Bible-5, Pentateuch 5, Josh-Job: Part 1

LESSON 5

OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY

JOSHUA – JOB

Part One:

By Rev. G. Evan Newmyer

INTRODUCTION

History is often boring, there is no other way to put it; however, history can be a mirror of exposure, leading us to victory. History is our Example, not our excuse. It’s obvious, we are not going to cover all the particulars of history, but we are going to find some interesting elements. There are several different methods in which one can study Old Testament History, among those we have picked a method where we can view the victories and failures as they apply to concepts regarding our Christian walk, making them applicable to us as individuals. It would do little good if we studied history as something of the past, yet never applied it to our situations today. When history is left in its time, it becomes dead, but God is the God of the living; therefore, we seek to find ways to gain in Christ, not die in history. Jesus said, the Law, Prophets and Psalms testified of Him, but He didn’t say the history testified of Him; therefore, history testifies against, or for the called children of God (Luke 24:44). On the same note we can’t discount history, since we find many teachings in the New Testament where Old Testament history was used. As much as the Jew holds to the Torah, they have little to say about their history, except as it relates to David, yet David is a small part of the overall historical picture. There are mysteries in the history as there was in the Law, shall we begin?

The History of the Jewish people give us a type and shadow of the Net, the same Net Jesus said was like unto the kingdom of heaven. Although it’s not the Net, it does show us the good and bad fish in the same Nation. These people were the “sand of the sea”, not the “sea”, thus to assume God was tossing the net into the sand is not the case, rather we know the Net is a New Testament concept referring to gathering in the Gentile. These people were born into a nation, we are called into the Kingdom. The Hebrews were separated from the Sea, but still near the Sea, thus they became the Sand of the Sea. Therefore, we should make the distinction between “Israel” and a “Jew”; Israel is the nation, a Jew is a person. The sign above the Cross read “King of the Jews” indicating how Jesus didn’t come to save the nation, He came to save the people in the nation. When Jesus returns He will separate people into sheep and goats, not lands. Today the term “Jew” has become a generic term pointing to a religious body who have a right to enter the established Covenant God made with Abraham. The Cross is the place where Jew or Gentile can gain right standing to enter the New Covenant. Covenant relationships become the procedure in which God deals with people, Covenants lay out the expected requirements for both parties, with Tokens to secure the responsibilities and rewards. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness is our side of the requirement, if we do, God will see “the things added”. Covenants have duties, we do, God does, God does, we do, Noah had to build the ark, but God saved him. The New Covenant has duties for us as well, we seek, we put off, we put on, we obey, we believe, walk in faith, yet they are not duties using the flesh, or self-righteousness.

In the history we don’t find anyone casting out devils, but we can see some of the leaders or people acting devilish. The field is the earth, or kingdom of heaven, it has both good and bad, the good are the Wheat planted by God, the Tares are the wicked planted by the enemy. These people were either born into the nation, or married into it, there was no evangelistic endeavor to bring in other peoples. They were separated and dealt with by God to show us how God can separate, yet without something else from God to secure us, we are still in a state where we are more prone to be rebellious than obedient.

The wilderness and the crossing of the Jordan are also different. The wilderness is a place where the exposure of the self nature takes place, a time to move from unbelief to a firm establish belief. The crossing of the Jordan is a Journey of Faith, a time to gain a Courage through God, to find a place where we can’t be moved by events, or people. Faith is not a mask of courage one uses in the face of adversity, it’s a Confidence in God one has before the fact which carries them through the event, rather than minding the event. These people knew God was doing something New, thus they didn’t go back to the old way, to find the answer. When they crossed the Red Sea the Rod divided the waters, now it’s the Ark of the Covenant dividing the Waters. Both were signs of deliverance, but it took the Rod to bring them out of Egypt, but the Mercy seat to take them into the Promised Land.

The children were not taking a foreign land, God gave it to Abraham, thus they were taking their own land back from those who trespassed upon it. God allowed the stranger to visit for a time, but the time came to an end. The children finally got to a point where they desired to gain what God had given them, they gained it by believing in the Lord. They used physical force to take the land, but we can’t use their physical battles as some excuse to attack others, but we can gain from their experience. We can’t forget these people didn’t have the Spirit, thus God used them as they were. Neither can we forget, we never fight flesh and blood. The battles in the history give us types of battles and battlefields. Some of us tend to think a frying pan is a spiritual weapon, not so, we have some great weapons, tired, true and perfect in all their ways. All we have to do is know how to apply them, yet we have to stop judging the event by the event as well.

We as Christians are cautious about the term “Will Power”, for good reason, but there is a place and purpose for our Will, less the old power. The word Power points to Ability, thus it’s the combination of the words Will and Power which seem to get us into trouble. We placed our Will in submission to the Will of God, we didn’t kill our Will, rather we made a choice not to use the old Power of the carnal mind in conjunction with our will to bring things to pass. It doesn’t mean we don’t do anything, if we presume we must have God’s permission to get dressed in the morning, we need a nursemaid, not a Lord. the Saving of the soul is the goal, yet we can’t save our soul with will power. Neither do we want to kill our soul, we want all the Tares removed, so we can be a willing, working vessel as a blessing unto God; this purpose is termed, the salvation of our souls.

Our Will can be used to make positive choices in a forward manner, or choices in the area of a Godly Resistance. We can will to believe, or not. We can will to submit or not, we can will to resist the devil, or not, we can will to be humble, or rebellious. We know we make many decisions where our will is our resolve. There are steps, in order to resist the devil, we have to be humble under the mighty hand of God (James 4:10 & I Pet 5:5-6). We are not going to resist the devil by using pride, it would only encourage the evil forces. It does little good to resist the devil, while using his works to do it. God had a method for these people, but God has a better method for us.

Faith is a substance or confidence in God looking forward to the result of a Hope, but Faith is also the evidence of things not seen. Some of us think faith produces the unseen, yet Hebrews 11:1 says faith is the evidence of the unseen, rather than producing the unseen. However, faith must work by Love in order to please God; faith must also have a fruit identifying it to the unseen source. The unseen source can be multiple; since hope is not seen, it can be the source of our faith; since the New Man can’t be seen he can be the source of our faith, but since the spirit of disobedience can’t be seen, it too can be the motivation behind our faith. How we use our measure of faith determines the unseen source, if our faith is used in a self-based, self-pleasing manner the motivation is the old man; if our faith is used to please God, then it’s the New Man. The Bible speaks of two faiths, these faiths do not entail someone’s religious connections, or philosophy, the measure of faith is given to all men, so is Agapao love, thus they are attributes found in the created soul. Man uses faith in all sorts of ways, he makes plans to spend money he doesn’t have in hand, he makes plans to do things in the future, he looks for some manmade hope set before him, all elements requiring faith, but all by an unseen source not attributed to God. The measure of faith is designed to follow the steps of the Faith of Jesus by the Spirit. Therefore, the measure of faith is always looking forward through the unknown to something in the future, whether good or bad. The other Faith is of course the Faith of Jesus (Gal 2:20 et al), the Faith of Jesus has accomplished the task, proving it’s far better than the measure of faith. When Jesus came so did the ability of “faith to Faith”, thus the Faith of Jesus has left a path from the earth to the throne of God. The New Birth grants us the Spirit of Christ, the same Spirit uses our measure of faith in God to follow the narrow path until we reach the Hope in the completed First Resurrection.

Knowledge is the mental awareness of some information, wisdom is how we deal with people and events. If we want the Wisdom of God, all we need do is ask, but we must ask in faith. Why faith? In order to please God with the result, rather than please ourselves. Some want Wisdom so they won’t have to deal with people, but God’s Wisdom allows us to deal with people in a Godly manner. Solomon was granted wisdom to deal with people, as was Joshua, but it doesn’t mean they had God’s Wisdom. In order to have God’s Wisdom we must have the New Man, as the Word, or Greater He. None of these people had our advantage, but we will find some of their leaders were given a taste, or shadow of what we can have by the Wisdom of God. God may call us “Friend”, but He is seeking Fellowship, they are different. In order to Fellowship with God, we must treat God’s people in the same manner as He does (First John). God desires those who can worship Him in Spirit and Truth, the only way to accomplish the task is to have the Spirit of Truth by the New Birth. Nonetheless, we find these people have some information to share with us, something about them proves God is loyal to His own.

The Jew has two pillars upon which national Israel rests: first is the unity of God, then the election of Israel. To the Jew the word One, as it relates to One God means One In Existence, which cannot be divided into fractions. However, the Jew also holds the Hebrew word Elohiym as a singular, plural word, they say the title Jehovah refers to the Covenant presence of God, they believe the Spirit of God is nonetheless God, yet God is El, Elohiym, Jehovah, Lord of the Universe and Almighty. Each title represents an aspect of God, we know God as Father, Word (Son) and Holy Ghost, One God with different aspects. It’s the concept of a Incarnate God the Jew can’t handle.

The Jews feel they are the chosen people of God, which is true, to a point. The Jewish concept is based on, Tzadiei Umot Haolam, or “The righteous people of the world”; however, they also limit the concept to a half view of a verse in Amos. God said through the prophet Amos, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:2-3). They use the first part as the basis for separation, but leave off the second part. Nonetheless we do find some interesting information, first their concept of Righteousness and Holiness is based on being separated. Being a “holy people” simply means God deals with us as children, but it doesn’t mean we’re Holy. The Righteous aspect for the Jew is based on “can two walk together”, pointing to a Covenant, yet, they know it takes Standing (Righteousness) to enter Covenant with God. However, their ability to enter the Covenants with God is based on the ability of someone else, such as Abraham or Moses. They keep the sabbath for the Law of Moses, and being circumcised of the flesh for the Abrahamic Covenant. They have nothing within themselves to assure they really do have standing. What about us? The New Man is created (or formed, same Greek meaning) After God’s True Holiness and Righteousness (Eph 4:24). We are Sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise as our Token of being in the New Covenant, thus each of us who have the Holy Spirit have the inward Token to prove we are in the New Covenant. We don’t trust in our efforts, or good deeds to gain, rather we do things because we have gained. We are a Chosen People, but as individuals we are kings in Kingdom. Rather special, would you agree?

The word Iniquity means Unequal or a Failure to do something we’re suppose to do, while doing other things we should do, thus the failure to do what is required becomes the Iniquity. Jesus said, “Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your Name? and in Your Name have cast out devils? and in Your Name done many wonderful works? And then will I Profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity” (Matt 7:22-23). Wow, something has to be wrong there; however, Matthew 7:21 tells us this group failed at something, it was their failure to walk in the Father’s Mercy (do the Will), it is the same difference we find between the vessels of honor and dishonor (Rom 9:22-23). Therefore, their works (doings) were not wrong, after all they did them in the Name of Jesus; thus the doing was not the problem, the failure at Mercy was, they were Unequal, doing what they wanted, but not doing what they should. This doesn’t mean we cast away the Acts, it means we must seek the Ways as well as the Acts, or better we should be Balanced (Equal). Some of us want to see the Great Acts take place, yet we reject the Ways. We may not have “tremendous power”, but if God has forgiven our sins, we also have the Power to walk in Mercy. General Mercy, or the ability to forgive is an element found in the measure of faith, God’s Mercy endures forever, His Grace, but for a Season. Like belief, we find Mercy is a matter of choice. Mercy will be the element we will find among these people allowing them to gain God’s favor. David will be an example of one who walks in Mercy, as well as one who forgets about it at times.

Defining how the word Iniquity means a Failure to do something, but the word Sin is a Transgression, or a Trespass, or doing of something we’re not suppose to do, it divides them into a non-act (iniquity), and an unlawful act (sin). To break it down, Iniquity is a failure to do something we have been empowered to do, Sin is the doing something we’re not suppose to; however, if one is engaged in iniquity, they will soon fall into sin. Jesus never says, “depart from Me you who slip”, nor “depart from Me, you who have made mistakes”, it’s those who Work at iniquity, meaning they engage in a constant effort to avoid applying Mercy in their daily walk. It’s a far cry from someone who misses it once in awhile, or who slips, or who is seeking to walk right before God, but fails from time to time. Peter failed because he was weak in an area he felt he was strong, at times we fit the Peter mold, we think we are strong, only to find we used the weak flesh. Thank God this is the Day the Lord has made, repentance unto restoration puts us back on the Path.

The Jew knows there is a “second choosing” of God’s people, but they assume it took place when God gave Moses the Law the second time; however, the Law came as a result of unbelief, not righteousness. The reading of the Law of Moses a second time was not the same as a Second Law. The Law was holy, it came from God, but it’s not from Whom the Law came, but to whom it was directed. When we hear phrases like “remember the Law”, or “meditate on the Law” it’s to think upon the reason the Law was given. On the same note, we can see the Shadow telling us to think and meditate on the Law of the Spirit. Once the Second Law (Law of the Spirit) was granted by the Resurrection of Jesus it became in hand, with the ability to perform it based in the New Birth. For these people the only Law they had was the Law of Moses, the Law of Moses defined the law of sin and death, it didn’t do away with it. The Law of the Spirit on the other hand does do away with the law of sin and death. These are just some areas we want to keep separated, or we will think doing the Law of Moses is “spiritual” in nature, ending falling from Grace, rather than being secure in it.

At this time God isn’t telling the Jews He made them a chosen people, rather He said, “I will take you unto Me for a people”, showing Process, thus the wilderness is the place to be chosen (Ex 6:7 & Deut 7:6). This doesn’t say the Jews will be the only people, rather it says God is beginning a work in order to bring a people by the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus into a like Righteousness as God’s. This could only be done by God giving man a Seed holding God’s Holiness and Righteousness, which Seed comes in the New Birth (Eph 4:24).

The Jewish concept of the Law is based in their concept of Revelation. According to Jewish concepts, the Law did not come as a product of the mind of man, nor as divine inspiration, rather it was handed to Moses by God, then Moses Delivered it to the people; however, God Spoke to Moses from the burning bush, He didn’t make Moses the burning bush. Their concept comes from the tablets of stone, as God handed the tablets to Moses, all Moses had to do was read them. However, the tablets were of Stone which should have been a hint to the type of heart the Commandments were directed to. These views become important as we view the history of the these people, and discover how the pride of life can cause us to bow to an idol in the mind, while claiming we’re serving God.

The Jews believe God is Merciful, but they also believe He is Just: to them, Mercy and Justice are One in the same. In truth, it is correct, since the Law of Moses is one of the two Witnesses during the Night, as the Night is purposed to make the enemies of Jesus His footstool. Yet, we will find how God placed His people under the hand of the heathen, yet He punished the heathen for treating His people wrong, go figure? Ahh, a chance to do right, there are times when God will place us under the hand of the heathen, but it’s not to harm us, rather we find a two fold purpose. We don’t serve a multiple God, but we do serve a God with multiple purposes. For us it’s a learning process, or to expose something we have either ignored, or is hidden from us. For the heathen, it’s a time to do right. God’s Judgment is a matter of reflection and division. God divides the sheep from the goats, the Precious from the Vile, thus God’s Judgment is a matter of separation. The Word in us will separate as well, thus it is a form of Judgment and Separation. However, the Word in is not condemning us, rather the purpose is to Save us.

Mercy is outlined for us in many ways, we know we’re to pray For those who persecute us, rather than pray against them, but why? Whatsoever a person sows they reap, sow Mercy, reap Mercy. Jesus told us what we sow comes back shaken down and running over. Some of us limit it to money, but the context shows if we sow Mercy, Mercy comes back, but if we sow condemnation, then condemnation comes back. It could point to many things, but Jesus narrowed it down to Mercy, Condemnation or Judgment. An Act of Mercy is giving to people the same forgiveness God gave us, Condemnation would be giving people something God didn’t give us, in essence we find them guilty and worthy of punishment. Judgment is finding a person guilty, Condemnation is the sentence. Mercy is not granting to someone what we think they deserve, or not imputing sin on someone, even if they did sin against us. As the Son of Man Jesus Pardoned the sins of the people, a Pardon is based on someone making an effort to correct the wrong by a change in behavior or attitude. Making it different from the concept of Remission, we find Remission is the thought process saying we did nothing wrong, because there is no law to be placed against us, or no defining element to accuse us of any wrong. There is only one element in the history of man providing the hope of Remission, the Spirit of Truth as a result of the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Col 2:14-16).

We maintain our Mercy by two things, a constant awareness of our need for God’s Mercy, plus the constant awareness we are to deliver God’s Mercy. If we want God to apply Mercy to us, we must apply Mercy to others. If we find we’re in a situation where it seems impossible to apply Mercy, God has provided a means. We make the decision by our Will, God grants the Power and Authority, then we are ability to forgive.

When Jesus said, Be you therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful, He also said Judge not, and you shall not be judged: condemn not, and you shall not be condemned: forgive, and you shall be forgiven (Luke 6:36-37). To the Jewish mind, this makes no sense whatsoever, how could one be merciful without judgment? To them it’s by the judging, one is able to apply Mercy, but we know Mercy is an attitude fully prepared to forgive, before there is a cause. To the Jew it’s just the opposite, they Judge by finding the person guilty, then apply Mercy. When they picked up stones to toss at Jesus, they felt they were “judging righteously” based on what they thought the Law said. In the Book of Acts there was a group of “one accord”, but their one accord was to kill Stephen (Acts 7:57). When the stones were hitting Stephen he said, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”, a true act of Mercy (Acts 7:60). On the other hand, to the Jew the act of an eye for an eye is a type of Mercy. To them it’s simple, they didn’t take two eyes for one, thus it’s merciful. However, Jesus said turn the other cheek, or don’t use the same method used against you.

The Jew believes in Love thy neighbor, but they also believe “Thou shall not sow thy field with two seeds” (Lev 19:18-19). We understand the concept is not allowing the Tares to destroy the Wheat, or allowing unbelief to enter our belief, or doubt to enter our faith, or hate to enter our Mercy, or bitterness to enter Grace. To the Jew this means never allow the Gentile any standing in the Temple or nation. In the Kingdom we find there is neither Jew or Gentile, much different.

The Jewish history will show the importance of making Vows before God. We tend to make as many vows as we have socks, but God takes our vows seriously. God expects us to take Him at His Word, as He takes us at ours. These people came out of slavery, yet the slavery mentality tends to view God as a Great Taskmaster. The Law of Moses was established to allow God to bless a disobedient people, until the time when Faith would be presented by Jesus, but in the doing the Law, one admits their disobedience. The Law of Moses has more areas of punishment, than it does blessing, thus the Law of Moses is directed to the disobedient; whereas the Law of the Spirit to the obedient. The Old Testament speaks more on Judgment, than it does anything else, so we don’t want to get into a “judgment mentality”, or continue with a “slavery mentality”, we want to learn, so we can be among the Free Indeed; let us begin with Joshua.

JOSHUA

Joshua begins our Journey of Faith after our Courage in the Lord is established.  So what is Courage? Paul called it “standing”, it entails a confidence in what one is doing is right and just before the Lord, with a resolution to finish the course. Joshua will be told to have Courage for various reasons, he was given the task of dividing the land; he had to have courage to enforce the Law without wavering in the face of adversity; he had to have courage to face the people and events to come. With this Courage God would give Joshua the “spirit of wisdom” (Deut 34:9), but God also gave those who made the priests garments the “spirit of wisdom” (Ex 28:3). Wisdom is the attribute to deal with people and events, thus the Courage allowed him to stand, the Wisdom allowed him to deal with the people and events. Courage by itself would be great if Joshua was not a leader, but in order to lead he needed Wisdom, or he would find himself standing alone. All this connects to the meaning of the name of Joshua, which is Jehovah is salvation, or Jehovah is his help, a fitting name for the task before him.

Joshua was one of two men (Joshua & Caleb) who survived from the first group who entered the wilderness, both men were the only ones who stood in the face of adversity when the spies returned. More important it was Joshua who showed courage in the face of battle against Amalek, when Aaron and Hur held up the arms of Moses (Ex 17:10). Courage was not new to Joshua, the purposes were. Joshua’s wilderness experiences formed him into a leader, he didn’t wake up one day on the banks of the Jordan proclaiming himself a leader. He was trained over 40 years as the minister of Moses to be a man of courage. In our case our first wilderness of courage is when we face the old man, once we understand the Power of God is always greater than the bark of the old man we can face our Jordan knowing the Word of the Lord will see us through.

Joshua will be a type and shadow of taking down strongholds or the “walls of hindrance”, before one can enter the fullness of the promise. It takes courage, a decision to see those strongholds fall regardless. A coward will use the strongholds, while denying they are there. A brave solider will face those inner strongholds allowing them to fall.

Joshua entered the wilderness with Moses, he walked the wilderness with the children, yet he and Caleb were the only ones from the original number to leave the wilderness to enter the Promised Land. Moses laid hands on Joshua, separating him unto the Lord, then the Lord filled him with the “spirit of wisdom”, which we know is the ability to deal with the people and events. The people would gain their courage by watching Joshua, something the Lord knew; in truth they should look unto the Lord, but God knew they would look unto Joshua. The wisdom Joshua obtained is not the same Wisdom we read about in James; this “spirit of wisdom” is based in the anointing God grants for the position of the leader (Deut 34:9 & James 3:17). In our case the Wisdom of God is granted to anyone who is Born Again, as an attribute to our Spiritual nature. Joshua had the ability to discern direction, but he was not Born Again, or filled with the Spirit of Christ. There is a difference between wisdom to rule man, wisdom to discern events and people to arrive at a Godly manner in which to deal with them (James 3:17).

