victory

The capture of Jerusalem

If there was one event in David’s life that stood out as his greatest moment, it was probably the conquest of Jerusalem. It’s likely that victory over the Jebusites, the people of Jerusalem, was considered impossible because of the strategic location of the city on a rise that was surrounded on three sides by deep valleys.

Jerusalem was the ultimate strong hold or fortress. It had been occupied for approximately 2000 years, since the time of Abraham, and at least two previous attempts to overtake it had failed. After conquering it, David renamed it the city of David (2 Samuel 5:7).

The capture of Jerusalem was probably important to David because he felt God was using him to establish a permanent kingdom on earth. David believed there would be a Messiah and may have known that Jerusalem would be the capitol from which he would rule and reign over his kingdom. Possession of Jerusalem was therefore and integral part of God’s redemptive program for Israel.

It says in 2 Samuel 5:6, “And David went on and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him.” The term LORD God of hosts is used several times by David in his prayers for deliverance from his enemies. Although it is possible the hosts David was referring to were troops under his command, it s likely David was asking for help with spiritual warfare.

There are some battles that take involve both physical and spiritual warfare. Jerusalem was a key city in the Promised Land, but it is also described as a heavenly city. In Revelation 3:12, it says, “I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God.”

When Jacob was fleeing from his brother Esau, it says in Genesis 28:11 that he came to a certain place. “And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:12). The place Jacob came to might have been a portal between the physical and spiritual worlds that enabled him to see what is normally outside of human perception.

One of the unique characteristics of king David was his awareness of the spiritual realm that existed around him. He often spoke to the LORD as if he was standing right next to him. When it says that the LORD God of hosts was with him, I believe it is saying that the LORD God of hosts, super human beings including God and his angels (430), were David’s constant companions.

Be encouraged

When it comes right down to it, in order for God to be for someone, he must be against another. It says in James 4:5 “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” And in Romans 9:13, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

During the final days of king Saul’s life, he had to face off against his worst enemy, the Philistines. The entire Philistine army gathered together and camped on the border of Israel. “And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled” (1 Samuel 28:5).

In desperation, Saul had a woman with a familiar spirit, or what we would refer to today as a medium, call up Samuel from the dead in order to get his advice about what to do. “Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee and is become thine enemy” (1 Samuel 28:16).

Saul was distressed because when he inquired of the LORD, “the LORD answered him not” (1 Samuel 28:6). Saul’s attempt to get help from Samuel showed that he did not understand that his relationship with the LORD was not based on his effort to communicate with God, but God’s effort to communicate with him. When the LORD had previously given Saul instructions, he chose to disobey and so the LORD stopped talking to Saul and found someone who would follow his commands, David.

Obedience is important in our relationship with the LORD because it establishes the basis for ongoing communication. If the LORD is our Master, then we must obey him. If we do not obey him, then we are making it clear that the LORD is not truly our Master.

While the Philistines were preparing to invade Israel, the Amalekites attacked the city where David and his men were living and took their wives and children captive. “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God” (1 Samuel 30:6).

The word translated encouraged, châzaq (khaw – zaq´) means to fasten upon or take hold of. “In the sense of personal strength chazaq is first used in Duet 11:8 in the context of the covenant” (2388). I believe what David did to encourage himself in the LORD was to read the Torah and refresh himself in God’s commandments. David’s recommitment to the LORD included a renewed interest in obedience and seeking God’s counsel in times of trouble.

And David inquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. (1 Samuel 30:8)

God is faithful

The story of David and Goliath is one of the most well known of the Bible probably because it is taught in every Sunday school classroom and used as the primary example of courage in the Old Testament. David’s battle with Goliath was really not so much about courage as it was about faith. David believed that God would protect him if he went up against a giant because he had already been delivered from a lion’s mouth and had rescued a lamb from a bear that was about to eat it.

David’s explanation for defeating Goliath was that he had defied the armies of the living God. “David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with you” (1Samuel 17:37). The reason David was able to defeat Goliath was that the LORD was with him, but what is more important is that the LORD was with him because David was carrying out God’s will which was for the Israelites to drive out their enemies from the Promised Land.

