We all have had splinters, little bits of wood that pierced our skin. The smallest splinters seem to hurt the most. Last week we noticed from the book of Judges that most of the Israelite tribes merged with the surrounding nations. This is one way that the Israelites were splintered. Another way they splintered is in the worship of the gods of those nations who lived among them. At the time that Jacob’s heirs left Egypt Yahweh judged Israel as a nation or as one group. After the northern and southern kingdoms split, but before they went into captivity, Israel was judged as two nations. After the captivities we see that Yahweh does not judge Israel as a nation. Then after Jesus Messiah came to earth Israel was once again not judged as a nation. We can see that there was a change in the way that Yahweh dealt with Jacob’s heirs depending on the time period we look at. After the northern kingdom came out of captivity some people entered back into Samaria as a mixed people, but under the authority of Assyria. After the southern kingdom came out of captivity, they were initially under subject to Assyria. Then the entire region was under the Greeks and then under the Romans up until the Messiah came. Not all of the Jews from the northern kingdom left Assyria and not all of the Jews of the southern kingdom left Babylon. From the time of the Judges when the Israelites first settled in their Promised Land, they were put under subjection to several other nations.
The flannel graph version of Israel in the Promised Land doesn’t show us that Israel was not her own nation almost upon immediate entry into the land of Shem. What implications does this have? How can people claim to be heirs of Jacob when the nation was mixed over and over? If we look at some of the practices of worship that the Israelites should not have partaken in, will we see a correlation to a splinter group today?
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2019/01/samson-parenting-nazarite-lords-plans.html
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2019/02/serving-baals-gideon-rebuking-satan.html
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2019/01/belial-beliar-mastema-mischievous.html
https://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2015/11/sex-cults-sacred-groves-ephods-teraphim.html
Jdg 3:6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
Jdg 3:7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
This was not the first time that the children of Jacob served fake gods. Remember the golden calf in the wilderness? How is it so easy for these people to keep worshipping false and phony gods?
Jdg 3:8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
After eight years the Israelites cried out to Yahweh. It took eight years for them to realize that they had made a mistake. It took eight years for the people to realize that Yahweh’s plans would benefit them rather than the fake gods of the groves of Astaroth and Baal
Jdg 3:11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
What happened after forty years? The fact is that not all the people wanted to serve Yahweh. Some people probably continued to worship Baal and Astaroth in secret, but the majority had shifted back to Yahweh. Then they shifted back to the false gods again.
Jdg 3:14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
First they were under foreign rulership for eight years and now it is for another eighteen years.
Jdg 3:30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.
They had rest for eighty years but after eighty years the majority shifted from Yahweh to Baal and Astaroth
Jdg 4:1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead.
Jdg 4:2 And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
Jdg 4:3 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
Israel went from eight years of foreign rulership and oppression, to eighteen years, and now to twenty years of foreign rulership and oppression. Deborah’s song tells us that after this the land had rest again.
Jdg 5:31 So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
The majority shifted again.
Jdg 6:1 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.
Eight, eighteen, twenty, and now seven years under foreign leadership. Gideon defeats Midian.
Jdg 8:28 Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.
As soon as Gideon was dead the majority shifted back to the fake phony gods once again.
Jdg 8:33 And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.
Jdg 8:34 And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:
Jdg 8:35 Neither shewed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel.
How does this compare to our own time period? Do people appreciate the sacrifices of the WWII generation? Do people even care any longer? Before the United States was attacked, there was a large faction of communists attempting to persuade people to allow socialist/communist leaders to rule the country. They attempted to sneak in socialism, to draw the nation into communism. The splinter groups that want to dominate everyone else, happen in every nation. They are still trying to dominate everyone today.
The people had peace for forty years but forgot all about their previous captivities. At this time the Judges rose up as rulers. There are a series of Judges who rule in Israel, but when the majority shifts again from worshipping Yahweh they add even more gods to the mix. What implications does this have? It is certainly easier to eradicate one false god with all its idols then it is to eradicate many gods and all the idols associated with them.
Jdg 10:6 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.
Jdg 10:7 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.
Jdg 10:8 And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.
Jdg 10:9 Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.
Jdg 10:10 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim.