We find many roads and paths for these people, the first generation came from the south of Israel then entered Egypt, the generation who left Egypt crossed the Red Sea and entered the wilderness, the generation of Joshua is not going to enter the land same way Jacob and his family left, rather they will travel all the way around to the place where the Lord will have them cross. The Lord was not going to have them enter the same way Jacob left, why? Wrong way to gain confidence, they were on a New journey they needed to face Jericho. The city of Jericho was not on the wilderness side of the Jordan, it was the hindrance or a gate blocking entrance to the Promised Land.

This entire effort is of great interest, they left Egypt with the spoils of Egypt, but they followed the Ark to leave the wilderness. God did most of His work with these people in the wilderness, they were introduced to the Commandments, a Covenant, a Law, how to build and maintain the Tabernacle, how to work together for the common good, how to listen to their anointed and appointed leader, more important, how to obey God.

They came out of Egypt by signs and wonders, but followed the Ark of the Covenant to the promised land. In the Book of Hebrews we find the children crossed the Red Sea by faith, the next time we read about faith it has to do with Jericho, thus faith entails obeying God when the circumstance seems “unnatural”. All the training in the wilderness was to prepare them to rule, but some of them thought they were rulers as soon as they left Egypt. Patience is the yardstick of Faith, the training wheels of leadership.

Joshua was also known as Oshea (Numb 13:8), Oshea means Salvation, it was the family name of the man Joshua, thus Joshua is a compound word, Jah-Oshea, or simply Joshua. We know the Greek rendering of Joshua as Jesus, Jehovah’s Salvation, thus in the Book of Hebrews we find a reference to Joshua, but it’s the Greek spelling of “Jesus” (Heb 4:8). There are other things as well, the word Courage is not the same as Faith, since faith is a confidence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Courage for Joshua was a decision made predicated by the experiences he had with God and Moses over the prior forty years. Joshua was not told, “here is courage”, he was to told to have it. Joshua saw the victories, as well as the failures of the people, he also knew what brought the victories and the failures. He made a decision to do it God’s way, meaning Belief had to be a major part of his Courage. The word Courage is the Hebrew Amats meaning Established, it has a general meaning of “On Foot”, or Standing, thus it’s not the Action into battle, but the decision not to retreat, or run away in the face of battle, entailing a believe in God to accomplice the goal. Patience means to stay the course, if Jesus said Go to the other side, Patience will get there without moving from one side to the other, but Courage is maintaining in the face of adversity. The English word Courage means To withstand danger by enduring, it also relates to a decision to stand, indicating when we have done all to stand, yet we stand therefore, we are of Good Courage.

The word Strong in verses 7 and 9 is the Hebrew Chazag meaning To be attached or Hold fast, it also relates to Standing. The Hebrew Chazag has a negative meaning in the area of standing as well, it was used twelve times in reference to Pharaoh standing against Moses; therefore, one can Stand with God, or Stand against God. Showing it’s not just Standing, but with whom we are standing, or against making the difference. Ahh, standing against God is rebellion, but standing with God is courage.

The word Success is the Hebrew Sakhal meaning Prudent, Apt to teach, or Knowing the reason for something. This explains why Joshua was told to meditate on the Law, he had to know the Reason, in order to gain the courage. If we don’t know the cause, we can’t believe in the cause, if we can’t believe in the cause, we will lack courage.

Joshua knew he was a tool to bring about the promise God made to the fathers. We then become the tools of the Spirit to complete the promise made by Jesus to His Father. Joshua was to consider the consequences of failure as an incentive to maintain Courage in the face of adversity; if he remembered, he would be successful in reference to his calling. Moses told the children “Be of good courage” (Deut 31:6 & 31:7), he told Joshua “be of good courage” (Deut 31:23), thus the call to be of Good courage was known to Joshua before Moses died. Moses didn’t tell Joshua, “have faith in God”, since it was not the issue here, rather he was to Believe based on the past experiences they had with God. Courage is not a faith issue, it’s based on Belief, the belief is based on Knowledge and Experiences. If God delivered them out of Egypt to walk the wilderness of training to take the Promised Land, then Courage was in order based on the knowledge obtained.

Joshua is also told to have confidence in the words of the prophet of God as well as the promises of God, thus these were past issues to secure Courage. God will tell Joshua to have courage in specific areas; first he had to have courage in the calling (Joshua 1:6); next he had to have courage in the Law (Joshua 1:7); lastly he had to have courage in the Lord (Joshua 1:9), all elements based in belief. One can lead by example, or they can lead by manipulation to dominate; the latter produces slaves, the former eager disciples.

Joshua is a type and shadow of the three points of our Standing. First we Stand to obtain our portion in the Kingdom (Joshua 1:6). We Stand to Observe to Do all the Lord has commanded us (Joshua 1:7). Then we Stand knowing the Lord our God is with us (Joshua 1:9). This last aspect also tells us Not to be afraid; the phrase “Be not afraid” not only means Don’t allow fear to enter, but entails Don’t use the spirit of fear to gain the result, thus we never inspire fear, which is a type and shadow of using the “spirit of fear”. Everything produces after its own kind, if we use fear on others, we will be subject to fear. If we use Love on others, we become Love. Intimidation is the use of the spirit of fear,  when we use phrases or words to intimidate others, we are of the wrong spirit. The world uses it all the time, a Terrorist is not only motivated by fear, their existence depends on using the spirit of fear to terrify others.

By our words we are justified or condemned, before these people crossed the Jordan, Joshua posed a Vow to them (Joshua 1:10-15). Prior the Commandments were, Thou Shall Not, but a vow is based on something we want to do, thus it carries more weight than burnt sacrifices, or deeds of the Law. Therefore, a vow also carries more responsibility than a sacrifice; a sacrifice is given for the moment for something done, but a vow is based on some future action. Perhaps it’s the precise reason James tells us to add the phrase, “As the Lord wills” to our various vows. A vow is future tense, it’s based on our promise to do something, thus a vow entails being faithful.

Once the Vow was presented the people answered, “All you command us we will do” (Joshua 1:16). Sound familiar? Yes, it was the same answer the first generation gave Moses, thus we find two groups. The first generation said and did not, the second said and did. To the Jew this is the point of the second choosing, but they view this as ,”All the Lord has said, we will do and obey”, thus they end limiting the phrase to the Torah alone. They limit the vow “until Joshua, not after”, but it negates the Proceeding Word. This group is vowing to be Numbered among the nation of Israel to be separated from the rest of the world. They are vowing to hold to the Law of Moses as their written conscience. The Law could grant one a blessing, or a cursing, thus it had the authority to Judge. These people were guided by God, but they were not the “Body of God”, they were the Body of Moses. They still needed a written conscience detailing right from wrong, the Ten Commandments provided it. Man would not know murder is wrong unless there was a Law, thus the Law of Moses is the result of failing to do the Commandments. Making both the Law of Moses and the Commandments against us, rather than for us. The Law of Moses identifies sin, places it on the person, accuses them, condemns them to the death related to sin, but then it provides a means to balance the scale for a time, granting the long life in the flesh. The Law of the Spirit is designed to allow us to impute the old nature dead, to gain a New Nature based in the Life of Christ, thus the Law of the Spirit is designed to do away with sin. The Law of Moses was designed for a people with a nature who had more of a potential to do evil, then good. The Law of the Spirit is designed for a people who are granted a Nature of Christ, who have the potential to do good based on their nature.

When these people cross the Jordan, the Ark will go before them. Within the Ark were the Tablets of the Commandments, some manna, and the rod of Aaron, but it didn’t contain a copy of the Law. The people followed the Ark, they didn’t lead it. We are told to Follow Jesus, thus the Ark being the “heart” of the Tabernacle is a type of Christ in us, thus we are the real Bread of life, the power of the Resurrection, the Law of the Spirit with a pure conscience found in the New Man.

The Jew held the Law in their hands to read it, thus to the Jew, the phrase, “all that the Lord has said”, is a past tense phrase referring only to those things God has said in the Torah, yet in the Torah we read, “man does not live by bread only, but by every word  proceeding out of the mouth of the Lord does man live” (Deut 8:3). To the Jew it was still a past tense issue, yet Jesus made it a present tense statement. Jesus didn’t say, “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word proceeding from the mouth of God”, rather it was “proceeds from the mouth of God”. Keeping what God has said is important, but just as important is knowing what God is saying.

This same premise was prevalent during the earthly ministry of Jesus. The Jewish mind accepts the Torah as the “bread (manna) of God”; yet we know Jesus quoted the Torah by saying, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word (Greek Rhema, meaning a series of words, or the substance of the Logos) coming from the mouth of God”. Paul said Faith comes by hearing, but the hearing by the Rhema (Word) of God  (Rom 10:17). If the Proceeding Word is the Rhema, yet the hearing is based on the Rhema, they must connect. Jesus as the Logos said the Rhema He spoke was Spirit and Life (Jn 6:63), thus the Hearing is to obtain Life by the Spirit. There is Idle Rhema as well, or words void of Spirit and Life, yet speaking of God.

The Scriptures are not the Word of God, they are the Holy Scriptures, words from God, about God, or His people. If the Bible is the defining factor, yet it defines itself as the Scriptures, while it defines Jesus as the Word, it seems the defining factor has defined. After all, the Pharisees used the Scriptures, but they didn’t have the Word in them (Jn 5:38-39). The Scriptures speak of God, the Word (Logos) speaks as God, as the Word (Rhema) is the Grace filled Spiritual Word based in Life. Another mystery, Idle Rhema means words spoken from the spirit of man, with a religious tone, lacking Spiritual ability.

Jesus upset the theological boat of the Jew when He brought Truth, yet if they had continued in the Truth, they would be free; however, they assumed by continuing in the Law they would be set free, failing to accept the Proceeding Truth, much less continue in it. The mystery of self-deception is found in the mind of the Pharisees during the earthly ministry. They assumed they were a “free people”, yet they were under the hand of Rome. They felt they had Life, yet they were the walking dead. They assumed they were doing the works of God, yet they were nonetheless children of their father the devil, doing the lusts (works) of the devil. They thought they were the righteousness of God, yet they put the Righteousness of God on the Cross. When Jesus told the Pharisees they were of their father the devil, He was making a statement of fact, not condemning them. Jesus also gave them the ability to move to the Truth, thus the Pharisees made a decision to remain in their condition, although the ability to be free was presented. What has this to do Joshua? Much, there will be one person in Jericho who will make a decision based on evidence she heard, her decision will save her life.

The Book of Joshua is not Part of the Torah, thus according to the Jew whatever is said in Joshua becomes Agenda, but to Joshua it was still a Commandment from the Lord his God. The people prior to this group, complained, murmured and demanded for God to meet their desires, yet they made Vows, they also refused to keep them. This Vow was not the second choosing, it was the acceptance of the first.

Do we think it was by chance when John the Baptist picked the Jordan to begin his ministry? Was it by chance the Pharisees stood on one side of the Jordan mocking John? Hardly, this was all seen from the foundation of the world; John was in the Jordan, which  should have told the Pharisees the times were changing, it was time to Crossover.

Those who entered the wilderness didn’t do what Moses said, until disaster struck, neither did they repent until disaster struck, but this second group told Joshua, “According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto you: only the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses” (Joshua 1:17). By connecting Moses to the Vow, they sealed the purpose of the wilderness, thus they didn’t start again, they finished the course assigned to the first group.

Don’t forget the purpose for crossing the Red Sea was to spend forty days in the wilderness as preparation to take the Promised Land, not spend forty years, then dying. The first group didn’t make it, putting asunder the concept of  “do you think your unbelief is greater than God?”. It appears as if the unbelief of the first group was greater than God’s desire for them, yet God worked their unbelief into plan as a lesson and warning for future generations. God was not the victim of their unbelief, they were, after the Lord saved the children, He destroyed those who believed not (Jude 5).

The concept of “spies” was looked at prior, but for here we want to keep in mind how God gave this land to these people, those who occupied it were really trespassers. If we looked at it from their side, we would get a different story, but we know this land was given to Abraham many years prior. Today we see the same conflict the Trespassers are fighting those who were given the land. The earth and the fullness thereof still belong to God, thus He can give it to whom He pleases, yet He promised a portion to Abraham’s seed of the flesh through Isaac. If we gave a pencil to one person, yet another came to us saying, “how dare you, I wanted the pencil, you had no right”, we would think, “you greedy person, who are you to tell me to whom I can give, or not give?”. The same is true with God, who is man to say what God can give to another?

Once the Vow was taken care of, the seal of the Covenant had to be completed, yet Joshua would sent two spies to Jericho, rather than ten; perhaps fewer is better (Joshua 2:1). The spies went into a harlot’s house, by the name of Rahab (Joshua 2:1). The king of Jericho not only heard there were spies in his city, but knew they went into Rahab’s house (Joshua 2:3). Some look at Joshua 2:4 as Rahab lying to the king, but if we look at the context we find the two spies were hid, they were no longer in Rahab’s sight, thus Rahab told the king there were two men, but at the point in time she couldn’t see them (meaning of the wording “where they were”, or “where they are” – Joshua 2:4). Lying would be saying, “men? what men, I never saw any men”. She did tell the king, “when it was dark, the men went out: where the men went I know not: pursue after them quickly” (Joshua 2:5). Then we see how she hid them under some stalks of flax on her roof, which shows she couldn’t “see” the men when she was talking to the king, nor did she know if they were still there. After the king’s men took pursuit, she helped the spies to escape, which brought to pass the saying, “when it was dark, the men went out” (Joshua 2:6). From man’s view point it would surely seem as if she lied, but the men did leave after dark, they did go to a place she didn’t know, thus she stayed within the confines of the facts, she simply placed one before the other, or called something as a not yet, as a were then. This doesn’t excuse her, but shows how her faith was centered on the safety of the two spies, above her own safety.

Rahab was not a Jew, but she lived in the land God gave to the Jews. She knew she had some slight standing by her association to the spies, but her decision was based on what she heard about the Hebrews, thus her faith came by hearing. In order to be a Jew one’s mother must be Jewish, either by natural birth, or adoption. Ruth became Jewish when Naomi  accepted her as daughter (Ruth 2:2); Rahab became adopted by the nation as a result of her faith. However, there is a difference, in order to be in the Kingly order of Israel one’s father (either natural or adopted, or accepted by the household) must be connected to David’s kingly line, thus Rahab is not seen in the family genealogy of Jesus, but she is seen in the kingly order (Matt 1:5). Luke proves Jesus is Jewish by using a phrase “as was supposed” as it was intended, as well as a mystery revealed. It doesn’t take long in comparing the list in Matthew with Luke’s to see many differences. Both show the lines of Jesus, but from two different aspects. The term “as was supposed” is used to first show Jesus is not the real son of Joseph, but it’s supposed. Next the phrase is used to point to the mother by noting the father of the mother to show the child was Jewish. The Jews would not list a female, but both Luke and Matthew did (interesting). We follow Matthew’s list as it goes to Solomon then David, showing Jesus has a right through Joseph to the kingly order. Luke on the other hand goes to Nathan, another son of David, who didn’t have a position in the kingly order. If we keep Matthew in proper prospective with Luke, they both make sense. Here we find Rahab was adopted by the nation, her line leads to the kingly order. It’s for this reason we find Solomon as a king, but in truth he was not a Jew, since his mother was connected to the Hittites (II Sam 11:3). Ruth had to be adopted by a member of the nation, Rahab by the nation, yet both show outsiders (Gentiles) who gained entry, it just so happens each becomes vital in the genealogy of Jesus.

James used Rahab as a symbol of one who not only had faith, but had the evidence of faith working (James 2:23-26). Rahab heard about God, made a statement, heard the words of the spies, then was tested, thus her faith at work was when she placed the safety of the people of God above her own. She could have heard, yet done nothing. In the face of danger her faith sustained her, yet it was her measure of faith. She is an example of how faith coupled to Mercy is not self-centered, rather she sought to please the people of God, in so doing she pleased God, thus she was treating the people of God, as God would, a point both John and James make.

Rahab tells the spies how she heard the stories of the Red Sea being parted, the defeat of the kings of the Amorites, and many other things. She knew the God of these people was the All Powerful God, her knowledge was the basis for her decision (Joshua 2:9-12). Rahab is also an example of one with a fear of God, thus a fear of God must be part of our faith, if not, our faith may be a mind game. Abraham on the other hand is an example of one who believed God so it could be by faith. When the Covenant came, so did the faith, but his faith was tested when he was asked to give up the Promise. The Book of Hebrews tell us the faith of Abraham was so strong, he knew God was able to raise the lad, even from the ashes (Heb 11:17-19). The Promise for the nation was in Isaac, it was up to God to produce the nation, thus Abraham heard from God and obeyed; whereas, Rahab heard about God and obeyed, both had actions backing up their faith.

Both Abraham and Rahab did something to prove their faith, thus James points out, some say they have faith, others prove it when their faith is worked. Talking about the great battle, yet fighting it are different. The first generation in the wilderness is an example of all mouth, no heart. The second generation is an example of putting one’s heart with their mouth. Truth can be tough, but it’s designed to set us free.

Rahab denied her personal safety as she rejected the protection of her people, for the protection of God. Although Joshua sent “spies”, we don’t follow suit by entering the world as “spies”. We’re ambassadors for the Lord, known by our faith, love and hope. When the spies came to Rahab, she added confidence to her hope by saying, “I know the Lord has given you the land, your terror is fallen upon us, all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you” (Joshua 2:9). This is very interesting, since she didn’t say, “I know you have come to take our land”, rather she knew the Lord gave the land to them, then she submitted to the concept by doing what she could to help the people of the Lord. She didn’t say she fainted, she said the evidence was clear: The Lord He is God. When the children were first told to take the land, they said, “No, we are but grasshoppers”, but Rahab said, “I know the Lord has given you the land”. The children gave the people in the land the glory, Rahab gave God the glory, as issue of faith at work.

Joshua was told to have Courage, but when the people of Jericho heard about God’s people, they lost their courage (Joshua 2:11). In order to take the city, the wall about the city had to be destroyed, yet Rahab lived on the wall. Nonetheless, she was promised protection, her faith knew God would spare her, since she spared the men of God (Joshua 2:15). Talk about warfare, she knew the wall had to fall, yet she lived on the wall. How was the God of these people going to destroy the wall, yet spare her? It really didn’t matter, she knew He would.

Jericho was a fortified city, or a Stronghold. Paul tells us “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing exalting itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Cor 10:3-5). The use of the metaphor Stronghold shows a fortified place full of imaginations (fables) or high things (pride) coming against the knowledge of God. Wait, I thought All Things were of God, what gives? A High Thing is a Thing taken too high, much like the revelation someone tells us is “too deep”. The truth is, the revelation isn’t “too deep”, it’s “too high”; probably an imagination coming against the knowledge of God. There are phrases we watch out for; when someone tells us, “I have a revelation the Body of Christ isn’t ready for yet”, we know we’re talking to someone with a Stronghold. If they are a member of the Body of Christ, they’re not ready for it either. How does a stronghold come down? We allow the Word in us to divide and separate, bringing us to the place of sound study discipline wherein Truth becomes the hammer to the stronghold. In this case, Jericho was a real place, with a real wall, but it also becomes an allegory, or symbol of how a wall comes down, but perhaps not on the first try. The meaning of the name Jericho is a Place of fragrance, it was a fenced city in the midst of a vast grove of palm trees, in the plain of Jordan, over against the place where the Israelites crossed the Jordan. Its site was near the ‘Ain es-Sultan, called Elisha’s Fountain (2Kings 2:19-22), about 5 miles west of Jordan. It was the most important city in the Jordan valley (Numb 22:1 & 34:15), noted as the strongest fortress in all the land of Canaan

These people still had to take the land after circumcision; the circumcision didn’t deliver the land into their hand, rather it placed them in a position to receive the Abrahamic Covenant (Joshua 5:2-8). All these events connected; first came the words of the prophet, then the Vow, then the spies finding faith in the land, then the Word going forth, then circumcision, now they are ready for battle. Some of us want to enter “spiritual warfare” with a slingshot, then wonder why failure always falls on us. We fail to apply the warfare inside, yet expect it to work outside. Well, some times it works, being somewhat effective is not victory. The type and shadow shows we must submit to the circumcision made without hands before we can see strongholds removed.

There is a metaphoric content found in the phrase, “circumcise again, the children of Israel the second time” (Joshua 5:2). A second time? What gives? We don’t know about the rest of you, but it seems a little difficult. The reasoning is found in the following verses, we find the second generation were not circumcised in the wilderness, but the first generation was circumcised before entering. Showing the Wilderness is not the place where our heart is circumcised, rather it’s a place after we are circumcised of heart, thus it becomes a place of exposure, joy, healing, and other attributes relating to our souls. Our Heart will guide us, but the Wilderness is still a place for the soul to learn to be one with the Spirit, bringing to pass our souls becoming Spiritual by the Spirit.

Although all these people made the Vow, some would pass the Jordan with the unbelief of the wilderness still in their hearts. They will become the symbol of those who say they are Born Again, but lack the ability, power and evidence to prove it. The manna ceased, but God provided the fruit of the land, thus the provision increased making it more fruitful (Joshua 5:12). Manna was just for the wilderness, when we break our wilderness the Manna of earth ceases, yet the Fruitfulness of the Spirit increases. This helps explain why Jesus said the manna was given to the fathers, yet they died in the wilderness, thus the manna didn’t change them, they still held their unbelief, but when Jesus comes into our life we have more than enough evidence to believe, we become the Bread of Life.