The Philistines were hard core warriors and Goliath was not the only giant among them. When the Promised Land was spied out while the Israelites were still living in the desert, the giants in the land had caused the spies to give a bad report and basically caused the Israelites to have to spend 40 years wandering in the desert because of their lack of faith in God. Fear was the main thing that kept the Israelites from taking on the Philistines and Saul was just as reluctant as the rest of the people to face Goliath in a one on one encounter.

David’s defeat of Goliath not only made him famous, it made him courageous. After defeating Goliath with a sling and a stone, all the Philistines fled from David. The table had been turned and David was the one instilling fear in his enemies. The word defy or châraph (khaw – raf´) in Hebrew means to pull off and by implication to expose or defame (2778). When Goliath defied the armies of the living God, he exposed their fear, but he also exposed their lack of faith. David was the only Israelite who truly believed God was greater than any man that would stand against him. He not only was willing to put his life on the line, but David testified to God’s faithfulness before he took on Goliath so “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:45).

An act of faith

The purpose of having a relationship with God is so that he can communicate his will to us. Most people don’t understand or choose to deny that God’s will is the force that governs our universe. When we align ourselves with God’s will, we have the benefit of his help. He is like the wind that drives a sailboat along its course. If we try to go against the wind we won’t get very far.

Many people struggle to determine God’s will as if it is a mystery or something that is counter intuitive. Determining God’s will is as simple as looking to see which way the wind is blowing. The problem is usually not that we don’t know God’s will, it’s that we don’t want to do it.

Saul’s son Jonathon understood that God wanted to deliver the Israelites from the tyranny of the Philistines and he was willing to do his part. Jonathon was looking for an opportunity to do God’s will. Rather than waiting for the Philistines to attack them, he wanted to take an offensive position even though the Philistine army far outnumbered the Israelites.

“And Jonathon said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14:6). Jonathon was familiar with God’s way of working and when he discovered an opportunity to attack, he did not struggle with the situation, he assumed God would help him defeat the Philistines.

In order to confirm his belief, Jonathon determined a way for God to show him if it was his will for Jonathon to go forward with his plan. The sign that Jonathon established for the LORD to reveal his will was an act of faith because it meant that Jonathon believed God could make the Philistines answer one way or another when they discovered Jonathon and his armourbearer outside their camp.

The interesting thing about the sign that Jonathon established was that if it was not God’s will for Jonathon to attack the Philistines, then he and his armourbearer would be killed by the Philistines. Jonathon was so confident that the LORD would use him to defeat the Philistines that he risked exposing himself to them before taking any action.

And the men of the garrison answered Jonathon and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. And Jonathon said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel. (1 Samuel 14:12)

Taken

The movie “Taken” vividly depicts what happens when something precious falls into the hands of an enemy. The two young women, Kim and Amanda are examples of the glory departing from Israel after the ark of God was taken because their appearances were transformed by what happened to them. Kim and Amanda start out as innocent teenagers on an exciting vacation and end up as sex slaves, strung out on drugs and sold as a commodity.

The ark of the covenant was where God’s presence dwelt in the Tabernacle. The ark is a representation of the Believer’s heart in that God’s word is hidden in the heart of every Believer and the Holy Spirit dwells there. The ark was associated with God’s power and became a symbol of his divine protection. When Israel was initially defeated by the Philistines, the elders of Israel said, “Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies” (1 Samuel 4:3).

The Israelites treated the ark as if it was a type of lucky charm. They no longer reverenced it as a holy object that was to be guarded from their enemies. Interestingly enough, the Philistines had more regard for the ark than the Israelites did. Their reaction to it being brought into the camp was fear. “And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us: for there hath not been such a thing heretofore” (1Samuel 4:7).

In the movie Taken, Kim the daughter of former CIA operative Bryan Mills is a virgin and is therefore treated as a very valuable commodity. She is auctioned to the highest bidder and ends up in the hands of a wealthy sheik. Her enemies regard her virginity as something precious that they can capitalize on. Unfortunately, her friend Amanda is sent to a brothel where she dies of a drug overdose.

When Bryan Mills finds Amanda’s body, she looks like a dim shadow of her former self. The drugs and sexual abuse have transformed her into an empty shell, lacking the spark of life that exuded from her when she first arrived in France. You could say that that the glory had departed from her. The word glory or kâbôd (kaw – bode´) in Hebrew “often refers to both ‘wealth’ and significant and positive ‘reputation’ ” (3519).

