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In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them. Judges 18:1 (ESV)

God is silent and is not truly consulted or considered in either of todays chapters from Judges, this points to the moral degradation of the people who have no central authority in a king which is a picture of the relativistic spiritual darkness the people had fallen into.

JRR Tolkien points to the spiritual darkness that will engulf any people when there is no leadership in his allegorical tale “The Hobbit” where the various kingdoms have no kings which gave a foothold to the enemy.

In the West we are so used to democratic life that we assume it is right when in fact it is not what God intended. Heavens government is not a democracy it is a Kingdom with God as the king. The right type of society before God is a godly kingdom not a “liberal” democracy or tyrannical dictatorship.

Jesus is our king. We have a king and ruler, he has laws which we gladly follow and a kingdom we are gratefully a part of, this keeps us from the darkness of moral relativism. See 1 Timothy 1:17

And they said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.” And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the LORD.” Judges 18:5–6 (ESV)

Although God’s title is mentioned, God himself is not a part of this, what the tribe of Dan is doing is wicked. God had already spoken, he had already allotted land to Dan but their cowardice and faithless hearts had caused them to lose their inheritance, now they seek to take land that God has not allotted to them.

The priest is in a place of great apostasy and is not actually hearing from God at all, he has sold himself to work as priest over the idols of Micah.

God has revealed his will to us in his word and from that revealed will leads us in its application through the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Turn to the word of God to seek Gods will, he has already spoken. For example do not ask Gods will regarding living with a girlfriend/boyfriend or committing adultery, fornication, abortion, lying, forgiving someone or marrying an unbeliever on all these things God has already spoken. See 2 Timothy 3:16

And the priest’s heart was glad. He took the ephod and the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people. Judges 18:20 (ESV)

Moral bankruptcy leads to deception and darkness. The allurement of sin is that one leads to another and false confidence comes through apparent success. This apostate priest is glad to hear he can be a priest to an entire tribe and so joins the tribe of Dan and is complicit in their theft and deception.

This apostate Levite was governed by a love for money and positions before men. See John 12:43

And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. Judges 18:30 (ESV)

The wandering Levite was “successful” in becoming the priest of the cult the tribe of Dan had stolen from Micah and the tribe of Dan were “successful” in conquering the unsuspecting people of Laish.

Success as the world views it is not a sign of God blessing the things we have done or that we have done things in the right way. True success will be measured on the day of Judgement so we should seek to be successful in God’s eyes according to his word and not in the eyes of man.

We must guard against measuring ourselves as Gods people and as a church community based on human standards of success, instead we should examine ourselves in the light of scripture. See Matthew 7:16-20

In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. Judges 19:1 (ESV)

The fact that the levite had a concubine (a woman who he would have sex with and who might bare him children but did not have the status of a wife) is cause for alarm, there is no king and all do what seems right in their own eyes, relativistic philosophy always gives way to absurdity and wickedness.

and they turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. And he went in and sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night. Judges 19:15 (ESV)

The lack of hospitality in Gibeah points to the moral decay that had taken hold of Israel. We are called to be hospitable, it is our Christian duty and should be done with joy. See Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2 and 1 Peter 4:9

But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. Judges 19:25 (ESV)

These worthless men were homosexual, violent rapists. The host tries to reason with them using his own flawed morals saying it would be wrong to rape the man so rape his own daughter instead and even offers the Levites concubine. But these men are so driven by their lust that they refuse the old mans offer, they want to rape the Levite.

The Levite is himself so morally warped that he sends the poor concubine out to be raped and violently assaulted all night to save his own skin, what a miserable, callous excuse for a man. This concubine is not named in scripture and serves as an “everyman” image for all those who are weak and abused by those in power.

Homosexuality is a sin. Rape is a sin. Abuse is a sin. This was a great and terrible sin, no doubt the concubine cried out in distress and pain but no one in the city came to her aid, thus the entire city is complicit in her rape abuse and murder.

We are called to help the helpless and seek justice. See James 1:27

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 (ESV)

We must learn like Paul to be content in all circumstances, this is the secret to fulfilling Gods calling on our lives. When we say we can do all things, the “all things” are constrained by the context of the previous verse, we are saying outside circumstances will not dictate to us that Gods assignment for us can or can not be fulfilled. Our faith is in God and our reliance is on him, if he has something for us to do he will supply the resources to get the mission accomplished.