When Joshua was near Jericho, he saw a man with a drawn sword, Joshua didn’t attack the man but asked, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” (Joshua 5:13). The man was a captain of the host of the Lord, he came to help Joshua (Joshua 5:15). This man is a type and shadow of the Law of the Spirit, he was for Joshua, not against him. Moses delivered them with a rod, but this symbol was ready for battle, thus we are delivered from the world by the rod of God, we Humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God as we become Born Again to obtain the Sword of the Spirit (Rhema), allowing us to speak words of Grace to the hearer.

Joshua was told, Loose your shoe from your foot; for the place whereon you stand is holy (Joshua 5:14). Moses was told the ground at the burning bush was holy, here Joshua is told the entire area is holy. The burning bush of deliverance was prior to Moses receiving the call, here it’s prior to Joshua taking the land, thus showing the call of Moses and the acts of Joshua all related to bringing the children out of Egypt into the Promised land. The children of the first generation assumed the deliverance was for their benefit alone, but God made Abraham, Isaac and Jacob a promise; therefore, the purpose was to complete the Promise of God to the fathers.

The method used to take Jericho seems strange, but it’s the only method open to tear down the Stronghold. The Stronghold is the protection used by the strongman, when the Stronghold goes, the strongman is exposed, yet weakened. Jericho will be the gate or entrance to the Promised land, the place of beginnings for these people. As in our case there is the first battle, the place where the violent take it by force, which simply means we take the Kingdom by the Spirit. Natural man looks at the Stronghold then attempts to figure some way around it, or a way to use for his advantage, rather than see it fall, but God deals with these matters to set us free, rather than see us go deeper into bondage.

They marched around the city seven days, on the seventh day they marched seven times. Well, what happened to the sabbath day? It had to be one of those days, so why didn’t they keep the sabbath? Marching is a work, Ahh, obedience, the very same thing Jesus talked about, it is far better to obey God, then give sacrifices. God formed the heaven and earth in six days, then rested on the Seventh, but here we find there are times when the Seventh is not a day of rest. Maybe it was a sabbath’s day journey? This alone shows there are exceptions to the rule, but this had to go further since they didn’t camp at the wall.

Here is the Courage, God was doing a New Thing, a battle where the action was silent. The decision made, it was now a matter of obeying the Lord, yet it seemed wrong in respect to man’s method of warfare. Man would have huffed and puffed and blew the wall down, but silence? There are times to remain silent, times to speak, or shout, knowing what to do comes by hearing. Instead of shouting at the city, the children moved about the wall with silent humble hearts, when the time came, they shouted unto the Lord then the wall fell. They didn’t shout unto the wall, or the city, but gave a shout of Joy unto the Lord. On the same note we do speak to the mountain, but we must also add our praise unto the Lord for its removal. Paul tells us when our Obedience is full then we can revenge all disobedience, by bringing our thoughts into the obedience of Christ (II Cor 10:5-6). This shows the imagination is based in some disobedience, an area of unbelief, or in believing a fable, or making a tradition of man some doctrine, strongholds dictate our words, if we have a stronghold all information pertaining to the subject of the stronghold is filtered through it, even if truth comes, it will find opposition.

In Joshua 6:5 we find two different words for the word Shout. The first word Shout in the phrase, “shout with a great shout” is the Hebrew Rua meaning To shout with Joy, or to Praise with a loud voice (Judges 15:14 & Ps 60:8 [triumph]). The second word Shout in the same phrase is the Hebrew Teruwah meaning Acclamation of joy, both call for Joy, thus the power of their war cry was in their Joy, their Joy was in the Lord, thus it was Joy causing the wall to become weakened to the point of falling; the battle is the Lord’s the victory is ours. Not only did the Lord have them use priests and trumpets, but He had them use exactly seven priests with seven trumpets, pointing to the Seven Sevens, or the 49 days from the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Pentecost.

While this was going on, Rahab’s faith would also be tested, after placing her life on the line, she sees these Hebrews come in force, yet remain silent, march around the city and leave. Not once, not twice, not three times, but six days running (Joshua 6:8-14). On the seventh day she saw them go around the city six times in silence, all these events were testing her faith. The test of her faith was based in her patience, on the seventh trip the seven priests sounded the seven trumpets, then the people shouted unto God then the wall fell down flat (Joshua 6:17-20). Rahab didn’t sit on the wall yelling, “hello down there, are you going to do something, or should I run?”, she remained silent watching God work through His people.

Rahab lived on the wall, Jewish history shows the wall didn’t fall over, it was consumed into the ground, how then could God spare her? The Hebrew translation shows Rahab lived in a room on the top of the wall; therefore, God not only spared her, but she didn’t have to climb down, rather God brought the wall down so she could step out on solid ground (Joshua 6:25). Rahab received the righteous man’s reward of deliverance in the midst of destruction. Her faith stepped out on nothing, but landed on something.

Rahab could have taken a completely different point of view in this matter, but as we know she had faith. She could have said, “great you come in here acting all tough, now you destroy my house, after all I’ve done for you”. She could have said, “now you owe me, this is what I want”. However she didn’t, she had faith, she didn’t seek the self-benefit, she doesn’t blame, accuse, or slander, she entered the same joy the children had.

Once the city was taken Joshua would curse the place (Joshua 6:26). This curse remained, and fell upon Hiel the Bethelite in the early days of king Ahab (I Kings 16:34). The premise might allow us to think we can curse things, or people, after all Joshua did, but as noted when we have the premise we find the example. Joshua was under a Law allowing both cursing and blessing, we are under a law void of cursing. If we have no law to curse, then cursing for us would be illegal. In our case the Law states we bless and curse not, we are children of the Day, not children of the darkness or night (Rom 12:14 & 12:17-21).

This is a good example to show us the harm in assuming we can take something from a Covenant God gave a different people, then attempt to use it for our benefit. The Galatians thought circumcision of the flesh was a good idea, after all Abraham did it, beside it was God who told him to. Keeping days sounded good too, after all the Old Testament saints did, they were termed “saints”. Wrong, they were in bondage to the flesh, thus God gave them carnal ordinances, we are of the Spirit and have different methods under a different Law.

Achan was one of those who brought the wilderness with him. Achan was the son of Carmis of the tribe of Judah (Joshua 7:1). Tribe of Judah? Oh my, someone from the same tribe as Jesus who was not a “nice guy”. Yes, but we also find Rahab is in the line leading to kingly line of Jesus. Our past doesn’t count, it’s our future, God sees our potential in Christ, so should we.

After Jericho was taken, Joshua sent men to Ai; however, instead of taking the city, Joshua lost thirty-six men (Joshua 7:4-5). Thirty-six men may not seem like a lot to us, but when the Lord was with these people they never lost a one. Accordingly if Joshua lost one man, the failure was not the fault of God, there must be sin in the camp, but thirty-six? What sin could have caused this? Joshua will assume God has left them, he then falls on his face before God presuming the nations will destroy them, but he hears God say, “Get you up, wherefore lay you thus upon your face?” (Joshua 7:10). God explains there is sin in the camp, a “accursed thing” must be taken away to remove the hindrance. It was time to act, by removing the camp of sin. Here we find a paradox, Joshua cursed a city, yet one of his own cursed him. The difference? The city was cursed as a result of its folly, Joshua as a result of the wrong doing of another under his command. The tragedy in Achan’s sin is the harm done unto others, Joshua and the thirty-six men did nothing wrong, yet they suffered because of Achan’s sin. We assume our unbelief only effects us, but many suffer, if one suffers we all suffer (Joshua 7:6-9).

The Lord told Joshua, “Israel has sinned, they have transgressed My Covenant and they have taken of the accursed thing and have also stolen” (Joshua 7:11). Only Achan sinned, yet the sin fell on the entire nation of Israel. If our leaders are in sin, the camp suffers, causing us to suffer needlessly. A little leaven was causing the whole to be leavened. However, joy still came in the morning, there is a method provided to get out from under the curse, and back to being a blessing again.

In the morning Joshua judged Israel by tribes, when Judah was before him, he broke each tribe down into families, then by the wisdom given him, Joshua looked on Achan and said, “My son, give me I pray you, glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto Him and tell me now what you have done; hide it not from me” (Joshua 7:19). Interesting, repentance is a type of Glory unto God, Achan answered Joshua and gave praise unto the Lord by saying, “I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel” (Joshua 7:20-21). Not only did Achan take silver, but he took a Babylonian garment, thus he reached back to Egypt allowing the glory of Egypt to blind him (Joshua 7:21). The metaphor “garment” refers to a covering of some type, we have the White Robe of the Resurrection waiting for us, yet now we know spots on our garments can hinder us; praise the Lord for the Blood of Jesus washing us clean.

Achan didn’t mention the trouble he caused Joshua or the thirty-six men who died as a result of his greed. Achan becomes our example of self-repentance, or repenting because we’re caught in order to escape the pending danger. Achan was remorseful, but not repentant, he was sorry he was caught, but not because of what his error caused. The name Achan means Troublesome or Trouble, like Judas, Achan brought trouble into the house of the Lord. Neither Achan or Judas were demon possessed, the devil put something in the heart of Judas, but the something was not a devil, thus Jesus never cast the devil out of Judas. Peter never made one attempt to cast the devil out of Ananias (Acts 5:1-5). Achan, Judas and Ananias allowed the old man to dictate through lusts, they all felt they could hide what they were doing from God. Achan took the treasure and buried it in his tent, Judas took his greed and buried it in his heart, Ananias allowed greed to govern his thinking, they all ended with death as their shield (Acts 5:2). Achan was killed by the men of Israel, Ananias gave up the ghost without one human hand touching him, and Judas hung himself (Acts 5:5 & Joshua 7:25-26).

Ananias gave up the ghost, he didn’t give up the Spirit. In the Greek the word is ExPsuche translated as “giving up the ghost”, it means “out the soul goes”, relating to the first death as a separation of the soul from the fleshly body. The second death is a separation from any and all attributes of God, including light, love, joy, peace, and many other things, making the second death complete torment. The Bible tells us we will have no memory of the dead, thus the lake of fire will be just that, a lake of fire, just as the sun is the sun to us, nothing more or less. However, to those in the lake of fire it will torment forever and ever. Eternal means without time, it’s always now. It was once said if the earth was a steel ball, and a giant eagle came by every hundred years and brushed its wing on the earth, when the eagle has worn down the earth to the size of marble, eternity would have just begun. However, eternity being void of time remains a now, making it worse for those in the lake of fire. Praise the Lord, the Cross has given us the Door to avoid the wrath of God, we have a much better Promise.

Once the sin was taken care of, restoration takes place, now Joshua begins to take city by city, little by little, just as the Lord ordained. The saving of the soul is the same process, as we recognize those deadly tares of the self nature, including, but not limited to, pride, ego, unteachable thinking, theology full of high things, self-serving methods, self-centered thinking, self-reliant attitudes, the temptation to use the pride of life to meet our need, yet we also find they are without power, the Cross made them ineffective, thus the New Man not only removes them, at times little by little, but he also replaces the void with the attributes of Christ in us the Hope of Glory.

Joshua went back to Ai with the Lord at his side, then utterly destroyed all the inhabitants (Joshua 8:26). Then came the deceivers from Gibeon (Joshua 9:3). This is a type and shadow of natural knowledge from an outside source coming to disrupt our position and condition. The deceit from Gibeon caused a thorn in the side of Joshua; the word Gibeon means “hill city”, metaphorically it refers to a high thing. The inhabitants of Gibeon used deception by taking old garments and provisions making it appear as if they traveled a great distance. They came to Joshua saying they were from a far country, as strangers they sought protection (Joshua 9:6-14). Joshua made peace with them then gave them a vow of protection (Joshua 9:15). Like Timothy, Joshua would soon discover, some men’s sins are evident, others are hidden. Joshua discovered the truth but his vow was set, it could not be reversed (Joshua 9:16-20). Paul says, lay hands suddenly on no man, yet Joshua approved the strangers finding himself burdened with them (I Tim 5:22). Timothy didn’t inquire of the Lord, rather he trusted in his Inner Feeling (stomach’s sake – I Tim 5:23). Paul says, don’t trust in the water alone (feelings of the heart based in Mercy), but mix the Water and Wine (Spirit or Grace). The Greek word Paul used for Wine means “water and wine mixed” (I Tim 5:23). John tells us the Witness consists of the Water, Blood and the Spirit, not the Water alone (I Jn 5:6-9). The Water represents Mercy, the Blood represents Grace, the Spirit the New Man. The Witness is always going to carry out the Record, the Record is maintained by the Father, Word and Holy Ghost (I Jn 5:7-8).

Joshua didn’t have the Water, Blood or Spirit, but he did have the ability to inquire of the Lord. If Joshua was still in the wilderness, he would have died, but now he has a holy place where repentance avails much. Joshua couldn’t destroy the deceivers but he did place them in lower labor positions. If some deceiver fools us, or we laid hands on them, we can’t cast them away, but they can be placed in lower labor tasks to learn of their folly. Neither can we make the mistake Timothy did, by using the spirit of fear to control them (II Tim 1:6, 1:13 with 1:7). God is still fully able to deliver us, but Timothy wanted to take the easy way out, in fact, he simply wanted out, but Paul encouraged him to stay, and face the mistake of his doing by trusting in the Lord by stirring up the Gift of God within.

The Lord would do great signs and wonders in the sight of Joshua, including bringing great stones from heaven upon Azekah (Joshua 10:11), making the sun stand still in the sky, allowing Joshua to fight by light, rather retreat until morning (Joshua 10:12-14). We fight in the Light by the Light, because Light always has authority over darkness. We don’t turn on the darkness, we turn off the light, we don’t turn off the darkness to bring the light, we turn on the light, thus the switch is a light switch, not a darkness switch. Jesus said, we are the Light of the world but a lamp without the Oil can’t produce Light (Matt 5:14 & 25:1-11). Instead of cursing the darkness, we are the Light exposing the darkness.

Joshua would take Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron and Debiur (Joshua 10:28-43). Then he took other areas from Hazor unto Misrephothmaim (Joshua 11:1-14). Joshua didn’t leave anything undone, he did all the Lord commanded of him (Joshua 11:15). Moses being a prophet spoke unto Joshua, but it was still the Lord through the man, thus we find as the Lord commanded Moses, Moses commanded Joshua. Jesus told us to be Baptized With the Holy Ghost, deny the self, pick up our cross and follow Him; have we left anything undone?

Joshua didn’t take all the land, but he wasn’t expected to. One person does not the Kingdom make, it takes members to complete the task. Division is a sign of a carnal mind (I Cor 3:1-3), with division comes strife, with strife comes all sorts of demonic activity (James 3:15-16 & I Cor 3:1-3). Division doesn’t invite the devil in, it doesn’t have to, it’s demonic in nature causing people to take other routes to reach the result, or sending them in directions where there is no result. The carnal mind will do for the devil, what the devil can’t do for himself. Jesus destroyed him who had the power of death, who is the devil, but if the devil is destroyed, why then are we told not to give the devil place? (Heb 2:14 & Eph 4:27). As we know, the word Destroy in Hebrews 2:14 is the Greek Katargeo meaning A cessation from outward activity, thus showing us how the Cross removed the effectiveness of the devil, yet if we go about Saying the devil has effect, we are also saying the Cross was ineffective. No wonder some of our battles are self-induced.

The Cross brought a separation from death unto life, from self-righteousness into God’s Righteousness, from mind power to faith, from failure into victory. When we remain on the proper side of the Separation we hold victory before the battle begins, if we’re on the other side we produce battles within the Body, if we attempt to live in both areas we are double-minded. This same Greek word used for destroyed in Hebrews 2:14 was used by Paul to show an End to the Law of Moses (Rom 3:3 & 3:31). Simply because there is an end to the Law of Moses doesn’t mean the Law of Moses has ended, thus simply because we are separated from the devil, doesn’t mean he is ended. It would seem silly for Jesus to destroy the devil, then bind him during the Time of Comfort. The Cross is the issue, in our Season we have the Cross, in the Night they will not, thus for them the devil has to be bound. In our Season we have absolute power and authority over the devil, demons, darkness, as well as over the wiles of the devil. So much so, the only way the devil can torment us, is when we give him place (Eph 4:27). If the Cross is can destroy the devil, think of how much more powerful the Resurrection becomes?

Joshua now divides the land, up to this point in time the children had either Moses or Joshua to lead them, both men were obviously walking in the shadow of God (Joshua 13:1-19:51). The Lord appointed the cities of refuge (Joshua 20:1-9); then the Levites received their cities (Joshua 21:1-45). Joshua then called the Reubenites, Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, who promised to fight with Joshua before they took residence on the other side of the Jordan (Joshua 22:1-8).  Each tribe had a section, giving us the first denominational division. Each tribe would have a part of the total picture, each would be responsible for their own area, yet they were joined into the one nation. We also find Dan had two areas, one to the north and one to the south, which becomes an important issue when we get to the Book of Revelation where we find Dan is one of the two tribes left out of the Revelation list of tribes for the 144,000. Dan being in two places gives us a type of the two horns found with the false prophet, one horn larger representing our Season, the smaller one representing the Season to come.

When the children of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh finished their vow, they returned to their land, but just before crossing the Jordan they stopped and made an altar. When Joshua heard this, he came after them; however, in this we find the differences between an altar toward God, or a memorial to remind man of the people of God, as opposed to an idol altar. When Joshua and the congregation came upon the children of Reuben they said, “What trespass is this you have committed against God and Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, as you have built you an altar, that you might rebel this day against the Lord” (Joshua 22:16). The children of Reuben had a pure intent, they said the purpose of the altar was, “not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice: but it may be a witness between us and you and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the Lord before Him” (Joshua 22:21-27). The altar wasn’t to worship God, or worship other gods, or man, rather it was a reminder to the future children showing Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh were still among the children of God. The water couldn’t separate them; thus there are times when someone under Mercy will drift back to the other side of Jordan, but their actions still didn’t separate them from the people of God.

Joshua then gives the children a history lesson, showing a change in Seasons. There was a season between Adam and Moses where God allowed some things to take place, there was a Season between Moses and Christ where God allowed His children to get away with things, but what one group got away with in one Season doesn’t allow those entering the New an excuse (Joshua 24:2-3). Joshua defined this by showing Abraham’s father worshipped idols, even before Abraham made his vow with God leaving his father’s house to serve the Lord; however, prior he may have been an idol worshiper, but it doesn’t give us an excuse to worship or make idols. Joshua cursed the city, but it doesn’t give us an excuse to avoid our command of “bless and curse not”. David prayed against his enemies, but it doesn’t give us an excuse. When Jesus came the Season changed, the idea of us obtaining vengeance was settled, it’s in God’s hands, we are those of Faith.

Joshua’s warning points to any of us, if we “forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then He will turn to do us hurt and consume us, after He had done us good” (Joshua 24:20). God is equal, if a wicked person turns from their wicked ways and becomes righteous, God will treat them as righteous, but if a righteous person turns from their righteousness to become wicked, God will treat them as wicked. If we are Born Again we have the advantage, rather then work for our righteousness, we find the New Man is based in the very Righteousness of Jesus, the same Righteousness is the Scepter of the Kingdom (Heb 1:8).

Once we know the Lord is good, we are either a witness for Him, or a witness against ourselves (Joshua 24:22). Joshua dies at a ripe old age of a hundred and ten years, they buried him in the land of Promise (Joshua 24:29-30). Ending this area we have a great and powerful lesson, of course we can see how seeking the face of God is beneficial, it goes without saying, but Achan gives us another area. When the sin of Achan happened we find the camp itself was not invaded with sickness, or the enemy, rather we find the sin of Achan caused a specific failure in a specific place. Un-confessed sin, or disobedience (unbelief) in any area is still sin relating to death in some degree, it may not be physical death, but a death nonetheless. Our positional office might suffer, or marriage, or our condition with God; however, this the Day the Lord has made, we can Rejoice if we just confess the sin, then allow the New Man to clean us either by the washing of the water by the Word, or by applying the Blood of Jesus. We have the advantage, there is no need for God to send us Judges, we can judge ourselves.

JUDGES

Success without a successor doesn’t always mean there is no success, Joshua didn’t appoint another human to take his place, yet he was successful, as were many after him. God picks the successor, as He has done right along. Simply because man fails to pick a successor, doesn’t mean God hasn’t. The world uses flesh and blood to replace flesh and blood, but all these people were in the hand of God, thus God is the Success for the Successor.

God’s sovereignty is displayed in many things, but the one we know the best is the title “Alpha and Omega”. God is not the “Alpha or Omega”, nor is He the “Alpha but not the Omega”, thus God is the Alpha while being the Omega. Man comes and goes on the face of the earth, but God Is. God’s foreknowledge of events doesn’t mean God planned all of them, it means God knows them before they are events. If we are who we say we are, then we must hold to the Sovereignty of God. The Lord wanted the people to come to Him as a group in the wilderness, but they rejected Him holding to their slavery mentality, this group in the land are no different; therefore, it wasn’t Egypt alone, but the natural mind of man reaching for Egypt thinking. They obtained a different slavery mentality, one in which they looked for judges or leaders to tell them what to do, or what not to do, yet they had the Law of Moses as a guide: however, it also called for responsibility, natural man desires the benefit, but not the responsibility. If one wants to thin their mailing list, or see some pews emptied all they need do is preach on the responsibility of belief, faith or forgiveness. Here we find the same, wanting protection, but rejecting responsibility.

