Power Locks

- The Judges

Judges 2:8–15 (CSB)

8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. 9 They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10 That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works he had done for Israel.

11 The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals 12 and abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They angered the Lord, 13 for they abandoned him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.

14 The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies. 15 Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord was against them and brought disaster on them, just as he had promised and sworn to them. So they suffered greatly.

In the Codex or book form of the Bible today,

It is structured this way,

Genesis = Meaning, Beginnings

Which detail the account of the beginning of everything.

How man was created, then the falling out of perfect communion with Yahweh /God

God ultimately chose Abraham as the progenitor of the nation He would bring the Messiah through, to fulfill His promise to the serpent, by crushing evil his head once and for all.

By circumstance, this new nation God created through Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, designated to be His People, was enslaved in Egypt.

Which leads us the the second book in the Bible, called:

2. Exodus = Meaning, Exit

Moses was sent by God to lead this new nation from Egyptian bondage into the land promised to, Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.

3. Leviticus = Meaning, Of the Levites

God designed His people for one purpose, to be a Godly people

He gave them priest to serve His people through His commandments to maintain their intended righteousness.

Leviticus is a book of priestly ordinances.

Although we are not under the law of Moses any longer thanks to Jesus, it helps us understand why events happened and how Israel, a Godly nation bound to those ordinances behaved and conducted themselves.

Next we have:

4. Numbers = Numbers

The book of Numbers teach us about the seriousness of God’s intentions.

The wanderings in the desert,

The people coming to terms with the fact the God was Yahweh and He will be revered.

Then we have the last of the five books of Moses,

(Called the Pentateuch),

5. Deuteronomy = Repetition of the Law or an Re-iteration

Next we have the Book of:

6. Joshua = Meaning, God is salvation

Moses has died, and now Joshua takes over leading the people of Israel

The take possession of most of the land after warfare.

They settle in the land of Canaan, each of the twelve tribes in their land portions designated by Joshua

Now we come to the book of:

7. Judges = When Judges ruled.

Joshua has died, and now there was no one person leading Israel, except for God through the Law and priesthood.

And we’ll discover it didn’t take them long to nose dive right into moral debauchery

being influenced by those still in the land they failed to drive out.

So, Go said to them

Judges 2:2–4 (CSB)

2 You are not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed me. What have you done? 3 Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a trap for you.” 4 When the angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.

- Spiraling into Debauchery

As you all know by now Yadi suffers from chronic Migraines.

At the beginning of trying to begin a treatment regiment, we began seeing a doctor,

This doctor had prescribed and suggested several things to Yadi to aid her in her affliction.

But, Yadi didn’t want to do them, for whatever her reasoning was at the time.

When the doctor asked her if they had been working, she told him she wasn’t sure because she didn’t try his recommendation.

He flat out asked her, “What are you coming to me for if you aren’t going to take my recommendations?”

Basically he told her that if she wasn’t willing to follow his instructions that he would reject her as a patient.

Boy, aren’t we glad that God doesn’t feel that way?

In the book of Judges we find that Israel had gone astray and began doing whatever they wanted to do instead of the instructions laid out by God as a condition of His being with them.

Even still God raised up what He called Judges to judge Israel,

To straighten them out, and bring them relief from the tyranny of the nations oppressing them.

The book of Judges tells us that, God did that to them because they had not known warfare.

Joshua and the generation that cleared the land for their occupation had died off,

They had no idea what it meant to be living in such a bountiful and beautiful place.

So God sent them troublemakers to stir the pot so-to-speak.

This was designed to get the nation to stop their evil ways and come back to the instructions Moses left them with,

The Law.

And every time things got hairy, or oppressive, they cried out to God and another Judge would rise up, straighten them out for a bit until he or she died.

Then they would start the same downward spiral into debauchery again.

It went on like this all through the time of the Judges,

beginning with:

Othniel: He was the first of the Judges and son-in-law to Caleb. Joshua and Caleb were the only two men that were still alive that had come through the Exodus from Egypt.

During the 40 years of wandering the desert as a punishment from God for not entering the promised land due to fear of the giants. (Remember?)

There was

Ehud who assassinated the obese Moabite king Eglon, by strapping a dagger on his thigh, and plunging it so far into the kings belly, that the fat closed up around the handle of the blade.

Shamar

Deborah, who was a woman Judge, Which was odd because usually men dominated leadership roles back then.

