judgment

Idol worship

During the Israelites 400 years of slavery in Egypt, they became immersed in a culture of idol worship. It wasn’t long after God had delivered them that the people of Israel’s tendency to worship material objects became evident. It says in Exodus 32:1-4, “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ‘Up make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So Aaron said to them, ‘Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” Aaron offered the people idolatry as an alternative to worshipping the true God who had spoken to them on Mount Sinai. Exodus 19-20 tells us that God came down on Mount Sinai and spoke the words of the Ten Commandments directly to his chosen people. Exodus 20:1-6 states:

And God spoke all these words, saying,

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

When Moses came down from the mountain and saw the calf and the dancing, he threw the tablets on which God had written the Ten Commandments “out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it” (Exodus 32:19-20). “Moses had just been given the law by God (Exodus 32:15, 16), and it strictly forbade the worship of false gods. Even though the Israelites had promised earlier, ‘All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do’ (Exodus 24:3), they had forsaken him while Moses was on the mountain with God” (note on Exodus 32:26, 27).

The Israelites were instructed to take possession of the land that God had given them and to clear away the nations that were living there. Moses said, “When the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to server other gods” (Deuteronomy 7:2-4). Moses told the people of Israel not to pity the inhabitants of the land that they were going in to take possession of because, “that would be a snare to you” (Deuteronomy 7:16). The Hebrew word that is translated snare, moqesh (mo-kasheˊ) means “a noose…a snare, a trap, bait. The proper understanding of this Hebrew word is the lure of bait placed in a hunter’s trap. From this sense comes the primary use of the term to mean the snare itself. It is used to signify a trap by which birds or beasts are captured (Amos 3:5); a moral pitfall (Proverbs 18:7; 20:25); and anything that lures one to ruin and disaster (Judges 2:3; Proverbs 29:6)” (H4170).

The angel of the LORD reinforced Moses’ message to the people of Israel after they had failed to complete the conquest of the land of Canaan. Judges 2:1-3 states:

Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”

Israel’s unfaithfulness was primarily attributed to a lack of personal experience with the wars that were fought in the early years of Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land (Judges 3:1). It says in Judges 2:10-13, there arose another generation after Joshua’s death, “who did not know the LORD or the work he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, for among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the LORD to anger. They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.”

“Canaanite deities, such as the Baals and the Ashtoreths, remained a problem for Judah until the Babylonian exile. Other Canaanite deities included the Asherahs (Judges 3:7) and Dagon (Judges 16:23). It took seventy years of captivity to finally cure the Israelites of their idolatrous ways. Recent archeological discoveries have clarified some facts about the region of Canaan in the days of the judges. Baal and Ashtoreth were the names of two individual gods in a much larger and complicated system of polytheism, but they were also community gods whose names differed from region to region. For instance, there was the Baal called Baal of Peor (Numbers 25:3), Baal-Berith (Judges 8:33), and Baal-Zebub (2 Kings 1:2). It is for this reason that Scripture describes the Israelites as serving ‘Baal’ in some instances and ‘Baals’ in others. Overall, the religion of the Canaanites was extremely corrupt. It was characterized by the practices of human sacrifice, ritual prostitution and homosexuality, and self-mutilation. These religions taught that these practices were prevalent among their gods, so it is not surprising that the people became equally debased. Many false gods were particularly connected with agriculture (the seasons, weather, and grain) and some of God’s judgments against these people would ultimately discredit the supposed abilities of these Canaanite ‘gods’ (1 Kings 18:18-40; Hosea 2:8-13; Amos 4:4-12)” (note on Judges 2:13).

After Gideon’s supernatural victory over the Midianites, it says in Judges 8:22, “the men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.’ Gideon said to them, ‘I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you.’” Gideon’s refusal to take God’s place in the lives of the Israelites was commendable, but he made the mistake of taking a portion of the spoil from the war that he had fought and made an ephod which was put in his hometown of Ophrah (Judges 8:24-27). “The ephod mentioned here may have varied from the priestly ephod (Exodus 28:6-30) or may have been a mere copy of Aaron’s ephod, It came to be a form of idolatry because the object itself was worshiped rather than God” (note on Judges 8:27). It says in Judges 8:27, “All Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.”

Gideon’s direct assault to the altar of Baal that his father had erected may have caused him to become a target of spiritual warfare. It says of the incident in Judges 6:28-32:

When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it. ”But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” Therefore on that day Gideonwas called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.

Joash’s conclusion that Baal would contend against Gideon because he had broken down his alter was true in the sense that there is a real spiritual force that contends against God’s followers. The Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). The name that Gideon was called, Jerubbaal was said to mean, “Let Baal contend against him” (Judges 6:32) suggesting that Gideon became a target of the spiritual forces that were behind Baal worship.

Gideon’s construction of an ephod (Judges 8:27) may have opened him up to satanic influence. It states in Judges 8:29, “Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house.” The use of the name Jerubbaal might indicate that Gideon was acting according to the epithet that was associated with him. The passage goes on to say, “Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives. And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech” (Judges 8:30-31). A concubine was the illicit partner of a married person and therefore, Abimelech was not considered to be one of Gideon’s own offspring. Judges 9:1-2 states:

Now Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s relatives and said to them and to the whole clan of his mother’s family, “Say in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”

Abimelech was identified as the son of Jerubbaal even though he was Gideon’s illegitimate child. Abimelech’s question, “Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you or that one rule over you?” (Judges 9:2) points out the fact that he was not among “all the seventy sons of Jerubbaal,” but was identified with his mother’s relatives. Abimelech said to them, “I am your bone and your flesh.”