God told Joshua to meditate in the Law, rather than “do as Moses did”. God still wanted to guide and instruct the people, thus Joshua didn’t name a successor for a Godly purpose, although the purpose was rejected by the people. When the oppressed are given freedom the first generation are grateful, the second are lazy, the third generation begin to be rebellious ending as oppressors. The warning to the Body and the Remnant is; “he who leads into captivity shall go into captivity: he who kills with the sword must be killed with the Sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints” (Rev 13:10). These people were placed under oppression to learn the effects of bondage, but the purpose was to free others, rather than place others in bondage. The natural nature of man tends to twist this into “now it’s my turn”, the oppressed then become the oppressor.

The many wives and handmaidens were allowed by God, but it doesn’t mean we can have more than one wife. These people had many wives, the nation, the city, the law, their pride, and many others. God will divorce the nation, but not the “daughter”; therefore, Paul said All Israel will be saved, but not all who are called Israel, are of Israel. Paul made a distinction between Jew and Israel, just as he made a distinction between Hebrew, Jew and Israel. A Jew is one who has the token to enter Covenant, a true Jew is one who has the token of circumcision of the heart. Israel is the nation, an Israeli is someone who lives in the nation, a Hebrew is a sojourner, one who has a promise of a land, but has yet to obtain it. There is no mention in the Bible of a “true Hebrew”, or “true Israel”, but there is a “true Jew”.

The tribes came from Israel, rather than Israel being a product of the tribes. Israel came from the man Jacob, thus we will find “the house of Jacob”, “the house of Israel”, the “house of Judah”, the “tents of Judah”, and “the house of David”. All relating to different types of people; however, we will not find “a house of the Jew”, since the term Jew points to an individual who has a token to enter covenant.

God’s purpose, and God allowing something are far different, as Jesus explained to the Pharisees. Jesus didn’t say “God allowed”, but He did say Moses gave them the law regarding the bill of divorcement based on the hardness of their hearts, not on their goodness (Mark 10:4-5). God allowing something, and something being in the perfect Will of God are different. God allowed the heart of Pharaoh to become hard, yet He said Pharaoh was raised for a purpose to show God’s power, but we know Pharaoh was anything but “Godly”. The sons of perdition have a purpose, they will be the test for the Woman in the very end, but it doesn’t mean they are the “chosen of God”. To whom much is given, much is still required, but praise be to God, He also has given us the Means and Ability to reach the goal. We have the unique ability to judge ourselves by the Spirit making us free of the wrath of God to come.

The word for Judges in reference to the Book of Judges is not the Hebrew Elohiym, rather it’s the Hebrew Shaphat meaning to Vindicate or To punish, this is where the Jew obtained the concept of God’s Mercy as a means to apply Justice; however, the purpose of the Judges was to bring God’s Justice, which is to feed the poor, protect the fatherless, care for the widows and make sure the people of God are protected (Ps 82). In our case the Protector is The Comforter (Holy Ghost), as He speaks to “another Comforter” (New Man) within us; therefore, we are told to judge not. To these people the phrase “if there are no judges in the house, there is no God” was true, but for us There are no judges in the New Testament Tabernacle, since we have One Judge, the Righteous Judge of all, Jesus (James 5:9). We judge ourselves, lest we be judged, thus we have a battlefield with weapons in hand, how we use them still determines if we run the race lawfully or not.

These Judges did punish those who oppressed Israel, at times they punished Israel for wickedness, but only after warning them of their folly. There are many references in the Old Testament regarding men being saviors; however, these saviors saved men from other men, they never saved man from himself, or saved man from the sin nature. The people still heard from God, thus if these natural, rebellious, stiff-necked people could hear from God, why can’t we? They were subject to the Law, had the land in hand; therefore, any excuse we use still falls short when we read the Jewish history. The things of God didn’t pass away, rather we find people separating themselves from God, yet the Power of God didn’t change, diminish, or vanish.

The hope in the history of Israel is found in the Judges, the Daniel’s and the others who were in captivity, but not subject to it. When the Yoke of the flesh is removed, we will see our potential of Jesus in us is far greater then we thought. The established religious order associated with what is called the Body can be in captivity, but those with the Glory who are in the Church need not be subject to it. There are times when it seems as if there are more wolves than sheep, yet it’s the surface appearance, not the reality. We know a Few will walk with Jesus in white, but the concept of Few is only relative to the number from which it’s taken. When we can’t count the number of the Few, we know there is still room for us. Amen?

The people were in their promised land, yet the threats from the outside came against them. At this time Israel was without a leader, the people went to the Lord and He told them to send “Judah and his brother Simeon” (Judges 1:1-2). If one looked for two men by the names of Judah and Simeon in the Book of Joshua, they found none, rather God is pointing to the tribes (Judges 1:3-8). This sets the stage for the judges to rule Israel. God seeks those who will hear and obey, but at this point in time He used the tribes “Judah and his brother Simeon”. This is clearer when we read how the “children of Judah” took Jerusalem back as the tribe fought against the Canaanites, thus it wasn’t someone named Judah, but the people from the tribe of Judah (Judges 1:2-8). Nonetheless we will find people appointed as Judges as well.

CHART OF THE JUDGES:

Oppressor + King + Verse in Judges + Judge + Tribe

Mesopotamia+Chushan-Rishathaim+3:8,3:9-11+Othniel+Judah

Moabites+Eglon+3:12-14, 3:15-30+Ehud+Benjamin

Philistines+(No King mentioned)+3:31+Shamgar+Naphtali

Canaanites+Jabin+4:2-3,4:4-5:31+Deborah+Ephraim

Midianites+Oreb,Zeeb,Zebah,Zalmunna+6:1-6,6:7-8:35+Gideon+Manasseh

Civil War Of Abimelech+(No king mentioned)+(See vrs. for last 3 conflicts)

Ammonites+(No king mentioned)+(See vs. for last 3 oppressors)+Tola,Jair+Isachar,Manasseh

Philistines+(No king mentioned)+(See vs. for last 3 oppressors)+Jephthan,Ibzan,Elon,Abodon+Manasseh, Judah,Zebulun,Ephraim

Philistines+(No King mentioned)+(See vrs. for last 3 oppressors)+Samson+Dan

Verses for last Oppressors:  Chapter 9+10:1-10, 12:7-15,13:1-2,16:31

There was a time period for testing and proving for the children who left the wilderness. The testing was to determine if they would follow the Lord without having a leader; however, the evidence shows, every man did as he willed. There were those who wanted to worship gods formed by the hands of man, rather than worship the God who formed man by His hand. Wait, they had the Law plus all the prior warnings, right? Yes, of course we have all the Promises in the Promise, plus all the warnings as well, yet we find ourselves from time to time giving worship to things we should not. We can find ourselves giving worship to the anointing, the power, in some cases worship our worship, which is making idols out of the things of God. Idol worship in the mind is a formation of self-based theology, wherein the mind contrives an idea of what religion should be, then worships the idea. Any Religious person seeking to control their religion is idol worship, regardless of the name of the religion.

Since the fall there have been those with authority, and those who attempted to usurp authority. Judges gives us both examples, to Usurp Authority doesn’t mean using one’s authority over another, it means attempting to use someone else’s authority. Back in Deuteronomy chapter 27 Moses told the children when they crossed the Jordan they were to go to two mounts, here we find some additional information. The battle ground changed, but the symbol didn’t. The six tribes had something in common, Benjamin, Manasseh and Ephraim were all involved in giving the blessing on Mount Gerizim (Deut 27:12). Zebulun, Asher and Naphtali were on Mount Ebal giving the curse, yet all six ended mixing the blessing with the curse, forming a mixed report. Later the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh would be called the Samaritans, saying the true worshipers of God worship from Ebal, the place where the Law was first spoken in the Promised Land, but the Jews would say the true worshipers of God worship in Jerusalem, the “city of God”. A dispute seen again when Jesus meets the woman at the well.

God told these children not to mix with the heathen, rather they were to drive the inhabitants out of the land; however, Benjamin failed to drive out the Jebusites: Manasseh failed to drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean: Ephraim failed to drive out the Canaanites: Zebulun failed to drive out the inhabitants of Kitnon and Nahalol: Asher failed to drive out the inhabitants of Assho and Zidon; and Naphtali failed to drive out the inhabitants of Betshemesh (Judges 1:21-36). They failed to see God’s command was for their own good, more important, it was for the good of their children. This type and shadow is the failure to confront the strongholds in our life, we soon find we will pass them on to our children, or to disciples under us. Jesus combated the many strongholds of His disciples by the Hammer of Truth, not a bad idea, Truth is always the hammer to the stronghold.

An angel of the Lord warned them of their folly, if they broke the covenant, the heathen would be thorns in their sides, the heathen gods a snare (Judges 2:1-3). The angel delivered a message, but we find it’s in the first person, so did the angel deliver? Or did God? The angel is not speaking for himself, he is giving the message just as it was given, thus an angel is one who delivers a message as they receive it, they don’t add to it, or insert their opinion. The people were warned about making league with the heathen, they were separated, then designed to remain separated. These people served the Lord, all the days of Joshua (Judges 2:7-9); but when the generation died, the next generation rejected the Lord and served Baalim (Judges 2:10-11). They failed to teach the youth in earnest about the events of the wilderness, thus the youth chased the idols of the heathen (Judges 2:10-14). The purpose of the Passover is to instruct the youth of God’s ability to deliver, yet instruction without example becomes mere words in the wind.

Idol worship is perhaps the greatest insult placed against God, especially by His people. The anger of the Lord was Hot against Israel because of their idol worship, He delivered them into the hands of spoilers (Judges 2:14). He never left them, although they left Him, thus the devil didn’t deliver them into the hands of the spoiler, God did. When they followed God, the Hand of the Lord was upon them for good, but when they did evil the hand of the Lord was on them for evil, yet they were always in the “hand of the Lord” (Judges 2:15).

The evidence showed how breaking the Commandment of the Lord had lasting effects. God will not make our choices for us, He will not believe for us, He will not force us to walk the right path, but He will give us a Character in the New Man to produce a change in us making us good. Once anyone enters the Kingdom of God there is no class difference, no one gets more Grace than another, no one is loved more of God than another. We all have opportunity, granted ability, with the information required to make it. These are matters of the heart; choice without the freedom to make a choice, is no choice at all, but it takes battles to maintain, the same is true with the Judges.

If we, or any child of God, even these children turn toward other gods after God has warned us, we have entered rebellion, leaving God no choice but to chasten us. God’s Mercy endures forever, during the Day God is always willing to forgive us based on our repentance, thus God heard their distress and sent them judges to deliver them (Judges 2:15-16). This is our hope; throughout history God sent deliverers, prophets or saints pointing to the corrupt condition and position in order to bring correction, to promote deliverance. He has not changed, the Book of Revelation shows in the last days He will again produce signs to gain repentance. If nothing else the Book of Revelation shows God reaching out until the last second, yet we find the people rejecting the call by blaspheming God. Choice, is still free moral choice, right up until it’s appointed unto all men once to die, then comes the judgment.

However, as we find, God sent, but the people refused to hear the judges, as they went after other gods bowing themselves unto idols (Judges 2:17). The Lord still raised up judges to deliver them, for it repented the Lord because of their oppressors (Judges 2:18-19). Again, when the Lord repents, He doesn’t change His mind, He’s sorry for what He must do, but do it He must. It repented Him to place His people in bondage, but God is not only faithful, He is a God of integrity. The punishment of man and the chastisement of God are not always with the same intent. At times man punishes to bring himself peace, God chastens to keep His own from ending in hell.

The paradox seen in these captivities shows how God places His own in captivity to bring them back to Him, for their own good, yet if the nation He used to bring punishment mistreats His people, they pay the price. The Lord sent the children into the wilderness to prove them, thus He also sent the judges to prove them (Judges 2:22). The nations used to chasten the children were used to prove them as well, but woe to the nation who felt they could mistreat the people of God.

The children of Israel who lived among the heathen, ended serving their gods (Judges 3:5-6). Our warning is clear, we don’t use the world, the ways of the world, or take of the cares of this world, or we will end in bondage to the idols of the world. The Lord raised up Othniel to deliver the children from Chushanrishathaim the king of Mesopotamia (Judges 3:8-11). As soon as Othniel died, the children took up worshiping idols again, ending under the hand of Eglon the king of Moab (Judges 3:12-14). After eighteen years the Lord sent another deliverer by the name of Ehud (Judges 3:15). Ehud made him a dagger with two edges, which was an abomination, since it represented the two-edged Sword of the Lord, only the Lord knows how to handle both edges (Judges 3:16). Ehud used deception by telling king Eglon, “I have a message from God for you” (Judges 3:18-19). King Eglon was a heavy man, after Ehud killed Eglon, he locked the doors to the chamber with the dead king Eglon inside, then left the scene. When the servants of the king came to the chamber they assumed Eglon was resting, but after a great period of time they broke into his chamber finding the king dead. Ehud went to the children of Israel telling them, the king was dead, the Lord has delivered the land of Moab into their hand (Judges 3:26-29). God turned this mess around for good to those who were called according to His purpose, thus even if we miss it; or fine we are moved by the pride of life, yet use deception to call it faith, as long as our heart was set on serving God, He is fully able to turn it around for good, for those who love Him, and for those called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).

After Ehud, came Shamgar who slew 600 Philistines with an ox goad (Judges 3:31). Ehud then died, the children did evil again; again the Lord placed them into the hand of the heathen (Judges 4:1-2). Then God raised up Deborah, a prophetess to judge Israel (Judges 4:5). She called Barak then rebuked him for failing to fight; however, she didn’t attempt to fight for Barak, rather they agreed she would go with him (Judges 4:6-20). The power of the prophetess was so great, even the close friends of the enemy king joined her by killing the heathen king (Judges 4:20-22). The children prospered, the children of God always prosper when they believe the prophet of God (Judges 4:23-24). Deborah sang a song for several verses, in her song (prophesy) she was called a “mother in Israel” (Judges 5:7). Abraham is the father of circumcision, but Deborah is the mother of obedience, she would be the first person called prophet or prophetess after the children were established in the land.

The land was at rest forty years, then the children did evil in the sight of the Lord, again He delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years (Judges 5:31-6:1). The Lord sent a prophet to the children to encourage them in the Lord (Judges 5:8-10). Then came an angel of the Lord unto Gideon telling him, he was appointed to save Israel (Judges 6:11-14). At first Gideon thought he was talking to the Lord, to some degree he was, for this angel was a spiritual messenger of the Lord (Judges 6:13). Later he knew he spoke to an angel, but at that, it was an awesome experience (Judges 6:22). Gideon was called to do battle as a judge, but Gideon wasn’t looking for war, rather he built an altar calling it Jehovahshalom (The Lord Sends Peace). Therefore, by seeing peace Gideon was looking to the result of the battle before the battle started. Some of us look to the battle or the stripes of the battle, instead of looking ahead to the peace resting in the victory. God is still the Alpha and Omega, knowing the result before we pick up the Armor. Wonder how many times we had victory, yet missed it because we were sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves?

Gideon didn’t begin with the “courage of the Lord”, rather he went by night, because he feared his father’s household (Judges 6:27). The idols of the land became the first order of business, they were cast down, thus the idols in our minds must be cast down before we begin spiritual warfare. Like the old man, when the people found their idols destroyed, they became angry, then set out to kill Gideon (Judges 6:29-30). The men of the city came to Joash, the father of Gideon demanding the body of Gideon, but Joash said, “Will you plead for Baal? will you save him? he who will plead for him, let him be put to death while it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself; because one has cast down his altar” (Judges 6:31). Baal was unable to plead for himself, he was stone and metal, no voice, no heart, no life. However, God is able to raise His temple, thus Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”, speaking of Himself (Jn 2:19). Could Baal raise his altar? Not in his best day, but God can raise His temples in our worst day. From that day forth, Gideon was also known as Jerubbaal (Baal will contend, or Contender of Baal – Judges 6:32 & 7:1).

Gideon needed encouragement, thus the Lord told Gideon the enemy was delivered into his hand before the fact. Gideon traveled with caution to the camps of the Midiantes and Amalekites where he heard a man talking about a dream he had (Judges 7:9-13). It wasn’t the dream alone, but the interpretation of the dream birthing courage in  Gideon (Judges 7:13-15). A translation of the dream gained nothing, but when the interpretation came, Gideon gained faith, his faith brought strength, the strength enforced his courage.

When Gideon was doing battle he heard from the men of Ephraim, who wanted to know why Gideon didn’t call on them to help. More often than not, there are many warriors looking to stand with us, if we just ask (Judges 7:22-8:1). However, Gideon found there were also those who wouldn’t fight, as there are a few today who won’t lift a finger to assist us in the battle, just as there are a few who seem to fight against us (Judges 8:4-8). Those who helped Gideon received the righteous man’s reward, those who refused to assist him in any way received bondage, those who set themselves against him received destruction (Judges 8:6-21). In this we find three groups, those who were willing to stand with the man of God, those who refused to stand, then those who stood against the man of God. These types and shadows define the phrase Spiritual Warfare. We War to become Spiritual, we War to remain Spiritual, yet there are those who War against the Spiritual.

Natural minded people have a tendency to make heroes out of the people, even some the people of God tend to do so, the people came to Gideon and said “Rule over us” (Judges 9:22). This was a direct violation of the First Commandment; Gideon didn’t fall into the snare, rather he said, “I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you” (Judges 8:23). Gideon shows what happens when we exalt people or things above measure, we tend to make them gods, then honor them as our idols (Judges 8:25-28).

Gideon made an Ephod from the earrings of the Ishmaelites, which all the male Ishmaelites wore as their sign of their covenant with Baal (Judges 8:23-24). Gideon’s Ephod was a sign of how idol worship separates the child of God from God, but the people took the Ephod then made an idol out of it, causing it to be a snare to the house of Gideon (Judges 8:27). Gideon went to his house and died at a good old age (Judges 8:29-32).

After Gideon was dead, the children ran after idols again, thus their idol worshiping produced a guilt, which caused them to reject the house of Gideon (Jerubbaal – Judges 8:33-35). Abimelech was the son of Gideon (Jerubbaal), recalling how Gideon said his son would not rule over Israel we find a usurping of Gideon’s authority by his son. Abimelech vowed to be as his father and rule Israel; however, his father judged Israel, he didn’t rule it, since Abimelech incorporated his father into his folly, he also twisted the vow and authority of his father. Abimelech was self-appointed, the self-appointed always lack the ability to maintain without using manipulation to dominate. Some of the self-appointed end as self-based Pharisees, some as failures, others as “whackos” (Judges 9:1-3). Everything produces after its own kind, whackos have been around since Cain killed his brother.

Abimelech put together a ministry of thieves and oppressors (Judges 9:4-5). Gideon (Jerubbaal) had a younger son by the name of Jotham. the people came to Jotham complaining about their condition and position (Judges 9:5-6). Jotham went to the top of the mountain and shouted the secrets of Abimelech: nothing shall be hid, all things shall be open (Judges 9:7). Jotham told a parable about the trees seeking a king as they came to their own kind. The olive trees were first to be asked, but the olive trees said No. Then they went to the fig trees, but the fig trees said No. Then they ventured off to different classes, coming to the vine but the vine said No. Finally they came to the bramble brush, and the bramble is always full of pride and arrogance, showing it is under the curse, but the bramble being prideful said, Yes (Judges 9:8-15). This was an offense, but there are times when offense gets us off the fence. Jotham was a man with like passions as many of us, when he finished his prophecy he ran away (Judges 9:21). The parable indicated they ended with Abimelech, because none of the others wanted the position. Their struggle to hold the land was like the egg attempting to hatch the chicken. Their struggle to remain in the promised land is like unto someone attempting to hold the kingdom of heaven without seeking the Kingdom of God. They wanted the judges to deliver them, but justice placed them in captivity.

It would appear to the natural minded as if Abimelech was prosperous and successful in all he did, but success is never a sign of being in the will of God; obedience is. Abimelech would soon find his end when a woman cast a millstone hitting him on the head (Judges 9:53). Unto the very end Abimelech retained his pride, telling his servants to kill him, lest it be said a woman has killed him, yet dead is dead (Judges 9:54). It took time to end the reign of Abimelech, but what counts is the timing of God, not the time of man. Nonetheless God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech upon Abimelech (Judges 9:56-57).

After the evil reign of Abimelech, God raised Tola to defend (deliver) Israel (Judges 10:1). After Tola, came Jair, after his death there was no judge, again the people sought after idols (Judges 10:6). This time the children not only worshiped idols, but chased all the idols of the heathen culture (Judges 10:6-7). The anger of the Lord was hot against them again, causing Him to sell them to the hands of the Philistines, who in turn placed them into the hands of the children of Ammom (Judges 10:7). Israel cried unto the Lord again but this time He said, “You have forsaken Me and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more” (Judges 10:13). This doesn’t mean, when God does send a deliverer He changed His mind, rather it shows as long as they hold to idols He won’t deliver them. The people repented with their mouths, not with their deeds. They retained idols, yet asked for deliverance; therefore, before deliverance could come, the idols had to go.

