NO GREAT FEAT
Judges 10:1-6 (KJV)
And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim.
And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.
And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years.
And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havothjair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead.
And Jair died, and was buried in Camon.
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.
The period of the judges lasted approximately 400 years.
We usually describe it as a terrible time in the history of Israel.
They had no clear leader.
· Abraham and Jacob were hundreds of years before this
· Moses had died before they got into the Promised Land
· Joshua survived and led them maybe 75 years.
But after that their history was characterized as, [1]
Judges 21:25 (KJV)
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
The period is also characterized by a series of seven cycles:
· Israel rebels,
· God disciplines;
· Israel repents,
· God delivers.
We would be tempted to think the problem was that they had no king.
That is not the case.
When they demanded of Samuel that he anoint them a king, God said they had not rejected Samuel, but God.[2]
I think I see in the period of the judges, a time not unlike our own.
These are days when people, especially in the United States, but I think it is much more widespread than just here, have the liberty to practice their own conscience.
· Whether to obey God or
· Whether to do what is right in their own eyes.
I think we see cycles of turning to and from God.
National revivals like the 1st and 2ndgreat awakenings, of under Moody and Billy Sunday in the mid 1800’s through early 1900’s.
Periods of crisis like WWI and WWII
September 11, 2001
Politically we had eight years of a downward spiral under Obama, followed by three years now of economic upward spiral under Trump.
· We see moments of greatness in some of our citizens
· We see acts of unbelievable wickedness in others
There is a lot to learn about modern day life by studying the book of the Judges.
I. THERE WAS WISDOM IN THEIR FOUNDING FATHERS
Judges 2:7 (KJV)
And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.
Our country is in trouble today, largely because the school system has taught two or three generations now, to distrust our founding fathers.
We have no bedrock.
· We have lost the vision upon which they founded the country.
· We know little of the principles that guided their thinking.
· We have abandoned the God they, almost to a man, feared.
Secondly, we see in the Judges
II. THERE WERE STORIES OF TRUE GREATNESS
There were at least twelve judges in these four hundred years
Four of them would be more notable that the others:
A. Ehud
Judges 3:15-22 (KJV)
But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.
But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.
And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.
And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.
But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.
And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.
And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:
And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.
B. Deborah
She led an army into battle when Barak said he wouldn’t go without her.
The real hero of the story is Jael, who drove a nail through the temple of Sisera, the enemy general.
C. Gideon
Who defeated the enemy whose armies were like grasshoppers on the ground with just 300 men.
D. Samson
Who slew more of the enemy in his death than in his life.
But what struck me recently, as a read through the book of the Judges is that
III. THERE WAS GREATNESS IN SIMPLE FAITHFULNESS
Judges 10:1-3 (KJV)
And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim.
And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.
And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years.
Judges 10:1-5 cover the reigns of Tola and Jair.
Between them, they judged Israel 45 years.
And all the Word of God says about them is that they did it and then died.
No great feats
No dangerous battles were fought. No major enemies were slain.
No huge miracles
Neither of them had the fleece of wool like Gideon, or supernatural strength like Samson.
No major conquests
As far as I can tell they lived judged Israel during a period of peace.
Not even any serious blunders
Just they judged and then they died.
Hardly worth mentioning, are they?
Verse six is where I think we learn the most about these two men.
Judges 10:6 (KJV)
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.
It was after they died that Israel fell back into apostasy.
Tola and Jair were not flashy, fancy or hugely fruitful, but they did keep Israel faithful.
I realize that this is only my opinion.
There are plenty of people who would say I am justifying a life of mediocrity.
I don’t think so.
There are plenty more who would agree with me that true greatness does not lie in the Patton’s and Eisenhauer’s of history, but in the men who engaged their strategies, many of whom died to win their victories.
· The greatest thing that we can do is not what people would write about us.
· The greatest thing we can do in life is not that which makes the books.
The greatest thing we can do is simply raise up another generation to stay faithful to the Lord.
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