We see that in the east Israel was under rulership of the Amorites, while in the west Israel was under rulership of the Philistines for eighteen years. This time when Israel cries out to Yahweh, Yahweh doesn’t deliver them immediately.
Jdg 10:11 And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?
Jdg 10:12 The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.
Jdg 10:13 Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.
Jdg 10:14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.
Jdg 10:15 And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day.
Jdg 10:16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
Eventually Yahweh Elohim delivers Israel from the Amorites, but again the splinter group that opposed Yahweh gained ground. The shift back to false gods takes place again while Israel is under Philistine control. Then Samson is born.
Jdg 13:1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
Eight, eighteen, twenty, seven, ?, and forty years, Israel is under foreign rulership so far. Notice at this time period Samson almost married a Philistine woman. While his parents were not pleased and though he didn’t marry her in the end, there was a common mixing among the people. The Israelites were judged twenty years and then another twenty years under the Philistines. While all this was going on there were times of famine and people moved to neighboring countries.
Rth 1:1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
Rth 1:2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.
Rth 1:3 And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.
Rth 1:4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.
Rth 1:5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.
We know the story of Ruth and how she is part of Jesus’ lineage even though she is a Moabite. Ruth came to Judah of Israel with Naomi after her husband died. Naomi lost her two sons and husband in Moab, but gained her daughter in law Ruth. This tells us that people were migratory at the time of the Judges. Ruth married her late husbands relation, Boaz. They had a son Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David. Boaz was a rich land owner who had servants. What does this tell us? Even though the country was going in and out of foreign rulership, some people still had businesses and still prospered. Some people lived in one place on farms, others moved all over the region as ranchers and laborers. We see from Ruth’s story that there is a very small percentage of people from the tribe of Judah who can be called Jews, even at this time period.
Also at the time of the Judges we have the story of Moses’ grandson, Jonathan, who was a son of Gershom. Jonathan was a Levite who went to work in the house of Micah among his idols. This tells us that there was already a breakdown of the Levitical priesthood. There were too many old Levites, and the younger Levites had to find other places to live and work. There was supposed to be Levites living in every tribe but apparently some tribes could not sustain too many Levites.
Judges 18:30 And the Danites set up the graven image for themselves; and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.
31 So they set them up Micah’s graven image which he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.
The Amplified Bible. (1987). (Jdg 18:30–31). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
It would seem that people thought having more idols was a good thing to simply add to worshipping Yahweh. We see how the nation wavered in and out of worshipping Baal and Astaroth, as well as other gods. When the tribe of Dan passed through Micah’s land in Ephraim on the way to their own land they heard Jonathan worshipping in the house of idols and suggested he come with them to be their Levite. They took all of Micah’s idols with them too. It is almost as if no one had a conscience regarding idol worship, not even Moses’ grandson. The fact that Jonathan is Moses’ grandson is hidden from most texts, attempting to make this someone else. The Masoretic alterations here are trying to hide the shame of Moses’ grandson, because it degrades Moses himself. And just like this alteration we cannot trust that there are pure hereditary Jews from Judah, nor can we trust that those who claim to be Jews truly practice the worship of Yahweh.
The last story that finishes up the time of the Judges is the incident of gang rape from the tribe of Benjamin. Not only was the time of the Judges filled with idol worship but sexual perversions as well. There is never a good reason to rape anyone. Rape is an act of violent dominance. The fact is the men from Gibeah Benjamin, demanded to rape a Levite. This seems odd and we will never hear this spoken of in a Sunday sermon, but the men became hostile and violent, demanding that the Levite be thrown out of a kind hospitable man’s home. The practice of hospitality was a Levitical law. People were supposed to be hospitable to others passing through their towns and provide food and shelter for a night. The men of Gibeah knew where this Levite was staying and demanded the host throw his guest out to them. I suppose we could wonder if they never heard the stories of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, yet even if they did, they didn’t care. This is not love or godliness, this is evil.
Why were these men of Benjamin practicing gang rape? Why were they doing exactly what the Sodomites had done, raping people that were traveling through their city? As we know, the mixed tribes that ended up in Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim after the battle of the five armies were heirs of the Nephilim. This is a common practice among those tribes. What we also know is that the other tribes found this so appalling they killed all the men of Benjamin.
