15-Judges 18 – 1 Samuel 14:23
Apr. 4, 2009
This week we will begin in the Book of Judges with Chapter 18. Last week we learned about the different people God raised up to deliver His people. The up and down cycle of disobedience and repentance continued through this entire period of Israel’s history. We finished up last week talking about Micah and his false priest. This event happened during the time covered in the first chapter of the book, when the individual tribes went in to possess their land. Now in Chapter 18 the people of the tribe of Dan who were unsuccessful against the inhabitants of their allotment needed more land for their people. Their difficulty with the Amorites was recorded in Judges 1:34. The Danites sent five men to spy out the land to look for additional territory. The spies stopped in the hill country of Ephraim on their journey, and stopped at the house of Micah to spend the night. They had heard of the ephod, idols, and images that were there, and also the Levite priest. The spies asked the priest to ask God about their intention of taking the city of Laish. The false priest gave them a vague favorable report they thought was from God. The men returned to their territory and told the people what they had found. The spies returned with six hundred armed men to take the city. They stopped again at the house of Micah, and stole his priest and idols for themselves. The men threatened Micah and his people with destruction if they resisted the theft. The army then came to Laish and easily defeated the city and its people. They burned the city to the ground, then rebuilt it and renamed it Dan after their father. They set up the images and idols they had taken from Micah in the city. The priest, whose name we now learn was Jonathan, and his sons were priests to the Danites until Israel was taken into captivity years later. The saddest thing about this story is that several old manuscripts say that Jonathan, the false priest, was a grandson of Moses. Chapters 19 through 21, the end of the book, cover a series of events that occurred during the period of the judges between the children of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. It is thought to have been soon after Joshua’s death, before the first judge was raised by the Lord. A Levite from the hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. The woman cheated on the man and left and stayed in her father’s house for four months. The Levite loved the woman and traveled to Bethlehem to retrieve her. Her father did not want them to leave and delayed them for five days with excuses. The fact that the Levite went to get her and she had not been killed as an adulteress shows how badly God’s law was corrupted in those days. On the fifth night the man refused to stay and set out that evening, with the woman to his home. His servants wanted them to stop in Jerusalem for the night. The man refused because Jerusalem was a city of the Jebusites at that time. He only wanted to lodge with his own people. The party stopped for the night in Gibeah. An old man met them and gave them a place to stay. They had a celebration and settled in for the night. After the Levite fell asleep, evil men from the city came to the old man’s house to take the Levite and have homosexual relations with him the same as the men of Sodom came for the two angels. The old man rebuked them and offered them his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine instead. This was also similar to what Lot did with his daughters. The men took the concubine and abused her all night until she was dead. When the Levite awoke the next morning and found the woman, he cut her into twelve pieces and had the pieces delivered throughout the land of Israel. He wanted his brethren to know what the evil men had done. The men were from the tribe of Benjamin. This wicked act angered all of Israel and caused a civil war with the people of Benjamin. The Benjamites were defeated and nearly cut off from Israel. In Chapter 21 the people of Israel began to mourn the loss of Benjamin and what had become of Israel. They got together and devised a way to ensure the survival of the tribe. This ends the Book of Judges, and the time when all of Israel did what was right in their own eyes. We will now look into the Book of Ruth. The events recorded in this book occurred during the period of the judges we have been covering since last week. The book opens with a man named Elimelech from the tribe of Judah. He left the city of Bethlehem with his wife, Naomi, and his two sons, Chilion and Mahlon, to live in the land of Moab because of a famine in Palestine. Elimelech died and left Naomi alone with her two sons. Chilion and Mahlon took for themselves wives from the women of Moab. The names of their wives were Orpah, and Ruth. The five of them had lived in Moab for about ten years when Chilion and Mahlon both died. Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem and her people because she had heard the famine was over. Nothing remained for her in Moab. She told her two daughters-in-law to return to their mother’s house and be blessed with new husbands. Both of the women refused and Naomi explained to them that she could not provide for them, and they would be better off here with husbands and children. Orpah returned to her mother’s house, but Ruth still refused. Her words to Naomi were recorded in Ruth 1:16-17 “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.“Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” They both returned to Bethlehem where Naomi wanted the people to call her Mara instead of Naomi. The name Mara meant “bitter” while the name Naomi meant “pleasant”. Naomi believed the Lord had treated her bitterly because of her loss. Naomi and Ruth were poor so Ruth went to the town’s fields to glean some food after the reapers. This was a Law in Israel at that time to provide for the poor and widows. They had returned to Bethlehem during the barley harvest. A portion of the field belonged to a wealthy relative of Elimelech named Boaz. When the reapers came to the field that belonged to Boaz, he asked his servant who the woman was who was gleaning after them. His servant told him it was Ruth the young Moabite woman who arrived with Naomi. Boaz favored Ruth and told her to glean only in his field He also said to her in Chapter 2:11-12 “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know.“May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.” Boaz shared his meal with her and allowed her to glean whatever she wanted from his grain. Ruth returned home to Naomi and told her about her day. Naomi blessed the Lord and realized that Ruth had found favor with a relative of hers. Ruth returned and gleaned in the field of Boaz until the end of the harvest. There was a law in Israel in those days referred to as the law of the kinsman redeemer. The brother or closest relative of a man who had died was to take his widow as a wife if she had not provided an heir to carry on her husband’s family line. This was required to keep the inheritance of the Lord divided properly to the people. Naomi realized this and gave Ruth instructions on what she was to do. Ruth went to Boaz one evening, and did not reveal herself. Boaz went to bed and after he had gone to sleep Ruth removed his cover and lay down at his feet. With his covering removed he would awaken and find Ruth. He awoke and saw Ruth at his feet. He asked who she was, and Ruth replied and asked him to marry her because he was a close relative. Boaz admired Ruth and told her he would redeem her if he could. He was not her closest relative, but he said he would go to town and try to redeem her tomorrow. Boaz went to the city gate the next morning and found out that only one man was a closer relative to Elimelech. That man was not able to buy the field that belonged to Elimelech from Naomi without jeopardizing his own inheritance. The redemption of Ruth came along with the field. Boaz then bought the field and redeemed Ruth. Boaz married Ruth and she had a son. The women of Bethlehem were happy for Naomi and blessed her and prayed that the boy would support her in her old age. They knew it would be true because Ruth her daughter-in-law loved her and was better to her than six sons had given birth to him. The boy was named Obed. The story of Ruth is significant because Obed, the son of Boaz was the father of Jesse, who was the father of King David. These three men are part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. This ends the Book of Ruth. We will now begin the Book of 1 Samuel. The book is named for the prophet Samuel. He was considered the final judge over Israel. Samuel followed the Lord and was the man who anointed the first two kings of Israel. Chapter 1 begins with a man named Elknah from the tribe of Ephraim who had two wives. Their names were Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had provided him with children, but Hannah had not. Elknah did not mind, he loved Hannah and gave her a double portion yearly. Peninnah thought she was better and continuously provoked Hannah. She wept, but Elknah asked if he was not better to her than ten sons. Hannah was still very sad and when she was in Shiloh, at the temple of God, she prayed and made a vow that if God would provide her with a son he would be a Nazirite to the Lord. Eli the High Priest saw Hannah’s lips moving without speaking and asked her why she was drunk. She told him her story that she was pouring her heart out to God. Eli blessed her and told her he hoped her petition to God would be answered. The Lord heard Hannah and she had a son. They named the boy Samuel, and when he was weaned they brought him to Shiloh and left him with Eli. Eli’s own sons were worthless men the text says that did not follow the Lord’s ways, and took bribes and profaned the offerings to the Lord. They angered the Lord with their sin. Meanwhile the boy Samuel grew and served the Lord in the temple with Eli. Hannah would come to him yearly with a new robe. Eli would bless Hannah, and she did conceive again. She provided Elknah with three more sons and two daughters. Eli had been given reports about the activities of his sons. He spoke to them and told them to change their ways. They would not listen to him and continued to disobey the Lord. God became very angry with the sons. Eli was then visited by a Man of God. This was another occurrence of the Lord visiting man in human form. God told Eli that he would have no heirs and that his family line would end because of his sons. Eli was told that both of his sons would die at the same time. God said he would raise up a new faithful priest that would honor and serve Him. In Chapter 3 the story shifts back to the boy