The Philistines were able to overcome the Israelites and take the ark of God because they knew their lives depended on it. The Philistines fought with all their might. The word quit in the phrase “Be strong, and quit yourselves like men” (1 Samuel 4:9) means “to release power, so that the accomplishment is assured” (1961). Liam Neeson demonstrates this type of fighting in his portrayal of Bryan Mills. Bryan goes to great lengths to find his daughter and assures his ex-wife that he will not come home without her.

The death of Amanda somewhat overshadows Kim’s rescue because there is still some sense that things will never be the same. Like innocence, God’s glory does not reside when there is a lack of reverence for his holiness and his laws are disregarded. “And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken” (1 Samuel 4:21).

A matter of the heart

The expression, he has a good heart is usually used to describe someone that is kind, thoughtful, and loving toward others. The heart is said to be the seat of emotions and it can be the source of motives, feelings, affections, and desires (3820). It is the heart that enables us to love, and hate, and develop a relationship with God When our heart is wounded, it affects our ability to connect with people and may cause us to turn away from God because we cannot related to him.

A characteristic that is connected to the heart is courage. In one sense, to be courageous means to be strong, whether in physical strength or something called fortitude which is the will to press forward or through with something. There are many accounts of people that have acted courageously and performed supernatural feats to rescue or protect someone that did not have the physical strength to do so.

I think most people assume Samson was a big, burly man that looked like a sumo wrestler or a professional weight lifter. The only thing recorded about Samson’s appearance is that he was a Nazarite from birth and therefore, he never cut his hair. The source of Samson’s strength was unknown to everyone except Samson and perhaps his parents. It is possible that Samson assumed his strength came from being a Nazarite, when in actuality, it was his relationship with God that enabled him to overpower the Philistines and perform mighty acts to defeat them.

To be a Nazarite means to be separated or consecrated to God. It is similar to the virginity of a woman in that virginity is a sign of purity and is intended to keep a woman separated or consecrated to her husband until they are married. In a way, you could say that a Nazarite’s heart belongs to God and he is not free to love anyone else but God during his time of consecration which in Samson’s case was his entire lifetime.

It says in Judges 16:4 that Samson “loved a woman, in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.” Delilah was a Philistine and she agreed to find out the source of Samson’s strength so that the Philistines could bind him and afflict him. “And Delilah said unto Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee” (Judges 16:6).

The word translated afflict, ‘ânâh (aw – naw´) means to be bowed down, be humbled. ‘Anah often expresses harsh and painful treatment” (6031). One of the ways the word ‘anah is used is to express the act of rape. “To take a woman sexually by force may be ‘to humble’ her” (6031) as was the case with Jacob’s daughter Dinah. It is believed that the Philistines sought revenge against Samson and intended to kill him after a prolonged period of torture. Delilah’s request to know the source of Samson’s strength so that he could be afflicted was a straight forward attempt to take advantage of his love for her and to determine if he was even willing to die for her.

Isaiah 53:3-4 says of the Messiah “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief…Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” Jesus also told his followers that they would be delivered up “to be afflicted” and would be hated by everyone in the world because they identified themselves with his name.

Not many people would agree that if you are a Christian, you should expect to be afflicted, to receive harsh and painful treatment for no reason other than you are a follower of Jesus Christ. Perhaps you have taken a vow of chastity and are being tormented by your friends because you won’t do what everyone else is, having sex outside of marriage. The most common group of women to be targeted by sexual predators is young virgins who will experience rape as their first sexual encounter with a man.

When Samson’s soul was vexed unto death by Delilah’s daily pleading and nagging, he finally “told her all his heart” (Judges 16:17). Immediately, Delilah called the Philistine leaders and told them Samson’s weakness had been revealed.

After Samson is imprisoned by the Philistines, he seeks one last opportunity to gain strength so that he can be avenged. He prays that God will remember him and strengthen him. Samson’s two-fold request indicates that he is no longer relying on his Nazarite vow for power. The interesting thing about Samson’s prayer is that the LORD didn’t answer it. It is believed that Samson was able to topple the house where three thousand Philistines were gathered because his hair had begun to grow back while he was in prison. But, I think it is more likely that Samson’s courage returned because he sought to restore his relationship with the LORD.

