Judges 3:7-11 (1:11-15) - A Different Spirit

Judges 3:7–11 ESV

7 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. 8 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. 9 But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 10 The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. 11 So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Rewind - The Heritage of Caleb

Abraham - Isaac > Jacob & Esau

12 Tribes of Israel > Joseph > Manasseh & Ephraim

Esau > Eliphaz > Kenaz (Kenizzites) - EDOMITES who were living in Canaan (the Land)

Jephunneh > Caleb & Kenaz > Leader of JUDAH - 12 spies

Numbers 13:25–33 (ESV)

25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land.

26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”

32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height.

33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

…people rebel against Moses (Num 14:1-12)

…Moses intercedes for the people (Num 14:13-19)

Numbers 14:20–24 (ESV)

20 Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word.

21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord,

22 none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice,

23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.

24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

Caleb was grafted in to the TRIBE of JUDAH!

Gentile converts to were thought to be added to the Tribe of Judah

>>One piece of evidence for this practice is that Caleb was the representative of Judah among the 12 spies.

>>Another piece of evidence of this practice shown by placement of the Caleb/Othniel in the midst of Judges’ record of Judah’s continued conquest.

When they were coming into the land with Joshua, at 85 years old, Caleb is still confident and strong in the Lord saying this in Joshua 14:6-12

Joshua 14:6–12 ESV

6 Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. 8 But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. 9 And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ 10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. 11 I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. 12 So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”

Othniel, “God is my Protection”

Othniel, “God is my Protection”

Judges 1:11–13 ESV

11 From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir was formerly Kiriath-sepher. 12 And Caleb said, “He who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him Achsah my daughter for a wife.” 13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter for a wife.

Achsah & Othniel - passage doesn’t say anything about Othniel’s love for Achsah, but I would like to thing Othniel thought highly enough of Achsah that he took Caleb’s deal. And let’s look at it from the other angle...ladies, how would you feel about a man who would fight an entire city to win your hand in marriage?

What we do know about Achsah from this passage is that she was wise, resourceful and respectful…it seems as though she grew up watching a father who wholly trusted in the Lord and loved his daughter well...

Judges 1:14–15 ESV

14 When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” 15 She said to him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water.” And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

Judge 1: Othniel

Judges 3:7–8 ESV

7 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. 8 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

Sadly this will be the refrain throughout judges…and it will only get worse

Judges 3:9 ESV

9 But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

The word for Judge = Deliverer = mosia

Exodus 2:10 ESV

10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

…delivered from judgement, from slavery in Egypt, from oppression in the Land (they had become slaves in their own land!!! because of their idolatry)

Judges 3:10–11 ESV

10 The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. 11 So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Four Judge Characteristics found in Othniel

The Spirit of the Lord upon him (ALSO: Gideon, Jephthah and Samson)

Judges Israel

Wages War against oppressors

40 Year Rest for the Land (ALSO: Deborah & Gideon…Ehud 80 YEARS - Two Generations)

GO WITH THIS...

Do we have the right spirit in us?

Caleb had a DIFFERENT spirit.

Trusted in the Lord’s power

Compared to the rest of his generation, OTHNIEL like his Uncle Caleb, had a DIFFERENT spirit. One that looked at dire circumstances around him and let the Lord lead him and his people to salvation.

By our faith in salvation through Jesus Christ alone, we have been given the fullness of this spirit…

As Jesus prayed in John 14:15–17 “15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

and furthermore in …John 14:26 “26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

And to again to his disciples in Acts 1:8 he says, “8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

In our PRAYERS, are we repenting or are we whining?

There is a crying out to the LORD that is NOT repentance

The people of Israel in the book of Judges CRY OUT, but repentance is seen in a TURNING from our former ways unto the ways of the Lord and sadly Judges records NO evidence of repentant hearts among the people of Israel…for 200 years, as the book of Judges records, Judges 21:25 “25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Judges shows the MERCY of God in spite of our unrepentant hearts…it reminds of what Paul writes in Romans 5:8 “8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Finally…are we ready to be used in the Kingdom? Like Othniel and Achsah,

Are we aware of ALL the Lord has provided? And will we use what He has given with wisdom?

Do we see the battles the Lord has put before us? And do we trust that the Lord is our protection and our strength?