The Hebrew name that is translated Abimelech, Abiymelek (ab-ee-melˊ-ek) is derived from the words ab (awb) which means “father” (H40) and melek (mehˊ-lek) which means “a king” (H4428). “The word melek appears 2,500 times in the Old Testament. In many biblical contexts, this term is simply a general term, denoting an individual with power and authority…In pagan worship, the worshippers of idols attribute this term with it connotations to their idols (Isaiah 8:21; Amos 5:26). Abimelech’s suggestion that there should be only one ruler over the people of Israel implies that he was willing to take God’s place as the spiritual leader of the Israelites and viewed himself as a type of deity. This mindset is indicative of antichrist and is aligned with Satan’s objective of overturning the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. It says in Judges 9:3-6:

And his mother’s relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him. And he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself. And all the leaders of Shechem came together, and all Beth-millo, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar at Shechem.

“The house of Baal-berith” (Judges 9:4) refers to an idol temple. “An obvious contrast is made between Baal-Berith, which means ‘lord of the covenant,’ and the true God, with whom the Israelites had made their covenant. The Israelites were essentially exchanging one covenant for another. This apostasy was centered in Shechem, and Gideon opened the way for it by making the gold ephod” (note on Judges 8:33, 34).

Jotham, Gideon’s youngest son, escaped the slaughter of all Gideon’s male descendants. When he was told what had happened, Jotham went to a Mount Gerizim to confront the leaders of Shechem. Mount Gerizim was the designated location for Israel to receive God’s blessing after they entered the Promised Land. After the Israelites defeated Ai, Joshua renewed the Israelites’ covenant with God. Moses had commanded the people of Israel to erect “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man had wielded an iron tool” and offer burnt offerings to the LORD (Joshua 8:31). Joshua 8:32-34 states, “And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at first, to bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.” The reading of the blessing and the curse was meant to remind the Israelites of the choice they had made to keep the Ten Commandments and to love the LORD their God with all their hearts and with all their souls and with all their might (Deuteronomy 6:5). The mountains where the reading took place, Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, were symbolic of the two choices that Moses offered the Israelites at the close of his ministry. Moses said:

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)

Moses encouraged the people to choose life, but realized that not everyone wanted to obey God’s commandments. Mount Gerizim represented the blessing that would result from obedience and Mount Ebal the curse that was associated with idolatry. When Jotham confronted the leaders of Shechem from the top of Mount Gerizim, he told them a parable that was later revealed to be a curse (Judges 9:57). Jotham may have done this intentionally to confuse his listeners or he may have wanted to remind the people that they still had the option to choose life.

Jotham’s parable (Judges 9:7-15) “is one of the few parables in the Old Testament” (note on Judges 9:7-15). Jesus frequently spoke in parables and when he was asked why he did it, Jesus told his disciples:

“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

“‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,
    and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
    and with their ears they can barely hear,
    and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
    and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
    and turn, and I would heal them.’

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. (Matthew 13:11-17)

Jesus referred to the things that he was sharing with his disciples about God’s kingdom as secrets and said that many prophets and righteous people were not given access to the same information. The Greek word that is translated secrets, musterion (moos-tayˊ-ree-on) is where the word mystery comes from. From a biblical standpoint, a mystery is “something into which one must be initiated or instructed before it can be known; something of itself not obvious and above human insight.” Musterion is used “specifically, of the gospel, the Christian dispensation, as having been long hidden and first revealed in later times (Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 3:3, 4, 9; Colossians 2:2; 4:3; 1 Timothy 3:9)” (G3466).

Jotham’s parable was a type of gospel message in that it gave the people of Shechem an opportunity to repent and change the course of their actions, but it was delivered to the people as a pronouncement of judgment because the leaders of Shechem had already made Abimelech king (Judges 9:6). Jotham said, “If you have acted in good faith and integrity when you made Abimelech king…then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. But if not, let fire come out of Abimelech and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo” (Judges 9:16-20). God dealt with the apostasy that was centered in Shechem by letting Abimelech become the source of his own family’s demise (Judges 9:46-49). It says in Judges 9:55, “And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, everyone departed to his home.” The anticlimactic ending of Abimelech’s life not only showed that the false god Baal-berith was unable to protect his followers, but also that God would indeed execute the curses on his people that were promised for idol worship. Judges 9:56-57 states, “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.”

Escalation

The Israelites crossing of the Jordan River initiated a series of military conflicts that escalated over time. At first, the people of Canaan hunkered down and waited for the Israelites to attack them (Joshua 6:1), but as time went on, the kings of the nations joined forces and waged war against Israel (Joshua 9:1-2). Joshua 11:1-5 tells us:

When Jabin, king of Hazor, heard of this, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in Naphoth-dor on the west, to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

Joshua described the armies that were coming together to fight against Israel as “a great horde, in number like the sand that is on the seashore” (Joshua 11:4). We know that Joshua was afraid because the LORD said to him, “Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel” (Joshua 11:6).

Joshua and all his warriors came against the great horde that was encamped against them suddenly and fell upon them (Joshua 11:7). The way that Joshua dealt with the situation was to launch an immediate attack with the intention of overthrowing his enemies as quickly as possible. His strategy was consistent with the message he received from the LORD, indicating that Joshua believed what the LORD had told him. “And the LORD gave them into the hand of Israel, who struck them and chased them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. And they struck them until he left none remaining. And Joshua did to them just as the LORD said to him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire. And Joshua turned back at that time and captured Hazor and struck its king with the sword, for Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms” (Joshua 8-10). Unlike the battle of Jericho, the Israelites had to engage in hand to hand combat when they attacked the great horde that came up against them in order to overthrow their enemies. The key thing to note was that even though their opponents’ army was “in number like the sand that is on the seashore” (Joshua 11:4), “they struck them until he left none remaining” (Joshua 11:8). Afterward, there was no one left in the enemy’s army.

The relief that the Israelites felt as a result of the great horde of soldiers being completely wiped out is captured in Psalm 149. It states:

Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise in the assembly of the godly!
Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
    let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
Let them praise his name with dancing,
    making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!
For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
    he adorns the humble with salvation.
Let the godly exult in glory;
    let them sing for joy on their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their throats
    and two-edged swords in their hands,
to execute vengeance on the nations
    and punishments on the peoples,
to bind their kings with chains
    and their nobles with fetters of iron,
to execute on them the judgment written!
    This is honor for all his godly ones.
Praise the Lord!