The same holds true for us, God seems to deliver the Babe In Christ time and time again, yet they retain idols of theology, or idols of the mind, or other forms of idols, but the day comes when the Babe must grow up, they must cast the idols out of the land before God will deliver them. Does this mean we use our self-effort? Not at all, it means we make the decision to see those idols dethroned then removed by the New Man.

God is looking for enthusiasm not emotionalism, emotionalism makes foolish vows in the heat of temporary excitement. Jephthah was excited over the battle, he made a foolish vow to the Lord (Judges 11:30). Jephthah vowed when he returned from the battle, he would make a burnt offering from the first thing coming to him from his house. In his mind this would be some animal, but he found a nightmare he couldn’t get out of (Judges 11:31). The first thing he saw was his daughter, yet his daughter said, “Let this thing be done for me” (Judges 11:37). Some of us might say, “well God understands, Jephthah could have said, oops, sorry I didn’t know”; however, a vow before God is a vow indeed. Do we expect God to change His vows? Would God change His covenant with us? We represent God, how then can we change our vows to Him? If God can change His vows, covenants, or principles, we have no hope. However, this is the Day, although we make foolish vows, or entrap others into foolish vows, God has a way for us correct the situation. We must hear and obey, while learning not to make the same mistake again. Leaders can fall prey to foolish vows, “I want to give this much, will you enter covenant with me?”, “wow, sure why not?”. It’s the Why not we need to be aware of, if the person fails to give, the vow falls on the leader to give in their place to the ministry until the vow is complete. Be careful of foolish vows, James had the right answer, “if the Lord wills” (James 5:12 & 4:13-15).

It wasn’t the Lord’s will for Jephthah or anyone else to sacrifice their child; however, God is true and faithful to His Word, He expects us to be true and faithful to ours. Jephthah left no adjustment for his vow, it repented him and his daughter, but both knew a vow before God was a vow indeed. Jephthah’s daughter was granted permission to bewail her virginity for two months (Judges 11:38-39). The daughters of Israel went yearly for four days a year to recall this incident and the result of foolish vows (Judges 11:40). Some feel since the vow entailed Jephthah’s daughter, the vow was adjusted to keep her a virgin, thereby ending Jephthah’s line, whichever the case may be, Jephthah’s foolish vow cost him and others.

After Jephthah came Ibzan, then Elon, then Abdom, yet the people again sought idols (Judges 12:7-13:1). It wasn’t every other generation who sinned, rather it was the generations who failed to keep God first place. Jephthah made a stupid vow, but at least he kept God first place. The role of the Judges opened the door for Samson the Nazarite (Judges 13:2-25). Samson was strong, so much so no man could bind him although his nation was under the oppressor. However, Samson came upon a woman called Delilah, but his downfall was not all Delilah’s fault, rather Samson had a weakness for the daughters of strangers. Delilah used a lust which was already in the heart of Samson against him (Judges 14:1-4). Everyman is drawn away by his own lust, even to the point of man being able to take a good gift from God, then filter it through a lust to make it evil (Jude 4).

There comes a time when God says, “I will deliver them no more”, but the children of whoredoms are given a path of deliverance for those who hear and obey. God looks at the children of whoredoms saying, “I will finish what I started with you”. He didn’t change His mind, rather He provided a path of deliverance. Having this in mind we can view Samson as he becomes a symbol to us. Samson’s first wife was like unto the world, our first wife was the world (Babylon – Judges 14:4). Although this marriage to a Philistine seemed anything but good, just as our time in the world seemed anything but good, it was still God ordained (Judges 14:4). God allowed us to be born of the flesh in the midst of captivity to experience the darkness, causing us to seek the Light. After Samson’s lesson where his heathen wife and friends tricked him, he still went out and found a girl by the name of Delilah who held her bond to the Philistines. Delilah made a vow to Samson, but divided herself between him and the Philistines (world – Judges 16:14-15). Delilah is a symbol of the spirit of error, or those who accept the spirit of the world. This was a game to her, another challenge, another hidden agenda to boast her own pride and ego. Could she cause this great man to fall? The challenge was there, she took it.

Delilah will bring three temptations, Samson will fall on the third. Those run by the spirit of error will preach Jesus, even talk about the Holy Ghost, but they are opposed (anti) to the ability of the Spirit to bring us into a Christ Like condition. They preach a split agenda, on one hand it’s “give yourself to Jesus”, but on the other is slander, unbelief, and hindering spirits. They want to be the cause of our “religious experience”, or the center of our worship, thus they say “praise God”, but in their hearts they have placed themselves as God, calling themselves their own god; therefore, they presume the praise and worship is based on their greatness, making themselves another god in the temple of God.

Delilah’s three temptations are the same old temptations, from the same old serpent in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Judges 16:6-15). Temptations don’t come in a set order; they come as darts looking for a target. We never use the Power of Christ for self-gain (Matt 4:3); we never “show off” the Power of Christ for self-recognition (Matt 4:6); we never use wicked means to accomplish what we assume to be a Godly result (Matt 4:8-10). The suggestion may sound good, it may have a little success, the world does it, it’s legal, so what’s the big deal? Wrong spirit, witchcraft works, that’s why witches use it (Acts 13:6 & 16:19). However, the Power of Christ is greater, causing witchcraft to be subdued (Acts 13:9 & 16:18).

Nonetheless, Samson first told Delilah, seven green (moist) cords could bind him, but his vow never included being bound (Judges 16:7). Samson then said, if new ropes were used he could be bound, again his vow never included being bound (Judges 16:11). These elements couldn’t bind the man of God, but when his vow was known and broken, his power and (sight) eyes were lost  (Judges 16:17-19). The man is playing a mind game, pride finds an entrance when we play mind games. He assumed he could fool her each time, but he was getting closer and closer to the wrong fruit. We are told of the importance of Jephthah’s vow, here the vow was a game to Samson, thus he lost what little he did have (Judges 16:21). When we lose the Power of Christ, we lose the ability to hear the Lord, without ears to hear, we will follow cunningly devised fables. However, Samson gained a last burst of Power greater than his first. The Church hasn’t died, the Body isn’t defeated, we have a hope for Great Power. Samson’s vow included his hair, Paul equated hair as a metaphor for the anointing, to Samson his power was in his vow, when his hair was removed, he felt his power was gone, indicating his vow was violated, or he failed.

The story of Samson proves many things, the position is not something to play with, it’s something to honored. When the person of God falls based on their iniquity, the world praises their gods for the victory (Judges 16:24). The repentance of Samson gained him strength for a moment, but the moment was more than enough to bring the mocking of the world down on their heads. Samson killed more of the enemy in one push, then he killed all the days prior (Judges 16:30).

Samson pushed against the supporting pillars of the devil’s house, the walls came down on the devil’s workers, of course Samson also died in the process. God said, our vows are important, to prove it He also said Offer unto Him thanksgiving (for what  He has done), and pay our vows unto the Most High (Ps 50:14).

Next would come a compromise, as Micah (not the prophet) would use money dedicated to the Lord to make a graven image (Judges 17:1-3). Micah should have rendered unto God, the things of God, but his lust drove him to form his own god. Any of us can take something dedicated to the Lord, and form an idol out of it. Ministries are tools, not gods, yet for a ministry to live, it must die. When a ministry suffers death, it’s not made non-existent, rather it began at the Cross, it must die to the world, then be raised in the Power of His Christ. However, a ministry running from death produces carnal experiences laced with emotionalism; like anything carnal, the experiences will be short lived; thereby giving birth to self-based Pharisees, or Legalists.

In Micah’s case a Levite would come along, but instead of rebuking Micah for the image, the Levite took advantage of Micah (Judges 17:9-10). Micah lost his images, the Levite lost as well, including the city in the end (Judges 18:24-27). Micah produced a “wounded one” in the Way, but the Wounded One was God’s people. Instead of helping the Wounded one the Levite assisted the attacker, both the Levite and Micah lost.

In those days everyone did as they willed, including homosexual activity, rape and other related acts, all of which are the flesh ruling the mind, producing death (Judges 19:1-20:17). Then came fear as the result, although it was the fear of the preservation of the tribes of Israel, it caused the men to take many wives, whether the women wanted to be their wife or not; however, at this time the desire of women was to have babies to keep the family lines going, no matter what (Judges 20:35-21:24). They reached back to the past to justified their actions; after all, didn’t Jacob have two wives? However, we also saw how God warned them not to look to the past to justify the present. God allowing something, and God approving of it are very different. Just as God submitting to our will, or our will submitting to God’s Will are much different. To these people, the promise to hold the land was the most important thing; however, the means used to bring the result, caused them more problems and sorrow. We can believe and obey God to bring His desire to pass, or we can believe the desire, then use the pride of life to bring what we assume is the promise to pass; the latter produces sorrow. These people did what they assumed to be right in their own eyes, moving them from worshipping the Lord, to the extreme of allowing the flesh to rule them.

The history of Israel holds much for any child of God, explaining the mercy and longsuffering of God, yet it holds the justice of God as well. God does what He must, it isn’t always what He likes. If our condition lacks mercy, we can’t give mercy; if we can’t give mercy we can’t receive mercy, yet it’s God’s mercy forgiving our sins, or healing our bodies. Our sins were forgiven for Christ’s sake, yet the proviso is for us give Mercy to others. When we gave our token of water baptism, it was signing the contract to forgive by the same Mercy (water) we received from God. However, the vow and token are based in the decision, before the action. We make the decision to forgive, then God will apply His forgiveness on us. Then the time of testing to firm the decision, if we are serious God will impart His Mercy, we then can impute mercy on others. The more we forgive, the more we are formed into vessels of honor (Mark 11:25-26, Matt 6:12 & Jn 20:23).

Looking back to Joshua 23:13, we compare it to Judges 2:3; in Joshua it’s “thorns in your eyes”, but in Judges it’s “thorns in your sides”; however in Joshua the word Scourges also means Pierce, as a thorn would do. Judges condenses the phrase, yet we see the obvious connection to Paul’s thorn in the flesh. This area defines the thorn as people, Second Corinthians 13:1 also defines it as carnal minded people. A thorn in the flesh is flesh related, it’s purpose comes from the flesh to get us to react by the flesh.

Now we move from Judges to Ruth to find our hope in the Kinsmen Redeemer. These people had Judges, but after they were delivered, they failed again. Their example shows we need Someone greater than the event to keep us in the position of deliverance. Ruth is a great love story, but if one misses the point they are left reading about a love, rather than having it.

RUTH

Elimelech was married to Naomi, they had two sons, one named Mahlon, the other named Chilion (Ruth 1:2). Elimelech means God Of The King, but Elimelech died in Moab, then Mahlon became Sick, he too died in Moab. Chilion means Destruction or Failing, he died in Moab as well. Naomi means Pleasant, but it would seem she was cursed up to her ears; however, God had a plan and a purpose in a situation appearing on the surface to be evil, but this event neither began evil or ended evil, rather it was Good for all God’s children. Naomi will judge the event by the event, entering self-pity, but Ruth will not let the event overcome her based on her love for Naomi. Both Mahlon and Chilion married daughters of the Moabites by the names of Orpah and Ruth, both Orpah and Ruth are Moab names. Ruth means Friend, Orpah means Back Of Neck, coming from a word meaning Stiffnecked; therefore, the friend (Ruth) would stick with the pleasant one (Naomi) when sickness and destruction were in the same house.

Moab looked at Naomi as a stranger, unlike the Jewish Law, the Moabites didn’t look kindly on strangers, Naomi wanted to go back to Judah (Ruth 1:7), thus Naomi told her daughters-in-law to return to their mother’s houses (Ruth 1:8). Both daughters-in-law made a Vow to return with Naomi to Naomi’s homeland, but only Ruth maintained her vow; Orpah (stiff necked) reneged (Ruth 1:12-15). Orpah is a type and shadow of those who vow, but end running from the responsibility. Ruth is a type and shadow of those who remain, when there appears no other reason to do so. The prosperity was gone, the hope of prosperity was also gone, yet Ruth was motivated by love, thus love bonded Ruth to Naomi.

Both Orpah and Ruth show us the bad and good fish in the net, as well as how endurance through love brings the reward. Some enter based on the reward, yet if they can’t see the reward, they run; however, others enter based on their love, they will find the greatness of God’s Love. For them the event doesn’t matter, the Love does. Ruth made the decision to deny her desires by saying, “where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge, your people shall be my people and your God my God; where you die, will I die and there will I be buried” (Ruth 1:16-17). Ruth put an action to her vow, which in turn made it a confession. She didn’t make the confession hoping the decision would come; her decision produced her confession of Love. This same confession is the one we make to Jesus: Wherever He goes, we will go, without question; where He lodges, we will lodge; His people are our people; His is our God: we refuse to serve other gods; He died on the cross, thus we will be crucified with Christ, yet we will live by the Life of Christ in us. When we make the decision to deny the self, we are giving the Spirit permission to crucify us, thus the phrase “with Christ”, really denotes the method. The result produces the Life of Jesus in us by the Spirit, so we might have Life More Abundantly.

Elimelech had property in the land of Judah, but there was no provision in the Law for the widow to inherit the land, nor was there a provision for a Moabites to inherit the land. There was a provision for the daughter of a Jew to inherit if there were no sons, but Naomi had sons, although both died, she had sons nonetheless.

Naomi could return to her homeland, but she would be nothing more than a Stranger, unless some relative took her in. Naomi didn’t have a prayer in Moab, but she did have a chance in her homeland. Ruth was a different case, she had no right to anything under the Law, thus she had more to lose by leaving Moab. If a Jewish man died before his wife gave birth to a male child, she would go to her husband’s brother, but she would have to be Jewish in order to enter the provision. Ruth was married to a Jew, but she was not a Jew. Since she didn’t have any children by a Jewish husband, she had no standing, thus her venture into the land held nothing for her, other than her love for Naomi. The “house of him who will not build up his brother’s house” would come into play, but Ruth was motivated by her Love for Naomi, love always covers a multitude of sins.

For one to be a king, their father whether adopted or natural had to be in the line from David, through Solomon; however, in order to be Jewish, one’s mother had to be Jewish back to Sarah. Matthew traces the kingly line, Luke the Jewish as we saw. Luke trances the Jewish line back to Nathan, a son of David, but Matthew traces the kingly line back to Solomon, another son of David, yet both came from the line of Boaz and Ruth. We have said all this to set the stage, Naomi wanted to return to her homeland, Ruth wanted to go with her, but Ruth had to give up everything, including her family line in order to join herself to Naomi as a “daughter”, therein lays the key to the mystery. Unless Ruth had Jewish connections she could not go to the brother of her dead husband. Ruth is a type and shadow of each of us who decided Jesus is the most important person in our lives. If we truly love Him more than family, or even our own souls, then we will endure until the end. It’s not loving Jesus instead of our family, rather it’s a priority, do we love Jesus above all things? Or do we just say we do? (Matt 10:37 & Luke 14:26).

It’s one thing to long for home, another to get there then find there is nothing. When Ruth and Naomi came to Bethlehem, Naomi “hit the pits”; telling Ruth, “Call me not Naomi, call me Mara” (Mara means bitter – Ruth 1:20). Even in the pit, Naomi saw God in control, as she said, “I went out full and the Lord brought me home again empty” (Ruth 1:21). Naomi reached into the very bottom of her heart, then gave her sacrifice of praise. A sacrifice of praise only counts, when there appears no reason to praise the Lord. When there appears no reason to Hope, yet we Hope in God, showing we have reached the area of walking by faith.

Naomi had relatives, but even a man like Boaz would never marry a Moabitess. Ruth proved her favor by her kindness to Naomi, thus Ruth was looked upon as Naomi’s daughter, rather than a Moabitess. Ruth didn’t parade herself around saying, “I’m Noami’s daughter, don’t you know”; she loved Naomi, she also made sure Naomi’s need was cared for. Ruth gave Mercy, and Mercy would return, shaken together and running over. Ruth is also a type and shadow of each person who has the measure of faith, they don’t need the Spirit to show Mercy. Naomi’s family proved their love for Ruth while in Moab, now Ruth was proving her love for Naomi in a strange land. When we were yet sinners, Jesus proved His love for us on the Cross, the Father proved His love for us by sending Jesus, now it’s our turn to prove our Love for God. Jesus said if we Love Him, we will keep His commandments, beginning with the least Commandments of Mercy.

Naomi had a kinsmen of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth by the name of Boaz. Ruth went to the fields of Boaz to glean the ears of corn (wheat), while there Boaz spotted her (Ruth 2:1-6). Ruth asked permission to glean, but Boaz told Ruth to glean in his fields only: Boaz based this on the information supplied to him regarding her kindness toward Naomi. Therefore, her works went before her, becoming a testimony of love and mercy at work. She didn’t have to tell Boaz, “well brother Boaz, you know I have done much for your people” or “Boaz, I cared for Naomi, worked my fingers to the bone, yet you, you jerk, you did nothing, nothing I tell you”. Ruth allowed her inner kindness to speak for her, meaning her kindness became more evident than any words she could have used (Ruth 2:8-10). Boaz also discerned Ruth’s heart toward the Lord God of Israel (Ruth 2:12).

In order to understand the importance of this, we must know the Jew does not use missionary services to gain converts, nor are they interested in missionary services, except among their own. If a non-Jew desires to join the Jewish religion, they are automatically rejected twice. The third time the person must make a petition, the reasoning behind this is to determine if the person really wants to be a Jew, yet they would be a proselyte, or a foreigner who came to dwell with the Jews. Ruth never requested to join the Jews, yet if she was taken by a kinsmen from the family line of her mother-in-law: she still wouldn’t be Jewish, but when Naomi accepted her as “daughter” things would change, entering “as was supposed” where Ruth was considered Jewish based on Naomi being Jewish, making the children of Boaz and Ruth Jewish. Here is a very interesting twist, Ruth was not a Jew, she was clearly a Moabitess, if ones mother must be Jewish, would not the line from her remove all those after her from being Jewish? It would, except we have another evidence of God’s mighty hand. If Ruth’s husband was still alive the answer would be simple, none of her offspring could be Jewish, but we have an interesting set of events; her husband dies, leaving her not only a widow, but with a choice, if she leaves Naomi and returns to Moab, then she remains a Moabitess; however, she made the choice to care for Naomi, then Naomi called her “daughter”, being a form of adoption (Ruth 2:2). Since Ruth was now the daughter of Naomi, then the offspring of Ruth would be Jewish. God had this well in hand, Amen?

Boaz made sure Ruth had more than enough wheat by causing several additional handful’s to be cast in her direction (Ruth 2:14-18). Ruth didn’t ask for the abundance, her kindness drew the excess. At the time of the harvest all the men would gather at the threshing floor. The men remained in the place of threshing during the entire time of the harvest. It would be this point in time when Naomi had Ruth lay at the feet of Boaz, but Ruth had to wait until all the men had fallen asleep (Ruth 3:1-5). This doesn’t mean to lay sexually with Boaz, rather she was Naomi’s token to her near kinsmen (Ruth 3:6-10). If Boaz took Ruth, then Ruth would be Naomi’s token, not Ruth’s token; therefore, the offspring of Ruth would be accounted as Jewish. However, there was a hitch in the plan, there remained another who could make the claim, another kinsmen who had first choice. Some women are offended at this situation, yet it has a good purpose, but nothing to do with being a male chauvinist. God provided a means where the woman was just as important as the male, yet He also set apart Israel as His own. God gave the kingly line to the males, but the birthright depended on the women. Paul saw this and said, For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God (I Cor 11:12). This acceptance of Boaz, coupled with the presentation of Ruth was not Ruth being forced to accept Boaz, if it was the case she would be forced to accept the first in line. Rather we find Ruth desired Boaz as a husband, Boaz already let his feelings be known, yet there remained an obstacle,

Ruth didn’t push the issue, rather Naomi told her to wait and watch the Lord work, for the day would not pass until the matter was settled (Ruth 3:18). Boaz went to the other kinsman providing the cost of Elimelech’s land, thus who ever took the land also took Ruth, but the other kinsman wasn’t about to take a Moabitess (Ruth 4:1-5). This would make it appear as if Ruth is a piece of property, but being a Stranger in the land one would think so. The only way she could have Jewish offspring was to be incorporated into the property of a Jew, while her mother was a Jew, proving the adoption. Even if Boaz fathered the child, it still didn’t make the child Jewish, Ruth not only had to be incorporated into some property owned by a Jew, but her mother had to be Jewish in order for her to make the claim of being Jewish. The kinsman told Boaz, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance” (Ruth 4:6). This kinsmen knew if Ruth went with the package, his own family would reject him, but Boaz wanted Ruth, the property was an added bonus.

This brings us to the connection between John the Baptist, the Pharisees, the Law, and Ruth. To confirm the law of the kinsmen redeemer a man had to pluck off his shoe and give it to his neighbor, as we saw in the Law (Ruth 4:7). John The Baptist came doing one type of baptism, but preached another (Mark 1:4 & 1:7-8). The baptism of John was in his name, by water unto repentance, saying the people should believe. However, John’s preaching clearly showed it would be Jesus who would Baptize with the Holy Ghost and Fire, yet Jesus baptized none during the earthly ministry, either in water, or with the Holy Ghost (Jn 4:2). The Doctrine of Baptisms points to the One Purpose, which gives us One Baptism with many parts. It’s really not difficult, in the Greek there are different words for our English word “one”. The word One could mean the one and only without parts, or it could mean one made up from parts, such as the One Body of Christ. The same Greek word for “One” is used for One Baptism, but in reference to the One Lord, it means one and only one, without parts. Therefore, we can have One Baptism with the Doctrine of Baptisms, since the reference to One Baptism shows only the Body of Christ has a God given permission to baptize in water. Any “baptism” outside the Body of Christ is not in accordance with the Authority of God, thus it’s a bath, a swim, or getting wet, but not a baptism. John’s baptism ended when John was cast into prison, the effectiveness ended when Jesus told us to go in His Name (Matt 28:18-20 & Acts 19:2-6).