We must avoid the worldly mentality that dictates that circumstances must be right before we do what God wants, no, we must trust in God and be content…. not complacent but content trusting God for strength and energy to work.

Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Psalm 71:3 (ESV)

Jesus is our rock, our refuge and saviour Matthew 16:18

Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. Judges 16:1 (ESV)

Blatant sexual sin was a major problem in Samson’s life, his lust drove him to seek to marry a Pagan woman and now to take advantage of a prostitute.

Lust and selfishness in men’s hearts causes the abuse and exploitation of women, God’s word calls men to love and cherish women, showing them the respect they deserve as both men and women are created in the image of God.

Sexual activity is sacred, God created it to be enjoyed in the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman for life, anything that deviates from this is perverse, demeaning and exploitative.

Jesus taught us that acts of sexual sin find their roots in our thoughts and motives in Matthew 5:28. We must flee lust. We must be pure in our thoughts and actions and honour our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit and respect other people.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the renewing of the mind through God’s word it is possible to overcome this sin. See Romans 12:1-2 and 2 Timothy 2:22

After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” Judges 16:4–5 (ESV)

Delilah was willing to sell Samson out for money, she was self seeking and selfish, just like samson, this self serving mentality will attract others to our lives with the same attitude as us, the inevitable result is that the self serving mentality of each person in these relationships causes pain and destruction. A life driven by self serving is destined for self-destruction.

We must avoid the love of money and serving ourselves, instead we should serve others. See 1 Timothy 6:10

And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. Judges 16:16 (ESV)

We must not be manipulative or allow ourselves to be manipulated, Jesus said that we should not be allow ourselves to be deceived in Matthew 24:4 and Mark 13:5. Paul also warns us against being deceived in Ephesians 5:6 and John in 1 John 3:7

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 17:6 (ESV)

Relativism is the doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, historical or personal context and are not absolute. This was the dominating way of thinking in Israel at this time.

It is with this sort of thinking that a society reaches it’s lowest. All truth and law comes up for redefinition and reinterpretation to meet the felt needs of individuals and groups who have self centred interests.

This is a popular today too. People choose to be relativist because they want to be in charge and do not want to submit. People will say “I have my truth and you have yours”. Relativism nullifies itself by it’s own affirmation. It says that all views and truth(s) are relative and no truth is absolute… the problem is that itself, is an absolute statement!

We must guard against relativistic thinking and arguments in the church. Instead we should submit to the truth of Gods word and the faithful leadership of our appointed Shepherds. See John 8:32

Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.” Judges 17:13 (ESV)

The prosperity gospel teaches that those who have no relationship with God but follow some religious principle will be prosperous because they fulfill the principle. This is not true. Without relationship with God in context to the truth of his word we can’t demand anything from God. God is not an impersonal law or force, he is a very real being, a true person with whom we must have a relationship to be saved.

Jesus said we can ask the Father for whatever we want in his name, but this was said to disciples, those transformed by and committed to Jesus. See John 15:16

Religion without Jesus is deception.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 (ESV)

We should live realising the Lord is with us to watch over us and to help us when we are cry out to him. The peace of God guarding our hearts and minds is shared as a consequence or reward for Gods people when they cry out to him

They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. Psalm 69:21 (ESV)

A prophecy pointing forward to Jesus suffering for us on the cross. See Matthew 27:48 and John 19:29

And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?” And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. Judges 13:12–13 (ESV)

The fact that Manoah and his wife have to be reminded that no unclean thing should be eaten is an indicator of where Israel is as a people at this time, they have forgotten the law of God and seem apathetic towards God and their oppression, there is also no record at this point that the people repented or cried out to God.

Manoah here also seeks personal verification from God not trusting the word already spoken, the truth already revealed. God just repeats what has already been said and denies Manaoah his desire for the secret knowledge of knowing a special name for God. Manoah is called to simply trust God’s word.

We must guard against this sort of apathy in our lives too. Are we sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, do we demand additional personal verifications from God because we do not trust in his word, are we in compromise with the world which dulls our spiritual senses? We must not allow ourselves to become desensitised to God or his word. See Matthew 22:1–14

And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” Judges 13:22 (ESV)

This is the second Theophanie (old testament appearance of Jesus Christ) concerning the birth of Samson.

