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Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy and not sacrifice;
and the knowledge of God more than your burnt offerings.
Bible Chapter Studies
1A0JUDGES CHAPTER 10
With Abimelech and his usurpation of Israel behind us, we now come to our next two Judges of Israel - Tola and Jair. There is not much written in Father's Word concerning these two, and neither does Dr. Bullinger or Dr. Smith have very much to say very concerning them. As we'll see though, Tola Judged Israel for twenty three years and Jair for twenty two: both fairly long times, but their actual numbers leads me to believe that both of their Judgeships were corrupt, disorganized and imperfect and hovered just above the border of evilness. We'll see why I claim this as we get further into the Chapter.
The number twenty three, Dr. Bullinger, in his work, "Number in Scripture" does not mention the number twenty three, so we then have to look at some of the combination of numbers which make up this number - twenty three. We'll start with the halves, and they being eleven and twelve. Twelve is "perfection of divine government," and with that being said and eleven being one shy of twelve, we see that eleven falls short of divine governmental perfection, which leaves us disorder, disorganization, imperfection and disintegration. And if twelve doubled would denote a higher form of the same signification of twelve, it would then be associated with "heavenly government and worship" of which the earthly form in Israel was only a copy. But either way, like as eleven falls one short of twelve; twenty three falls one short of twenty four and leaves us with the same wanting of perfection – therefore, we can see Tola's Judgeship must have also fallen just shy of perfection.
The number twenty two and Jair's Judging Israel: again, we must look at the combination of numbers which go into making this number up, and we see that it is the double of eleven and has the significance of that number intensified, and is therefore a double portion of disorder, disorganization etc. Eleven as we have seen, derives by being an addition to the Divine Order of Ten, and also a subtraction of Divine Rule of Twelve, both of which are two of the three ways we can see the Written Word of Father corrupted, the third being Alteration. But in either case, like the number twenty three, the number twenty two is not a good number as it falls short of perfection.
The number twenty two is also associated with the worst of Israel's kings, - Jeroboam (I Kings 14:20), and Ahab (I Kings 16:29), each reigning twenty two years.
So then, let's read of these two Judges of Israel and see what little Father has to say concerning them and what happens with our forefathers under and directly after the Judgeship of these two.
Judges 10:1-16:31
GOVERNMENT. (Alternation.)
10:1-5 Judges (Tola and Jair)
Judges 10:1 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. -> This is a cycle with our forefathers - the Israelites. As we have seen four times now; when they lose their Judge or leader, they also lose sight of Father and His Laws and Commandments, but sadly, worst of all, they also lose His love for them. Whenever the Israelites left off from Father and went whoring after the other nation's false gods, in Father's eyes they would fall into spiritual harlotry or idolatry.
We read in the first nine chapters of this Book of Judges where time and time again, Israel drifted into apostasy and heathen religions once they had lost their Judge or leader. With the last good Judge of Israel--Gideon--gone, and now his usurping son--Abimelech--dead and gone, we saw that Father had restored Israel under Jotham's tutelage, though he himself was never a Judge. This then brought in the next – Tola, to Judge Israel. Tola, in the Strong's Concordance is Hebrew word number H8439 - tôlâ‛, pronounced - to-law' and means: The same as H8438; worm; Tola, the name of two Israelites: - Tola. - So, taken back toward it's prime brings us to "Tula" and in the Hebrew tongue means "a worm." The "tula worm" is a red worm that was used to make dye to color material. Tola's father "Puah" means "splendid," while "Dodo"--Tola's grandfather--means "loving".
Tola was from the tribe of Issachar, but he lived in and amongst the tribe of Ephraim in Mount Ephraim. As we can read of in Genesis 49, before Jacob had died, he had foretold each of this twelve sons what they would be like in the future years. Genesis 49:14 tells us what Issachar would be like; Genesis 49:14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burden: [15] And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and become a servant unto tribute. -> Though the men of Issachar could work like a horse, they would be burdened with two burdens. So this is one of those prophecies of Jacob coming to pass. When we see God's Word coming to pass, this should strengthen our faith in Him. God's prophesies always come to pass exactly as they are written. The only prophesies that can be altered are those that are conditional, whereby when God warns you, "If you do this, then that would happen." The blessings or curses are all depended on what you do or what you say.
