UNDER TRIBUTE by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC
Introduction: As many of you know, Nicole and I were in England last week. I was attending a conference near Oxford University in my field of biblical manuscripts, and we decided to use this brief time to visit lots of places of historical significance, especially with regards to Christian and church history. We filmed in many of these places, and you’ll be seeing them in the weeks and months ahead. Although we enjoyed every bit of the trip, we were also saddened to see that the true Christian heritage of England is not known or appreciated by most of the locals. Yes, people have a lot of pride in their history, heritage, arts, and culture, but there is a failure to understand the true source of these blessings. They have forgotten what Victor Hugo (French novelist who wrote The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables) once said: England has two books: the Bible and Shakespeare. England made Shakespeare, but the Bible made England. In 2012, David Cameron (Prime Minister of UK from 2010 to 2016) remarked at the 400th anniversary of the translation of the KJB): The Bible is a book that has not just shaped our country but shaped the world. And with three Bibles sold or given away every second… it is a book that is not just important in understanding our past, but which will continue to have a profound impact in shaping our collective future. I truly hope that they will be able to see that. Now, what does all this have to do with our series through the book of Judges, especially our cowboy and Old West imagery. Just like people in England and in America have forgotten the source of our blessings, God’s people also forgot the true source of their blessings in the Promised Land. Instead of driving out the immoral and corrupt Canaanites, they decided to live with them, albeit by putting them under tribute. They said: “Forget what God has said. If we can benefit from them, why drive them out?” This resulted in some very tragic consequences. Main Point: The battle of the Christian life can be challenging and frustrating. Compromising is never the answer. God will give us victory, but we must trust and obey him. Look to Christ, our loving commander.
Judges 1:28 “And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites under tribute, but did not completely drive them out.”
Context: “And it came to pass, when Israel was strong…” The Hebrew word is “chazak,” which means strong, mighty, and having a good grasp. It has the idea of being well-established, with no real challenge to one’s security, stability, and continued success. In other words, everything is going one’s way. In a time of such blessings from God, it says, “they put the Canaanites under tribute…” The word for “tribute” is “mas” which has several meanings: “tribute,” “tax,” or “compulsory labor” (See NIDOTTE). It was not quite slavery but corvée (unpaid forced labor). It even adds: “[they] did not completely drive them out.” The English translation loses the intensive in the Hebrew – “And drive them out, they did not drive them out at all.” This was definitely contrary to what God had commanded his people to do. In our world of diversity, equity, and inclusive politics, this reads as a great thing, an ideal. Afterall, isn’t it barbaric to drive out a people from their own land! What kind of a God commands to mass exterminate all these innocent people! Instead, if you are strong and well-established, why drive out or mass exterminate these peoples? Here’s a better idea: Why not use the enemy to serve your own purposes? They get to live, and you get to live off of them. It’s a win-win situation. Well…only thing is that God had expressly commanded them not to do that.
Critics of the Bible have often pointed to such sections as barbaric, unjust, primitive, and irrelevant. What kind of a God commands the hostile takeover of someone else’s land? What kind of a God would command the killing of innocent men, women, and children? Sometimes, even believers are embarrassed of these sections in the Bible. In fact, they even side with the Israelites saying, “Isn’t better to make the Canaanites serve them instead of kill them?” What do we do with this passage?
Let me pause here and remind you again of the 2 filters to studying the Old Testament: the filter of Christ and the filter of the Christian life. If you remember from the previous messages: John 5:39 “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me”; 1 Corinthians 10:11 “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition…” Once we place the two filters of Christ and the Christian life on the passage we are studying today, we realize that it has a deeper and very applicable meaning for us today. We realize that the Promised Land is not heaven but the daily Christian battle. We realize that the Angel of the Lord who went before the people of Israel is none other than the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ who also goes before us in our battles. Now, what appeared gruesome becomes a godsend.
1. Just like the people of Israel, we’re also in a battle, but it is spiritual.
This means that we have to see the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites as our own enemies – the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. We get these 3 categories from the temptation of Eve in the garden, the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, the parable of the Sower, and Ephesians 2:2-3.
Ephesians 6 11 “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
Application: Are you aware that your Christian life is a battle?