This is further Old testament proof of the Trinity. Some say the trinity is a new testament or even just a church concept but this is not true, we see God the father (Yahweh), the Angel of the Lord who revives worship as God (the pre incarnated Christ, The Word) and the Spirit of God (The Holy Spirit) in the old testament testifying to Gods nature as a triune being, one God in three distinct person.

The old testament Theophanie records serve as a great tool to help those who do not believe in the trinity and the divinity of Jesus, especially our unsaved Jewish friends. See Acts 18:28

His father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel. Judges 14:4 (ESV)

God remained in sovereign control even through the self seeking desires of the lust driven Samson.

God is gracious, he has given Samson special gifts and set him apart, he has a purpose for his life to begin to deliver the Children of Israel. Samson begins to squander this special calling from God by following his own desires and disrespecting the authority of his parents.

Even if Samson will not live for God, God determines to use his sinful lifestyle to accomplish his purposes, in his grace. God has given us gifts, abilities, a calling and has a purpose for our lives as believers too, we should desire to be used positivity by God and not have the testimony that God used our sinfulness to accomplish his purposes.

Lets avoid a lethargic and selfish attitude toward God and his purposes, lets honour him in all we do as we fulfill our calling. See Ephesians 4:1

He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion. Judges 14:9 (ESV)

Samson was breaking both the Nazzarite vow and the Law of Moses by eating from this dead carcass, he defiles his parents by letting them eat of it too. This highlights Samson main problem, a disregard for the word of God, disobedience, doing what seems right in his own eyes and being driven by lust and revenge

In todays society we are persuaded to live by “Samson’s Law”. We are encouraged to do what ever we feel like doing and to get what ever we want and to live for our own desires. As Christians we are called to humble service and self sacrifice, we should not live after the dictates of our own lusts and desires but live as witnesses and servants of God. See James 4:1-3

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, Philippians 3:12–13 (ESV)

We are not called to apathy or lethargy, we are called to constant straining and pressing forward, we are called not just to run but to run for the prize, running with the reward in mind.

Paul tells us that as we press on in this upward call we will need each other, we will need to keep our eyes on those who are living in honour of their calling and follow their example. So the image is not of one man straining forward on his own but an entire community of believers pressing forward together.

The Christian life takes conscious effort and perseverance. We are called to persevere knowing the encouraging truth that one day our bodies will be transformed at the glorious resurrection. This is the great prize, to have Christ forever in fellowship in our resurrected eternal bodies.

Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. Psalm 69:6 (ESV)

As we read in todays passage regarding Samson, we must not live our lives in a way that dishonors God and brings shame to his people. We should live in honour and in light of our calling.

For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. Psalm 69:9 (ESV)

This prophetically points forward to Jesus, we should have zeal for God too

Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him. Judges 11:3 (ESV)

Jephthah came from a very dysfunctional background, his mother was a prostitute, he was rejected and disinherited by his family and then became the leader of a gang.
He became someone who was hurt, angry, bitter, ambition driven, manipulative, ignorant of God’s Law, abusive of his daughter, lacking boundaries, contentious, reactionary, revengeful, and doing what seemed right in his own eyes for his own gain.

God wants to help hurting people, so that they stop hurting people. Only a knowledge of God’s Word can break the bonds of sin and oppression and the cycle of hurt people hurting people.

Note the great contrast with the Lord Jesus. He too was despised and rejected. Even those in his only family thought he was mad. He had to contend with prideful pharisees. He was betrayed and abandoned and crucified with common criminals. The Lord Jesus serves as a model for overcoming dysfunctionality. Luke 4:18

And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” Judges 11:8 (ESV)

The elders of Gilead did not seek the Lord in making Jephthah their leader, they are reacting to the situation with the Ammonites. They later pay God some lip service but they are driven by selfish motives and ambitions just like Jephthah as we will see later.

The lesson for us here is that we need to seek God for his guidance especially in the middle of trouble. Thank God for the Spirit of Truth who guides and leads us into all truth John 16:13

Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the LORD our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess. Judges 11:24 (ESV)

Theological accuracy is important. What we thinks about God is important. Wrong thinking about God can lead to much larger problems and is itself the root of heresy. Job’s friends are examples of those who argued like Jephthah with great articulation, logic, and emotion, they were sincere, but in the end they were wrong about God.