Judges 10:2 And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. -> Though neither good nor evil is written of concerning Tola's Judgeship, as I previously stated, the number of years he Judges Israel is our clue, and it probably bordered on being just above evil. He Judged for twenty three years - 1178-1155BC, died and was buried in Shamir which was a place in Mount Ephraim, possibly - Samur, which was half way between Samaria and Jenin.
Judges 10:3 And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years. -> Jair when translated means: enlight(en, ened, ener). Like Tola before him, there isn't very much written concerning his Judgeship if Israel.
We do know he was a Gileadite and Judged Israel for twenty two years - the same number as the evil kings Jeroboam and Ahab. He had thirty sons and thirty villages, one village named after each of his sons - thirty being the number of betrayal because of it's ties with the price--thirty pieces of silver--being paid as the blood money to Judah for betraying our Lord - Jesus (Matthew 26:15 and Matthew 27:3, 9). Thirty also being the price of a slave and also the price paid to buy the potter's field (Zechariah 11:12-13).
Judges 10:4 And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead. -> Havoth-Jair translated means "hamlets" or "villages" of Jair. By what happens after his death, maybe he should not have given each of his sons his own hamlet, as it seems to have gone to their heads and they all thought more of themselves than they should have. Because as we are about to see, they will turn from Father and also cause all the people of Israel to likewise turn away from Him.
Judges 10:5 And Jair died, and was buried in Camon. -> Father's Word doesn't say how old Jair was when he returned Home to Father, just that he Judged Israel for 22 years from 1155 to 1133. Again, because of this number, I suspect they were just hovering above the borderline of evil; he died and was buried in Camon (full of grain).
10:6-12:7 Ammonites and Jephthah
10:6 The evil wrought
Like as usual when a leader--Moses and then Joshua--died, the children of Israel fell right back into the worshipping of the gods of Egypt, which they had whored after for those approximate 383 years after the death of Jacob - Israel. Just like when Moses was up on Mount Sinai - Exodus 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. -> Our forefather just could not stop what they had been taught to do and likewise, neither can we today as we are falling very quickly right back into idolatry and evilness today too. But as Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 1:9 (paraphrasing) there is nothing new under the sun.
10:6-12:7 Ammonites and
Jephthah
1A6
Judges 10:6 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. -> No sooner had the Judges who kept the children of Israel just above the borderline of slipping back into idolatry died, and they fell immediately back into whoredom and worshipping other, false gods; baal and ashtaroth; the gods of the syrians – bel, saturn, or jupiter and astarte; the gods of the Zidonians – ashtaroth, astarte and venus; the gods of moabites – chemosh; the gods of the ammonites – milcom or molech; and the gods of the philistines – dagon.
We covered two these religious forms in detail back in Judges 8:33, but since Father is calling our attention to the other false gods here in this verse, it'll be good to go back and review what baal and ashtaroth is all about and also to review the rest of these false gods: ashtaroth, astarte, baal, bel, chemosh, dagon, and molech (milcom), briefly, there is no need to get into too much detail of jupiter and saturn as they are planets and that is easy enough to understand - planet worship.
ashtaroth - H6252 - ‛ashtârôth or ‛ashtârôth, pronounced - ash-taw-roth', ash-taw-roth' and means: Plural of H6251; Ashtaroth, the name of a Sidonian deity, and of a place East of the Jordan: - Ashtaroth, Astaroth. See also H1045, H6253, H6255. - This H6255 was ashtaroth karnahyim which translated means Ashtaroth of (the) double horns – sounds like the picture we have of satan today.
astarte - astarte is also known as Astarat and Astoreth. She is an incarnation of Ishtar and Inanna. This Semitic Goddess was worshipped by the Syrians, Canaanites (today called Palestinians), Phoenicians, Egyptians and other Semitic Tribes. King Solomon built a Temple to Her as Astoreth, near Jerusalem.
astarte was worshipped as many things, to the Egyptians, She was honored as a Goddess of War and tenacity, to the Semites, She was a Goddess of Love and Fertility. Among the Greeks She was transposed into the Goddess of Love Aphrodite. In the Bible, She is referred to as "the abomination". Considering Her widespread devotion in Biblical times, the attempts to discredit the goddess are not surprising.
When we speak of baal, we have to include the worship of ashtaroh, because they are tied together as a unit. Where ever baal worship exists, the groves are mentioned, as well as the word "asherah". The word "Asherah" in the Hebrew is from the root word "Aahar", and it means "to be straight, erect, and upright". It is from this word that we get the moral reference, "to be upright", hence happy and prosper.