Samuel. The text says that word from the Lord was seldom heard in those days. Eli had gone to his bed and was lying down when Samuel heard his name called. He rushed to Eli and said here I am. Eli told him he did not call and sent him away. This happened two more times until Eli perceived that the Lord was calling Samuel. He told the boy to answer the call and say “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.” Samuel did this and God told him that what he had told Eli would come to pass. Eli asked Samuel to tell him what the Lord had said, and not to leave anything out. Samuel told Eli everything and he realized he had brought it all upon himself and said to let the Lord do what seemed good to Him. Samuel continued to grow in the Lord and people began to realize that he was a prophet chosen by God. In Chapter 4 God’s prophetic word was carried out. The Ark of the Covenant was lost in battle with the Philistines, and the sons of Eli died in the fight. When Eli heard the Ark was taken he fell backwards off his bench and broke his neck. What God had told Eli had come to pass. The widow of Eli’s son Phinehas gave birth to a son. She died in childbirth, but before she passed the people told her not to fear she had given birth to a son. She ignored them and called the boy Ichabod because the Glory of the Lord has left Israel. God was angry that the Ark was captured and it is recorded in Chapter 5 that he struck the captors with illness and cut apart their idol Dagon. The Philistines realized the Ark had to be returned to Israel. The Ark was returned with a great loss of life among the Philistines. Samuel told the people of Israel that if they returned to the Lord and followed His commandments He would defeat the Philistines for them. The people honored Samuels request and served the Lord. The Philistines were defeated. Samuel judged Israel his entire life and traveled a circuit annually around the country to fulfill his task. In Chapter 8 Samuel had grown old and appointed his sons to judge the people. Samuel’s sons did not follow the Lord and treated the people unfairly. The people could not follow Samuel’s corrupt sons. They demanded a king from Samuel to rule over them. Samuel was angry and asked the Lord what he should do. God told Samuel not to be angry. The people did not reject him, they rejected the Lord. God told Samuel to honor the peoples demand but first warn them on what having a king would do to them. The people listened to Samuel, but still demanded a king. Samuel went in search of a king in Chapter 9. God had already selected a man named Saul to be the first king over Israel. Saul was the son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin. God had selected a king that the people wanted. Saul was a handsome man and very tall, he possessed the outward appearance of a king, but as we will see was lacking inside. Samuel found Saul and anointed him with a flask of oil as king of Israel. The Spirit of the Lord entered Saul and he prophesied with the rest of the prophets. Samuel gathered the people at Mizpah and presented the people with their new king. Some of the people there wondered if Saul could deliver them from their enemies. Saul’s first challenge as king was a threat from the Ammonites. They threatened to kill the people of Israel if they would not make a covenant with them. Saul heard this and became angry. The Spirit of the Lord entered Saul when he heard the Ammonite threat, and he and 330,000 men from Israel defeated the Ammonites that day. Saul was proclaimed king at Gilgal by the people, and all of Israel rejoiced. Saul then addressed the people and was confirmed king by the Lord. The Lord did this by causing lightning and thunder to fall on Israel as Samuel had predicted. The people asked for prayer because they had sinned in asking for a king. Samuel replied that the Lord would not abandon his people or their king as long as they followed the Lord and obeyed Him. Saul began his reign when he was thirty years old and reigned over Israel for forty two years. The Philistines did not approve of Israel and wanted to go against them in battle. Saul chose men to go against the Philistines. He waited in Gilgal for Samuel for seven days as he was told. Samuel did not come so Saul took it upon himself to offer the burnt and peace offerings to the Lord. Saul was not a Levite and was not supposed to offer to the Lord. Saul’s lack of patience caused this sin. Samuel then came and saw Saul’s sin. He rebuked Saul and told him his kingdom would not endure. He told Saul that God had chosen a man after His own heart to be king instead of him, and then left Gilgal for Gibeah. Saul continued on to the battle. There were no blacksmiths to be found for swords so the people sharpened their farming tools for weapons. Saul’s son Jonathan possessed a sword and took his armor bearer to the garrison of the Philistines to go against them. He fought bravely and killed twenty men. After this an earthquake occurred that caused a great trembling in the land. The people were afraid and confusion came over the Philistines. They turned their swords against each other. The Philistines were defeated that day. We will end our study for this week here in Chapter 14:23. Next week we will finish up the Book of 1 Samuel and the reign of Saul. We will look into the acts of David and begin the Book of 2 Samuel.