Going back to the Law, we recall how it said, if a man died, yet the dead man had a brother, the dead man’s wife would go to the brother seeking to dwell with him but if the man rejected his brother’s wife, the dead man’s wife would loose the shoe of the live brother in front of the elders, then spit in the man’s face and say, “So shall it be done unto the man who will not build up his brother’s house” (Deut 25:5-9). In the case of Ruth, there was no brother, but there was a kinsman, or one in the family order. To the Pharisees the Law applied, but not to us, we are not the brother or a member of the marriage, rather we enter based on our Kinsman Redeemer Jesus calling us to be the Bride of Christ.

The kinsmen redeemer went further than marriage, it included the property. Boaz took the responsibility of the Household, including all the items of property. Each piece of Elimelech’s property was transferred to the ownership of Boaz, the property would include Ruth, plus being the daughter, she became Jewish. This loosed shoe didn’t mean the other kinsman was rejected from Israel, rather it means they rejected the responsibility of caring for the family, thus they also rejected any ownership or right to the property.

Ruth put her mind on the task, not on outside interests, she cast away her old life, sought the new, sought God to gain entry into the promised house. From Boaz and Ruth would come Obed, from Obed beget Jesse, from Jesse would come David the first king in Israel who was both called and anointed of God; whereas Saul was the first king appointed by the people, but called a captain in the testing and training to be a king by God, thus Saul never made it to be a king in God’s eyes, making David the first king of Israel. The people called Saul a king, but  people don’t dictate God’s Will.

As a result of Naomi taking Ruth as her daughter the lineage of Ruth changed. If it wasn’t the case, then Jesus wasn’t Jewish. Say what? Yes, if the child is Jewish because the mother is, then it stands Ruth had to be Jewish, yet she was a Moabitess. The agreement of adoption worked both ways, a son could be adopted, but so could a daughter, as Ruth (as was supposed).

FIRST SAMUEL

First and Second Samuel are named for the prophet and priest Samuel, since he was both prophet and priest (I Sam 2:18), but the separation between First and Second Samuel is determined by the change from Saul to David in reference to the kingly order; whereas First and Second Kings is separated by the change between the Prophets Elijah and Elisha. Under the Law of Moses, a king could be a prophet, a prophet could be a king, but a king could not be a priest, nor a priest could not be a king. God separated the government order from the religious order, thus David could be a king and prophet, but he could not legally be a king and priest. Samuel could be priest and prophet, but not legally a king and priest. The only exception, as we know was during the Maccabees period when Judah Aristobulus being a priest crowned himself as king of Judah, but he was self-appointed, the result was Rome taking over the land, then Herod killing the remaining kingly Maccabees order, including Herod’s wife and her two sons. There was never a legitimate king – priest, or priest – king in the entire history of Israel. However, each and everyone who has entered the Kingdom of God has been made a priest and king by Jesus (Rev 1:6). We cannot hold to the old priestly order and the New, they are opposed in their legitimacy.

How do we know Samuel was a priest? In First Samuel 2:18 he was serving the Lord with his Ephod (priestly garment) on. We also see Samuel was called as a prophet (I Sam 3:20), thus Samuel was both priest and prophet. Before Israel had a king, she had a prophet, before the king could be effective, they had to listen to the prophet of God. The king position is government, thus we find the Order for the Church is the Apostle, then Prophet (I Cor 12:28). When we hear and receive the words of the prophet, we gain the reward, but if we reject the words we become “kings troubled by evil spirits”.

We must also keep in mind, when Jesus came the kingly order stopped for the nation, as did the prophet role, thus the New Covenant became the place to find God’s priests, kings and prophets. The only prophets in Israel are the written words of the Prophets, making them one of the Two Witnesses.

First Samuel begins with Hannah, the mother of Samuel pouring her heart out before the Lord for a “man child” (I Sam 1:11). Hannah becomes a type and shadow of Israel, who cried and cried for “the Man Child”, but unlike Hannah, the Woman rejected Her Man Child (Rev 12:1 & 12:5-6). Up to this time Hannah had no children, much less a male child. This again relates to “multiply and replenish the earth”; if a wife didn’t produce a male child, it was her fault, not the husbands. This of course is Agenda, based on Sarai sending Abraham into the handmaiden, which ended proving it wasn’t Abraham’s fault; however, in truth there was no fault, only timing; Agenda leaves no room for the timing of God. Our promise is centered on multitudes of people possessing the Kingdom of God; there is a difference between ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands from thousands. The latter explains taking away thousands from the tribes to bring about the 144,000, thus the word Remnant refers to the Remaining work to be do, who are assigned to Judgment. However, we see the Church as ten thousand times ten thousand, showing we are the ones who gained the “multiplying”. There is a purpose for the Rapture, a purpose going further than a reward for those of us who are alive and remain, one we will see in the words of the prophets.

To these people a woman without a man child was a curse to her family. In our case, the Bride without the Groom is a shame to us. The children of Israel looked at nature and devised the method of multiple reproduction, but God made the animals to serve us, not for us to use as a means to complete the promise. From the natural observations or what the people saw, it appeared the only purpose for the woman was reproduction, but if it’s the case, the only purpose for the man is labor, both of these are products of the fall nature (Gen 3:16-18). They forgot “God created he him, male and female created he them” (Gen 1:27). We could ask, Why did God allow these chosen people to fall into multiple wife thinking? God will not debate the issue, even divorce was an issue granted based on the hardness of man’s heart, not the righteousness of God. Yet, in Jeremiah we find God asking for a divorce, so is God’s heart hard? (Jere 3:8-9). No, the heart of the people grew hard as they ran after other gods (idols), committing adultery and fornication (rejection of their vows), leaving God no choice.

When the evil desire in us overrides the love we have for God, we will debate, cry, beg, then finally God will say, Go ahead, but it doesn’t mean He ordained our action, approved of it, or even allowed it, it merely means He refused to argue or debate the issue with us. We pray “not my will but Your Will”, then figure some method to have our will complete, thus proving we were tempting God, the result will be a test coming from God to expose our folly. With that, we also find there are lessons and purposes in all things pertaining to God. God will allow, yet He will also make a route of escape for us; in the process we learn as we become cleaned the more (I Cor 10:13) .

Hannah was praying, Eli the priest saw her lips move but he didn’t hear any words, assuming she was “drunken” (I Sam 1:13). Hannah means Favored from a root word meaning Merciful or Gracious, although Mary means Bitter, she was still Favored before the Lord. Samuel means Heard Of God, which has a dual meaning, first Hannah was heard of God, yet Samuel will hear from God. Samuel didn’t come out of the womb prophesying, rather during his youth there was no open vision of the Lord (I Sam 3:1). This doesn’t mean God was asleep, nor does it mean “visions had passed away”; although it was a common thought. God was preparing a great work, thus the beginning of the work was hidden from the eyes of man. Instead of saying, “it has passed away”, we should be preparing for the next move of God by entering faith.

Samuel will anoint the people’s choice as a captain over Israel, later he will anoint God’s choice as king over Israel. Saul and David are symbols of the kingdom of heaven; David is the also a symbol of one who seeks the Lord with all his heart, yet makes many mistakes along his path, nonetheless, David’s love for the Lord would cover a multitude of sins. Saul represents the “bad fish”, David the “good fish”: these symbols are provided in the Shadow, but it doesn’t mean David and Saul were in the kingdom, since no one was able to enter the kingdom of heaven until Jesus appeared as the Word made flesh.

Hannah promised to raise Samuel as a Nazarite (I Sam 1:11); however, instead of giving Samuel to the Lord, Hannah decided to loan him to the Lord (I Sam 1:28). This is a type and shadow of giving the event to God, but then demanding control over the method God deals with it. It’s one thing to give someone or something to God, another to give Him the control while praising Him for His work. Some of us say, “I give it to You Lord”, then when He begins to work we say, “Wait, I don’t like this”, which is a sign of how we gave the trouble to the Lord, yet demanded control over the method of operation. Control is a carnal means to maintain or obtain dominion over people and events, or to get people to do what we want in the manner we want for our self-pleasure. Discipleship is training someone for their own good, so they can do the work the Lord has for them.

In those days, one was either a son unto God, or a son of Belial, although Eli was the high priest, his two sons were sons of Belial (I Sam 2:12). Eli’s sons worked around the temple, but used force and manipulation to gain for their self interests, which is control (I Sam 2:13-17). Eli’s sons are a symbol of those run by the spirit of error, Eli a symbol of those who tolerate them, yet allow them to continue to handle the things of God. Eli would expose the sin of his children to their face; however, they would not hear the warning, eventually the Lord would be forced to destroy them in order to preserve the priesthood (I Sam 2:22-25). Instead of treating his sons as heathens, he allowed them to continue to service the Ark; Eli’s iniquity caused his entire house (ministry) to be cursed. Choice was provided, Eli knew the history of tossing strange fire, he knew the evil of his sons, yet allowed the evil to invade the priesthood, he had no excuse, God is equal.

Samuel as a child worked in the temple, learning of the Lord through knowledge (I Sam 2:18 & 2:26). Samuel is a symbol of one who is called, but before they take the position they must engage in the process of learning. Unfortunately, at times he was in the presence of those who followed another spirit. Some of us end in places which seem like the home for the synagogue of Satan, we assume God sent us there to straighten out these “carnal minded people”; however, knowledge and wisdom are different. We know something is wrong, but we really don’t know what to do about it, God sent us to Observe how destructive carnal minded leadership can be. Samuel observed the two sons of Eli, he knew the effects of wicked hands on the things of God, thus his experience in the house of Eli gave him the wisdom to handle the house of Saul. Evil has a place, we learn how not to engage in evil to accomplish what we presume is a Godly result by observation, much better than learning by experience, thus Samuel saw, but didn’t involve himself in the evil. The temple was not simply a bunch of stones, it had many elements standing out. The Ark was still around in those days, as well as other items which either came from the Tabernacle. Early paintings, and Jewish tapestry show many of the items.

Although there were no clear visions (giving hope for the future) of the Lord in those days, there were prophets, one such prophet came to Eli with a word. Before the Lord’s anger fell on Eli’s house the prophet told Eli, “Wherefore kick you at My sacrifice and at My offering, which I have commanded in My habitation; and honor your sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the chief of all the offerings of Israel My people?” (I Sam 2:27-30). Paul was called before he was born, but he didn’t understand, or enter the calling until he came face to face with the Power and Light of Christ on the road to Damascus. When Paul was still Saul the Christian hunter he was convinced he was doing the will of God, so much so he felt God was pleased with him, even to the point of consenting to the death of Stephen (Acts 8-1). However, Light brings clarity, on the road to Damascus Paul heard the Lord say, “Saul, Saul why do you persecute Me?” (Acts 9:4). Saul was hunting Christians, not the Lord, but wait, a mystery regarding the “spirit of antichrist”. The spirit of antichrist is not “anti-God”, or “anti-Holy Ghost”, or “anti-Jesus”, it’s when someone is offended to the point of attacking those with the Spirit (I Jn 2:11 & 4:1-4). Saul was a Jew, Jesus came for the Jews, Stephen was a converted Jew, thus Saul was killing his own. However, when he heard Jesus say, “it is hard for you to kick against the pricks” he knew it referred right back to the warning given Eli. Clarity it’s a wonderful thing, the saying sparked Saul’s knowledge of the Scriptures knowing it was a warning, thus he responded with, “what will You have me to do?” (Acts 9:6). Saul’s knowledge alone wasn’t enough, it was the words of the Lord bringing clarity to the knowledge, then came his repentance and submission. God has always sent warnings for the purpose of correction unto perfection, but we have to accept the warnings to avoid the result of foolishness.

The prophet told Eli, in one day death would come to Eli’s two sons, then God would raise Him up a faithful priest (I Sam 2:34-35). This alone shows the concern was the priesthood, not simply the evil of the two sons; therefore the evil was mingling evil into the office the Lord had established. Eli did nothing, his sons remained, thus the warning can come, what we do with it, is still up to us.

Since the visions of the Lord were precious in those days, and since there were no clear visions, Samuel didn’t expect to “hear from God” (I Sam 3:1). One night the Lord called out, “Samuel”, but Samuel thought it was Eli. Samuel woke Eli, but Eli said, “I called not” (I Sam 3:4-5). It happened again, and again Samuel went to Eli, but then Eli perceived it was the Lord calling Samuel, thus he told Samuel, “Go, lie down: and it shall be, if He call you, you shall say, Speak, Lord: for Your servant hears” (I Sam 3:8-9). One would think Eli would be excited to hear from the Lord, but Eli knew he was in trouble. The Lord came a third time, this time Samuel answered the call.

There are some who assume the Lord doesn’t speak today, but Samuel shows recognition opens the door; therefore, walking around saying, “The Lord doesn’t talk to us” closes the door. Eli could have said, “you’re having a dream, it can’t be God, God doesn’t speak to us anymore, it’s passed away, next time you hear it, rebuke it in the Name of Jehovah”, but he didn’t , even this priest who was carnal, who failed to bring us his sons in the way they should go, knew the Lord speaks. Doesn’t leave some of us with much of an excuse, does it? It still takes ears to hear, without a mouth saying, “The Lord does not speak” (I Sam 3:10). However, it was not the case with Samuel, he bowed, then said “Speak, for Your servant hears” (I Sam 3:10). Samuel made a decision to have submissive ears to hear, and he heard from the Lord. However, the lesson shows us how Samuel had to submit to recognize the Lord, before the Lord spoke to him. At times we must recognize just because the Lord is talking, doesn’t mean we are listening.

The Lord tells Samuel, “I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one who hears it shall tingle” (I Sam 3:11). This is not the same as “itching ears”; itching ears seek “smooth sayings” (II Tim 4:3 & Isa 30:10). Jeremiah says, itching ears don’t want to hear the warnings of God, rather they seek the pleasant things, some call it “good time faith” (Jere 27:9-10). God is going to come against Eli, but He also warns Samuel, thus at this point in time Samuel is found in the role of a prophet, he hears from the Lord, then speaks what he heard so others can have the chance to repent (I Sam 3:12-14).

Eli knew the Word of the Lord concerned him, thus he sought out and begged Samuel to tell him all the Lord said. Don’t forget there were no open visions of the Lord, yet here was one. Eli knew the Lord God had spoken, he also knew he better find out what was said. This test is also for Samuel, it will determine if he will give the prophecy as the Lord gave it (I Sam 3:15-17). Although the prophecy pointed to the destruction of the house of Eli, Eli nonetheless said, “It is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him” (I Sam 3:18). This sounds like faith, but it wasn’t, Eli is simply saying, “I give up, whatever God does, God does”, but he could have changed paths, his sons could have changed paths, but both he and his sons rejected the warning. This type of prophecy is two-fold, it’s a warning, showing the foreknowledge of God, since God knew Eli and his sons would not change. It’s also a test toward the prophet, will he say what he should? Or attempt to avoid the issue by not saying anything?

Once the door for Samuel was open, the Lord continued speaking through him; as Samuel grew, he became the established prophet in the land (I Sam 3:20-21). Samuel wouldn’t have to ask again, “is it the Lord?”, the experience removed the danger of the “voice of the stranger”, as he grew the voice of the Lord became clearer. The testing was to show Samuel we speak as an oracle when we say what the Lord wants said, in the manner the Lord wants it said, without taking away, or adding what we think should be the “right emotion”, or inserting what we think God should say.

Time went on, Samuel became the prophet in the land, but then the Philistines gathered against Israel. The people of Israel called for the Ark of the covenant; however, the two sons of Eli, named Hophni and Phinehas were in charge of the ark (I Sam 4:1-4). At this point in time they still had the Ark, but the Tabernacle was no more, the last time we hear of the Tabernacle is with Eli in Shiloh. The Tabernacle is a type and shadow of the Rapture, one second it’s there, the next gone. The word Philistine means To wallow in the self, it’s always the Self causing the trouble, but wallowing in it is worse.

The act of having the two wicked sons in charge of the Ark, is the same as giving the sons of perdition the pulpit, failure was in hand, victory was no where to be found. The Ark was brought to the camp, all Israel shouted causing fear to fall on the Philistines (I Sam 4:5-8). The Ark had power, it contained the Tablets of God, but the representatives were so evil, the power remained in the Ark, it couldn’t help the people. Here is a pure example of the Yoke or Veil, the Ark was there, the Hope was there, but they veiled it, yet they couldn’t see the failure before their eyes was their own fault. God allowed the Ark to be taken by the Philistines, both Hophni and Phinehas were killed. When Eli heard the Ark was taken, he fell backward and died (I Sam 4:8-18). Eli’s daughter-in-law was with child, when she heard the news, she started hard labor, just before she died, she gave birth to a son naming him Ichabod (no honor) saying, “The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken” (I Sam 4:20-22). The glory didn’t depart because the Ark was taken, the Ark was taken because the two wicked sons in charge of it lacked the glory to keep it. Here is another type and shadow of how misinterpreting the event brings confusion, not clarity. The daughter-in-law placed too much emphasis on the Object, the Glory wasn’t gone, it just couldn’t surface. The Ark would nonetheless show its power, perhaps not in the manner the Philistines, or the Jews thought. The Philistines took the Ark to the house of their idol (Dagon), but in the morning they found their idol had fallen on its face before the Ark (I Sam 5:1-3). They took their idol, Dagon, placing him upright again, but the next morning they found their idol busted in pieces (I Sam 5:4-5). Their idol fell down and bowed to the Ark, but the two sons of Eli didn’t bow to God. However, the Philistines still “stole the Ark”, the Ark was now defending itself, thus God brought a plague upon the Philistines (I Sam 5:6-7).

The Philistines returned the Ark to Israel, along with five golden mice and five golden emerods (I Sam 6:1-5). The mice represented the idols of man being nothing more than mice, the emerods regarded the plague. The Levites took the Ark back as the men of Bethshemesh gave burnt offerings, but they also looked inside the Ark, causing the Lord to smote them (I Sam 6:15-19). This shows, there can be a prophet in the land, the enemy embarrassed, the Ark back in our hands, yet people can die for doing foolish self-motivated things violating the principals of God. The rules were set, only the High Priest could view the contents of the Ark, only the Levities could move it.

The people ran to Samuel saying, “cease not to cry (plead) unto the Lord our God for us, so He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines” (I Sam 7:3-8). Although it’s important to have intercessors, it’s just as important to pray for ourselves. The people wanted someone to pray for them, rather than bow before God. Some run around looking for the “man with the prayer of faith”, but the prayer of faith is said by the one in need, whereas, the Elders give the prayer of praise (James 5:13-15). This is the same as looking for Moses to stand between us and God. The leaders build the saints, they don’t stand between the saint and God.

Samuel was a man of God, yet his sons were not. Raising our children in the way they must go, doesn’t guaranty they won’t go astray, it does mean God will make many ways for them to see their folly, so they can return to the right way. We can’t assume God will remove choice from our children simply because we raised them in the way they should go. It doesn’t mean God will ignore their behavior, it simply means we have planted Seeds, another will Water, God will bring the Increase in His time and timing. We know from the context here how Eli raised his sons in the methods of service, but something was lacking. We don’t see where Eli taught them why one should Love the Lord, or to know the Ways of the Lord. Raising a child in the manner they shall go, entails being an example of one who loves and trusts the Lord regardless of the event. Children are not stupid, they are more moved by what they see, then what they hear. If they see one type of person in the local church, yet another type at home, how is the example raising them in the manner they should go?

The people knew Samuel’s sons didn’t walk right, the memory of Eli’s sons caused the people to seek a king over them (I Sam 8:5-7). For some reason all of us think “if we have a leader, it will be alright”; yet history shows it’s not always the case. The people wanted a king to guide them, rather than God. We know Saul was appointed to be the first king of Israel, but God says, David is the first king. This is not confusing, God will appoint Saul as a captain with the promise of being a king; the people will treat Saul as a king, but God will still treat him as the anointed captain in training. In the people’s eyes Saul was king, in God’s eyes Saul was a captain being trained and tested for the position of king. Did God know Saul would fail? Yes, but Saul was the people’s choice, not God’s. The Saul, David allegory answer the question, “did God pick me, or am I the only one who would do it?”, or, “well God picked me, but only after others rejected the call”, yet didn’t God know those prior would reject the call? Yes, so God presented the call to others knowing they would reject it, then presented to you knowing you wouldn’t. Why? So they could never say, “Lord, you never gave me a chance”. In this case God yielded to the people, yet used Saul as a test for David, thus Good still reigned in the event from beginning to end. Whatever happens in the kingdom is still under God’s control, it may not seem Right to us, it may not even seem Holy to us, but our belief says, “God Is”,  based on the knowledge of God having purpose, even if we don’t know it, or understand it.

Saul’s testing is our example of the called never making it to the chosen; whereas, David is our example of one who moves to be chosen. David will make many mistakes, but the mercy of God will cover his repentant heart.

