THE WARS OF THE LORD (8)
[p. 369] THE WARS OF THE LORD (8)
Judges 4:1 - 9; Judges 7:19 - 23; Judges 11:32,33; Judges 15:9 - 17
JT Attention was called at our last reading to the wars of Canaan. In those wars we deal with spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies. They are alluded to in the book of Judges, and it is said that certain had not known them. The general character of the wars of this book relates to Canaan, but in the case of Jephthah we are taken back to the wilderness side of the Jordan, pointing to retrogression in the history of the assembly. The great conflict in the fifteenth century was of this character. It did not go beyond the epistle to the Romans; but it reasserted generally the truth of the gospel. The book of Judges contemplates us nominally in the heavenly position, and therefore the wars recorded are the wars of Canaan.
WB-w So in chapter 4 Jabin is said to be king of Canaan.
JT Yes, a Canaanitish enemy; a revival of a great power that had been overthrown by Joshua, showing that the conquest of Joshua was not maintained, otherwise Hazor would not have recovered power. It was destroyed, we are told in Joshua 11, when other cities were not; it was singled out and was burnt, and yet it is in full power here with nine hundred chariots of iron. So that it points to failure in holding the advantage that God gave under Joshua.
AFM In Ephesians 6:13 it says, “and, having accomplished all things, to stand”. Here it was failure in standing.
JT I thought that; Hazor having been burnt, had Israel been faithful it would never have recovered itself. I suppose the allusion is to the history of the assembly, as seen in the Romish system in an [p. 370] ecclesiastical way. It had been overthrown politically, but it has been set up ecclesiastically; that is doubtless what we have in this chapter.
CB Would that warn us, so as not to allow those things that had been destroyed?
JT Well, Hazor had been destroyed and was rebuilt. The king of Hazor, according to Joshua 11, was the head of all those countries, corresponding with the position that imperial Rome had, but it was destroyed in the sense of its having been overthrown in the hearts of the saints at the beginning by apostolic testimony; later it became restored in an ecclesiastical way, assuming headship in Christendom.
CAM Its revival in Christendom, would you say, serves an extended purpose in teaching war to those who had not known the wars of Canaan?
JT I suppose it has been the stronghold of the enemy’s power ecclesiastically from its inception. Paul says, “For the mystery of lawlessness already works”, (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
CAM You mean the Romish system.
JT Yes, it is the centre, you might say, of ecclesiastical opposition to the truth from its inception.
WB-w Was there political opposition at the beginning, and since then is the opposition more ecclesiastical?
JT Yes. The Lord Himself and the apostles suffered at Rome’s hands, but nevertheless it could be said that the apostles had turned the world upside down. They did not do it outwardly, but it was done in the hearts of the saints. The principles of Rome were overthrown in the heart of whoever accepted the heavenly testimony of Paul, that our citizenship is in heaven. But Christianity is falsified, by having been brought down to an earthly position, and this has given Rome its recovered place.
AP [p. 371] Is there a similarity between the rebuilding of Jericho and the rebuilding of Hazor?
JT I think there is. Typically it has become the curse of Christendom ever since, and inasmuch as this system exists in this way, we have therefore to consider how it is to be met, and what are the conditions in the saints of God by which it is to be met. That, I think, should be before us in considering Deborah and Barak. What comes out in the song of triumph in chapter 5 is the great feeling with which the saints as a whole are viewed as to their faithfulness or unfaithfulness; and the lovers of God are mentioned there for the first time, which, I think, is very suggestive as coming down to our own times. Today the test is as to whether we love God. Those who do will shine as the sun in his power.
AFM What is the key to the recovery of what has been lost here?
