MyJourney - MyJourney | Food and Fire
In this scripture God tells us that He taught warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had no previous battle experience. Why do you think God wanted to teach about warfare? Do we serve a God that is all about war? The purpose of training these people for war is that God knew that there was going to be war in the future, and they needed to understand how to fight.
Now the Bible introduces a man named Othniel, the younger brother of Caleb. He gets Caleb’s daughter in marriage because he took the city of Kiriath Sapher also known as Debir (Judges 1:11-13). The anger of the Lord turns against the Israelites and God allows them to face a time of war. These people had turned away from God and chose to worship false gods instead of the one true God.
Why do you think the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord?
What are some of the Baals and the Asherahs in your life (Things that you put before God)?
The people cry out to God for a relief from the bondage that they were under for 8 years. God hears the cries of the people and sends them a leader in Othniel who would save them. The Spirit of the Lord came on Othniel. He became the judge (leader) of Israel and went to war against the king of Aram and overpowered him.
Why do you think Othniel was able to overcome the king of Aram?
We see that he was victorious in war and goes on to rule for 40 years before he dies. Othniel was a man of deep courage and faith. God saw all this and knew he could use him to save his people. God knew that victory could only come through His Spirit. This was a physical war at the time, but God also knew that there was going to be a spiritual war. A spiritual war that we need to know how to fight.
Who are we fighting against?
This passage goes on to describe the spiritual armor that we must put on to fight the spiritual warfare that is happening. Just like Othniel, he put on his spiritual armor, we must do the same to insure victory over Satan in our lives. Satan is going to war on you right now and he is trying to get you to go back to worshiping the things of this world just like the Israelites did in the book of Judges. We must stand up and fight for freedom from sin and the salvation of all people.
Make a list of the spiritual armor from Ephesians 6 and study out each piece of armor in the Bible.
Judges 3:1-11
1 These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): 3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses. 5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. 7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim,[a] to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. 9 But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge[b] and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. 11 So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
Ephesians 6:10-17
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
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