The male part called "asherah"--baal--is distinguished from "ashtaroth" the female goddess, yet the images are worshipped together. The ashtaroth being representative of the productive (or passive) principle of life; and "baal" or "asherah" being representative of the generative (or active) part of the process for producing life. In other words this is using the sexual process in a form of worship, and the shaping of the trunks of the trees as the idols and images (groves) are done to excite the worshippers into the practice, and Father hates the practice.
It was from this form that the religious practices of "evolution" that we have today came from, giving "chance," and the reproductive processes of men and women the credit of creation and salvation for mankind. It leaves ELOHIM - the Creator – our Heavenly Father, out of the creation process, and man ends up worshipping the creation and himself, rather than the Creator, Who is The ONE and ONLY True Living God.
In some religions, symbols mean everything; and the ashrah, or the "phallus" was the symbol for the baal worship. The forming of this symbol in their formed images, made from the topping of a tree, and shaping of it became the image of worship. What started out to be the honoring of the origin of life; became a corrupted form of worshipping of the organs that produce the life. These symbols in turn, became the incentive to all forms of impurity, which in time turned into nothing but sexual orgies.
Since the creation of man on the sixth day and no written knowledge of what they were worshipping, we don't really know when this all started. However, we also can look to what was happening and happened when the fallen angels came in Genesis 6, we know that they were mating with women and doing who knows what else sexually with them, but suffice it to say that is was probably perverted, and from it also they were worshipping the reproductive organs.
We do know some of this started also in the ancient Canaanite religions, which originated way back in Nimrod's day who was the grandson of Noah, the son of Ham. Ham had four sons and their names were Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. Canaan was the father of the Canaanites who were the originators of baal, and ashtorah. Nimrod was the son of Cush. It was for this reason that God gave the commandment to Israel that when they entered into the Promised Land – Father told Abram that He was going to allow some of this to come to pass back in Genesis 15, but as soon as they came out of Egypt; they were to kill all of the Canaanites, tare down their images and destroy their groves. That's right Father said to utterly destroy all the men, women and children, and even their animals. Sadly, they did not listen to Father; they did not destroy the Canaanites but mixed in with them and also the Gibeonites (Hivites) as we can read of in Joshua 9; because of their disobedience to God, the Israelites have brought all their troubles upon themselves.
bel – H1078 - bêl, pronounced – bale and means: By contraction for H1168; Bel, the Baal of the Babylonians: - Bel. – bel - signifying "lord" or "master", is a title rather than a genuine name, that is applied to the various gods in Babylonian religion. The feminine form is belit or 'Lady, Mistress'. bel is represented in Greek as Belos and in Latin as belus. Early translators believed that the ideogram for the god called in Sumerian – enlil (the god of breath, wind, loft breadth or "height and distance). This is now known to be incorrect; but one finds bel used in referring to Enlil in older translations and discussions.
Bel became especially used of the Babylonian god marduk and when found in Assyrian and neo-Babylonian personal names or mentioned in inscriptions in a Mesopotamian context, it can usually be taken as referring to Marduk--sun god of Babylon--and no other god. Similarly belit without some disambiguation mostly refers to bel marduk's spouse.
chemosh - H3645 - kemôsh, kemı̂ysh, pronounced - kem-oshe', kem-eesh', and means: From an unused root meaning to subdue; the powerful; Kemosh, the god of the Moabites: - Chemosh. – Little doubt can be made that the Moabites tried to aspire chemosh to the height of power of Father.
This brings us to dagon - H1712 - dâgôn, pronounced - daw-gohn', and means: From H1709 (and H1711 "fish as in prolific" again –offspring - sex); the fish god; Dagon, a Philistine deity: - Dagon. – We know what happened to dagon when the philistines put Father in the same room with him in I Samuel 5, he (it) could not stand with Father in the same room, Father kept knocking him (it) over.
molech or milcom - H4432 - môlek, pronounced - mo'-lek, and means: From H4427; Molek (that is, king), the chief deity of the Ammonites: - Molech. Compare H4445 (milcom).
So this takes us through the different false gods that they served, but let's continue down this vein a little further. When the Judge, Jair, died; the Israelites not only returned to baalism (plural of baal), they also turned to other heathen practices as well. As we just learned, the god of Moab was molech, and the moabites worshipped molech through the practice of burning their children in sacrifice.
