for it day and night from this time forth and forevermore [Deut.11:12].

O Dear Reader, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” [Heb.2:3].

 

Joshua Chapter One verses 5-9

Cursed is the man who trusts in man,

And makes flesh his strength;

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord

And whose hope the Lord is

Jer.17:5, 7

 

Do you complain that your strength is not adequate for the journey, your might insufficient for the conflict?  Listen! Omnipotence arises to encounter every lack. Lean on Him! As He was with Moses, so He will be with you.

Do doubts and uncertainties plague your troubled mind? Do not be dismayed! Omniscience sends wisdom from above to guide your every faltering step. Heed His voice! As He commanded Joshua, so He directs you.

Day and night, do not depart from His Word. Read it!  Memorize it! Ponder it! Rejoice in it! Treasure it!

As the sheep chews its cud repeatedly, so reflect, again and again, upon its life-giving food for your soul. This is the meditation whereof He speaks.

Success and wisdom are gained in no other way.  Prospering in the purposes of God cannot be achieved otherwise. The divine decree is, “Be careful to do according to all that is written in it” [Josh.1:8].

True prosperity must be judged from the portals of the throne of God. It is that Great White Throne which determines the value of our fleeting pursuits here below.  Only from that Word which is forever settled in heaven will you discover what true riches are.

Obedience, walking according to directives is success.  Ordering our way aright according to Divine command is prosperity. Walking in truth as it is in Christ Jesus is possession of the land.

Feeding upon the Word provides strength to walk in it.  Eat well and often. Turn not to right or left. Walk straightly therein.  “I will be with you” [Josh.1:5].

 

Joshua Chapter One verses 10-18

Set your mind on things above,

Not on things on the earth

Col.3:2

 

“Do not take us across the Jordan” [Num.32:5].  This was the determined decree from 2 ½ tribes among the Israel of God. They had gone far enough. Canaan’s prospects seemed as nothing in their sight. The command of God was spurned for their self-chosen sanctum.

No movement of the pillar of cloud and fire moved them. No alarmed reproof from their brethren alarmed them. They would stay where they were.

Failure or refusal to enter into the Lord’s inheritance is rebellion [Num.32:6-15]. To not dwell in what God has provided in Christ Jesus is wickedness, divisive, and discouragement to the people of God. How many evils have arisen from half-hearted saints who despise God’s portion by their self-chosen ways!

Dear Reader, be warned, self-will is dangerous ground.  Walking by sight is blindness to the soul. No cloudy pillar to guide you, no Ark of the Covenant dispensing mercy, and no presence of God abides in the land of Gilead [Num.32:1].  Cross over and live in Christ’s Canaan.

Things of the world have captured your heart. Cattle are become more precious than Christ [Num.32:4,26].  Fertile earth is counted as more significant than eternal treasure

O, if we could glimpse for a moment the excellence of Christ, pursuits of folly would slip willingly and unnoticed from our grasp. Stupid empty pretenses would be torn down and seen for the idolatrous acts of rebellion that they are [Josh.22:10-29].

“See the copy of the altar of the Lord which our fathers have made, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice” [Josh.22:28]. Yes, we see it.

It is empty. No sacrificial smoke ascends from it to heaven. Nothing acceptable is placed upon it. God is not there.

Such an altar has an outward form but no reality. It is good for nothing. It will not convince your children that you have not abandoned the Lord. You have. They will only see you as hypocrites [Josh.22:24-27].

Your altar is for show, not for sacrifice. You claim that it is a “witness” [Josh.22:27]. Indeed it is. It testifies to an empty unconsecrated life, a cheap imitation without substance.

No one is fooled thereby. The same spirit that animated Ananias and Sapphira was at work in your copy of the real. But you only have crafted a copy because you do not want the real.

The Lord of heaven knows that it is not His altar. The people of God do not mistake your substitute for the actual.  Your children know that you are not in fellowship with the tribes of Israel. The emptiness of your folly is exposed before all.

Why not leave your pretensions? Forsake Gilead’s deception. Canaan awaits the welcome step of your obedience.

“If, however, the land of your possession is unclean, then cross into the land of the possession of the Lord, where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take possession among us. Only, do not rebel against the Lord or rebel against us by building an altar for yourselves, besides the altar of the Lord our God” [Josh.22:19].

 

 

Joshua Chapter Two

By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish

Along with those who were disobedient,

After she had welcomed the spies in peace

Heb.11:31

 

Do you believe? A lowly harlot of Jericho did. Do you fear? Terror of certain judgment sent shuddering through her soul. Gone were her idols, male companions, her culture; all was forsaken.

“We have heard” [Josh.2:10]. The word of a mighty passage through a Red Sea’s raging torrents had reached her ears. Knowledge of Sihon and Og’s utter devastation entered her heart like a blazing two-edged sword.

Hear her wail in anguish at the news! The power of the world could not hold these Israelites captive in Egyptian servitude. At the decree of the Mighty God, nobles and chariots were swallowed in the sea’s swirling fury.

Infamously immoral Amorites [Lev.18:19-25] were swept aside like so much dung. Their Asherim and abominable idols were powerless before the Omnipotent One of Israel [Amos 2:9].

Hear her cry out for mercy! “The Lord…He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” [Josh.2:11].

Long before the spies reached her home, this was her confession. Wrath’s terrors had done their severe and merciful work ere she welcomed them in peace.  Repentance from a scandalous occupation had already transpired.

“Stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof” [Josh.2:6] testified to her new enterprise. She now manufactured linen and wove white cloth [Isa.19:9]: a fitting evidence of purification from former ways.

Gone were her shame and sin! Finished was the madness of bondage to fearsome idols! The censure of native culture held no sway over her. Lust no longer raged uncontrolled in her bosom.

Yet how came she to be so? The answer is the same for one and all. The message of the Lord’s dealings entered with conviction to her heart. She trembled while reasoning thus within herself:

“Egyptian corpses washed ashore, never to recover from the wrath of God [Ex.14:28-30]. Amorites stiffened their neck against Israel’s call to mercy and perished to the last woman and child [Deut.2:26 – 3:6].

“O God, I am ever as wicked as anyone of them! I too will perish in my wretchedness! O Thou true and living God, have mercy upon me, the sinner.

“I abhor myself. You are the Righteous One. I, a corrupt worm deserving destruction, I…I…”

See her dissolve into tears; heart racking sobs shake her broken form as she weeps bitterly in the night. Rasping groans split the midnight pulled up from the mire of years.

A dampened couch wet with the brine of remorse testifies to heaven of sins forsaken. Her works will follow.  Images will be shattered. Israelites will be welcomed.  Customers denied.

The work of grace in a heart must necessarily manifest itself. Idols on the shelf belie the lips. Saints of God spurned betrays one’s confession. Laboring for lust cancels any claims to godliness.

The way of God is ever one: Justified in His sight by faith alone [Heb.11:31], justified in man’s sight by works alone [Jas.2:25]. Lack of tangible reality only unmasks the vain pretense to a faith which does not exist.

“Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” [I Sam.16:7]. God looks upon the thoughts, intents, and motives of the heart and justifies a man if faith is found therein. Man looks upon behavior and declares a man righteous if commendable character is found therein.

Justification by faith alone is clearly noted in Ephesians 2:8 and 9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

But justification by works as an evidence of that invisible saving grace immediately follows in verse 10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

The saving grace of God received by faith will certainly be shown by the transformation of the life. Ephesians 2:10 signifies that if we are not walking in good works, then none therefore have been prepared for us by the God of heaven, showing that we are not His workmanship. But if we are not His workmanship, then we have not been saved by grace at all.

Rahab had believed in the God of heaven and therefore received the spies in peace. She could not have done otherwise. “Whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him” [I Jn.5:1]. But note it well.

She was justified in the receiving and sending of the spies, not in her lying about them [Josh.2:4-6]. The God of Truth has no hand in deception. God “cannot lie” [Tit.1:2].  His “eyes are too pure to approve evil” [Hab.1:13].

Not because of her lies, but in spite of them she was justified. We may sympathize with her fears and weakness when confronted by fierce warriors, but we must not excuse her deception. Never are we allowed to say: “Let us do evil that good may come” [Rom.3:8].

Dear Reader, the end never justifies the means. That spies were spared does not sanctify deceit.

Her desire to not betray was noble, but her method was unholy. She did well in protecting the lives of the saints of God, but the means she employed did not meet with Divine approval.

The choice that we are faced with in such situations is not limited to either deceiving in order to spare, or of revealing truth unto betrayal and destruction. There remains a third option, but not a popular one, though God is glorified thereby.

The alternative? “We also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” [I Jn.3:16]. “For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience?

“But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God” [I Pet.2:19,20].  The Lord of truth will make a way to honor Him in even the most threatening of circumstances.

Rahab could have simply yet boldly stated, “Yes, the men came to me, but I cannot and will not betray innocent blood. Since you wish to pursue and destroy, I can have no hand in such wickedness; that is left with your conscience and the righteous Judge of heaven.”

The innocent would have been sheltered, a testimony’s stinging conviction would have been felt, and suffering for righteousness endured. This is the more excellent way.

Repentant believers become citizens of another kingdom. No longer is allegiance pledged to native cultures.

She will not war against the God of heaven as the rest in Jericho. Before the walls were circled, before the spies crossed her threshold, she was an Israelite indeed.

Jericho’s ways were no longer defended. She still lived therein, but not as formerly. She was in the world, but was not of it.

Its practices were abandoned. Rahab rejected all of its corruption which brought utter destruction upon its miserable residents.

How great is the testimony when we repent with the faith of a Rahab! Our words carry conviction. Newness of life adds its convincing weight to the proclamation.

In a former den of iniquity souls are now gathered under the shelter of the scarlet thread to flee from the wrath to come [Josh.2:18-21].

It is the only haven from condemnation which is coming upon the world. Go out from this and you perish. It is the refuge of Rahab.

This scarlet thread runs as a lifeline throughout the pages of the Scriptures. It is extended to the perishing, to the defiled, to the helpless. It is extended to you, Dear Reader.

Lay hold on it by faith as did Rahab. Abandon your ways of destruction. Cling to the Living God who alone can rescue your soul from the fury of fire which will consume His adversaries.

Abide under the sheltering blood of Jesus which “cleanses from all sin” [I Jn.1:7]. There is no other place of deliverance. All else will collapse carrying its occupants with it into everlasting torments.

Dear Reader, where are you? Where are you abiding?  Have you tied the scarlet thread to your heart or are you yet keeping armed vigil against the Lord of Hosts upon the walls of Jericho?

 

 

Joshua Chapter Three 

Are you able to be baptized with the baptism

With which I am baptized?

Mk.10:38

 

Jordan!  It overflows its banks all the days of harvest whose swirling eddies lick threateningly at Israel’s soles lining its slimy shores. Three days’ vigil before its swollen waters testify to all that none can enter without being swept along by its surging stream unto certain doom.

Entering into Canaan’s inheritance is impossibility for mortal man. Who has the strength to pass through that swelling current and not perish in its depths?

Listen, the Lord would confront one and all that we are helpless to spiritually advance in the efforts of our own flesh. No one has ever entered and possessed heavenly blessing through failing flesh.

Dear Reader, lift up your eyes from Jordan’s tempestuous currents. See the Ark and go after it and the Lord will do wonders among you.

We do not know the way into spiritual fullness and blessing unless we keep our eyes fixed upon the Lord Jesus.  Like Israel perched upon Jordan’s stormy banks, so we too do not know how to proceed. Christ must go before and do wondrous works by Divine might or none can enter in.

Look unto Jesus! Keep your eyes ever upon Christ; He is your pattern and guide and the mighty One to save!

Behold Jordan’s wild waters flee before the advancing Ark! Torrents recede, boiling and surging in towering fury before the Israel of God. But their path is firm on the Lord’s compacted highway. None slip; no one stumbles or sticks fast in the mire.

Dry ground alone supports sojourning tribes. Not one drop sprinkled upon them to impede their steps.

Christ has gone into the depths of overflowing judgment in our behalf. He has stayed that weighty torrent of wrath awaiting all who would venture to plunge into those waters apart from Him.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.  Not one smattering of judgment will ever cascade upon any who have followed Him into Jordan’s streambed.

Follow the Ark and passage into the promised portion is certain. Proceed alone and you shall be drowned in a sweeping sea of unquenchable fire that carries away into everlasting destruction.

Recall the high hand that rescued Israel out of Egypt at the Red Sea. There the waters rose as a wall on their right and left while God’s own traversed that corridor on dry ground. When the Egyptians attempted the same, Divine disaster struck and plunged them into its watery wrath as so many rejected stones.

Listen, Israel was delivered from the power of the world with its stranglehold upon their souls. They were liberated from the kingdom of darkness and were ushered forth into the kingdom of God, never to be in bondage to Pharaoh’s Egypt again.

But here, though similar, a different dimension of salvation is portrayed. Here is pictured, not death to the world as through the Sea, but death to self in the Jordan.  Both things must be true of us if we would lay valid claim to being the true people of God.

We must be delivered not only from the world with its lusts and pride; we must also be raised up in newness of life having put to death the old.

 

 

Joshua Chapter Four

We were buried with Him through baptism unto death,

So that as Christ was raised from the dead

Through the glory of the Father,

So we also might walk in newness of life

Rom.6:4

 

Crossing over Jordan is the sure testimony that the living God is among you. Jesus, our greater Joshua, is magnified in taking you through those dark waters. He has done what none other can. He has carried us into death and there we lay buried unto this day [4:9].

Dead and buried with Christ!  All that we are has been taken into death, crucified with Christ! Joshua himself set up twelve stones representatively for all of Israel in the midst of the Jordan where they are to this day.

O what a mystery this is! Crucified, and yet alive! Put to death, yet walking in newness of life!

The flock of God was spared from Jordan’s raging and passed through untouched into the promised blessing set before them. Christ died for us and took us there with Him; these are the twelve stones in the midst of the stream. We therefore come forth walking in newness of life; these are the twelve stones carried by Israel into Canaan.

Dear Reader, have you carried your stone up out of the midst of that swelling watery grave and deposited it in triumph on Canaan’s banks? Is there a testimony of having passed through death to self and being raised unto newness of life?

You cannot enter the rest without your memorial stone planted before the eyes of all. Have you moved from wilderness wanderings in religious wastelands, through death to self, and into newness of life in Christ Jesus the Lord?

Those who do not will never see the inheritance of God in Christ Jesus. You will face the rushing torrent of overflowing wrath alone and with none to rescue your soul from its whirlpool of damnation.

Why not cross over now? Receive the work of the greater Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone can bring you safely into His heavenly kingdom.

Now behold, the stones were twelve, one for every tribe.  But where then were Ruben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh? They deposited them and then later abandoned Canaan’s fair land for their self-sought pasture lands.

Where are you Dear Reader? Have you borne your memorial aloft before the Israel of God and the fierce hosts of Canaan? Are you abiding in what you have testified to, or have you turned aside to self-sought fields of folly?

 

 

Joshua Chapter Five

Joshua Chapter Five verses 1-9

Nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh,

[But] inwardly…of the heart, by the Spirit

Rom.2:28,29

 

Gilgal follows Jordan. It is not enough to have died to self and be raised to newness of life; we must also cut off the flesh. Only swords of rocks will avail.

This is personal rather than representative and vicarious. Christ will not do it for you; your hand must do the deed.

Circumcision is a sign of the covenant, apart from which we are indistinguishable from the Egyptians. O Dear Reader, is it evident in your outward behavior that you are different than the world?

Gilgal means “a rolling.” Has the reproach of fleshly worldliness been rolled away from your life? Uncircumcision is the reproach of Egypt. Cutting it off is the glory of God’s people.

In Joshua’s day there was no outward difference between an Israelite and an Egyptian. And in our day, there is little to distinguish the church from the world.

Both Israel of old and the church of today are living in and indulging the flesh. It is a shame and reproach that ought not to be.

How the Name of the Lord is blasphemed among the nations because of professing Christians who have not cut off their own sinful fleshly practices! Israel was unfit to enter Canaan because of their uncircumcision and Christians are disqualified to make progress in godliness until they decisively cut off the evil of their deeds from out of their own hearts.

Note it well, circumcision must be of the heart [Deut.10:16; Jer.4:4]. The fleshly wandering desires of our unsettled inner man must be put to death: cut off. Lips too must come under the knife [Ex.6:12]. Our tongues, restless evils that they are, must have fleshly words cut out before escaping through our lips.

And what of what we listen to [Jer.6:10]? Certainly scorching slander must be cut off at the doorway before passing into our ears.

Even fruit must be circumcised [Lev.19:23]. All that springs up from thorny native soil, “fruit” from a cursed creation, must be eliminated as well. Thus shall our hearts’ soil be prepared for that glorious fruit from the Spirit surpassing that of earth [Gal.5:22,23].

Circumcision reduces all to the identical condition: weakness and pain. None are then boastful, bold, or mighty. It brings us as well unto utter helplessness before the enemy. No natural strength remains to engage in the conflict; Divine might must overcome.

Yes, it is a blessed condition; for when we are weak, then we are strong [2 Cor.12:7-10], and the sufficiency of the Almighty is perfected therein. “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength” [Jer.17:5].

Dear Reader, do not flee Gilgal. Abide there. Do the deed; cut off your own flesh. There is nothing else that will identify you as God’s own; reproach will be your portion otherwise.

 

Joshua Chapter Five verses 10-12

But let a man examine himself,

And so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup

I Cor. 11:28

It is here at Gilgal that tents must be pitched in a permanent camp. O how often daily we need to return to Gilgal where repeatedly the reproach of Egypt must be rolled away; for the flesh is truly a recurring shame.

Take up the Word of God, the Sword of flint, and abide here in the place of continuous self-judgment. Otherwise, flesh will dominate, corrupt, and imperil. There is no other encampment of safety.

Only thereby will one be qualified to partake of the Lord’s Passover. Uncircumcised are excluded [Ex.12:44-49]. None but those redeemed by power and blood are qualified to be marked by circumcision.

No religious act by the hand and craft of man can substitute for either. The blood of the Lamb must purge from guilt and deliver from bondage; circumcision must sanctify and testify of a distinct people.

Dear Reader, remember the power of redemptive might from centuries of Egyptian bondage. Recall it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Purge every corrupting trace of leaven; taste again the remembrance of the bitterness of Pharaoh’s servitude lest you be deceived into desiring to return to imaginary delights of melons, fish, and garlic in that wretched place.

Remember! Hear our Lord Jesus’ decree: “Do this in remembrance of Me!” This will nerve your soul to face Jericho’s towering might unshaken.

With so great a salvation in the forefront of your recollection, Jericho’s walls will appear as children’s castles of sand, easily scattered with the swipe of a hand.

And for such engagement, provision must be forthcoming. Feeding in the land fuels the advance of Jehovah’s hosts. The produce of Promise becomes our portion.

The manna of wilderness wanderings must give way to Canaan’s bounty. Infancy must pass into fullness; milk is replaced with meat. The temporary is set aside for the permanent.

He who changes not [Mal.3:6], changes His portions, programs, and provisions. An Adam who ate every green herb in the Garden of God, did not feast on “every living thing that moves” [Gen.9:3] as did Noah.

Israel was forbidden certain meats that Noah gladly partook of [Lev.11]; Peter was commanded to “kill and eat” from an assortment of Israel’s clean and unclean alike [Acts 10:9-16]. All from the same unchanging God.

Purposes for Manna had ceased; purposes for Canaan’s corn had come. Let us not covet miracles of bygone days. It is a sinful and adulterous generation that does so [Mt.16:4], ever discontent with the Lord’s present portion for His people.

Important lessons are to be gleaned from the Lord’s provision of manna during those forty years of wilderness wanderings and the ceasing of it even up to today.

Was it ascending prayers of trust and delight in the Majesty on high that was the occasion for the manna’s descent at first? No; bread was sent down from heaven, not because of Israel’s faith, but in spite of their unbelief, grumbling, and rebellion against God [Ex.16:2-7].

When the manna was given at the beginning, it was purely due to the mercy of God. It did not depend upon Israel’s faith, prayer, or fasting. Provision is by grace alone.

Many dubious miracle workers in our day blame the people for lack of faith when their promised supernatural powers do not come to pass.  They shout, “Be it done unto you according to your faith!”

By doing so, these deceivers imagine that they can never be blamed for their failure to produce what they have promised. Manna manifested by mercy, not by the people’s faith, and certainly not by any so-called miracle workers.

Miracles are sovereignly granted by the Lord of heaven. By definition, a miracle is an abnormal event brought about by supernatural power.

Dear Reader, miracles are not to be expected as a regular normal course of life. They are periodic and unusual, not customary and routine. Otherwise, they would cease to be miraculous.

Few men in the pages of Scripture performed miracles.  There have only been three main times in all of biblical history that it was so.

Moses and Joshua were the first. Centuries later Elijah and Elisha were the next, followed some eight-hundred and fifty years afterwards by Christ and the Apostles. The point is, miracles were never designed to be normative for the believer: neither the receiving of them nor performing of them.

And now, the manna ceased. Any Israelite who went forth the following dawn to gather his daily supply was sorely disappointed. No manna was to be found. Its absence was not due to his lack of faith.

Bread had not come down because of their prayer, either in the first instance or on any day thereafter. No one ever since this date in Joshua has eaten manna: not David, Isaiah, or Jesus Himself.

Though God is unchanging and His power is almighty, this does not mean that He must do the exact same things at every time in history. Only once in history did God send a flood upon the face of the earth.

Only once did the Lord make the sun stand still in the days of Joshua. Jesus did not repeat the feeding of the five thousand.

It is simply not true that we can expect God to regularly perform the miraculous on an on-going basis.  Though people were extraordinarily healed through the Apostle Paul, he nevertheless did not heal his beloved son, Timothy, of his frequent illness [I Tim.5:23]. His fellow-worker, Trophimus, was left sick in the city of Miletus [2 Tim.4:20].

Dear Reader, let us be content with the goodness of God and His provision day by day by giving Him thanks in all things. If the miraculous is absent, the grace of God will still abide with us.

The presence of manna did not indicate that the Lord was pleased with the Israelites. The lack of it did not signal His displeasure.

When the manna is withheld, the corn of the land will be provided; the one is miraculous, the other seems but natural. Both come from God and should be received with thanksgiving. In any and every circumstance, the Lord will provide.

Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus is ours [Eph.1:3]. “He who did not spare His Son but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” [Rom.8:32].

Let the Manna gladly go; Canaan’s corn surpasses even that. Beyond them both, Christ Himself is the true food of God. He is the living bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

Have you partaken of Him? Is He your daily portion? What are you feeding upon? What has entered your innermost being?

Jesus avows, “As the living Father sent Me…so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven…he who eats this bread will live forever” [Jn.6:57,58].

Yes, Dear Reader, here is an everlasting portion sweeter than that fine flake-like thing descending daily for Israelite clans [Ex.16:14,31]. Christ is ever fresh.

No sun’s blazing will melt away this Divine provision [Ex.16:21]. No worm will ever foul that Bread, for this Holy One will never see corruption [Ex.16:19,20].

And this portion is more than sufficient throughout God’s coming everlasting Day of rest [Ex.16:22-30]; it is stored up in Christ abundantly for all who partake of Jesus, the Bread from heaven.

“To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna” [Rev.2:17]. It is there for you, Dear Reader. He who eats of this Bread, will never hunger.

 

Joshua Chapter Five verses 13-15

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Captain

And Perfecter of faith

Heb.12:2

Every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus the Lord awaits us, but victory and the gaining of them is not by our own might and wisdom. There needs be One who is greater than ourselves to first secure and then to lead us into them. And thanks to God, such a Captain has come forth.

But He does not arrive to assist in our enterprise. God does not take up our cause; He does not fly on angelic wings to promote our agenda. To the question, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” came the terse and forceful reply: “No!”

This Captain does not foster our own design and campaign. He is not at our beck and call to perform our will. He receives directives from no one. He stoops to no man’s decrees. None dare command Him.

“I come now as Captain of the host of the Lord.” The vast militia attendant upon Him hearkens to His every command. He directs His own assault with an omniscient battle plan.

The issue for all spiritual leaders such as Joshua, yea, for every spiritual soldier is this: Whose side are you on? Whose command do you bow to? Whose Word dictates your next step? Who truly is on the Lord’s side?

As He came “now” to Joshua [v.14], He comes now to you, Dear Reader.

Fall on your face in the abject humility of unworthiness and worship before this Captain, Christ. Let your words repeat those of Joshua: “What has my Lord to say to His servant?”

The answer will be one and the same: “Remove your sandals…the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

In the presence of this Captain, you have no standing. Remove your sandals; you cannot walk on any path you choose, in any manner that pleases you.

The world is a dirty place. Do not bring what clings to sandal soles before Him.

Come in direct contact with His holiness. He will speak to you His mind.

“And Joshua did so.” He prostrated with shoes removed. What of you, Dear Reader?

 

 

Joshua Chapter Six

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,

But mighty through God for pulling down strongholds

2 Cor.10:4

 

Joshua Chapter Six verses 1,2

“Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel” [v.1]. Tightly shut: the strong man retains his captives with an iron fist. None may depart from there unless that tyrant is rendered impotent. None may gain access within Jericho’s proud walls. Those who venture heedlessly are assailed unto death.

Who will bring us into the besieged city? Modern day explorers of those haughty ruins discovered walls nearly 20 meters thick. What can twelve insignificant tribes do against that seemingly impregnable fortress?

Dear Reader, do not faint; the battle is the Lord’s. The Captain of the Lord’s host commandeers His troops. Conquest is not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of omnipotence.

Schemes, machinery, and man-made methods will not fell those walls. The Lord is the Victor and mighty to save.

“See, I have given Jericho into your hands” [v.2]. To sight, Jericho was a barricaded bastion yielding to none.  To faith it was a defenseless thatched village armed by children wielding twigs and garrisoned by cringing women melting with terror.

 

Joshua Chapter Six verses 3-14

I determined to know nothing among you

Except Christ and Him crucified

I Cor.2:2

During the seven days of marching, not even a whisper was to be heard from the mouths of men. The only note sounding through the stillness came from the priests’ trumpets of rams’ horns as they proceeded before the Ark of the Covenant.

Dear Reader, let this note sink into your ears; victory over sin and enemies are not gained by our own efforts. God alone is the One who can give us possession of spiritual realities. The energy of the flesh has no voice here.

For seven silent days the lone solemn tone of redemptive power split the air and pierced the ears of the impenitent huddled about Jericho’s sentinel. Those stanzas sent shivers of terror down the spines of those holding armed vigil within that citadel. Yet those same melodious notes brought confident gladness to the hearts of the redeemed of the Lord.

The Lamb slain alone is to sound forth the Word of triumphant note! Those seven trumpets were gained from sacrificial rams. The horns were seven – the power thereof was perfect. Yes, they portray Christ crucified, the Lamb of God who has power to save to the uttermost.

And this is why the voice of man is worse than useless in this conflict. Nothing proceeding from man has a say in this arena; let no man-made doctrines, no human reasoning be spoken in our midst: no carnal enthusiasm to arouse fleshly expectations!

Human wisdom has no power against Jericho’s impregnable embattlements. Traditions and doctrines of men only rather fortify that stronghold.

Lift up the trumpet of the Word of Christ crucified! Let that glad gospel pierce the oppressive atmosphere surrounding Jericho’s proud walls! Man’s declarations and invented stories will not shake even one pebble loose from the enemy’s embattled fortress!

Dear Reader, let us be done with philosophy, psychology, and self-made prophesies. They are all useless, every one of them, to advance us spiritually! None have power from on high to pull down the strongholds of Jericho’s citadel!

Do the Israel of God never speak then? Yes, they do. But note it well; when they shouted, it was at the command of God. When words parted their lips they were the very Words of the Most High. That alone can raze the gates of hell.

Let those notes and none other split the air with their clarion of triumph!

 

Joshua Chapter Six verses 17-19

Do you not know that your body

Is a temple of the Holy Spirit…

And that you are not your own?

For you have been bought with a price;

Therefore glorify God in your body

I Cor.6:19,20

 

That entire city is under the ban: devoted to destruction. Nothing from Jericho’s cursed cache shall cling to the hands of the conquerors. The Lord must first and foremost receive His due.

The glory of God is supreme. Give to God what belongs to Him. Do not retain any for self.

Clutching to self what God has devoted to destruction brings that same curse upon the covetous and disobedient.  God must always be exalted as supreme and first in everything. He must be glorified without consideration of our own self-gain.

Anything else is treachery and robbery: taking for self that which only rightfully belongs to the Lord.  And money, or tithes and offerings are not the subject here. Give “unto God the things that are God’s” [Mt.22:21].

God must be given what is His for the honor of His name and the glory of His house. What are the spoils of the Lord’s battle that are to be rendered unto Him exclusively?  What belongs to Him by right of conquest? It is you, dear Reader.

This is no small matter. What God has purchased for Himself through conflict and blood, even your own soul, is to be yielded entirely unto Him. It is stealing, it is wickedness to keep for self what belongs to God!

Give yourself completely to Him; do not withhold even one thing. Let all be devoted to His glory alone.

Heed the solemn warning; those who do not, bring a curse upon themselves and trouble the people of God! Is the Lord being glorified in every aspect of your life?

Or are you sneaking about with things secretly hidden that have been stolen and kept from God? If the latter, you have made yourself a thief and a corrupter of the people of the Lord! And you can be sure your sin will find you out.

 

Joshua Chapter Six verses 22-25

By faith Rahab…[was] justified by works

Heb.11:31; James 2:25

 

God chooses the weak things of the world, the lowly, despised, and abased to shame the wise, proud, and mighty. A former harlot is spared while kings, politicians, commanders, and nobles are swept away as so much refuse under the wrath of heaven.

Behold the power of her transformed life. She was now a citizen of another kingdom. Arms will not be taken up by her against the God of heaven from within her dwelling atop Jericho’s wall. She had repudiated her native culture and was already an Israelite indeed.

She still lived therein, but now with a new heart and a fresh and noble occupation. She was in the world, but was not of it. And this had powerful effect upon all who knew her well.

How great is the testimony when we repent with the faith of a Rahab! Our words carry conviction. Newness of life adds its convincing weight to the proclamation. In a former den of iniquity souls are now gathered seeking salvation from coming doom.

What convinced father, mother, brothers, relatives, and others to abide under the shelter of Rahab’s scarlet thread to flee from storms of wrath [Josh.2:18-21]? The persuasive power of her transformed life. That was convincing.

Not so, the testimony of Lot. “Up, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city. But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be joking” [Gen.19:14].

Lot’s life belied his lips. His heart gravitated towards that corrupt place. His feet hesitated to step away from it.

And his family knew it. Therefore his words were as a proverb in the mouth of a fool [Prov.26:7]: words of levity and jest, not of weight and conviction. And thus they perished: all that is, except Lot.

Dear Reader, whom have you gathered into the only sanctum against coming judgment? Does your life bear solemn witness to your message of deliverance?

Better to have Rahab as your mother than Lot as your father.

 

Joshua Chapter Six verse 26

If I rebuild what I have once destroyed,

I prove myself to be a transgressor

Gal.2:18

 

Rebuilding what God has devoted to destruction is undertaken at great loss. All that comes forth from that life is ruined. What had been opposed to God in raging revolt must not be raised again once it has been pulled down.

Pause and reflect here. That loathsome citadel of self has been dealt the death blow by the Son of God. That Jericho within, the flesh, all that we are in our natural corruption, has been crucified with Christ. “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” [Col.3:3].