The Israelites’ excitement caused them to want to spontaneously praise the LORD, sing to the LORD, be glad, dance, and make melodies to him with their musical instruments. The people of Israel were literally overjoyed because of the great victory they had gained over their enemies.

A statement that is made in the middle of Psalm 149 emphasizes the connection between warfare and worship of God. Psalms 149:6 states, “Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands.” The word of God is likened to a two-edged sword in Hebrews 4:12, which states, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The writer of Hebrews went on to connect God’s word with judgment by stating, “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account” (Hebrews 4:13). The two-edged sword is also used symbolically in the book of Revelation to depict Christ’s gospel (Revelation 1:16). It says in Revelation 19:15 that Christ’s sword will be used to “strike down the nations.” With this in mind, it seems that Psalm 149:6 might by referring to spiritual warfare rather than physical warfare, but it is more than likely both. The psalmist continued, “Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute on them the judgment written! This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 149:6-9). These verses correlate with God’s stated purpose for the Israelites entering the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 9:4-6) and the outcome of the Israelites’ battles with the armies of the northern kingdoms (11:16-20). The final statement, “This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 149:9) indicates that our desire to praise God is linked to the effect that a victory over our enemies has on us personally.

God’s use of his saints to execute judgment on the people of the world that had rejected him is said to have resulted in “honor for all his godly ones” (Psalm 149:9). The Hebrew word that is translated honor in Psalm 149:9, hadar (haw-dawrˊ) means “magnificence” and is a counterpart to Hebrew words for “glory” and “dignity.” “Thus hadar means not so much overwhelming beauty as a combination of physical attractiveness and social position” (H1926). One of the things that honor is associated with in the Bible is weight. The Hebrew word kabed (kaw-badeˊ) means “to be heavy” (H3513) and is translated honor in the Fifth Commandment which states, “Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12). The idea behind the Bible’s concept of honor was likely precious metals which were valued by their weight and were an indicator of wealth. Therefore, the more honor a person received, the heavier he was considered to be from a measurement perspective.

Psalm 149:4 explains that the way God bestows honor on his people is through salvation. It states, “For the LORD takes pleasure in his people: he adorns the humble with salvation.” The Hebrew word that is translated adorns, paʾar (pawˊ-ar) means to beautify or to embellish. In a figurative sense paʾar can mean “to boast” (H6286). Salvation was initially a way for God to differentiate between the Israelites, his chosen people, and everyone else. God’s deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt was considered to be salvation in a similar way to what we think of it because it kept the descendants of Jacob from becoming extinct as a people group. “’Salvation’ in the Old Testament is not understood as a salvation from sin, since the word denotes broadly anything from which ‘deliverance’ must be sought: distress, war, servitude, or enemies…The worst reproach that could be made against a person was that God did not come to his rescue” (H3444). The fact that God adorns only the humble with salvation has to do with the way that he works in people’s lives. The primary root of the Hebrew word that is translated humble is ʿanah (aw-nawˊ) which means “to be afflicted, be bowed down, be humbled, be meek…Frequently the verb expresses the idea that God sends affliction for disciplinary purposes” (H6031). ʿAnah is identical with ʿanah (aw-nawˊ) which is properly translated as “to eye or (generally) to heed, i.e. pay attention; by implication to respond; by extension to begin to speak; specifically to sing, shout, testify, announce” (H6030).

God often escalates the conflict or affliction in our lives in order to draw us closer to him. Paul said in his second letter to the Corinthians, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory, beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). Paul spoke of an eternal weight of glory that is beyond all comparison that believers are being prepared for through affliction. The Greek word that Paul used that is translated glory, doxa (doxˊ-ah) is where the English word doxology comes from. “Doxa, ‘glory’ primarily signifies an opinion, estimate, and hence, the honor resulting from a good opinion” (G1391). An example of this expression is the saying, “He’s worth his weight in gold.” “This refers to a person’s subjective mental estimate or opinion about something. A person’s doxa (G1391) may be right or wrong since it always involves the possibility of error [except when used of Jesus]. It always signifies a subjective estimate of a thing, not the objective appearance and qualities the thing actually possesses” (G1380). The point that Paul was likely trying to make when he said that our eternal weight of glory would be beyond all comparison was that our reputation in heaven would be blown way out of proportion, extremely overstated, compared to our actual accomplishments on earth, because of God’s grace and mercy in our lives (2 Corinthians 4:15).

Joshua 11:21-23 tells us:

And Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain. So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.

Joshua was credited with cutting off the Anakim from the hill country and taking the whole land even though he likely had little to no direct involvement in determining these outcomes. When the situation escalated and a great horde of troops encamped to fight against Israel (Joshua 11:4-5), the LORD told Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel” (Joshua 11:6). The LORD indicated that he would give over all of them, slain, to Israel. In other words, the LORD was going to kill everyone and then, transfer possession of the dead bodies from his army to Joshua’s, so that, essentially, Joshua didn’t have to do anything except show up for the battle. Afterward, Joshua recorded, “And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the people of Israel defeated on the west side of the Jordan…in all, thirty-one kings” (Joshua 12:7-24). The reason why Joshua was able to take credit for the defeat of the thirty-one kings on the west side of the Jordan was because his army was present when the LORD’s spiritual battles were taking place.

The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into what will take place when the world’s rebellion against God escalates into a final conflict referred to as the battle of Armageddon. Similar to the war between Israel’s army and the kingdoms of the north, the kings of the earth and their armies will gather together to fight against the LORD. The scene begins with the entrance of a rider on a white horse. John says:

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. (Revelation 19:11-21)

We know the rider on the white horse is Jesus because he is called “The Word of God” and “He is clothed in a robe dipped inblood” (Revelation 19:13). At this point, Jesus has returned to earth in his resurrected body and brings with him the armies of heaven who are “arrayed in fine linen, white and pure” (Revelation 19:14). “Their robes of white indicate this to be the redeemed church—bride of Christ—returning in triumph with her heavenly Bridegroom (cf. 19:8; 17:14)” (note on Revelation 19:14, KJSB), who are prepared to fight with the Lord.