The god of Syria we first read of in Genesis 35:4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. -> We just read of Shechem in the last Chapter, Judges 9; and we're still talking about the same people and place here in this Chapter and Verse. The "gods of Syria" were charms which they wore in their ears, on their hands, and on their body. They made themselves charms and put their trust in these charms for their protection. Have you ever heard of a rabbit's foot, a good luck charm and so on, well this is the sort of thing the Syrians relied heavy upon. The "earrings" were part of Jacob's booty in the victory, and they were items made of precious metals.
The gods of Zidon was also baal worship, and also astarte, which was the female part in baal worship. There was another name for Astarte, and that was "ishtar." It was from the feast of ishtar that we get the celebratory practice of easter which still is practiced in most Christian church houses today. The Christian churches brought in the customs and items of this feast of Ishtar; such as the egg hunt and rolling, the bunnies, the bonnets and dresses with their beautiful, bright spring colors, the early morning bowing to the sun in their sunrise services, and other such items of worship, took on a new identity and Christians think that those things have been purified by their traditions. Rather then putting aside those items of heathen worship, the Christian world has hung on to them by redefining what they represent and their use. Sadly and unknowingly, it is a game that many Christians play with Father, mistakenly thinking that somehow they can con Father out of His hatred of those heathen images and symbols and what they actually represent.
The god of the Philistines as we know, was the fish god - dagon. When we come to Judges 16:23; we will read more of Dagon; later still in Father's Word, it was at the feast to dagon that all the philistines gathered into one place and Sampson brought down the house. Then some six hundred years after than Sampson's defeat of the philistines, the assyrians were made to accept the teaching of Jonah and repent of their sins when they thought Jonah was sent by dagon the fish god. When the people of Nineveh witnessed and heard of Jonah being cast out, and up onto the shore by the great fish that Father prepared for Jonah, they wanted to hear all that Jonah had said. Their god was dagon; and they thought that all the words from Jonah, were from dagon, Jonah was the messenger who dagon sent to them, and they were therefore ready to listen to and comply with all of Jonah's words.
If you foolishly believe that these gods aren't present and being worshipped today, even by Christians; step back and take a good look all around you. See what items, doctrines and such people are using to put their faith in, and what strange things they do in the name of "religion." Solomon told us - there is nothing new under the sun, and what once was practiced and worshipped, sadly has returned as a type.
Our nation was established on the very principles of Father's Word; His Laws, His Commandments, and His Principles – all prescribed and set forth in His Word. Yet many of those principles today, including even His laws and commandments, are being replaced in our Government, our Courts and even in our schools. The very laws of our land – our Constitution and Bill of Rights, we see are our leaders – the president, and both the Congress and House of Representatives, mocking Father, and the sad part of it is that they think in their own minds that they can get away with it, it reminds me of - Ezekiel 8:17 Then said He unto me, "Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke Me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. -> This branch is an "asherah" - a piece of wood cut and formed to the shape of a man's penis. It represented their form of worship that they did in the "groves" where they held their orgies. And symbolically, what did they then do with this branch? To Father, they were rubbing it right under his nose. In the original manuscripts this reads "and they put the branch to "MY" nostrils." It reads differently here in the King James and other versions as well, because the Sopherim - Scribes of the word - the kenites and nethinims - NOT those of the House of Israel or those of the House of Judah - changed the way it reads, because they felt it too derogatory a term and they wanted to hide what Father really felt about it. Ezekiel 8:18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with loud voice, yet will I not hear them." -> Can you now feel our Father's feelings on this and hear the anger of our Father's voice?! – Yeah, our Governmental leader's minds are set in the same mode of wickedness as our forefathers that we're reading of in the days of the Judges. They tempted Father by taking away His standards, and at the same time accepting the most hated forms of practices, such as sodomy. They remove Father, His Word, Prayer and anything else of Father from the schools and the public buildings, and then they turn around and wonder why our streets and filled with crime and children are doing the things that they are doing on today.
