DEPRAVITY WITHOUT GOD PART 3: OPHNIEL, EHUD AND THE OX-GOAD SWINGING SHAGMAR

Anyway, Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan. The critics spend a lot of time on Moses parting the red sea, claiming it was a shallow place where strong winds blew at certain times of year, which cause a gap of dry land to appear seasonally, and thus the parting of the Red Sea was no big miracle at all. For some reason they don’t seem eager to jump on Joshua and the parting of the Jordan River, though. Joshua led the whole of the Israelite nation across the Jordan on dry ground. The critics can’t say it was a shallow place. It was high tide for the river coming doing the harvest season.

Oh well, you critics can’t win them all.

But Joshua did win at Jericho (God did actually) and the walls of the city tumbled down. Of course, archeologists think Jericho may have been the oldest city in the world, so maybe it was just so old it turned to dust when those trumpets blew.

Now Joshua died after he had divided the land between the tribes. And all the older generation, which had come out of Egypt with Moses  and Joshua were passed away. A new, younger generation arose and they did evil in the sight of God. They served Baal and Ashtoreth, (pictured on right) because they had not done what God had ordered by totally wiping out those peoples of Canaan. Instead they intermarried and then they began to forsake God for the deities of these people, and these were evil.

Baal was a horrific god worshipped by those of the Levant. The countries considered part of Levant are Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Turkey. The name ISIL  (also known as Isis) stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Note that Israel was considered part of the Levant.

The gods these people, and whom Israel began adopting, were Baal and Ashtoreth sometimes called Asherah).  Baal was believed to have power over wind, rain and fertility. It times of crisis, the Baal worshipers sacrificed children to the God, especially the first born. Consider Baal the god of abortion.

Ashtoreth was a fertility goddess often depicted nude with exaggerated genitals. She was not only the mother of Baal; she was also his mistress. Hows that for a twisted family? She was worshipped through the practice of sex and this led to religious prostitution. The people commonly engaged in obscene public sexual acts with these prostitutes. 

Upon Joshua’s death God had raises up Judges, but the Israelites wouldn’t harken to the Judges, and when these initial Judges were dead, the people corrupted themselves even more. God was so angry he would no longer drive out their enemies. After a while he allowed Israel to fall into the hands of their enemies until finally the people cried out to him. 

And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.

And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the Lord. (Judges 2:1-5) [Bochim means "weepers"]

Not only wouldn’t God go before the Israelites and drive out the others in the land, God was so angry with them for their unfaithfulness, he gave them over to the rule of the Mesopotamian King, Chushanrishathaim, who demanded their servitude for eight years. They were getting right back to where they were in Egypt.

Now the Israelites stopped ignoring God and cried out for his help, and then God raised up a new deliverer for them out of the tribe of Judah. This man was the son of Kenaz, who was the younger brother of Caleb. 

Kenaz son’s name was Othniel and the name may mean “God is my strength.” Othniel defeated the King of Mesopotamia. He ruled Israel for 40 years and they had peace and rest. But then Othniel died and guess what happened?  (Judges 3:8-11)

Those Israelites slid right back to evil ways.

You must keep these things in mind. We think America is pretty strong militarily and we take some comfort in our might. We better consider where our faithfulness to God is instead. Remember God gave the Israelites over to Mesopotamia, then rescued them. Now God strengthened the King of Moab, named Eglon. God allowed Eglon to conquer the Israelites. We have a long history of God allowing countries to take over those who once looked to him and then slid away. The Israelites became the servants of Moab for the next 18 years, after which they cried again to God.

People may not be faithful, but God is, if the people turn back to him.  This time God raised up the son on one Gera, a Benjamite. 

This man was named Ehud. Ehud has become something of a popular name with modern Jews. In fact, two of Israel’s ministers were named Ehud: Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert. The true meaning of the name isn’t known, but it has been conjectured that it means either Unity or Glory. Either of these worked for this Ehud that God raised up.