The most interesting thing about the battle of Armageddon is that no fighting actually takes place. John’s account of the battle indicates that the beast and the false prophet “were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse” (Revelation 19:20-21). The Word of God, Jesus was able to kill outright those who were gathered to make war against him. Zechariah’s prophecy provides more detail about what happens to the people that are slain. Zechariah states, “And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh shall rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths” (Zechariah 14:12). Zechariah describes what happens as a plague and says that their flesh, eyes, and tongue will rot away. The Hebrew word that is translated rot, maqaq (maw-kakˊ) means “to melt; figuratively to flow, dwindle, vanish” (H4743). The power that is displayed by the Word of God (Jesus) is His ability to dissolve that which exists in the material world.

The LORD’s instruction to Joshua when he was confronted by a great horde of troops that was “in number like the sand that is on the seashore” (Joshua 11:4) was “Do not be afraid of them” (Joshua 11:6). “This is not simple fear, but reverence, whereby an individual recognizes the power and position of the individual revered and renders him proper respect” (H3372). Proverbs 23:17-18 provides an explanation of why Joshua’s trust needed to remain in the LORD when the situation he was dealing with escalated to the point that he was willing to accept defeat. It states:

Let not your heart envy sinners,
but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.
Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.

In this instance, the phrase all the day has to do with a period of time of unspecified duration (H3117). It could be an entire lifetime or a season of testing or the length of a specific trial you are going through. The Hebrew word that is translated future, ʾachariyth (akh-ar-eethˊ) means “the last or end” and may refer to the outcome of something (H319). The statement “your hope will not be cut off” (Proverbs 23:18) is intended to reflect God’s involvement in the lives of believers. Hope is an important aspect of faith or believing in Christ. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (KJV). The Hebrew word that is translated hope in Proverbs 23:18, tiqvâh (tik-vawˊ) literally means “a cord (as an attachment)” (H8615) and is comparable to the word qaveh (kaw-vehˊ) which refers to “a (measuring) cord (as if for binding)” (H6961). Figuratively, tiqvâh is used to refer to expectancy in the sense that you are attached to an outcome and you believe that it is only a matter of time until you achieve it. In Jacob’s case, God told him “tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel.” Joshua had to adjust his thinking and do his part in order for this to happen. Joshua 11:7-8 tells us, “So Joshua and all his warriors came suddenly against them by the waters of Merom and fell upon them. And the LORD gave them into the hand of Israel who struck them and chased them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. And they struck them until he left none remaining.”

God’s representative

The Old Testament prophets were considered to be inspired spokesmen for God. “Moses was the greatest prophet of the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 34:10) and the example for all later prophets. He displayed every aspect of a true prophet, both in his call, his work, his faithfulness, and, at times, his doubts. Only Abraham is called a prophet before Moses (Genesis 20:7)” (H5030). A prophet was someone “who was raised up by God and, as such, could only proclaim that which the Lord gave him to say. A prophet could not contradict the Law of the Lord or speak from his own mind or heart.” When Balak the king of Moab sent for Balaam and asked him to curse the people of Israel, Balaam refused to do it (Numbers 22:14). “Balaam lived a long distance away from Moab, yet he must have been quite famous for Balak to have known of him and have sent for him. Archeological evidence from Deir Alla indicates that Balaam was highly regarded by pagans five hundred years after his death. His activity is described as divination and sorcery (Numbers 22:7, cf. Numbers 23:23; 24:1)” (note on Numbers 22:5). The fact that Balaam was known as a false prophet, a sorcerer if you will, didn’t stop him from being under God’s authority and control. After Balaam refused to go with the elders of Moab, Numbers 22:15-21 states:

Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these. And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing hinder you from coming to me, for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.’” But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.

God allowed Balaam to go with the princes of Moab, but he also made it clear that Balaam had to obey his instructions. Balaam referred to the LORD as “my God” (Numbers 22:18) even though he was not an Israelite and had not been called to be a prophet. Balaam told Balak the king of Moab, “Behold, I have come to you! Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak” (Numbers 22:38).

Balak’s attempt to get Balaam to curse the people of Israel was driven by fear (Numbers 22:3) and the hope that he could stop God’s chosen people from overtaking the land of Moab (Numbers 22:6). After Balaam delivered his first discourse, Balak realized his plan wasn’t working. “And Balak said to Balaam, ‘What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.’ And he answered and said, ‘Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth’” (Numbers 23:11-12). Balaam’s second discourse made it even clearer that Balak’s attempts to curse the Israelites were futile. Balaam stated:

Rise, Balak, and hear;
    give ear to me, O son of Zippor:
God is not man, that he should lie,
    or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
    Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Behold, I received a command to bless:
    he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob,
    nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them,
    and the shout of a king is among them.
God brings them out of Egypt
    and is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
For there is no enchantment against Jacob,
    no divination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
    ‘What has God wrought!’
Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up
    and as a lion it lifts itself;
it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey
    and drunk the blood of the slain.” (Numbers 23:18-24)

Balaam indicated that there was no enchantment or magic spell that would work against the descendants of Jacob and Balak’s attempts to use divination against them were useless (Numbers 23:23). The reason Balaam gave for Israel’s special treatment was that “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind” (Numbers 23:19). Balaam also specified that God’s word was linked to his covenant with Jacob and he could not revoke it (Numbers 23:20).

The Hebrew word qesem (kehˊ-sem), which is translated divination in Numbers 23:23 describes the cultic practice of foreign nations that was prohibited in Israel (Deuteronomy 18:10) and was considered a great sin. “False prophets used divination to prophecy in God’s name, but God identified them as false (Jeremiah 14:14; Ezekiel 13:6); and pledged to remove such practices from Israel (Ezekiel 13:23)” (H7081). One of the last mentions of divination in the Old Testament appears in Zechariah 10 which deals with the restoration of Judah and Israel and makes mention of God’s concern for his people. Zechariah 10:2-5 states:

For the household gods utter nonsense,
    and the diviners see lies;
they tell false dreams
    and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
    they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.