Jephthah reveals his bad thinking about God by comparing God to the false god, as if they were equals or opposing forces, this is played out tragically in the next scene where Jephthah commits human sacrifice, something Yahweh never demands, he is mixing the true God up with the ways of the false gods.

In today world theology matters, the worth of theological soundness has been depreciated in the church over the years but we must hold firmly to the core truth and creeds of our faith and seek to know the truth of Gods word so we might know God. See Jude 3

And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, Judges 11:30 (ESV)

Jephthah is so arrogant that he attempts to manipulate God into giving him the victory to fulfill his own selfish ambition of ruling over his brothers.
True faith in God understands that God is in sovereign control and so rash vows betray a lack of faith in God and instead show a desire to control and manipulate God.

Our faith should on one hand seize the initiative to act in reliance on God and on the other be willing to wait on the Lord. However when we try to manipulate God, (who will not allow himself to be manipulated by anyone because he is God) we and those around us will suffer for our single minded selfish ambition.

Jephthah so desperately wants to rule over his clan that he fulfills the horrific and unnecessary vow showing how callous he really is to anyone or thing standing in the way of his goals.

Our lessons here are to avoid selfish ambitions, have faith in God and do not attempt to manipulate God as though he were a machine for your convenience.

The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.” Judges 12:1 (ESV)

I deserve it mentality is everywhere in the west and we must guard against it, we see this in the people of Ephraim, so blinded by their felt needs and demands that they seek to go to war with their own people over it. Jephthah is no better than them, in fact he has just sacrificed his own daughter because of a manipulative vow which also has its roots in the I deserve it mentality.

Jephthah shows his callous self orientated mentality again by entering into civil war and killing his own countrymen rather that seeking reconciliation.

The lesson here is that we must avoid the I deserve it mentality and follow the example of the Lord Jesus who showed us that we should pray that God’s will be done, not our own.

We will experience frustrations in our relationship with God until we realise that God is not obligated by our actions to do anything on our behalf and that whatever he does is on the basis of his grace because we don’t deserve it. James 3:14–18

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ Philippians 3:8 (ESV)

The one thing that is worth more than anything in the world is knowing Jesus. We should mediate on that today, what is our greatest treasure, our soul’s greatest desire, it should be this

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death. Psalm 68:19–20 (ESV)

We can trust God for salvation, we do not need to manipulate him, he desires to save us

Thus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. And God also made all the evil of the men of Shechem return on their heads, and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal. Judges 9:56–57 (ESV)

The account of Gideon and his children ends with a clear lesson, God is Sovereign. God was in control brining to pass the prophecy of Jotham. It was not random chance or the scheming wills of man, it was God exercising his kingship over the people by directing events to his purpose.

Here are some useful things to consider as we think about God’s sovereignty:

The English term sovereignty points to a person or political entity exercising supreme power over the whole area of their jurisdiction enjoying full autonomy with no rivals. When applied to God, we see his complete power over all creation so that he exercises his will absolutely, without any necessary conditioning by men.

The main metaphor used in the bible to speak of Gods sovereignty is that of “ruler (king) and subject.” The doxologies (praises to God) and prophetic exclamations show this best, examples include: 1 Timothy 1:17, Daniel 4:25, Jeremiah 10:10 and Romans 9:19–21

So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. Philippians 2:29–30 (ESV)

Timothy and Epaphroditus are given as clear examples of the humble service centered lives God is calling us to work out as believers and has been Paul’s point for this entire chapter. We don’t hear much more about Epaphroditus but we can see elements in his service that we should seek to emulate.

One of these things was the willingness to risk his own life, he laid his life on the line for the sake of the Gospel. Usually risk is thought of as a bad thing, but as Christians we are called to live lives that are fully devoted to God and his kingdom which means we need to be willing to take risks and risk our own comfort and the approval of society as we serve Gods purpose in humility using the energy God has given us to work to his glory.

We must avoid the trap of living safe lives as Christians, we are called to risk it all for the glory of God, knowing the risk is from our own perspective, as Gods promises are sure. This is a call to exercise our faith as we serve God.

God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! Psalm 68:1 (ESV)

God the sovereign king is victorious in battle, we can use this verse well when we pray