Ehud was left-handed and this proved beneficial to him. The people prepared a present for Eglon, King of Moab, and choose Ehud to deliver it. After all, he was God’s new deliverer.

Ehud made himself a short sword, a dagger actually, one with two very sharp edges. It was a foot and a half long. Ehud strapped this weapon on his right thigh hidden beneath his clothes. He traveled to Eglon’s place and there the present was presented. Ehud told him he had a secret errand for the king, so Eglon sent every one else out of his parlor and locked the doors.

The doors were shut and these two men were alone. Ehud approached the King and said he had a message from God. He arose and came to Eglon while at the same time reaching with his left hand and drawing the dagger strapped to his right thigh. He plunged this 18 inch dagger into Eglon’s belly up to the hilt.

Eglon was a obesely overweight man; that is, he was fat. (Warning, this gets a bit gross here.) The whole dagger had sunk into his flesh and Ehud could not pull it out. It went in so deep that the content of his bowel’s leaked out.

This also proved beneficial for Ehud escape.

When Eglon’s guards came to reenter the chamber they found the doors locked. They also smelled the foul odor and deduced that the King must be in the closet relieving himself, or as they delicately put it: “Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber.”. They did not want to disrupt such a private moment and embarrass their king, so they waited.  And they waited and waited until they felt foolish waiting and broke in. All they found was their king dead on the floor and Ehud gone.

Ehud escaped to his own territory and there blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim rallying his troops behind him. His people followed him down the mount as he shouted, “Follow after me: for the Lord hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand!” They went down and conquered Moab without the loss of a single Israelite and Ehud ruled over Israel for the next 80 years. (Judges 3:9-30)

Immediately after Ehud, God raised up Shamgar, the son of Anath. Anath is a curious name. Anath was something or someone set apart to God, so devoted to God that it could not be redeemed and so it also came to mean accursed, an anathema. There is also the Arab town of Anath, called Anathoth in Joshua 21:18, a Benjamite village named as a City of Refuge. This was also the home town of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:1). 

The name Anath is also that of a Canaanite diety, the goddess of love and war, a sister of Baal. Some think where it says “the son of Anath”, it is not referring to Shamgar’s parent at all, but is a title and that Shamgar was not actually a Israelite at all, but foreign, perhaps a Hittite and in the past, at least, a worshipper of Canaanite deities. 

We are not given any introductory information in the Bible about Shamgar, where he was from or anything about how long he might have ruled, if indeed he did, only that he came after Ehud and that he delivered Israel as well by slaying 600 Philistines with an ox goad. (Judges 3:31)  He is briefly mentioned again in Judges 5:6 as part o what is called the Song of Deborah.

You know, in fact, Shamgar, with his bid stick, known as an Ox Goad, may not even ruled over Israel at all. He may have just popped up on the scene when they needed a strong man to kill a lot of Philistines, because the next thing the Bible really tells us is the “Children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead.” (Judges 4:1)

Yes, they did it again. It is like when the cat is away, the mice will play, or maybe in this case we should say cats. Every time God raises up a protective cat and the cat dies, the Israeli mice turn to evil. They just don’t learn.

DEPRAVITY WITHOUT GOD PART 2: HERE COMES THE FIRST ISRAELITE

In Genesis we learn of a man in Ur named Abrams. He was born around 2000 BC, some say it was 1996 BC. He lived for 175 years. The name Abrams means “high father”. God changed his name to Abraham after he made a promise to him. Some say Abraham means “father of many nations”, but this is not technically correct. The name better translates to “a strong leader who made a covenant;" which is what God and Abrams did. 

In Genesis 15:13 God tells (Abrams) Abraham his “offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted 400 years.”

Ten years after God promised Abram (Abraham) that he would make him a great nation, Abraham is dwelling as a nomad in Canaan and with Hagar, an Egyptian woman, conceives Ishmael., who is born the next year. God proclaims to Hagar that he will make Ishmael a great nation, which will always be a thorn in the side of Israel.

