Judges 3-5 Deep Diving Bible Study

I have published an addendum to this day’s notes entitled: Was Deborah A Last Resort? Click here to read or listen to that.

GOOD MORNING
Today’s readings are Judges 3-5

Read today’s Bible readings at BibleGateway by clicking here.

Rabbit Trails

Oh the cycle! It’s so hard to see YHWH’s people turning away time and again. And disheartening when we see ourselves in them, both individually and as a people. But YHWH has not abandoned His people, and our hope lies in learning from our mistakes, the blessing of His correction, and Grace to begin again, pressing constantly towards the goal and stepping continually further into obedience.

There is a key sentence that we need to make sure we pay attention to in our readings today, and it appears multiple times:

Judges 3:7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of YHWH…

Judges 3:12 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of YHWH…

Judges 4:1 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of YHWH…

Did their actions “feel” evil to them? In many cases we see that the Israelites are still worshipping YHWH, but they are doing so alongside other gods. They are adapting and assimilating into their society, becoming more like the world, and adding more of the world’s ways into their daily life through marriage, worship, etc.

I’m sure it felt right to them. They felt their hearts were in the right place. But what was the determining factor?

Their actions were evil in the eyes of YHWH.

To the world, they were just fine, but YHWH sets the standard for His people.

Some years ago, after I had decided to trust in all of YHWH’s Word rather than just picking and choosing, I came across a clear commandment that was given to all of YHWH’s people for perpetuity. I prayed over it. Ricky and I talked about it, and we prayed some more. Still, though the commandment was clear, we felt no conviction to follow it. And so we continued reading Scripture, looking for any words from our Father or Messiah which rendered this commandment invalid, and found none. So we continued to pray for the Father to give us the conviction to follow it. Even then, after some time of prayer, we just weren’t feeling it. This troubled me because I had specifically prayed for conviction and it just wasn’t being given – even though the word was clear. So we continued the way we had, not obeying this commandment as we had always not obeyed it, and as all of our friends and examples around us did not obey it either.

Some time later, I was speaking with someone who had been walking closely with the Father for a longer time than I had and I asked her if she obeyed this commandment. She replied that she did. I told her my quandary, how Ricky and I had prayed over it and did not feel convicted. She responded with a kind voice of truth in a simple statement “So are we only supposed to follow the commandments we feel like following?” 

And that was all I needed to hear. What a wonderful lesson the Father taught me in that!

How many times have you heard “Follow your heart”? That is the world’s advice. I have heard it all my life. How many times have we been encouraged to “just follow our hearts” by well-meaning folks who truly love us? Just follow your heart. Follow your heart. 

But what does YHWH’s Word say?

The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure. ~Jeremiah 17:9

Cliff Notes: Don’t follow anything the world tries to convince you to follow. 

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of YHWH our God. Psalm 20:7

The world will try to convince you that YHWH’s blessings are curses – and that the world’s curses are blessings. When we read His Word, we can easily, E A S I L Y, discern the difference.

Now, let’s look at those verses again with the Father’s response to each one put into place: 

Judges 3:7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of YHWH…

Judges 3:9 But when the people of Israel cried out to YHWH, YHWH raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel…

Judges 3:12 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of YHWH…

Judges 3:15 Then the people of Israel cried out to YHWH and YHWH raised up for them a deliverer…

Judges 4:1 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of YHWH…

Judges 4:3 Then the people of Israel cried out to YHWH for help… (He responded this time as well)

Do you see the willfull turning away? Doing evil in His eyes, intentionally seeking other gods (they were not forced to do this but rather beseeched not to). And then, when the punishment comes, when the consequences of their own actions swing into motion, they cry out to YHWH.

What is YHWH’s response? He sends a deliverer. 

Here is the thing though, I wonder how many of those people thought “Well, we can live however we want and the Father will send someone to deliver us from the consequence of our intentional actions.” That is exactly how the majority of the body treats the Father today. My heart is heavy with the thought of all the teachings that encourage this behavior. There is a graphic a friend posted which depicts this attitude in a horrifyingly true fashion. I won’t post it here because it is harsh, but very true. You can click here if you’d like to see it on my personal Facebook page.  If you would like to follow my personal page, you are welcome to do that as well (click “follow” where you normally see the friend request option).

When the Father forgives us. When the actions of our Messiah wash us white as snow, may we not then go on seeking and bowing down to the world, but from that may we, in our gratitude, newfound wisdom, humbleness, and awareness of the grace that we have been shown, turn to our Father and bow down before Him in all areas of our life. 

Let us pray for one another today so that His light might shine more brightly through us! ?

The Story of Deborah: 

Deborah is a prophetess, a judge, a wife, and would even become a military commander! This contradicts many modern doctrines about the role of women in the church, but there are other passages we will read which also contradict these synthetic doctrines. Just a reminder that we aren’t called to trust in doctrines, we are called to trust in YHWH’s word. (Matthew 15:9)

Judges 5:15-17  In these passages Deborah calls out the tribes who did not come to fight on behalf of Israel. What a scathing rebuke this must have been once this song was known!

Judges 5:31 ends with “And the land had rest for forty years.” In Biblical terms, this is considered a generation. Why did the land have rest at this time? Not because all battles were won and there were no more enemies, but because for this time they trusted in and obeyed YHWH. 

As much as it depends on you, does your life have rest? 

I have published an addendum to this day’s notes entitled:

Was Deborah A Last Resort? Click here to read or listen to that.

Sidenote: Remember, every time you see an all caps LORD in your Bible, this is a place where the Father had put His personal name and it has been removed and replaced with “LORD”. It is fine to call Him by one of His many deserved titles but do we need to know His name? Well, He gave it to us nearly 7000 times so clearly it is important to Him that we do. After all, do we want Him to know ours? 

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