JT Well, there is the first solemn fact that the people were “sold”. “Jehovah sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan” meaning, I suppose, that He allowed Jabin to acquire an ownership of Israel, a thing which Rome has never failed to assert. The oppression was long, “he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel twenty years”. This humbling situation was met by Deborah, whose state and position qualified her for such service. She is called a prophetess, literally, as the margin says, a woman prophetess. Jezebel later claimed to be a prophetess, but here we have the true idea of a prophetess; Deborah is the wife of a man whose name signifies light, but the Romish system suggests darkness. Babylon says, “I sit a queen, and I am not a widow”, (Revelation 18:7). She anticipates no sorrow, but is independent and imperial in her attitude and is assertive of her rights. Deborah stands in contrast with this; she is the wife of [p. 372] Lapidoth, and she dwelt under her own palm-tree. She had acquired moral power, for the people came to her for judgment.
JS It says that she dwelt under the palm-tree of Deborah.
JT Yes, that would mean, I suppose, that she was in victory over herself, and so ruled her own spirit.
ARS She was also “a mother in Israel”, (Judges 5:7).
CAM The word “sold” seems to be a remarkable characteristic of Rome, who traffics even in the souls of men.
JT The principle of selling is alluded to several times earlier in this book. God says, as it were, I gain nothing by the sale. It is to bring into evidence God’s governmental ways; He allowed another to assert a right over His people.
AP Paul speaks of being “sold under sin”.
JT Which shows that the thing has acquired a right; not that it is right morally, but it is viewed in that way; hence the need of redemption.
AP Is not selling oneself displacing the right of the owner?
JT That is the way it works. There are those who deny the Master that bought them; (2 Peter 2:1).
CB Is the thought suggested here that a spiritual person like Deborah is able to help us?
JT Exactly. She represents true formation and is right in every relation; she also has her own palm-tree.
AFM Would the result of what is seen in her be that she was able to say to Barak, “Hath not Jehovah the God of Israel commanded?”
JT That is one of the features here; that as loving God, you keep His commandments. She is the first to assert the idea of commandment in the book, corresponding in that way with our own times; it was the only way to overthrow Hazor and Jabin — [p. 373] the commandments of God being kept by those who love Him.
GMcP Is there anything in the fact that she judged Israel at that time?
JT It shows what a great person she was morally, being able to judge Israel in such an oppression.
RAL Why is she not mentioned in Hebrews 11 with Barak?
JT I think, to maintain the order of God, Barak was really the leader. She says to Barak, “I will by all means go with thee ... upon the way which thou goest”; the way in her mind was his way, she accorded it to him as man: “the way which thou goest”, as much as to say, the way is yours and you are going in it, but it will not be to your honour that I come into it.
CAM As I understand, the feminine element is prominent because of the matter of commandment and because of the love side.
JT That is right. It is to bring out that side. The Lord says, “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me”, (John 14:21). Deborah says, “Hath not Jehovah ... commanded?” She is helping Barak in that way. She is calling attention to the commandment.
AP Does her word to Barak have any relation to prophetic ministry today? It met a difficult situation.
JT It was prophetic ministry. In Gideon’s time we have an unnamed prophet, but the prophetic ministry was there, and that should encourage us as to our meetings for ministry — that God gives us prophetic words that help us in our judgments of matters continually arising, because the great need amongst us is of right principles in our judgments and decisions, so as not to allow personal [p. 374] feeling or consideration of persons before principles. Principles come first.
ABP The implements that Jael used were a tent-pin and a workman’s hammer. Is there something suggestive in that for today?
JT That brings up the whole question of implements of war in this book. Paul says, “For the arms of our warfare are not fleshly” (2 Corinthians 10:4); it is very instructive to go through this book and to consider the weapons employed, because they are spiritual; they are not carnal, and so we have first of all, Ehud with a sword with two edges, of a cubit length, as we had earlier; then we have the ox-goad of Shamgar; then we have here a tent-pin and a workman’s hammer; then we have in Gideon empty pitchers, torches, and trumpets; and then last, Samson’s weapon, “a fresh jawbone of an ass”. Each of these weapons would be worth considering as suggestive of a certain feature of the truth. The sword with two edges is very remarkable, and it was of a cubit length. It is the word of God working both ways and it measured a cubit’s length — made carefully for a definite purpose. And then the ox-goad, referring to experience in harness with another brother, or with brothers; then the tent-pin here and the hammer — all very humble things — a workman’s hammer and a tent-pin do not suggest what is carefully prepared. It was just an everyday matter — they were common things in the tent, the religious leaders of the time would disregard and ridicule them; but they are what the Lord shows He can use effectively. And then the fresh jawbone of the ass, which is most interesting; it is used while fresh, and when used cast away. That is the last of war implements that we get in this book.