“My anger is hot against the shepherds,
    and I will punish the leaders;
for the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
    and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
From him shall come the cornerstone,
    from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
    from him every ruler—all of them together.
They shall be like mighty men in battle,
    trampling the foe in the mud of the streets;
they shall fight because the Lord is with them,
    and they shall put to shame the riders on horses.

In this passage, Jesus is referred to as the cornerstone. After he told the parable of the tenants (Matthew 21:33-40), in which the chief priests and the Pharisees perceived that Jesus was talking about them (Matthew 21:45), Jesus asked the Jews in the temple that had gathered to listen to him:

“Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him” (Matthew 21:42-44).

John’s gospel opens with a description of Jesus as “the Word” (John 1:1). John said, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). John went on to say, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:10-11). John connected the Word of God to God’s creative acts and said, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). The Greek word that is translated known, exogeomai (ex-ayg-ehˊ-om-ahee) means “to consider out (aloud)” and also “to bring out or lead out, to take the lead, be the leader” (G1834). One of the primary reasons Jesus came into the world was to make God known and he did it in a way that had never been done before. Hebrews 1:1-4 states:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

The phrase “exact imprint” (Hebrews 1:3) refers to the representation of God’s nature being stamped on Jesus as if it was being permanently engraved on a stone. With respect to the Ten Commandments which were written on stone tablets with the finger of God (Exodus 31:18), you might say that Jesus was the embodiment of the Ten Commandments in that through Jesus, the words that God wrote were being brought to life, enacted by way of Jesus’ sinless human nature.

Jesus’ encounter with an invalid man at the pool of Bethesda illustrates the effect that God’s word has on sinners. Jesus began by posing the question, “Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:6). The King James Version of the Bible translates Jesus’ question “Wilt thou be made whole?” This suggests that one of the effects of sin is that it makes us to feel like there is something missing in our lives. Jesus wanted to know if the man had a desire for his life to get better. That might seem like a stupid question except that the man’s response showed that he didn’t believe it was possible for him to do what was necessary for his healing to take place (John 5:7). Jesus then commanded the man, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk” (John 5:8). The Greek words that are translated get up, egeiro (eg-iˊ-ro); take up, airo (ahˊ-ee-ro); and walk, peripateo (per-ee-pat-ehˊ-o) all have a spiritual connotation that indicate Jesus was expecting the man to acknowledge his divine authority. John 5:9 states, “And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.” Later, when Jesus encountered the man a second time, he told him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you” (John 5:14). Jesus’ statement made it clear that doing what God tells us to can restore us to health, but we must change our behavior if we want to avoid getting into trouble in the first place.

When the Jews criticized Jesus for healing the invalid man on the Sabbath, Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working. This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:17-18). Jesus’ equality with God was evident in both his actions and the things that he said. In the Old Testament, when a prophet spoke on behalf of God, he would typically preface his statement with “thus says the Lord” (Isaiah 7:7), but Jesus didn’t do that. Jesus talked as if he was God, as when he commanded the man he healed, “Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you” (John 5:14). Jesus’ comment about the ongoing work of God (John 5:17) had to do with God’s plan of salvation, which had yet to be completed. Jesus indicated that his ministry was a part of God’s plan of salvation and that the things he was doing, like healing the invalid man, were connected to what God wanted to accomplish. Jesus went on to say, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5:19). Even though Jesus was equal with God, he said that he couldn’t do anything of his own accord, meaning that he could not act independently and decide on his own what he should do in any given situation. In that sense, Jesus was merely God’s representative on earth. The Greek word poieo (poy-ehˊ-o) is used four times in John 5:19 to emphasize the importance of action in the spiritual realm. Poieo is “spoken of any external act as manifested in the production of something tangible, corporeal, obvious to the senses, i.e. completed action” (G4160). Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing” (John 5:19). The word sees in this verse refers to spiritual perception and suggests that Jesus had to rely on spiritual discernment in order to carry out his assignment of dying for the sins of the world. The phrase can do nothing means that Jesus in an absolute sense had no power of his own to rely on. Jesus could only do that which he was able to discern through spiritual perception was the will of his Father. Jesus spoke of himself as being sent by his Father (John 5:23). The Greek word that is translated sent, pempo (pemˊ-po) means to dispatch “especially on a temporary errand” (G3992) and does not necessarily denote any official capacity or authoritative sending. Jesus came into the world as a servant (Matthew 20:28) and as a human was limited in his ability to do things, just as we are.

Jesus told the Jews:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. (John 5:25-27)

Jesus indicated that he had been given authority to execute judgment. An example of Jesus exercising this authority is given in Matthew 9:1-8 where it states:

And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Jesus used the authority that he had been given to execute judgment to forgive the sins of people that were suffering from various illnesses and physical defects. Also, Jesus gave his disciples the ability to do the same. Matthew 10:1 states, “And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.”

Jesus explained to the Jews that he was been given the power to release people from the penalty of their sins because he wasn’t doing it for his own benefit. Jesus said, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:30). And then, Jesus went on to say, “For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me” (John 5:36). Jesus wanted to make sure that the Jews understood that it wasn’t because he was a nice guy that he was going around forgiving peoples’ sins. God wanted his people to be healthy and happy. The Apostle Peter wrote in his second epistle, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The problem that the Jews had with God’s plan of salvation was not that his grace was sufficient to remove their sins, but that God’s grace was capable of getting rid of the sins of everyone. Peter said that God is not willing that any should perish and that all would repent of their sins. Jesus made God’s will perfectly clear to the Jews during his ministry by associating with the outcasts of society and by becoming the friend of tax collectors and sinners.

Forgiveness

Jesus warned his disciples of a future day of judgment and said, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37). The Greek word that is translated give account, logos (log’-os) refers to something said including the thought, “also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension a computation” (G3056). What this seems to suggest is that everything we say is somehow being recorded and when we stand before God to be judged he will use our own statements to determine our innocence or guilt in the things we have done during our lifetimes.