Gideon who questioned the Lord several times before believing and whom God used to lead His people as a strong leader

And several others including

Samson, whose strength was thought to be in his hair for a time.

His story begins as the son of a barren couple who prayed for a child.

- A Nazarite

Judges 13:3–5 (CSB)

3 The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are unable to conceive and have no children, you will conceive and give birth to a son. 4 Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean; 5 for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

The term Nazarite is defined as = one who is separated from others and consecrated to God

There are only three people recorded in scripture that had a life long nazarite vow,

Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist.

(M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893), 492.)

Although a Nazarite from birth, Samson lived life just the way he wanted to,

As the song made popular by Frank Sinatra titled, “I did it my way.”

That is exactly Samsons life is summed up.

- Lady Problems

A result of which it has been said of Samson, due to his lust for foreign women,

He was a HE-Man withe She-problems, (lol).

Women three times became his demise,

One of these occasions is told here in

Judges 14:1–3 (CSB)

1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw a young Philistine woman there. 2 He went back and told his father and his mother, “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

3 But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?”

But Samson told his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.”

The last of was his eventual downfall.

Her name was Delilah

Not a lot about her is know other than the scripture named her, unlike the other two

The Philistine bride to be, or the prostitute in Gaza.

The Philistine wife or wife to be betrayed him to save her family. She was threatened with death if she didn’t

However, Delilah betrayed him for money.

And Samson fell for her tricks.

Judges 16:16–17 (CSB)

16 Because she nagged him day after day and pleaded with him until she wore him out, 17 he told her the whole truth and said to her, “My hair has never been cut, because I am a Nazirite to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

In verse

Judges 16:19–21 (CSB)

19 Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless, and his strength left him. 20 Then she cried, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When he awoke from his sleep, he said, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

21 The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison.

- Rebellion

Eventually the hair began to grow back and in his last move, he took out revenge on the Philistines but lost his life in the process

By using his returned strength to know down their temple trapping everyone inside.

Has anyone here ever had to deal with a rebellious teenager?

I have, it was terrible, it was a nightmare.

I hope we never go through that experience again.

I know of a man that was eventually murdered by a cousin, but before he was murdered

This man had been a child molester, a sociopath, and a terror to those who loved him.

Because he couldn’t hold down a job, he was forced to go back to his country to live with his parents.

He had no where else to go.

His brothers came from America to visit their sick aging father.

When the father was awakened to the sound of his other sons, he greeted them in tears,

Then immediately said, Take your brother with you when you leave.

He is going to be the death of us.

Has any one known of someone like this?

I imagine this is how Samson was viewed.

He had all the strength in the world, but used it to get want he wanted.

Samson’s story and the entirety of the time if the Judges are best summed up by the vert last verse in the book

Judges 21:25 (CSB)

25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.

God was there, but they didn’t need God,

You see, they were already in the land flowing with milk and honey

- For the Glory of the Lord

When man cracked the DNA code, He went up to the highest mountain and began to shake his fist at God Saying,

“we don't need you anymore. You created life, now, we can create life too. And we can make him just how we want to.

Bigger, smaller, green eyes, blue eyes, blonde hair, brown hair. However we want, so we don't need you anymore; telling us how to live and what to do and what not to do. Just stay out of our lives, so we can live them how we want to.

Then, God responded.

“So, you say, now you have also created life? You don't need me anymore? Ok, then show me what you are saying is true.”

So then man knelt to the ground and began scooping up some dirt, then God stopped him saying, “Wait a minute, go get your own dirt, for that is mine.”

This is how Samson decided to live out the majority of his life.

Unfortunately, this is how many of us choose to live out our lives.

Many of us have been born with gifts, and talents, but choose to use them for our own purposes

Brothers and sisters,

You and I have been born with a gift talent and a purpose.

That purpose is to be spent for the glory of God.

If you are not using your blessings for the glory of God, you are in open rebellion against Him.

Matthew 6:24 (CSB)

24 “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

You must choose for yourself,

If you don’t know what your gift or talent is, pray that it is revealed to you.

And when it is, use it for the glory of the Lord.

After for that reason he came and died for you

That you would choose to love Him above all else.

He should be the first fruits of all your treasures, in

Gifts, Time, Money, talents, patience, knowledge

Where ever He has bless you, use it for the glory of the Lord.

And He will restore what you have spent, to the point that your cup will truly overflow

For just as with Samson, after he humbled himself and repented before the Lord,

God returned to him his blessing

He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Amen

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