18-The State Of Israel In Transition

AUDIO TEACHING

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FULL RECORDED MEETING WITH MIDRASH. The Midrash has a lot of good information contributed by the audience.

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NOTE: THE TRANSCRIPT IS NOT EXACTLY LIKE THE RECORDING.

The new nation of Israel will now move forward without Joshua but with a new military leader. The nation will now become the kind of government YHVH intended for Israel to be. It may surprise you to learn than the Western Ephraimite and other nations loosely follow YHVH’s government model. It is a model which allows the people to show YHVH and the world to know what is really in their hearts. Before we get to that, let’s study Judges 1.

The Continuing Conquest of Canaan

Judges 1:1  After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, “Who should go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 

Samuel, the writer of Judges, picks up the historical account of Israel right after the death of Joshua without a time gap. There was no great amount of intervening time between the two Books and the people now want to know how to move forward without Joshua. So, the Israelites asked YHVH who will “go up” for them against the Canaanites. This implies the people did feel leaderless at the time but this would only last until Othniel quickly became the first Judge of Israel during the Judges period.

I have mentioned and commentators remark about this situation of Israel without a leader for a short time but I see it as YHVH’s design. I believe YHVH was transitioning from Israelites leaders chosen by Him to those chosen by the Israelites themselves. More on this later.

Judges 1:2  Yahweh said, “Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.” 

In this transitory phase as the people feel leaderless, YHVH prophetically appointed the tribe of Judah for military duty though it would be over 350 years before a suitable ruler, David, would come forth from the tribe of Judah. The first Judge of Israel would be one of Judah’s own members.

Judges 1:3  Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot.” So Simeon went with him. 

It makes sense that Judah called on Simeon. The Simeonites were located in the middle of Judah’s territory so they had similar strategic interests and possible problems. Simeon also was known to be a violent tribe that was aggressive on the battlefield. He and Levi were the 2 sons of Jacob who destroyed all the men of Shechem by themselves in Genesis 34.

Judges 1:4  Judah [that’s Judah with Simeon under their tribe’s command] went up, and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. They struck ten thousand men in Bezek. 
Judges 1:5  They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and they fought against him. They struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 

This is a new name that wasn’t around during Joshua’s invasion of Israel. The Hebrew word “adoni” means “my lord” and Adoni-Bezek means “my lord of Bezek”. Wikipedia says, “Some scholars propose that Bezek was near Gezer. Others suggest that the place is to be identified with Khirbet Ibzik or the nearby Khirbet Salhab, while others think that “Bezek” is a corruption of “Zedek,” in reference to the story of Adonizedek. Bezek appears again in 1 Samuel 11:8 as the site where Saul assembled the Israelite armies to fight against Nahash the Ammonite.”

Adoni-Bezek is not a corruption of “Adonizedek” because Joshua already killed him at least 20 years earlier. Adoni-Bezek, like Adonizedek, was the “lord” of his city. He was not a King. The word “Bezek” means “lightning”, and some say also “glittering”. Adoni-Bezek’s city was a reflection of himself with his big shiny ego.

This man is known as the man who mutilated his enemies. Judah and Simeon had no fear of him and no doubt they would not be mutilated by him. Here is what happened to Adoni-Bezek.

Judges 1:6  But Adoni-Bezek fled. They pursued him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. 
Judges 1:7  Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their big toes cut off, scavenged under my table. As I have done, so God has done to me.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there. 

The tribes of Judah and Simeon had no fear of him even though he had the conquest of 70 cities and the mutilation of 70 kings under his belt. Might Adoni-Bezek have thought when just Judah and Simeon showed up Bezek that this was just going to be a walk in the park? After all, not the entire nation of Israel was coming for him. It was 2 tribes, not 12! No one knows what was on his mind. That is me just wondering but what he did not expect or understand was that these 2 tribes were carrying the weight of responsibility for all 12 tribes and the name of YHVH went with them. At this point, Israel was still serving YHVH so He had a responsibility to show up for this war. And He did.