Then in Genesis 21:5 Abraham is 100 year old when Isaac is born. This is 25 years after God initially promised Abram he would make him a great nation and it is 405 years before the Exodus. 

5 years later (Genesis 21:8-9) Isaac is weaned and Sarah, his mother and Abraham’s wife, sees Ishmael laughing at Isaac. Genesis 4:29 informs us this was: “He born according to the flesh persecuting him born according to the spirit.” The affliction of Israel (Isaac) by Egypt (Ishmael) has begun. It is 400 years before the Exodus. God’s prophesy to Abraham that his offspring will be afflicted 400 years has begun.

Joseph was born 176 years after God’s promise to Abraham or 254 years before the Exodus (totaling 430 years), and Joseph dies at age 110 (144 years before the Exodus). Only 64 years pass after Joseph’s death until Moses is born and placed in a basket to be saved from death under Pharaoh’s decree that all Israeli baby boys must be killed.. It is 350 years since God made his promise to Abraham. (176+110+64=350)

Moses is 80 years old when the Exodus begins, exactly 430 years since God’s promise to Abraham. (350+80=430)

In Exodus 12:40-41 it is stated: The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 

Keep in mind, the time of the people of Israel began with Abraham because at the time of the promise Abraham did go and sojourn in Egypt. So from the beginning of the Israelites until the Exodus was 430 years.

Now obviously since there were only 64 years between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses, the Israelites could not have been enslaved in Egypt 400 years. But that was not what God had said.

Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for 400 years.”

First of all, God said they would be sojourners. Sojourn means to stay or visit temporarily. To be sojourners would be people who traveled in and out of this place or that, which the Israelites certainly did from Abraham’s first journey there. And during 400 hundred years of sojourning they were afflicted by a land not their own. This affliction began with Ishmael’s mocking of Isaac and ended with the Exodus. God said they would be afflicted by Egypt for 400 years, not that they would be servants that entire time. He only said at some point they would be servants there.

Here we are 64 years after Joseph died and there is Egypt with a brand new Pharaoh who doesn’t even remember Joseph and he is showing fear at the growth of the Israelites. He doesn’t necessarily know how they got there, he is just afraid of their growth. So in that 64 year time span between Joseph and Moses he has indeed enslaved them and now he is killing their boy babies. (Exodus 1: 7-22)

The Israelites needed a new deliverer and along came Moses.
Moses killed an Egyptian, relying on his own strength, not on God, and he had to flee Egypt. In the land where he went he came across a burning bush one day and God was in it.

Moses was no youngster when he saw the burning bush and God ordered him to lead the Hebrews out of Egyptian bondage. He was 80 years old by then. I am pushing hard on 80 and with my beard, sandals and walking stick have been called Moses by people who pass me.  I’ll confess, right here and now, I am not anywhere near up to the rigors Moses was going to face. 

There were times when Moses felt his age and once he did have two men hold his arms up as he tired in a battle against the Amalekites (Exodus 17:12-14). Well, one week doing these Bible Studies I required my own Aaron and Hur; let's call them Bill M. and Kenny G., to hold me up and get me home.

Anyway we know Moses led the Israelites across the red sea, on dry land no less. Getting from the Red Sea to the Jordan River bordering the Promise Land of Canaan should not have taken the 40-year ordeal it became, not really.

After crossing the Red Sea and escaping Pharaoh, Moses led the Israelites across a desert until they camped at the base of Mt. Sinai, also called Mount Horeb. Making this encampment only took about three months or so after leaving Egypt. While there Moses went up the mount where he got the Ten Commandments, and he was gone 40 days. After a bit of a delay to deal with the people’s impatient revolt, where they began worshipping a golden calf while Moses was away, they set out straight for the Promised Land. The average man or woman on the street would most likely tell you, if asked, that it took them 40 years to get there.