Leave those proud walls scattered in the dust. Be content to abandon stubborn stones cast down by Divine might. Do not attempt to erect again towering timbers of malice and greed.

Allow them all to lie where they have fallen. Any movement, however slight, to resurrect them is to be met with a singular sentence: “Put to death the members of your body upon the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry” [Col.3:5]. Put them to death; do not rebuild them.

There was a man, Hiel, who ventured to do so. He rebuilt Jericho. Even after the loss of his firstborn, he continued his maddened pursuit.

Nothing turned him aside from his course. And thus he “laid the foundations with the loss of his firstborn…and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son… according to the Word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun” [I Kings 16:34].

Will you observe and gain insight from Hiel? Will you build again the deeds of the flesh which God has already condemned through the cross of Christ?

If so, do not think you will escape. You will not; the Word of the Lord is certain.

 

 

Joshua Chapter Seven

  No covetous man who is an idolater

Has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ.

Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.

Eph.5:5; I Cor.5:13

 

Chapter seven opens with these sobering words: “But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan…took of the accursed things; so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.”

Nothing is hidden from the eyes of Him with whom we have to do; everything is naked and laid bare before His all-searching vision. O how a little leaven, leavens the whole lump!

Illness affects the whole man so we say, “I am sick.” In our bodies it is not one member that is isolated in its affliction. The desire of Achan was the demise of the nation.  Secret sin defiles and defeats equally as does the public and flagrant.

“Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?” [I Cor.5:6].

Do not be deceived! Such sin is not a private matter!  The entire congregation was affected. Self-confidence, self-seeking, and failure to judge self by returning to Gilgal spread its corrupting influence upon one and all, even to one like Joshua himself.

 

Joshua Chapter Seven verses 1-5

But if we examined ourselves, we would not be judged.

But when we are judged by the Lord we are disciplined

So that we may not be condemned with the world

I Cor.11:31,32

 

They should have spied out themselves rather than Ai.  Conceit and self-confidence is at the root of division among the Israel of God and the cause of defeat at the hand of the enemy.

No mention of returning to the camp at Gilgal was made. Self was not judged; rather self was their vain confidence.

The flush of a moment’s victory is not effective when facing a fresh conflict. Trust, power, and self-judgment are required at every juncture.

The congregation with Joshua’s approval did not consult the Lord before advancing upon the city of Ai.  According to their own assessment and with reliance upon their own might they went forth in presumption.

Disaster resulted. It was the only time in the book of Joshua that Israel suffered defeat.

Self-confidence is a miserable delusion and a powerless refuge. Sin hidden within defiles not only the individual but the entire congregation as well. Sin tolerated dulls the sensibilities and distorts the vision so as to even blame the Lord rather than self.

 

Joshua Chapter Seven verses 6-9

Your iniquities have separated

Between you and your God.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear

Isa.59:2; Ps.66:18

 

“Why?” Thus says the faithless whenever circumstances turn sour. “Us, we, I, our:” these are the frantic pronouns spilling from defeated lips.

Self is ever the focus of the carnal. Repentance is never the recourse, for self is never the suspect. God may be blamed, yes, but self is never on trial in the minds of the self-centered.

As with Adam’s pointed finger: “The woman You gave to be with me…” we follow in his steps as did Joshua and Israel here; Let God be at fault, and every man exonerated.

Observe the focus of this so-called prayer; ‘God defeated us. Better to have disobeyed and never entered Canaan. What can I say? We will perish.’ This is not prayer; it is self-occupied whining and childish murmuring.

The immediate concern in such complaint is for the effect this will have upon them, for the preservation of their own name. The last thing on their minds is the reputation, honor, and glory of God. It is anti-prayer.

 

Joshua Chapter Seven verses 10-15

He who covers his sin will not prosper,

But he who confesses and forsakes them

Will find mercy

Prov.28:13

 

“So the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? Israel has sinned…they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the accursed things from your midst’” [Josh.7:10-12]. Self-pitying prayers are rebuffed as the worthless complaining that they are.

Was the Lord pleased with such a prayer? Was He happy that they had gone into battle without depending upon Him? Did self-reliance glorify Him? Were they safe in not returning in self-judgment to Gilgal? Never!

Sin brings defeat, shame, rebuke, and harsh discipline.  Judgment of self and repentance is the solution, not complaining in the ears of heaven. Such self-pitying prayers are rejected by the God whom we have offended but have not glorified.

Turning to God for relief while not turning from sin within is an obnoxious religious noise unheard by heaven.

 

 Joshua Chapter Seven verses 16-26

Behold, you have sinned against the Lord

And be sure your sin will find you out.

There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed

Num.32:32; Mt. 10:26

All the people were assembled tribe by tribe and the tribe of Judah was taken by Divine selection. From Judah the family of the Zerahites was separated from among the clans.

The Lord isolated from their midst one father, Zabdi.  His household was brought forth man by man until from among the millions of Israel, Achan stood alone before the Lord.

Dear Reader, be sure that your sin will find you out.  Nothing is covered before the all-seeing God. You may think that hidden evil is undetected.

Do not be deceived; the God of heaven knows every intention of your heart, each movement of your hand, and all words even before they are formed on your lips. Light and darkness are alike to Him.

Sin concealed curtails blessing, causes destruction, and leads to the departure of the Holy One from the midst of a defiled camp. Sin must be traced to its source, exposed, rooted out, and put to death.

We must name the deed and expose the cancer, and that before the brethren whose spiritual lives we have imperiled. “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed” [James 5:16].

“Give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me” [Josh.7:19].

Dear Reader, what do you have buried in your tent? Dig it up and dispose of it before demise or even death sweeps you away. “For this reason many of you are weak and sick, and quite a few are dead” [I Cor.11:30].

“Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment…silver…and gold…I coveted them and took them.  And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent” [Josh.7:20,21].

Repent and forsake your secret sins before the people of God are summoned to search them out before the great congregation. Then as with Achan, it may be too late. Forsake your inner hidden defilement of your own accord; do not wait until it is exposed by others.

Grace is not a license to endorse wickedness; it is not an entitlement to enable iniquity. Pardon was not proffered for Achan. Forgiveness may not be an option for you.

O beware of the devil’s schemes to ensnare your soul!  His method is universal, and effective millions of times over: “I saw, I coveted, I took, I hid!”

Evil desire harbored within the heart will lead your hand to lay hold of the forbidden, whilst the guilt of your soul will hasten your feet to conceal the evidence. How many are slain thereby!

Achan, the troubler who troubled the entire congregation, was brought to the Valley of Trouble: Achor.

To every Achan reading these words, hear the Word of the Lord! “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day. So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire” [Josh.7:25].

Dear Reader, the apostle informs us with these solemn words: “If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged” [I Cor.11:31]. Yes, this is true. Judge yourself before God exposes your iniquity before the entire congregation. Then it will be too late.

While Achan died the death of stoning and burning under an Old Covenant law, there yet remains judgment for transgressors in the New Covenant. His was outward and physical; judgment in the church is internal and spiritual.

He was cut off from the congregation in that drastic literal manner. It is not the prerogative of the church to imitate that judicial literal execution. But you may yet be cut off.

“Let him be to you as a heathen and tax-gatherer” [Mt.18:17]. “Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh…Remove the wicked man from among yourselves” [I Cor.5:5,13]. Judgment is still executed by the church against Achan-like sins.

Or, worse still, God Himself may take your life. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away” [Jn.15:2]. “Many of you are weak and sick, and quite a few are dead” [I Cor.11:30]. “Repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth” [Rev.2:16].

When the wickedness of Achan was judged, the anger of the Lord departed from Israel. When we confess and forsake sin in ourselves, we will not be condemned by the Lord.

And then the glad tidings ring with these gracious tones; Sin judged opens a door of hope for the Lord’s blessing as Hosea 2:15 says: “I will give…the Valley of Achor as a door of hope.”

But sin concealed unforsaken provokes the wrath of Him whose throne is ablaze with righteous indignation.  May the Lord help you to confess and forsake the iniquity that you cannot hide, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Dear Reader, is God being glorified in your life? Are you presenting unto Him that which is His undisputed purchased possession?

Your soul belongs to Him. Do not covetously and treacherously steal from God what rightly belongs to Him.

If you do, then the anger of the Lord will be kindled, His jealousy provoked, and judgment, misery, defeat, humiliation, reproach, shame, weakness, and even death are the sure results.

No amount of prayer, pleading, or prostration before God will avail to secure His favor while the things of God are kept to be consumed upon the flesh. He does not hear our miserable whimpering for blessing while His Word goes unheeded and His glory is cast aside in preference for the flesh.

Get up off your face and judge the evil which is abhorrent in His sight! If you do not, then God will judge you Himself. The Righteous One will utterly remove you if you do not destroy what is destroying you. He will extinguish your lamp, unless you repent!

 

 

 

Joshua Chapter Eight

Joshua Chapter Eight verses 1,2

“I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord,

“Plans of peace, and not of evil,

To give you an expected end”

Jer.29:11

 

Have your sins brought defeat and disaster? Hear the cheering voice of Him who never leaves or forsakes. “Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Sin judged is the channel for triumph. Obedience paves the way for the Lord to fly in majesty to your help.

Contrite hearts are the chariots of the Spirit riding victoriously against the foe. Let us move in concert with like-minded saints and the Lord will fight on our behalf.

When evil is exposed, confession made, dastardly deeds purged, and God glorified by rendering to Him His due, there is blessing for the people of God. “You shall take only its spoil…for yourselves.”

Dear Reader, presenting your body as a living sacrifice, glorifying God in your body, has its benefits. The God of heaven graciously shares His riches in glory in Christ Jesus with any so situated. His portion becomes your own.

 

Joshua Chapter Eight verses 3-8

The wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.

For it is written, “He is the one who catches

The wise in their craftiness”

I Cor.3:19

 

Has not the wisdom of God made foolish the wisdom of this world? The arrogant, vile, and impetuous inhabitants of Ai will rally forth to their own demise.

Arrogance distorts judgment. Aggression inflames rash decision. Self-confidence deceives by lofty thoughts of superior invincibility. And thus they plunge into the trap crafted and paved by their own evil hearts.

The Lord of Hosts knows well the disposition of wayward creatures. He knows how to lay snares to capture and execute the rebels. He employs their own wicked schemes against them to their own demise.

We reap what we sow. The abominable inhabitants of Ai, violent haters of God, sacrificing their own children to their fearsome idols, and pouring out their lust in abhorrent perversion, here meet what they have practiced.

They loved to afflict and now they are afflicted. They loved to slay and now they are slain. They resist and assault the God of heaven and now they are pursued unto death.

Hear the solemn judgment of heaven: “They poured out blood…and You have given them blood to drink. They are worthy. Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments” [Rev.16:6,7].

 

Joshua Chapter Eight verse 9

Choose you this day whom you will serve

Josh.24:15

 

Between Bethel and Ai: here did the father of the faithful abide, pitch a tent, and erect his altar [Gen.12:8].  Here must we all dwell with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.

The choice for us is always between the house of God [Bethel] and a heap of ruins [Ai]. Which will we desire, which will we destroy?

Do our hearts gravitate towards moving with God in fellowship as in our father Abraham’s tent? Will we, as well, erect our altar from our hearts that pleasing aromas arise from there to the delight of heaven?

Or does the madness of Ai’s ruinous destruction have its grip upon our wayward desperate hearts? Will sin’s deception deceive us into imagining that we will escape its heap of ruins?

Dear Reader, one cannot hesitate between two opinions. If the Lord is God, serve Him. Enter and abide in His Bethel of blessings. Those who lie in league with Ai, do so to their own destruction.

Those choosing Bethel discover to their delight that our greater Joshua, the Lord Jesus, abides with us there. He will never leave or forsake those who dwell with Him there.

 

 Joshua Chapter Eight verses 10-25

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal,

But mighty through God

For the pulling down of strongholds

2 Cor.10:5

 

Victory is secured if we proceed according to the Word of the Lord in self-judgment. The ravages of the flesh and hosts of hell will never prevail against us thereby.

The Lord knows both the strengths and the weaknesses of the enemies of the Israel of God. He knows and conveys His own strategies for triumph over the foe to His mustered troops.

It is for us to comply and act accordingly having donned the full armor of God. Our Captain both trains, sustains, and outfits His accompanying hosts.

Dear Reader, we are helpless before the hordes of wickedness. Who dare venture forth into that conflict with fleshly weapons of straw and dust and helmet of leaf with breastplate of paper?

Jesus, our Captain, commands conquering for His stalwart soldiers. Stray from that command post and we wander defenseless before ferocious foes. Abide and overcome in the strength of the Lord and power of his might according to that Word which cannot fail.

 

Joshua Chapter Eight verses 26-29

Put to death, therefore, your members upon earth

Col.3:5

 

The decree is firm allowing no compromise; Destroy evil or evil will destroy you. Utterly obliterate all flesh of mortal man. Otherwise flesh will raise its hideous head once again to corrupt and dominate that which is of God.

Dear Reader, do not compromise with the flesh. Show it no pity. Exterminate its every enticement, battle its every assault.

The flesh knows no rest. It is unrelenting in its attempts to subjugate and destroy every saint of God. Give it no quarter. Take up your cross daily. Hate that which rages within your breast lest it gain the ascendency and ravage your soul.

Like Joshua, raise a great heap of stones over this foe.

 

Joshua Chapter Eight verses 30-35

Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you.

The true worshipers will worship the Father

In Spirit and truth; for such the Father seeks

To be His worshipers

Col.3:16; Jn.4:23

 

O that the whole land would come under the sway of the Word of the Lord! The Word must govern God’s people in their inherited portion.

Publish it before all that everyone may read! Sound its clarion abroad for all to hear! Let the Word of the Lord reign as the charter of the people of God who occupy His inheritance.

Let the church of Christ submit under the shadow of those unmovable Rocks – the Rock of the Old Testament on the one hand and that of the New Testament opposite it [Deut.27:3-8]. Let its provisions be clearly proclaimed by both word and pen to all those dwelling in union with Him as a testimony to the whole earth.

Let both its blessings and curse be brought before the whole congregation with force and clarity: blessings for comforting joy, cursing for sober warnings. Let not one word be omitted from that Word which “is forever settled in heaven” [Ps.119:89].

For “not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one word of them has failed” [Josh.23:14].

And an altar of uncut stones must be erected according to this unchanging Word. Those stones are to be uncut, with nothing to modify what God has done. Stones are made by God. And what God has created needs no modification or improvement.

Dear Reader, no human craft and design has place in the worship of God. No fashioning according to man’s reasoning can be allowed. To do so is an affront to heaven. It is an accusation that what God has designed and created is inadequate apart from man’s adjustment. This could never be.

The worship of God must rise to heaven from what originates with God.  Man cannot construct anything that meets with God’s approval by his own ingenuity and invention.

Nimrod may fashion bricks, but his erected tower never reached heaven as it had not originated from what was of heaven. God’s hand was not in it; man’s hand profaned it. His bricks were a substitute for Divinely provided means. And they were rejected.

Stones for altars are encountered everywhere. There is nowhere that one cannot worship God. This is His provision for worship in Spirit and truth apart from shrines, priest craft, and the traditions of men.

Lay down your hammer and chisel. What God has done in Christ for us to worship Him in Spirit and truth needs no modification.

He is the living Stone, rejected indeed by men, but of utmost value in the sight of God. “And we also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” [I Pet.2:5].

Christ is both Stone for the foundation and its cornerstone. And we are built upon Him as living stones in His spiritual house. Yes, we are the holy priests; it is we who are to offer those spiritual sacrifices.

And for this we need no inventions of men according to human tradition. Discard Nimrod’s bricks and cast aside your fashioning tools.

The true worship of God need not be improved upon, for it cannot be.

 

 

Joshua Chapter Nine

Joshua Chapter Nine verses 1-15

Seek the Lord and His strength;

Seek His face continually.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And lean not on your own understanding.

Man looks on the outward appearance;

But the Lord looks on the heart

Ps.105:4; Prov.3:5; I Sam.16:7

 

Dear Reader, on what basis are you deciding the affairs of your life? How do you evaluate what confronts you daily? Deception abounds in this crooked generation.

The decree is clear: “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge the righteous judgment” [Jn.7:24]. And this is where Israel failed. It is where we fail.

There is no record of their inquiring of the Lord when Gibeonites made their appearance in their midst. They rather leaned on their own understanding, failing to acknowledge Him in all their ways, and thus their paths went astray [Prov.3:5,6].

“The men of Israel took some of their provisions, but they did not ask for the counsel of the Lord” [Josh.9:14]. Had they done so, they never would have entered into that compromising and disastrous alliance. But they did not.

A sobering lesson is gained herein. God is central, supreme, and first in everything: in every thought, word, action, and decision. How many Gibeonites we have welcomed into our midst by such carelessness!

Gibeonites are crafty [Josh.9:4] and as deceitful as their father the devil. Lying, treachery, and pretense are convincing servants to achieve their end of preserving self by guile. The mantle of hypocrisy will deceive even the elect if discernment is not gained from the gates of heaven.

Beware! Self, to survive, will don a thousand cloaks.

 

Joshua Chapter Nine verses 16-27

He swears to his own hurt and does not change

Ps.15:4

 

What do we do when treachery is unveiled? What is to be our response when wickedness has taken hold of us by our own doing? When we have solemnly pledged in the Name of the Lord, can we simply brush that aside to avoid reaping what we have sown?

These are searching questions for those ensnared in the consequences of their own folly. Can we violate the sanctity of the Name of the Lord simply because we did not run for refuge into that strong tower before foolishly pledging ourselves by that Name above every name?

No, we may not. We must drink from the bitter cup we have poured for ourselves when we did not consult Omniscience. We cannot dishonor that Name further in order to rectify our fault. No, we must reap what we have sown.

Gibeonites, enemies of the God of heaven, must abide now in the midst of the people of God because “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them…so that wrath will not be upon us for the oath which we swore to them” [v.19,20].

This was correct. God Himself endorsed this decision in the following chapter. He did not allow the Gibeonites to be killed by their enemies, but rather had Israel defeat their assailants and spare their lives because of the honor of His Name.

Many years later, Saul sinned in destroying the Gibeonites in his misguided zeal for the sons of Israel [2 Sam.21:1,2]. Such wickedness brought the Lord’s plagues upon the people of God.

No, Gibeonites must abide; we must reap what we have sown, as painful, distressing, and shameful as it may be.

Gibeonites remain as a constant reminder that we must consult the Lord of heaven in every matter concerning us. Direction from His mouth must guide our every step. His Word is to be sought and our own understanding distrusted.

And so Gibeonites hew wood and fetch water for the altar of the Lord. This is the reproach we must bear for hasty fleshly conclusions made apart from Divine wisdom.

The wood for the altar’s fire was gathered by unconsecrated hands. Water for priests’ purification was poured into the laver from unclean vessels.

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers; for…what fellowship has light and darkness?” [2 Cor.6:14].

Gibeonites abide as cursed slaves in the house of God up to today [Josh.9:27], all because of confidence in the sufficiency of fleshly reason by those who truly knew better. Let us learn soberly from this episode lest we go and do likewise.

 

 

Joshua Chapter Ten 

Joshua Chapter Ten verses 1-15

The battle is not yours, but God’s

2 Chron.20:15

The Lord fought from heaven in their behalf. Delivering might descends from above. It is for us to align with Divine purposes.

“The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands’…and the Lord confounded them before Israel and…threw large stones from heaven on them…There were more who died from the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword” [Josh.10:8,10,11].

Truly in this conflict, it is “‘not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts” [Zech.4:6]. “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him” [Isa.59:19].

Yet we have our role to play. The sword of the Spirit must be taken up valiantly in our hand. No foes are vanquished without it. We are “God’s fellow workers” [I Cor.3:9].

We must also join in the fray unrelentingly and strike “until his hand was weary and clung to the sword” [2 Sam.23:10]. Great victories are brought about by the Lord thereby.

Dear Reader, no good soldier entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, that he may please his enlisting Captain [2 Tim.2:3,4]. Let your eye be single. Hearken to your commanding Officer alone. Do not heed contrary voices.

There is a kingdom to be won through agony and blood. A fearsome foe who never rests is assaulting the gates of heaven itself. The captives of the mighty must be delivered; the imprisoning principalities must be overcome.

Do not imagine that your contribution is incidental. Yes, the glory of triumph goes to our commanding Joshua, but not apart from each contributing sword. You have a role to play.

Let not your hands hang limp. Do not shelve your sword. Take up the full armor of God and man your post.

Listen! For lack of a nail the shoe was lost. For lack of a shoe the horse was lost. For lack of a horse the rider was lost. For lack of a rider the battle was lost. For lack of a battle the kingdom was lost; all for lack of a nail.

And the Lord will not abandon us in obscurity. No, the darkness will not overwhelm those engaged in the Lord’s conflict with forces of evil. Yes, the “Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” [Ps.27:1].

“O send forth Thy light and Thy truth; let them lead me!” [Ps.43:3]. This is the certain supply for all in His ranks so we may boldly say: “Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall I will rise; though I dwell in darkness, the Lord will be a light for Me” [Mic.7:8].

And so it was that the “sun stood still at Gibeon…and the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day” [Josh.10:12,13].

The Lord will never abandon us to the darkness. The darkness will never overwhelm the light. For He who is the Light of the world has promised: “he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the Light of life” [Jn.8:12].

But even so, we do well to not misplace our confidence. Light comes from above; victory is commanded by our Captain. No residual might abides in us apart from His omnipotence.

There is yet need to return to Gilgal, to self-judgment, to cutting off of the flesh, lest we attribute to self what rightly and only has its source in God. “Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal” [Josh.10:15].

Let us hasten to join them there.

 

Joshua Chapter Ten verses 16-28

Thanks be to God who always leads us

In His triumph in Christ

2 Cor.2:14

Self-judgment by abstaining from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul [I Pet.2:11], secures ascendency over the foe. So we boldly say: “Thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ” [2 Cor.2:14].

Come to Makkedah and witness the vanquished. Those five tyrants now tremble. The oppressors are oppressed. The mighty cringe in helplessness.

“Put your feet on the necks of these kings” [Josh.10:24]. Yes, stand in exultation over the conquered now captives.

No more shall they instill terror. Bondage is no more. Our King has “disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through the cross” [Col.2:15].

Do not tremble or wilt in despair; no weapon fashioned against you shall prosper through our mighty Captain. Hear the greater Joshua boldly proclaim:

“Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies with whom you fight” [Josh.10:25].

And so He has. Christ has cast out the ruler of this world. Victory is secured. Blessed be His holy Name.

 

Joshua Chapter Ten verses 29-43

If God be for us, who can be against us?

Rom.8:31

 

Saints may not rest for long. The battle rages still for the foes are uncountable. A full one-third of the stars of heaven were swept away by that great red dragon’s tail [Rev.12:4].

Fiends abound. Unclean spirits move about in waterless places. That roaring lion roams about seeking whom to devour [I Pet.5:8]. His slanderous accusations assail the courts of heaven still.

But the Mighty One leads His company on from victory to victory. They are no match against the Lord of Hosts.

“Joshua captured all these kings and their lands at one time, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel” [Josh.10:42].

Conquest is certain when self-judgment is continuous at Gilgal’s camp [Josh.10:43]. Abide there, Dear Reader.

 

 

Joshua Chapter Eleven

Every abominable act which the Lord hates

They have done for their gods.

In all these things we are more than conquerors

Through Him who loved us

Deut.12:31 Rom.8:37

 

Omnipotence is unconquerable, hence this ever expanding victorious occupation of the Promised Land. Kingdom after Canaanite kingdom fall before the right hand of the Majesty on high.

And why, you may ask. Because Omniscience knew that iniquity’s cup was full to overflowing. The four hundred years of longsuffering prophesied to Abraham had reached its termination [Gen.15:16].

“You shall not do…what is done in the land of Canaan…you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to offer them to Molech…

“You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. You shall not have intercourse with any animal…it is a perversion…

“For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land vomits out its inhabitants” [Lev.18:3,21-23,25].

“Every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods” [Deut.12:31].

“You shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations…one who uses divination, or who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer… because of these detestable things the Lord your God drives them out before you” [Deut.18:10-12].

Burning their own children alive to fearsome idols, sexual perversity of the most unimaginable sort, black magic, sorcery, and witchcraft: These are what filled their cup of iniquity.

The Lord calls it abomination, perversion, defilement, detestable; what do we call it? Are these not heinous crimes worthy of Divine judgment after four hundred years of longsuffering probation? They are.

 

Joshua Chapter Eleven verse 15

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

If you keep My commandments,

You will abide in My love

Jn.14:15; Jn.15:10

 

And Joshua “left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded” [Josh.11:15]. The command of the Lord is unwavering. Truth is exclusive and uncompromising.

Execution of evil cannot be sentimental. Tolerance of perversion and rebellion is not righteous; neither is it love. “Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth” [I Cor.13:6].

Love for the truth by necessity issues in hatred for any corruption and denial of it. “I love your commandments… therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything, I hate every false way” [Ps.119:127,128]. A stance for righteousness and truth is simultaneously a repudiation and rejection of evil and error.

And Joshua discharged the Lord’s edit unwaveringly. He was commended for it. He performed the will of God according to His Word.

What of you, Dear Reader? Are you performing the undeviating will of God expressed in His most excellent Word? Or are you turning aside to the right hand or the left?

The way is narrow that leads to life. Those wandering thereon into forbidden meadows may discover that their destination is not reached. Those who sow to the flesh, shall from the flesh, reap corruption; those who sow to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life [Gal.6:8].

Only those who imitate Joshua here will be commended thereafter.

 

 

Joshua Chapter Eleven verse 18

Do not grow weary in doing good,

For in due time you will reap if you do not faint

Gal.6:9

 

Conquering persistent evil is not a day’s work.  “Joshua waged war a long time with these kings” [Josh.11:18]. With such abounding wickedness, victory and possession of the inheritance is not to be expected without prolonged conflict.

And for this we must “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints” [Jude 4].

Dear Reader, you must overcome, for that is what a Christian is: an overcomer [I Jn.5:4,5]. Do not give up; do not turn back to the weak and worthless elemental things.

Do not sheathe your sword. Persist in taking “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” [2 Cor.10:5]. Take your stand in the midst of the field of food for the people of God and defend it unto blood in your striving against sin [2 Sam.23:11,12; Heb.12:4].

The clarion call of the Commander is clear: “Be on the alert, stand fast in the faith, act like men, be strong” [I Cor.16:13].

 

 

Joshua Chapter Eleven verse 20

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God,

God gave them over to a reprobate mind,

To do what should not be done

Rom.1:28

Judicial vengeance has as its final terrifying form, handing over hardened repeated rebels to their self-chosen ways [Prov.1:23-33]. This is God’s severest judgment.

Do you reject the light? Then you shall embrace the outer darkness by your own choice. Is eternal love despised? Then malice and hatred will be your everlasting portion. Will purity’s holiness be spurned? You will be handed over to corruption’s gnawing worm throughout endless ages.

“For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts…that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy” [Josh.11:20].

Does this seem harsh? It is not. It is what they repeatedly had chosen: wickedness, hatred, malice, immorality, murder, and devil-craft. Opportunities to renounce and repent abounded, but they would none of it.

It is what they wanted; it is what they lusted after. Judgment upon such is righteous and in perfect harmony with their own desires. It could not be otherwise.

“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justly?” [Gen.18:25]. The answer to this is “Yes.”

 

 

Joshua Chapter Thirteen

Joshua Chapter Thirteen verse 1

That you might be able to comprehend

With all the saints

What is the breadth and length and height and depth.

And to know the love of Christ

Which surpasses knowledge

Eph.3:18,19

 

The Divine sentence even after many years of conquest remains this: “Very much of the land yet remains to be possessed” [Josh.13:1]. O who can exhaust the vast storehouse of riches of glory in Christ Jesus?

That spiritual inheritance is as wide as it is deep. Perhaps only a pittance has been grasped by our tiny hands, traversed by slow and lagging steps. Yet the land stretches forth in its boundless bounty beyond the scope of mortal eyes.

“Things which eye has not seen…all that God has prepared for those who love Him. But to us God revealed them through the Spirit” [I Cor.2:9,10].

Dear Reader, are you gazing on the things above? Is your heart searching out proportions of promise? Are your feet treading upon Divine provision?

This is not yet your rest. Christ awaits your ever increasing communion. Delights in Him are the prospects placed before you. Pursue and possess.

 

 

Joshua Chapter Thirteen verse 13

If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land

From before you, [they] shall be as pricks in your eyes

And as thorns in your sides…

And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you

Num.33:55,56

 

Compromise with evil imperils the soul. Allowing that which is at enmity with God to abide in our midst is disastrous. Tolerance with enemies leads to sure and certain demise.

“But the sons of Israel did not dispossess the Geshurites or the Maachathites; for Geshur and Maacath live among Israel until this day” [Josh.13:13]. And thus they abide by willful neglect and carnal choice.

Geshur [proud beholder], and Maacath [she has pressed], are now your contrary neighbors. Geshur will gaze with contempt and Maacath will oppress. It is what they are by nature.

Why then were they not exterminated according to the Word of the Lord? Why were they granted space among the saints? What possible reason can be proffered to justify the proud beholding of oppression upon the children of God?

Carnality in Canaan is the only possible reply.

 

 

Joshua Chapter Thirteen verse 22

Balaam…put a stumbling block

Before the sons of Israel,

To eat things sacrificed to idols

And to commit sexual immorality

Rev.2:14

 

O how Balaam corrupts the people of God if allowed to live in their midst! His threefold cord of wickedness entwines around the neck of Christ’s bride unless he is dealt the deathblow.

Witness the havoc that his Error [Jude 11], his Way [2 Pet.2:15], and his Doctrine [Rev.2:14] have wrought among the professed saints of the Most High. Note well the influence of this sorcerer upon unwitting souls.

His Error is that God can be persuaded/manipulated given enough time and proper ritual. His Doctrine of demons is that the end justifies the means. And behold the idolatrous corruption of his Way: greed.

Sensible saints slay this evil imposter. Let nothing of his contamination have a place in the midst of Christ’s church.

“The sons of Israel also killed Balaam…the diviner with the sword” [Josh.13:22].

May we follow suit and also terminate this spiritual deceiver with that mighty two-edged sword of the Word of God. Spare ritual, compromise, and greed no mercy; let them be slain with their sorcerer master.

 

 

Joshua Chapter Thirteen verses 14,33

And if children, heirs also, heirs of God

And fellow heirs of Christ.

I am your portion and your inheritance

Among the sons of Israel

Rom.8:17; Num.18:20

 

The portion of priests surpasses that of milk and honey in the Canaan of God. See what is reserved exclusively for them: “To the tribe of Levi He did not give an inheritance; the offerings by fire to the Lord…are their inheritance…the Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance” [Josh.13:14,33].

Dear Reader, there is no sweeter portion than Christ Himself and His sacrifice of limitless worth. How can vineyards and valleys, cattle and coins, houses and honey be compared to Him?

He is yours everlastingly. Every treasure of wisdom and goodness is discovered by dwelling in Him, He who is your treasure throughout endless day.

What was the allotment of Levi alone then is now the birthright of every child of heaven, all of whom are priests in Christ’s spiritual house [I Pet.2:5]. Abide there with bodies yielded as living sacrifices [Rom.12:1]. Let the fruit of your lips peal forth praises unendingly [Heb.13:15].