ABP When David attacked Goliath he refused to put on the armour of a fighter; he used what he had proved, namely, the sling and [p. 375] stone.
JT That is a further thought, perhaps more advanced than any of the former instances cited from Judges. David had reserves with him. He used only one stone, although he had five.
Ques What is the spiritual significance of Deborah being used as a judge at that time?
JT It is to bring out the formative side, involving the maternal, for she was a mother in Israel; and yet the order of God in leadership is maintained. She is a great example of a sister who, however much advanced she may be spiritually, recognises the order of God. The order of God is leadership, and it is vested in men — the brothers. That, I think, is what the Spirit honours in Hebrews 11 when He mentions Barak and not Deborah; she makes room for that here, because she says, “it will not be to thine honour upon the way which thou goest”; she also says, “I will by all means go with thee”, but she recognises that the matter is his.
ABP It says of the virtuous woman in Proverbs that her husband was known in the gates.
ANW I thought in this case she has right instinct, not calling her husband, but Barak. It is not a family matter, is it?
JT Quite so. Barak was a man of faith; in Hebrews, long years afterwards, the Spirit of God so regards him.
AR Would this incident suggest that both brothers and sisters are in the conflict? She did not sit at home and let others fight.
JT She was a woman of courage. Some sit at home and tell what should be done, but Deborah is ready to go forth to war and she gives Barak his rightful place.
JS And mention being made of the nine hundred chariots of iron that Jabin had would show how powerful the enemy was; yet she is strong in faith.
AP Would you say a word as to the relation [p. 376] that sisters definitely have in the conflict of the assembly. Are they outside of it?
JT They are in it, of course. But Deborah gives the full lead to Barak; she says to him, “Up; for this is the day in which Jehovah hath given Sisera into thy hand! Is not Jehovah gone out before thee? And Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. And Jehovah discomfited Sisera, and all the chariots, and all the army, with the edge of the sword before Barak”, (verses 14,15). Note that it is, “Jehovah gone out before thee”, not “before us”. And so his position is fully maintained. “And Jehovah discomfited Sisera, and all the chariots, and all the army”.
ARS I suppose a godly sister can give a brother who is in the work very good advice sometimes, would you not think?
JT I know it to be so. What is to be discerned is that sisters have excellent instincts, better than men have; hence the importance of listening to their advice and of taking them into our confidence.
AP Does the idea of the truth of the body really emphasise this?
JT Yes. “For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body”, (1 Corinthians 12:13).
Rem It is said of Deborah: “And she dwelt under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel”, and I wondered if that position would put her beyond the range of the oppression.
JT Spiritually it would. Ramah alludes to moral dignity and elevation, and Bethel, of course, is the house of God, so that the spiritual environment is excellent. In such an environment we are immune from the oppression.
WB-w Is it the principle of subjection that helps in this?
JT I think so. Deborah was subject. As [p. 377] already remarked, she is called a woman prophetess, according to the footnote, to show how thoroughly feminine she was. She was true to her order and honoured in that way.
CAM I suppose Jael too was truly womanly. Her victory was gained inside her own territory.
JT Quite so. “In the tent”. “Blessed above women in the tent”, Deborah sings of her.
ARS She does not go outside of her proper circle, she was unlike many women of today.
AFM It is remarkable that Deborah alludes to the mentality of Sisera, saying that Jael “shattered and pierced through his temples”.
JT The great system he foreshadows is marked by mentality. No other institution has been so ramified with ability drawn from the human race; everything is taxed to add to it.
RWS Why are wars of such importance, as the wars of Canaan, fought with such small instruments as indicated?
JT I think it is God pouring contempt on man’s instruments that are forged in universities and seminaries. If God pours contempt on them, He can do without them here. These instruments are very irregular, but show the best possible results. The great power of Hazor is brought down by such mean things outwardly.