This is an example of how YHVH will show up for us in the end of days as we take all Israel back from all the modern day “ites”.

Adoni-Bezek received the justice of YHVH for his “Hammurabi Code” malevolence, the “eye for an eye” codified by Hammurabi, and he understood this kind of justice. How else could Adoni-Bezek have understood and even agreed with what Judah and Simeon did to him?

Lex talionis, “eye for an eye”, is the justice of the Torah taught by Noah to all of his sons and then by YHVH to Moses in Exodus 21:24-45. But later, Hammurabi, Ham the great of the Amorites (a descendant of Ham) would codify the lex talionis making it the common justice of the ancient Near East.

Hammurabi, the king of the Hittites in the area of Anatolia which we now call Turkey, lived at the same time as Abraham. Some say Hammurabi is not a descendant of Ham but actually Ham himself. There is still debate on this in the various scholarly professions.

What we know is that Abraham lived by YHVH’s Law, according to Genesis 26:5. Hammurabi also lived by YHVH’s Law, but the two men lived out the Law very differently because, unlike Abraham who simply lived by the Law of YHVH according to its built in mercy, Hammurabi perverted YHVH’s Law to be the basis of the Hammurabi code wherein there is no forgiveness for sins, AKA crimes as we call this today. There is no mercy in the Hammurabi code as there is in YHVH’s Law. I have given here a link to Collins University’s translation of the Hammurabi Code so you can see that the words “forgive”, “mercy” and “grace” do not exist in the code except in the one instance where a husband has the opportunity to forgive his adulterous wife to prevent her execution by drowning. It is this perversion of YHVH’s Law that religious people and the world believe about YHVH’s Law.

Scholars want you to believe that Moses plagiarized Hammurabi and then added in the forgiveness, mercy and grace parts. No. YHVH and His Law are from before the foundation of the cosmos, what people usually translate as “the world”. It is through YHVH’s Law that man can have forgiveness, mercy and grace and salvation and the offer of eternal life through Yeshua. Those who practice wishful thinking that Yeshua or Paul did away with the Law don’t understand where their mercy, grace, salvation and their forgiveness for sins, comes from! It’s not from any descendant of Ham!

Adoni-Bezek mutilated kings by cutting off their thumbs and toes. Without thumbs, enemies cannot wield swords. Without toes, they cannot run away.

This man was taken to Jerusalem by Judah even though that tribe could not completely rid Israel of the Jebusites. Adoni-Bezek died in Jerusalem as a thumbless, big-toe-less, and dethroned man nobody.  

Now we will get the details of how Judah took Jerusalem from the Jebusites.

Judges 1:8  The children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, took it, struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. 

This is a new war against Jebus. It is not the same battle found in Joshua 15:63. Later on in this same chapter, we will see that after Judah struck Jebus/Jerusalem with the sword, that it was still in the tribe of Benjamin’s hand and that Bejamin did not drive them.

Joshua says:

Joshua 15:63  As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah couldn’t drive them out…

Judges 1:21  The children of Benjamin didn’t drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

So Judah was helping Benjamin get rid of the Jebusites but even after Judah set the place on fire, Benjamin did not go in and finish them off. It is possible Benjamin made tributaries of the Jebusites but scripture does not say so. This is speculation because we have no further details except that King Solomon forced them into servitude in 1 Kings 9:20–21.

Over the 400 years between the start of the Judges period and the reign of Solomon, the Israelites undid the peace and tributary status of the “ites” in the land by making covenant with them, i.e. marrying them. It is possible, then, that Benjamin put the Jebusites to forced labor only to later have them no longer be tributaries of Israel by the time of Kings David and Solomon.   

Judges 1:9  After that, the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, and in the South, and in the lowland. 
Judges 1:10  Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron. (The name of Hebron before that was Kiriath Arba.) They struck Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. 

Hebron had been given to Caleb from the tribe of Judah during by Joshua.

Joshua 15:13  He [Joshua] gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of Yahweh to Joshua, even Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (also called Hebron). 

This is where Samuel inserts an account from the Book of Joshua in chapter 15.

