Judges 1:5-245And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. 7And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died. 8Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. 9And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley. 10And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. 11And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher: 12And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. 13And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. 14And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? 15And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. 16And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people. 17And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. 18Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof. 19And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. 20And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. 21And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day. 22And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el: and the Lord was with them. 23And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) 24And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will show thee mercy. (Judges 1:5‑24).
We will find the need more and more, as the Lord’s coming draws nearer, of a quiet walk with God. God has shown us that things will get weaker and weaker at the end, and even those whom we expected to continue may fail. It is then that the enemy whispers, “It is no use, you cannot do anything; you might as well take the easy path with others.” Hasn’t he already told us this? It is not new, and it is not true. We can do something; we can walk with God as Enoch did in his day. But Satan has often used these tactics, and many dear children of God have listened to his lies to their own sorrow and loss. Many boys and girls have been guided by what other children from Christian homes were doing, instead of by the Lord. Many young people have followed the other young people into paths of worldliness and ease, rather than saying, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” Acts 9:66And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. (Acts 9:6). As long as there is spiritual energy things may go on well for a time, and the less spiritual ones are carried along with the others; but unless you, dear boys and girls, and young people, are walking with God in your own soul, you are in danger. As soon as spiritual life wanes in the assembly and among your group of young people, you will not have the power to go on for the Lord and you will find yourself following the crowd.
“O Lamb of God, still keep us
Close to Thy pierced side;
‘Tis only there in safety
And peace we can abide.”
The only source of power is in God Himself. Let us not forget this. Joshua had learned it, and that faithfulness that caused him to go out to the Lord to the tabernacle of the congregation without the camp, while others remained in their tents, characterized his whole life. When the twelve spies returned from viewing the land, he and Caleb were the only ones who counted upon the power of God. Thus he was sustained in his walk of faith, and God was with him.
But many of the children of Israel were leaning upon Joshua. Then when Joshua was gone they leaned upon other godly leaders, but not having learned the secret of walking with God for themselves, everything soon broke down when these godly men were taken. Nevertheless God honored any faithfulness there was, as He always does, and blessed His people while they acknowledged Him. But alas the sources of weakness soon manifested themselves, as we shall see in going through this most interesting book of Judges.
Adoni-bezek is brought before us here to show that we most surely reap what we sow (Gal. 6: 7). He had humbled seventy other kings by cutting off their great toes and their thumbs, and making them eat under his table, and now it came back upon him. We cannot escape this reaping which comes into the lives of both saved and unsaved. It is deeply solemn.
Another little point we notice in our chapter is about the children of Joseph fighting against Beth-el. It says here “and the Lord was with them”; yet when they came near to the city they seemed to forget this and turned to a man coming out, asking his help. This, we shall see, was another case of reaping what they had sown in seeking help from the enemies of the Lord.
ML 07/26/1953