Samuel warns the people what happens if the people pick their leader independent of God, saying, the king will take their sons for the military, and appoint leaders over the people taking their harvest to feed his house (taxes – I Sam 8:11-16). The Tithe will turn on them, as the king will take a tenth, rather than the priests, thus it jumped to twenty percent (I Sam 8:17-19). Nonetheless, the people still wanted a king to care for them, man hasn’t changed (I Sam 8:19-21). This establishment of government will be used by God in the long run, but we see the warning; we can also see the desire came because the nations around them had kings. They wanted to be like unto other nations, rather than set apart to from them. The lust to envy coupled with competition was driving them to want something out of God’s desire, yet God will give them a king. God worked it into the plan, but we can see it was not God’s desire for them to have a king.

Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin, there was none like him in all Israel (I Sam 9:1-2). The people always pick their leaders by what they see, later Samuel will learn, God picks His leaders by their hearts, not their physical stature. Saul was in the land of Zuph seeking out a Seer or Prophet of God, this desire to seek out seers would be Saul’s downfall later (I Sam 9:5-9). Saul asked the whereabouts of the prophet, he was told the people were waiting for the prophet to bless the sacrifice before they ate (I Sam 9:10-13). Saul did many things before he took the time to seek God or have his sacrifice blessed, he would also make many self-determinations regarding sacrifices. This first introduction of Saul gives us a man seeking the knowledge of God, but it also gives us the impatience of the wanton soul. The people knew if God blesses their food, then sickness and disease would be driven from them; however, for those who are in Christ, they are priests with the ability to bring the blessing, without seeking a Seer (Rev 1:6).

The Lord told Samuel, Saul would be anointed as a “captain over Israel”; a captain is not a king (I Sam 9:16). Simply  because the people demand a king, doesn’t mean God will give them one immediately, but it does mean God will give them a leader. There are two words used for Captain in the Hebrew, The Hebrew Nagid means Prince, Captain or Leader, referring to a religious, or military leader. The Hebrew Sar means a Leader, or Prince. Saul was known by both Hebrew words; therefore, Saul was anointed as a prince, promised the kingdom if he passed the testing and training to determine if he could obtain the promised position. Saul will be called “king”, but we find it’s really calling something a not, which could be. David will be anointed as king, yet he will also go through a time of testing. God looked at Saul as a captain, yet the people called Saul their king, thus just calling one a king doesn’t make them one in God’s eyes. Just saying we are Christian, doesn’t make us Christ Like in God’s eyes. Not all who call themselves Israel are of Israel, not all who call themselves Christian are Christ Like. Samuel makes it clear, Saul is anointed as a captain, not a king (I Sam 10:1).

God gave Saul “another heart”, this isn’t a “clean” heart, or a “created” heart, rather it refers to an attitude based on the anointing for the position; later we will see what happens to Saul when God takes away the anointing. This heart would be one of peace, yet the real Saul would not surface until he makes a move against the anointing on David. David refused to come against Saul, but Saul would come against David, thus we find the symbols of the Good Fish in David, the Bad Fish in Saul. The lesson is of course the anointing, if we are anointed one minute, yet come against one who is also anointed, we cause our anointing to cease.

Right after Saul was anointed by Samuel, he would come across some prophets, he begin to prophesy with them, producing the saying, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” (I Sam 10:6-11). There are prophets, and there are prophets, some prophets are like unto Samuel, some like Balaam. This phrase will return toward the end of Saul’s reign. He began with the prophets of God, prophesying toward God, yet ended with the prophesy coming against his nakedness (no anointing). Saul was called to be a captain to work toward being a king, not a prophet. It doesn’t say Saul was a prophet, rather he sought the  anointing of the prophets, but found himself taken by the emotions of the moment. The anointing of David will be evident, but Saul will attack it, simply because he can’t steal it. The spirit lusting to envy which Saul retained all this time will come to the surface when God takes the “given heart”, as the evil spirit of Saul becomes the evil spirit on Saul. How can God put an evil spirit on anyone? By taking away the anointing, the result is the real “Saul” coming forth.

Saul was promised the kingdom, God gave him the anointing to obtain it; however, Saul will lose what little he thought he had, his kingdom was taken from him. Our concern is to ascertain how to hold the kingdom, not lose it, but in knowing how Saul lost it, we can learn how not to lose ours. We know Saul will sit as a king, yet David will be the anointed king. The time element will prove David, yet testify against Saul. David will honor the anointing given to Saul, although Saul won’t be operating under the anointing, nor honor the anointing on himself, he will not honor David, or the anointing on David, making Saul someone who is “anti-anointing”.

David knew it wasn’t the person, but the anointing to be honored, thus one honors the anointing, even if the person is a jerk. This is the hardest of all tests, being faced with one who has the anointing, but refuses to honor the anointing on others. They attack, slander, lie, use strife, envy and division, yet we are bound to walk in Love, Faith and Mercy. We can’t use their methods, then claim we are not of them, the moment we use their methods, we are of them. David was first anointed by Samuel in Bethlehem, but as king David, he was anointed in Hebron (II Sam 2:1-4), yet he was king in Jerusalem. There are three cities of David, of course the city of his birth is Bethlehem, then Jerusalem as king, but there is also Zion, which isn’t really a city, but a mount. Accordingly the city Jerusalem is built on Zion the mount, but prophetically there is a city of “Zion” where the 144,000 are marked (Rev 14:1 & 7:4-8).

The Ammonites came against Jabeshgilead, but Nahash the Ammonite made a costly proposal of peace. Nahash wanted to make covenant, but seal it by thrusting out the right eyes of the men of Israel (I Sam 11:1-3). Here we find Peace is the issue, but the method is not Godly in nature. The right eye is a symbol of the single eye, the left eye, to the Jew is a symbol of the evil eye, thus if they lost their right eye, they would be left with the evil eye. When Saul and the people heard this, they lifted their voices and wept (I Sam 11:4). The Spirit of the Lord came on Saul, his anger was kindled greatly. Anger from God is different from uncontrolled anger, rather it’s to stir up courage. Neither can we forget the Season for these people is not the “Day”, rather it’s still the time of darkness. Here the Spirit of the Lord is protecting the people of God by instilling courage in Saul, thus Saul is anointed as a leader, or Captain at this time, but not a king.

Saul took a yoke of oxen, cut them up, then sent them throughout all Israel saying, “Whosoever comes not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen” (I Sam 11:7). Saul didn’t say, so shall it be done unto him, thus the slavery mentality was still hanging over these people, the thought of losing their possessions caused them to fight (I Sam 11:7).

When it was known Saul was to be captain over Israel, some denied the call and challenged Saul’s called position, but this battle will turn the hearts of the people toward Saul. The people called out to God for a leader, yet when God sends them a leader some are displeased, because God didn’t meet their expectations, meaning God didn’t please their self-based desires. God provided, but it wasn’t good enough, making the person the god over God. Saul began as a Captain in training to move into the position of king, much like us when we enter the kingdom. However, in his case he failed to reach the called position; harsh, but there are times when we are disappointed because we added to the vision, added to the prophecy, or misinterpreted the prophecy, when it didn’t come to pass exactly as we planned, we’re disappointed in God. We then add sin to our sin, claiming the devil stole it from us, as if the devil has more power than the Lord. Does this mean we’re not to expect God to do something? No at all, it means we expect God to act, but we also give Him Glory and Thanksgiving for All Things, whether they meet our expectations or not, we don’t go about with the “ahh poor baby in Christ, did God your Father disappoint you?” attitude. The people wanted a king, God gave them a captain, but He nonetheless gave them a deliverer as the captain. In reality a deliverer is what they needed, not some king who would shake every time the enemy came around. The people gathered with Saul then slew the Ammonites, then the people said to Samuel, “Who is he who said, Shall Saul reign over us? bring the men, that we put them to death” (I Sam 11:12). What a change in attitude, but only when they had the victory, not before. Our attitude counts in the blessing, but it also counts in the trials.

Whether the person is a jerk or not doesn’t matter, challenging the anointing always brings death. Samuel tells the people, “Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that you said unto me and have made a king over you” (I Sam 12:1). This doesn’t say, God made the king, rather it was Samuel who made this statement, thus he is speaking of the intended purpose of the promise, pointing to what could be. It was Saul who failed to enter the path, by failing at the “what could be”. God was still looking at Saul as the captain being trained to be the king, thus Samuel warns the people, it was God who made Moses and Aaron, not Moses or Aaron who made God (I Sam 12:6). The people called Saul a king, they didn’t make Saul a king. When the people saw Nahash of Ammon come against them, they wanted a king, but they also rejected God as their King (I Sam 12:12-13). Saul being the appointed leader, was not a reward to these people, no more than voting someone into a political office is a reward to us. Trusting in the person in the position is dangerous, these people would suffer for years because of their folly.

Saul began as a person seeking God through the prophet, but he refused to hear “all the” prophet had to say, losing the prophet’s reward. God was looking to make Saul a man of God, but Saul wanted to be a man of Saul. He wanted the position without making the change into the position, there are some who want the Christ experience without making a change. They demand for us and God accept them as they are, but they refuse to be changed by God. They use the premise of God accepting them as they are, which is true, but God accepts us to change us, not leave us as we were. They want Christ to identify with them, but they refuse to identify with Christ. Wanting Salvation and entering into it are different; if we want to remain the same old person, yet obtain Salvation we error greatly. However, a person in the office is a different story, the office makes the person.

The Philistines came after Israel when Saul was still in Gilgal. Samuel told Saul to tarry seven days, Jesus tells us to tarry for the Power from on High (Acts 1:8 and I Sam 13:8-9). Before Samuel came to Saul, Saul made the independent decision to sacrifice; however, he was suppose to tarry until Samuel came (I Sam 13:10). Saul always had an excuse, it may have sounded right, even wise, but it fell short. Saul said, “I forced myself therefore and offered a burnt sacrifice”, but Samuel said, “you have done foolishly: you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you: for now would the Lord have established your kingdom upon Israel forever but now your kingdom shall not continue” (I Sam 13:12-14). This is the proof showing Saul was in training, the context is “would the Lord have” indicates something to be, or could have been, for this reason David is the first king of Israel. This trait of moving independent of the Commandment is a great lesson for us, Saul wanted to be king, but wanted to do as he willed, then call it “of God”. Counterfeit faith is attempting to get God to please us by our words, rather than our ways of faith pleasing God. Saul would take the commandment, twist it fit his desire, or do something based on his self-desire, then say he did as the Lord wanted. Saul’s king position and kingdom were at hand, but not in hand, as long as he attempted to control his hand, it would never be “in hand”.

Saul acted before the time to tarry was complete, some of us jump into action as if we have power, without having it. The lack of Power produced excuses to blame the prophet of God, blame the people, then blame God. The sayings, “it has passed away”, or “God has changed”, are merely excuses we make for our failure to believe in the Power, or for our failure to wait for the Power. The same excuses were around before Samuel was called, thus Samuel thought Eli called him, after all “there were no open visions” (I Sam 3:1). Eyes that can’t see, won’t see, ears that can’t hear, won’t hear, but it doesn’t mean God isn’t seeking, talking, or calling. Therefore, just because God is speaking, doesn’t mean we’re listening.

The Philistines had all the skilled people, Israel had the labor, thus Israel could mine metal, yet it couldn’t make swords or spears (I Sam 13:19). Israel would take the weapons of the defeated enemies, but they couldn’t produce new ones. Idol worship caused them to loss their God given talents to manufacture, evidenced by all the items their fathers made for the Tabernacle.

Jonathan the son of Saul was a man of courage, Jonathan took his armor bearer to the garrison of the Philistines saying, “it may be that the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few” (I Sam 14:6). Jonathan knew the power rested with the Lord, whether it was one hundred thousand or one, the Lord was able. Jonathan put out a “fleece”, thus a fleece is like a prophesy, it merely confirms what we believe is the will of the Lord, it doesn’t give us a right to shy away from the will of the Lord. However, we can make a fleece a farce, a fleece is suppose to define a direction we are seeking from the Lord, but we can put forth a fleece akin to “if it be you Lord, bid me to come”, which leaves the Lord no choice in the matter. A fleece must leave choice for God in the matter, or it’s an attempt at manipulation. A fleece is used when we can’t hear the Lord clearly, it’s only used when we are seeking to do something for God. Using a fleece to gain for the lust of the flesh because we don’t want to hear God say, No, is as much a sin, as bowing to Baal.

Jonathan heard the evidence of his fleece, and slew twenty men, which sparked the courage of the other men of Israel (I Sam 14:9-20). However, there are times when some from our camp who will join with the enemy based on their fears of being with the losers, thus when the battle goes our way, they run to our side, if it goes the other way, they run away (I Sam 14:21-22). Although we find these people walked with the enemy for a period of time, they were taken back, we can do no less for the backslider.

Saul gave one of his commands to the people by telling them, they should not eat until evening, but Jonathan didn’t hear the command, when he saw some honey, he took it (I Sam 14:24-27). One might ask, “What’s wrong with that, he didn’t know”, but when he did know, he didn’t make amends, rather he justified his actions (I Sam 14:28-30). Saul’s people did overtake the Philistines, as they took the livestock and began to eat without cooking the meat, thus they did “eat the blood” (I Sam 14:31-32). The command of Saul was for his benefit, thus he forced the commandment on the people. In many cases, David restricted the commandment to himself, yet his people loved him so much, they took the commandment voluntarily, thus volunteer obedience endures, forced obedience doesn’t. Rules and regulations are put on people, policies are things we keep, whether the people keep them or not.

When food appeared before the people, the lust of the flesh won out over the forced obedience, they did sin. Forcing people to follow rules produces a greater sin in the end. Later Saul would find Jonathan who took of the honey, then said, “My father has troubled the land: see, I pray you, how my eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey” (I Sam 14:29 & 14:43). Rather than admit it was a mistake, he is using self-justification. Jonathan took a little honey, but the people used the self-justification as an excuse to eat blood. This is another important lesson for us, we will hear from time to time how a leader falls, but it doesn’t give us the excuse to run out and do foolish things.

The king wanted to kill Jonathan, but the people rescued and preserved him. In essence Jonathan was only a mirror of Saul, but Saul failed to see it, or discern how he also violated the commandment, yet God didn’t kill him, rather he was given another chance. Saul failed in Mercy time and again, he failed to “do unto others, what God did for him”, which is the error of the Wicked. They enter based on God’s Mercy, but they refuse to give unto others. The pattern of Saul’s disobedience would continue, he failed to see his own actions being reproduced in his son. This doesn’t mean every time our children do something, it’s a “mirror”, but it does tell us to be open. God will use our children, pets, coworkers, or the dog next door, to show us those things we have hidden away in our own souls. The “strongman” is famous for “that’s not me”, self-deception begins by refusing to see our ourselves as God does.

Samuel comes to Saul saying, “The Lord sent me to anoint you to be king over His people Israel” (I Sam 15:1). It would seem God “changed His mind”, but it’s not the case, the phrase, “to be king” is future tense; therefore, Saul is given another chance to obtain the calling. The test would follow as Samuel says, “Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all they have, spare them not; but slay both man and women, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass” (I Sam 15:3). Some of us hear the prophet say, “God has called you..”, then we run off to do “the work of the Lord”, before we are tested and trained into the calling. Saul will show us the calling is the first step, but it’s only effective after the training and proving of the Lord.

When the world views these areas of killing the wicked they retort with “God kills babies”, but the soul of man is eternal, only the flesh of man is temporal. God knows whether one will receive Him or not, as Isaiah said, God takes the righteous at a young age, knowing some evil lays ahead (Isa 57:1). God’s salvation or predestination is never in question, it’s always ours; it’s not wise to question God, it’s wise to obey without question..

Saul is given the commandment to physically kill all those who are already dead in heart, thus Saul was commanded to kill the walking dead, not the living. This test for Saul is clear to us, but Saul will twist it to do enough to make it appear as if he completed the commandment, yet still work his own agenda into the process. These people will have their chance when Jesus takes captivity, captive. The people outside the promise had no hope until Jesus went to the Cross, thus their chance would come during the three days and nights before the Resurrection. Psalm 22 shows Jesus preached to more than those in Paradise, there were others who joined the captivity taken captive to form the Cloud of Witnesses  who received Jesus at the Ascension (Acts 1:9 & Heb 12:1).

Saul will attack Amalek with a vengeance, but he will also take Agag the king of Amalek prisoner, as well as the best of the cattle. Amalek was evil, but had some “fine cattle”, Saul sacrificed the cattle to the Lord (I Sam 15:8-9). Saul reasoned, why waste a good opportunity to sacrifice? After all it would be poor stewardship not to sacrifice the fine cattle, the king was a prize showing the victory, displaying “God’s people are victorious”, but it also showed “Saul is rebellious”. Saul took the meat of devils, then gave it to God. We can use the ways of the world thinking we are gaining great treasure for the work of God, yet be up to our necks in the sacrifices of devils.

Samuel hears from God, as the Lord says, “It repents Me that I have set up Saul to be king” (I Sam 15:11). Again the phrase “to be king” shows a future tense promise, not a present tense condition. Our condition is mercy, our position is Grace; we come boldly (by the Spirit) to the throne of Grace (position) to obtain Mercy (condition) before we can find Grace (ability to maintain the condition and position). Mercy gives us right standing on earth, opening heaven to us, but Grace is our right standing in heaven; therefore we pray, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”, not the other way around. Pride says the words, but the intent is, “my will be done in heaven, as it is on earth”. We seek Mercy in order to have our sins forgiven to be partakers of the Cross of Jesus. We seek Grace to obtain the power of the Resurrection, the Blood of Jesus, the New Covenant to obtain our position in heaven. Saul was not privy to the Cross of Jesus, the Blood, the New Covenant, or the Power of the Resurrection, but he was required to obey, since all mankind has the ability to obey.

Saul stopped along his way to the goal of his position, showing us, there is a calling and a position; we maintain the calling by our continual obedience in the position. One can be called. yet never enter the position, thus many are called but few are chosen, since few make the decision to be chosen. Judas was ordained an apostle, a man within the ranks, a man who had one position within the group (treasurer), but failed to reach his potential position, thus ordination is the beginning, not the result of the position. Saul not only gave sacrifices of devils, but his pride came to the surface as he told Samuel, “Blessed be you of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord” (I Sam 15:13). Saul didn’t say, “blessed be the Lord, for He has delivered”, or “The Lord has prevailed”, rather, Saul made his own determination regarding the commandment, twisted it to fit his thinking, then took the credit, by giving blessing to Samuel, as if he was God, yet inserted his own “self-goodness” by saying, “I have performed”.     When Saul is caught, his testimony changes to “they have brought them” (I Sam 15:15). It went from “I have performed” to  “they did it”.

Saul begins to justify himself further by saying, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord” (I Sam 15:20). This places the blame on Samuel, since it was Samuel who projected the “voice of the Lord”. The same old fall nature excuses, instead of saying “it was the woman you gave me”, Saul says “it was the prophet you gave me”. Saul is entering self-denial for his actions by looking for someone else to blame. When he supposed there was some glory he said, “I have”, but when he found there was fault it was “they have”, then “you have”, but when he points the accusing finger at Samuel, he also pointed it at God. However, his self-justification didn’t Wash in the water of truth, as Samuel tells Saul, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the Lord?” (I Sam 15:22). Giving offerings isn’t wrong, the context is obedience before the offerings. God can tell us to do one thing, yet we do twenty other “Godly things” to avoid doing what God told us to do. We obeyed our own agenda, but we were in rebellion.

Samuel brings the iniquity to Saul’s heart by saying, “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as the iniquity of idolatry” (I Sam 15:23). This also shows when God says “Don’t judge people”, yet we go about judging people, it’s witchcraft. This is another verse showing Iniquity is the failure to do something, since stubbornness is a refusal to obey God, while obeying idols. However, one would think if iniquity was the failure to do something and idolatry is doing something, how can idolatry be iniquity? The iniquity was the failure to obey God, which leads to idolatry. Rebellion “is like” witchcraft, it’s not the same as witchcraft, but carries the same attitude. Witchcraft is using the natural assuming it will cause something spiritual, rebellion is an act of resistance, or defiance against authority. Saul was given something to do, he added to it assuming his agenda was better than obeying God’s agenda, thus he inserting his authority over the Authority of God, making his act one of rebellion. The act of usurping authority is using the authority of another, here Saul used his authority over the Authority of God.

Saul wanted to be king, but he didn’t want to take the responsibility for the position (I Sam 15:19-20). Samuel tells Saul, “you have rejected the Word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel” (I Sam 15:26). This points to the promise to be king, as the wording, “rejected you from being king” shows. Saul lost his “kingdom position” by failing to hear and obey. Saul was still the captain with his hand on the throne, but not a king in God’s eyes; therefore, David was the first king over Israel, not Saul. Samuel finishes the work for Saul (I Sam 15:32-34), yet the Lord repented for promising Saul to be king, but God gave the people the “desire of their heart”, at times the desire of our heart shows we are still self-based (I Sam 15:35).

When the Lord repents, it’s not because of something He did but because of something He has to do; whereas, we repent for something we did. The people called Saul their king, God called him a captain, but the people were stuck with their confession. Wait, didn’t God know Saul would miss it? Oh, I see, God tricked him, right? Wrong, God gave Saul a chance based on the request of the people, this effort shows how God knew Saul would fail, but He also knew David would prevail, thus the First choice was David, yet Saul was given the opportunity, Saul could never say, “I never had a chance”.

