THE CONQUEST AND SETTLEMENT OF CANAAN

The Conquest and Settlement of Canaan
Jimmy West
Grand Canyon University
Old Testament History
July 21, 2009

Introduction The Book of Judges takes its title from the twelve men and one woman who served as judges during the period from Joshua’s death to the time of Samuel.This book was written during the period of the monarchy, judging by the phrase which occurs four times, “In those days there was no king in Israel.” All the judges were themselves limited in their capabilities. In fact, each one seemed to have some defect and handicap which was not a hindrance but became a positive asset under the sovereign direction of God. In Judges we find backsliding and the amazing grace of God in recovering and restoring . The New Scofield Reference Bible gives the theme of the Book of Judges as “Defeat and Deliverance.” This is unusually appropriate. There is, however, another aspect which this book emphasizes: disappointment. The Role of the Judges in Israel How gracious and compassionate the Lord is! When the children of Israel cried unto Him for deliverance, He raised up Othniel to be the first judge. Othniel was the first and one of the better judges. There is no great criticism leveled against him. He saved his people from the oppression of Chushan–rishathaim. The only thing is that he was not capable in himself. He did not become leader of Israel because of his outstanding ability but because he was Caleb’s nephew and had married Caleb’s daughter. And yet God used him. It is amazing what kind of men God will use. Maybe that is the reason He can use you and me. We should be encouraged in knowing this. Othniel was an ordinary man, but God came upon his simple life and made it something worthwhile. God can also touch our ordinary lives and make them worthwhile. Here goes the hoop rolling down through history again. The Israelites were serving God for awhile, then they turned their backs on Him and did evil in His sight. Ehud was one of the judges God raised up to deliver Israel. He had very little ability. I cannot find that he did anything other than kill Eglon. He just happened to be left–handed, which gave him an opportunity to get rid of a man who was bringing all kinds of tragedy into the lives of the Israelites. Ehud was the instrument God used. His act of killing Eglon accomplished the purpose. God many times uses this method to cut out a cancer of sin in order to save the body of the people. Thousands of lives were saved because of what Ehud did. As in the days of the judges, God still uses ordinary men who want to be used to accomplish His great purposes. God can use us, if we want to be used. Now here is the third judge, Shamgar. In this case, it is not the man, it is the method that is outstanding. He used an ox goad, which is a very crude instrument. The Israelites just didn’t have iron weapons; so he used what he had. I hear people say today, “Oh, we must have the best and the latest methods.” It is fine to have good methods, but what about the message? The important thing is not the method, but the message. An ox goad can be dedicated to God if it is in the right hands. Whatever you have, if you will put it in His hand, He will use it. Think of these three judges who are mentioned so far. They are three little men—plus God. After the death of Ehud, Israel again turned to idolatry, and a new period of oppression began. The Lord sold Israel into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan. Sisera, captain of the host, had nine hundred chariots of iron. These chariots caused fear among the Israelites who had no such artillery. For twenty years Jabin oppressed Israel. Deborah was raised up by God to judge Israel, and she called upon the general to get busy. He was not doing his job. He should go against the enemy that Israel might be delivered from slavery. If there ever was a general who was a sissy, it was Barak. Barak will not go into battle unless Deborah goes along. If this prophetess went with him, he felt he would be successful in battle. Deborah was a forthright woman. Barak called together his army, and they got ready to go against the enemy. God gave them the victory. All who are called to serve the Lord can learn much from the call of Gideon to deliver Israel. He had three good traits. First, he had a knowledge of God and His power, even though he wondered why God did not deliverer Israel Himself at this time. Second, Gideon had a deep sense of his own weakness and ability. Last of all, Gideon had a deep patriotic love for his nation and identified himself with it. Living in the dawn of divine revelation he needed outward signs to trust God, which God gave to him. Gideon’s Son—Abimelech is very ambitious. He had heard about the nation wanting Gideon to become ruler over them. Since he is a son of Gideon, he wants to become king. So he goes to his mother’s people, who are in Shechem, and gets them to follow him. Obviously, Abimelech is a wicked and brutal man. He does a horrible thing. He brutally murdered the seventy sons of Gideon and set himself up as king. Even today when a good ruler comes into office, many folk say, “God raised him up.” What about the wicked ruler? God permits him to come to the throne also. Do you know why? Because the principle is “like priest, like people.” That is, people get the ruler they deserve. The people of Israel wanted Abimelech to rule over them; and they got the quality of man they deserved. When we look around our world today, we find this principle is still true. We find that God judges Abimelech for the awful thing he did, and He also judges the men of Shechem for making him king and starting him out on such a course. Civil war ensued because there were many people who did not want Abimelech. Tola and Jair become the next judges. What did Tola do? He died and was buried in Shamir. Not one thing is recorded about any achievements. Although he was a judge in Israel twenty–three years, there is not one thing that can be mentioned about the deeds of this man, from the day he was born to the day he died. All you have here is what is on his tombstone: “Born—died.” All that we are told about Jair is that he had thirty sons and he bought each one of them a little donkey. He did not get them a Jaguar, Mustang, Pinto, or Cougar, he gave each boy a donkey. In Jair’s story I can see three things: (1) prosperity without purpose; (2) affluence without influence; (3) prestige without power. He did nothing, died, and was buried. Jephthah, who by birth was a son of shame, yet became one of the most commendable of Israel’s Judges. While a man is not responsible for the way he comes into the world, grace can be his to overcome any handicap as he runs the race of life. He defended his home and country against the aggression of Amalek. Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. These three judges are practically zeros. They did nothing. Well, they did something, but they did not judge Israel as they should have done. They did nothing constructive as judges. Before Samson was born, God marked him out. God raised him to deliver Israel. The people of Israel were in a bad way because God had delivered them into the hands of the Philistines. He had been called to deliver Israel wit his mighty power, and all he did is use it for his personal advantage. One of the greatest sins that destroys many men is the matte of illicit sex. That was Samson’s sin—“he loved a woman whose name was Delilah.” As far as we know, he made no attempt t marry her. Samson was a failure. He began to deliver Israel but he failed. He preferred to play with sin until the Spirit of God left him. Conclusion Here in this twentieth century the heads of state would do well to study the Book of Judges. Because our trouble is primarily spiritual, it actually goes back to the church. The church went into apostasy. Then our problem centered in the home with the drug problem and the generation gap. Trouble has now moved into the political circles, and we have chaos. People say, “if we could change this or that and put in this party or that party, everything would be fine.” All of this, I think, is perfect nonsense. What we need today is to get back to a spiritual foundation. That is where we went off track, and that is where our trouble began. We see in the Book of Judges the philosophy of history, and the hoop of history is still rolling. Frankly, I am disturbed ecause it has never changed. We today are in the midst of political chaos. God have mercy on America!

References
Beck, John A. (2008). Gideon, dew, and the narrative-geographical shaping of Judges 6:33-40.
Enns, Paul P. (1981). Judges. Grand Rapid, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House.
Jensen, Irving L. (1968). Judges & Ruth, A Self-Study Guide. Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press.
Lewis, Arthur. (1979). Judges & Ruth. Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press.
Moore, C.A. (1983). Review. Judges: A Commentary. Judges 6:33-40