Jesus indicated that people who are bound in sin are loosed by the preaching of the gospel (Matthew 16:16-19) and said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done” (Matthew 16:24-27). The Greek word that is translated save, sozo (sode’-zo) speaks “specifically of salvation from eternal death, sin, and the punishment and misery consequent to sin” (G4982). The point Jesus was making was that it is impossible for someone to save himself. Our sins must be forgiven or we will be separated from God for eternity.

Jesus taught his followers to ask God for forgiveness (Matthew 6:12) and promised them, “If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15). Peter asked Jesus, “how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:21-22). Jesus’ response was meant to indicate that there is no limit to the amount of forgiveness that we can give or receive because God’s grace is sufficient to cover all sins. Jesus used the parable of the unforgiving servant to illustrate his point. He said:

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Jesus explained that forgiveness was not based on the amount of debt one owed, but the creditor’s willingness to show compassion to another human being. Jesus said that we must forgive our brother from the heart. In other words, we need to be a compassionate person in order to express compassion to others.

Joseph’s encounter with his brothers when they came to Egypt to buy food during the famine showed that he was initially hard hearted toward them and treated them cruelly (Genesis 42:7-17), but his attitude changed when he saw their remorse. Genesis 21-22 states:

Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has some upon us.” And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.”

Reuben and the others realized they were guilty of a sin against their brother and they believed God was holding them accountable for it, but they didn’t know that Joseph was the Egyptian governor they were talking to and that he understood everything they were saying because he was using an interpreter to speak to them (Genesis 42:23). After hearing their confession of guilt, it says in Genesis 42:24 that Joseph “turned away from them and wept.”

Joseph’s lamentation for his brothers demonstrated that he felt compassion for them. Instead of making them all stay in prison until their brother Benjamin was brought to Egypt, Joseph only took one of the brothers. “And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey” (Genesis 42:25). Joseph’s change of heart was a result of him seeing and hearing the misery of his brothers’ guilt. In his parable of the unforgiving servant, Jesus said, “out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt” (Matthew 18:27). The Greek word that is translated pity, splagchnizomai (splangkh-nid’-zom-ahee) means to feel sympathy (G4697). “Splagchnon are the bowels which were regarded by the Hebrews as the seat of tender affections” (G4698).

The Greek word that is translated mercy in Matthew 18:33, eleeo (el-eh-eh’-o) “means to feel sympathy with the misery of another, especially such sympathy as manifests itself in act (G1653). Eleeo is derived from the word eleos (el’-eh-os). “Eleos is the free gift for the forgiveness of sins and is related to the misery that sin brings. God’s tender sense of our misery displays itself in His efforts to lessen and entirely remove it…It is used of men; for since God is merciful to them, He would have them show mercy to one another” (G1656). After the servant who owed ten thousand talents refused to forgive his fellow servant, Jesus said, “Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailors, until he should pay all his debt” (Matthew 18:32-34).

Jesus talked about forgiveness in the context of salvation. The Greek word eleos “is used of God, who is rich in mercy, Ephesians 2:4, and who has provided salvation for all men” (G1656). The act of salvation is sometimes described as being converted. Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). The Greek word that is translated turn, strepho (stref’-o) means to turn quite around or reverse (G4762) and is similar to the Hebrew word shuwb (shoob). The basic meaning of the verb shuwb is movement back to the point of departure. “The process called conversion or turning to God is in reality a re-turning or a turning back again to Him from whom sin has separated us, but whose we are by virtue of creation, preservation and redemption” (H7725).

The Hebrew word shuwb is used in Genesis 42:24 where it says of Joseph, “Then he turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them.” It seems likely that when Joseph turned away from his brothers and wept he was converted; his heart was changed and he was able to forgive his brothers. After that, Joseph showed his brothers mercy by letting them go back home, returning the money they paid for their grain, and giving them provisions for their journey (Genesis 42:25-26). Joseph’s merciful actions prompted his brothers to fear that God’s involvement in their situation would lead to their undoing. When one of the brothers saw that his money was in the mouth of his sack, “He said to his brothers, ‘My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!’ At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, ‘What is this that God has done to us?'”

Joseph’s brothers were fearful because they knew they were not being treated the way they should have been. The unusual circumstances of their attempt to buy food in Egypt caused these men’s hearts to fail them. In other words, Joseph’s brothers were caught off guard or you might say tripped up by what was happening to them. Joseph’s course treatment and then his reversal by sending them back home with their money hidden in their bags was not only confusing, but also detrimental to his brothers’ spiritual well-being because they were unaware of what was going on and didn’t know why the Egyptian governor (Joseph) was treating them the way he did.

Jesus warned his disciples about causing others to sin. He said, “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). One of the definitions of the Greek word that is translated sin in this verse is “to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey” (G4624). Joseph’s brothers and their families were suffering because of the famine in the land of Canaan and needed food to sustain their lives. Joseph’s harsh treatment of his brothers and his demand that they bring their brother Benjamin to Egypt to prove they weren’t lying to him made it more difficult for them to return to Egypt when their food ran out a second time (Genesis 42:38).

Jesus’ reference to little ones who believe in him in Matthew 18:6 was meant to point out that any person who has faith in God is considered to be just as important and valuable to God as Jesus is. Even though Jesus used the example of a child when he talked about little ones who believe in him (Matthew 18:2, 5), it’s possible he was talking about new or immature believers. He said, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10-11) and then he went on to say:

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. (Matthew 18_12-14)

Jesus instructed his disciples to not go among the Gentiles, “but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6) and told the Canaanite woman, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). Therefore, it seems likely that the little ones Jesus was talking about when he warned his disciples not to cause them to sin were the Jews that were supposed to inherit God’s kingdom.

