God's Moral Test for Israel - Lessons from Judges 3:1-11

GOD'S MORAL TEST FOR ISRAEL: LESSONS FROM JUDGES 3:1-11. 

By Ezekiel Kimosop 

In Judges 3:1-2, the writer records that God deliberately declined to drive away sections of the Canaanite nations from the Promised Land in order to teach the new generation of Israelites war and to test the people's moral fortitude. 

A list of these nations is given in Judges 3:3. They include five lords of the Philistines, the Canaanites, Sidonians, and Hivites. It is instructive that these heathen nations were identified with the following cultural features:

1. They were idolatrous people. Some worshipped more than one deity. They worshipped Baal and Ashtoreths and Asherahs (Judges 2:11,13, 3:7). 

2. The Philistines were among the largest and most prominent in the group. Their influence in the days of the Judges and specifically during the reign of Samson is profound (cf. Judges 3:31,10:7,13:1). 

3. These heathen nations surrounded the people of Israel from all sides. 

4. The Israelites were ill equipped militarily and were therefore disadvantaged in asserting their right to the land without divine intervention. The Canaanites had superior iron weaponry (see Judges 1:19, 4:3). 

A second list of Canaanite nations is provided in Judges 3:5-6 showing those among which the people of Israel specifically dwelt. These were perhaps the closest and most influential among the Canaanite nations at the time. 

A curious statement is conveyed in Judges 3:6. The writer reveals two moral transgressions committed by Israel under the influence of the Canaanite culture:

1. The children of Israel intermarried with these heathen nations contrary to God's express prohibition in Scripture (cf. Deut. 28:15-68; Neh. 13:25).

2. They forsook the Lord and served the Canaanite gods, contrary to the command in Exodus 20:2-6 that forbids the worship of any other God besides Yahweh, the God of Israel. 

This marked the beginning of the cyclical pattern of moral disobedience, leading to God's judgment, followed by the people's cry under Canaanite oppression and God's rescue, and back to disobedience. 

The first judge is Othniel. He was the younger brother of Caleb, the man of valor whose fame was earlier identified with the positive report among the twelve spies sent out by Moses (see Numbers 13-14). Othniel's 40 year reign is narrated in Judges 3:7-11. He was by any standards a godly ruler. His departure marked the next cycle of apostasy in Israel. 

MORAL LESSONS

The passage of Judges 3:1-11 conveys a number of moral lessons to the reader. We shall outline a few lessons below.

1) God tests the obedience of His covenant people in order to prove their moral faithfulness. Job was tested under a painful experience and was later approved by God (Job 1-2, 42). Elsewhere in Scripture, we learn that God permits some trials and afflictions on believers for the purpose of proving their faith (James 1:2-4). 

In our passage of context, the Bible reveals God's intentions in leaving the hostile Canaanite nations to coexist with the children of Israel "...that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses" (Judges 3:4). There is no ideal environment for our Christian obedience. Every situation that we find ourselves in is a testing environment. What ultimately stands out is our response to the tests. 

2) God sets out clear consequences for disobedience. The people were aware of God's divine standards for them but they still chose to disobey. When they intermarried with the Canaanite nations, God gave them over to their enemies. The Bible  explicitly says that God "...sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years" (Judges 3:8). God's patience has its snapping limits. Choices have consequences. When we deliberately choose to act against God's moral standards in our lives, God is grieved and He will punish us. 

The children of Israel deserved their punishment because of their willful disobedience despite having witnessed God's powerful works of deliverance and provision during their journey. Hebrews 12:6 says "For Whom the Lord loveth, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives"

3) It is easy to forget the things that God has done for us and to lower the moral standards whenever we experience the comforts of life that come through His blessings.  Someone said that the greatest danger to our spiritual wellbeing does not come from Satan per se but from the trappings of comfort that lull our spiritual consciousness!

In the midst of the progress in the land "flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:8), the people forgot and forsook the very God who brought them into the promised land. Does this experience ring a bell in your ears? The exhortation conveyed in Deuteronomy 8:11-17 is instructive. Moses had warned the people not to forget the Lord in the midst of their prosperity. 

4) God punishes the disobedient. Several passages of Scripture illustrate this truth. The Rich Fool, under the haughtiness of material success, forgot that God was the ultimate source of his prosperity. The statement in Luke 12:20 is instructive: "But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’"

5) Godly leadership brings moral stability and political advancement in society. The 40 year reign of Othniel the son of Kenaz brought peace to Israel (Judges 3:7-11). 

CONCLUSION

The Bible is replete with illustrations that reveal that God is in the business of testing the moral fortitude of His covenant people. We should therefore be conscious of this fact in every situation of life so that we are not tossed about by the allures of this passing evil world. We should discern God's will for our lives at all times. Our response to godly trials will depend on our moral prudence. We should depend on God's enabling grace in order to overcome.

 The Bible warns in 1 Corinthians 10:12, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." Jesus' statement in Revelation 16:15 is explicit: "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

Shalom 

© Ezekiel Kimosop 2022

Why is the Fall associated with Adam yet it was Eve who was first deceived?

WHY IS THE FALL ASSOCIATED WITH ADAM YET IT WAS EVE WHO WAS FIRST DECEIVED? 

By Ezekiel Kimosop 

God created Adam and Eve in His image and likeness (Gen. 1:27). The order of creation and God's responsibility for Adam as head is apparently what separates the two, both under Old Testament and New Testament theology. 

Adam was responsible for his wife and this is perhaps the reason God called him out when both he and his wife attempted to hide themselves from God after they fell into disobedience (Gen. 3:8-10).

As head of his family, Adam ruled over his wife and his children and was responsible for them. This model is identified in the New Testament Scriptures as well. Colossians 3:18-20 says "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord."

Notice also the delegated responsibility that God assigned Adam in naming God's creatures. He was even permitted to assign a name to his wife (Gen. 2:18-25).

Yes, Eve was the first to fall through Satan's deception in the first instance. She subsequently drew Adam into her disobedience so that both ultimately fell (Gen. 3:1-6). 

Turning to the New Testament, we notice that the fall is primarily identified with Adam. 1 Timothy 2:8-14 reveals that God used the order of the creation and the fall as a basis for His design on church leadership. This passage has been recognized as the theological foundation for the complimentarian doctrine held by a number of Christian traditions (cf. 1 Timothy 2:8-14, 3:1-7). The Egalitarian traditions however dispute this doctrine. 

What stands out significantly, in my view, is the fact that Adam is reckoned as the icon of the fall, not because the magnitude of his transgression was higher than Eve's but because of the federal headship responsibility that God recognized in His dealings with him. Adam took ultimately responsibility for the fall because he was God's steward over his wife. 

In the New Testament Scripture, we notice that the federal headship doctrine is modeled on the relationship  between Christ and His church on the one part, and the husband and his wife, on the other part. Christ is head over His church even as the husband is head over his wife. 

Ephesians 5:24 says "Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." The wife ought to submit to her husband in the same manner that the church should submit to Christ. 

On his part, the husband ought to love his wife sacrificially just as Christ loved the church and died to redeem her. This truth is affirmed in several other passages of New Testament Scriptures.

In conclusion, my view is that, notwithstanding the federal headship doctrine, both Adam and Eve fell into disobedience and both equally deserved God's judgment. 

In the context of New Testament Scripture, those who come to Christ, whether male or female, shall equally share in God's divine heritage in Christ Jesus. 

The Bible says "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:26-29, NKJV).

© Ezekiel Kimosop 2022