The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/judges/3.htm

Chapter 3 starts out listing the pagans that remained in Canaan that the children of Israel failed to move out. Scripture says that “God tested” the children of Israel, but I’m not sure that that is wholly true. Since God is like Jesus, I can’t see Jesus intentionally testing the faithfulness of His children. What I tend to believe is that God fully had the power to eradicate the pagans, but He chose not to. Why? Make your way to Heaven and ask Him.

God is all knowing, and I personally believe God sees the future. Before God sent Abraham to the mountain to sacrifice Isaac, He knew Abraham would be faithful. The “test” was more of a test for Abraham to show him his own faith, or a test of Isaac to see if he was willing to be sacrificed for the Lord. Isaac was fully able to fight Abraham off, he was in his teenage years by then, but he didn’t. Then again, it did turn into a good lesson for us, showing us that a lamb will save us in the end. So, it’s my humble opinion that God didn’t actually intent to test the children, He simply failed to rid the land of the pagans seeing that the children of Israel failed to obey God and do as He instructed.

And once again, they failed. They continued to worship idols and fraternize with the pagans.

Scripture also says that God gave them into the hand of the King of Mesopotamia to serve him for 8 years. Again, I don’t believe God did that as a punishment, but rather removed his hedge of protection from them, just as He did when Achan took the things from Jericho, and because of his sin, God allowed Ai to defeat the children of Israel. Incidentally, the land known as Mesopotamia is today, modern Iraq.

If we are faithful and obey God, He will protect us at all costs. He will keep us safe from all danger and harm, safe from the temptations of Satan. If we turn from God, He will remove His protection and let the cards fall as they may.

Keep in mind, the authors of the Old Testament did not know Jesus like we know Jesus. Yes, He appeared before them, but He didn’t teach them like He taught the people when He ministered to the Israelites after He was born as a human. So their impression of God was probably altered.

Now we start talking about the judges. Some have lengthy stories, some are very brief.

The first judge listed in this book was Othniel, a nephew of Caleb, and God sent him to rescue the Israeli’s who were in Mesopotamia as slaves, after they finally cried out to the Lord. Isn’t it amazing how we freely live our lives as we choose until things go bad, then we run back to God?

After the children of Israel returned to the homeland, they sinned yet again, and God removed His protection. And the King of Moab, Eglon, attacked Israel and took the Israelites captive for 18 years. Once again, they called out to God (see how it took longer this time? Satan is working harder and people are becoming centered on their own lives rather than the life God wants us to live.

So God called up a man called Ehud and made him a judge. And Ehud snuck into the quarters of King Eglon, catching him on the toilet of all places, and stabbed him in the stomach, killing him. In addition, God forgave the children of Israel (Isn’t God so good?), and He gave them their strength, restored His protection, and they defeated the Moabites.

Not much is known about the third judge mentioned, Shamgar. As you can read, he killed many Philistines who were a recurring enemy of the children of Israel. Shamgar’s story is short and sweet.

In the Book of Judges, is story after story about how sinful we are, how badly we disobey God, how God let’s us learn our lessons the hard way, but also how loving and forgiving God is because He rescues them each and every time. Just like us.

As a side note, I was considering taking a course in the Hebrew language, but I haven’t committed yet. But the ad that caught my attention talked about how the Hebrew language, in Old Testament days, has been so distorted. For example, the word “hate” is not what we thing of at all; the word “hate” to the Hebrews simply meant you didn’t like someone as much as you liked others, but they certainly didn’t hate anyone according to the definition we recognize today.

She how much the actual words in the bible can be misinterpreted? See how our assumptions and prejudices today can alter our perception of scripture?

As I study the Bible, the words of Jesus are at the forefront of my mind. “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.”