THE SPIRIT IN THE BOOK OF JUDGES

^[p. 376] THE SPIRIT IN THE BOOK OF JUDGES

Judges 3: 9 - 11; Judges 6: 34, 35; Judges 11: 28, 29; Judges 13: 24, 25; Judges 14: 6, 19; Judges 15: 14 - 16

JT These scriptures, I believe, give us all the direct references to the Spirit in the book of Judges. There are indirect references, but these give us the Spirit as operating in certain of the judges. I thought it would help us to consider Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson, so that we may see features with which the Spirit identifies Himself, and the circumstances that call forth His activities. What is said is intended to bear on ourselves, showing how the teaching connected with the Holy Spirit applies to us in similar times. The constant exigencies of the testimony and of the service of God call forth special activities of the Spirit, so that we are to be ready for such emergencies. It is only in the power of the Spirit that they can be met according to God. These four men are illustrative of what is needed to meet difficult conditions. Othniel is like the leader at the outset, as having spiritual history, and Samson at the end as having a history dating back to his parents.

AMH Is it not noteworthy that the Spirit is not said to be upon Othniel in relation to any exploit, but in relation to judgment?

JT Yes; it does not say that the Spirit came upon him, but that the Spirit of Jehovah was upon him. With Gideon it is said that the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him; also in the case of Jephthah, but as to Samson, the first mention is that the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him. It would appear as if Othniel represents one to whom the Spirit was known earlier; it was not a sudden coming upon him to meet an emergency, but the Spirit was there, possibly in relation to what had been said ^[p. 377] about his earlier history in the taking of Kirjath-sepher. Possibly it would thus allude to his previous history, which is worth considering, for brethren who serve in this way should have in mind that earlier history is necessary.

AMH Is such a qualification particularly necessary for judgment?

JT That is how the matter stands. “The children of Israel cried to Jehovah; and Jehovah raised up a saviour to the children of Israel, who saved them”. And then his service is mentioned. “And the Spirit of Jehovah was upon him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war”. The judgment of Israel was first. The spirit of judgment is necessary in those who go out to war; that is, they are to have a right judgment of the saints.

JWP Would you suggest that the same emergencies that arose in the days of these judges are likely to arise in our day, and have to be met?

JT That was what I thought. These four men represent the mind of God, and what is needed for the Spirit’s activities. Othniel has a history that every brother and sister should enter into — a family history. The Spirit of God touches on this — his antecedents and character. His father-in-law and uncle was Caleb, a man of peculiar qualities in the testimony.

JTS Is there significance in the fact that he was the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother? Would it not be an encouragement to younger men to seek to qualify?

JT I suppose so. Kenaz was the younger brother, and the idea of the younger has a place. His wife and what marked her would enter into his exploits; all these would account for the Spirit being upon him as the emergency is mentioned. He is ready, a trusted man, evidently, being raised up to ^[p. 378] save, and he did it. It is an important matter to do what we are called upon to do. He justified the call; he saved Israel.

EJF What had you in mind about family antecedents? Were you speaking of it in a spiritual way, and also in the ordinary way?

JT The selection of wives and husbands enters into all this much more than we are apt to think. Othniel has a remarkable family setting, and is remarkably successful, free from any blemishes or mistakes. The order of his service was that he judged Israel and went out to war, and Jehovah gave Chushan-rishathaim into his hand. God acted for him under those circumstances, and the land had rest for forty years.

Ques You referred to conditions with which the Spirit of God could identify Himself as illustrated in these men of whom you have spoken. Must there be a previous history with God before the Holy Spirit can identify Himself with one’s service in this way?

JT Yes, I had that in mind. Paul spoke about prophecies going before and the laying on of hands in regard to Timotheus. The man of God was indicated beforehand, and the elderhood committed themselves to him. The prophecies going before would mean that he was divinely pointed out as known of God. The secret history we have with God must underlie all service.

HC “From a child thou hast known the sacred letters”. Would that correspond to the overthrow of Kirjath-sepher, the city of books?

JT Yes, he was not given to light, useless and damaging literature, but nurtured in the sound words of the Scriptures.

JTS Should our young men be exercised about these matters if thinking of ^[p. 379] marrying?