The word used for strength in Samson’s prayer, châzaq (khaw – zak´) is the same word that was used when the LORD said he would harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let his people go. Samson knew that he sinned by telling Delilah all that was in his heart. It says in Judges 16:20 that Samson thought he would be able to escape like he had at previous times, but “he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.” Samson was on his own when he suffered torture at the hands of the Philistines and his desire to be avenged had nothing to do with God’s plan to deliver the Israelites from Philistine rule. His heart was hardened after being afflicted and he thought the LORD had left him for good. He wanted to die because the sorrow and pain in his heart were too much for him to bare.

In the last moments of his life, Samson reached out to God and God was there, just not in the way Samson expected him to be. God didn’t harden Samson’s heart, he gave him courage. I think Samson believed he was forgiven and would be able to bring down the house with his bare hands. “And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein” (Judges 16:30).

How could you?

In dysfunctional and abusive relationships, you often see people doing things that hurt someone they do or at least should love. For instance, husbands that beat their wives or parents that sexually abuse their children,. Victims of abuse may start acting like slaves or prisoners that have no ability to fight back because they are used to being overpowered and perceive their enemies as rulers over their lives.

Samson’s supernatural strength was a mechanism God used to show the Israelites that they could break free from the tyranny of the Philistines. When Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions, Samson avenged himself by setting fire to the city’s corn supply. Instead of going after Samson, the Philistines went to the men of Judah and beat them up. “Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us?” (Judges 15:11).

Basically, the men of Judah were saying, how could you? They were blaming Samson for their beating from the Philistines and making it seem as if Samson had no right to stand up to them. Instead of mustering an army and going to war with the Philistines, they gathered together 3000 men to bind Samson and deliver him to their enemies.

Samson’s supernatural strength was not something he got from working out. In fact, it was not even his own strength that enabled him to do what he was able to do. Whenever Samson got into a conflict with the Philistines, he received help from God, he became powerful because God’s spirit came upon him.

It says when the Philistines shouted against Samson, “the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him” (Judges 15:14). The word translated spirit, rûwach, (roo´ – akh) means wind or breath, such as in exhalation. “It is clear that the wind is regarded in Scripture as a fitting emblem of the mighty penetrating power of God. Moreover, the breath is supposed to symbolize not only the deep feelings that are generated within man, such as sorrow and anger; but also kindred feelings in the Divine nature” (7307).

The decision of the men of Judah to bind Samson and hand him over to the Philistines must have caused sorrow and anger in Samson. He was doing God’s will when he stood up to the Philistines and so God helped him to escape before the Philistines got their hands on him. After Samson was free from the ropes the men of Judah used to bind him, it says “he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith” (Judges 15:15). What it doesn’t say is who he killed, the men of Judah or the Philistines?

Children of a king

Even though we may know most of what happened in our parents’ lives, we usually know less about our grandparents’ lives and very little about our great grandparents because they were not around to tell us about it. Imagine if you knew the details of your ancestors lives that lived hundreds of years ago. The Old Testament of the Bible contains the history of what happened in the lives of the Israelites thousands of years ago. There are detailed accounts of how they came to live in the land we know as Israel and the names of their family members have become well known to millions of people around the world.

More people know the names Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob than probably any other names of individuals that have ever lived because the details of their lives are recorded in the Bible. One of the advantages of knowing the history of your ancestors is being able to know where you fit into their story and how your life will be impacting the lives of relatives that are yet to be born. Some of the things you do may not seem important now, but they could literally be changing the course of history for many years to come.

A key event in the life of Jacob was when he wrestled with God at Penuel the night before he was reunited with his brother Esau. It was at Penuel that Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and he received a special blessing; “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed” (Gen 32:28).

I’m pretty sure Gideon knew the significance of Penuel and chose to beat down the tower there to honor his great, great, great…grandfather Jacob. The interesting thing about Gideon’s stand at Penuel is that the victory he won after his arrival there seemed to be a turning point for him. His behavior was much more bold and courageous, perhaps as a tribute to or maybe even a result of Jacob’s blessing. In all, Gideon’s 300 soldiers defeated 135,000 Midianites. There is no way to account for the result except for divine intervention. The battle cry that was shouted as they entered the Midianite camp was “The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon” (Judges 7:18).