AP Paul says, “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world, that he may put to shame the wise”, (1 Corinthians 1:27). From man’s point of view, these things are like foolishness.
ARS David slew Goliath with the sling and stone. Saul would have him take his armour and sword, but he puts them off, saying that he had not proved them.
JT Well, that comes in here in principle. David would perhaps be spiritually beyond what we get in this book because, like John the baptist, he had [p. 378] opportunity to wear the very best armour and employ the best implements according to men, but he declined them. Priests and Levites were sent to John the baptist from Jerusalem. They came to him and were ready to clothe him in all the dignity of Jerusalem, but he wisely declined it and said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness” (John 1:23); but he was one of the most powerful of men; the Lord says, “Verily I say to you, that there is not arisen among the born of women a greater than John the baptist”, (Matthew 11:11).
AMcN Did the irregular things we have spoken of become effective because of the presence of feminine affection?
JT Well, the feminine feature is stressed. We are given the history of Deborah but not the history of Barak; the Spirit of God dwells on her qualities to show what was there, and that was the secret of the triumph.
APT Deborah knew of her predecessors, for she referred to Shamgar. Does she illustrate one who knows something about church history?
JT Yes. She says, “the travellers on highways went by crooked paths. The villages ceased in Israel”, (chapter 5:6,7). That is, although there was some triumph, typically there was no real church formation or local gatherings. Therefore, we have to take notice of the expression, “a mother in Israel”.
RDG Is it in contrast that the mother of Sisera is referred to?
JT I think so. Deborah tells us what was going on in her mind; (chapter 5:28 - 30).
ANW The feminine reference in connection with Sisera is striking, not only the mother, but we get the wise amongst her ladies.
JT The feminine side is very much in evidence, but we can see the contrast. There is the natural side with her; there are the “ladies” — worldly [p. 379] dignity. Dignity was not wanting with Jael, either. She had “the nobles’ bowl”: “In the nobles’ bowl she brought forth cream” (verse 25); pointing, I think, to spiritual dignity; but she was able to descend to common things — the tent-pin and the workman’s hammer. The spiritual person is not above using anything that can be used for the promotion of God’s interests in His people.
ABP In Acts 16, where the thought of the believer’s household comes in, we read of the foundation of the prison being shaken. I was wondering if that might not link on here, as contrasting with the idea of the tent-pin. A tent is different from a building with a foundation; it would suggest the manner in which we should live here as pilgrims, touching things lightly.
JT Yes; the world’s foundation gives way; but the tent-pin suggests what holds the saints together in spite of the wind of satanic opposition. Here there was at least one pin to spare. The tent would be properly held without it. The pins of the tabernacle were included in the charge of the Merarites.
WB-w Deborah knew those that rode upon white she-asses and that sat upon carpets; she had a range of vision, too.
JT The range of vision she had, as seen in chapter 5, is remarkable. Are you not often struck with the broad outlook when reading the epistles of Peter? He was brought up as a fisherman; yet how wide his outlook! The same with John in writing the book of Revelation, what a wide range of knowledge he had; we see how John in writing could employ the features of creation in the most learned way. It is the teaching of God, showing that He can take up such men to bring to nothing the things that are.
WB-w Deborah knew where the mother of [p. 380] Sisera was, too — looking out at the window. She knew what the enemy was thinking of and doing.
JT “The spiritual discerns all things”, (1 Corinthians 2:15).
AP Deborah was acquainted with what the governors of Israel did: “My heart is toward the governors of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people”, (verse 9).
JT As having experience, God used them to maintain His government. “Governor” is a term that is applied later with dignity to Zerubbabel. In the New Testament it is applied to Pilate particularly; it is passed over to the Gentiles, and the Lord respects it. “Governors” are needed now in the assembly, persons who can maintain things by moral weight and experience.
