"God the Judge Be Judge”
Judges 10
June 4, 2006
by C.W. Powell
One of the themes that unites the Book of Judges is expressed by Jephthah in Judges 11:27, “Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.” (Judges 11:27 AV)which is our text for the next several sermons on this great book. For a preliminary to these sermons, let me make several important points that are foundational for studies in the Old Testament, and foundational for the understanding of all of Scripture.
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1. These things were written for our edification unto whom the ends of the world are come. The purpose for their writing is to instruct the church, as strong examples, that their imprint might be left upon our minds that we might understand our wonderful heritage and freedom in Christ.
2. That the true worship of God is spiritual and not carnal This is a theme that we are continuing to develop. Idolatry always involves transferring the glory of God from the Triune, Personal, and Pure Spirit Who is our Creator to something worldly and material. The flesh delights in such things and that is the reason that idolatry will always have such a strong appeal to us poor sinners
3. That God is the inheritance of the people of God and that judgment belongs to Him. What you and I think is irrelevant, except as it affects how we make our choices; it has nothing to do with truth, for Let God be true and every man a liar. For God to be Israel’s God was for God to be Israel’s judge. Judges are called to make decisions on particular matters. This is this, and that is that. This is true worship; that is not true worship. This is obedience to God; that is not obedience to God. This is holy; that is not holy.
4. This judgment is rendered on several different levels
a. Civil judgment. General law of equity. Courts and their officers in government render decisions based upon the nature of man to protect the liberty and well-being of all men. But it is God who makes the ultimate judgment on our civil institutions, whether or not we love justice and truth.
b. Ecclesiastical judgment. The law of the church as set forth in Scripture. According to the constitutions and rules of the church; some eternal principles, some for temporal peace and efficiency. But it is God who makes the ultimate judgment on our churches and our worship. He accepted Abel’s sacrifice, and he rejected Cain’s. Cain, of course, was well satisified with his own sacrifices; but Cain’s word was not the final word.
c. Families. As to the rule of custom and the Scriptures. But, again, it is God who makes the ultimate judgment on our families, blessing some for many generations, and causing others to vanish from the earth.
d. Individual: as to conscience, informed by Scriptures. Again, it is God who makes the ultimate judgment on each of us, whether we are sheep or goats; saved or lost, faithful and true, or idolaters.
“Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.” (Judges 11:27 AV)
In the passage before us in Judges 11:27, Jephthah is contending with the Ammonites over who had rightful title to the land occupied by Israel on the other side of Jordan some 300 years prior to these events. The Ammonites were trying to exert a 300 year old claim to title to the land. The kings of the Ammonites demanded a return of those lands that had been taken at the defeat of Sihon and Og 300 years before. Jephthah contends that Jehovah had taken those lands away from the Ammonites and given them to Israel. Why don’t you be content with the land that your God gives you, is the question that Jephthah asks. The Lord the Judge be Judge. Who has title to the land?
The real issue, then is this: Who is the true God? Who is right in the contest over the land between the king of the Ammonites and Jephthah who speaks for Israel. God is judge in His own cause, is what Jephthah is saying. It is not between me and you; the contest is between Jehovah and the gods of the Ammonites. If your God Chemosh has given you this land, then let him give it to you. The Lord the Judge Be Judge. I would make several observations on this matter:
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“10 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. 11 And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? 12 The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. 13 Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. 14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. 15 And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. 16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. 17 Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpeh. 18 And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another, What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” (Judges 10:10-18 AV)
a. We do not know how God spoke to Israel, but His voice was heard among them “6 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him. 7 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. 8 And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9 Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.” (Judges 10:6-9 AV)
b. He puts before them really the same proposition that Jephthah will put before the king of the Ammonites.
c. God is our inheritance, and everything we have comes from Him. The blessings are the Lords and they are not manipulated to your benefit according to your own deceitful lusts.
d. To whom do you look for blessings? Where is your hope? Idols are of the earth and in the earth. If things on earth are your hope then you will cry to them. Go cry to your gods in the day of your trouble and let them deliver you.
e. The heart of all idolatry is that the gods can be manipulated to your advantage. Heavenly things can be manipulated by earthly things. This is the heart of all idolatry. The rites and the ceremonies would accomplish this. If you satisfied the gods with your rites and ceremonies, then they would reward you with blessings. Not so, the God of Israel: He must be worshipped from the heart, as Joshua had indicated:
“Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.” (Joshua 24:23 AV)
f. They must put away all their false gods; all the devices by which they hoped to manipulate divine things by earthly things, and turn their hearts unto the Lord.-
“1 Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2 Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD’S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. 3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD.”
“6 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:1-8 AV)
g. Israel’s sins were never taken away by the offerings that they offered or the rites that they performed, but because God had freely forgiven them their sins through Jesus Christ. The Gospel had been preached to Israel in the promise of God to Abraham: Galatians 3:
“6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:6-14 AV)
h. The heart of the matter: believing that God has fully satisified for all my sins; or that I must perform things in order to be approved of Him.-
i. This is the reason that Jesus said He must go away. His kingdom is not of the earth and is not manipulated by earthly things. It has always been true, but is now clearly revealed.
i. Our affections are to be set above: Col. 3
ii. The spiritual and blessed nature of the kingdom of God is much more clearly revealed now than it was then, for the seat of the Mediator is in Heaven and we look to blessings from Him, and not from the things of the earth.
iii. Abraham’s inheritance was the same as ours. He did not inherit the land of Canaan, that was for Israel under the law. Our inheritance is eternal life, as was Abraham’s. He looked for a heavenly city, one not of this earth, and God was not ashamed to be His God, for by faith Abraham discerned to true nature of the God who had created him.
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a. Our inheritance is received by faith just as Israel’s was. Blessings are not earned by things done on the earth, but are the gift of graces from heaven and are received by faith. This is the great principle of the Reformation.
b. Israel had a great zeal toward God, but it was misdirected. Romans 10:1-11.
c. Israel would have called it faith: God said to do this and I will be blessed; I will do this, so I shall be blessed, and I really believe that. I must believe it more and more, so that I will really be more obedient, so that I will be more blessed. I really believe that those are blessed who continue all things that are written in the book of the law to them. They would have called it faith. And it was faith, but it was faith misdirected to obedience, not to Christ.
d. This is the reason they turned to idols; worst of all, this is the reason they turned away from Christ, which was the heart of their idolatry. They wanted an earthly kingdom; they wanted things of the earth; they wanted their reward on the earth. Their earthly desires are what the law called coveteousness, which is idolatry. The heart of idolatry is to try to use and manipulate earthly things in order to have peace in your heart.
e. Faith is this: Confess with you mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead and you shall be saved. My righteousness is in Christ alone, and by faith alone. It is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
i. “7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,”
ii. “9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;” (Philippians 3:7-10 AV)
Amen and Amen.