Judges 1:11  From there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (The name of Debir before that was Kiriath Sepher.) 

Debir was a town outlying from Hebron which Caleb offered to the man who conquered it with his daughter’s hand in marriage.

Judges 1:12  Caleb said, “I will give Achsah my daughter as wife to the man who strikes Kiriath Sepher, and takes it.” 
Judges 1:13  Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it, so he gave him Achsah his daughter as his wife. 

Here is the account repeated from the Book of Joshua.

Joshua 15:16  Caleb said, “He who strikes Kiriath Sepher, and takes it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as wife.” 
Joshua 15:17  Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. 

The full account is found in Joshua 15. Samuel repeated this account to establish the continuation of a government in Israel under the first Judge, Othniel. When Judah and Simeon went to fight against the Canaanites, another man showed himself worthy in battle – Othniel, Caleb’s younger brother and son-in-law. He became Judge of Israel during this time by showing himself able and willing to fight for Israel. Thus, Samuel is tying Judah’s wars and the rise of Othniel into one account.

Caleb and Othniel had the same father, Kenaz. They were brothers. Othniel was Caleb’s younger brother (Judges 1:13). Othniel married his niece. This is called “avunculate marriage”. Avunculate, or marriage between an uncle and a niece, is not prohibited in Leviticus 18. Another example of avunculate marriage in scripture is Abram and Nahor who both married their nieces.

Samuel gave this account here in the Book of Judges to introduces Othniel (meaning ‘force of God’) who became the first Judge elected or appointed by the people of Israel instead of by YHVH Himself.

Judges 1:14  When she [Achsah] came, she got him to ask her father for a field. She got off her donkey; and Caleb said to her, “What would you like?” 

Achsah asked her husband to ask her father for a special blessing. Caleb did not approach Othniel to find out what was wanted. As his unmarried daughter, she could go directly to her father but now she is married and must go through her husband. This is no longer about family relationships. It is a matter of cultural protocol. Not only was this a cultural matter back then but it is similar to our situation with Yeshua. He is our betrothed and it is through Him that we come to our Father.

It was now in Caleb’s purview to speak to his daughter directly if he wished. This is what happened and it pleased him to bless Achsah.

Judges 1:15  She said to him, “Give me a blessing; because you have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water.” Then Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. 
Judges 1:16  The children of the Kenite, Moses’ brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people. 

Some commentators say the city of palm trees is another name for Jericho. However, we know from the Book of Joshua that Jericho was never lived in again.

Joshua 6:26  Joshua commanded them with an oath at that time, saying, “Cursed is the man before Yahweh, who rises up and builds this city Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn he will lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he will set up its gates.”

This curse is true.

1 Kings 16:34  In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho. He laid its foundation with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Today, ancient Jericho is nothing more than a playground for archeologists trying to disprove the Bible’s account of its destruction. The modern city called Jericho is not built on the ancient ruins.

Other commentators rightly say the city of palm trees was another fertile area in the lowlands of the Dead Sea.

Judges 1:17  Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah. 
Judges 1:18  Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Ashkelon with its border, and Ekron with its border. 

Jos 15:47  Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; to the brook of Egypt, and the great sea with its coastline. 

These were part of Judah’s allotted cities in the Book of Joshua but Judah had not driven out the Philistines from there at the time of Joshua’s death. They are doing that now.

Judges 1:19  Yahweh was with Judah; and drove out the inhabitants of the hill country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. 
Judges 1:20  They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said, and he drove the three sons of Anak out of there. 
Judges 1:21  The children of Benjamin didn’t drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. 

I will repeat this from last week when we examined whether or not Samuel was the author of Judges. This statement tells us the Book of Judges was written before David took the city which was hundreds of years before the other proposed author could have written Judges after 722 BC.

Judges 1:22  The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and Yahweh was with them. 
Judges 1:23  The house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city before that was Luz.) 
Judges 1:24  The watchers saw a man come out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.” 
Judges 1:25  He showed them the entrance into the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and all his family go. 
Judges 1:26  The man went into the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day. 