Now we may go on to Gideon. The principle of a divine test comes in here. God would say, You are talking about all the brothers being soldiers and the sisters being prophetesses, but now I want you to understand that whilst all are responsible, I reserve the right to test everyone, as to whether it is worth while to send him into the conflict; whether he would not be in the way of victory, or whether his being in the battle would not be an occasion of inflation or pride. That is another side and a very testing exercise. God says to Gideon, “bring them down to the water” (the testing is there), “and I will try them for thee there”, (chapter. 7:4). God takes the matter in hand. Here we have thirty-two thousand persons ostensibly ready for war, but what will happen if they go? They will vaunt themselves, if they get the victory.
CAM If God is going to select, what are my exercises?
JT Well, I think it is a very essential matter. Am I going to be under reproach, by turning my back upon the war and going back home? What [p. 381] a humiliating spectacle that is for a brother or sister to be thus seen! How much of it there is! The test is often applied: It is a stormy night, or other hindering things like that present themselves, and we stay at home and have no shame about it. Apparently these twenty-two thousand men went home without any sense of shame, but the three hundred would look upon them with scorn from a military point of view. We often see it in our meetings, when we should have three or four times as many present for them; the test is applied, many fail, and there are only a few.
AMcN Is the test here one of courage?
JT It is one of self-denial — that instead of drinking in the ordinary manner, giving myself to it for natural satisfaction, I lap like a dog.
AFM Why lap like a dog?
JT A dog does not always represent a feature that is of God, but in this case it does.
AP A dog laps water quickly, and goes on. Is rapidity indicated?
JT That is the figure. God would suggest to us what is spiritual in His warriors; they are not to selfishly drop down to satisfy their appetites in a natural way; they do not partake of food as natural men do. Our belly is not our god; we eat and drink to the glory of God — not for mere natural satisfaction, but for what is needed to furnish us for His service.
GMcP The Syrophenician woman spoke of the dogs that ate of the crumbs that fell from the master’s table.
JT That shows that she was taking her true place as regulated by the light of God.
RDG “A living dog is better than a dead lion”.
APT There is no difficulty about the drinking. Do you mean that we may drink too much?
JT We may do it in a natural way, as men do [p. 382] it. There were ten thousand of them there, and there were nine thousand seven hundred men that did the thing as natural men would do it. Paul says to the Corinthians, “are ye not carnal, and walk according to man?” (1 Corinthians 3:3); they were acting like ordinary men.
ANW I suppose often a very small thing finds us out. This was not a big thing, but it was a real test.
JT God was applying it Himself.
WB-w Is the point in this that God selects the warriors Himself?
JT Yes; so that they should come into the ranks rightly. We may say to a brother or a sister: However young you are, you are responsible to take part in the conflict; but that may not satisfy God’s rights, for He might exclude them. The test which God brings shows what you are. It may be a bad night and there is a Bible-reading, you should be there, but you are not. Well, that is the test, and God is applying it. We do not think of that, when we stay at home reading a book, but God is thereby exposing us; and being so like men in our ways, He cannot use us.
ABP I wondered if Urijah the Hittite would be an example as answering to the test. He would not go down to his house to eat and drink, but slept at the entrance of the king’s house. He felt that the conditions were such, the war being on, that he could not avail himself of things that were his by right.
JT A very good example indeed. Note his spiritual speech; (2 Samuel 11:11).
CAM I suppose on account of the way the warfare went, it was a somewhat prolonged and strenuous affair, and showed how necessary it was to have the right warriors — people that would endure.
JT Quite so. Well, the next thing is the way
[p. 383] they had to wage war, involving the implements used. The pitchers were empty, and capable of being broken. The word is strong: “and broke in pieces the pitchers”, which would mean that I thoroughly own that my body is mortal. It is having the sentence of death in ourselves; this means that we are prepared to go to pieces as regards our physical condition we go the whole road in mind; hence we do not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.
AFM What are the torches?
JT Lapidoth, the husband of Deborah, conveyed the thought. It would be well known. It is a luminary, I suppose, not so much one of brilliancy as of a certain amount of light. That is the second thing. And then the trumpet in the right hand — for the hands are carefully brought into this. It is a question of individuals in the war. You are entirely subject to a leader. Gideon says, “as I do, so shall ye do”. In this warfare leadership is stressed. The three hundred followed Gideon as he directed. Thus the victory was complete.
