Judg 3:8-9 | KingComments | STEP | “Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.” God is deeply grieved by the actions of His people. He cannot stand idly by. Out of deep indignation, God is now going to act with His people in a way that does not exactly fit the wrong impressions we can have of a loving God. God is not the generous Father of Whom we sometimes think He condones sin. As if He would compare the actions of His people with bad guys tricks, which you should not judge too seriously. No, God takes the deeds of His people very seriously. He must discipline them for this. However, God never acts from a feeling of irritation, as we can. If God must discipline His people, He does so with a view to their restoration. He wants them to repent and confess, so that He can bring them back to Himself and bless them again. Therefore they are surrendered by Him in the hand of the enemy. God says, as it were, to His people: ‘You want to serve the world? Well, then you will know what the world is like.’ Whoever as a believer wants the world will have the world, but as a master. Mesopotamia means ‘land of the two rivers’ and is a picture of the world. Entertainment and pleasure on the one hand and religion on the other are the two rivers that make the world a pleasant abode for man without God. That Mesopotamia is a picture of the world can be deduced from Genesis 12 and Acts 7 ( ; ). It is an area where the idols are served. From this region Abraham is called to become the ancestor of Israel ( ). Every believer is called by God to give up the world in the same way as Abraham did. Nowhere in the Bible do we read a call to stay in the world and to improve it (cf. ). The believer is “not of the world” ( ). Of course, he has a task there, as the Lord has had a task there, as He clearly says ( ), but the world no longer has a right to us. The king of Mesopotamia is called Cushan-rishathaim. His name means ‘blackness (or: darkness) of double evil. This speaks of the darkness in which the world is shrouded. The world shuts itself off from the light of God, even rejecting the light ( ). When the light shines, but it is still rejected, the greatest darkness arises. Whoever professes to be a Christian, but turns his back on God and serves the idols, will lose all the light he once had. God will have to let such a man lose sight of Him, the Source of light, and of the Lord Jesus, the Light of the world ( ; ). To such a person applies: “If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” ( ). Only when this situation has lasted eight years the people call to God. The number eight speaks of a new beginning after a complete period of seven years. Only when someone is completely stuck and can’t get out of it himself he will call to God and is willing to make a new start with God.

‏ Judges 3:8-9

Cushan-rishathaim

“Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.” God is deeply grieved by the actions of His people. He cannot stand idly by. Out of deep indignation, God is now going to act with His people in a way that does not exactly fit the wrong impressions we can have of a loving God. God is not the generous Father of Whom we sometimes think He condones sin. As if He would compare the actions of His people with bad guys tricks, which you should not judge too seriously. No, God takes the deeds of His people very seriously. He must discipline them for this.

However, God never acts from a feeling of irritation, as we can. If God must discipline His people, He does so with a view to their restoration. He wants them to repent and confess, so that He can bring them back to Himself and bless them again. Therefore they are surrendered by Him in the hand of the enemy. God says, as it were, to His people: ‘You want to serve the world? Well, then you will know what the world is like.’ Whoever as a believer wants the world will have the world, but as a master.

Mesopotamia means ‘land of the two rivers’ and is a picture of the world. Entertainment and pleasure on the one hand and religion on the other are the two rivers that make the world a pleasant abode for man without God. That Mesopotamia is a picture of the world can be deduced from Genesis 12 and Acts 7 (Gen 12:1; Acts 7:2). It is an area where the idols are served. From this region Abraham is called to become the ancestor of Israel (Jos 24:2).

Every believer is called by God to give up the world in the same way as Abraham did. Nowhere in the Bible do we read a call to stay in the world and to improve it (cf. Gal 1:4). The believer is “not of the world” (Jn 17:16). Of course, he has a task there, as the Lord has had a task there, as He clearly says (Jn 20:21b), but the world no longer has a right to us.

The king of Mesopotamia is called Cushan-rishathaim. His name means ‘blackness (or: darkness) of double evil. This speaks of the darkness in which the world is shrouded. The world shuts itself off from the light of God, even rejecting the light (Jn 1:5 ; Jn 3:19). When the light shines, but it is still rejected, the greatest darkness arises.

Whoever professes to be a Christian, but turns his back on God and serves the idols, will lose all the light he once had. God will have to let such a man lose sight of Him, the Source of light, and of the Lord Jesus, the Light of the world (1Jn 1:5; Jn 8:12). To such a person applies: “If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Mt 6:23).

Only when this situation has lasted eight years the people call to God. The number eight speaks of a new beginning after a complete period of seven years. Only when someone is completely stuck and can’t get out of it himself he will call to God and is willing to make a new start with God.

Othniel

From this situation, Israel can only be delivered by a man like Othniel. We have already met him in Judges 1 (Jdg 1:13-15). There he emerges as a faithful man and an overcomer within his own circle. He is someone who has interest for the blessing of God. He lets himself be inspired to act in faith. The starting point of his life is the Word of God. After all, he has taken Debir, hasn’t he (Jdg 1:12-13)? Debir means ‘speaking of God’.

We have also seen in Judges 1 how important his relationship with Achsah is. His marriage to Achsah shows that he does not participate in the general sin of Israel mentioned in Jdg 3:5-6 of this chapter. He did not take a wife from the nations, but one from the people of God. He abides by God’s Word. To say it with a word from 1 Corinthians 7, he marries “in the Lord” (1Cor 7:39). Because he is personally free from the sins of the people, God can use him. All these things make it clear how things stand in Othniel’s personal life.

He who does not manage his affairs at home according to God’s Word should not think that he can do anything for the benefit of the whole people. “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much” (Lk 16:10). The education at home, in the family, is still the best preparation for serving the Lord in the church.

As has already been mentioned, today we recognize the judges mainly in the overseers or elders in the church. It is written of an overseer that it must be someone “who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)” (1Tim 3:4-5). These are the people who can help other believers today to escape the grip of the world that has caught them again. With their help these believers can enjoy God’s triumphs again.