Chapter 53—The Judges, Deliverers of Israel
This chapter is based on
Judges 6
to 8; 10.
Satisfied with the territory already gained, the tribes’ zeal flagged,
and the war was discontinued. “When Israel was strong, they put the
Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.”
Judges 1:28
.
The Lord had faithfully fulfilled, on His part, the promises made to
Israel. It only remained for them to complete the work of dispossessing
the inhabitants of the land. But this they failed to do. By entering into
league with the Canaanites they transgressed the command of God and
failed to fulfill the condition on which He had promised to place them
in possession of Canaan.
At Sinai they had been warned against idolatry. “Thou shalt not
bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but
thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.”
So long as they remained obedient, God would subdue their enemies:
“I will send My fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to
whom thou shalt come... . And I will send hornets before thee, which
shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before
thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the
land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be
increased, and inherit the land... . Thou shalt make no covenant with
them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they
make thee sin against Me; for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be
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a snare unto thee.”
Exodus 23:24, 27-33
.
God had placed His people in Canaan to stay the tide of moral
evil, that it might not flood the world. God would give into their
hands nations greater and more powerful than the Canaanites. “Ye
shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves ... from the
wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto
the uttermost sea shall your coast be.”
Deuteronomy 11:23, 24
.
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