ARS Would that correspond with Paul’s word to follow him as he followed Christ?
JT That is right. Of course the leading here means death in a moral sense, to oneself. It is not standing up on a platform, teaching or preaching, but a question of death, of being broken to pieces. The attitude of my mind is that this leadership involves death.
CAM To hold one’s body in that way would mean that one discounts all one goes through later.
AR “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels”, (2 Corinthians 4: 7).
JT That is actually what is alluded to here. It was Paul’s experience, so that the excellency of the power was of God. 2 Corinthians 4:7 - 12 shows what is meant here. The apostle is battered, but fragile as his body was, it was preserved day by day;
[p. 384] but the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus, that had shone into his heart, shone forth.
ARS What do you understand by the lights inside the pitchers?
JT They refer to “this treasure in earthen vessels”. Paul says, “God has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”.
ARS The breaking of the pitcher lets out the light?
JT That is the idea. I have the sentence of death in myself: the worst that can happen to me is death — hence the light shines.
AFM These go together then — the broken pitchers, the torches, and the trumpets?
JT Yes. One is devoted even to death for the sake of the testimony, being ready to go that length. Thus light shines from such a vessel, and there is testimony, too, in the form of sound. It is “The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon”. It is not what one is personally, but God revealed in Christ; the excellency of the power is of God.
RWS The hand and the mouth come in in verse 6 — “And the number of them that lapped, with their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men”; and then the allusion to the trumpet in the right hand being blown would be suggestive.
JT Hence Romans 12 teaches us as to the use of our bodies as instruments of righteousness to God; to be used in intelligence, too — “your intelligent service”. We are taught how to use our hands, and, indeed, all our members, for the overthrow of the enemy and for general service in the testimony.
AFM There is one feature of warfare in this chapter we might mention, namely, the cake of barley bread tumbling into the camp of Midian. Would you mind saying something about that?
JT It is a great general thought. The explanation given is, “This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, the man of Israel: God hath given into his hand Midian and all the host”. It was a question of food — that was the issue. The Midianites were destroying the food intended for God’s people. There has been in the revival of the truth of the Lord’s supper the thought of food. Scripture makes much of this.
RDG Would it be to humble Gideon as well as to encourage him, to liken him to a barley cake?
JT Yes, the man says it tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent, and smote it that it fell. It was an irregular kind of warfare, but it was very effective. Gideon, having heard the dream, worshipped. He was spiritual and so discerned the mind of God. He now had his word or impression from God, and hence all his anxieties were silenced, victory was assured. We may always look for this, and when it comes the spirit of thanksgiving and worship arises in the soul.
ARS Is it not remarkable that this man in the camp was able to discern what this barley loaf stood for?
JT God took all that into account; it was intended by Him for Gideon; it is like the man of Macedonia, and many other such signs that God gives, but we can only touch upon these great things.
Jephthah — whom we may now consider — was a very irregular man, one that you would scarcely expect to be used of God, for he was a freebooter. But he reminds us of what God may have in reserve for leadership, though concealed by extraordinary circumstances. Jephthah knew the history of Israel. How did he get this knowledge? We are not told, but he had a wonderful grasp of the history of this particular territory; it is not Canaan, but the wilderness side of Jordan.
CAM There seems to have been such persons [p. 386] on the other side of Jordan, for Jehu came from the same district. Such aggressive men are necessary sometimes.
JT Well, it is a question of the man that God selects. What strikes you is the readiness (so that all may understand what is being said, chapter 11 should be read from verse 12 to verse 27) with which Jephthah addresses the king of Ammon and outlines the history of this territory and establishes the right of Israel to it, putting to contempt the claim of the children of Ammon. They had no right to it at all; and the battle is half won when the position is clearly shown. If you plainly declare the thing as it is, you have moral right on your side, and that is a great deal.
AFM Would you say that this position refers to Luther and his contemporaries?
JT I think so. It is wilderness warfare, as you might say.