Our Constitution, our Preambles and our Bill of Rights were all taken from and giving ode to Father, whereby the people under these documents and their guidelines would better serve Father. Sadly, it has only taken our government two hundred years to now substitute a new form of government, whereby we now exclude Father from many of the basic elements of our lives. They have taken away the Absolutes of Father's Law, and have now replaced it with a new, different type of law, one called the "law of precedent", whereby one court-case decision now sets the example of how all other similar court-cases arising thereafter should be judges. The "right or wrong of the case" is determined by one man and that man calls himself - Judge, completely disregarding the absolutes of Father's Word. The Law has become a game that these legal minds like to play, which does two things; it serves only to make them much money – thereby getting them rich, and, they place the outcome in their hands and not the hands of Father. The practice of law of today is like the practice of Spiritual games that the preachers and their church systems like to play with Father's Word, and sadly, the outcome is the same – serving only to make the preachers rich with their prosperity doctrines and such.
So as we can see, not much has changed at all in the past several thousand years.
10:7 Selling to the Philistines and Ammonites
Judges 10:7 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. -> Father was--and had every right to be--angry and disgusted with His children for their whoring after all the different false gods of all the nations which He had given them the victory over; so He is now allowing them to go back into bondage to two of these heathen nations which the Israelites were supposed to have utterly destroyed, but had Failed to obey to Father.
10:8-9 Oppression (eighteen years)
Judges 10:8 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. -> Father allowed these heathen to completely crush and totally subdue the tribes which were on the east side of the Jordan River, the tribes of Manasseh, Gad and Reuben.
Eighteen years - the number of Bondage in Biblical Numerics.
What were the Israelites on the west side of the Jordan doing all this time, were they gathering their army to come and assist their brothers? No, they--like our liberal, pacifists of today--were too busy trying to adopt the gods of the enemy in order to appease them, rather than turn to Father, seek His guidance and power to overcome and defeat the enemy.
Judges 10:9 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. -> After the Ammonites and Philistines had defeated the tribes on the east side of the river, they then crossed the River Jordan to come against the tribes on the west. He these tribes gathered up the courage and strength in numbers, they wouldn't have had to put up with this non-sense, however, once the enemy got their foot in the door and saw the terror they were inflicting upon these cowards, they were going to continue until they had all the tribes under their control.
This should look and sound familiar, as it is taking place here in this Country – the United States, today, and the rest of the free world for that matter. As we sit back on our laurels; little-by-little our rights under the Laws of our Constitution are being stripped away from "We the People of the United States." The president picking and choosing which laws he desires to follow; exchanging good for evil, and evil for good; saying, illegals, abortion and homosexuality are allowed; all the while refusing to enforce and defend the Defense of Marriage Act, the unborn children in their mother's womb and then filing charges against States which uphold the Federal Laws the Feds refuse to enforce. Our rights are being transferring from ourselves to our government, and onto an international one world system, and the majority of Christians have absolutely no knowledge as to why all this is happening. Our national parks, our military, and the duties of our governmental agencies are being turned over to the agencies of the United Nations. We are allowing this takeover of our freedoms but it is time to wake up, and get control of things.
This is the way it has always happened, even all the way back to the time of the judges, and there is nothing new under the sun. Today is quite different though, for we are entering into period of time likes of which has never before existed, for we are entering into that time called the great tribulation-- the time of the great deception-- the time in which satan and his fallen angels will be kicked out of heaven by Michael the arch angel, and be cast out onto the earth. The one world political system is being set in place today in preparation for satan's one world political and then religious systems. As we can read in Revelation 13; when his political system--the political beast's head--receives that mortal blow, then will he heal that wound, thereby ushering in his religious system. Revelation 13:3 And I saw one of the heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly would was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. -> This is the forming of satan's one world political system--the United Nations--with all of the member nations around the world banded together as charter members. It is prophecy written of thousands of years ago and we are watching it is come to pass as today. This is the ten headed beast controlled by its ten agencies of power. Shortly however, the system will fall apart, for a government dies when no one comes to respect it, and that is what is happening today. As the United Nations tries to set up their dynasties around the world that will give controlling authority to them, millions of people are killed and relocated. In time people will see the United Nations for what it is, the struggle of the kenites to gain control and authority for their treaties and merchandising around the world.