For with such sacrifices God is well pleased. The Lord is your portion; Christ’s unspeakably precious offering of Himself is your inheritance: never fading, never diminishing in its worth. We are blessed.

 

 

 

Joshua Chapter Fourteen

Joshua Chapter Fourteen verses 8-15

You shall love the Lord your God

With all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

My servant Caleb…had a different spirit

Mk.12:30; Num.14:24

 

Caleb: the meaning of his name “wholehearted” was aptly applied to him. Hear him boldly declare without controversy: “I followed the Lord my God fully” [Josh.14:8].

He, along with Joshua, were the sole survivors through that trackless terrain of thorns. They alone of that entire generation entered the land of promise. The corpses of the remaining littered the landscape, perishing as consequence of their rebellion at Kadesh Barnea.

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of provocation” [Heb.3:7,8].

Dear Reader, the decree is certain: “He brought us out in order to bring us in” [Deut.6:23]. Do not balk at giants lurking in the land. Their fortified citadels are dwellings of dominoes awaiting but the breath of the Almighty to send them cascading in chaos.

Let the testimony of Caleb before the assembled unbelieving millions of Israel pierce your uncircumcised ears: “If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us…only do not rebel against the Lord;

“And do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us” [Num.14:8,9].

Two standing unflinchingly alongside Omnipotence is an unconquerable majority against 2.5 millions of carnal cowards. Their uncompromising “Forward to Canaan” stemmed the flood of myriads crying “Back to Egypt.”

Such stalwart valor is a rare and precious commodity in this self-absorbed generation. Melons, fish, and garlic allure the bellies of unconsecrated fools. Selective deceptive memories cloud perception and adorn Egypt’s oppressive desert as being more desirable than the Canaan of God.

But he who has a different spirit, who follows the Lord his God fully, is not fooled or enticed thereby. Canaan’s fair fruit and plentiful plains are before him. More than that, the Word of the Eternal has found its welcome abode in his committed heart.

Forty-five years of wilderness wanderings have not dimmed his eye, quenched his zeal, or debilitated his strength. “I am still as strong today as on the day Moses sent me…for war and going out and coming in” [Josh.14:11]. Such a man fears nothing but God.

What are the Anakim giants to such a one? Which fortified bastions can withstand his assault? [Josh.14:12]. Before Caleb they are as nothing, for his confidence is not in his own right arm.

“It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord has spoken” [Josh.14:12]. Of course you will drive them out, valiant Caleb, for surely the Lord has spoken.

Hebron [fellowship] is the continuous portion of all the Lord’s Calebs [Josh.14:13-15]. Dear Reader, follow the Lord your God fully as well and conquer with Caleb there.

 

 

Joshua Chapters Fifteen

to Twenty-One

Joshua Chapter Eighteen verse 3

Concerning Him we have much to say,

And it is hard to explain,

Since you have become dull of hearing

Heb.5:11

 

Procrastination is the slovenly putting off until later what could be and should be done in the present. And how many have succumbed to this pervasive self-indulgent sloth!

Neglect has slain more than the conflict. Ease has destroyed more than the arrows of the mighty. Self-absorption has paralyzed the limbs more than the sword.

“How long will you put off/neglect entering to take possession of the land which the Lord…has given you?” [Josh.18:3].

Dear Reader, this is a searching question to every casual and careless soul. What shall we reply? Excuses abound to rationalize our pitiful state.

But an excuse is merely the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie. Do not raise these worthless justifications before the courts of heaven.

What accounts for our disregard for the clear directives of the Captain of our salvation? Failing to actually live in what God has secured for us through the agony and blood of His beloved Son is criminal on the spiritual scale.

Distrust, dullness, disobedience, dereliction, and delusion have become our ignoble comrades. And these rogues are the bad company that have corrupted our good morals and spiritual vitality.

Slay them. Take up the sword of the Spirit and put them to death. A bounteous inheritance of indescribable blessing awaits you if you will arise, enter, and contend.

 

 

 

Joshua Chapter Nineteen verse 51

Do not move the ancient boundary

Which your fathers have set

Prov.22:28

“These are the names of the men who shall apportion the land to you for an inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun” [Num.34:17]. “…by the lot of their inheritance, as the Lord commanded through Moses” [Josh.14:2]. “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” [Prov.16:33].

Borders are selected according to command of the Lord [19:51]. Each tribe had its definite boundaries apportioned by the Lord’s determination.

These cannot be modified. No adding to or taking away is allowed. God determines the portions of each.

To do so is to fight against God. It is to account His determination as irrelevant or as error. To change what God has decreed is wickedness.

Dear Reader, let us not tamper with what God Himself has established. Let us not attempt to gain what He has not granted, or to reduce and despise what He has.

He is all wise and abundantly kind and generous in all His provisions. Let us be content with what He has granted to each in our own individual spheres.

It matters not what others may have beyond our own. “What do you have that you have not received? [I Cor.4:7]. “Let us be content with such things as we have for He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you’” [Heb.13:5].

Yes, may the Lord enable us to learn the secret of having abundance or suffering lack, of humble means or in prosperity, of being filled or going hungry [Phil.4:12]. It is a spiritual grace so to learn to say:

“Your lines have fallen to me in pleasant places” [Ps.16:6]. Yes, they have, O Lord. Blessed be your Name.

 

 

Joshua Chapter Twenty-One verses 43-45

God, desiring even more to show

To the heirs of the promise

The immutability of His counsel,

Interposed with an oath in which it is impossible to lie

Heb.6:17,18

“The Lord gave Israel all the land…rest on every side…all their enemies into their hand” [Josh.21:43,44].

Dear Reader, see what this good God has done for your soul. He gives and gives and gives again: an inheritance of every spiritual blessing in Christ, peaceful rest that passes all understanding, and victory over all foul principalities.

It is for us to “possess it and live in it” [Josh.21:43]. Let this be your secure abode from every molestation. Christ is your refuge impregnable from every assault, your provision for every need, and tranquil rest from all disturbance.

If you will but arise, walk throughout its bounteous hills and valleys, and take up your residence therein, blessing is secured. You have the promise of Him with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

“Not a Word from every good Word which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass” [Josh.21:45]. And so shall it be for you as well.

 

 

Joshua Twenty Three

& Twenty Four

Joshua Chapter Twenty-Three verses 8-13

Take diligent heed to yourselves

To love the Lord your God

Josh.23:11

It is ever needful to “watch over your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life” [Prov.4:23]. Subtle shadows of turning lurk at every corner. Creeping culprits of doubt and demise sneak into our heart’s parlor when carelessness overshadows watchfulness.

“Cling to the Lord your God” [Josh.23:8]. Like Jacob of old, do not let Him go except He bless you [Gen.32:26]. Like the pitiable woman afflicted for twelve long years, lay hold of His garment until virtue flows for your relief [Lk.8:43,44].

Better still, like that affectionate bride, “I held on to him and would not let Him go until I had brought Him into…the chamber” [S. of S. 3:4]. Cling to Him until you enter the chambers of love’s consummation in that coming day of everlasting bliss.

And, yes, it is true, “the Lord your God fights for you” [Josh.23:3,10], but He does so for the vigilant, the devoted, and obedient. You, as well, must take up the “weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left” [2 Cor.6:7].

But be warned; If you ever go back and cling to and intermarry with these nations, the Lord will abandon you to their ravages. They will be a snare and trap to you.

They will serve as the Lord’s scourge: whips on your sides and thorns in your eyes until you perish from off the good land [Josh.23:12,13]. This also is certain.

“So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God” [Josh.23:11]. Choose carefully whom you cling to.

 

Joshua Chapter Twenty-Four verse 32

They buried the bones of Joseph

Josh.24:32

Israel had constant reminder of future fulfillment of God’s unfailing Word; Joseph’s bones were in their possession. “Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, ‘God will certainly visit you, and you shall carry my bones up from here’” [Gen.50:25].

His bones are the token that Egypt’s suffering is not your lasting portion. They testify to an end to wilderness wanderings. They remind us that the promise will yet be realized though it delay for long.

God will surely visit you. You will yet be carried up from thorny wastes to a Canaan of rest. Every spiritual blessing awaits you in God’s allotted portion for your soul.

Do not lose sight of Joseph’s bones. Let them remind you of the surpassing and surer reality yet to come. Greater things are at stake than your immediate comfort from the heated furnace of your affliction.

Years may pass; but know that though the millstones of God grind slowly, they grind exceedingly fine.

Joseph’s bones at last were laid to rest. He who has spoken is faithful. He will not leave undone even the least of all His promises.

“Know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one Word of all the good Words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed” [Josh.23:14].

No, not one; trust His Word; it will surely be fulfilled for you.

 

 

 

 2

Right in Their Own Eyes

Thoughts on Judges

Introduction

 

The book of Joshua opens with the statement: “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them” [Josh.1:2]

Moses, the man who brought the Law, could not bring them in to inherit the land. The Law is inept to secure spiritual blessings. Cease from that wearisome effort.

No blessings ever come to man on the basis of law.  All spiritual advancement comes by grace, not by self-effort in keeping with codes and regulations.

Note it well; Law makes demands but cannot supply.  Requirements are made but we are left to our own resources to do what is commanded. Law establishes a rigid standard but provides no power to perform.

And hence we fail. The flesh is a cursed refuge of straw, worse than a broken reed. The flesh cannot support anything that is godly and actually produces just the opposite.

Jesus tersely stated: “The flesh profits nothing” [Jn.6:63]. With this Paul concurs: “in my flesh dwells no good thing” [Rom.7:18].

Enabling power from another source, even from the Spirit of the Almighty, is our only sufficiency. And each individual must draw upon this inexhaustible spring.

The book of Judges then opens with this: “Now after the death of Joshua…” [Jud.1:1]. A large void now lay gaping in the ranks of Israel.

Joshua had served God’s purpose well and then passed to his reward. Led by the Spirit and with burning zeal, much good was gained. The land was entered and possessed. But now he was no more.

Dear Reader, each generation must face their own foes and engage in their own conflicts. Joshuas will not always be with us. Such burning and shining lamps may not lighten our present horizon.

And so here at the outset of the book of Judges, this question is raised: What will we do in the absence of notable spiritual leaders? How will we proceed when heroic worthies and champions are no more in our midst?

The answer is speedily supplied in these opening verses. We have access to God, He yet speaks through His Word, and fellowship with likeminded brethren is our portion. As such, continued triumph is assured to insure victory in the midst of conflict.

 

 

Judges Chapter One

Judges Chapter One verses 1-10

Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together…

Consider one another to stir up

To love and good deeds…

Encouraging one another and all the more

Heb.10:24,25

 

In the mercies of God He never leaves us without an open heaven, a Divine response, or loving communion with same-souled brethren. In verses one through four, they raised their cry to heaven, the sure Word was spoken, and they moved in fellowship with one another. Victory was secured.

 

And thus they had the ear of God, the voice of God, and the love of the brethren. By these, the enemy was vanquished.

In the absence of towering spiritual leaders, what more do we need? The simplicity of communion secures all.

Dear Reader, follow the man who follows Christ. Listen to him who hears from God.

Serve alongside with the one who serves Christ and the saints. Fellowship with those who are in fellowship with the Father and Son.

In this communion, there are no appointees to posts or successors to perpetuate a ministry. But a fellowship of like-minded brethren abides as a constant.

Even among the closest associates, there are no assignments by compulsion [I Cor.16:10-12]. Gospel ministry is a fundamentally spiritual matter that can only be maintained by individual godly integrity.

Let Simeon accompany Judah in conquest and vice versa. Continue to lift up your voice on high. And await the sure directive spoken in His unchanging Word.

These are what the all-wise God has left with us in the day of small things. And they are sufficient for us.

 

 

Judges Chapter One verse 11

The letter kills but the Spirit gives life.

Holding to a form of godliness

But denying the power thereof

2 Cor.3:6; 2 Tim.3:5

 

Of what benefit is the Word of the Lord held in the hand of the enemy? Will it speak with the Spirit’s voice?

Never! The Lord indignantly queries of the wicked: “What right do you have to declare My statutes or take My covenant in your mouth?” [Ps.50:16]. They have no right.

“From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. (The name of Debir [Oracle/to speak] was formerly Kirjath Sepher [the city of the book]” [Josh.1:11].

In the possession and under the control of the enemy, the Scriptures are a closed book. They do not speak. Pharisees employ the very Word of God to slay their thousands.

“So now why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear?” [Acts 15:10]. Why? Because the living Word of God was being handled by enemies residing in Kirjath Sepher.

Only if recovered from the hands Canaanite traffickers will the Word of God be liberated from evil religious travesty. Only in the hands of the consecrated will the Spirit speak forth unto transformation and blessing from that very Word.

May the Lord raise up His servants to rescue the Word from the hands of evil men that the Spirit may speak yet once again.

 

 

 

Judges Chapter One verses 17-21

You were running well,

Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

Gal.5:7

 

Constancy of purpose and in deeds are necessary virtues in the arsenal of heaven. “Judah took Gaza…the Lord was with Judah…they gave Hebron to Caleb” [Jud.1:18-20].

Advance against unnumbered foes was secured because the Lord abode with them and they continued to abide in Him. Therein is the secret of testimony and triumph.

But we also read that “they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots…The sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites” [Jud.1:19,21].

Judah could not; Benjamin did not. Both are moral and spiritual failures.

What are chariots of iron when the Lord God of Hosts is with us? Will the machinery and machinations of men conquer Omnipotence? No, the fault lies within.

Dear Reader, how resolutely are you leaning on everlasting arms? To what extent is the Almighty your refuge and strength against contrary forces set against you round about?

Chariots are toys of toddlers before Him. Even nine hundred rumbling engines of destruction are no match for His might [Jud.4:3,14]. His hand is not so short that it cannot save [Isa.59:1]; stand in the Lord and in the strength of His might [Eph.6:10].

Judah could not; Benjamin did not. The former is weakness; the latter is willful.

What possible case can we present before the Judge of all the earth to explain this state of affairs? There are no excuses. The command is lucid; the enablement readily available.

Affection has waned; determination is dulled; enthusiasm smolders. Only stinging smoke arises from thence, irritating the eyes where once the flame rose brightly heavenward.

What has happened in your heart to account for such? What have you encountered that has brought you thus?

Our only recourse is to turn trembling from this woeful condition and take up the full armor of God once again. Otherwise, the Jebusites will continue to abide unmolested within our midst and bring us into bondage.

 

 

Judges Chapter One verses 22-26

Cursed is the man who trusts in man

And makes flesh his arm

Jer.17:5

 

Though the Lord was with Joseph [Josh.1:22], he nonetheless relied on the wisdom and schemes of men. “Please show us the entrance to the city and we will show you mercy” [Jud.1:24].

The deception lies in making an alliance with the flesh. Was not this inhabitant also one whom the Lord had devoted to destruction?

Spare the flesh, and the flesh will not return the favor. You may indeed enter your Bethel through compromising means, but the escapee will go forth and establish the exact same thing you have released him from.

“The man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and named it Luz [perverse] which is its name to this day” [Jud.1:26].

Yes, it abides up to today. The flesh spared will ever regroup and entrench itself. It will multiply in the land of uncleanness. It is perversity.

“They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” [Gal.5:24]. Unrelenting vigilance against this enemy within our very breast is demanded of all His saints. The flesh deserves no pardon.

 

 

Judges Chapter One verses 27-36

Do not be deceived;

Bad company corrupts good morals

I Cor.15:33

 

“Manasseh did not take possession…they did not drive them out completely…Ephraim did not…Zebulun did not…Asher did not…Naphtali did not…” [Jud.1:27-31].

And what resulted from this spiritual apostasy? “The Canaanites persisted in living in that land…the Canaanites lived among them…the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill country” [Jud.1:27-34].

The conquerors compromised and even became the conquered. Evil will thus abide in the midst and the holy ones of God will absorb and learn the ways of the world.

Dear Reader, we must not be surprised or stumbled by departure. The Galatians had to be admonished, “You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?” [Gal.5:7].  Though one’s labors have been tirelessly mingled with tears, there will yet arise men to draw away disciples after themselves [Acts 20:30].

Do not forget that there are both rocky soil and thorny entanglements in the kingdom of heaven [Mt.13:20-22]. Even among the zealous and doctrinally sound Ephesians, first love had declined [Rev.2:2-4]. It pained the heart of the aged apostle that all who were in Asia had turned away from him [2 Tim.1:15].

Peter denied His Lord and Judas betrayed his Master. A beloved co-worker noted in Philemon 24 later deserted Paul because of his love for this present world [2 Tim.4:10].

Some in times past have been with us and are no longer. There are those who have drifted [Heb.2:1], others have departed [Jn.6:60,66], a few have turned aside [2 Tim.4:10], and at least one has even slandered and betrayed [Ps.55:12-14].

Listen, the pattern of Christ, that great treasure of sound words, can only be maintained by the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit [2 Tim.1:13,14]. “Fight the good fight of faith” [I Tim.1:18].

When a man’s spirituality wanes, his status as a leader is immediately compromised regardless of his previous attainments; witness Peter in Gal.2:11-14.

Do not allow esteem for a man’s prior godliness blind your eyes to his present failure. Remember, it was Christian who led Hopeful astray onto By-Pass Meadow and into the clutches of Giant Despair.

“Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things” [Phil.3:17-19].

“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith” [Heb.13:7].

We are tested in the absence of notable spiritual leaders. After the death of Joshua, what will the people of Israel do; to whom will they turn?

The apostles are no more; what then is our portion when such shining giants have faded from the scene? The answer is one and the same for all.

There is an opened heaven that can be accessed with boldness. Resounding from above rings the Word of Divine response. Among likeminded brethren there is hearty and loving co-laboring as soldiers in the cause of Christ.

These are what we are left with: prayer, the Word of God, and fellowship. And these are eminently adequate to keep us and secure the advancement of the kingdom of heaven.

 

 

Judges Chapter Two

Judges Chapter Two verses 1-10

“You have not listened to My voice;

What is this that you have done?

Jud.2:2

 

A wayward compromising people are arrested by the Messenger of the Lord. He redeemed them from a fiery furnace, led them into Canaan’s abundance, and resolutely upheld His covenant in constant fidelity.

They, however, repudiated that grace and turned away in their hearts in decline, disobedience, and disgrace. “But you have not listened to My voice; what is this you have done?” [Jud.2:2].

What indeed? Tolerating wickedness devoted to destruction, relying on fleshly efforts through compromising alliance, dwelling in corrupt conditions comfortably: what shall we answer?

There is no answer to such queries; only Bochim [weepers]. And so they wept, and so may we.

Canaanites remain as a thorny scourge. They will buffet and whip the disobedient until they bleed. We have welcomed them in our midst and weeping is our portion.

Who will fill the ranks after our demise? Will there arise a generation who will bear the torch of testimony aloft? What are we doing in the present to insure the perpetuation of the faith once for all delivered to the saints? [Jude 4].

Soberly consider these chilling words: “There arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel” [Jud.2:10].

In one short generation, the light can become extinguished in a given locale. But there is a spiritual legacy that spans four generations summarized in 2 Timothy 2:2:

“The things you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

This is the pressing need in every location if the lampstand will not be removed out of its place.

 

 

Judges Chapter Two verses 11-19

How is it that you return to the weak and worthless

Elemental principles of this world

To which you desire to be enslaved all over again?

Gal.4:9

 

Carnality is a vicious cycle strangling the soul. Compromise with evil ushers in disobedience. Disobedience gives place to the enemy.

The enemy oppresses miserably the now afflicted who have chosen such. Oppression leads to sorrow. Sorrow to heart rending cries.

Cries are heard in heaven. Relief is sent via a judge to deliver from the enemy. And the land has rest once again.

But the cycle continues with each renewed departure from the living God into forbidden fields far from the narrow way. And place is given to the enemy afresh [Eph.4:27] resulting in repetition of this wearisome cyclical scene of wickedness.

How did this continue to happen? “The Lord raised up judges who delivered them…yet they did not listen to their judges…they turned aside quickly from the way…and acted more corruptly than their fathers” [Jud.2:16,17,19].

When we turn a deaf ear to the Word of the Lord, we have abandoned all spiritual sense. We are left with nothing but “earthly, natural, and demonic” man-made “wisdom” [Jas.3:15]. Such can never deliver or protect.

Dear Reader, trifling with sin is courting misery and death. It is a poison that enfeebles and destroys. It invites the devil to oppress you, and he will surely accept the invitation. Where are you on this deadly cycle?

 

 

Judges Chapter Two verses 20-23

Today, if you hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts

As when they provoked Me…

Therefore I was angry with this generation

Heb.3:7,8,10

 

The presence of the enemies of God in the midst of God’s people is a certain sign of Divine displeasure. The fact that they are there is evidence of God’s anger.

When we wantonly disobey, by that very fact we reject deliverance and give place to bondage. Seeing that, the Lord hands us over to our self-chosen folly; we reap what is sown.

“I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations” [Jud.2:21]. Disobedience issues in severe discipline, the enemy gains ascendency, and saints suffer in sorrow. Weeping is our portion in the land of promise.

Thus we reside as carnal in Canaan. And there we are tested.

“…to test Israel by them [the nations], whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it…or not” [Jed.2:22]. And so Canaanites dominate and crush saints.

But this was by their own choosing. And now they weep bitterly in the night because of it.

Dear Reader, Prosperity, Psychology, and Sorcery are in our midst. They are enemies and we invited them there; and God is angry.

The Word of Jesus is Repent! Repent, or I will remove your lampstand [Rev.2:5]. Repent, or I will make war against you with the sword of My mouth [Rev.2:16].

Repent, or I will cast you into great tribulation [Rev.2:22]. Repent, or I will come upon you as a thief [Rev.3:3]. Repent, or I will vomit you out of My mouth [Rev.3:16].

Repent.

 

Judges Chapter Three

Judges Chapter Three verses 1-4

He teaches my hands to make war

So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

Endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus

2 Sam.22:35; 2 Tim.2:3

 

We cannot escape war. The battle rages on every hand. “The dragon was enraged…and went off to make war with…[those] who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” [Rev.12:17].

Even heaven itself is not exempt. “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon” [Rev.12:7]. And if the assault reaches those pristine gates, it will surely reach the mire of our streets here below.

Dear Reader, “gird up the loins of your mind” for this conflict. “Fix your hope completely upon the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” [I Pet.1:13].

“As obedient children, do not conform yourselves to the former lusts you used to follow in your ignorance” [I Pet.1:14].

The Captain of our salvation would train you for battle against the hosts of darkness. Flesh and blood are not our adversaries. No, we wrestle against “principalities and powers, the world forces of darkness” [Eph.6:12].

And for this we need no ordinary weapons. Rather, “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” [2 Cor.10:4].

And what are we to assail? “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” [2 Cor.10:5].

And such assault is not in theory only. No, “we are ready to punish all disobedience” [2 Cor.10:6]: disobedience we discover in ourselves.

The arena for this deadly combat is in the realm of the inner man of thoughts, values, perspectives, and world-view. Through these, the wicked one holds sway over the entire world [I Jn.5:19].

But in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us! [Rom.8:37]. Taking every thought captive to Christ as a prisoners of war to await His sentence is our safety, security, and victory.

If the thought is an ally, then we welcome it into our arsenal to resist every contrary exalted opposing notion. If that thought proves to be a tempting destroyer sent by the enemy of our souls, the Word of Christ will decree its destruction.

Christ determines what fights for us or against us. His mind via His Word is what we need in this mortal conflict. That only will prevail against these speculations and proud deceptions raised against the true knowledge of God.

Dear Reader, thoughts course freely and through your heart uninterruptedly moment by moment. Are they for you or against you? All must be evaluated by Christ’s authoritative Word.

Bring them there. Hearken to the decree issued from His unchanging Word. They will strengthen and sharpen the sword of the Spirit in your hand. By them you will fight the Lord’s battles against the desires of the flesh, the delusion of this world, and the darkness of the devil himself.

We are at war and the Lord would teach us such [Jud.3:1,2]. Through conflict we are tested to discover if we will “obey the commandments of the Lord” [Jud.3:4].

And for this struggle vigilance is demanded. The enemy is unrelenting.

 

Judges Chapter Three verses 5-11

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

For what partnership have

Righteousness and lawlessness,

Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

2 Cor.6:14

 

“The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites…they took their daughters for themselves as wives…[they] did what was evil…forgot the Lord…and served the Baals and Asheroth” [Jud.3:5-7].

It is deception to imagine that if the righteous joins with the wicked that goodness will be transferred in the process. It will not, for the righteous has already left off goodness by so doing.

Compromise by tolerating evil leads to a union with it. And that union, like leaven, spreads its corruption throughout the whole.

God is forgotten while Baal and his fornicating consort are embraced. These twin evils of forsaking God for handcrafted broken substitutes [Jer.2:18] brings Cushan-rishathaim [blackness of double wickedness] to your door.

Once admitted, he will set up his throne. That darkness of twofold wickedness will enslave the souls of his subjects.

Only a man full of the Spirit of the Lord can judge and deliver in such bleak straits [Jud.3:10]. But note it well; “he judged Israel” and “went out to war” [Jud.3:10].

When Israel was judged by the Word of the Lord in the mouth of the man full of the Spirit, he then warred against the outward foe. The inward condition was first addressed then the external disturbance remedied.

Dear Reader, sin judged in the heart leads to relief from discipline imposed from without. Let us ever correct the root of the matter and not merely cry for discomfort’s relief.

 

Judges Chapter Four

Judges Chapter Four verses 1-3

We are no longer to be children,

Tossed to and fro by waves

And carried about by every wind of doctrine,

By the trickery of men

Who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes.

But practicing the truth in love,

We will in all things grow up into Christ

Eph.4:14,15

 

The names noted in these verses alert us to the nature of the grinding oppression of this foe. It is a severe and frightful dominion exercised when enforced by nine hundred engines of dominance.

“The Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin [he will understand] king of Canaan [a trafficker], who reigned in Hazor [to trumpet]; and the commander of his army was Sisera [a crane of seeing], who lived in Harosheth-hagyoim [artifice of the nations]” [Jud.4:2].

The combination of these elements cements a formidable foe indeed. Here is the artifice, the invention of man, proclaiming as a trumpet human understanding which is only the “seeing” of an unclean bird.

It is bondage in the extreme when man-made teaching is trumpeted loudly and enforced by reigning might. Unclean understanding invented by human reasoning is affliction of a most severe nature.

When we abandon light and life for darkness and corruption, we are left with just that which we have chosen: misery issuing from the dominating inventions of man. This so-called wisdom is truly “earthly, natural, and demonic” [Jas.3:15]. That is harsh bondage.

 

Judges Chapter Four verses 5-10

It is shameful for a woman to speak in church

I Cor.14:35

 

In days of departure and abnormal conditions, God may speak abnormally to a wayward people. In days of spiritual lawlessness in which “every man did that which is right in his own eyes” [Jud.21:25], God may employ extraordinary measures.

Even a Saul may be discovered among the prophets [I Sam.19:24]. A donkey may prophesy to rebuke religious madness [Num.22:28]. An idolatrous monarch of Egypt may rebuke a godly king by the Word of the Lord in his mouth [2 Chron.35:22]. Even Caiaphas, the murderer of the Lord Jesus, prophesied [Jn.11:49-52].

Deborah the prophetess is an exception during those days of deep decline. It was a rebuke and shame to Israel that He would send His Word to them thus.

Through the mouth of a woman and through the hammer of a woman, deliverance was gained. It exposed the shame of the nation in not inquiring of the Word of the Lord themselves. It rebuked the armies of Israel that they themselves had not routed the enemies in the land.

Thank God for Deborah [her speaking]. Thank God that she heard and spoke the Word of the Lord. And thank God for so using her.

But the Lord’s so doing does not establish a precedent. An exception does not establish a new norm.

The Word of the Lord came to Barak via Deborah. The message came with clarity: “Go, march to Mount Tabor [you will purge]…I will draw out to you Sisera…and I will give him into your hand” [Jud.4:6,7].

Victory is thus secure because the Lord of Hosts is fighting His own battles. He is sovereign over the entire engagement. The battle is not yours, Barak, but God’s.

Rather than rising up in this his might with the Lord as his Commander-in-Chief, Barak reverts to fleshly support. He will not go unless Deborah accompanies him [Jud.4:8].

This is shameful. It does not echo the words of Moses: “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here” [Ex.33:15].

And hence, desiring the help of a woman, the honor will go to a woman. “There will be no glory for you…for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman” [Jud.4:9].

“Deborah also went with him” [Jud.4:10]. The Lord was with him. The ten thousand troops were gathered alongside according to the Lord’s Word.

But no directive was given from on high regarding Deborah accompanying him. And thus the glory went to a woman and dishonor was Barak’s portion.

God may yet bless using unusual means. But how much better if they are not mingled with shame.

 

 

Judges Chapter Four verses 11-24

The horse is prepared for the day of battle

But victory belongs to the Lord

Prov.21:31

 

“God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel” [Judg.4:24].

How did the Lord vanquish this evil foe? “The Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak” [Jud.4:15].

“Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and seized a hammer in her hand and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground…so he died” [Jud.4:21].

Through the Word of the Lord through a woman, by the hammer of Jael, the sword of Barak, and the might of the Lord of Hosts this enemy was destroyed. Israel was thus freed from the tyranny of man’s tradition.

Dear Reader, the peg must be driven through the temple of human understanding by the hammer of His Word [Jer.23:29]. Spare no man-made unclean professed wisdom to inhale another breath.

Otherwise, the bondage of man’s tradition will continue to trumpet its slavish entanglement to the nations. Oppression, misery, and corruption proceed from Jabin and Sisera. Let them die the death.

 

 

Judges Chapter Five

Judges Chapter Five verses 1-11

New gods were chosen,

Then there was war in the gates

Jud.5:8

 

Departure leads to conflict. Abandoning heaven leaves one vulnerable to forces of evil. And they will assault and occupy the seats of authority and wisdom in the very gates of our former pleasant dwellings [Jud.5:8].

“You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your gates…and they shall judge the people with just judgment” [Deut.16:18]. But righteous judgment will no longer be encountered there, for they have been usurped by wickedness. This is a crushing bondage.

But God raises up deliverers when a repentant cry is lifted on high. O how we ought to bless the Lord that “the leaders led in Israel, that the people willingly offered themselves” [Jud.5:2,9].

Shamgar [the desolate dragged away] the son of Anath [afflicted] contributed his quota to restore the desolate and afflicted. The narrow way, long since abandoned, had become a path of treachery and trouble [Jud.5:6].

Dear Reader, we ought to wholeheartedly raise our voice in thanksgiving for any measure of restoration to this highway of holiness. For too long travelers’ feet have trodden upon forbidden paths. Thank God for Shamgars! [Jud.3:31; 5:6].

When such deliverers are raised up from on high, restoration is effected. Bless the Lord for Shamgar, Deborah, Barak, and a vast host too numerous to recount!

Ones “who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed righteousness…from weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, and put armies of aliens to flight” [Heb.11:33,34].

Then “the voice of the singers at the watering places” [Jud.5:11] shall rejoice at the return of the Lord’s flock to springs of the water of life. “There they shall recount the righteous victories of the Lord” [Jud.5:11].

Yes, the common people who were dragged away afflicted and desolate, “recite the victories in Israel” [Jud.5:11]. Gladness is renewed when sin is judged and a clean heart created once again [Ps.51:10].

