Judges 1:16 – 21 “Now the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad. They went to live among the people.
Then the men of Judah went with their brothers the Simeonites, struck the Canaanites who were living in Zephath, and devoted the city to destruction. So it was called Hormah. And Judah also captured Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron—each with its territory. The LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plains because they had chariots of iron.
Just as Moses had promised, Judah gave Hebron to Caleb, who drove out the descendants of the three sons of Anak. The Benjamites, however, failed to drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. And to this day the Jebusites dwell among the Benjamites in Jerusalem.”
When God was giving the Israelites instructions, He promised to go before them and to be with them as they conquered Canaan. That conquest had only been partially completed at the time that Joshua died. Now it was up to the Israelites to complete the job…… and they failed.
Even while Moses was still alive, God warned the Israelites against mingling with the nations they were about to encounter. Deuteronomy 7:1 – 6 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you. Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession, above all peoples on the face of the earth.”
Why did God want the Israelites to completely wipe out all these other nations? God already knew the perverted religions practiced by these people and He also knew that the Israelites could be easily seduced into heresy.
But if God was on the side of the Israelites, why didn’t they completely conquer all these other groups? The answer lies in the excuses that were recorded. The men of Judah conquered the hill country and even conquered all the cities of the Philistines. BUT the people of the plains had iron chariots, the equivalent of tanks. Now, could God have given the men of Judah strategies to defeat these charioteers? Of course! But did anybody ask God for strategies? Doubtful! Instead, the men of Judah assumed they could take care of things themselves and then chose to settle for what they could get easily. And the same thing was true of the Benjamites, who failed to defeat the Jebusites and who wound up shrugging their shoulders and living together with the Jebusites in Jerusalem in direct disobedience to God’s orders. When the going got tough, these guys wimped out.
Reading this passage is very disappointing, but what about Caleb? Remember that by now, Caleb was probably nearly 90 years old. But Caleb was a man of tremendous faith; it was Caleb and Joshua who told the rest of the Israelites that God would help them if they would only go on into Canaan. Now Caleb and his men drove out the three sons of Anak. Who were the sons of Anak? These were the very giants that had frightened the Israelites 40 years earlier. When Caleb reminded Joshua of God’s promise for Caleb to possess Hebron, Caleb was already praying and planning on ways to defeat those giants. Even though Caleb was probably twice the age of most of the men fighting with him, Caleb was victorious. Caleb was too busy fulfilling God’s purposes to waste time whining.
APPLICATION: Have you ever found yourself in a situation in which you have been called upon to do things you never thought you could do? You look at the tasks before you and all you can think of is how can you get out of this? But sometimes, you don’t have choices.
For those of us growing up on farms in the 1950’s and 1960’s, there were many times when we found ourselves having to cope with problems we had never encountered before. I might have been nine or ten years old when I found myself in the back of a pickup truck shoveling a half ton of ground feed into a feed bin. How did I do it? One scoop shovel full at a time. During harvest season when my dad was out in the field, my brothers and I became responsible for all the farm chores, including hauling feed and water to hogs in the pasture, feeding and watering beef cattle, milking cows by hand, and caring for our chickens. When animals are depending on you, you can’t quit until the job is completed. Those animals are your family’s livelihood.
What made the difference between the men of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin and that crusty old warrior Caleb? Caleb relied on God. God said He would help and Caleb believed him. Caleb had spent a lifetime of relying on God and also carrying out his work completely. So when it was time to face giants, Caleb looked to God and God gave him the strategies and the power to defeat them. Bottom line: Caleb was not a whiner!
Has God called you to do something so difficult you don’t see how you can make it? If you are sure that God has called you, then ask Him what to do and where to start. Finding the answer to those questions might be like trying to find the end on a roll of Scotch tape, but keep looking and keep trusting. And once you make a start, who knows? You may turn around at the end and realize that you have left a trail of dead giants, just like Caleb.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for Your marvelous promises! Thank You that if You call us to do something, You also will guide us and provide what we need to get started. Help us to follow hard after you and refuse to whine. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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