Judges 1-2 / March 29 (Day 89)

Note on Judges 1:19: “So the LORD was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron.” The reason they could not drive them out was because of their lack of faith; it wasn’t that the LORD would not have given them victory (See Joshua 17:16-18).

In Judges 1:22-26 there is a story of how those of the house of Joseph gave mercy to one man of the city of Luz. In Deuteronomy 7:2, the Lord told Israel, “you shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.” After they gave him mercy Judges 1:26 says, “…the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz.” When we don’t properly deal with what the Lord tells us to deal with, it will just pop up somewhere else. It probably felt like a good trade off at the time; they give one guy mercy so they don’t have to search for the secret entrance to the city, but it would not be a good trade off in the end.

Chapter 2
Judges 2:10 says, “When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.”

The generation that trusted the LORD to go into the Promised Land didn’t drive out all of their enemies. They also failed to rise up the next generation in the things of the LORD. Therefore, the next generation drifted from the LORD and began to serve the Baals. We need to take heed and keep our homes and churches free of things that could cause the next generation to be drawn from the LORD. Also, parents and churches need to fully bring the next generation into the things of God, teaching them the whole word of God and leading them into the presence of the LORD. Letting children “feast” on the things of the world and then giving them a watered down bible story isn’t going to bring good results.