“Then the people of the Lord will go down to the gates” [Jud.5:11] and hear righteous judgment and wise counsel renewed.

When the peg is driven through Sisera’s skull by the hammer of God’s Word, human understanding and man-made tradition perishes. So let it be that the common people may gather at the wells of God and rejoice, and hear God’s Word proclaimed at the gates once again.

 

 

Judges Chapter Five verses 12-23

I could wish that those who trouble you

Would even cut themselves off!

Gal.5:12

In the advancement of the kingdom of heaven, one needs to lead, follow, or get out of the way. The doubters, self-occupied, carnal, lazy, and divisive contrary voices are stumbling blocks indeed. They will bear their guilt.

Bless the Lord for those from Ephraim [fruitfulness] who “uproot Amalek” [a people of licking up]: that fierce opposition of the flesh ever set against the people of God [Jud.5:14].

From Benjamin [Son of My right hand] commanders came forth to lead in the conquest [Jud.5:14]. Arising from Zebulun were those who wield the pen of the writer/scribe to join their ranks [Jud.5:14]. These valiant warriors “despised their lives even unto death, and Naphtali [my wrestling] also, on the high places of the field” [Jud.5:18].

This is an intimidating force set against the delusion of the inventions of man, who proclaim as a trumpet human understanding which is only the “seeing” of an unclean bird. Jabin and Sisera must surely perish before this mighty assemblage.

Fruitfulness uproots the flesh. The Son of God’s right hand cannot be overthrown. Those who wrestle against principalities and powers shall surely prevail. And the pen of scribes who “risked their necks” [Rom.16:4] in the conflict will assuredly overcome.

Dear Reader, have you joined their ranks? Are you willing and ready to risk all in the cause of Christ? Triumph is certain if you do.

But not all did so. Among the divisions of Rueben “there were great resolves of heart,” yet they remained seated “among the sheepfolds, to hear the piping for the flocks” [Jud.5:15,16].

They did not arise and join the fray. They reclined and listened to shepherds calling their flocks, when the Great Shepherd of the sheep was calling them to His cause.

Searchings of heart were there, but no action followed. Their negligence is noted against them for all generations to come.

And Gilead and Dan fared no better. Gilead remained across the Jordan, not even entering that good land of promise. Dan was adrift on Galilee’s sea but did not set foot upon the field of conflict [Jud.5:17].

Meroz [walking lean] fared even worse. “‘Curse Meroz,’ said the Angel of the Lord, ‘Utterly curse its inhabitants bitterly; because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the warriors’” [Jud.5:23].

Rebellion leads to leanness of soul. They “lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. So He gave them their request and sent leanness into their soul” [Ps.106:14,15]. Meroz utterly refused the Lord’s bidding, choosing to walk in the leanness of his own lawless ways. A curse is upon such a heart.

Dear Reader, the Lord is seeking both worshippers and laborers: both a bride and soldiers. Let not the curse of Meroz rest upon you.

Arise to the help of the Lord in this conflict of the ages. “No soldier engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please the One who enlisted him as a soldier” [2 Tim.2:4].

 

Judges Chapter Five verses 24-27

From henceforth, all generations will call me blessed

Lk.1:48

“Most blessed of women is Jael” [Jud.5:24]. Yes, it is a blessed memorial to have a hand in eliminating the trumpeting of man’s unclean understanding from this world. May her deed remain ever fresh in our memories.

The Scriptures laud such. “Silence the ignorance of foolish men” [I Pet.2:15]. Their “mouths must be stopped because they are upsetting whole households…for this reason rebuke them severely” [Tit.1:11,13].

“These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you” [Tit.2:15]. “Reject a heretic/divisive man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned” [Tit.3:10,11].

“Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” [Jude 4]. “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, nor greet him” [2 Jn.10].

Dear Reader, the cancer of Jabin and Sisera continues to spread its death in the land; and the Lord of Hosts has declared war against them.

Where then are the Jaels? Who will grasp that hammer and peg in our days?

 

Judges Chapter Six

Judges Chapter Six verses 1-10

“Days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“When I will send a famine on the land,

Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water,

But rather for hearing the Words of the Lord”

Amos 8:11

 

“When Israel had sown, the Midianites would come… and leave no sustenance…like locusts in number…they came into the land to devastate it” [Jud.6:3-5]. Famine for the godly is a test from the Lord as in Abraham’s day [Gen.12:10].

“The blameless…will not be ashamed in the time of evil, and in the days of famine they will have abundance” [Ps.37:181,9]. This is the surety of the spiritual who walk in the way.

But for the disobedient, famine is a sore judgment upon a wicked departure. “It was I who brought you…out from the house of slavery. I delivered you…but you have not listened to My voice” [Jud.6:8-10].

Dear Reader, are our sins and backslidings so small a matter? When finally awakened by gnawing pangs of hunger, we will stagger from sea to sea to find the Word of the Lord, but we will not encounter it [Amos 8:12].

“Then they will call upon Me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but they will not find Me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord” [Prov.1:28,29].

We had better hope that there is a Gideon in our midst.

 

 

Judges Chapter Six verses 11-16

My grace is sufficient for you

For My power is made perfect in weakness

2 Cor.12:9

 

It is God’s way to perfect His power through weakness. There are few mighty, wise, and noble that contribute anything of lasting eternal value. Witness Gideon.

“O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house” [Jud.6:15]. That was his assessment.

This was God’s: “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor! Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man” [Jud.6:12,16]. God does not see as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart [I Sam.16:7].

Why this difference in valuation? Because Gideon did not apprehend in his present occupation the potential significance of what God saw from afar.

“Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites” [Jud.6:11]. He risked his life to preserve food for the people of God. And this attracted the notice of heaven.

Dear Reader, any effort, however seemingly feeble, to retain the bread of life from the hand of the enemy is noticed on high. God is aware of your every struggle for His name’s sake and He commends it.

Like Gideon, are you an insignificant vessel of earth? Take courage, vessels of clay house treasures of glory within [2 Cor.4:7]. And that glory is observed by Him whose eyes “range to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself mighty in behalf of him whose heart is loyal to Him” [2 Chron.16:9].

Keep beating out your wheat; God’s power is perfected in weakness.

 

 

Judges Chapter Six verses 17-24

Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die

Jud.6:23

Trembling rightly grips the godly in drawing near to the Majesty on high. So terrible is that unapproachable light that even Moses said: “I am full of fear and trembling” [Heb.12:21].

John fell at the feet of the exalted Christ as a dead man [Rev.1:17] but nevertheless heard the reassuring words: “Do not be afraid” [Rev.1:17]. So too Isaiah: “Woe is me, for I am ruined! For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts” [Isa.6:5].

Likewise Ezekiel: “I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking. ‘Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak to you!’” [Ezek.1:28; 2:1]. The purpose of such visitations was not for their demise. Neither are they for ours.

Dear Reader, stand on your feet with trembling knees. The Almighty wishes to speak to your heart. He would recruit you into His service.

Food for the people of God is at stake. Rescue from oppression awaits your arising. The Mighty One has far- reaching purposes beyond anything you might ask or think.

The Lord is pleased to accept the offering from our hands, insignificant as it may seem to us. “Please do not depart from here, until I come to You and bring out my offering…and He said, ‘I will remain until you return’” [Jud.6:18].

And He is pleased to receive from your hand what is offered in sincerity and truth. He actually seeks such worshipers. Bring what is in your heart in loving devotion. He will accept all that is given in spirit and truth.

You will also witness what Gideon saw: “fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread” [Jud.6:21]. “Through Him let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise, even the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name…do good and share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” [Heb.13:15,16].

Go ahead; build your altar and name it “The Lord is Peace” [Jud.6:24]. And like that of Gideon, let it remain throughout your days. Visit it often and let its sweet savor ascend into heaven’s courts continuously.

 

 

Judges Chapter Six verses 25-35

How long will you limp on the two divided opinions?

If the Lord is God, follow Him;

But if Baal, follow him

I Kings 18:21

 

No man can serve two masters. His heart will ever be divided and he, unstable in all his ways. You cannot serve God and Mammon.

Either the Lord is the true and living God or He is not. If He is, then He demands and deserves complete devotion to the exclusion of all others.

John’s first epistle concludes thusly: “Little children, guard yourselves from idols” [I Jn.5:21]. And these gods, things of nothing that they are, will not be found deep in the forest alone.

“These men have set up idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I let them inquire of Me at all?” [Ezek.14:3].

No, He will not. Baal must be abandoned. Asherah consigned to the flames. Their shrines demolished. Nothing else qualifies as consecration to the Lord.

Loving righteousness requires hating lawlessness [Heb.1:9]. Idol shrines and the temple of the Lord are mutually exclusive antagonists. Both cannot be served.

“Pull down the altar of Baal…and cut down the Asherah image that is beside it; and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold in an orderly manner” [Jud.6:25,26].

Yes, the stronghold must be cast down from that high place before worship can arise. The repulsive must be removed ere the righteous is erected. Two kings can never occupy the same throne.

But what if you are fearful [Jud.6:27]? Do it anyway. Do it in the midnight if you must. But do not leave the twin evils of Baal and Asherah standing till morn.

 

 

Judges Chapter Six verses 36-40

Lord, I believe; help me in my unbelief

Mk.9:24

 

The laying out of a fleece is an indication of a weak faith when God has definitely spoken. The Word of the Lord is sufficient for us. It is impossible for God to lie.

Yet our faith is not always robust. We may waver. Fears may grip our hearts. Doubts may plague our certainty.

Longings for assurances may well up within. Visible signs may be sought to bolster our tottering confidence.

It was so with the mighty man of valor, Gideon. “I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel though me, as You have spoken. And it was so” [Jud.6:37,38].

God does not despise such. He does not quench His smoking flax or crush His bruised reed. In gracious condescension He stoops to our weakness.

Such signs may be granted. Our hearts may be cheered and emboldened thereby. But they are not to be taken as normative.

Signs to prop up faltering faith are not to be our constant companions. Milk must give way to meat. Infantile supports become actual hindrances if carried over into maturity.

Dear Reader, see your fleece for what it is: a temporary expedient to carry you past a rocky region onto His smooth and narrow way. Do not seek such; do not expect them.

Arise with confidence and cling to that ever sure Word that is forever settled in heaven. And you will discover that “not a Word from every good Word which the Lord had spoken…failed; all came to pass” [Josh.21:45].

Let this be your solid assurance from henceforth.

 

 

Judges Chapter Seven

Judges Chapter Seven verses 1-8

The Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few

I Sam.14:6

 

“The Lord said to Gideon, ‘The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would glorify itself against Me, saying, “My own hand has delivered me”’” [Jud.7:2].

Fearful and trembling: let them depart; they will only serve to discourage the warriors [Jud.7:3]. And indeed, out of 32,000 a full 22,000 fled the field.

Dear Reader, “God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and love and discipline” [2 Tim.2:7]. Stand stalwart in the strength of the Lord and the power of His might. The battle is His; He is the Victor.

Sniveling unconsecrated cowards are forever whimpering: “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!” [Prov.22:13]. Indeed there is such a lion, but they will not face him.

They do not believe that “greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world” [I Jn.4:4]. Bellow and roar as he may and prowling about on every side, he nonetheless will discover nothing to devour in any who are sober and alert [I Pet.5:8].

Nay! Resist him firm in the faith [I Pet.5:9]. “Submit to God; resist the devil and he will flee from you” [Jas.4:7]. Crawling away shivering behind bolted doors will not prevent him access.

Fear, faint-heartedness, and self-preservation are common among many, perhaps even the majority. But among the 10,000 remaining there is yet another flaw.

Careless self-indulgence disqualifies many from engaging in the Lord’s battles. Distracted self-occupation eliminates thousands from effective conflict.

God cannot use such. They have other interests. They endanger their comrades. Satisfying their craving is paramount in their mind.

“The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them there…Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men; but all the rest of the people kneeled to drink” [Jud.7:4,6].

Dear Reader, God tests us in the seemingly insignificant. In the very little things is where fidelity and integrity is discovered. “He that is faithful in a very little thing, will be faithful also in much” [Lk.16:10]. And Jesus assures us that the converse is also all too true.

Who would have thought that the manner in which one drinks from the brook would have such consequence? Who would have thought that one piece of forbidden fruit in Eden’s paradise could wreak the havoc that is has?

Cowardice in spiritual matters and self-indulgence in the same are no small matters. God tests and selects suitable servants thereby; the majority are rejected.

9,700 are dismissed to satisfy their craving elsewhere. 300 remain. And with these, triumph is certain, for the battle is the Lord’s.

 

 

Judges Chapter Seven verses 9-25

We have this treasure in earthen vessels,

That the exceeding greatness of the power

May be of God

And not from ourselves

2 Cor.4:7

 

Trumpeting light in the darkness from broken vessels signals overcoming might. It is Christ’s way to use the broken in His campaign. He first takes and blesses, and then breaks before distributing in blessing to others [Lk.9:16].

Apart from broken vessels, the light remains hidden, and darkness reigns in the world’s midnight.

“He divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers…and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers…they held the torches…and cried, ‘A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!’” [Jud.7:16,19,20].

Dear Reader, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” [Ps.51:17]. Actually, no other individuals are taken notice of by heaven.

“To this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My Word” [Isa.66:2]. The dictionary defines contrite as broken down with sorrow over sin. What does it mean to you?

Do not shrink from the shattering of that hard external shell, your earthly vessel which houses the treasure of light within. We abide but smoking smoldering potentials otherwise.

Brokenness means blessing and blazes with triumph’s trumpet blast. “When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole camp” [Jud.7:22].

“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent…until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning” [Isa.62:1].

Let brokenness be your portion and let your light so shine.

 

 

Judges Chapter Eight

Judges Chapter Eight verses 22-27

You shall make holy garments for Aaron…

For glory and for beauty…

They shall make the ephod of gold…

And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord

On his shoulders for a memorial

Ex.28:2,12

 

Only the Great High Priest is qualified to bear the names of the people of God before the Majesty in the heavens. Man-devised substitutes are whoredom intruding into that holy arena.

Priest-craft ensnares the souls of men. It is prompted by the desire to perpetuate Nimrod’s legacy of a ruling priest as custodian of the shrine.

“The men of Israel said, ‘Rule over us’…but Gideon said…’I will not rule over you…the Lord shall rule over you.’ Yet Gideon said…’give me the earrings.’

“Gideon made it into an ephod…and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his house” [Jud.7:22-27].

Man by nature shrinks from contact with the Almighty. The flesh always tends towards externalism and hence the desire for man to rule and not God. It also accounts for the crafting of priestly mediation to replace God’s appointed High Priest.

Dear Reader, “there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus” [I Tim.2:5]. Accept no substitutes; for there are none, only whorish inventions that seduce the soul.

Thus Gideon fashioned a priestly garment without heaven’s sanction in rejection of what God had already ordained. His was a garment without a priest: a form of godliness devoid of its power.

It stood as a prostituting shrine and monument to the tarnishing of Gideon’s testimony. And Israel streamed there to defile themselves even after their mighty deliverance by Almighty’s hand.

The ephod eclipsed the Eternal. And that abides as a warning of the snare of man’s inventions and traditions.

 

Judges Chapter Eleven

Judges Chapter Eleven verses 1-28

You know that the rulers of the nations

Lord it over them,

And their great men exercise authority over them.

Yet it shall not be so among you

Mt.20:25,26

Illegitimate ambitious men surrounded by worthless rogues demand to be lords. Rejected by brethren, they nonetheless seize the opportunity to dominate them. The pride of life spiced with bitter revenge motivates such.

We are not informed from the narrative that Israel had once again done evil in the sight of the Lord. There was no need to.

“Jephthah the Gileadite…was the son of a harlot…they drove Jephthah out and said to him, ‘You shall not have an in heritance in our father’s house’…so Jephthah fled from his brothers…and worthless fellows banded together about Jephthah, and went out raiding with him” [Jud.11:1-3].

It was obvious that wickedness prevailed in the land from this brief glimpse into the household of his father, Gilead. Yet when the Ammonite enemy reared its head, Israel did not turn to the Lord; they turned to Jephthah.

“Come and be our commander that we may fight against the sons of Ammon” [Jud.11:6]. Flesh desires flesh. Recourse to God, to spiritual resolution, is far from the thought of the carnal.

Better in their estimation that the son of a whore and his band of worthless rogues deliver us than God. It exposes their deluded desire for wickedness to be indulged while outward threats were quelled.

Jephthah does not reply to their request with the noble words of Gideon: “I will not rule over you; God shall rule over you.” No, the advantage to the flesh to achieve his ambition is seized and a covenant agreed upon to assure his supremacy [Jud.11:9-11].

And thus with the Name of the Lord upon his lips and self-promoting ambitious dominance in his heart, the deal was struck. Jephthah will reign over once rejecting kin. He will be the head and they now will be the tail.

But such supremacy is never sweet. Vengeance obtained never quenches the flame of bitterness within. Gravel continues to grit one’s teeth.

Self-exaltation never satisfies, for God must be jostled off His throne to accommodate the reign of Self. That can never be a happy situation.

What will you do once you have ascended as chief, O Jephthah? Will your kingdom be established in peace, justice, and compassion?

No, like Herod, you will slaughter any who threaten your continued regency. You will abide as an illegitimate man in an illegitimate kingdom.

 

 

Judges Chapter Eleven verses 29-40

Every careless word that men shall speak

They shall give account for it in the day of judgment

Mt.12:36

 

“Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, ‘If you will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return…it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering” [Jud.11:30,31].

His vow was nothing more than the barter of a religious enthusiast. “If You do this for me, then I’ll do something ‘spiritual’ for You.”

But the tragedy is that it wasn’t spiritual in the least.  It was a vain attempt to convince the Omniscient One of the very thing he lacked. He was bereft of the fruit of a purposeful, determined, and calculated consecration.

He had not soberly counted the cost of his ill-conceived words. O Jephthah! What did you expect to come out of the doors of your house? A goat? A heifer? What were you thinking!

His ignorant and misguided devotion left him robbed of the blessing of a pure life of joy. Upon his return, his one and only child, his virgin daughter came “out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing” [Jud.11:34].

But this pure life of boundless joy would never be his portion due to his misguided religious folly. A solemn vow must be performed though it be ever so rash and ill-advised. “I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot take it back” [Jud.11:35; Eccl.5:4,5].

O Jephthah! You were not without fervor, but now you are without fruit. Rightly do your daughter and her companions withdraw to the heights to weep over this tragedy and travesty of consecration [Jud.11:37,38].

And at the end of two months of lamentation, she returned to her father’s house and he performed his vow; “she knew no man” [Jud.11:39].

Joy was absent from that home. Nothing but barrenness abode there until the day of death. Truly, is it a cause for lamentation, and that without ceasing by the daughters of Israel.

Dear Reader, there was no burnt offering upon any altar. Jephthah had no wholehearted consecration evidenced by such. His was an empty emotional froth of a high-sounding pledge.

God did not require what he vowed. It arose from a bargaining heart in a vain attempt to gain his objective. And the results of such misdirected religion bring sorrow and regret throughout the remainder of our days.

God does not want your enthusiastic vows. He wants your heart.

 

 

Judges Chapter Twelve

Judges Chapter Twelve verses 1-6

A gentle answer turns away wrath

But a harsh word stirs up anger.

Like a roaring lion and a rushing bear

Is a wicked ruler over poor people

Prov.15:1; Prov.28:15

 

Neither the graciousness nor wisdom of Gideon was part of the disposition of Jephthah [Jud.8:1-3]. Humility was a foreign thing to his imperious character.

He would rather contend even unto death than to bow in meekness. Disregard for conciliation of dissidents fueled by ambition to reign unchallenged led him to wanton massacre.

Any who could not mouth his agenda to his satisfaction met with the sword. Brethren, men of Ephraim, were mercilessly slain, myriads of them.

All for hotly pricking his pride, for failure to meet his standard, to speak what he required from their lips. “‘Say now, “Shibboleth.”’ But he said, ‘Sibboleth,’ for he could not pronounce it properly. Then they seized him and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. Thus there fell at that time 42,000 of Ephraim” [Jud.12:6].

What prompted this wholesale slaughter among the brethren? Pride and lawlessness leading to fury was at the root of the entire sordid catastrophe.

Hot-headed Ephraimites who regularly wished to be in the forefront with man’s recognition and praise, accosted Jephthah in an insulting outburst [Jud.12:1; Jud.8:1-3]. They spoke rashly and violently with their lips, threatening to “burn your house down on you” [Jud.12:1].

This sparked the proud and impetuous Jephthah to gather his troops and devastate those of Ephraim who dared to speak to him so [Jud.12:3-5]. But still his fury was not quenched; and thus 42,000 others were annihilated at his hand.

Dear Reader, “like a city broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit” [Prov.25:28]. Anger that is not reigned in gives place to the devil [Eph.4:26,27].

Such proud rage is a wind-swept inferno that destroys everything in its path. “Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evil doing” [Ps.37:8].

 

 

Judges Chapter Thirteen

Judges Chapter Thirteen verse 1

The Philistines envied him.

Now all the wells…the Philistines stopped up

And had filled them with earth

Gen.26:14,15

 

“The Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines” [Jud.13:1]. Forty wearying years of grueling oppression afflict willful apostates from the living God. The five lords of the Philistines [wallowing] crush with harsh servitude any who abandon the God of heaven.

They are from the world [Mizraim – Gen.13,14] and speak as from the world [I Jn.4:5]. At best they had an external imitation religion, void of truth and lacking forgiveness. They are enemies of true spirituality.

Their message is a deceptive delusion, a distortion of the Scriptures to their own destruction and to the ruin of the hearers.  It is the activity of Caphtorim from whence they arose [Caphtorim – as if to interpret – Gen.10:14].

They are also connected to Casluhim [as if forgiven – Gen.10:14].  But these are not forgiven, neither are they Canaanites. They are not cataloged among the 7 nations of Canaan whom Israel were to dispossess [Josh.3:10].

Did God bring Israel up out of Egypt? So too the Philistines arose and departed from the same. Did God bring Israel in to possess the land of His inheritance? So the Philistines as well dwell in Canaan.

Israel came forth with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. The blood of the Lamb redeemed them from wrath and ruin. A pillar of cloud and fire in their midst guided their every step.  These the Philistines had none of.

The blood was not applied for cleansing.  There was no power of God to deliver them. His presence was not residing in their camp.

They possessed nothing more than an outward form of godliness. They went through similar motions and ended up in proximity to the people of God in Canaan.  They had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof [2 Tim.3:5].

They were separated from Egypt but they not separated unto God. Theirs was an outward history but with no inward experience. They had escaped the corruption in the world [Egypt], but had never actually become disentangled from it.

They remained overcome by its power. Their nature had not been changed. They remained swine and returned to their wallowing in the mire.

It could not be helped; they were nothing more than Philistines. They wallowed because they knew and loved nothing else than the mire and muck of their own delusion.

“As if forgiven,” but they were not.  “As if to interpret:” always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth [2 Tim.3:7].

Dear Reader, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and of Herod. It is positively Philistine: no forgiveness and no truth.

Pharisees parade their external appearance of righteousness in the eyes of men, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. There is no forgiveness.

See them seated in the chair of Moses, speaking swelling words of religious tradition, but truth is absent. Sadducees’ invented religion denies the resurrection, angels, spirits, and carves out vast portion of the Scriptures as irrelevant [Acts 23:8]. There is no valid interpretation there.

Both are yet possessed of the corrupting spirit of Herod whose only loyalty was to the miserable dark hole of self-gain and advantage. Christ is hunted while self is enthroned.

Such is the Philistine bondage that smothered the land for forty wearying years. Only redemption, the Spirit’s abiding presence, and transformation of soul can deliver from such.

 

 

Judges Chapter Thirteen verses 2-7

When either a man or a woman consecrates an offering

To take the vow of a Nazirite,

To separate himself to the Lord,

He shall separate himself from wine…

No razor shall come on his head…

He shall not go near a dead body.

Her Nazarites were purer than snow…

Their appearance is blacker than soot,

They are not recognized in the streets

Num.6:2-6; Lam.4:7,8

 

A Nazarite [separated] is set apart unto the Lord. Contact with wine, razor, or death spoils his consecration, and makes him as common as any other man, unrecognizable.

Wine is an emblem of joy from an earthly natural stimulant [Jud.9:13]. A Nazarite’s joy is: “the joy of the Lord is your strength” [Neh.8:10]: not derived from the things below.

“Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair it is a dishonor to him?” [I Cor.11:14]. And so the Nazarite allowing no razor bears all reproach and shame associated with his separation unto the Lord. The ungodly mock true unwavering devotion to Christ.

He who is separated unto God moves in the realm of life in all its fullness. Thus no contaminating contact with death is to defile him.

And this is what was to characterize Samson, even from the womb. It takes a Nazarite to deliver the people of God from the scourge of the Philistines, and one that the Spirit of God begins to move [Jud.13:5,25].

Those who are less than separated unto the Lord need rescue and purification themselves. They could never qualify to rescue from the Philistine’s empty religion; their own religion is equally empty.

Let us willingly bear our cross daily, bearing His reproach, as our joy overflows in Christ’s life more abundant. Then, and only then, will we be “vessel[s] for honor, sanctified, and useful to the master, prepared for every good work” [2 Tim.2:21].

 

 

Judges Chapter Fourteen

Judges Chapter Fourteen verses 1-4

Do not desire her beauty in your heart.

So not let your heart turn aside to her ways,

Do not stray into her paths…

All who were slain by her were strong men

Prov.6:25; Prov.7:25,26

Here is the Nazarite of God whom the Spirit of the Lord has begun to move, moving after fair Philistine flesh.

But it is no surprise that this happens in days when everyone did that which was right in his own eyes. Samson himself moved according to that principle. “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes” [Jud.14:3].

Even a consecrated judge can turn aside and walk by sight rather than by faith. And it always ensnares the soul.

Samson’s folly and lust, however, was overshadowed by Divine purpose unknown to him or his parents. “It was of the Lord, for He [God] was seeking an occasion against the Philistines” [Jud.14:4].

God was seeking an opportunity against them; Samson was seeking a chance to marry one of them. What could be further from his life’s purpose?

Dear Reader, loving what God has devoted to destruction is disastrous. Desiring to join oneself with what ought to be executed imperils one’s soul. In this Samson is your stumbling block if following in his steps.

 

 

Judges Chapter Fourteen verses 5-9

Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents

And scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy

Lk.10:19

 

Separation unto the Lord is the only safe haven from our adversary who prowls about as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour [I Pet.5:8]. Nazarite consecration alone will avail against such.

“A young lion came roaring against him. The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, so that he tore him…though he had nothing in his hand” [Jud.14:5,6].

From whence does such supernatural strength arise? It is found even in Nazarite young men who “are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” [I Jn.2:14]. It is the portion of the consecrated.

Such exploits issue in life coming out from the dead. There is a sweetness from that which brightens the eyes and strengthens the bones.

“When he returned later…a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion. He took some of it into his hands and went on eating as he went” [Jud.14:8,9].

The demise of the lion by the power of the Spirit of God results in blessing whose source is known only to those who have tasted that life springing up out of death. These are overcomers indeed whose faith has triumphed over the world and its prince.

“We know that we are of God…and the evil one does not touch him” [I Jn.5:19,18].

Dear Reader, the ruler of this world has been cast out and vanquished by the Son of God [Jn.12:31]. All who are separated unto Him partake in the sweetness of that conquest [Col.2:15]. That lion can terrorize no more.

 

 

Judges Chapter Fourteen verses 10-20

A natural man does not receive

The things of the Spirit of God,

For they are foolishness to him;

And he cannot understand them,

Because they are spiritually discerned

I Cor.2:14

 

There is a profound difference between the man of God and the Philistine. God’s servant knows the mysteries of God and their meanings. They are spiritually discerned.

“’Let me now propound a riddle to you’…and they said to him, ‘Tell us your riddle, that we may hear it’…So he said to them, ‘Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.’ But they could not tell the riddle in three days” [Jud.14:12-14].

Philistines hear the words spoken, but have no understanding and certainly no firsthand experience of the strength and sweetness of that life coming out from the slaying of the deadly foe [Jud.14:14].

They are still under his influence. Philistines are hollow trees void within of either spiritual insight or forgiveness itself. And knowing neither, fierce force is all they rely on to maintain their dominance in their ash-heap kingdoms.

“Entice your husband, so that he will explain the riddle, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us to impoverish us? Is that not so?” [Jud.14:15].

Deceitful craftiness impelled by threats of violent reprisal are all that Philistines possess to maintain their empire. They are from the world. They have no understanding and know nothing of forgiveness. They hate those that they dominate.

Philistines are not extinct. Their spirit lives on up to today. “This multitude that does not know the law is accursed!” [Jn.7:49]. So did the Pharisee Philistines proclaim in Jesus’ day.

The Philistine Diotrephes raged thus against the apostle and the brethren: “He loves to have preeminence [and] does not accept what we say…talking nonsense against us with wicked words…he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who desire to do so, and throws them out of the church” [3 Jn.9,10].

Dear Reader, that is Philistine. Fierce dominating tyrants abound throughout Christendom, having neither truth nor forgiveness. They enforce their dominion by sanction and threats of punishment without mercy.

But Christ’s true leaders guide by meek and lowly service to their brethren in providing a sterling example of godliness to emulate. That, combined with the persuasive power of truth and not of authoritative might, is how Jesus’ leaders are known.

All else is Philistine.

 

 

 

 

Judges Chapter Fifteen

Judges Chapter Fifteen verses 1-13

In the mind of the Philistine, reality revolves around his own perception of things.  “I really thought that you hated her intensely” [Jud.15:2]. He judges according to appearance from the polluted spring of his own reasoning.

Looking at things outwardly, living by sight rather than faith as Philistines necessarily must, no other options present themselves to their darkened understanding except error.  The Philistine is deluded and so deludes others.

Philistines do not hesitate to exercise authority over others’ fate based upon their self-generated and self-serving assessments. Their ruling principle is: “Do as we say or we shall burn you and your father’s house with fire” [Jud.14:15]. They thus enforce their self-appointment as lords by sanctions.

Their motivation?  Self-preservation.  “Lest we become impoverished” [Jud.14:15] is their shameless shibboleth. And why did they believe that the Timnite had invited them to their impoverishment?  Because he too was a Philistine.

Are not all Philistines motivated by self-gain and self-preservation to the privation, ruin, and detriment of others?  And how was it that they believed this to be so?

Simply and only because they thought it to be the case determined by their own darkened understanding. They are merciless autocrats with no regard for the ruled and imagine everyone to be just like them in character.

And who is the lord of lords over the Philistines?  Caiaphas. “It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people” [Jn.11:50]. And why is it expedient? “Lest the Romans take away both our place and our nation” [Jn.11:48].

How do we combat this Philistines spirit? What are the weapons of our warfare? Ours are spiritual and mighty through God for the destruction of fortresses [2 Cor.10:3-5].

Samson’s were carnal and Philistine in origin. He was the man of bare hands, fire, and unclean bones, but did not take up the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

He met the Philistines on their own terms. “As they did to me, so I have done to them” [Jud.15:11]. There was a repeated recourse to Philistine principles which animated his actions.

Why does he propose a riddle? To boast of his superiority and deprive them of their possessions, to impoverish them into a type of servitude.

He is vindictive. He slays thirty at Ashkelon, not out of any particular sense of obedience to the call of God, but out of his own sense of outrage and anger [Jud.14:19].