JT That is a principle dating back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The wife should be a sister before she can be a wife, as Paul says, “... a sister as wife”. Sarah was related to Abraham and was called his sister; Rebecca was related to Isaac; Rachel was related to Jacob. There should be a spiritual affinity. A wife may be much help and on the other hand she may do much damage. Hence the importance of a right selection. Achsah would be a spiritual wife. She wants springs of water; she wants spiritual things as her dowry.

We might now consider Gideon; his history shows that a younger son or daughter may influence a parent rightly. But his qualification is seen in that he is threshing wheat in the winepress; that is to say, he was doing something to defeat the enemy. He could not cope with him outwardly, but he was doing something to defeat him. However little it may be, it was directed against what the enemy was doing — he was saving the food from the Midianites who were endeavouring to destroy it.

JWP How does that apply today?

JT Being on the alert as to what the enemy is doing. We may be quite oblivious to what he is doing, but he is always active, and it is important to know what he is aiming at. Gideon discerned that, and was acting against the enemy. It was in secret and under great difficulties, but he was doing it. Then he is able to overthrow the altar that his father had erected to Baal — a wider and more dangerous operation, but he did it. The Midianites were innumerable; that is the enemy was working in a large number of people. The question is, What is he doing today? and with what am I going to check him? I may not be able to overthrow him, but I should do what I can to check him. Such Midianite activities would tend to corrupt the local meeting; if allowed unjudged, they are very damaging.

^[p. 380] Ques So there is need for blowing the trumpet?

JT That is the idea. The Spirit of Jehovah came upon him and he blew the trumpet, and the Abi-ezrites were gathered after him, and he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulon, and to Naphtali, and they came up to meet him. The blowing of the trumpet would be some ministry that calls attention to the evil and arouses the saints. Gideon sets himself to do it, for evil must not be allowed; it must be met.

IR Would a prophetic word call attention to that?

JT I believe the Lord is using the ministry meeting to meet local conditions. There may be ministry that has a wider scope, but the Lord would provide for local conditions.

BS Would that be the outcome of a brother coming to a definite judgment himself, and then acting upon that judgment?

JT Yes; that is what we see from this scripture; there is nothing said as to how he came to be threshing the wheat, but the fact is that he was doing it in the winepress to secure it from the Midianites. Gideon was definite in what he was doing; he had formed a judgment as to what was needed. Evidently he was an obscure man, but he was doing that which he had found to do in his own locality. The Angel sat under the terebinth that was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash; so that it is a local position. He determined to do something, and he was doing it, and that causes him to do greater things; so that he overthrows the altar to Baal in his father’s house. And then the Spirit tells us that “all Midian and Amalek and the children of the east were gathered together”. The enemy is now attacking in large numbers, and at this juncture the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Gideon, as honouring all ^[p. 381] that preceded.

WSF Would Midian answer to natural relationships? They were descendants of Abraham.

JT That is a good suggestion; relationships can be very damaging.

WSS Gideon “blew the trumpet, and the Abi-ezrites were gathered after him”. Would this suggest that he was a brother who had power in his own locality?

JT That is a good point; at the outset where the collective idea is introduced in Exodus, we have reference to the neighbour next unto us; so that a man who found his passover lamb too large divided it with the neighbour next to him; there were other neighbours, but it was with the one next to him. So that Gideon has secured a footing in his father’s house, and in his own locality; a very important matter. His local brethren were with him.

WSS He was a brother in his own locality first and foremost, and then he seems to have discernment as to the whole position and the places where messengers should be sent. He does not send them over the whole of Israel.

JT And all are affected: “they also were gathered after him”. The messengers spread abroad what was needed. There is the blast of the trumpet, but it requires a host of publishers; there are others who take up the truth and spread it.

AHG Although an obscure brother, he knew that Asher and Zebulon and Naphtali would hear the message.

JT He had a right judgment of what was in these places. We hear of messengers in the days of Josiah, who were sent, but were of little effect; here we have sympathy and the messengers were heard. It is a very important thing to find genuine sympathy among the brethren.

HH Would ministry of the trumpet character bring that to ^[p. 382] light?

JT That is the idea, the trumpet is the ministry. In Numbers 10 we have the silver trumpets, which denote the rights of love; a most touching way to appeal to us, by the love of Christ. The love of Christ constrains us — it is the testimony of it presented in a powerful way in ministry.