Jephthah says to the king of Ammon that Israel walked through the wilderness: “But when they came up from Egypt, then Israel walked through the wilderness as far as the Red sea, and came to Kadesh. And Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land; but the king of Edom would not hearken. And they also sent to the king of Moab; and he would not. And Israel abode in Kadesh. And they walked through the wilderness, and went round”, (verses 16 - 18). Calling attention to the people of God walking in the wilderness is a spiritual touch; and they could turn aside if the brother did not want them to go his way, because Edom was yet a brother. Jephthah goes over the ground, showing what God’s people are like, that they could give way if necessary; but they fought with the Amorite, not giving way to him, and thus acquired the territory which Ammon now claimed, although it belonged to Israel for three [p. 387] hundred years. I think all this is wilderness instruction entering into our subject.
JS As the result of being in the school of God.
JT Yes. Well, you can see what moral power this gave Jephthah in the battle. To apply it today, if you can make the thing clear and the principles clear, the battle is half won. You have moral right on your side.
JS The enemy changes his attack as soon as the situation is clearly stated.
WB-w What do Moab and Ammon represent today?
JT They were descendants of Lot, and thus had a certain relation to Israel. They claim, like the professing systems around us, certain territory, but faith refuses this. It belongs only to those who have faith.
There is one other feature to be considered — Samson, the last judge spoken of in this book. There is a special instance to notice in the chapter we read — the freshness of the implement that was used and then was thrown away when the battle was over; meaning that in the next conflict something else will be needed. It teaches us to be fresh and vigorous in our service and conflict.
JS We are not to be marked by repetition merely.
JT And God came in for Samson after the conflict in Lehi, when he was thirsty; God clave the hollow rock and gave him water to drink.
AP What do you make of the fact that the men of Judah were ready to bind him?
JT They are ready to deliver up to the Philistines the leader whom God raised up for their deliverance, pointing to the way the Jews delivered Christ to the Romans.
AR The water provided, I suppose, refers to the Spirit of God.
JT I think the place springs have in the book [p. 388] is a key — we are to maintain freshness through drinking into the Spirit.
CAM It is very interesting; there is decline outwardly all through this book, and yet this reference to water evidently implies the means of freshness right to the end.
JT Yes; another thing is that Samson never led an army, nor was there a pitched battle in that sense involving others under his regime; it is a record of his own exploits, pointing to the increasing prominence in the last days of individual combat. And then Samson killed more in his death than in his life.
AP Samson could not have been counting on Judah to support him.
JT He overcame in spite of Judah’s readiness to deliver him up to his enemies. He dwelt in the rock Etam. What was he doing there? The Spirit of God does not tell us, but, linking the cliff with the jawbone, we may assume that he was masticating — taking in the word of God; he was drinking in divine thoughts, spiritual thoughts. Spiritually such a victory as he gained here can be accounted for only in this way. He smote the Philistines “hip and thigh” (chapter 15:8). This is an expression that is used of him only, as far as I know. I suppose it implies that they were in full power. The Spirit of God says he did it.
CAM It seems to be a little like Paul at the end of 2 Timothy, before departing. He was delivered out of the mouth of the lion; but this matter of the books — the parchments — was necessary.
ABP Is the thought of freshness seen in Philip, who, “beginning from that scripture, announced the glad tidings of Jesus to him” (Acts 8:35)?
JT Quite so; he was ready to announce Jesus without special preparation.
JS Why is it the jawbone of an ass?
JT I think it is to call attention to one ready to serve. Balaam’s ass said to him, “Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine to this day? was I ever wont to do so to thee? And he said, No”, (Numbers 22:30).
RDG I suppose it is important to note that it was in the days of the Philistines that he judged Israel twenty years?
JT Yes, indeed. They are the leading foes in this book and in Samson’s case particularly. I suppose they stand for human principles, those propounded by “big men”, according to the world’s estimate. You will notice that they spread themselves in Lehi; that expression conveys their character: that of making a display.
AFM There are certain things that remain from this conflict: the “Hill of the jawbone”, and “The callers spring”. These things are marks of victory.
JT Landmarks in the spiritual history of God’s people.