And what prompted his comment: “this time I shall be blameless when I do the Philistines harm!” [Jud.15:3]?  Was it not simply because of being deprived of his own self-chosen way and heedless lust?

He justifies his own vengeance because he believed it to be a travesty to be denied his own desires.  If my desires are not satisfied, I will punish any who would thwart them!  This is Philistine to the core.

300 foxes/jackals do not slay Philistines [Jud.15:4,5]. They provoke, enrage, deter, deprive, impoverish, weaken, and humiliate them.  But they yet abide as lords.

Warring according to the flesh is destructive of much fruit, but this does not defeat the foe. And who is the victor in such unworthy combat?

The grain and groves that might have remained as a blessing for the people of God are devastated and no more. None tasted of its bounty and were nourished by its goodness: neither Philistines, nor Samson nor Israel.

Fleshly attacks do nothing but further entrench the antagonists in their mutual animosities. Much fruit is destroyed thereby.

“The Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire” [Jud.15:6].

Dear Reader beware, even if you bow before the edicts of Philistines, you will not be spared from their wrath. Having neither truth nor forgiveness, they lack both justice and mercy as well.

Here the innocents that complied with their former threatening demands are ravaged and ruined nonetheless. Philistines kill those whom they despise.

Do not be deceived; Nothing of integrity or reliable is to be found in any of their words. They hate those whom they oppress.

The Philistines are a dread mixture of the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and of Herod. Like Pharisees, they are externalists in a ritualistic legalism of their own invention.

And so very similar to the Sadducees, they are void of any supernatural belief and reality; all is natural. Following Herod, they dominate ruthlessly all whom they lord it over to further their own miserable agendas.

But what animates Samson at this juncture? How is he different than the unclean enemies he opposes? Here he is no different.

Samson is motivated by nothing higher than himself at this time. “I will take revenge” [Jud.15:7]. The execution of the purposes of God did not fill his heart. He did not believe that the battle is the Lord’s’; neither was he engaged in it.

This was Samson’s personal war, not of what is opposed to heaven, but against those who prevented him from fulfilling his own lust. His “wife” had been given to another, and he was furious.

“After that I will quit” [Jud.15:7]. The Lord’s work against the Philistines had not been carried out, yet Samson was finished with that. As long as he satisfied his personal vendetta against them, that was enough for him.

Dear Reader, watch over what fills your heart. Are you seeking to settle scores with those in opposition to you?  Are you contending for personal vindication? O may we truly be contending earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints, and not striving to settle our own personal grievances!

“We [the Philistines] have come up to bind Samson… we [Israel] have come down to bind you” [15:10,12]. The people of God, when descending to the level of the Philistine, do not hesitate to bind that which threatens their position. It is the power of the Spirit operative through a separated man that they wish to restrain within their own narrow confines.

This must be regulated, so they think, because the Spirit filled man exists and operates outside the realm of their control. As such, he becomes an actual threat to their dominion, even though they are little more than slaves of Philistines.

“Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us?” [Jud.15:11]. The expectation is that the five lords of the Philistines must be bowed to, however wicked and cruel they may be.

Hear their reasonings: Servitude is our lot. Tradition must be served. We must lick lordly boots lest wrath descend on our defenseless heads.

O what bondage the people of God willingly subject themselves to when under Philistine regimes! They even find themselves setting themselves against the very Spirit of God who operates outside their narrow channels of miserable servitude.

But witness the Lord Jesus. He was not shackled by the Judaism of Jerusalem. He moved in separation unto God apart from its influence and thereby was not brought under bondage to it.

Stephen well testified against this Philistine spirit.  “You always resist the Holy Spirit. Which of the prophets did you not persecute?” [Acts 7:51,52].

Dear Reader, the Philistine is not your friend; he is a furious and fearsome foe. Only he who moves in Nazarite separation will escape his ravages. And these lords abound in Christendom with their external hollow religion void of truth and grace.

 

 

Judges Chapter Fifteen verses 14-20

The Word of God is not bound.

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink

2 Tim.2:9; Jn.7:37

 

Neither the Philistine nor those who abide under their rule can effectually bind him who is separated unto the Lord. “The ropes were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands” [Jud.15:14].

But this sovereign power of the Spirit working outwardly in Samson, did not effect a powerful work inwardly in him.  He yet reaches for dead bones from an unclean self-willed beast.

“He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he stretched out his hand and took it and killed a thousand men with it” [Jud.15:15].

He may boast of heaps of Philistines [Jud.15:16], but he yet cries out because he is inwardly parched. Outwardly he boasted to be a mighty man, yet inwardly he was dry [Jud.15:18].

Dear Reader, how content we are to parade our external achievements. But what are we within? Are we truly drinking from the well of water springing up to eternal life from which we shall never thirst again [Jn.4:14]?

Cry out to the living God! He will split the rock [Jud.15:19]. He is the God who provides the supply of the Spirit of Christ Jesus to all who call upon Him in sincerity and truth. You shall find indeed the spring of him who called at En-hakkore [Jud.15:19].

It is there to this day. It abides as an ever present fount to the caller. Drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers!

Come to the fount which never shall run dry. For He Himself shall “guide them to the springs of the waters of life” [Rev.7:17].

Here at En-Hakkore, is recorded the spiritual apex of Samson’s career. Here he calls upon the Lord in utter weakness and complete dependence.

“He called to the Lord and said, ‘You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?’” [Jud.15:18].

Dear Reader, God’s power is made perfect in weakness. No amount of human ability can substitute for His might in the inner man. Grace is abundant and sufficient for all who call upon Him in sincerity and truth.

 

 

Judges Chapter Sixteen

Judges Chapter Sixteen verses 1-21

And I discovered more bitter than death

The woman whose heart is snares and nets,

Whose hands are chains.

Do not lust after her beauty in your heart,

Nor let her capture you with her eyelids

Eccl.7:26; Prov.6:25

 

Flesh indulged leads to powerlessness, bondage, and blindness. How often fair Philistine flesh corrupted this Nazarite whose single assignment was the destruction of the same!

“Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went in to her” [Jud.16:1].

Lust of the flesh can never contribute to eternal purposes being accomplished. Removing city gates [Jud.16:3] may aggravate and embarrass the foe, but does not defeat them.

Even still Samson does not turn from his folly of impurity. “After this it came about that he loved a woman…whose name was Delilah” [Jud.16:4].

Dear Reader, fleshly strength is no match for Philistine intrigues. Careless compromise leaves us vulnerable to assault from the very inordinate object of our love.

Philistines are treacherous. Lust is powerless. Self-indulgence leads to disaster.

The love of money is the root of all evil, and this the Philistine knows very well. They are willing to reward a betrayer to achieve their end. And Delilah willingly prostituted herself to collect that filthy lucre.

Walking according to the flesh as he was, his physical frame was of no avail in resisting her advances. He will succumb when separation is wholly abandoned for fleshly gratification.

“When she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, his soul was annoyed to death. So he told her all that was in his heart” [Jud.16:16,17].

The secret of his spiritual strength was cast to this Philistine wench of a dog. His pearls were flung to this swine of a woman. Nazariteship was abandoned as a thing of nothing to retain this thing of a nothing treacherous whore.

Dear Reader, do not imagine that straying from the Lord’s narrow way is an insignificant matter. Flesh indulged has severe, if even unseen, consequences.

Abraham abandoned Canaan for refuge in Egypt, deceiving as he went, and received riches and more than one Egyptian maid-servant as reward. This servant of Sarah, at her bidding, became the mother of Ishmael through Abraham’s further fleshly recourse. Ishmael fathered the Arabic nations that wreak havoc up to today.

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption” [Gal.6:7,8].

“She made him sleep upon her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him” [Jud.16:19].

Delilah’s affliction of Samson resulted from Samson’s tormenting of himself. He brought about his own demise. The lust of the flesh is its own destruction.

“But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him” [Jud.16:20]. Carnality renders the soul calloused to the Lord’s movements within. The strength of fleshly impressions when indulged overpower sensitivity to the Lord’s presence.

“I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free” [Jud.16:20]. No, Samson, you will not; the Lord has departed from you since you departed from Him.

“The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and…bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison” [Jud.16:21].

Seeking to satisfy the flesh leads to powerlessness, blindness, bondage, and misery. But as with the prodigal son feeding with swine [Lk.15], a Philistine prison can work the same effect in the heart of the penitent.

 

 

Judges Chapter Sixteen verses 22-31

They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh

With its passions and lusts

Gal.5:24

“However, the hair of his head began to grow again” [Jud.16:22].

Dear Reader, It is not too late; Jesus is the God of restoration. Consecration can be regained. Let the hair of your first Nazarite confession sprout forth once more, and let no Delilah shave it again.

The lords of the Philistines may wallow rejoicing for a season, vainly exulting in their Dagon deception, but their termination was rapidly drawing near. The object of their mocking would soon become their undoing [Jud.16:23-27].

Samson was about to fulfill his long awaited Divine purpose commissioned from his mother’s womb. “He will begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines” [Jud.13:5]. Self no more diverted his strength into fleshly allurements. Lust had been purged from his breast.

Gaza harlots were now hated. Philistine captors are about to be condemned. Delilah is despised. One thing filled his vision with clarity of sight through his then blinded eyes.

“’Let me die with the Philistines!’ And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life” [Jud.16:30].

Death to self is our greatest triumph and most significant victory gained against the foe. No blessings come to the people of God apart from it.

 

 

Judges Chapter Seventeen

Judges Chapter Seventeen verses 1-6

You shall have no other gods besides Me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol/graven image.

You shall not take the Name

Of the Lord your God in vain

Ex.20:3,4,7

 

Judges portrays the abnormal chaos that results from not judging self or the enemy according to God’s Word.  Spiritual apostasy ever precedes moral bankruptcy. Connecting the Name of the Lord with what is positively idolatrous is outrageous abomination.

“I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son to make a graven image and a molten image” [Jud.17:3].

Here is funding for apostasy freely proffered without blinking an eye, as if this was normative. And in those dark days, it was.

No one raised an alarm. The Name above all names is joined to things of nothing, demonic inventions of men, without protestation.

“The man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest” [Jud.17:5].

A shrine connected to the Name was not out of the ordinary in those days of deep departure when “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” [Jud.17:6].

And descending into that spiritual abyss of satanic deception was the cesspool from which the indescribable moral wickedness of chapters 19-21 arose. Associating the true and living God with idols, shrines, gods, images, and ephods is the origin of moral perversion and grossest atrocities.

 

 

Judges Chapter Seventeen verses 7-13

An appalling and horrible thing

Has happened in the land:

The priests rule on their own authority

And My people love it so.

But what will you do in the end of it?

Jer.5:30,31

 

Dear Reader, beware of roving Levites wandering from their appointed place. They are seeking Mammon, not ministry. They are for hire.

“The young man…departed from the city…to sojourn wherever he might find a place” [Jud.17:7,8]. And Micah, the founder of his own shrine center, was glad.

“Micah said to him, ‘Dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.’ So the Levite went in” [Jud.17:10].

Here is a “minister” who couldn’t care less about content, about truth. As long as he could do something religious that had an outward show of being connected with the Lord, he was content.

Pride, silver, clothes, and his belly were his real motivations. And these religious Levite rogues abound.

“For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and glory in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things” [Phil.3:18,19].

But Micah does not weep; he accepts no warning. He rather congratulates himself in a delusion that could not be denser. “Then Micah said, ‘Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest’” [Jud.17:13].

Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

 

Judges Chapter Eighteen

Judges Chapter Eighteen verses 1-31

The Lord is King forever and ever.

The kingdom of heaven suffers violence

And the violent take it by force

Ps.10:16; Mt.11:12

 

“The Lord sits as King forever” [Ps.29:10]. “In those days there was no king in Israel” [Jud.18:1].

How do we account for this seeming disparity? How is it that God is the everlasting King and yet there was no king in Israel?

Simply and only because they did not wish the Lord to be King over them. They despised His law, refused His help, and rejected His deliverance. Truly, there was no King for them.

It is a commentary on the state of their hearts during this dark season. When God is not acknowledged as King, lawlessness prevails. Each man decrees his own law and follows the dictates of his own heart, desperately wicked as it is [Jer.17:9].

And so in such times we meet a ravaging band of Danites scouring the land because they failed to possess their own allotted inheritance. Spiritual and moral rebellion accounts for that. They did not dwell in what was their Divinely provided portion.

And so Dan adopts desperate measures. Marauding and molesting was their shameless method to illegitimately gain for themselves.

Wicked men within the kingdom in its outward form seize dominion and spiritual authority by force. The reign of priest-craft becomes compulsory in their empires masquerading as the kingdom of heaven. And that was not limited to the days of Dan.

“They said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill Him and seize His inheritance’” [Mt.21:38].

Pharisees [Jn.11:47-53], Diotrephes [3 Jn.9,10], and leading men from within the midst drawing away disciples after themselves [Acts 20:29,30] are all examples of this.

There is an inward and an outward kingdom. There are the remnant who truly are possessed with that life from above. And there are a multitude who are strangers to that grace who nonetheless flock to the ranks of religion.

Dear Reader, do not be deceived, “they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel…that is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise” [Rom.9:6,8].

Satan, who masquerades as an angel of light, has his ministers who “disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness” [2 Cor.11:13-15]. Their priestly robes and pompous positions may merely hide true identities.

The tribe of Dan had no worthy and noble motives. Search and seize was their system. Prey upon the peaceful with priestly blessing was their shameless hallmark.

“They said to him, ‘Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way…will be prosperous.’ The priest said to them, ‘Go in peace. The presence of the Lord be with you on your way’” [Jud.18:5,6].

This prostituting priest blesses without inquiring. He counsels without consultation. God is in none of his thoughts; pleasing man for the sake of personal advantage is.

And so the “blessed” Danites go forth to seize by stealth and devastate by force in order to secure their ends. Their religion is one of dominating idolatry. Their rule is by crushing destruction.

And thus both the Levite and Laish are subjugated by fierce lords. The priest was glad and Laish laments: promotion to the one, and perdition to the other.

“600 men armed with their weapons of war…stood by the entrance of the gate. Now the five men…entered there and took the graven image and…said to him, ‘Be silent, and put your hand over your mouth and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest.

“’Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?’ So the priest’s heart was glad…and took his place among the people” [Jud.18:16-20].

Ravaging rogues and apostate Levites serve the same sovereign. Both bow to that greatest of idol-whores erected within the heart of every man: Self. Obtaining their ends via corrupted means flowed unchecked within the inner chambers of both.

Dear Reader, let it be repeated; beware of roving Levites wandering from their appointed place. They are seeking Mammon, not ministry. They are for hire.

And thus Danites, with image and ephod in hand, sally forth with “divine” approval on their murderous mission. And the “priest” is glad.

“Then they took what Micah had made and the priest who had belonged to him, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burned the city with fire” [Jud.18:27].

Wanton wickedness and spiritual adultery reigned “all the while that the house of God was in Shiloh” [Jud.18:31]. But that house had long since been abandoned in any practical sense. Dan, idols, and Levites were its usurpers.

 

 

 

 

 

Judges Chapters Nineteen

to Twenty-One

He who sows to his flesh

Will from the flesh reap corruption.

If you bite and devour one another,

Beware lest you be consumed by one another

Gal.6:8; Gal.5:15

 

Chapters 17 and 18 delineate the spiritual corruption that permeated an apostate people vainly connecting the Name of the Lord will idols. The moral condition flowing from that is summarized in chapters 19-21 where the lust of the flesh leads to wickedness resulting in battling and destroying our brethren.

 

 

Judges Chapter 19

He who sows to the flesh

Will from the flesh reap corruption

Gal.6:8

Forbidden flesh and the lust thereof leads to death and moral outrage. That is the theme of chapter 19.

Carnal concubinage, drunkenness, reveling in the night, wandering in foreign lands, homosexual violent demands, ravaging of virgins and females, butchering of bodies: these are the sordid scenes revolting our sensibilities herein.

As we hear of it, revulsion overwhelms with an aroused sense of furious indignation. “All who saw it said, ‘Nothing like this has ever been done or seen…until this day! Just imagine! We must do something! Speak up!’” [Jud.19:30].

Yes, wickedness of this magnitude must be vindicated. Perversity must be purged. With this, they are of one mind.

Yet not one objection was raised in the days of Micah’s abomination. Connecting the Name of the Lord with idols was as a thing of nothing in their deluded minds.

No alarm was raised. No troops mustered. No sense of outrage coursed through their spiritual faculties. That did not matter to them.

Yet that accounted for the present moral malignity. Evil has a root; this was merely its repulsive fruit.

The garish godlessness of Gibeah is traceable to Micah’s parlor, a graven image, and a Levite’s apostasy. Dedicating abominations in the Name of the Lord leads to perpetrating abominations in the flesh.

Dear Reader, what we tolerate spiritually within will manifest physically without. The flesh follows the spirit. What we are in the inner man issues in moral action expressed through the body.

Do not be deceived; God will not hold him guiltless who takes His Name in vain [Ex.20:7]. Spiritual apostasy leads to the most heinous fleshly aberrations imaginable.

And here, an outraged nation gathers as one man against Gibeah of Benjamin [Jud.20:11]. But not one soul gathered against Micah of Ephraim. But that was the genesis of Gibeah.

 

 

Judges Chapter 20

Do not judge lest you be judged.

If we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged

Mt.7:1; I Cor.11:31

 

Who perished in this conflagration? All twelve tribes. Slain fell on every hand. God judged evil as He saw it, not as Israel perceived it.

The log in their own eyes was decidedly obscuring the vision of the eleven tribes of Israel. It had not been removed and hence they fell on the field.

Weep as they may, they perish afresh during the second day’s conflict [Jud.20:23-26]. They who rallied against iniquity in their brother Benjamin, gave that same pollution free reign in their own hearts.

God thus judged the entire nation in this lamentable narrative. Brother against brother. Both harboring their own transgressions. The majority imagining that they were superior and vindicated in executing the crimes of the one, never once purging the poison within themselves.

In such dire distress, religion becomes the refuge. Since we unfailingly are defeated in our own fleshly endeavors, we had better get God involved to accomplish our agenda. So reasons the flesh.

“Call for the priest! Inquire of God! Will we be successful?” Thus do desperate men plead with heaven to grant them success [Jud.20:27,28].

And God answered: not because He took up their purpose and sided with the eleven. He sent them forth again because the wickedness of Benjamin had not yet received its just due.

Dear Reader, do not imagine that if your desire is granted, you are yet in the right. It may indicate exactly the opposite. “He gave them their request, but sent leanness to their soul” [Ps.106:15].

Neither Israel nor Benjamin were justified in this horrific holocaust. Lamentation and weeping is called for on every hand when brother rises up against brother.

 

 

 

Judges Chapter 21

You are still carnal.

For while there is jealousy and strife among you,

Are you not carnal?

Are you not walking like mere men?

Thank God I am not like other men.

I Cor.3:3; Lk.18:11

 

In this conflict, not one enemy was vanquished. No Canaanite idolater perished. No inheritance was claimed and conquered.

Rather, brethren devastated one another. The house of God divided against itself. Animosity reigned. Sects and haughty rejection prevailed. There is no victor in such conflicts.

An entire segment of the Lord’s people nearly perished and the perpetrators had sworn to not support their restoration. Legalistic decrees void of compassion were enforced. “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife” [Jud.21:1].

Carnal means of expediency were adopted to maintain their “righteous” stance while circumventing what they had pledged. They struck the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead with the edge of the sword and captured 400 virgins among them in order to give them to Benjamin [Jud.21:8-14].

Even this did not suffice to restore the surviving remnant of Benjamin. So recourse to falsehood, deception, and theft became their warped solution to rectify their predicament while maintaining their outward piety of pledging to the Lord not to do so.

“Go and lie in wait in the vineyard, and watch; and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come…then you shall…catch his wife…and go to the land of Benjamin” [Jud.21:21].

Their justifying rationale to the fathers of the Shiloh maidens? “You see, we did not give them voluntarily to Benjamin, they came and carried the girls away by stealth. Behold, our hands are innocent in the matter” [Jud.21:22].

 

In those days there was no king in Israel, every man did that which was right in his own eyes

Jud.21:25

 

 

 

3

Under His Wings

Thoughts on Ruth

Ruth Chapter One

Ruth Chapter One verses 1-5

For this reason many are weak and sick,

And quite a number have died

I Cor.11:30

 

Famine tests the soul. Bleakness and lack stare with their deprived and sunken sockets without compassion or remedy for the despairing and gaunt.

Absence of the customary supply is designed by Omniscience to lift the eyes of the sufferer to Him who rides on the wings of the dawn to our help. Parched plains and fruitless fields beckon the heart to turn away from the uncertain provision of earth to that unfailing storehouse on high.

Bethlehem, the House of Bread, is the scene of this scarcity where even crumbs under the table would have been welcomed as a fitting feast. Where do we flee in the event of emptiness?

Abraham forsook the Canaan of God in order to seek refuge in the shadow of Pharaoh’s pyramid [Gen.12:10]. He did so without God’s approval. Egypt was not the land that the God of Glory had led him to as a possession.

Generations afterwards, the world itself fled to Joseph in that very land, the only refuge from the ravages of hunger. And this they did by Divine decree [Gen.46:3,4].

Looking unto God on high determines the source of the supply. Waiting upon the Lord is the channel of provision. And for this there is no formula.

Here, in the days of the Judges when everyone did what was right in their own eyes, famine ravaged Bethlehem, the very house of bread. What are saints to do in such scenes? What is to be our recourse in times of scarcity?

Elimelech, whose very name means “My God is King,” wantonly abandons the very house of bread to sojourn in a land that was accursed unto the tenth generation [Deut.23:3-6]. His was a carnal solution to a spiritual lack.

Yet not every inhabitant of Bethlehem followed in his path. Those remaining somehow received from the Lord’s hand even in those days of dearth.

Dear Reader, is there not to be found that true Bread from Heaven which gives life to the world in Bethlehem’s manger? Is it not plentiful there even up to today?

Is there not yet a God in heaven in whom we may trust with rejoicing, even “though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food” [Hab.3:17]?

O offspring of Elimelech! Why do you not heed the surety of heaven? “In famine He will redeem you from death” [Job 5:20].

“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him…to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine” [Ps.33:18,19]. Indeed, “in the days of famine they shall have an abundance” [Ps.37:19].

Yes, “I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread” [Ps.37:25]. Daily bread is supplied for His expectant ones that they might be strengthened to do His will on earth as it is in heaven [Mt.6:10,11].

But note it well, poverty and plenty alike have their temptations. Let us beware that even Divine providence not lead us into a greater and more devastating famine. Fear the snare that fullness carries with it.

“I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore they forgot Me” [Hos.13:5,6].

The purpose of provision is not that we may bask in surfeited complacency with fattened hearts encased in spiritual softness. Better a famine of the flesh than that of the spirit.

“‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord God, ‘when I will send a famine on the land. Not a famine for bread…but rather for hearing the Words of the Lord.  People will stagger…to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, but they will not find it’” [Amos 8:11,12].

Flee to Christ, the bread of heaven, in destitute days of lack. Whoever eats of that bread shall never hunger.

Those who do not reside in this refuge discover that departure attracts Divine discipline. Doing what is right in one’s own eyes leads to familial disaster. Is it any wonder that the sons are sick [Mahlon] and pining away in consumption [Chilion]?

Here is a family of Ephraim [fruitfulness] who dwelt in the land of Judah [praise] who nevertheless forsook all to seek sustenance in the field of the world [Ruth 1:2]. Disastrous decision!

Why did they lack bread in Bethlehem, the very House of Bread? Due to a departure and waning of ardor, devotion, watchfulness, and obedience. These are famine conditions indeed.

The Divine principle ever abides constant: “To him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away” [Mt.13:12].

“Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died” [Ruth 1:3]. Distrusting departure onto forbidden soil leads to death. Fruitless branches are cut off [Jn.15:2]. These are sobering realities for any contemplating falling away from the living God.

When reclining in the world we become complacent in what is not of God. The very atmosphere of Moab stifles the soul. The mists that arise from the marshes and meadows of that world choke the very life-breath of God.

And so in Moab the unconsecrated become attached to what is by nature contrary to God. Thus an unequal yoke is easily slipped into and women under the curse are chosen as life-partners. “They took for themselves Moabite women as wives” [Ruth 1:4].

There results, as always there must, the severe discipline of the Holy One of Israel. In this case, it issued in the sin unto death. “They lived there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died” [Ruth 1:5].

O dear Reader, behold the severe mercy from on high! He faithfully leaves us bereft of all that we have leaned upon for support in our self-sought Moab! He hedges our way with thorns that we might say, “I will return to my former husband for it was better for me then than now” [Hos.2:7].

Arise from your Moab! Bread aplenty awaits your welcome step in Bethlehem’s bounteous field. You will not be turned away.

 

 

Ruth Chapter One verses 6-14

Choose you this day whom you will serve

Josh.24:15

And so the soul of Naomi was stirred by the news of God having visited His people with bread [Ruth 1:6]. How faithful is the Lord to awaken and restore wandering feet! He beckons her back with good news of His plenty.

Though it was not so much the news of bread that arrested her heart; it was the Lord Himself. For she continued to have bread in Moab, but only of a different type! Her languishing heart was aroused to seek Him whom she had deserted those long years ago.

Moab satisfied no more. She desired God’s supply and was determined to return to Him who freely gives bread to the eater: to live in His inheritance as fruitful and full of praise [Ruth 1:7].

Dear Reader, we may respond in two ways and in two ways alone when arrested by discipline’s grace. We either abide in Moab or proceed to Bethlehem. Which one shall it be?

Ruth – the satisfied one – chooses the good part which shall not be taken away from her. Orpah [her neck], not willing to risk her neck for the prize of obtaining Christ [Rom.16:4], stiffens her neck and returns to the cursed land.

She was willing to travel for a season in company with those seeking the Lord and His inheritance. But only briefly. If the God of glory does not fill your vision, you will soon turn back with Orpah to Moab’s misery.

O to be impelled by thoughts of the Lord: His bounty, His inheritance, His blessed visitation to His own! How swift the journey passes when occupied thusly!

Choose wisely; select soberly. “Ruth clung to her” [Ruth 1:14]. Lay hold on Christ and do not let him go. Nothing in Moab is worth losing your own soul.

 

 

Ruth Chapter One verses 15-22

Your people shall be my people,

And your God, my God

Ruth 1:16

Ruth is bound up in the bundle of the living with the Lord God [I Sam.25:29]. All was forsaken: her family, culture, customs, and gods. She was an Israelite indeed.

Identification with the Lord requires a complete abandonment of all that holds us in Moab. A different kingdom must be entered, a fresh perspective welcomed, and a joyous fellowship embraced.

Gone are gods. Traditions are trashed. Family is forsaken. Ruth is born from above and thus partakes of Bethlehem’s plenty. “They both went until they came to Bethlehem” [Ruth 1:19].

And O what gladness rings in the air when wanderers return! “All the city was stirred because of them” [Ruth 1:19].

Indeed, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God when lost sheep are restored [Lk.15:7,10,20,24]. See the prodigal’s Father gird His loins and run with glad embraces and kisses of delight! Imagine the rapturous jubilation in heaven’s courts when wayward sons return!

Yes, all moving to Moab as did Naomi need to return to the very place we departed from the way. We make no progress in Moab. Blessing is not found there, only impoverishment and dashed hopes, joys, security, honor, and loss of the company this world affords.

The soul under the discipline of the Lord, due to dimness of eye in not seeing Him who is unseen, accounts herself as bitter. “Do not call me Naomi [My pleasantness]; call me Mara [Bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me” [Ruth 1:20].

Dear Reader, be very cautious how you craft the narrative of your life in your own imagination. Consider soberly what you fixate upon.

Is it upon the tragedies or the triumphs? Does the bitter bubble to the surface or the blessings? Do the disappointments and disasters crowd out the delights? Is it multiplied sins or abounding salvation?

Naomi could see nothing but bitterness in her aggrieved soul. So too Jacob at the end of days.

“Few and evil have been the days of my life” [Gen.47:9].

The recounting of his life experiences were esteemed as evil; Naomi’s as bitter. What a tragedy! What a scurrilous charge and an affront to the multiplied mercies of heaven!

Be careful how you recount your history in your mind’s memory. You are creating a story about the dealings of the Almighty within your soul. That will formulate the testimony that will spill through your lips.

Job suffered even more tragedy than Naomi. Yet in all that he did not speak bitterly and reproachfully against the Most High.

“‘The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.’ In all this, Job did not sin with his lips nor charge God foolishly” [Job 1:21,22].

Would that all bitter Naomis would glean from Job. David did.

Scorned, hated, cast out, and pursued with murderous rage, nevertheless hear him say: “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Surely, my heritage is beautiful to me” [Ps.16:5,6].

Even after the demise of his life-long hateful antagonist, he graciously spoke this eulogy of Saul: “Your beauty, O Israel, is slain on your high places! Saul and Jonathan, beloved and pleasant in their life…How the mighty have fallen” [2 Sam.1:19,23,27].

No Mara stained the stories of Job and David, men who suffered beyond most in this life. How are you crafting your own narrative? What surfaces in your own recounting of all you have encountered?

Is it a bitter evil rehearsal like unto Jacob and Naomi? Or is it a contented replay of the mercies of the Lord fresh every morning as that of Job and David?

Meekness was missing in Jacob and Naomi’s sagas. Meekness is that disposition of heart that receives all as from the hand of God without complaint, resentment, or revolt. It even accounts the evils permitted by God at the hands of wicked men as coming from His gracious providence.

Such meekness is what we are to learn under Christ’s easy yoke. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls” [Mt.11:29]. Learn to craft your narrative thus.

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things” [Phil.4:8].

Dear Reader, note it well. The Almighty never once calls her “Mara.” For to Him, more now than even before the sojourn in Moab, she is yet “My pleasantness.”

Learn to see as God sees, not with the distorted vision of a darkened and distressed soul. Eternal purposes for everlasting good attend our every sorrow here below.

O weary, distraught, tempest tossed soul, has all gone awry in your comfortable self-sought haven? Are you stripped bare of all you’ve hoped and known with fondest ambition? You are merely being jealously shut-up to Him alone who loves you well.

He who accounts you as the apple of His eye, the darling of His bosom in whom is all His pleasure, will not break His bruised reed. No smoking flax of His will ever be quenched [Mt.12:20].

If you could thus see this you would willingly cast off a 1,000 Elimelechs to be thus situated to your, and His, everlasting gain.

Already a harvest awaits you. Bread for life abounds in the swaying grain of Bethlehem’s fields. Bread is before you for the gathering. No mocking dried stalks will greet your eye.

“They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest” [Ruth 1:22].

They arrived, not when the labor was spent and the fields barrenly sparse, but at the beginning of the harvest. Witness the first fruits raised in glory and waved before the Lord of Hosts who had brought them to Himself.

Dear Reader, this is food indeed: Christ risen triumphant, glorious in power, the Living One who is the surety of a hundredfold to follow [I Cor.15:20,23]. O my soul, glean and feast here and nowhere else. For here alone shall there be found the bread of God given for the life of the world.

 

 

Ruth Chapter Two

Ruth Chapter Two verses 1-7

Please let me go to the field and glean

Among the ears of grain

After one in whose sight I may find favor

Ruth 2:2

It is only as we determine to seek the supply of bread that Boaz [In Him is strength] is discovered unto us. There in the field of His Word, we find that we are linked by family ties to the Mighty One of wealth and strength.