When Gideon’s conquest was completed, he confronted two kings of Midian named Zebah and Zalmunna. These two kings were directly responsible for the death of Gideon’s brothers who had probably fought against the Midianites in a previous war. The description of the men reveals that Gideon’s appearance had been transformed by his acts of courage. He was no longer the man who threshed wheat by the wine press to hide from the Midianites, but a leader, someone they respected. “Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, as thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king” (Judges 8:18).

Why me?

If you have ever thought, why me?, relative to God’s blessings in your life, you are probably a recipient of grace and can think of yourself as one of God’s chosen people. The word translated grace in Judges 6:17, chên (khane) means kindness or favor. In English, to show grace to someone would be equivalent to saying I like you or I love you.

A better way to understand grace is to put it in the context of the phrase in which it usually occurs, “grace in thy sight” (Judges 6:17). Looking at it this way, it is clear that it has something to do with God watching over his children. One of the characteristics of being in love is that you can’t take your eyes off the person, whenever he walks into the room, you immediately notice him and in a room full of people, he is the one that you pay attention to. To have grace in God’s sight means that he is paying special attention to you and is constantly watching you to make sure you are okay.

There are few people in the Old Testament of the Bible that received grace in God’s sight. Along with Noah and Abraham, Gideon is recorded as a recipient of God’s favor. Grace is neither earned or deserved, it is merely a result of the fact that God wants to bless people and looks for opportunities to do so. I sometimes wonder if I had anything at all to do with becoming a member of God’s family and the only thing I have been able to come up with to explain it is that I was a complete failure and had no hope of ever changing.

When the LORD looked upon Gideon and said, “Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites” (Judges 6:14), Gideon’s response was “my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judges 6:15). Gideon did not understand why God would want to use him and felt he was the least qualified person to lead God’s people to victory, but God’s grace was all he really needed and it was obviously enough because it says when the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said to him, “The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour” (Judges 6:12).

The word translated valour, chayil (khah´ yil) refers to power that is obtained through position, such as those that are a part of the upper class of society, or through wealth. Gideon’s recognition and acknowledgement that his family had no money and he was in the lowest position in the family indicates that he was a recipient of grace, there is no other way the angel’s statement could have been true. It is no wonder Gideon asked for a sign that God’s grace was really his, something he could rely on, it was truly unbelievable that he would lead the Israelites to victory against the Midianites.

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

Because we don’t see the spiritual warfare going on around us, we may forget or don’t realize that it is going on. Satan is described in the Bible as the ruler of this world. Everyone is under the power of Satan until and unless they confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. Spiritual warfare is the battle that is constantly being fought over the hearts and minds of those who live on Earth. It is unfortunate that most people are unaware of it and especially tragic that the unsaved have no idea that Satan is in control of their lives.

Victory is difficult to celebrate in spiritual warfare because you can’t always tell the extent to which the enemy has been defeated. It says in Luke 15:10 about salvation that “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” And in1 Peter 3:23 speaking of Jesus it says, “Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.” Before Jesus came into the world, there was no victory over sin and Satan reigned over the whole Earth, except in the Promised Land. Israel was God’s country and his dominion over the land was exempt from Satan’s sovereignty. So why was there and is there still constant warfare in the land of Israel?

When the Israelites settled in Canaan, they disobeyed God by not driving out al the inhabitants of the land. If they had, the Promised Land would have become a no man’s land to Satan because he was not allowed to touch God’s people. It was the influence of the Canaanites and the worship of their gods that caused the Israelites to betray God and act like they had when they lived in Egypt.

The battle with the Canaanites by the waters of Megiddo when God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan (Judges 4:23) was a sort of preview of coming attractions. In Revelation 16:16 it refers to a place called Armegeddon (mount Megiddo) where the final battle between God and Satan will be fought. Judges 6:20-24 give us insight into the way the battle lines will be drawn. All the heavenly host will be drawn together to take their final stand and on Earth there will be a call to fight, but not everyone will answer.

Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD against the mighty. Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. (Judges 5:23-24)