WSS Is the attack of the Midianites a serious matter at the present time?

JT I think they represent natural relations who go in for social matters. They were people who had kingship and titles, and that sort of thing; they were a snare even to Gideon later. They descended from Abraham. They allure us, leading us into social things instead of spiritual things, and if we are occupied with social matters we do not go in for what is spiritual.

EJF In times of local difficulty must we see to it that the food supply is maintained?

JT Yes; that is it. Shut out all these social matters, ornamentation and so forth.

EuR It says the people were gathered after Gideon. Does that indicate a special place of leadership?

JT Yes, that is another feature of the book. Deborah and Barak in their song said, “Leaders led in Israel”. Othniel was a saviour and he saved the people; Gideon was a leader and he led; that is what marks him here. They came after him, and others met him. Then the army was tested; that enters into the Spirit coming upon Gideon, for he is a leader but he is ready to have his army reduced to a small number, so that the victory and the surpassingness of the power may be of God and not of us. The allusion in 2 Corinthians 4: 7 is to him. The vessel is broken, and the power of God is seen in it. He represents that side. The power of God is seen in reducing the army that was to meet the Midianites ^[p. 383] who had a great host. Gideon meets them with three hundred. It is a question of God’s power.

HC Is that what Paul alludes to: “We ourselves had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not have our trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead”?

JT Yes, that is it, it enters into the second epistle to the Corinthians: “Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body” (chapter 4: 10). And it says, earlier, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels”. The allusion is to Gideon; so that he gets an outstanding place in that he is alluded to in the New Testament.

Then, in regard to Jephthah, we should note that he is a man who understands Israel’s history. His upbringing had great disadvantages and he suffered from the disadvantages, and in his service he is occupied a good deal with himself. He made a bargain before he took leadership, but he understood the history of the testimony. He quoted Scripture to meet the point at issue — a very important matter. All may not be conversant with what I am alluding to, but it says in chapter 11: 12, “Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight against my land?” But Jephthah knew the history of Israel, and to meet the attack he brought in the thought that Israel walked through the wilderness.

HH Is there the possibility of quoting Scripture wrongly and supporting evil?

JT We may do that; very often it is done, but Jephthah knew the scriptures which related to the matter in hand, and spoke very touchingly about Israel’s walking, “When they came up from Egypt, then Israel walked through the wilderness”. That is the principle applicable to the wilderness — we walk

through it. He said, “Israel walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh”. Then he touches on the false brother who would not let Israel pass through the land. “And Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land ... . And they walked through the wilderness and went round the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came by the east of the land of Moab”. Israel had the real spirit of a brother, they would rather suffer than provoke a quarrel. Jephthah pursues the history and establishes the righteousness of the issue for which he is contending. It is most important in local issues that we get everything clear and not call evil good, and good evil.

HH He would stand for the inheritance in every feature.

JT You do not allow the saints to be robbed of their inheritance; there is the heritage which the Lord has given us.

HH And he understood boundaries, which is very important in these days.

JT Yes; it is remarkable the place they have in relation to our local meetings.

Ques How do you understand Jephthah’s character in this setting, seeing that his brethren would withhold his inheritance from him?

JT He bears the features of Christ, in a sense, in all this, although in a very crude way. He was unfairly treated, being cast out of his father’s house because of his mother. Although he had rights in his father’s house he did not assert them; I think he bears something of the character of a saviour at the outset, but he never seemed to be formed like Othniel and Gideon. We must be prepared to suffer from our brethren, but in doing so we need to be preserved from a hard and ^[p. 385] wrong spirit.

Ques Did he profit by the suffering from his brethren?

JT Yes, I think he learned something of the way the children of Israel walked, in having to go round in order to avoid conflict. But instead of being like Gideon’s father, Joash, who rendered thankful testimony (Judges 6: 31), he fled to Tob. He did not gather a valiant people around him. If one is suffering at the hand of his brother, he may gather up substance, spiritually, and be helped in that way. But Jephthah failed there. Still, he could speak of Israel walking, and walking round in order to avoid conflict with brethren.

HH Does the sacrifice of his daughter accentuate the thought of suffering?

