JUDGES: Godly or Ghastly – Part 3

Good Day to each of you reading this column and I do hope that God has blessed you and refreshed each of you—did you take some time to read Psalm 91? Take a moment to turn to verse 2: I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.

Do you entrust yourself to God’s protection? Do you pledge daily your devotion to God? Do you call upon God when the fears of life entangle you? Is God your refuge and your shelter?

Psalms 91 answers all these questions in verses 14-16: Because he loves me, “says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.

Wow! The above verses are God’s answer to the above questions—Remember the A S K    Ask and it shall be given, Seek and ye shall find, Knock and the door will be open.

Ok, let finish the Judges lesson— Turn with me to 1 Samuel 8:1-5 (KJV) And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of the first-born was Joel: and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beer-sheba. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah. And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

Folks, I have been reading parts of Howard Rand’s Primogenesis… the story the Bible tells—I will be quoting various parts from his book on this subject and The Wycliffe Bible Commentary along with the KJV Bible.

As you read, Samuel was elderly when he appointed both son’s judges over Israel and his sons were bad judges, greedy judges, money hungry judges and lucre—Here is definition of lucre:

lu·cre
[ˈlo͞okər]
NOUN
money, especially when regarded as sordid or distasteful or gained in a dishonorable way.

I am sure Samuel was very embarrassed by his sons’ behavior and why they were perverting themselves instead of following in Samuel’s footsteps. So the elders of Israel got together, told Samuel that he was old, get rid of the sons as judges and do like the other nations which is to get a king to rule over them. Sound familiar?

Notice, does it say anywhere in the above verses if the elders every consulted God on a king?

Instead of consulting God, they wanted Israel to be like all the other nations and have a king to judge us.

The Wycliffe Bible Commentary says in verse 5 under Make us a king. The institution of the monarchy involved the separation of the civil from the religious leadership. And this in turn meant that Israel now began to have a political history independent of her religious history, and therefore, of her true calling. Israel was called to religious leadership of the world, and the verdict of history is on the side of those who regarded her entry into world politics as a fundamental mistake.

Here is Samuel, a man of God, who listens to the elders and here is his reply in verse 6: But the thing that displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us: and Samuel prayed unto the Lord. Again, we turn to the Wycliffe Bible Commentary—The elders (verse 4) gave Samuel two reasons for their request: the maladministration of justice by Samuel’s sons in the Beer-sheba court; and the need for a war leader (verse 20). Samuel was personally affected by the request. To be told, after a lifetime of service, that his sons were unworthy to succeed him was most distressing. And to be superseded by another after years of faithful service was a terrific blow to his sensitive spirit.

Now, let’s look at the last part of verse 6—and Samuel prayed unto the Lord—Not the elders, Samuel and here is God’s response in verse 7: (KJV) And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

Hear is your answer in a nutshell–, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. The Lord goes on to say in verse 8: (KJV) According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.

The Israelite people have wandering eyes, stiff necks, and bad habits and they thought it is best be like all the other nations and have a king. Now God will grant their wish and give them a king, but what kind of king will he be? God gave them judges, good and bad because this is what man wanted and because of man’s evil ways (Joel & Abiah) case in point, the Israel turned to the next best thing and that was to have a king. Sounds familiar?

I wish to go into more on the king subject and provide more history on Samuel and Saul, but I want each of you to think our judges today—In our court systems, whether it be in your country or the USA, judges are held in high esteem and with high esteem comes much responsibility.

In closing, our judges like our leaders need our prayers—we may not agree or even like those who are over us, but they need our prayers for discernment and to follow Gods laws. God hath placed that person in a position of great responsibility to adhere and administer his laws to the fullest of his capacity.

Until the next lesson, I pray that each of you would be enlightened in the word of God and dutifully Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV).

May God Bless you and keep you safe each day.

Jeff