They are successful to this point because their agendas are still hidden and all maneuvering is done in secret--much like how president Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid passed Obama's signature health care law called obamacare—behind closed doors with much arm twisting and backroom deals. The UN control is done through their four hidden dynasties, that of Economics, Education, Politics and Religion. Though most of the control of the Economics took place in the thirties, and during World War Two; much is still happening today to gain that final foothold. We witness daily, the control of all the Educational systems around the world; it is being brought about through legal channels and all under the auspices of the homosexual agenda, and is done by controlling what shall be taught on the different levels of schooling. Even the media--most of which are owned and controlled by George Soros--play a major role in seeking the control of the people, trying to regulate our minds of what we accept as truth. Economics produces and controls the flow of money which in turn buys the politics of the different governments. Much of what the politicians do today is controlled by the interest rates that are set by the private banking system called the "Federal Reserve." Sadly, most church systems today have now been brought into and under the umbrella of the International "World council of churches," which is anti-God in nature, and goes against much of the teaching of Father's Word. This system will fail and fall very shortly, bit only at Father's appointed time. Revelation 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, "Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" -> When the political system fails and falls, satan will be here on earth with his angels, that locust army written of in the book of Joel. It will be satan that mends the wound and gives power back to the fallen World Government. In return for restoring power to the government, it and all peoples except Father's Elect will worship this dragon, who is none other than satan in his role of instead of jesus - antichrist. Nobody will want to make war with satan because they will all be worshipping him, even Christian will be because of the traditions their churches taught them, everybody, except those with the "seal" or truth of Father's Word hidden safely away in their minds will whore after this beast.
10:10-16 THE EVIL REPENTED OF
10:10-16 The evil repented of
10:10 Confession
Judges 10:10 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." -> Sadly, our forefathers never seemed to turning to Father and seeking Him until things had already gotten far too far out of control. Pretty much like it is today, it was only then that our people seemed to wake up and try to figure out why things had gotten so far out of hand. Look at how this Country is today, now think back to the night of September 11, 2001, and our Congress standing on the Capitol Building's steps, singing God Bless America. Returning our thought to Judges 10; the Israelites finally figured out that it was they who had forsaken Father and turned to serve Baalim and ashtaroth. Once they came to realize it was because of their sins that Father had forsaken them, then they cried out to God for forgiveness for those sins. Here, as we see, they not only forsook God, but they also whored after heathen false religions. It was because of this that Father's anger was so hot against the Israelites at this time. Today, we are very quickly reaching the point to where Father is just as hot us as He was four thousand years ago. And just like then; today, Father is also ignored by His children.
10:11-14 Reproach
Judges 10:11 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? -> When the oppression of the Egyptians became too great, Father send Moses to lead the Israelites up, out of the land of Egypt and it has been only three hundred plus years since those events took place, and as we know, they had already started murmuring while in the desert, then at the base of Mount Sinai, they had Aaron fashion that golden calf so the could worship it while holding their orgies like they had been taught while in Egypt. They just never could leave the past behind and completely turn to and follow Father and His ways.
And now, here they are being oppressed because of their not obeying and turning their backs on Father, yet now that He has given them over to those He told them to utterly destroy, they are crying out to Him, and He is reminding them that He has already delivered them from all their enemies - the Egyptians, the Ammonites, the Amorites and the Philistines.
Judges 10:12 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. -> Father is continuing His reminding the Israelites of His delivering them out of the hands of their enemies. That each time He had, they turned right back to their old ways, forsaking Him and whoring after false gods and heathen religions.
Judges 10:13 Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. -> He is telling them that He has had enough for their shenanigans and He isn't going to deliver them this time, "let you other 'false gods' deliver you."
Does He really mean this, will He truly turn His back on the children He created? Yes, He is becoming fed up with their not obeying Him and His commandments, but No, He will not completely forsake His children, at least not while they are in the still in their flesh bodies; His love for us is so great, that it will even be in love that He will dispatch some of His children in their spiritual bodies into the Lake of Fire at the Great White Throne Judgment.
Judges 10:14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation." -> You've turned your back on Me and have turned to your other "false gods," let them deliver you, I'm done with you and wash my hands of you. Can you blame Him for feeling this way? No, we cannot blame Him, He has every right to be angry with us, His children. Especially considering that many forsook Him during the first earth Age, and now are forsaking Him while in this Flesh Age as well.
We can compare this verse and His rejecting of their crying out to Him, with Deuteronomy 32:37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, [32:38] Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. -> This is part of the victory song the children of Israel sang after Father gave them the victory over the Egyptians and all their other enemies, but notice even as they sang this song, they mentioned Father's telling them that if they go whoring after other false gods and then come crying to Him, He'll tell them go ask the gods the sacrificed to, to deliver them out of their enemies hands.
