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Commentary on "Story and History"

COLLEEN TINKER

 

Day 4: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 - From Victory to the "Dark Ages"

 

Overview

Today’s lesson examines Israel’s crossing the Jordan River and entering Canaan under Joshua’s leadership. It points out that God was in charge of Israel’s victories over the Canaanites and their taking the land, but that they became “preoccupied with their own livelihoods” and lost their vision of God’s ideal for them. They lost their national identity and became religiously compromised. The lesson ends with questions about how the reader is different today from a few years ago, and it asks if some of those changes are the results of compromise.

 

Observations

The summary statement is true: “Canaan was not taken by Israel because of Joshua’s military genius or Israel’s valiant efforts. Victory over the inhabitants of the Canaanite city-states was achieved only by God’s powerful intervention. When Israel was obedient, God gave victory; however, when the Israelites relied on their own strength, they failed hopelessly.”

At the same time, this is a superficial “dismissal” of reality. First, Joshua told Israel in vv 9-10 that by what would transpire, they would know that “the living God is among you,” and He would “assuredly dispossess” the indigenous people in front of Israel.

The miracle of the Jordan River ceasing to flow, with the waters piling in a heap at least 20 miles upstream from the point of crossing, was a clear message to the Canaanites. In the ancient world, the god that dominated the waters was the most powerful god. For the God of Israel to stop the Jordan’s flow was a statement that He dominated the other nations’ gods. Baal was considered the king of gods because he was victorious over the sea-god…but Jehovah did what Baal could not do.

Second, the drying up of the Jordan and the subsequent invasion of the land by Israel was a statement that God, not the pagan nations, had the entitlement to possess the land. By miracles that the pagans recognized as supernatural, God gave the message that He was the Lord over all other gods, and He had the only legitimate claim on the land (NIV Study Notes on Judges 3:10, Zondervan).

Israel apostatized after entering the land. The book of Judges records seven cycles of sin into which Israel fell after Joshua’s death. These were marked by “five S’s”: Sin—they did evil; Servitude—pagan nations would put them back under bondage; Supplication—they would cry for help from God; Salvation—God would bring them a prophet or a judge who would lead them back to obedience and worship of God; Sustenance—God would sustain them as long as they were faithful.

Israel intermarried with the Canaanites and rebelled against God’s commands to them, and they ended up in spiritual disarray. Judges 17:6 and 21:25 (the last verse in the book of Judges) both say:

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

This was a dark time in Israel’s history; yet in spite of Israel’s chronic disobedience, God’s plans were not thwarted. Israel lived in the land, and even though they were rebellious and disobedient, God did not stop disciplining them and establishing them. Yet those who rebelled experienced the destructive consequences of their sins.

The questions at the end of the lesson about personal compromise are especially disturbing. They seem to assume that the reader will be significantly different from earlier in their lives—and that many of those differences will be the results of compromise.

This question reveals the lack of understanding of what it means to be born again. When a person places his faith in the blood of Jesus shed on Calvary and receives the indwelling Holy Spirit bringing him to life, that new life changes the entire future. To be sure, born again Christians struggle with their flesh. They have to learn to live by the Spirit, surrendering the impulses and desires of the flesh to the Lord Jesus.

If people are born again, the focus on the changes in one’s life should reflect the results of learning to trust and surrender instead of reflecting an ongoing likelihood of “compromise”.

People living by determination, will power, and morality will fail. Inevitably. We have no ability to have victory over our flesh without the life of Jesus in us. God asks us to choose Jesus. This choice is the watershed between ongoing struggle with sin and victory through surrender.

When we are made alive by the Lord Jesus, we no longer have to fear and worry about compromise. Instead, we learn to immerse ourselves in His word, and we ask Him to teach us what we need to know and to plant us in truth and root us in reality.

We are obligated, as born again Christ-followers, to surrender our desires, lusts, dreams, and temptations to the Lord Jesus as they arise. When we open ourselves to Him and give Him access to the deepest corners of our hearts and minds, we begin to see clearly what is truth and what is temptation.

The living Lord Jesus gives us His mind and His power through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and we learn to lean on Him instead of compromising our lives.

 

Summary

  1. The crossing of the Jordan has a two-fold significance: to show that Jehovah was the Lord of all other gods, even Baal who was considered “king” because of his defeat of the sea-god; and to demonstrate that God had the right to ‘own” and inhabit the land.
  2. Israel apostatized and spun into seven cycles of sin marked by 5 S’s: Sin, Servitude, Supplication, Salvation, and Sustenance.
  3. Every person did what was right in his own eyes.
  4. The question about personal compromise misses the point. When a person is born again, he has a new ability to surrender his dreams and desires to the Lord Jesus.

 

GO TO DAY 5

 

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