No, it didn’t, not that first time.

Say what? The first time?

Yep, there were two trips to the Promise Land.

These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side of Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

(There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)

And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them…(Deuteronomy 1:1-3)

Yeah, see, “And it came to pass in the fortieth year”, right?

No, in the fortieth year Moses spoke to the Hebrews all that God had commanded to them. This is not when they first arrived on the edge of the Promise Land nor how long it should have taken to travel there. It was Moses giving an overview of their trip.You must look at verse 2, the one in parenthesis in the King James version. “There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.”

So what does this mean?

After Moses and the Hebrews crossed the Red Sea out of Egypt, they escamped at Mt. Sinai, also known as Horeb.  Then we find in Deuteronomy 1:19:

“Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrifying wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us. And we came to Kadesh-barnea.”

It was eleven days journey from Mt. Sinai to Kadeshbarnea. That’s all. In far less  than a year, the Hebrews should have been entering the Promise Land and taking it as directed by God.

Here we see clearly the faithless nature of these people. After seeing the Red Sea parted and the fate of Pharaoh’s army, they were still afraid to trust God. Well, we saw that back at Sinei, didn’t we? Moses disappears up the Mount for just over a month and these people were already making a new idol to replace God in their hearts.

Kadeshbarnea in on the southern border of Israel, across the Jordan River in what is now called Transjorden and about 5 miles from Petra, Jordan. Back then it was part of what was known as Edom. And what happened back there at Kadeshbarnea when the Hebrews arrived the first time?

The people again lost heart.

Moses send 13 men to spy out Canaan on orders from God, “from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.” (Numbers 13:2)

Now one may ask, 13? Were there not 12 tribes? Where dd this 13 come from?

These spies and their tribes are listed in Numbers 13: 4-15, but Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, are named as two tribes because back in Genesis 48 Jacob basically adopted them as his own, thus there were 13 men sent.

These men then slipped into Canaan, where they spied for 40 days before returning to Moses with their reports. All but two came back shaking in their sandals, fearing they had no chance again the giants and powerful occupants of Canaan. Only Two came back ready to go in and take the country. These were Joshua and Caleb.

As a result of this lack of faithfulness, God condemned the Hebrews to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, one year for each day those spies had been in Canaan. The punishment was that not a single Hebrew who came out of Egypt would live to go into the Promise Land, except Joshua, Caleb and the children under 20 years of age, and so it was to be.  Even Moses didn’t get there because of his own disobedience in striking the Rock of water. (Numbers 20:2-13).

Caleb, son of Jephunneh, was a member of the Judah tribe. When Caleb was given his allotment in the Promise land he had this to say in Joshua 14:10-12:

“Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”

Once I said I will be like Caleb, but I cannot say it anymore. I am not 85, I’m just short of 80, but not so strong as I was at 65. Doesn’t mean I back down from speaking out for God, though. More pertinent, when we finally get around to the three hombres again, we’ll find Caleb plays another roll.

Joshua was no spring chicken himself. There is no exact birth date given for him nor how old he was when he and Caleb spied out Canaan, but most believe he was 30 or 40 at the time, so after 38 years wandering about the wilderness, he would have been between 68 and 78 when he led the Israelites into the Promise Land. In Joshua 24:29 we are told Joshua was 110 when he died. Therefore, 32 to 42 years passed while he was leading the Israelites through the conquest of Canaan. And after his demise is when things went south for the Israelites.

Things started out looking good, of course. Joshua led him to the banks of the Jordan and he sent two spies to Jericho, this big fortified city in Judah. The two men got into the city proper just fine and a prostitute hid them. This prostitute it is believed became the wife of one of these spies and he was Salmon. They had a son named Boaz and Boaz became the husband of some woman from Moab you might have heard of, named Ruth. Ruth and Boaz began Obed, who was the grandfather of David. If you keep going you find that this one-time Prostitute was a grandmother of Jesus.

Funny the way things work out.