2. Just like the people of Israel, the early victories are quick and supernatural.
If you remember, when the people of Israel, led by Joshua, came to the Promised Land, God made a way for them through the Jordan River. Then they came to the city of Jericho and the plan was simply to walk around the city with the Ark of the covenant once a day for six days and then seven times on the seventh day. After that, the priests blew the shofar, the people shouted, and the walls came crashing down. How quick and easy! So also, in the early period of our Christian journey, life is quick and easy. You struggle with some habit, addiction, or sin. Just one encounter, one sermon, and one resolution, and the battle is won. You were praying for some need, and just like that God answered! You can see the supernatural work of God. It is clear and obvious.
For e.g. I’ve seen that many many times, and it’s wonderful to see people’s faith begin to grow. This is God’s design to help us grow.
3. Just like the people of Israel, after the early victories, the battles get tougher and more intense.
If you are not careful, it may seem that Jericho was the model of how every city was going to be won. “Why don’t we just walk around the city once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh day. Then blow, shout, and victory is ours.” Unfortunately, that was not the model. Entire denominations and systems of theology are built on how God can set you free in an instant. Songs have been written that talk about Jericho being the normal Christian life. That’s not true. Yes, he can, but not always.
After Jordan and Jericho, they had to fight. Listen to the original command on what to do when they came into the Promised Land – Exodus 23 23 “For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. 24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars…27 I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.”
So also, there is a daily fight and struggle in the Christian life over the other Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite – anger, self-pity, greed, foul language, etc. It is a daily battle, and it is not quick and easy.
Application: Are you waiting for another Jericho? It’s time to start marching and battling.
4. Just like the people of Israel, we also compromise, adjust, and collaborate with the enemy.
Listen to Joshua’s final message to the people – Joshua 23 11 “Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God. 12 Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations—these that remain among you—and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you.” Our Canaanite neighbors are the sweetest. They brought us pies when we moved in. He mowed our grass when I was having back surgery. We ladies are going on vacation together. 13 “know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the LORD your God has given you.”
So also, when we make room for our old habits, sins, addictions, and weaknesses, they also become snares and traps, and scourges on our sides and thorns in our eyes. This is when you find frustrated Christians or stubborn and arrogant Christians or even self-conceited and smug Christians, proud of their sins. They make excuses for their sins, claiming that it makes us who we are. They say things like – “My Irish temper” or “It’s just how I was raised.”
Application: Are you also compromising, adjusting, and collaborating with the enemy?
Let me address us as a people: Does it bother you to see how the world keeps shoving its evil, demonic, anti-Christ, anti-God, anti-Scripture, immoral agenda in our faces? People are outraged over the opening ceremonies in Paris, but we are even compromising in America – political parties are giving up long standing position on traditional marriage; denominations are openly rejecting God’s word and creating their own standards of morality; churches and church leaders are no longer voicing their convictions.
5. Just like the people of Israel, God uses our enemies for his greater purposes in our lives:
- To give us time to grow
- Exodus 23 29 “I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 30Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.”
- Deuteronomy 7 22 And the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you little by little; you will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.”
- To reveal what is in us
- Deuteronomy 8:2 And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
- Judges 2 22 so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the LORD, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not. 23 Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.
- To teach us to battle
- Judges 3:1 “Now these are the nations which the LORD left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan.”
- To cause us to hate sin
- Judges 3 7 “So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs. 8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel.” It was the anger that comes from his holiness and hates sin.
For e.g. Story by Dr. Gordon Hugenberger (one time pastor of the great Park Street Church in Boston) of the man who let his little girl stand out in the pouring rain because he wanted to get his cigarettes. When he realized how fare he was willing to go for his addiction, he hated it as never before.
We went by John Newton’s grave in Olney where he pastored. Do we truly understand – “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”
Can you see how God is using the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and others to give us time to grow, to reveal what is in us, to teach us to battle, and to cause us to hate sin? He wants to teach us greater things about the Christian life. He wants to test us so we would come out purer than gold and silver. He wants to toughen us so we would think beyond ourselves. He wants us to hate sin as he does.
One final point: Guess who is the commander? Judges 2 1 Then the Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you. 2And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? 3 Therefore I also said, “I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’ ” 4 So it was, when the Angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept. 5 Then they called the name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the LORD. The Angel of the Lord is the pre-incarnate Christ. He is still the one who oversees our battles. Matthew 28 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
As a People: Have we forgotten our true source of blessing and compromised?
As Individuals: Have we forgotten our true source of blessing and compromised?
Are you saved?