10:15-16 Confession
Judges 10:15 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." -> They finally wise up and humble themselves before Him; acknowledge that they have erred, and tell Father that they'll accept their punishment--whatever he deems appropriate--only please deliver us this day out of the bondage of our enemies.
10:16 Pity
Judges 10:16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. -> Even better, in showing Father they are truly sincere, they even put away from them, all the false, heathen gods and idols which they had been serving.
We can see in this verse Father's compassion for His children, all through this flesh age, His children have, are and will serve false gods. There is one false one coming though that He will not lightly forgive the worshipping of; and that one is the one who comes in his role of pretending to be jesus - antichrist - satan.
At the end of this Age of flesh man, when he comes; as can be read in--Revelation 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. -> This he is none other than satan in his role of saving, though the only one at this point he'll be trying to save is his power - the beast system of his one world government which now transforms over to a religious system. [13:16] And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: -> Fact; you will either be sealed with the Truth in Father's Word and know who this one is, or, you will take this one's mark. And no, it is not a computer chip or any other such non-sense, this mark means you'll worship him thinking he is the true messiah when in fact he is the false one. [13:17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. -> When he is here and just prior to his arrival, those that will be ushering in he and his ways will make it that we will not be able to do any commerce, unless we swear allegiance to him. [13:18] Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. -> Here is wisdom - the number of man is six. Man was created on the sixth day; and this first occurrence of the number makes it (and all multiples of it) the hall-mark of all connected with man. He works six days. The hours of his day are multiples of six, etc.----you'll have to worship him--as christ--in order to do anything, and of course; the very moment you do worship this one, you'll be closer than ever to the condemnation of your soul, however, even this is not the unpardonable sin. That sin can only be committed by Father's elect.
10:17-12:6 Deliverance by Jephthah
10:17 Ammonite invasion
Judges 10:17 Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpeh. -> Notice the extended alteration in this verse; "children, gathered, encamped" - first the Ammonites and then the Israelites.
The Ammonites gathered on the east side of the Jordan River all prepared for the battle that was to come and the Israelites gathered on the west side at Mizpeh. Mizpeh translated means watch tower, it should sound familiar to you, for as can be read in Genesis 31:45-49; it was where Jacob parted company from his father-in-law - Laban; when being fed up with Laban's tomfoolery, he gathered his wives, his sons, and all their belongings and went back to his homeland.
10:18 A leader needed
Judges 10:18 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." -> We have read in the prior times of Israel's deliverance; that Father had used (1) Othniel, the younger brother of Caleb to chase out to Canaanites; (2) the cripple, Ehud to get rid of the fat king, Eglon, and his overweight army; (3) the woman, Deborah, to lead His troops into battle against Sisera, captain of Jabin's Army; (4) the scared Gideon who was out threshing wheat in the wine-press, hiding from the enemy and his trimmed down forces of three hundred men, whom He had go against one hundred thirty five thousand of Midianites. Father will use whom He chooses to fight the battles, and He will do so to ensure it is He that He gets the credit for the victory.
Both side are all geared up and ready for the war that is coming. Though the Ammonites are gathered in Gilead, there are still Israelites there as well and those that are present are some of the chief men, but we see a common theme among the Israelites, as they are wondering if there is one who is strong enough or wise enough to lead them against these Ammonite invaders. If there is anything that we can learn from the book of Judges, it is that God does the choosing of those that are to lead His people.
In the next chapter, Judges 11; Father again will chose whom He will, this time it will be a man named – Jephthah. Jephthah in the Strong's Concordance is Hebrew word number H3316 - yiphtâch, pronounced - yif-tawkh', and means: From H6605; he will open; Jiphtach, an Israelite; also a place in Palestine: - Jephthah, Jiphtah. – Following it back to H6605 - pâthach, pronounced - paw-thakh', and means: A primitive root; to open wide (literally or figuratively); specifically to loosen, begin, plough, carve: - appear, break forth, draw (out), let go free, (en-) grave (-n), loose (self), (be, beset) open (-ing), put off, ungird, unstop, have vent. – Now from the Smith's Bible Dictionary – Whom God Sets Free, - and as we'll read in our next Chapter, that is what his name means.
One of the things which we'll see of Jephthah is that he continually talks with Father, and more importantly; he listens to the instructions Father gives him.
Apr 2012