Christ Jesus is thus to our souls. Riches in glory are with Him [Phil.4:19]. Power and might exceedingly are in His hand [I Cor.1:24]. And He is our Kinsman, partaker of our blood and flesh.

Gleaning is the urgent passion of every awakened heart: to seek bread in the field of the One in whose eyes we find grace and favor.

O to be occupied thus! Not merely seeking but, thanks be to our Mighty Man of wealth, actually obtaining and living from what He allots to us in His Word. This is the daily bread of life granted from His bounty to every gleaning seeker.

The heart that longs for food from God shall not be mocked by being misguided into barren stubble fields.   Rather we find ourselves in the field of none other than our Kinsman-Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. This is the blessed portion: the field of fatness.

But dear Reader, do not be deceived. It is only as a Ruth that you will come under His notice. The Lord of the field takes delight in such. Thus while seeking gleaning’s sustenance, we become known to Him.

O blessed introduction: thereby we discover to our everlasting joy the One in whose sight we have found favor.

Food obtained leads to fellowship established. He is not known apart from His Word. Abide in this field and none other and you will find Him whom your soul loves.

 

 

Ruth Chapter Two verses 8-13

May the Lord reward your work,

And your wages be full from the Lord,

The God of Israel,

Under whose wings you have come to seek refuge

Ruth 2:12

In the seeking of bread we come under the notice of Him who, in unspeakable condescension, reveals Himself to our souls.  He speaks upon our hearts with kindly instruction to not glean elsewhere.

Abide in the Word, O my soul, as your portion from henceforth and forevermore. Go forth with Ruth in Boaz’ field with ardent desire [Ruth 2:2], meek submission [Ruth 2:2], diligent labor [Ruth 2:7], and shamefaced humility [Ruth 2:10]. Your bread will be sure.

Stay with His maids and let your eyes be fixed on the field which they reap [Ruth.2:8,9]. It is the will of our greater Boaz for us to keep company with His earnest gleaners and mighty reapers. This is fellowship indeed.

The inheritance of God’s field is expansive! Not even an Apollos, mighty in the Scriptures [Acts 18:24], can exhaust the provision therein. Abide there and abundance of grain will be granted for the famished and weary.

No molestation will fall upon us under His watchful care in His field where grace and kindliness abound. He commands it so. “I have commanded the young men not to touch you” [Ruth 2:9].

What a fellowship is found in the field of Boaz! Why would we stray into the field of strangers?

His eye is upon us. He knows us through and through [Ruth 2:11]. Such knowledge is too wonderful for us. How can it be that He would take notice of me, wretch that I am?

“Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to Him, ‘Why have I found favor in Your sight that You should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?’” [Ruth 2:10].

O how unworthy we are of all His grace, coming from our afar off accursed Moabs. Yet He does not account us as aliens but rather fellow-citizens with the saints, fellow heirs of the grace of life.

How could He cast us off as forbidden, unclean, and cursed [Deut.23:3,4]? We have taken refuge under the wings of the God of Israel. He gathers and keeps us there, protected and provided for with pleasure.

Truly “You have comforted me and have spoken upon the heart of Your maidservant” [Ruth 2:13]. This is the portion and possession of every Ruth. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

 

 

Ruth Chapter Two verses 14-23

You shall pull out for her handfuls on purpose

Ruth 2:16

 

But this is not all for the humble who hunger and thirst after Him. Ah, wonder of wonders, He bids us draw near to Himself in matchless grace to sup with Him at His table with bread and wine.

“’Draw near, that you may eat of the bread and dip…in the sour wine.’ And He served her” [Ruth 2:14].

O happy and joyous remembrance in His presence feasting on the portion prepared by Himself for His own blessed company! Christ, our mighty Kinsman-Redeemer, meets with us there and gives portions to the satisfying of every soul.

And unknown to us, He directs to our profit, satisfaction, and surprise that rich overflowing abundance be supplied beyond our highest expectation: yes, handfuls on purpose!

Dear Reader, what will not be opened up to the soul who desires above all else to seek refuge under His wings? What will be withheld to them who glean in His field alone with desire, submissiveness, diligence, and humility? “How shall He not also with Him, freely give us all things?” [Rom.8:32].

“Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it” [Ps.81:10]. “My cup runneth over” [Ps.23:5].  Hear godly Jabez cry, “‘O that Thou would bless me indeed and enlarge my border!’ And God heard his request” [I Chron.4:10].

How inviolably true are our Lord’s words, “To him who has, more shall be given and he shall have an abundance” [Mt.13:12].

Ruth, the satisfied one, has blessings remaining to bring and distribute to Naomi [Ruth 2:17,18]. O the full increase from the heart of Christ to His own that others may taste and see that the Lord is good!

Thus we are to abide where He may be found, where His virgins are, till the full harvest be gathered in [Ruth 2:21-23]. Why would we seek otherwise, wandering to our own ruin, privation, and disgrace?

May it never be! Abide where the food of God abounds under the kindly eye of Boaz our Lord. And may it ever be that we have a ready reply to Naomi’s searching query, “Where did you glean today?” [Ruth 2:19].

 

 

Ruth Chapter Three

Ruth Chapter Three verses 1-13

May His left hand be under my head

And His right hand embrace me

1. of S. 2:6

 

What then is the rest [Ruth 3:1] sought after by faithful gleaners other than an intimate union with our mighty Redeemer? A gleaner becomes a bride. This is the final outcome of all the movements of grace in the soul.

And what arrests and allures His heart other than His lover cleansed by the washing of water with the Word, glistening in the Spirit’s fullness with festal spotless bridal gowns of glad righteousness?

“Wash yourself…and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes” [Ruth 3:3]. And thus adorned will every Ruth come and abide at His feet until the dawning of that glad new day [Ruth 3:7,8].

Dear Reader, “Let your garments always be white, and let your head lack no oil” [Eccl.9:8]. Thus shall the King, the Mighty Boaz, desire your beauty as a woman of excellence [Ruth 3:11].

We are being prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and the marriage supper of the Lamb is fast approaching. “I have betrothed you to one Husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin” [2 Cor.11:2].

Like Ruth, like Mary of Bethany [Lk.10:38-42], abide in humble devotion at His feet to receive the bread of life from His Word. This is to be our station all through the blackness of this world’s midnight.

Endless day is about to break with its glad unending rays. “They shall enter the King’s palace” [Ps.45:15]. And there, espoused as queen we shall abide embraced everlastingly.

Yet a gleaner only should she remain unless she herself sought more than mere grain. Should she herself not long for His rapturous embrace, she would remain apart in the field like all others.

“I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a kinsman-redeemer” [Ruth 3:9].

O what joy to the heart of Christ our blessed Redeemer and Bridegroom, to rest His longing eye upon one who does not go after young men! All others, rich or poor, do not attract so much as a fleeting glance [Ruth 3:10].

Christ delights to gaze upon one whose eye is single; who seeks nothing and none other but the delight of her life. Is the Lord Jesus thus to us?

“Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter! For you have shown more loyal love than at the first…Do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman” [Ruth 3:10,11].

To abide beneath His spread covering whose banner overhead is love, need she fear? May it never be! For His heart has been kindled with the very flame of the Lord long ere so bold a proposal even fleetingly coursed through her heart.

Her fame of excellence had been noised abroad and had been accounted as such by those who judge aright. It could not be that Boaz would be attracted to one who was anything other than a woman of virtue.

Can we imagine for a moment a bridal prospect in which the betrothed occupies herself with other pursuits, who neglects His words, who is lackadaisical about whether she is with Him or not?

Could He ever consider one who chooses the company of those who disdain, reject, and hate her espoused? He will never set His heart on any who seldom speak to Him, and then only concerning her own profit and gain. That is a Gomer [Hos.1:2,3], not a Ruth.

But O, but what a chilling and sinking prospect next flowed from the lips of her Beloved. “It is true that I am a Redeemer; however, there is a redeemer closer than I” [Ruth 3:12].

He is the elder one having prior claim. His decision must be sought and obtained in the matter. What will his verdict be?  The law must be satisfied.

And the thought of standing before this severe law send shivers down the spine. All thoughts of condemnation and rejection flood the panicked conscience. The dread thundering of Sinai’s darkness and flame must be faced.

What prospect of hope remains? This iron-clad unyielding law with its terrible curse upon Moabite transgressors unto the tenth generation threatens its terrors.

O what will be my plight if unwilling to redeem due to my being accursed, an alien afar off? What if he is unable due to his own lofty stringency of demands?

O blessed word is this from the heart of our mighty and kindly Boaz: “If he does not…then I will redeem you as the Lord lives” [Ruth 3:13].

And shall He tarry in the least? Ah, no. He has no rest nor any more pressing cause to retard the full work of redemption. He will hasten the completed purchase price, the glad exchange to obtain a spouse of virtue, His lily among thorns.

“Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the Man will not rest until He has concluded it this day” [Ruth 3:18].

Wait upon Him, my daughter, with overflowing bread for many from His stores until the desired haven is realized. The consummation of the soul’s very pulse draws nigh. He will not delay.

This is my Beloved, and this, my Friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

 

 

Ruth Chapter Four

Ruth Chapter Four verses 1-12

You are altogether beautiful, my love

And there is no blemish in you

S. of S. 4:7

 

By nature, what prospect does Ruth, the Moabitess, have before the smoking flame of Sinai’s thunder? Nothing whatsoever apart from the fury of fire that consumes the adversaries. Perdition and damnation only, and that to the tenth generation.

Ruth is born a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel [Eph.2:12], uncircumcised of heart and flesh and without God in the world [Eph.2:11].

She abides an alien afar off [Eph.2:13], an ungodly enemy [Rom.5:6,10], born under the curse of the law [Deut. 23:3-6, Gal.3:10].

By nature she is a child of wrath [Deut.25:6; Eph.2:3], without hope [Deut.23:3-6; Eph.2:12], serving an enemy king [I Jn.5:19].

Yet Boaz, being rich in mercy because of the great love wherewith He loved her, blesses and curses not. He will make her a fellow heir, a co-regent with Himself of the vastness of His inheritance, now soon to be hers.

The Law, august judge as he is, must have his sensibilities respecting redemption aroused. It is only by the call of grace that he would even consider his role in this matter. The Law would just as soon pass by in austere demeanor, unconcerned about a cursed Moabitess pleading mercy at his bar.

Yet kindly faithful Boaz beckons him to consider his lot and portion in the matter. Thus the full tribunal of man’s responsibility is convened to judge the matter. All 10 awesome commandeering constables, the lords of Sinai, assemble and preside [Ruth 4:2].

Yet the Law, itself holy, righteous, and good, will not, since it cannot, redeem and purchase for itself. The very one pleading mercy and redemption, falls beneath its curse. It cannot violate, compromise, and expunge the very essence of its loftiness.

“The close redeemer said, ‘I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it” [Ruth 4:6].

The Law must confess, and that publicly, that he is without strength. The shoe is removed and handed to our blessed Boaz, for the Law has no standing in the matter of redemption.

Dear Reader, the Law has a prior claim upon you. You must pass its bar before redemption ever comes into view. Its demands must be satisfied ere any hope of escaping its curse can be sought.

There is no mixture between Law and Grace. They are mutually exclusive principles. The Law demands but does not supply. Grace provides what God requires.

The Law condemns and justly so. Grace pardons having justly satisfied the Law’s demands. The Law brings about death. Grace brings life. Grace sets aside the curse of the Law.

It is Boaz alone who is the possessor of standing with respect to his now beloved Ruth.

“Boaz said to the elders and all the people, ‘You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife’” [Ruth.4:9,10].

And how he rises ardently to the occasion!  Ruth is ever after this moment no more an accursed stranger, afar off without God and without hope in this world. From henceforth she is the esteemed heiress to the richness and fullness of the inheritance of God. And the love of Boaz secured this all to their mutual delight.

Must we not bless the Lord Jesus for His surpassing grace? Must we not bring to Him ardent affection of steadfast devotion? Nothing else will suffice. Anything less is despised.

 

Ruth Chapter Four verses 13-22

He was seeking a godly seed.

Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her

Mal.2:15; Eph.5:25

 

“So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife” [Ruth 4:13]. Here is a man of renown among the chosen Israel of God taking a cursed Moabitess as bride. What can account for such within his heart? Why would he do so?

Boaz saw as God saw, not as man sees. He looked upon the heart and the character, not upon the outward externals of tribal heritage.

His father had done the same. Boaz was given birth to by his mother, Rahab. That dear sister tenderly trained Boaz in the ways of the God of heaven though her heritage was among the cursed Canaanites of Jericho.

Salmon and Boaz both saw what the carnal never see. They saw the hidden person of the heart that is precious in the sight of God [I Pet.3:4]. They saw godly women who had abandoned every filthy practice of their native lands.

Dear Reader, tribalism has no place among God’s true people. Fleshly distinctions of culture and dialect are not part of the kingdom of heaven.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” [Gal.3:28]. “Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh” [2 Cor.5:16].

If tribalism had polluted the minds of Salmon and Boaz, Christ would not have been born. “Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth…by whom Jesus was born” [Mt.1:5,16].

Let the polluting poison of tribalism be purged from your heart. It has no place in the midst of the saints of God.

“Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. The Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son” [Ruth 4:13]. What is the fruit of this blessed union of the mighty Man of wealth and His virtuous bride?

Obed, a [worshipper/servant]. From him proceeded Jesse, one that testifies to the reality that [Jehovah exists]. The fruit of that was David [beloved of the Lord].

And issuing from that is “the book of the genealogy of Jesus the Christ, the son of David” [Mt.1:1].

Blessed be Boaz and blessed be Ruth, the godly pair seeking a godly seed. And that seed eventuated in the Seed of all seeds, Christ Jesus the Lord Himself [Gal.3:16]. Through Him all the nations of the earth are blessed.

May we also do our part in perpetuating His seed throughout every tribe and people and tongue and nation.

 

 

 

 

4

Rule of Man – Rule of God

Thoughts on I Samuel

I Samuel Chapter One

I Samuel Chapter One verses 1-8

Sorrow and lamentation are the portion of the barren. Grief and bitterness course their twin streams down the cheeks of those thus afflicted.

No human sympathy can console the anguish of a lifeless womb. Conception and fruitfulness are what are lacking, and that, no earthly effort can remedy, no double portion may compensate [I Sam.1:5].

“The Lord had closed her womb” [I Sam.1:5]. Life must come from God. There is no human remedy for barrenness.

This is what Hannah was confronted with for wearisome long years; the seed implanted by a loving husband had produced no life within.  It is cause for serious concern and earnest appeal, both for Hannah and for the people of God.

This lamentable scene raises a sobering question to our hearts: What has resulted in us by the implantation of the living seed of God’s Word to our hearts? Has fruitfulness of life developed as a result [Jas.1:21]?

Has the life of Christ been developed within as a result of receiving His Word? Paul grieved over the Galatians for their abortive spiritual progress that had not issued in Christ being formed in their inner man [Gal.4:19].

Hannah wept, Paul pleaded, but what of the church?  Of what concern is it to us that we remain a lifeless barren testimony?

Do we cry out to heaven for Christ to be revealed in us, or are we content with a repetitive yet vain reception of His Word that never conceives or brings forth life?

It is a reproach that the life of Christ is not manifest in us: that the seed of the Word implanted has no apparent effect. Barren brethren bring blasphemous belittlement [Rom.2:24].

Dear Reader, where is the life? Is fruitfulness of Christ’s formative life what we discover as we survey His bride, the church? What is our testimony in the world?

Barrenness in the godly leads to anguish of soul and imploring God bitterly [I Sam.1:8]. These things cause the remnant to pour out their grief unto the Lord in seeking after a godly seed [Mal.2:15] that they might bear such fruit.

O that we might weep with Hannah! How shall we bear the reproach of a lifeless womb? Is this not cause for sorrow? What shall we say in defense of being destitute of the very evidence of Christ’s life within the church?

Fullness of the world and earthly affection can never compensate for such a lack. “To Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah…‘Hannah, why do you weep…am I not better to you than ten sons?’” [I Sam.1:5,8].

No, things and sympathy are no substitutes for this glaring deficiency. It is life that we want, life that we need.

Will we not cry out with Hannah?

 

 

I Samuel Chapter One verses 9-18

The natural man does not receive the things

Of the Spirit of God

For they are foolishness to him;

And he cannot understand them

Because they are spiritually discerned

I Cor.2:14

 

In the midst of spiritual barrenness, the remnant pour out their pleas in bitter anguish of soul [I Sam.1:10] while carnal priests sit idly by [I Sam.1:9].

Dear Reader, what we are externally may not indicate at all what we are internally. Eli, the priest, outwardly godly, was wretchedly spiritually barren. Hannah, bereft bodily, flourished in her spirit.  Hers was the better portion.

“O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant…but will give Your maidservant a seed of men, then I will give him to God all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head” [I Sam1:11].

The history of nations is contained in that fervent petition. Kings rise and fall in that plea. The courts of heaven itself thereafter will hearken alertly to the intercession from the seed of this lowly woman [I Sam.12:18,28].

Unlike Samson, here would issue a Nazarite from the womb indeed. Hannah herself was separated in deep consecration unto the Lord. And her son will tread that path from henceforth.

No Philistine women will entice him. No divulging of his spiritual secret of separation will be carnally cast aside. Reproach for the sake of Christ will gladly be borne all the days of his life.

It is what is needed in a generation of deep decline. May the Lord raise up such a seed in our days where perfunctory priest-craft prevails!

Eli, who walks by sight and not by faith, is himself spiritually barren, does not inquire of God, and has no communion born out of consecration. “Eli was watching her mouth…So Eli thought she was drunk” [I Sam.1:12,13].

Being purely a natural man, he has no discernment in the things of the Spirit [I Cor.2:14]. As such, he rebukes what is of God. He withstands any movement in the heart of others to obtain help and refuge in God alone [I Sam.1:14]. This is barrenness indeed.

With carnal judgment, Eli attributes what is of the Spirit of God to earthly and natural indulgence of the basest  and most reprehensible type [I Sam.1:13,14]. Such priests, knowing nothing of spiritual movements in their own hearts, always judge by sight out of their own fleshly experience.

They rebuke what is of God while judging by sight and pronounce blessing groundlessly out of ignorance and presumption [I Sam.1:13,14,17]: cursing by appearance and blessing in ignorance. God’s hand was in neither, for God’s mind was not sought in either one.

 

 

I Samuel Chapter One verses 19-28

These Words which I am commanding you today,

Shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently

To your children and shall talk of them

When you sit in your house and when you walk by the way

And when you lie down and when you rise up

Deut.6:6,7

Lending your child to the Lord is the best procedure in raising a godly offspring. Commit them into everlasting arms from their earliest days. Sanctify them from the cradle for eternal safe keeping.

“I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord and stay there forever…So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is lent to the Lord” [I Sam.1:22,28].

There is nothing for self here. A pledge must be fulfilled. “I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life” [I Sam.1:11] was her promise. And thus does Hannah gladly relinquish from her hand back into the hand of the Giver.

Dear Reader, do not neglect or despise one of these little ones. Their angels do continually behold the face of their Father in heaven [Mt.18:10]. Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord [Eph.6:4].

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in truth” [3 Jn.4]]. Truly there is no greater reward on earth than this.

Love them. Instruct them. Correct them. Lead them to the Good Shepherd who will take them in His arms with bountiful blessing [Mk.10:16]. Let the little children come unto Me.

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Two

I Samuel Chapter Two verses 1-11

He raises up the poor out of the dust,

And lifts up the needy from the dunghill,

To set them among princes,

And make them inherit a throne of glory

I Sam.2:8

 

True communion is evident in the remnant who ever glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh [Phil.3:3]. God’s way is to confound the wise with the simple, to humble the mighty with the lowly.

Nobles are replaced by peasants and the prosperous by paupers. The rich are turned away empty handed [Lk.1:53] while the needy have a table spread before them in the presence of their enemies [Ps.23:5].

Truly, the barren shout for joy in multiplied blessing [Isa.54:1] while the full languish in carnal scarcity. God exalts the humble, needy, weak, barren, empty, and poor while bringing down the proud, self-sufficient, mighty, full, and rich [I Sam.1:1-11]. Such is the theme of Hannah’s magnificent lyric ode.

Let us join with her in those glad stanzas: “There is none holy as the Lord; for there is none beside Thee. Neither is there any Rock like our God…He keeps the feet of His godly ones…for by strength no man shall prevail” [I Sam.2:2,9].

Truly “none of those who wait for You will be ashamed” [Ps.25:3]. “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord” [Ps.27:14].

Spiritual lack is not your final portion. Life will yet spring up and flourish within. “For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame” [Rom.10:11].

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Two verses 12-26

But to the wicked God says,

‘What right do you have to tell of My statutes

And to take My covenant in your mouth?

For you hate discipline,

And you cast My Words behind you

And you associate with adulterers.

Now consider this, you who forget God,

Or I will tear you in pieces,

And there will be none to deliver

Ps.50:16-18,22

The true communion of the remnant is wholly absent in the priests. Hannah and Hophni have nothing in common. These priests have nothing but an external shell of religion. They hate God and man both.

“Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial [worthlessness]; they did not know the Lord” [I Sam.2:12]. “What harmony has Christ with Belial?” [2 Cor.6:15]. None.

Wicked worthless whoremongers “ministered” to the Lord in His tabernacle. Profane priests presided over all things holy.

“The sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for the men abhorred the offering of the Lord…they lay with the serving women who assembled at the doorway of the tent of meeting” [I Sam.2:17,22].

The Lord’s portion of fat [Lev.3:16] was despised. Marital fidelity was flagrantly forsaken. All spiritual priestly custom was flung aside with threats of violence should their craving for flesh be denied [I Sam.2:13-16].

And their feeble father did nothing to restrain them. A mild finger-wagging remonstrance does not qualify as discipline. “No my sons; the report I hear circulating among the Lord’s people is not good” [I Sam.2:24].

Such weak words did nothing to arrest their course. And thus “the Lord desired to kill them” [I Sam.2:25].

But the remnant flourish even in the stifling moral and spiritual pollution of perverted priests. The progress of the godly proceeds unimpeded by the likes of Eli and his sons.

Samuel was yet “ministering before the Lord” [I Sam.2:18] while Hophni and Phinehas continued to condemn and corrupt themselves. Samuel was “dedicated to the Lord…and grew before the Lord” [I Sam.2:20,21].

Dear Reader, despite the departure all around, Christ can sustain and lead us in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake. Consecration, service, and growth can be ours, for godliness is not dependent upon fleshly human support. Nazarites may yet flourish.

The kingdom of God consists of “all righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” [Rom.14:17]. Such internal spiritual realities are not reliant upon priest-craft: especially that of the likes of Eli and sons.

Christ is sufficient for us. His Spirit enables even in the midst of apostasy. Let us not blame Eli for our lack of progress.

“The child Samuel grew in stature and in favor with both the Lord and with men” [I Sam.2:26].

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Two verses 27-36

This commandment is for you O priests.

If you do not listen…to give glory to My Name,

Then I will send the curse upon you

Mal.2:1,2

 

God is not dependent upon the established order to perpetuate His work. He retains for Himself 7,000 in every generation who have not bowed the knee to Baal [Rom.11:4]. He yet has His prophets; He still has faithful priests.

“Then a man of God came to Eli…I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My soul” [I Sam.2:27,35].

If Eli and sons will corrupt themselves, God will provide for Himself servants who revere His Name. If the entire institutionalized system derails, He will raise from that rubble a fresh testimony.

Plucking up and tearing down, destroying and overthrowing precede building and planting [Jer.1:10]. Eli and his sons of Belial must be swept away as so much dung ere Samuel ascends. Judgment must purge profane priests.

“Behold, days are coming when I will break your arm…you will see an enemy in My dwelling…an old man will not be in your house forever…concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: on the same day both of them will die” [I Sam.2:31,32,34].

Dear Reader, “It is time for judgment to begin with the house of God” [I Pet.4:17]. Already the saving mark is being placed on the foreheads of everyone who mourns and grieves over the abominations being committed therein [Ezek.9:4].

Supporting Eli is suicidal. Tolerating his sons of Belial will taint your soul with their oozing corruption. Judgment will be yours as well as theirs.

“Those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be disdained” [I Sam.2:30].

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Three

I Samuel Chapter Three verses 1-9

The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples,

That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word

He awakens morning by morning,

He awakens My ear to hear as a disciple.

The Lord God has opened My ear

And I was not disobedient

Isa.50:4,5

 

“The Word of the Lord was rare in those days; no vision spread abroad” [I Sam.3:1]. Men had seen nothing from God, Eli was blind [I Sam.3:2; 4:15], and his sons had no ears to hear: definitely days of darkness.

“Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint” [Prov.29:18]. And thus Hophni and Phinehas plunged headlong into the grossest of improprieties and the people of God languished in despair.

Dear Reader, all is not lost. “The lamp of God had not yet gone out” in the House of God [I Sam.3:3]. Clear, pressed, precious oil of olives was still possessed by His remnant. And it continued to be brought to perpetuate the light continually.

“You shall charge the sons of Israel, that they bring you clear oil of beaten olives for the light to cause the lamp to burn continually” [Ex.27:20].

It is our responsibility to insure that the supply of oil does not exhaust. Let the precious flow from the Holy Spirit not extinguish in our day! Bring your portion! Pour it out for the testimony of His lampstand!

Do not hold your peace; do not rest until the testimony of Christ’s church “goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns!” [Isa.62:1].

Samuel, God’s chosen, was there in its light though as yet unconscious of its illumination to his soul. “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the Word of the Lord yet revealed to him” [I Sam.3:7].

Nevertheless God awakens Samuel while passing over Eli [I Sam.3:4]. Better a novice with an open and pure heart than an old blind priest calcified in carnality. Nothing need be said to Eli again, God having already spoken to him of wrath and ruin.

But He will speak upon the heart of His chosen, Samuel. And for that he must be awakened from slumber. The ear must be opened to hear the voice of God.

Dear Reader, it is an error to run to old blind priests when God is awakening and speaking to your heart [I Sam.3:5]. Having no discernment of the Spirit, they will merely send you back to sleep again and then again.

Having heard nothing themselves, they are unconcerned for any who do. They rather lie in the darkness seeking their rest being oblivious to the revelation of heaven to the godly around them.

“Then he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call, lie down again’” [I Sam.3:5].

We will not know the Lord when we attempt to minister to Him before Eli [I Sam. 3:1, 7]. We must hear the Lord’s voice for ourselves directly. How many delays there are in our spiritual development for rushing to fleshly father figures rather than saying to the Father in heaven, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears” [I Sam.3:9].

It is when we stop running to priests, that we will hear the Word of the Lord [I Sam.3:9]. Eli’s voice is not the voice of God; neither has he heard God’s.

Reformation does not take place within the status quo.

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Three verses 10-18

As for you, you have turned aside from the way;

You have caused many to stumble by the instruction;

You have corrupted the covenant of Levi…

So I also have made you despised

And abased before the people

Mal.2:8,9

 

True prophets stand in the Lord’s council, hear His voice therein, and then proclaim its uncompromising message to arrest waywardness. “If they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My Words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their doings” [Jer.23:22].

And so to Samuel this Word came. And only the one who is awakened to hear the Word of God can open the doors to the presence of God. “Then he opened the doors to the house of the Lord. But Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision” [I Sam.3:15].

But you must not fear the likes of Eli, Samuel. You are the chosen vessel: God’s prophet to speak the Lord’s mind to perverted priests “whether they listen or not. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house” [Ezek.3:11,9].

Be strong! Act like a man! [I Cor.16:13]. “Behold, I have made you…as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land…to its priests” [Jer.1:18].

Tell him, Samuel! Do not omit a Word! Yes, open your mouth and declare, Thus says the Lord: “I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them.

“Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever” [I Sam.3:13,14].

  There, good, you have done it. You have delivered the Word and thus delivered your soul. “If you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness…he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself” [Ezek.3:19].

“Samuel told him everything” [I Sam.3:18].

Does Eli tremble? Does he rend his garments and weep? Does he proclaim a fast and cast dust in the air?  No; fat, blind, and perverted priests hear no rebuke. Pagan Ninevites are more righteous than they [Jonah 3:5-9].

Dear Reader, tremble with me as casual carnal Eli offhandedly sighs, “It is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him” [I Sam.3:18]. Callousness could not be more complete.

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Three verses 19-21

Your Words were found and I did eat them

And Your Word was for me

The joy and rejoicing of my heart

Jer.15:16

“Thus Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his Words fall to the ground” [I Sam.3:19].

You have passed the test, Samuel. You have been faithful in a very little thing; you will be faithful also in much [Lk.16:10]. The Lord can put you into His service now.

“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service” [I Tim.1:12].

Little leads to much. Fidelity to fullness. Reliability to wide places. “All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord” [I Sam.3:20]. Samuel, you have done well. Your testimony is endorsed from on high.

“Let no man despise your youth, but in Word, conduct, love, in spirit, faith and purity, show yourself an example to those who believe” [I Tim.4:12].

And by so doing you even set a precedent for the prophets of God thereafter. “But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am a youth,” because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you’” [Jer.1:7,8].

Jeremiah profited from your testimony, Samuel. And the Lord Himself was pleased to respond during those desperate and depraved days.

“Then the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, because the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the Word of the Lord” [I Sam.3:21].

God shines forth when His Word goes forth. The Lord does not abandon His house when His remnant maintains the lampstand’s oil, when His Word is received and proclaimed, and when the doors into His presence are unlocked once again thereby by faithful servants.

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Four

I Samuel Chapter Four verses 1-11

He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent

That Moses had made, for until those days

The sons of Israel burned incense to it

2 Kings 18:4

 

Sacred objects once a blessing, can become a snare to the soul when venerated. A bronze serpent became an idol. Here the Ark of the Covenant itself had become a talisman.

Israel’s superstitious and magical recourse to the Ark of God merely manifests the Philistine spirit under which they labored; God is present in religious objects/shrines. Philistines were already the victors long before they clashed on the battlefield.

“They understood that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp. The Philistines were afraid, for they said, ‘God has come into the camp!’” [I Sam.4:6,7].

The Name of the Lord truly was taken in vain under the delusion that the Ark of Him who dwells above the Cherubim could be employed to secure their self-sought objective [I Sam.4:3-5].

“Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, that when it comes among us it may save us from the power of our enemies” [I Sam.4:3]. The mind-set of the Philistines had already conquered Israel.

But the Ark moves at the direction of the pillar of cloud, not at the demand of man. God is not for hire. He does not run to perform our bidding at our whim.

The things of God had taken on the superstitious nature of an idolatrous charm in their minds. Superficial religious memories guided them by carnal assessment of past religious events apart from the illumination, guidance, and conviction of the Spirit of God.

Hear their twisted fleshly reasoning: “At Kadesh, the Ark was not among us and we were defeated [Num.14:42-44]. At Jericho, it was there and we succeeded [Josh.6:6-14]. Therefore, we will take it to ourselves.” O, how devious and disastrous is walking by sight!

What were the missing elements? There was no command from God to do so, and no accompanying pillar of cloud in their midst. It was lawlessness: raw religious self-will. They determined to throw themselves off the pinnacle of the Temple to “force” God to deliver them: truly earthly, natural, and demonic “wisdom” [I Sam.4:3].

Only judgment can result from such wanton prostitution of godliness. He who dwells between the Cherubim can only break forth in wrath when His Ark is in the hands of the likes of Hophni and Phinehas [I Sam.4:4].

