SERIES H --- THE JUDGES --- LESSON 11

SERVING OTHER YHVHS

THREE JUDGES IN TIMES OF TROUBLE

From Judges 10

The judge who ruled Israel after Abimelech’s death was Tola, son of Puah, grandson of Dodo, from the tribe of Issachar. He lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. For twenty-three years he judged Israel, then died and was buried at Shamir. The next judge was Jair, a man of Gilead, who ruled for twenty-two years. His thirty sons rode on thirty donkeys and had thirty cities at Havoth-jair in the land of Gilead. When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon. Once again, the people of Israel did evil in YHVH’s sight, serving the gods Baal and Ashtaroth as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. They turned away from Adonai, refusing to serve Him. Adonai was angry with Israel, so He let the Philistines and the Ammonites become their masters and oppress them that year. For eighteen years the Ammonites crossed the Jordan, attacking the people of Israel in Gilead, Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim. At last, the people of Israel begged Adonai to help them. ‘We have sinned by turning against You to worship the Baal gods,’ they said. ‘Go away!’ Adonai answered. ‘I saved your people from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites. When they oppressed you, you cried to Me and I saved you. But you have turned from Me to worship and serve other gods. I will not save you anymore. Go away! Cry to the gods you have chosen. Let them rescue you now!’ But the people of Israel kept on begging Adonai for help. They put away their gods and served only Adonai. Then Adonai felt sorry for them in their misery. The Ammonites gathered their armies and prepared to attack Israel, camping at Gilead while the people gathered at Mizpah. ‘But who will lead us to battle?’ the people of Gilead asked. ‘The man who leads our armies will become king over all Gilead.’

COMMENTARY

THE FALSE GODS

For decades the pattern was repeated. The Israelites turned to YHVH when in need. Afterward, they quickly turned away to worship other gods. At one time of conquest of the country east of the Jordan, Jair, a judge over Israel for twenty-two years, could boast only of thirty sons who had thirty donkeys for riding. Finally, Adonai reacted in anger. [You have turned from Me to worship and serve other gods. I will not save you anymore.] What would Israel do? Baal was an extremely important Canaanite deity. He was the male god of fertility, with the bull sometimes used as his symbol. Ashtoreth or Astarte was Baal’s companion. Worshiped by the Phoenicians to the north, she was both goddess of fertility and of the sea. Ashera was also highly honoured in Canaan as a goddess of fertility and childbirth. She was Baal’s mother. The traits of Ashera and Ashtoreth were united into the worship of one deity by the time of the Israelites.

"Blessed is the man that feareth always: but he that hardeneth his heart, shall fall into evil."

Pr 28

Peace and blessings be with you on this Shabbat. Shabbat Shalom Triumph In Truth family!

Out this in your search for a fun treat "DROP IT LOW FOR JESUS"

Amen.
You can always give me shout I love having great friends! The more the merrier!

Amen.
You can always give me shout I love having great friends! The more the merrier!

Amen.
You can always give me shout I love having great friends! The more the merrier!

Felling so good to know HEAVEN is Real!

Exodus 21:2-11, 26-27

In the Bible, if a woman is sold into slavery, the presumption was that she was to become someone's concubine--whether the master's, his son's, or another servant's--but that wasn't a given. Sometimes she would be a temporary laborer or a woman's personal servant (aka "handmaid").

A concubine was a wife who had been purchased as a slave. She had rights and was legally recognized as a man's wife, but that didn't nullify her status as his slave (which probably had inheritance implications for her firstborn son). As a bare minimum, a man owes three things to a concubine: food, clothing, and procreation. A concubine is allowed an unquestioned divorce if her husband doesn't meet his obligations to her.

If a man buys her to be a wife and then changes his mind, he must allow her to be redeemed by her family. V8 says he can't sell her to a foreigner, but this means anyone outside of her family, not just people from another nation. If a man buys a slave girl to marry his son, he must treat her as his own daughter. He can't treat her as a slave.

In God's Law, even slaves must be treated humanely. Biblical slavery was nothing like the slavery perpetrated in many other cultures even today.