In his parable of the lost sheep, Jesus asked, “If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them had gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?” (Matthew 18:12). The Greek word that is translated gone astray, planao (plan-ah’-o) has to do with deception and is used in Revelation 12:9 with a definite article “as a title of the Devil” (G4105). One of the reasons believers go astray is because the devil deceives them and makes them believe a lie (Ephesians 4:14). Paul instructed the Ephesians, “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil…Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:25-32).

Joseph’s harsh treatment of his brothers may have been warranted, but it wasn’t helpful and caused a situation that was already difficult to become even worse. Joseph could have revealed his identity to his brothers when he first saw them and let them know that he was put in his position to take care of their physical needs, but instead Joseph took advantage of his brother’s guilty consciences and tortured them into thinking they were unworthy of God’s mercy. Jesus told his disciples, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother” (Matthew 18:15). Gaining your brother meant that you had won him to Christ or that he had been saved (G2770). Jesus went on to say, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18).

Spiritual bondage seems to be associated with a lack of forgiveness, except that the person that suffers is not the one who has committed the sin, but the one who was sinned against. Like the unforgiving servant in Jesus’ parable, Joseph was unwilling to forgive his brothers after God delivered him from prison and placed him a powerful position in Egypt. Instead of forgiving them, Joseph used the position God gave him to torment his brothers and to capitalize on their guilty consciences. Even though he didn’t change his behavior immediately, Joseph did begin to show signs of tenderheartedness when he “turned away from them and wept” (Genesis 42:24) after he overheard his brothers admitting, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother” (Genesis 42:21).

Hypocrites

Jesus condemned the scribes and Pharisees because they pretended to be servants of God, but were actually agents of Satan. Jesus used the word hypocrites eight times in Matthew 23 to describe their behavior. He said, “woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). When Jesus said, “ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men,” he was basically saying that the scribes and Pharisees were closing the door to salvation. Because of them, no one was getting saved. Jesus went on to say, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). In other words, the scribes and Pharisees were winning souls for the devil and his kingdom rather than for God.

The Greek word Jesus used that is translated hypocrite, hupokrites (hoop-ok-ree-tace´) refers to a stage player, “an actor under an assumed character” (G5973). The word hypokrites is derived from the word hupokrinomai (hoop-ok-rin´-om-ahee) which means to decide (speak or act) under a false part (G5971). You could say that a hypocrite is a false believer, someone that calls himself a Christian, but is actually not saved. One of the characteristics of the scribes and Pharisees was that their behavior appeared to be consistent with the Mosaic Law. They seemed to be doing everything the law said they were supposed to. Jesus said of these men, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye ar full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matthew 23:27-28). The implication being that the scribes and Pharisees were intentionally deceiving people into thinking they were model citizens.

On a previous occasion, the scribes and Pharisees had brought a woman to Jesus that they said was “taken in adultery” (John 8:3). John’s account of this incident suggests that the woman’s accusers had caught her in the act (John 8:4). After hearing their accusation, John said, “But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lift up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:6-7). The problem with the situation Jesus was dealing with was that only the woman was brought to him for judgment. According to the reference note on John 8:3, “The incident was staged to trap Jesus (v.6), and provision had been made for the man to escape. The woman’s accusers must have been especially eager to humiliate her, since they could have kept her in private custody while they spoke to Jesus.” The scribes and Pharisees apparently thought Jesus would be willing to condemn the woman based only on their testimony.

When Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her,” he knew these men were guilty of breaking one or more of the Ten Commandments. His strategy was to get them to see that they were no better than the woman they were asking him to punish. John said, “And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst” (John 8:9). No one knows for sure what Jesus wrote on the ground, but I’ve heard it suggested that Jesus wrote the Ten Commandments or perhaps, the specific commandments that each of the scribes and Pharisees had broken. Of course, they were all guilty of some crime and may have even committed adultery themselves. Therefore, Jesus’ strategy was effective in exposing their hypocrisy and getting them to realize that they also deserved to be stoned.

Too late

On August 14, 591 B.C., “certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD” (Ezekiel 20:1). At that time, the fall of Jerusalem was inevitable and king Zedekiah’s plan to escape into the desert was most likely already in place. The elders of Israel may have been hoping that Ezekiel would give them an alternative to what they had already heard from the prophet Jeremiah. The fact that they went to see Ezekiel while he was being held captive in Babylon suggests that the elders of Israel were expecting Ezekiel to be aware of the current situation in Jerusalem and was able to tell them what to do even though he had been in captivity for more that seven years. Otherwise, there would have been no point for the elders to travel such a long distance to get his advice.

Unfortunately, the elders of Israel were disappointed when they arrived. Instead of receiving the latest news from God’s appointed messenger, the elders of Israel were told it was too late for them to seek God’s counsel, their judgment was already sealed and God would not reconsider his sentence against them (Ezekiel 20:31). Ezekiel was instructed to pronounce sentence against them and was told exactly what to say so that the elders of Israel would realize time had run out and Jerusalem would soon be destroyed.

The seriousness of Israel’s wrongdoing was such that God had Ezekiel recite the history of their idolatry from its beginning in the desert outside of Egypt before the people ever entered the Promised Land. Several times, God wanted to pour out his fury, but spared the people for his own name’s sake. Eventually, God gave up on his effort to change the Israelites’ behavior and let them have their own way. He explained to Ezekiel, “Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. Wherefore, I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 20:24-26). In other words, God let them do what they wanted to so that they would become aware of their own sinful way of life.

The missing book

King Josiah, the grandson of Hezekiah, began to reign in Judah when he was only eight years old (2 Kings 22:1). His reign began in 640 B.C. and it says in 2 Kings 22:3 that in the eighteenth year of his reign, approximately 622 B.C., he launched a building project to restore the temple of God. A hundred years had passed since the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel and the Assyrian empire was on the verge of collapse. While the temple construction was going on, Hilkiah the high priest “found the book of the law in the house of the LORD” (2 Kings 22:8).

There is no mention in scripture of the book of the law being lost, nor any indication of when it had last been used in temple worship services. The last reference to the temple was at the beginning of Hezekiah’s reign. It says in 2 Chronicles 29:3, “He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.” That was in 715 B.C. It is possible the book was hidden during the reign of Queen Athaliah, along with Joash her grandson, in order to prevent the queen from destroying them around 840 B.C. (2 Chronicles 22:11-12).