Yet hear the earth resound with the triumphant shout of self-deceived Israelites [I Sam.4:5]! But religious enthusiasm is no substitute for godliness.

Noise, excitement, and sanctimonious paraphernalia do not indicate the presence of the Holy One in our midst. The Lord is not bound by leaders’ decrees [I Sam.4:3]. Shouting in victory based on self-willed desires does not move the hand of the Lord.

 “So the Philistines fought and Israel was smitten, and every man fled to his tent; and the slaughter was very great, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.

“And the Ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died” [I Sam.4:10,11].

Dear Reader, disaster results when the Word of the Lord comes but is unheeded. “The Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the Word of the Lord. Thus the Word of Samuel came to all Israel” [I Sam.3:21; 4:1].

Though the Word came, it was unsought. God is blamed for evil and defeat, but not self [I Sam.4:3].  Human counsel is sought but not the face of God and His Word. Schemes are devised to engage God in achieving their own ends [I Sam.4:3,4].

Recourse to self is a miserable sanctum. It is a refuge of straw before a howling blast. Redoubling religious ritual only compounds the pending judgment.

God revealed Himself at Shiloh, but was absent from the midst of the camp. The Lord is not our lackey.

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Four verses 12-22

Then the glory of the Lord departed

From the threshold of the temple.

The glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city

And stood over the mountain.

Ichabod…the glory has departed from Israel

Ezek.10:18; 11:23; I Sam.4:21

 

Eli sat and watched but could not see. He heard the sound of a tumult but without comprehension. The messenger mourned with rent garments and dust on his head while Eli trembled in ignorance [I Sam.4:12-15].

The word of Israel and their elders fell to the ground in disaster while not one Word spoken by the Lord failed. And as you have spoken to your own demise, Eli, the Lord has fulfilled His Word.

“Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the Ark of God has been taken.

“When he mentioned the Ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward…and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy” [I Sam.4:17,18].

Dear Reader, “He who hardens his neck after much reproof shall be broken suddenly, and there is no remedy” [Prov.29:1]. “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart as in the provocation/rebellion” [Heb.3:15].

Let the chronicle of Eli sink deep into your soul. His saga is not recorded for naught.

“Now these things happened as examples for us that we would not lust after evil things as they also craved. They were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come” [I Cor.10:6,11].

Make no mistake; Carnal priests give birth to no glory. Joyless death comes upon all they come in contact with.

Phinehas’ wife gave birth “and called the boy Ichabod, saying ‘The glory has departed from Israel,’ because the Ark of God was taken” [I Sam.4:21].

“Ichabod” [No glory] is written over everything that Hophni and Phinehas lay their hands on: the sacrifice they polluted and despised [I Sam.2:16, 17], the people of God who fell slain [I Sam.2:22], the Ark of God itself now in Philistine possession [I Sam.4:4,11], their own families whose wives perished [I Sam.4:20, 21], as well as their own lives extinguished in judgment [I Sam.4:11].

And thus these wretched men perished wretchedly. And their father followed in their demise: like father, like sons. And thus the lamp of Eli’s house extinguished.

O Eli! How shall you be remembered? What was your abiding legacy to generations following? It is a reproachful tragic tale of sorrow: a sober warning for all who have ears to hear.

See him old and feeble having grown fat by gluttonous indulgence from abusing the Lord’s offerings [I Sam.2:22,29; 4:18]. He is short-sighted and blind, having forgotten purification from his former sins [2 Pet.1:9; I Sam.3:2; 4:15].

While every priest stands daily ministering [Heb.10:11], the only record we have is of you sitting or lying, taking your ease [I Sam.1:9; 3:2; 4:13].  You rebuke spiritual movements judging by sight [I Sam.1:13,14] while  blessing in ignorance without knowledge of the truth [1:17].

Eli! How could you approve of gross carnality by violating the Word of God and your own conscience [I Sam.2:17,22,29; 3:13]? See you repeatedly kick at the Lord’s sacrifice to satisfy the craving of your own belly [I Sam.2:29]!

And why did you lull to sleep those whom the Lord is awakening to speak His Word to the house of God [3:4-9]?  Eli, you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, and it was torn from your stained hands [Mal.2:1-10; I Sam.2:29-36].

With stiffened neck and casual complacency you remained unmoved in the face of the word of judgment [I Sam.3:18]. Finally, you perished miserably by your own doing according to the Word of the Lord: “He who hardens his neck after much reproof, is broken suddenly and there is no remedy” [Prov.29:1; I Sam.4:18].

O Eli, shall we mourn for you? Shall we not rather pass by and wag our heads in amazement? What shall we say? What will be your epitaph? Let it be in your own words:

It is the Lord; Let Him do what is good in His sight

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Five

What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

2 Cor.6:16

 

For Philistines to hold the Ark of God in the temple of Dagon is a wretched and grievous state indeed. Truly the glory has departed. There is no concord between man-made external religious ritual and the God of glory.

Philistines have a pretense of religion void of its spiritual substance. Coming as they do from Casluhim [as forgiven – Gen.10:14] and Caphtorim [as if to interpret – Gen.10:14], they possess neither: no forgiveness, no truth.

Theirs is an imitation religion, a masquerade of godliness while abiding in their sins holding to devilish doctrine. Yet they vainly imagine that The God of glory will adjust to His newly assigned role alongside their Dagon deception [I Sam.5:2].

They quickly discover, however, that Dagon bows to the Most High, for he has no standing in His presence. “When the Ashdodites arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord” [I Sam.5:3]. The Lord shares His glory with no rivals: neither gods nor men.

Dagon’s pitiful custodians quickly restore him to his place to maintain the dignity of their delusion. “But when they arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold” [I Sam.5:4].

Dear Reader, the demonic delusions of idols have neither standing, life itself, nor ability to do anything. They are deceptions, things of nothing. “All the gods of the peoples are things of nothing” [Ps.96:5].

The Lord severely plagues those who would serve the religion of man and presume to link His Name and glory with it. Man may attempt to forge an alliance, but the Lord tolerates no such mixture.

“Now the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Ashdodites [I will spoil], and He ravaged them and smote them with tumors…when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, ‘The Ark of God must not remain with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god’” [I Sam.5:6,7].

Dear Reader, God’s plague is on man-made religious substitutes. Fake forgiveness and tradition parading as truth ever meet with His judgment. Worship must always be in Spirit and Truth; anything other than that will be ravaged.

 Confrontation with the presence of the God of glory ever manifests the true condition of the heart. Philistines prefer Dagon to the God of glory. They will send away the Ark while propping Dagon up in their shrine: lifeless, helpless, and tottering as he is.

What surfaces from the cesspools of the externalist’s heart is that, as religious as they strike the eye outwardly, they nevertheless harbor a deep seated hatred of God and His ways within. When the ritual garb is stripped from their flesh, Dagon is yet their lord, and that by choice.

They who would pretend allegiance to the God of glory abandon Him for their true master when plagued for their wickedness. “The hand of the Lord was heavy on Ashdod…, Gath…Ekron…‘Send away the Ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, so that it will not kill us and our people’” [I Sam.5:6,8,10,11].

Philistine priests are powerless and their five lords lack solution to their dilemma of the outbreak against them. Their decision? Merely remove the Ark to another locale. Hating the consequence of sin but not the sin itself, they determine to rid themselves of the “nuisance” of uncompromising holiness within their midst.

It becomes evident then that they have no genuine interest, commitment, or association with the living God.  Away with Him for we will not have this God to reign over us [Lk.19:14]!  Thus, as is always the case, externalism is a mask for hatred of God.

They will keep Dagon, sin, and folly, as well as the Ark of God, providing that His holiness does not interfere with their self-chosen path. When it is manifest that this God of glory judges their ritualized blasphemy of attempted “fellowship” between Dagon and the Most High, they quickly dispose of the One whom is contrary to their way.

The god whom they truly serve will approve of their lust and waywardness. The God of heaven judges it [I Sam.5:8,9].

You cannot serve God and Dagon.

 

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Six

I Samuel Chapter Six verses 1-12

Everyone who does evil hates the Light

And does not come to the Light,

For fear that his deeds will be exposed

Jn.3:20

Priests, lords, and diviners consult their oracle in deception and darkness [I Sam.6:2,12]. They hate the light, love their Dagon, and creep about in dim shadows of demonic delusion.

“If you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty; but you shall surely return to Him a guilt offering…five golden tumors and five golden mice…and you shall give glory to the God of Israel” [I Sam.6:3-5].

And how is the God of gods glorified by tumors and mice of gold? Only in the demonically twisted reasoning of those who know neither forgiveness nor truth. O how deep in depravity man-made tradition plunges every Philistine soul!

Following their father Pharaoh, they determine to send away the troublesome presence in their midst. “Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, ‘Rise up, get out from among my people’” [Ex.12:31; I Sam.6:6].

Neither Egypt nor Philistia considered repentance. Abandoning the gods of their fathers, delusions that they are, was not an option to their oracle.

Superstition and sorcery formulate their every move [I Sam.6:7-11]. Centuries of oral tradition held them in bondage. Unlike Rahab and Ruth, purity and truth will never be embraced by Philistines.

Philistines will abide the presence of the God of glory and move in outward association with Him only to a point. When they become exposed to the light of His sun as shining forth from His house, they then halt and go no further.

“The lords of the Philistines followed them to the border of Bethshemesh” [house of the sun – I Sam.6:12].

If they may maintain an external contact at a distance with the God of light while yet walking in the darkness, this they will abide.  But they will proceed only so far until the light exposes the evil of their deeds.  It is then that they scurry to the squalor, mire, and obscurity of their darkened chambers. Bethshemesh will never become their abode.

 

I Samuel Chapter Six verses 13-21

He shall not enter at any time…

Before the mercy seat which is on the Ark

Or he will die

Lev.16:2

“Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God?” [I Sam.6:20] rang from the ravished hearts of survivors in Bethshemesh. Tens of thousands fell in the Lord’s outbreak against them. What caused such devastation?

“He struck down some of the men of Bethshemesh because they had looked into the Ark of the Lord” [I Sam.6:19].

Judgment results from handling the things of God with casual irreverent curiosity. Apart from the blood covering the mercy seat, the rebellion of their sin is exposed before the face of God.

Contained within the Ark was every memorial of Israel’s iniquity [Heb.9:4,5]. There were the tablets of the Law flagrantly broken. Manna was there as a remembrance of their wanton despising of God’s provision from on high [Num.21:5]. Aaron’s rod that budded condemned their rebellion against God’s appointed authority [Num.16 & 17].

And when the Cherubim on the mercy seat, those fierce executioners of God’s judgment [Gen.3:24], witness no blood thereon, wrath must fall.

Dear Reader, we must approach God in His own appointed way. His presence cannot be entered otherwise. No other means of access are acceptable.

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved” [Acts 4:12]. “There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus” [I Tim.2:5]. “Jesus said, ‘I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by Me’” [Jn.14:6].

Drawing near to God is not left to our own imagination. No self-conceived ways will be admitted. Judgment awaits any opting for other means.

Yet Israel, no different than the Philistines, therefore wants the Holy One removed from their midst. Rather than becoming holy themselves so that He might abide with them, they desperately wish to send Him away.

“To whom shall He go up from us? The Philistines have brought back the Ark of the Lord; come down and take it up with you” [I Sam.6:20, 21].

Thus they yet abide Philistine in their hearts; “Let not this God of glory abide with us.” Sin is cherished, righteousness spurned, and glory rejected. The person and the Word of the King of glory is despised.

Self will reign. And thus the way is prepared for the request for a king in repudiation of the Majesty on high.

Carnal carelessness in spiritual matters has severe consequences.

 

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Seven

I Samuel Chapter Seven verses 1-11

Abram was eighty-six years when Hagar bore Ishmael…

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old,

The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,

“I am the Lord God Almighty;

Walk before Me and be blameless”

Gen.16:16; 17:1

 

Fellowship is a mutual matter. Estranged souls through carnal indulgence may pass through silent seasons. Sin unforsaken yet hid hinders communion.

“So from the day that the Ark remained at Kiriath-jearim, the time was long, for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord” [I Sam.7:2].

Sorrow will not atone for waywardness. Lamentation does not restore love. Mourning is no replacement for holiness. Tears do not establish truth.

Dear Reader, a doubleminded man can expect nothing from the Lord [James 1:7,8]. With Christ on the lips and Ashtoreth in the heart, your religion is vain. God is far from you for you are far from Him.

Philistines rightfully reign over such. Both have an imitation religion though their outward profession may differ. In heart they are one and the same.

The Ark itself had become an idol to wayward Israel.  It was merely another empty form with no reality since it was considered to be an adequate substitute for God Himself: an object possessing power in itself.

Here, during the time of Philistine captivity, other forms had replaced the absent Ark. Idolatry is catalogued among the deeds of the flesh [Gal.5:19,20], a form that can be employed to gain one’s own ends: a power to channel.

Only if idols are purged from the heart can we expect fellowship to be restored and victory gained.

“If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtoreth from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone; He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines” [I Sam.7:3].

It is only then that deliverance from the Philistine will be granted. Apart from that, we will be held fast in the grip of an external religious form lacking all substance: no forgiveness, no truth, no fellowship.

“So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtoreth and served the Lord alone…‘We have sinned against the Lord’” [I Sam.7:4,6]. And this, no lords of the Philistines can abide: “The lords of the Philistines went up against Israel” [I Sam.7:7].

Dear Reader, you can only be held in Philistine bondage if that is what you desire. If you serve their gods, if you bow before religious forms, you are yet captive. Any move on your part to escape their snare, will be stoutly opposed.

Repentance is the way out. Earnest prayer engages the armies of heaven in your behalf [I Sam.7:8,9]. God will thunder in His heavens, confound the Philistines, and deliverance will be secured [I Sam.7:10].

“The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders…the voice of the Lord is powerful…The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire” [Ps.29:3,4,7].

The voice of the Lord thunders from above. The God of Jeshurun [the Righteous One] rides the heavens to your rescue [Deut.33:26].

Philistines are confused and defeated. They do not know that voice. They have never been rescued by the righteous God. But you can be.

Repentance, forsaking empty idolatrous forms, heartfelt prayer, and heeding that voice of thunder are the sure ways of escape. Philistines can hold you no longer.

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Seven verses 12-17

The Rock! His work is perfect.

Indeed their rock is not like our Rock,

Even our enemies themselves judge this

Deut.32:4,31

Who can conquer that Rock? What paltry Philistine schemes can avail against the Almighty? None. He is our Ebenezer [Stone of help], even our God, the Rock of our salvation.

“Then Samuel took a stone and…named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far has the Lord helped us’” [I Sam.7:12]. Help comes from above to all who rely on the Mighty One alone.

What a blessed contrast to Israel in chapter four! There they consulted with self though the Word of the Lord had come to all Israel. There they trusted in a golden box to grant them power over the foe. Ebenezer there became a stone of stumbling to them, and not of help [I Sam.4:1].

How blessed is our condition when we turn wholeheartedly to the Lord. He effects a total and lasting deliverance from the scourge of Philistine lords all the days that we abide in such dependence.

“So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore within territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

“The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored…and there was peace” [I Sam.7:13,14].

Dear Reader, all that the enemy has taken captive and spoiled, the Lord will restore. He is the God of restoration. He brings life out from the dead. He recovers what has been lost. He replenishes what has been devoured.

“Nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that they had taken for themselves; David brought back all” [I Sam.30:20].

“The Lord restored the losses of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold…Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning” [Job 42:10,12].

“‘Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping, and with mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments…

“‘I will restore to you the years that the locust have eaten…You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the Name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame’” [Joel 2:12,13,25,26].

Let us abide here.

 

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Eight

I Samuel Chapter Eight verses 1-9

I gave you a king in My anger

And took him away in My wrath

Hos.13:11

The flesh always yearns for a visible tangible leader.

“Then they said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die’” [Ex.2:19]. “Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us’…But Gideon said to them, ‘I will not rule over you…the Lord shall rule over you’” [Jud.8:22,23].

The flesh wishes to walk by sight, to escape unwanted responsibilities. Separation from the nations is never its desire. Being a distinctive spiritual people, unlike the world, makes the flesh cringe in embarrassment.

“Appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations” [I Sam.8:5].

Dear Reader, this seemingly reasonable request sprang from long standing polluted streams of fleshly origin. Deep within, they despised the Holy One of Israel. They will not have Him to reign over them.

They would have to be spiritual if He did. The flesh would need to be put to death. Goodness, righteousness, and truth would be demanded of His subjects. And this, they would have none of.

And thus they opt to remain carnal in Canaan. Let Self reign by human appointment, but “We do not want this Man to reign over us” [Lk.19:14].

God is rejected and flesh is enthroned: “like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day – in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods” [I Sam.8:8].

The Lord connects this demand with idolatry. He is repudiated and another lord is served. That is idolatrous.

“Anyone of the house of Israel…who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart” [Ezek.14:7]. And thus they did here.

“The Lord said to Samuel…‘They have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them’” [I Sam.8:7].

The failure of the remnant to abide in spiritual simplicity without recourse to human wisdom and expediency, leads to the rule of man. And God will grant them their request, but send leanness to their souls [Ps.106:13-15].

“The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you…however, you shall solemnly warn them…of the procedure of the king who will reign over them’” [I Sam.8:7,9].

Dear Reader, it is never a blessing to refuse the rule of God to subject yourself to the rule of man. It is rare that one can serve both. Few man-ordained rulers tread the narrow way or speak with the Divine voice.

Religious rulers insist on their own decrees, not those of God. But “Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men’” [Acts 5:29]. What do you say?

So deceptive and pervasive is the inclination of the flesh for outward human rule that even someone of Samuel’s caliber can succumb. Attempting to perpetuate spiritual reality by fleshly assignment is disastrous.

“When Samuel was old he appointed his sons judges over Israel…His sons, however, did not walk in his ways” [I Sam.8:1,3].

Samuel’s designation of his sons as judges was, in essence, the same spirit which prompted Israel to ask Samuel to appoint for them a king.  He did not entrust into the hand of God the spiritual progress of His own work. He sought to perpetuate it by carnal means according to self-assessment [v.1-3].

He wanted to secure the rule of man without waiting upon God to guide His people in His own appointed way. God raises up men for Himself and is not dependent upon men to choose and ordain servants for Himself.

“The Lord sent Jerubbaal [Gideon] and Bedan [Barak] and Jephthah and Samuel” [I Sam.12:11]. “Then the Lord raised up judges and they delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them” [Jud.2:16].

It is the work of the Lord to make His leaders. God grooms His servants by secret movements of heart independent of man’s assignment. The Lord first develops His servant in private before sending him forth in public.

 Appointing his sons was a failure on the part of Samuel. It is the same when it is found in the church. Man’s “ordination” is not what makes godly leaders.

“The Holy Spirit has made you overseers” [Acts 20:28]. That is His work and His prerogative.

It is an intensely spiritual matter that only the Spirit of Christ is capable of accomplishing. Man’s involvement in this only hampers the process by introducing fleshly recognition based on man-made standards.

Man’s ordination may be nothing more than laying empty hands on empty heads. Bestowing titles does not confer character, impart, or indicate spirituality in the slightest.

Jesus actually forbids us to be called by religious titles [Mt.23:7-10]. But we do anyway. We love the rule of man, but not that of God.

But when the remnant seeks the face of God, all is seen in its true light. The rule of man is an idolatrous rejection of the rule of God [I Sam.8:6-9].

Dear Reader, do not be deceived. The fact that God granted Israel a king does not mean that He did so with Divine approval. It was rather allowed as judgment upon their wanton rejection of the Lord Himself.

The kingdom given was an accommodation to carnality, a provision of fury. It was said to be so by God Himself: “They have rejected Me from being King over them” [I Sam.8:7].

Samuel reiterated this indictment: “You today have rejected your God, who delivers you from all your calamities and your distresses” [I Sam.10:19].

The people themselves confessed that it was so: “We have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king” [I Sam.12:19].

And with this the prophets concur: “’It is your destruction, O Israel, that you are against Me, against your help. Where now is your king that he may save you in all your cities, and your judges by whom you requested, “Give me a king and princes”? I gave you a king in My anger and took him away in My wrath’” [Hos.13:9-11].

No, the existence of a system amidst God’s people does not indicate God’s approval of it. The kingdom was an aberration, a revolt against the Lord’s intentions for His nation.

And do not be misled; the mere fact there were some good men in a bad system does not justify the existence of that system. A good king within the kingdom, such as David, does not provide justification for the existence of the kingdom-system itself.

And the religious formats prevailing throughout Christendom do not justify their existence. A few good “pastors” does not sanctify the denominational “kingdoms” erected in which they labor.

Israel was given a king in wrath because they rejected the Lord as their exclusive and lawful King. The church was handed over to denominations because they rejected Christ as their actual and legitimate Head.

And the few admirable men found in either, justify neither arrangement. Rejection and wrath are the roots of both perverted systems.

 

I Samuel Chapter Eight verses 10-22

What comes upon your spirit will not come about,

When you say: “We will be like the nations.”

“As I live,” declares the Lord God,

“Surely with a mighty hand

And with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out,

I shall be King over you.”

The kings of the nations lord it over them

Ezek.20:32,33; Lk.22:25

The king chosen after their own heart will usurp God, their rightful King, by taking the people into servitude unto himself [I Sam.8:11-13]. He will deprive them of blessings, the best of their possessions, and tax a tenth of their money by compulsion [I Sam.8:14-17].

Sons and daughters will be conscripted to serve his ends. You will be brought into bondage and misery, but God will not hear you when you wail under your king.

“Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day” [I Sam.8:18].

Though destitute, deprived, depleted, and downcast, the lawless rebels will hear no rebuke or reason. They will yet have their king though they be ruined thereby.

“Nevertheless, the people refused to listen…’No, but there shall be a king over us that we also may be like all the nations!’” [I Sam.8:19,20].

And surely they became like the nations. Thus a king was given by God in His hot displeasure [Hos.13:9-11] and leanness was sent to their souls [Ps.106:13-15].

And the cause? Because the multitudes love to have man’s rule rather than God’s. But what will you do at the end of it?

“An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?” [Jer.5:30,31].

 

Failure to abide in the simplicity

Of spiritual communion

In obedience to the Word of God

Leads to the RULE OF MAN

 

 

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Nine

I Samuel Chapter Nine verses 1-14

If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing,

He deceives himself

Gal.6:3

Traced to his roots, Saul is merely a man of the flesh grown to gigantic proportions. He rises higher than any in Israel, but rises no higher than himself. “Saul, a choice and handsome man…from his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the people” [I Sam.9:2].

Here we find a man walking by sight seeking wayward beasts [I Sam.9:3-10]. He cannot recover what is lost.

“Now the donkeys of Saul’s father, Kish, were lost…‘go search for the donkeys…’but they did not find them…they were not there…but they did not find them…Saul said to his servant: ‘Come, and let us return’” [I Sam.9:3-5].

He is agreeable to leave his appointed task unfulfilled. He has no recourse to God and would abandon his father’s charge out of concern for self. This attitude characterized his entire history.

One cannot shepherd donkeys. Sheep hear their shepherd’s voice and follow; donkeys either sit immovable or else flee. They are stubborn self-willed beasts who must be beaten and corralled.

Saul is no shepherd; all he knows is donkey dominance. Hence he employs only that which he knows: violent threats to ruin any who do not heed his demands to join his ranks [I Sam.11:6,7]. He cannot lead, so he curses [I Sam.14:24].

When Saul would forsake all and return empty handed, his youthful servant displays more spiritual inclination and determination than his master. “Behold now, there is a man of God in this city, and the man is held in honor; all that he says surely comes true. Now let us go there, perhaps he can show us the way that we should go” [I Sam.9:6].

And so Saul’s spiritual impoverishment is exposed; he knows neither the Word of the Lord nor does he have anything in hand to offer the Lord. Ignorant and bankrupt, he follows the lead of his underling.

“But look, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is gone…and there is no present to bring the man of God. What do we have?” [I Sam.9:7].

Saul himself is a donkey. In self-will he would return with nothing after wandering aimlessly in the deserts with no spiritual guidance.

In lawlessness, he refused to wait for Samuel to offer the sacrifice according to the Word of the Lord and thus did so himself [I Sam.13:8-14]. In self-willed revolt he rejected the Word of the Lord by sparing what God had devoted to destruction, even the wicked Amalekites [I Sam.15:2-11].

Saul – a stubborn donkey who thinks he knows better than his Master: for Saul has no master but himself. Thus the terrible revelation became his doom: “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” [I Sam.15:23].

And so the stubborn donkey Saul receives a demonic donkey spirit [I Sam.16:14]. It is what he chose, because it is what he was – a man full of self and stubbornness. He consistently cast aside that wisdom from above, but hearkened to that wisdom from below: earthly, natural, and demonic [James 3:15].

Donkey Saul reaped what he had sown and became demonic Saul. The spirit of the beast thus tormented him.

Dear Reader, truly a parable is contained herein. The flock of the Father, more like donkeys than sheep, are lost in their self-willed wandering. Saul, a fitting master inaugurated in wrath, is sent to restore.

But lacking wisdom and resource, and relying on his own efforts and walking by sight, he himself wanders from place to place, no different than the recalcitrant donkeys he sought.

God is not in his thoughts and circumstances divert him from his purpose. Thus was his entire reign characterized.

“A hollow man will become wise when a donkey of a wild donkey is born a man” [Job 11:12].

If the Lord can open the mouth of a donkey to speak His Word [Num.22:28-30], He can equally open the mouth of donkey Saul [I Sam.10:6-13]. Neither were converted thereby or constituted as spiritual.

Saul was wretched in his wickedness and unbelief throughout his days.

Regarding God’s Prophet, Samuel, in self-will he neglects, disobeys, and rejects the Word of the Lord [I Sam.13; 14:18,19,36,37; 15]. With respect to God’s Priests who intercede in behalf of God through worship, communion, and intercession, he slays and destroys [I Sam.22].  And God’s anointed King, he fears, drives away, and persecutes unto death [I Sam.23].

O Saul! See what you have done! The Prophet is disobeyed, the Priest is slain, the King is rejected, the Ark is not sought [I Chron.13:3], those whom God wished to shelter are murdered [2 Sam.21:1,2], and at last you consult a Witch [I Sam.28:7; I Chron.10:13,14]!

“The Lord did not answer him” [I Sam.14:37; 28:6].

“They will call upon Me, but I will not answer… because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would not accept My counsel, they spurned all My reproof. So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled to the full with their own devices” [Prov.1:28-31].

The contrast between the two anointed ones could not be more polarized: Saul with spear and David with harp [I Sam.19:9]. Saul was a terrorized tyrant of death. David a worshipful servant.

The departure of the Spirit of God opened access for an evil spirit to terrorize him [I Sam.16:14]. The Lord not answering him was the occasion of Saul seeking a witch [I Sam.28:6,7] which therefore prompted God to kill him [I Chron.10:13,14].  The Ark was not sought in the days of Saul [I Chron.13:3].

Even when he had a vain pretense of inquiring of the Lord, he never did. He requested the Ark to be brought to him, but spoke to the priest rather than the Lord.

Before he even obtained an answer from the priest, Saul commanded him to withdraw his hand. Circumstances once again impelled him to plunge forward in his own understanding without Divine guidance [I Sam.14:18-20].

Saul was a manifest failure in delivering Israel from the Philistines despite Israel’s earnest expectation. “No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles” [I Sam.8:19,20].

When God was their king, “The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel” [I Sam.7:13]. When Saul was their king, “War against the Philistines was severe all the days of Saul” [I Sam.14:52].

In the end, Philistines triumphed over him [I Sam.31]. David, who actually delivered from the Philistine scourge, was hunted, pursued, and rejected in Saul’s demonic rage.

In desperate donkey delusion, Saul reasons he must maintain his sway over the people lest they scatter from him.  His solution?  Revolt in his heart against the Lord lest the people revolt against him [I Sam.13:8-14].

Yet in the aftermath of willful refusal to carry out the Lord’s commands, he erects a monument to self though it only commemorates a shameless tragedy of compromising failure [I Sam.15:12].

When rebuked by God’s prophet, a self-justifying protest was raised. And when that lying deceit was exposed, a desperate plea for maintaining a hypocritical pretense before men was made [I Sam.15:30]. No repentance was discovered in his “confession,” only that sorrow of the world which produces death [2 Cor.7:10].

Such was Saul. “I regret that I have made Saul king” [I Sam.15:11].

“Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him” [I Sam.16:14].

 

I Samuel Chapter Twelve

If you do not carefully observe all the Words

Of this law which are written in this book,

To fear this glorious and awesome Name,

The Lord your God,

It shall come about that as the Lord rejoiced over you

To prosper you, and multiply you,

So the Lord will rejoice over you to

Destroy you and bring you to nothing

Deut.28:58,63

 

Recovery is possible to the rebel. But repentance must flow in sincerity and truth. Evil must be forsaken. Heartfelt contrition must accompany rejection of outward evils.

“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil” [Prov.8:13]. O Israel! If you will “fear the Lord and serve Him and listen to His voice and not rebel against the mouth of the Lord,” it will be well with you [I Sam.12:14].

But if not, “then the hand of the Lord will be against you” and you shall surely perish [I Sam.12:15].

Dear Reader, heaven repeatedly thunders that warning throughout the pages of holy writ [I Sam.12:16-18]. Devastation from on high will fall on all that you have spent your labors on. Every expectation of abundance will be shattered. Nothing will be left to sustain you.

What is the remedy? “Do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing” [I Sam.12:20,21].

May we not leave off praying for one another. May the Word of the Lord be ever present on our lips to encourage one another in this true and living way. It would be iniquity if we failed in this.

“Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way” [I Sam.12:23].

And may we have ears to hear and feet to walk and hearts to love. The prospects otherwise are terrifying.

“But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king shall be swept away” [I Sam.12:25].

 

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Thirteen

I Samuel Chapter Thirteen verses 1-7

God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble

I Pet.5:5

 

The man who exalts himself, taking credit for the exploits of others, is no fit ruler. Pride has spoiled his service. Self-exaltation has entered his heart with a death grip.

“Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines…and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land, saying, ‘Let the Hebrews hear!’ All Israel heard the news that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines” [I Sam.13:3,4].

Jonathan smote; Saul honors himself.

Dear Reader, Jesus warns us about sounding the trumpet to announce our accomplishments [Mt.6:1-4]. Those who do so, have only the fleeting empty praise of men, but no reward in heaven.

How much worse when we deceitfully solicit acclaim for the triumphs of others as if they were our own. The man who builds monuments for himself for deeds he did not perform [I Sam.15:12], will not hesitate to steal honor even from his own son. The soul of Saul drips with self.

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Thirteen verses 8-13

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

I Cor.1:20

The pride of self-sufficiency is what impelled Saul to violate the Word of the Lord in order to maintain his agenda. His darkened heart reasoned ignorantly and blindly with the confusion of a natural mind. “I will prevent the people from departing from me by my departing from the Lord,” was his serpent-like solution to his perceived dilemma.

Actually, no problem existed. Had he waited just some moments longer according the Lord’s Word, all would have been well. As it was, his brash disregard for anything outside his own lawless heart led him into disaster.

“Now he waited seven days according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him.

“So Saul said, ‘Bring the burnt offering’…and he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he finished…behold, Samuel came” [I Sam.13:8-10].

The problem existed in the mind of Saul only, not in the mind of God and not even in his situation. The Lord fulfills His Word. We need but wait upon Him. Attempts to engineer circumstances to “help” God are worse than futile.