JT He committed himself to that, but why should he speak of offering up whatever came to meet him? I think it indicates the character of the man, that there was lack of formation, and yet God used him. We must not be surprised if God takes up unlikely persons in His service.

Now we should consider Samson, I think he represents Christ in a distinctive way in the sense of nazariteship. In Samson we are to learn that there is a feminine side; that the servant comes in through nazariteship; not only as expressed in himself, but in the mother — raising the whole question as to how far we learn, through the Spirit of Christ, to refuse what is legitimate in itself in view of devotedness, so that the children are nazarites. A local gathering may be more formed in its subjective or sisterly qualities than in lordship. The name of Samson’s mother is not given, but Manoah’s name is given several times, I think it is to bring out what may be subjective in a gathering, though leaders may be wanting. Leaders are fully owned; they are not set aside; they are brought into the matter and they are followed, but the Angel appeared to Manoah’s wife twice, and not to Manoah except when he was with her.

WSS Your reference to the Spirit of Jehovah beginning to “move” him, might come in here. The footnote states that the word for “move” is expressive of powerful emotion.

JT Yes; it foreshadows the Lord Jesus. What powerful and spiritual emotions marked Him, even before He entered on His service! What we are speaking of now is deeper in Samson than in any of the other servants. It is a question of what has been imparted by the mother, and raises the question in our local meetings of what the general state is, and whether there are any leaders. Why did not the Angel come to Manoah? He was the responsible element. He came to Manoah’s wife twice, and there is something in that. The general state in the sisters may do more in a meeting than the brothers who take the lead.

AHG Does a right state subjectively lead to the production of leadership ultimately?

JT Yes; Samson is the product, but the parents go through much; Manoah was brought into the thing. God is not going to set the elders aside, but He will bring them round. Feelings are developed in Samson. Spiritual feelings are needed first, and then action.

WSF Does the path of separation correspond to nazariteship?

JT Yes, but nazariteship goes deeper, involving the denial of things that are legitimate in themselves.

Ques How do you distinguish between the Midianite element which Gideon faced and the Philistine with which Samson had to do?

JT The Philistine is the big man whom Satan would use. The Philistines had a status in the land and continued until David’s time. Samson did not bring them to an end, but the Spirit began to move ^[p. 387] him and he began to overcome them. It is the idea of beginning in a right way. Chapters 14 and 15 tell us that the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him three times. He is the only one of whom that is recorded. His history is a remarkable one; there is this remarkable power, a power you do not get in any others. It suggests that young brothers and sisters should begin right. The Spirit of Jehovah began to move him in his own locality.

Rem Timothy has been mentioned as having spiritual features. Paul had great desire to see him, remembering his tears.

JT That is good. You are directed to the Lord Himself; what feelings, unutterable feelings, must have marked the Lord throughout in what He found here! The gospels give us some instances, but what must have been His deep feelings! The reference to 2 Timothy is good. Timothy is the man for the last days. He was one who cared with genuine feeling how the saints got on. God is bringing this kind of thing to our attention in view of the continuance of the testimony here. Young men should come forward in this way, taking on nazariteship and making way for the Spirit to move them. Romans 8 tells us that the Spirit witnesses with our spirits that we are children of God. He gives us to know what a place we have with God; and He makes intercession for the saints with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Rem The Lord, beholding the city, wept over it.

JT Yes, much could be said on that line. I believe the impression we should get is that there should be deepening feelings as to matters which arise, and then the power coming in, as seen in the slaying of the lion. The lion turns not away for any. The Spirit of Jehovah came upon Samson. And the Philistines, however many, cannot stand ^[p. 388] before him. Then we are told that he slew more in his death than in his life. It is a question of what one man can do.

AHG Is that very much the character of the last days?

JT Yes; we may say we have not many, but it is what one can do, one who feels things in secret with God — who takes on nazariteship.

EJF How do you apply the fact that he slew more men in his death than in his life?

JT It is all a matter of what one man can do. Samson, in principle, was laying down his life for the brethren.

EuR Is it in the light of the universal position?

JT Yes; he judged Israel. In the face of Philistine opposition he carried on the judgment of Israel.

HH Was it an unselfish death, reminding us of the death of Christ?

JT Yes.