Hilkiah the high priest gave the book to king Josiah’s scribe Shaphan. “And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes” (2 Kings 22:10-11). We don’t know whether Shaphan read the entire book of the law known as the Pentateuch or just the sections dealing with God’s commandments, but it is likely Shaphan concluded with the book of Deuteronomy which specifies the blessings and curses associated with keeping the law.

Josiah’s reaction to hearing the law indicated he was aware Judah was in trouble. Typically, a person rent his clothes as a sign of mourning, such as when Job received the news that all his children were dead (Job 1:20). Josiah sent several men to inquire of the LORD and he received a message through the prophetess Huldah. She said, “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah read” (2 Kins 22:15-16).

The place God was referring to was Jerusalem. The holy city had been corrupted by idolatry and had reached the point where no one cared about the law anymore as evidenced by the high priest’s ignorance of the book of the law’s whereabouts. The good news for Josiah was God would spare him from going into captivity. God told him, “Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place” (2 Kings 22:20).

Burdens

God was not only interested in the sins of Israel, but also the sins of the entire world, when he put together his plan of salvation. What differentiated God’s children from everyone else was his mercy toward the nation of Israel. As God had promised Abraham that he would make of him a great nation, so also he said he would “bless them that bless thee and curse them that curseth thee” (Genesis 12:2-3).

The Assyrian empire was a key enemy of the nation of Israel because it wanted to create a single world system that its king would rule over. Within the Assyrian empire was a city known as Babylon that would one day rise to the top of God’s most evil list. Babylon symbolized the world powers arrayed against God’s kingdom and its role in the downfall of Judah and Jerusalem made it a target of God’s judgment.

In his burden of Babylon recital, Isaiah stated, “the day of the LORD cometh cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it” (Isaiah 13:9). Isaiah spoke of a purging of sinners that would be cruel, meaning it would be violent and deadly (393). God intended to punish the world for its mistreatment of his people. In particular, Isaiah said of Babylon, “the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isaiah 13:19).

In his discourse, Isaiah spoke of the king of Babylon as if he were Satan himself. Isaiah said, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12-15). The king of Babylon was a type of antichrist, perhaps the first leader that attempted to exterminate the Jews.

God’s overthrow of the Assyrian empire was intended to set in motion the collapse of Satan’s kingdom on earth. The link between Jewish captivity and the destruction of Babylon was necessary to establish the true source of Israel’s spiritual weakness, idolatry. God said he would break the Assyrian and tread him under foot, “then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders” (Isaiah 14:25).

Judgment

God’s government system operates in such a way that once a verdict has been rendered it cannot be appealed or pardoned. The sentence must be carried out. There were two situations in king Ahab’s life where judgments were pronounced against him. The first was when he made a covenant with Ben-hadad, king of Syria (1 Kings 20:34) and the second was when he stole Naboth’s vineyard (1 Kings 21:16).

The second message of judgment was delivered to Ahab by Elijah. “And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD, behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel…And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel” (1 Kings 21:20-21, 23).

After hearing God’s judgment against him, Ahab repented (1 Kings 21:27), so God delayed his punishment until after Ahab was dead (1 Kings 21:29). It wasn’t until 15 years later, during the reign of Joram the son of Ahab, that Jehu was anointed to be king of Israel and God’s judgment was carried out (2 Kings 9:8). As Jehu road in a chariot toward Joram’s castle, a watchman saw him and told Joram he was coming. “And Joram said, Take a horseman and send to meet him, and let him say, Is it peace?” (2 Kings 9:17).

Joram was unaware of the purpose of Jehu’s visit. As soon as Jehu was anointed to be king, he rode in a chariot 45 miles to Jezreel where Joram was (2 Kings 9:16) in order to surprise him. If Joram knew what Jehu intended to do, he could have protected himself and foiled Jehu’s plan. As it was, Joram ended up right where Jehu wanted him. “And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out each in his chariot, and they went against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite” (2 Kings 9:21).

With one shot, Jehu killed Joram and his body was thrown into the field that Ahab had stolen from Naboth. Then, Jehu went to the apartment where Jezebel was staying. “And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? And he lift up his face to the window, and said, who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot” (2 Kings 9:33).

Judgment

Israel’s miraculous defeat of the Syrian army (1 Kings 20:29) made it clear that God intended to eliminate the threat of a future attack from Ben-hadad. Ahab’s decision to form an alliance with the king of Syria may have been an attempt to accomplish God’s will in a different manner, but it did not guarantee that Ben-hadad would leave Israel alone.

While it is true that God is merciful, he judges those who choose to follow Satan. King Ahab was determined to maintain his secular lifestyle and was willing to align himself with one of Satan’s chief agents in order to do so. Ahab was more concerned with accumulating wealth than he was worshipping and serving God, so God punished him for his disobedience.

Even though he may not have been specifically instructed to kill Ben-hadad, it was obvious that God had delivered the king of Syria over to Ahab so that he could kill him. It was because Ben-hadad acknowledged his inferiority and subordination to Ahab by designating himself Ahab’s servant (1 Kings 20:32) that Ahab wanted to keep him alive. Ahab went so far as to refer to Ben-hadad as his brother, a sign that he intended to develop a close relationship with him.

After making a covenant with Ben-hadad, Ahab was visited by an unnamed prophet. “And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people” (1 Kings 20:42). The Hebrew word translated appointed, cherem is derived from the word charam. “Charam is a religious word of great importance representing the devotion of some object to destruction or to a sacred use, not for the gratification of any selfish purpose” (2763).

Israel’s defeat of the Syrian army was meant to bring glory to God. Ahab could have sent a strong message to the surrounding nations by killing Ben-hadad. Instead, the covenant he formed with Ben-hadad let everyone know that Ahab’s relationship with Ben-hadad was more important to him than his relationship with God.