This is a second witness that YHVH has people in places we would not suspect. Rahab was among the enemy of Israel in Jericho. This man was within the enemy of Israel in Bethel. We will find YHVH’s people always among the enemy. Even today, we are scattered among His enemies. Be careful not to judge a person based on his biological or regional origins but on their fruit.

Failure to Complete the Conquest

Judges 1:27  Manasseh didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its towns, nor Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 

Modern Beit Shean is where the modern Jordan River/Sheikh Hussein border crossing between Israel and Jordan is today.

Judges 1:28  When Israel had grown strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and didn’t utterly drive them out. 
Judges 1:29  Ephraim didn’t drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, but the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them. 
Judges 1:30  Zebulun didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and became subject to forced labor. 
Judges 1:31  Asher didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob; 
Judges 1:32  but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they didn’t drive them out. 
Judges 1:33  Naphtali didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but he lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and of Beth Anath became subject to forced labor. 
Judges 1:34  The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill country, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley; 
Judges 1:35  but the Amorites would dwell in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim. Yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to forced labor. 
Judges 1:36  The border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward. 

Putting the Canaanites to forced labor means they were offered peace and it was accepted so the Canaanites became tributaries of Israel. Only the tribe of Dan did not at least put the Canaanites to forced labor, according to scripture, which is why I believe Benjamin did put the Jebusites to forced labor which they continued in probably for only a short time given the Israelites’ penchant for marriage covenants with YHVH’s enemies.

The problem with putting enemies to forced labor is just that Such a status of tributaries of Israel, forced servants, must be enforced from generation to generation. The Israelites, were never to fraternize or mingle with the tributary servants but they did and this was the temptation which YHVH provided for by design to test the faithfulness of His people. The way to drive out tributary nations from among you is to not develop friendships beyond the kindness of a master to his servants and definitely not to marry them and take on their ways. It is to always make them know they are secondary peoples and not even citizens of Israel against which they will eventually rebel against by leaving. But this takes time and faithfulness to YHVH from generation to generation, a quality Israel did not have from generation to generation. Instead of leading the Canaanites to YHVH, Israel let the Canaanites lead them to idolatry.

This all began just prior to, and in, the life of the first Judge, Othniel, who was a military leader like Joshua and who became the elected/appointed national leader in his office as Judge.

Judges As Elected Officials

The difference between Joshua and the Judges after him was that Joshua was appointed by YHVH but the Judges were appointed or elected by the people.

Deuteronomy 16:18  You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

Deuteronomy 17:9  You shall come to the priests who are Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict.

You, the people of Israel, will ‘nathan’, appoint (Strong’s H5414) judges over you. The Hebrew word ‘nathan’ means “gift” but it is also used as “appoint”. You shall give yourself a gift. Make sure it’s a good one!

While it is true that Joshua did not select a leader to succeed himself, and YHVH did not appoint one either, this form of government is the one which YHVH gave to His people. They could be upheld or ensnared by it depending on their choice of Judge. Judges were meant to provide righteous justice to the people and to stop them from serving other gods.

Moses was the first national Judge but he was not elected. YHVH appointed him.

Exodus 18:13  On the next day, Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from the morning to the evening. 

Under the advice of his father-in-law, Moses assigned other Judges to rule under him.

Exodus 18:25  Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 
Exodus 18:26  They judged the people at all times. They brought the hard causes to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. 

Israel’s government during the time of the Judges was an elective monarchy. There are dozens of elective monarchies still on earth today, and many variations of that. Wikipedia says: “An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by a monarch who is elected, in contrast to a hereditary monarchy in which the office is automatically passed down as a family inheritance...”.

Only a very few times would Israel see righteousness in their Kings after they replaced YHVH as King of Israel and Samuel as their selected Judge. The House of Israel never had a righteous King. Judah had 8 good Kings out of 20.

Israel showed YHVH and all the world what was in their hearts. It was to be like the world and not live by YHVH’s approved government system.

Yeshua is not only the righteous King of Israel but is also the righteous King of Kings of all the earth! May He come back quickly!