The Next Great Leader or the Next Fall?
hands, my dissatisfied
fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is
the momentous issue of civil war. The
government will not
assail you.... You have no oath
registered in Heaven to destroy
the government, while I shall have the
most solemn one to
preserve, protect and defend it."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/al16.html
Question:
- Is the
More Questions:
-Who was the first positive leader after Joshua?
- Is God a jealous God?
- How important is to follow God’s paths for us?
The first five books of the Bible include the stories of such
great leaders as Abraham,
Joseph, and Moses. The first five books
end with the book of Deuteronomy; the same
book that we read about the end of Moses’ leadership. At the end of the book of
Deuteronomy and through the book of Joshua we read about the leadership of
Joshua.
Joshua was handpicked by God and received instruction from Moses. But who was the
next positive leader after Joshua? The
answer can be found in the next book (after the
book of Joshua) . . . it is found in the
book of Judges.
In Joshua 24:19-24 and Judges 2:7-12 we read about the death
of Joshua, and the
commitment by God’s people to follow God’s ways. And in Joshua 24:29 we read
that Joshua dies.
Footnote from the
Holy Bible:
“Joshua shows God fulfills His promises and renews His expectations of His people.”
Judges 2:7-12 (NIV):
7
The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders
who
outlived him and who had seen all the great
things the LORD had done for Israel
8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at
the age of a hundred and ten.
9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at
Timnath Heres in the hill
country
of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash
10 After that whole
generation had been gathered to their fathers, another
generation grew up, who knew neither
the LORD nor what he had done
for Israel
11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served
the Baals.
12 They forsook the
LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt
They followed and worshiped various
gods of the peoples around them. They
provoked the LORD to anger
The book of Judges
is something of a “Sin Pattern”:
God’s people fall into sin and idol worshiping . . . and spent time as captives . . .
repented . . . restored . . . sin . . . captives . . . repented . . . restored
. . . sin . . .
Deborah – a
positive influence:
The first positive leader that we read about after Joshua was
Deborah.
Let’s see what the book of Judges tells us about Deborah.
Judges 4:1; 4-9; 14 and 16 (NIV) - Deborah :
1
After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did evil
in the eyes of the LORD.
4
Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was
leading
5 She held court under
the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and
country of Ephraim, and the
Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.
6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to
him, "The
LORD, the God of Israel, commands you:
'Go, take with you ten thousand
men of Naphtali
and Zebulun and lead the way to
7 I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin's
army, with his chariots and his
troops to the
8 Barak said to her, "If
you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me,
I won't go."
9 "Very well," Deborah said, "I will go
with you. But because of the way you are going
about this, the honor will not be
yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a
woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh,
14 Then Deborah said to Barak,
"Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera
into
your hands. Has not the LORD gone
ahead of you?" So Barak went down Mount
Tabor, followed by ten thousand men.
16 But Barak pursued the
chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. All the troops
of Sisera
fell by the sword; not a man was left.
Commentary found
on MyJewishLearning.com:
From Tikva Frymer-Kensky,
“Although the book of Judges has traditionally been seen as
describing a chaotic period of time between the Joshua's orderly conquest and
the
founding of the monarchy, many modern biblical scholars consider the book an
alternative historical view of how the "conquest of Canaan" came
about. This is the view
of the author of this article, and by this interpretation, Deborah becomes an
important
figure in the story of the defeat of the Canaanites . . . .”
Judges 5:1-3 (NIV) The Song
of Deborah (after the victory):
1 On
that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam
sang this song:
2 "When the
princes in
themselves — praise
the LORD!
3 "Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I will sing to the LORD, I will sing;
I will make music to the LORD, the God of
Israel.
Matthew Henry’s Commentaries for the book of Judges 5:1-3:
Praise and glory ascribed to God.
No time should be lost in returning thanks to the
Lord for his mercies; for our praises are
most acceptable, pleasant, and profitable, when they flow from a full heart. By
this, love
and gratitude would be more excited and more deeply fixed in the hearts of
believers; the
events would be more known and longer remembered. Whatever Deborah, Barak, or the
army had done, the Lord must have all the praise. The will, the power, and the
success
were all from Him.
And then the fall:
After Deborah leadership, God’s people fell into sin again. A lesson not well learned.
Questions:
- How great was Deborah’s faith in God?
- What do you think the people of God did after Deborah was no longer their
leader?
- How well are you following in the paths that God has
planned for you?
– Do you give thanks to the Lord daily, weekly, monthly?
Optional additional reading: Judges 4 and Judges 5
References:
The
Holy Bible. Authorized King James
Version.
Broadman
and Holman Publishers. 1998.
The following websites were accessed Jan. 26, 2007 for some of the information above:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/al16.html
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/bible/TO_Prophets_1460/DeutHist/DebFrymerKensky.htm