Why did he do this? “Because people were scattering, Philistines were gathering, you were not coming, and I must have the Lord’s blessing on my mission:” so reasoned Saul’s natural mind.

“So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering” [I Sam.13:12]. How noble of you, Saul.

You would have us believe that this was repugnant to you, completely against your wishes and better judgment. But that the circumstances required you to make this great sacrifice of principle to achieve the greater good.

We applaud you, Saul. Transgression serves the purposes of God. That is your doctrine. Compromise into forbidden realms secures sanctity.

That is depraved donkey deliberation. No, Saul, the Word of the Lord is clear: “Why not do evil that good may come? Their condemnation is just” [Rom.3:8].

We repudiate your doctrine, Saul. We abhor your corrupting compromise and disdain your warped thinking. We do because God does.

“You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God…now your kingdom shall not endure” [I Sam.13:13,14]]. That is the Lord’s verdict upon all your carnal contemplations. You are rejected.

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Thirteen verse 14

I have found David the son of Jesse,

A man after My own heart, who will do all My will

Acts 13:22

“The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart” [I Sam.13:14].

A man after God’s own heart loves what He loves and hates what He hates. Such a man does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth [I Cor.13:6].

The Lord is his first recourse. To him, God is central, supreme, and first in everything. Righteousness reigns from a throne of grace in that heart.

Mercies are gathered new every morning. Secrets are shared in the intimacy of private counsel with the Most High [Ps.25:14]. Prayer is the instinctive breath from his awakened soul: “I am a prayer” [Ps.109:4].

A willing spirit from a broken and contrite heart sustains him [Ps.51:10,12,17]. His heart smites him at seeming trifles [I Sam.24:5].

He loves the law of the Lord; it is his meditation all the day [Ps.119:97]. And he will praise the Name above every name all the days of his life. His soul is restored [Ps.23:3].

Saul was not such a man; David was.

See Appendix: A Man After God’s Own Heart.

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Thirteen verses 15-23

You have been bought with a price

Do not become the slaves of men

I Cor.7:23

No sword was to be found in the hand of the Israelites. Their masters, the five lords of the Philistines, had removed every forger of iron from the land lest they craft weapons.

“Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, ‘Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears’” [I Sam.13:19].

And thus “on the day of battle, there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul” [I Sam.13:22].

Dear Reader, what will you do on the day when the conflict reaches you? Do you have a sword? Do you know how to use it?

Not as Peter who could only smite the ear of one servant [Lk.22:50]. No victory is gained thereby. But the Lord has a school to equip all His own to skillfully employ the “weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left” [2 Cor.6:7]

The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. Handle it well. None can resist its doubled edged thrust. Enroll today.

“Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle” [Ps.144:1].

But beware, Philistines will frustrate your every effort.

 

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Fourteen

I Samuel Chapter Fourteen verses 1-15

The Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few

I Sam.14:6

We serve a God who does exceedingly abundantly beyond anything we may ask or think according to the power that works within us [Eph.3:20]. The assessment of our might is not equivalent to the measure of His power.

“’O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel?’ The Angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor!’” [Jud.6:15,12].

And thus, like Gideon, Jonathan laid hold on Omnipotence and ventured boldly forth into the fray. “Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the Lord will work for us” [I Sam.14:6].

Dear Reader, if God be for us, who can be against us? [Rom.8:31]. No man shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. He who was with Moses will be with you; “I will not fail or forsake you” [Josh.1:5].

“The Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few” [I Sam.14:6]. Even one standing alone with God is an overwhelming multitude. Gird up the loins of your mind; do not your hands hang limp.

Let your resolve be charged by recounting the records of Christ’s champions in the annals of the King. Remember Adino who single handedly at once slew 800 of his Lord’s enemies [2 Sam.23:8].

Consider Noah, that stalwart preacher of righteousness, who alone was found righteous before the Holy One in days of deep depravity [Gen.7:1]. And do not forget the uncompromising boldness of Joshua and Caleb who withstood 2.5 million with their fiery rebukes: “If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land…only do not rebel against the Lord” [Num.14:8,9].

And what of Eleazar who refused to turn back when all Israel melted away in cowardice? See him take his stand alone against Philistine foes and strike them until the sword clung to his hand [2 Sam.23:9,10].

Nor shall we forget that battle weary champion, Paul, who, when all had deserted him, nevertheless refused to withdraw and was strengthened by the Lord standing at his side, “that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished” [2 Tim.1:15; 4:16,17].

Let us recall with cheers unmoved Micaiah taking his stand against wayward kings and 400 prophets for hire. When asked if there were not a true prophet of God to inquire of, even the wicked Ahab must testify, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me but always evil” [2 Chron.18:6,7].

God can take a timid youth, Jeremiah, and make him a pillar of iron and a walls of bronze against the whole land [Jer.1:17,18]. “‘They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,’” declares the Lord” [Jer.1:19].

And time would fail us to mention all the valiant solitary spiritual soldiers who did not love their lives even unto death. “Men of whom the world was not worthy” [Heb.11:38].

May we hearken unto Elisha’s charge: “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” [2 Kings 6:16].

And may the Lord hear again Elisha’s prayer in our own days. “‘O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see!’ And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw…the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” [2 Kings 6:17].

Dear Reader, “Greater is He that is in you, than he who is in the world” [I Jn.4:4]. Let us therefore arise and face the foe.

“Nothing restrains the Lord to save by many or few…and they fell before Jonathan…And there was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. Even the garrison and the raiders trembled, and the earth quaked so that it became a trembling of God” [I Sam.14:6,13-15].

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Fourteen verses 16-23

Saul did not inquire of the Lord.

We did not seek the Ark of God in the days of Saul

I Chron.1:14; 13:3

“Then Saul said to Ahijah, ‘Bring the Ark of God here’…While Saul talked to the priest, the tumult in the camp of the Philistines continued and increased; so Saul said to the priest, ‘Withdraw your hand’” [I Sam.14:18,19].

Saul was the man of great outward appearance. He towered over all but was a dwarf within. He had external show but internal emptiness.

There was a pretense of seeking the Ark of God, but he never did. He began to speak to the priest, but not to the Lord. And before ever hearing from the Lord or priest either one, the request was halted by his command.

When the Philistine commotion increased, he directed the priest to stop the process without ever receiving a Word from God. Philistine noise arrested his heart, but not the voice of the Lord.

His religion was a hollow tree, having a mere form of godliness but one that denied the power thereof [2 Tim.3:5]. And thus powerless and without Divine directive, he plunged Israel into an uncertain conflict.

“Then Saul and all the people who with him rallied and came to the battle; and behold, every man’s sword was against his neighbor, and there was very great confusion” [I Sam.14:20].

Truly Saul did not inquire of the Lord, nor was the Ark of God sought. Victory does not depend upon such a misdirected man. Yet the folly of Saul did not issue in the failure of Israel.

“So the Lord saved Israel that day” [I Sam.14:23].

Vain is the help of man. Foolish is the wisdom of mighty men of flesh. Victory belongs to the Lord.

“His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory” [Ps.98:1].

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Fourteen verses 24-52

Let no one act as your judge in respect to food or drink…

Things which are a shadow of what is to come;

But the reality is found in Christ.

These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom

In self-made religion, false humility,

And severe treatment of the body,

But are of no value against fleshly indulgence

Col.2:16,17,23

 

Man-made regulations for the body are of no profit against fleshly indulgence. They rather weaken and distress the brethren while contributing nothing toward victory over the enemy.

“Now the men of Israel were hard-pressed on that day, for Saul had put the people under oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food before evening, and until I have taken vengeance on my enemies.’ So none of the people tasted food…and the people were very weary” [I Sam.14:24,31].

Fleshly regulations sap even the physical strength within man. They are wearisome burdens that no one can bear [Acts 15:10]. Carnal commands receive no assistance from the Spirit of God.

The Lord does not strengthen any to abide by man-made traditions. Those who would comply must draw from the broken cisterns of their own natural abilities to do so. Misery and failure inevitably issue from the vain attempts to perform those codes. Bondage and bitterness result.

But God’s commandments are “not burdensome” [I Jn.5:3] because they are attended with Divine supply to obey. In the blessed New Covenant of Christ, what God demands He supplies. His requirements come with needed provision.

There is blessing in obedience, for the love of God is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us [Rom.5:5]. We love, because He first loved us. We are holy because the Spirit from God within us is Himself holy.

Truly Saul’s invented rules only trouble Israel and hinder them from their objective. The people of God are weakened, disheartened, and defeated thereby.

It is Jonathan, the one who moves in liberty apart from those regulations of folly, who is both strengthened and triumphant. He alone tastes of the sweetness of moving independently of the sway of man’s tradition.

“Jonathan had not heard when his father put the people under the oath. Therefore, he put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb, and his hand to his mouth, and his countenance brightened” [I Sam.14:27].

The people tasted nothing of the gracious supply of heaven, for they feared man rather than God. “When the people entered the forest, behold, there was the honey, dripping; but no man put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath” [I Sam.14:26].

Dear Reader, there is no sweetness in abiding under man-devised curses. Fear of man’s oaths prevents you from enjoying the bounty of heaven. Oppression, weakness, and resentment will be the only substance in that miserable religion.

Fear of Saul will eclipse your fear of God. Keeping his directives will prevent you from keeping the commandments of God.

There is freedom in Christ to freely partake of every good thing created by God; nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude [I Tim.4:3,4].

But beware of the “doctrines of demons” that advocate “abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth” [I Tim.4:1,3]. King Sauls within the church promote and enforce such.

“If you have died with Christ to the elementary spirits of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’ – according to the commandments and teachings of men” [Col.2:20-22].

Why indeed! “Now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental spirits to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain” [Gal.4:9,11].

Hear the verdict of Jonathan against the troublesome oath of his father. “My father has troubled the land” [I Sam.14:29]. What do you have to say about human tradition, man-made decrees, and oaths of curse issued by reigning lords?

Abandon the bondage of Saul and taste and see that the Lord is good. “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul…making wise the simple…rejoicing the heart …enlightening the eyes…sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb” [Ps.19:7-10].

“A poor yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more” [Eccl.4:13].

Yet liberty must not lead to the excess of license. Casting off carnal cords does not sanction casting off godly restraint. True freedom is only discovered in submitting to Divine decree. Being set free from sin is not a sanction to launch into indulgence.

“The people rushed greedily upon the spoil, and took sheep, oxen and calves…and the people…are sinning against the Lord by eating them with the blood!” [I Sam.14:32,33].

Saul’s solution? Roll a large stone to him in order to erect an altar so the people might not sin by eating with the blood. “So all the people that night brought each one his ox with him and slaughtered it there” [I Sam.14:34].

“And Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first altar that he built to the Lord” [I Sam.14:35].

But it was an altar of expediency, not an altar of worship. It served as a means to an end. It prevented a further breach of propriety.

Call it a stop-gap altar, not a sanctifying one. It merely expressed his orientation towards all things external. No devotion and adoration motivated its existence. A soothing aroma did not ascend into heaven thereby.

Which kind of king is this? He is not motivated by internal principle and hence is tossed to and fro by every wind of advice and circumstance.

“Saul said, ‘Let us go down after the Philistines’…and they said, ‘Do whatever seems good to you.’ So the priest said, ‘Let us draw near to God.’” [I Sam.14:36].

Saul said, the people said, the priest said, and God said nothing.

“Saul inquired of God, ‘Shall I go down after the Philistines?’ But God did not answer him on that day” [I Sam.14:37].

So Saul abandoned pursuing the enemy [I Sam.14:46] and turned against his own son, now become his new target. How did the sin occur? Who is responsible? Whoever it is, “‘though it is Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.’ But not one of the people answered him” [I Sam.14:39].

Jonathan admits to tasting honey though he was unaware of the hovering curse upon every head. Saul, thinking to establish his reign and enforce every reckless edict proceeding from his lips, said: “You shall surely die, Jonathan!” [I Sam.14:44].

Must all Jonathans be judged by the reigning elite to vindicate their profitless carnal authority over wearied and reluctant followers? In the twisted minds of the Sauls of this world, those violating their edicts must surely perish by their decree.

In flagrant wickedness, they would destroy their very means of deliverance. Thus are the religious overlords of men.

But with such monstrous verdicts, not even those who cowardly serve man’s religion will agree. “As the Lord lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day.’ So the people rescued Jonathan and he did not die” [I Sam.14:45].

The people have more spiritual sense than their king.

 

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Fifteen

I Samuel Chapter Fifteen verses 1-9

Put to death, therefore, your members upon earth:

Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,

And covetousness which is idolatry

Col.3:5

He whose hand is set against Amalek throughout the generations [Ex.17:16] would now enlist His anointed in that conflict. But the manifest impossibility of flesh eliminating flesh is soon to become painfully evident.

Amalek is the grandson of Esau/Edom, the man of the flesh [Ex.36:12]. Esau despised his birthright for the sake of his belly [Gen.25:27-34]. He thus became classed among those whose glory is their shame and who set their minds on earthly things [Phil.3:18,19].

Godless and immoral [Heb.12:16,17], Esau smoldered with enmity against the chosen of God and would maliciously slay the godly [Gen.27:41]. In steaming rage, his descendants cry out in seething scorn to raze the city of God to its very foundation [Ps.137:7].

As such, Edom/Esau is the fitting representative of the flesh in its relentless opposition against the Spirit [Gal.5:17]. And Amalek, the grandson, carries on that legacy.

How the flesh impedes and diverts the path of the blessed through their carelessness, sloth, and willfulness!  Even a Moses after his fleshly outburst of smiting the Rock sought to access promised blessings by way of Edom [Num.20:14-21]. But be assured, the pillar of cloud will never move through Edom’s broad way of defiled soil in order to achieve its end.

Even if we should heedlessly venture there, Edom will repulse and refuse Israel passage as it always must. “Edom, however, said to him, ‘You shall not pass through us, or I will come out with the sword against you’” [Num.20:18].

Flesh only opposes and destroys, but can never assist the progress of the people of God towards possessing their inheritance. There are no shortcuts through Edom to Canaan, only snares, rebuke, and death.

The flesh is that natural tendency to prefer one’s own way, judging by our own assessment, and pursuing and indulging selfish lusts. The flesh dwells in every true Christian and is the greatest stumbling block to developing godliness. The spiritual law respecting the flesh is this; Destroy it or it will destroy you.

The flesh of Esau is perpetuated in Amalek according to that true saying, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” [Jn.3:6]. The Lord’s determined purpose from the inception of Egypt’s Exodus was to utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven [Deut.25:17-19].

It is what we must do in ourselves throughout the days of our pilgrimage here by crucifying the flesh with its passions and lusts [Gal.5:24]. “Abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul” [I Pet.2:11].

It is what Saul refused to do and became the cause of his rejection by the Lord. He did not have the heart of God respecting Amalek, the flesh.  He neither loved what God loved nor hated what God hated.

He spared what God had devoted to destruction. He would keep and offer to the Lord what He had rejected.  He did not judge in himself what God had judged regarding Amalek.

“Thus says the Lord of Hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way…Now go strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey’” [I Sam.15:2,3].

The purpose is clear; the decree certain. Utterly annihilate Amalek and everything he has corrupted. Nothing is salvageable therein.

Saul, himself a man according to the flesh, can never defeat the flesh. What he spared from Amalek is simply a reflection of what he had spared in his own heart. Putting away the worst, he reserved the “best” to present before the Lord.

“So Saul smote the Amalekites…and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

“But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen…and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed” [I Sam.15:8,9].

The carnal can only reason from their human viewpoint. The Word of the Lord seems extreme and impractical to them. Surely there must be something worth retaining from Amalek, so they reason.

But there is not. The flesh contributes nothing to the Spirit. These two are in opposition to one another so that you cannot do what you would [Gal.5:17]. “The flesh profits nothing” [Jn.6:63]. “In my flesh dwells no good thing” [Rom.7:18].

How then can you spare the “best” of what has nothing good in it? Of what gain is something without profit? And on what basis other than a deceived heart can such an assessment be made?

No, “if you are living according to the flesh, you are about to die. But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you shall live” [Rom.8:13].

Dear Reader, what within the inventory of your natural assets are you holding onto in hopes of devoting that to the Lord? Oh, yes, drunkenness, sexual immorality, theft, murder, and other reprehensible crimes must be eliminated. Few would disagree with you on that.

But what of your heritage, education, intellect, social status, religion, personality traits, culture, and moral comeliness? Might they not be spared and acceptably devoted to the Lord? Let Paul answer that question.

“If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more…but whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss because of Christ.

“More than that, I count all things loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…and count them but dung, that I might gain Christ” [Phil.3:4,7,8].

The “best” from the “assets” of the flesh is dung. No one clings to dung. None dare proffer that as an offering to any, much less to the Most High. It is rather the body’s filth that must be buried.

Catalogued among the deeds of the flesh are the reprehensible and worthless practices of deep scarlet stain: “adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, murders, drunkenness, carousing” [Gal.5:19,20].

But interspersed therein are also deeds of dung less outwardly revolting: “hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, factions, envy, and things like these” [Gal.5:19,20]. Along with that greatest of all soul pollution, pride, we have an alarming portrait of the flesh.

God’s evaluation is that the flesh must be crucified. There is nothing remaining to be offered after that drastic execution. But Saul is unwilling to execute; he will spare.

The gravity of that transgression must be sought for in terms of Whom the offence is committed against. The bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen do not account for the severity of this breach in godliness.

“Against You, You only, have I sinned and done this evil in Your sight” [Ps.51:4].

Saul’s trespass is not equivalent to that of failing to bring home tomatoes from the marketplace at the request of one’s wife. It is not the same as missing a deadline established by one’s employer.

This is willful lawlessness in revolt against the directive issued from the great white throne of the Majesty in the heavens. It is rebellion against the decree of Him who has sworn to utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven [Deut.25:19].

And when Saul then sets up a monument to himself [I Sam.15:12] and then falsely insists “I have carried out the command of the Lord” [I Sam.15:13], is this so small a matter?

It is not. “So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the Lord, because of the Word of the Lord which he did not keep” [I Chron.10:13].

“Against the Lord:” that is the gravity of his sin.

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Fifteen verses 10-23

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit;

So He turned Himself to become their enemy,

He fought against them

Eph.4:30; Isa.63:10

While God grieves and Samuel laments, Saul celebrates. How far his heart is from the heart of God!

“Then the Word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, ‘I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not carried out My commandments.’

“And Samuel was so deeply moved that he cried out to the Lord all night…Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself” [I Sam.15:10-12].

What are you commemorating, Saul? Of what has your deluded pride prompted you to remember? Oh, yes, now we see your engraved inscription: “I have carried out the command of the Lord!” [I Sam.15:13].

But we have a question for you, Saul. “What then is the bleating of the sheep in [our] ears, and the lowing of the oxen which [we] hear?” [I Sam.15:14].

Saul, the ragged edges of your incomplete obedience hanging from your garment of self-congratulation testify of your folly. Your boasting is in vain while that which is devoted to destruction is yet corralled in your sheep pen.

We spare the flesh to our own destruction. We reject the Word of the Lord at peril of our own rejection. The “best” turns out to be the worst.

What we propose to offer to the Lord from the collected “things devoted to destruction” [I Sam.15:21], are worse than worthless; they are an abomination. Sheep and Saul both are cast aside as the offensive dung that they are.

Dear Reader, what does the Lord delight in? Are gifts and gadgets, gold and gimmicks what He desires? Are the external objects we possess what He craves? What does He want; what is He seeking?

“Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice” [I Sam.15:22].

Yes, “go learn what this means; I desire mercy and not sacrifice” [Mt.9:13]. “The true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” [Jn.4:23].

External religious ceremony does not please Him. In fact, He hates it.

“When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me…I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred assembly. My soul hates your…appointed feasts, they have become a burden to Me” [Isa.1:12-14]].

We do not do well to defend disobedience. It is perversion to lie to Omniscience. He knows. Our invented excuses will not convince Him otherwise than the reality He is aware of.

“Saul said to Samuel, ‘I did obey the voice of the Lord…but the people took of the spoil’” [I Sam.15:20,21]. But it wasn’t true. Samuel knew it as well as God; “all things are open and laid bare before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” [Heb.4:13].

Saul claimed that he obeyed to his own demise. Covering rather than confessing brought cursing upon him.

“Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king” [I Sam.15:23].

When we rebel against the Word of the Lord, by that very fact we have chosen “wisdom” from an earthly, natural, and demonic source [Jas.3:15]. There are no alternatives, no third options.

Either we embrace the wisdom of God from above or we perish in following that from below. Saul not only rebelled, he sought to rationalize it as if he knew better.

In blatant deceit, he sought to shift the blame to others when he himself was the culprit. Self in Saul was the source of his sin. To maintain otherwise is utter wretchedness.

“He who covers his sins will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find mercy” [Prov.28:13].

Saul did neither.

 

 

I Samuel Chapter Fifteen verses 24-35

Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites:

“This people honors Me with their lips,

But their hearts are far from Me.

In vain do they worship Me”

Mk.7:6,7

Confession means to say the same thing about transgression that the Almighty does. Empty words to avert disastrous consequences do not qualify as confession.

Judas felt remorse, but did not repent. There was no fundamental change of orientation and mind-set about his misdeeds. Rather than restoration, he miserably ended his own life.

Saul may have confession on his lips, but he harbored self in his heart. Loss of esteem in the eyes of men weighed heavily upon him, but not abhorrence of the magnitude of his revolt against the Most High.

“Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned; I have indeed transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice.’

“‘I have sinned; but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and go back with me, that I may worship the Lord your God’” [I Sam.15:24,30].

The only sincere statements of truth spoken here were that he feared the people and that the Lord was Samuel’s God. “The Lord your God,” he said; He was not Saul’s God.

His motivation was to maintain honor in the sight of men. He equally feared to be put to shame, that there might not be an embarrassing exposure of his spiritual bankruptcy. But there was no fear of God before his eyes.

Added to his rebellion was the twin evil of hypocrisy. Endorsement from man was his desperate plea. He would even secure it by force. But he cared nothing for the approval of God.

“As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. So Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today…The Lord has rejected you from being king’” [I Sam.15:27,28,26].

Nevertheless, he proceeded with his religious drama. “Saul worshiped the Lord” [I Sam.15:31]. Yet not in true devotion, but in hypocritical pretense. His heart remained far from Him. Recognition in the eyes of men was all the reward he would ever receive. Heaven turned a blind eye.

Samuel, however, executes the Lord’s mind regarding Amalek. The flesh must not be allowed to survive, much less reign. “Bring me Agag, the king of the Amalekites” [I Sam.15:32].

And what will be done when he comes? Shall a treaty be forged? Shall he be released? Will he become a trusted ally?

That would be the solution of a Saul but not that of a Samuel, and certainly not that of the Sovereign of the ages. “Samuel hewed Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal” [I Sam.15:33].

True spiritual warfare is taking up sides with God against self. That great idol-whore of the heart, self, must be dealt the death blow mercilessly. Exterminate Amalek.

 

 

 

I Samuel Chapters Sixteen to Thirty-One

 

“Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him” [I Sam.16:14].

Instability prevails within the troubled inner man of all in Saul’s condition. Wild extremes rage from one end to the other. Unpredictability reigns.

“Saul loved David” [I Sam.16:21]. “David found favor in his sight” [I Sam.16:22]. Yet witness the rapid and disturbing decline and confusion.

“Saul said to [David], ‘Whose son are you?’” [I Sam.17:58]. Then, “Saul looked with suspicion upon David” [I Sam.18:9]. And that suspicion led to rampage.

“Saul hurled the spear for he thought, ‘I will strike David to the wall’” [I Sam.18:11]. And that raving madness fueled a smoldering fear and dread of David within his tormented breast [I Sam.18:12,15].

Yet see Saul with seeming composure, hypocritical as it was, state: “Behold, the king delights in you, and all his servants love you” [I Sam.18:22]. In reality, Saul “planned to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines” [I Sam.18:25].

Though vacillating from one extreme to another and with intermittent flashes of remorse [I Sam.24:17; 26:21], nevertheless, “Saul was David’s enemy continually” [I Sam.18:29]. And “Saul told…all his servants to put David to death” [I Sam.19:1]. “Saul sought David every day” [I Sam.23:14].

The evil spirit tormenting him fixated his troubled mind on finishing David. It was Saul’s obsession until the day of his death.

Dear Reader, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. What Saul chose, he received. Rejecting the Word and Spirit of God, he was left with nothing but darkness and an unclean spirit in their place.

He reaped what he had sown. God departed from him. Evil moved into that vacuum. It is what Saul wanted and what he received.

While battling brethren, the enemy gains ascendency. The only one who could deliver from the Philistines is now the target of Saul’s spear. His demented soul urged him to destroy the very one who had destroyed their common enemy.

And thus Saul succumbs to Philistine archers and perishes infamously at their hands [I Sam.31:3]. “The Philistines found Saul…they cut off his head and…carried the good news to the house of their idols and…fastened his body to the wall” [I Sam.31:8-10].

“So Saul died for his trespass against the Lord, because of the Word of the Lord which he did not keep; and also because he asked counsel of a witch…and did not inquire of the Lord. Therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom to David” [I Chron.10:13,14].

Witness the certain end of carnality in Canaan.

Dear Reader, the greatest threat to the continued existence of the church in our generation is Jesus Christ Himself. For unless we REPENT, we have nothing but the following to look forward to according to Christ’s own Words:

“I will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent” [Rev.2:5].

“Repent; or else I am coming to you quickly and I will make war against them with the Sword of My mouth” [Rev.2:16].

“I will throw her on a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent” [Rev.2:22].

“Remember what you have received and heard and keep it and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief” [Rev.3:3].

“Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth…be zealous therefore and repent” [Rev.3:16,19].

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

We cannot continue to remain carnal in Canaan.

 

 

 

Appendix

A Man After God’s Own Heart

 

“The Lord sought out a man after His own heart” [I Sam.13:14]. “God looks upon the heart” [I Sam.16:7].

What is this heart that delights the heart of God?  All references following are from or about David. In these we discover the inner workings of what God is seeking in such a man.

“David’s heart struck him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe secretly” [I Sam.24:5].  “For You, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made a revelation to Your servant…therefore Your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to You” [2 Sam.7:27].

“His heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been” [I K.11:4]. “Since I know, O my God, that You try the heart and delight in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things” [I Chron.29:17].

“My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation” [Ps.13:5].  “He walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart” [Ps.15:2]. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight” [Ps.19:14].

“He who has clean hands and a pure heart…” [Ps.24:4]. “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.’” [Ps.27:8]. “The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip” [Ps.37:31].

“Create in me a clean heart, O God” [Ps.51:10]. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” [Ps.51:17]. “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!” [Ps.57:7].

“So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skillful hands” [Ps.78:72]. “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name” [Ps.86:11].

God sought out a man after His own heart [I Sam.13:14], whose orientation and inclination was to love what God loves and hate what He hates. This inner disposition towards the things above while fearfully delighting in mutual communion with God Himself describes such a heart.

David’s heart was wholly devoted to the Lord in purity, fear, brokenness, integrity, joy, and truth. In his heart was discovered adoration, acceptable meditation, immediate responsiveness, cleanness, contrition, steadfastness, and fear.

Any breach of the serenity of seeking and finding God’s face resulted in a smiting of his heart unto repentance and restoration. The following references are from or about David and demonstrate these characteristics [I Sam.24:5; 2 Sam.7:27; I K.11:4; I Chron.29:17; Ps.7:8; 13:5; 15:2; 19:14; 24:4; 27:8; 37:31; 51:10,17; 57:7; 78:72; 86:11].

Though we discover weakness and blameworthiness in David, this is not attributed by the Lord to rebellion and departure, for God does not see as man sees. “God looks upon the heart” [I Sam.16:7].

The Lord assesses the life in terms of the disposition and spiritual movements of the heart with respect to loving and pursuing Himself, not by outward conformity to a variety of requirements or regulations.

Jews abounded in the latter but were bereft of the former: “I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves” [Jn.5:42].

Weakness and compromise due to fear, impulsiveness, immaturity, imprudence, or the like do not disqualify one from God’s favor or service either one. The only sin of David’s catalogued as revolt according to the assessment of God Himself was that of Bathsheba and Uriah.

“David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite” [I Kings 15:5].

This is a startling passage. We would not have summarized David’s life in such a manner, for we do not see as God sees. His moral and spiritual failings that are clearly delineated in the text of the Scriptures do not seem to tally with God’s assessment in I Kings 15:5.

Rather what we see are shortcomings like these:  Deception with the priests [I Sam.21:2] and pretended madness to save himself [I Sam.21:12-15].

He trusts in the king of Moab [I Sam.22:3,4] and would take vengeance on Nabal [I Sam.25:13f]. Multiple wives were taken [I Sam.25:42,43;  2 Sam.3:2-5].

We see him aligning with Philistines [I Sam.27:1-12] and even willing to fight against Israel [I Sam.29]. He takes Michael, another man’s wife [2 Sam.3:14-16].

Contrary to the Lord’s way, he carried ark on a cart of Philistine design [2 Sam.6:3; I Chron.15:12-15]. Anger flared at Amnon’s rape of David’s daughter, but no punishment was meted out [2 Sam.13:21]. Similarly, there was no punishment of Absalom’s murder of Amnon, but rather an emotionally based weakness [2 Sam.13:37-39].

David flees in disgrace from Absalom [2 Sam.15:11] and believes the report of lying Ziba [2 Sam.16:3,4]. Rather than commanding Israel as their king, he follows the will of people [2 Sam.18:4].

Excessive grief is displayed over Absalom which resulted in shame to Israel [2 Sam.19:1-10]. The numbering of Israel in pride was a reproachful disaster [2 Sam.24].  And he never once pained his son, Adonijah [I K.1:6].

But we must not account lack of discretion, fear of man, or compromise with prevailing cultural custom as equivalent to revolt and turning aside from what God has commanded. God distinguishes between these things and testifies that David did not turn aside even though glaring inconsistencies were evident in his conduct.

Thus the issue of being a man after God’s own heart is brought into sharp relief. God certainly does not see as man sees, looking on the outward appearance, but He rather looks upon the heart and judges by what He finds there.

Stainless character and conduct are not the criteria upon which He approves or rejects a man. It is rather a matter of the heart.

The fact that a blameworthy deed is committed does not mean that the heart is necessarily disinclined towards the Lord, for we all stumble in many ways [Jas.3:2]. What response we have to the Spirit’s smiting conviction demonstrates what our orientation of heart is.

In David’s case, adultery and murder constituted turning aside from what God had commanded [I K.15:5], but not a momentary deception springing up out of fear for his life [I Sam.21:12-15].

The taking of multiple wives [2 Sam.3:2-5] and the manifest failure to correct his son [I K.1:6] was not classed together with the matter of Uriah. Somehow, even with these inconsistencies, the Lord states that David did what was right in the sight of the Lord [I K.15:5] because God looks on the heart.

Such reflections should encourage our hearts in that most blessed and perfect love of God that covers a multitude of sins. Truly, the Lord considers our frame that we are but dust [Ps.103:14].

When disheartened by laxity and failure, we can be assured that God is greater than our heart and knows all things [I Jn.3:18-21]. May these reflections prevent us from being overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

“I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings” [Jer.17:10].

Truly we must “watch over our hearts with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life” [Prov.4:23].

One cannot be a man after God’s own heart otherwise.