The host tried to negotiate with the men, volunteering his own daughter as well as the Levites wife. The men didn’t want the women. But they eventually threw the wife of the Levite outside. The men gang raped her all night long. At dawn they let her go and she died on the front porch of the kind host’s house. The Levite took her dead body home, cut it up, and sent pieces to the other tribes with the explanation of what happened.
It seems the Levites wielded no spiritual power as Moses and Aaron did. This Levite did not rebuke the evil men, did not curse them, and did not go out to them himself, he threw his wife out to them. If she had lived he would have probably disposed of her. The Levite did not behave in love or holiness. He did not protect his wife. He seems to be afraid of the men of Benjamin. He doesn’t seem to speak to the men himself, his host does the negotiating and he doesn’t mind if the host’s daughter is sent out to be raped either. No one can have a high opinion of the Levites from the book of Judges.
While this story is so tremendously awful we can understand the progression of evil that occurred. The tribes did not do away with the idols and altars of the Canaanite gods. They mixed with the Canaanites and they splintered and floundered back and forth, from practicing evil, to worshiping Yahweh. Evil simply became rooted into this culture. It was quite easy to include booths for male and female prostitutes in the temple, because there is a long history of these behaviors in the land. Even though the Israelites kept going back under foreign rule, they never really eradicated the evil splinter groups. The evil splinter, splintered further into various gods and various ritual worship, including rape and human sacrifice. Can we ever point to a time when these things were not present in Israel? No. Not even during David’s rulership, as there were many evil people from Israel that hated David as well as the Philistines.
This is why there was a need for a Messiah. People didn’t live the way Yahweh prescribed for very long. As we know, we can only count three passovers, Samuel’s, Hezekiah’s, and Josiah’s before Judah went into captivity. With this in mind, we should ask ourselves why they would reject their Messiah? Many people knew the prophecies, many people were waiting and expecting a virgin to conceive. What then caused the rejection of Jesus Messiah?
Is it possible that there was a splinter group that came out of captivity that was not really interested in the Messiah but instead was interested in gaining power over the masses like communist dictators? Once the Pharisees came into power they had no intentions of giving up their positions to any Messiah, let alone to Jesus who was opening the eyes of people born blind. It did not matter how many miracles he did they were not interested in Yahweh they were interested in themselves. The Pharisees were not going to step aside and take directions from Yahweh Jesus Messiah. They controlled the temple and they allowed temple prostitutes into the first century. They had money, prestige, and all the finer things in life. Jesus called them “sons of hell”.
The Zealots were trying to end Roman rule in the first century. They sprung up from the age of the Maccabees, with the same mindset of trying to make Israel her own nation. The Pharisees had no problem with this idea because it would only benefit them if Israel was a sovereign nation. The Zealots thought that the Messiah would free Israel from the Romans. The Pharisees were not going to step aside even if Jesus did free Israel from the Romans but they played a “wait and see” game. Meanwhile the people heard that the Messiah would deliver Israel so they assumed the same thing, that Jesus would free Israel from the Romans. None of the prophets ever said this. The prophets said that the Messiah would rule from Israel, but somehow people thought the timing was during their day, not in the future. Yahweh Jesus Messiah will not disappoint. He will rule and reign from Jerusalem for one thousand years.
When we look at these early days of Israel in the Promised Land we see why the rest of Israel’s history looks the way it does. There has always been a pushing and a pulling from evil taking over the minds and hearts of the people. People have splintered in many different ways. Satanic rituals have been practiced in secret, but today they are out in the open. To most people it is a hideous thing to wear an abortion pin which suggests that the wearer loves dismembering babies in utero and selling their body parts to pharmaceutical companies. They are splinters. Most people don’t even bother to watch fake award ceremonies where news organizations boldly proclaim they are “ready to worship”. The show itself is a celebration of hell and eternal death, luring the innocent in. They are splinters. And while all this is going on most people would not allow their child to attend a satanic after school club let alone attend a satanic worship event. It is when people are in despair that they realize they have forgotten Yahweh Elohim. Then they turn to Him to fix the mess they are in. Hard times make people question their spiritual walk. There are people who claim to be Jews but they are not. We can understand the splinters better now. We can see the wrestling between Yahweh and evil in our communities. As Solomon rightly noticed, there is nothing new under the sun.