God submitted to the people by giving the “okay”, but it doesn’t mean God blessed the act. The spiritually minded know the sound “okay” often is God giving in to our will, simply because He won’t debate the issue, but it doesn’t mean God blessed the act. The people were now stuck with their own “Ishmael” king, yet God had a plan, He would bring forth His man.

Saul would remain on the throne acting in the position of king, but it repented God for allowing it. However, in this, God would use Saul to provide a testing for David, when David passes his test the result will prove the point; God allowed on one hand, to bring His will for David on the other. This would be something worked out for the Good of David who was called according to the Purpose of God.

The plan and record are different, the Record is in heaven. In order for the Record of the Father, Word and Holy Ghost to be performed on earth there needs to be the Witness, yet the Witness is the Water, Blood and Spirit (I Jn 5:7-8). Jesus didn’t come by water alone, but by Water and Blood, the Water connects to the Father’s Mercy, the Blood to the Word giving us the New Covenant, of course the Holy Ghost bringing the Seed of God which is the Spirit, thus until the Cross God worked with man according to the Plan, but the Record is for those who have the Witness. We pray “Lord, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, but it entails us submitting to gain the Witness in order for the Record to be done on earth. Peace on earth has nothing to do with peace in the world, it has to do with Peace between man and God, by the Record and Witness joining, thus in the Book of Revelation we find the Tree of Life is in two places, the Record and Witness (Rev 22:2).

Saul had two chances to obey, his third chance will involve giving the throne to the anointed one. God has a timing and time in a Season; the time of Saul was ending as the time of David was beginning, but Saul refused to give up the throne. Why didn’t God simply kill Saul? Saul would be the vessel of dishonor used to test the vessel of honor, thus he would remain for a time. This allegory shows there are the Wicked in our Season, but they still have a chance to repent before the Night comes.

The anointing kept the evil in Saul restrained, yet when God takes the anointing away, it’s the same as putting an evil spirit on Saul. Saul will not be able to control his emotions, his anger will flare up to control him, even to the point of attempting to kill the anointed. This type and shadow shows how the Wicked are self-transformed, yet they are protected by the Unction over the Body, yet when the time comes for the Unction to be removed, they will become the Beast of the Earth.

From the moment David was anointed the seat of Authority changed, yet Saul was sitting as a prince in the position of the king, causing his own downfall. David will give us a clue to Warfare, David didn’t come against Saul, he knew better, it didn’t matter if Saul was a jerk or not, what mattered was Saul at one time was the anointed of God. When Saul heard, “the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel”, he should have assisted Samuel in finding God’s choice, instead of attempting to kill God’s choice. Yet, Saul’s actions were accountable to Saul, David’s actions to David, Samuel’s to Samuel. Every act Saul would do from this point on, would be usurping the authority granted to David. David would nonetheless treat Saul as if he was always anointed. David had a deep respect for the anointing, he never treated it as a joke, or something to play with. When we attack someone who has an anointing, we are really attacking our own position, not real smart.

God loves those who love and obey Him, thus one form of hating God is the failure to do as He says. God comes to Samuel saying, “how long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel” (I Sam 16:1). God didn’t mourn over Saul, He was sorry for allowing Saul to continue to play in the role of king, neither for appointing Saul as a captain. It was time for a Beginning, yet Samuel was still stuck in the Principality of the past. It was time in the Season to move on, thus Saul moved from a vessel being trained to become a vessel of honor, into becoming a vessel of dishonor to hone the vessel of honor (David – Rom 9:16-23). Saul wasn’t rejected because he didn’t keep the Law, or because he didn’t keep the sabbath, it was because he refused to deny his self interests, in order to obey what God told him. Peter tells us how the Trinity works in the lives in the Elect, we are the Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, “through sanctification of the Spirit, unto Obedience and Sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ” (I Pet 1:2). The “obedience” part is by us, the rest of it by God, thus an element of faith is obedience.

Saul accepted the calling, with the calling came the training. When we say, “Yes, Lord” we accept the gift or calling as well as the training, God is never sorry for giving us the gift or calling. Even in Saul’s case, God was able to take advantage of Saul’s rebellion by turning the event around for the good of David. All Saul had to do was Hear and Obey, but God knew Saul would reject and fail, but God also attempted to tell the people and Saul, their request for a king was failure in the making. Did God know there would be a king? Yes, there was the prophecy was in the Law (Deut 17:14-15). God even told them to pick a king from among themselves, yet later God would pick a King from among Himself, making His King the King of all kings, as the Word of God took on flesh as Jesus Christ.

Samuel now seeks God’s choice for king, thus Saul was the people’s choice, being trained by God, but David will be God’s choice, approved and loved of God. We can vote our choice into office, but it doesn’t mean they are loved or chosen by God. Saul was picked by the people because of his stature, but Samuel will learn how God looks for His chosen. Samuel went to the house of Jesse as God told him, Jesse was from Bethlehem (I Sam 16:2-4). This would be the first “city of David”, as the city of David’s birth.

Samuel saw the sons of Jesse, as he looked at the oldest and biggest first, then down the line, yet each time he found “he isn’t the king” (I Sam 16:6-10). Samuel was looking at the outward appearance, just as the people looked at Saul, but God, “looks not on the outward appearance but on the heart” (I Sam 16:7). The people picked Saul, and God submitted to their will, here God will pick David. When David appeared, it was obvious, God looks at the heart (I Sam 16:7-12). No one using natural reasoning would pick David to be king, but God doesn’t use the mind of man as His judge. Some of us pick teachers based on the outward appearance as well, if we don’t like the way they look, we don’t like their teaching. Carnal thinking often misses the greatness God has presented. Jesus came not as some “movie star”, or “fancy Pharisee”, but as a common person, one who fit among the masses, yet when He spoke, the people knew He was more than man. We are granted the opportunity to have the mind of Christ to be instructed by the Mind of the Lord, but it still depends on our obedience to accept the method God has established (I Cor 2:16). We could fall back on “God’s thoughts are not ours, and God’s ways are above ours” (Isa 55:8). Which was true for these people, but not true for us. Isaiah shows the Thoughts which are not God’s belong to the unrighteous, the ways which are not God’s belong to the Wicked (Isa 55:7). Are we unrighteous? Are we of the Wicked? If so, our intents (thoughts) are not God based, nor are our ways (actions) of God; however, if we are Born Again we are instructed by the Mind of Christ, we should know the Intents and Ways of God (I Cor 2:10-11). The Acts of God are important, but if we fail to know the Ways of God, we will end in unbelief. Without knowing the Ways of God, we will tempt God (Ps 95:10-11). How can we Know the Ways of God? God will show us His ways by Teaching us through knowledge, wisdom and experiences by the Spirit (Ps 25:4-5 & I Jn 2:19-23). The Acts of God are produced by the position held through the Name of Jesus, the ways of God come through the Seed of God; therefore, Jesus tells us to judge the Fruit (ways), not the acts to determine if the person using the Name of Jesus is walking with God. Judas used the Name of Jesus with results, yet Jesus said Judas was a devil (Jn 6:70). Oh, you mean, Jesus said Judas had a devil. No, the Scripture says Judas was a devil, thus people can be devils by their devilish behavior.

Saul had many Acts, but he rejected the Ways of God, David will have both Acts and Ways to show his heart was seeking God. Two men, both anointed of God, yet both very different in their Ways, thus we find the Fruit of the person is found in their Ways, not their Acts. The world judges a person by their Acts, we in the Kingdom judge the Ways of a person, not the person, or their Acts.

Although David is anointed the king, another sits on his throne. David had the natural right to take the throne by force, but he didn’t have the Godly right. The minute David was anointed, God took the spirit (anointing) from Saul, causing  an “evil spirit” to come upon Saul (I Sam 16:13-14). Prior God gave Saul a “new heart” (anointing of the office), but God took it back since Saul refused to walk in it. If we assume God placed a demonic spirit in Saul, we error: God took the anointing from Saul, thus Saul was left with the result of his rebellion and witchcraft becoming evident in his nature.

One can remain in a position, but lack the power thereof. Don’t forget, Saul was anointed for the position, but he misused it. Saul is an example of one who sits in the position, but lacks the authority to maintain it. This is different from the self-appointed “Jezebel” types (Rev 2:20), here we find one called, has the anointing, in training, but misused the position. Saul and Judas seem to have like tendencies, Judas never heard, “Tarry for power from on high”, neither did he hear, “All power on heaven and earth”, but he did hear the teachings of Jesus, he also had this history of Saul. Judas cast out devils, devils were not his problem, Judas was the problem of Judas. The name of “Judas” (the traitor not the prophet) is last heard of in Acts 1:27, none of the writers of the letters mention him, although Jude and Peter will mention Balaam. Jude will also mention Core (Korah) and Cain, but they don’t talk about Judas, the traitor, he was forgiven and forgotten; interesting at best.

Saul will make self-confessions regarding his position, but he is hardly confessing according to his position. We have several areas, we confess Jesus, but confession is more than words, it’s a way of life. We also have the “word of our testimony”, which is not what we say, it’s what others say about us. We have our “profession”, which is our confession as a way of life producing the word of our testimony. Saul had many great things to say about Saul, but one must know what God says in order to know the Truth. The error of Saul was this striving to please the Lord, but using ones own self-based standards as guides. Many kings in Israel and Judea destroyed the idols in the temple, but allowed the high places to remain. In their eyes the effort was pleasing, but in God’s eyes it fell short. This type and shadow shows we can act “Christian” around Christians, yet act like the world around the world presuming we’re “okay”, we’re not okay, it’s not okay, okay? When we fail to see the event from the view point of God we will also refuse to see our error, then our error will become our guide. We are Overcomers by faith, not works, yet we do works. However, after we enter the Rest of God we cease from the dead works of self-righteousness, rather we work out of appreciation because we have obtained.

First Samuel will show how the music of the anointed one can hold back the evil spirit (I Sam 16:15-23). Music soothes the savage beast, praise destroys him (I Sam 16:23). Some of us go to church just for the praise, but after the service we’re right back in bitterness or anguish. Why? The praise soothed us, but we weren’t healed. We need to apply the praise to our souls in order to be healed by the New Man.

Saul will become passive when David plays, but then he will also attack David, but the cause was not the praises, rather Saul’s evil prophesies against himself came to the surface in the hidden attitude of Saul. Saul had a choice, he knew his actions were evil, yet he condoned them by excusing his behavior while trusting in a position which was no longer his, becoming more self-possessed and self-deceived.

When the works of the devil, or the tares surface, it wasn’t God who put them there, God is not using them against us, neither does He want us to use them for our benefit, rather He is allowing exposure so we can be free. This experience with Saul is vital in our experiences regarding exposure; there are some things we “think” we have dealt with, but all we did was prune some fruit off the tree, the trunk, or the roots remain. We become self-deceived in an area, thus God will expose the remaining areas so we can be free indeed. However, when those things surface, Watch out, anger, wild and uncontrolled behavior will also appear to protect the “old Saul nature”. Yikes we’re lost, we’re doomed! No, those words come from the old man, the New Man is saying, “It’s time to be Free indeed”. It’s time for us to recognize the Tares for what they are, not merely feelings, or fears, but dangerous Tares becoming choking elements planted by the enemy attempting to destroy us.

This insertion regarding the music of David is not in the chain of events, but given to show the type of evil spirit Saul maintained (I Sam 16:14 & 19:9). Everything produces after its own kind, Saul’s rebellion and witchcraft caused him to chase after demonic forces to get advice. This seemingly out of place event gives us the driving force in Saul’s soul, as well as the overcoming heart of David. Metaphorically we see this event as David applying Mercy (music), yet Saul as a type of antichrist attacking the anointing he rejected.

Prior Saul fought the Philistines and won, but now he is faced with Goliath, the giant of the Philistines (I Sam 17:1-4). Goliath stood approximately nine and a half feet tall, this monster defied the army of God, yet by this time Saul lost the anointing, his courage was gone as well, he couldn’t do a thing, except hide in the ditch (I Sam 17:11 & 16:7). David’s brothers were in the front lines; in those days they fought from sunup to sundown, then usually came home at night, but the men were looking at the greatness of their enemy, becoming afraid to move. They perceived the enemy by what they saw, and by what the enemy told them, they didn’t perceive the enemy from God’s point of view. To God this enemy was a “bag of wind”, to Saul and his band the enemy was “bigger than God”. The enemy has as much power as we give him, thus we are told “don’t give place to the devil” (Eph 4:27). In Ephesians 4:27 the word “place” is the Greek Topos meaning A space limited in occupancy, or an Opportunity. When we give the devil Opportunity by our words, he takes it. Goliath gained his power from the fear of Saul as well as the fear of army of Israel. The spirit of fear runs the world, just watch the news, but it need not run us.

The death and Resurrection of Jesus destroyed (made ineffective) the devil, but we can give the devil place through our corrupt communication. However, if we can give the devil place, it also means we can remove place by our repentance. Here find Saul gave Goliath place by accepting the projected fear, thus Saul sat shaking in his armor in the face of the giant. In the mean time Jesse became concerned about his sons, thus he sent David to ascertain their condition. David came to the battle front and heard the giant as a small voice of defiance (I Sam 17:12-28). The word Philistine means To wallow in the self, Gath means Pressure, or Press, making Goliath a mirror, or reflection of Saul’s heart. God placed a mirror before Saul, showing Saul was afraid of himself allowing fear to enter, thus all those under Saul also entered fear, but David’s heart was centered on God. David viewed the enemy as one against God; whereas, Saul viewed the enemy as against him.

Saul was attempting to get someone, anyone to fight the giant. He offered great riches, but David didn’t see riches or glory, he saw someone defiling the name of God. What was Saul doing? Looking for the escape. David’s brother, Eliab had his soul exposed when he told David, “I know your pride and the naughtiness of your heart; for you are come down that you might see the battle” (I Sam 17:28). What battle? They were hiding in ditches, shaking in their armor. This is example of the man’s own words being his mirror, Eliab may have accused David, but voiced his own fear. Eliab was ashamed of just sitting around watching the image of fear challenge the people of God, so he took it out on his little brother. David answered, “what have I done now?”, but Eliab couldn’t answer (I Sam 17:29). This wasn’t the first time Eliab used accusations or manipulation against David, thus it wasn’t the first time his manipulation or pride spoke. It wasn’t David who caused Eliab’s problem, it was Eliab who was afraid of the giant. When David asked his brother what was going on, the voice of accusation was stopped. David wanted to silence the giant, he told Saul how a bear and a lion came after David’s sheep, yet David slew both the bear and lion (I Sam 17:30-36). David looked at the sheep as a charge given to him by God, Saul should have looked at the sheep in his charge, but at this point in time, Saul lacked the authority or power to take the oversight thereof.

This would almost sound as if David was bragging, not so, since he added how God saved him. David knew if he put his life on the line to recover God’s property, surely God would prevail, if Saul would just get out of the ditch God would move for His people. Saul was still a captain, the people of Israel were still Israel, God was still their God. The difference between David and Saul was found in the heart of each. David was a man who chased after the Heart of God, Saul was a man who wanted to use the Acts of God for self-benefit.

David attempted to use the armor of Saul, but Saul’s armor was not proven for David, nor was it entrusted to David, it was entrusted to Saul (I Sam 17:39). In this we find two lessons; first we can’t trust in the armor of another to do our fighting, when we have done all to Stand, we Stand with our own proven armor of God. Second the armor of the self never fits the saint who seeks God. We are not told to, “Take up the Armor of God”, thus we need God’s armor in order to fight the good fight of faith.

David picked up five small stones, for what reason? (I Sam 17:40). Goliath had four brothers. David wasn’t looking at the present danger alone, but Prepared for the battle by being equipped for any surprise. From this we can conclude Goliath is a type of the spirit of fear, defining how fear stands in one position sending out darts to stop us. This also shows Goliath as a type of the gates of hell; they not offensive weapons, they pose hindrances, when we come upon a gate, we must go in a different direction. Saul was stopped, he could not advance based on his own fear. Once David moved by the Power of God in the face of the giant, the giant froze in his fear. This shows the projection of fear, the giant used anger and manipulation to cause fear in the heart of Saul. When Goliath challenged Saul, the fear surfaced in Saul, the giant knew he had the advantage, but David didn’t accept the fear, thus the same challenge brought a much different response. Instead of hiding in the ditch, David came at Goliath at a full run.

Goliath had a spear, but both his spear and sword were useless in the face of faith. David used one small Rock against the giant, a piece of the Rock was sufficient to overcome fear, thus all the weapons of the giant were useless in the face of faith (I Sam 17:40-49). David took Goliath’s sword, then cut the giant’s head off. The only weapon this giant really had was his mouth, thus remove the mouth, remove the fear. With the giant being headless (no authority), all the little Philistines who stood behind Goliath made new doors in the wilderness of defeat.

The song went out, “Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands” (I Sam 18:7). David killed one man, but tens of thousands made foot prints in the sand running from the battle, while Saul hid in the ditch. It’s this event causing Saul to seek the identity of David, if we put I Samuel 16:15-23 before this event, we draw nothing but confusion. The killing of Goliath opened the door for David to enter the house of Saul, but David’s ability to praise the Lord maintained David in the face of adversity. We are given First Samuel 16:15-23 to show how praise was a mainstay of David’s life, not something he picked up after entering Saul’s house, or after the death of Goliath (I Sam 16:15 & 19:9). David was praise ready before Goliath showed up, thus his praises kept him ready  when Saul’s anger surfaced.

Recalling how Saul wanted to kill his son Jonathan over the honey episode, we can see why David and Jonathan had a bond by having something in common (I Sam 18:1-3). Jonathan loved David like his “own soul”, meaning they were very good friends based on common likes and dislikes, or were as close as brothers.

The music soothed Saul, unless Saul had a weapon in his hand. Saul being troubled with an evil spirit would produce prophecy against himself, thus when he became enraged his bitterness came to the surface causing him to strike out at the anointing (I Sam 18:10). Saul was afraid of David, because he knew the Lord was with David, yet Saul’s pride refused to give up the throne, his anger became the shield his fear (I Sam 18:12). Saul is now being run by the spirit of fear because he gave fear place when he faced the giant. The spirit of fear has two faces; not only does it project fear on others, but there are those who use the spirit of fear. It’s not just being a victim we are concerned with, rather it’s the using the spirit of fear on others to get our own way we avoid. Like deception, the more we use, the more we become victim to it.

David was run out of Saul’s house, now Saul has set his mind on killing David. For some reason the evil ones assume if they can kill the man of God, they can kill the work of God (I Sam 19:2-10). Not so, the disciples after the Cross prove it (Acts 4:1-2). One day Saul sent his messengers to find and kill David, but the messengers came across Samuel and the prophets, the Spirit of the Lord overcame them as they started to prophesy (I Sam 19:19-20). Saul’s messengers are examples of the “messengers of Satan”, but in this case, we find when prophecy comes, the power of Satan is destroyed. When Saul heard it, he sent other messengers to take David, but like the first group, they came across Samuel, as they too began to prophesy (I Sam 19:21). Samuel’s prophesy pointed to David’s favor, but against Saul. Now Saul went looking for David and Samuel, when he came close to them the Spirit of the Lord overcame him and he started to prophesy as well (I Sam 19:24). This may sound strange, but really it’s not. The Spirit of the Lord overcame them, this is a example of why we judge the Ways, not the Acts. If we were judging the Acts we would assume because they gave prophecy they were of God, yet we find they are out to kill the anointed of God.

The praise of David exposed the nakedness of Saul, the prophesy confirmed Saul’s condition; thereby causing the evilness in Saul’s soul to lash out at David. The prophesy was against evil, but for good causing Saul to strip off his clothes, standing naked before the prophet of God, thus prophesy exposes (I Sam 19:23 & I Cor 14:24-25). If Saul would have taken the warning, he could have repented, but he didn’t. If God knew it, why bother? A chance for the man, exposure is always given in order to repent, to bring healing. The word went out again, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”, God was giving Saul “what could have been” (I Sam 19:24). The first time Saul prophesied with the prophets, he was not naked, thus the first time was for him, but this time it’s against him.

At first, David didn’t know Saul was out to kill him, David respected the anointing so much he felt the anointing of God couldn’t kill the called of God, he was right. However, as we know the anointing was not on Saul at this time, yet David had such a high respect for the anointing, he still refused to harm anyone who either had it, or once had it. Perhaps this attitude was one of the main factors keeping him safe.

David sought out the intent and reason behind Saul’s attacks, thus David was seeking restoration, not revenge (I Sam 20:1). Some of us think the attacks against us are personal, they very well may be, but if we are standing in the anointing the persecution is against the anointing, we should “jump for joy”, but if the attack is used of God to expose our soulish condition we should fall on our face and repent. David wonders if he has sinned, Jonathan is a friend indeed telling him, “If I knew certainly the evil was determined by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you?” (I Sam 20:9). The word Determined means Of God, thus Jonathan was telling David, If you sinned, I would tell you. A true friend tells us if sin is the cause, the enemy allows us to continue on the wrong path.

Saul continued to seek out David, although David would have chance upon chance to kill Saul, he refused to, he passed his testing in the wilderness of the Anointing (I Sam 23:1-24:2). Samuel died, then David had a band of misfits and castoffs who loved the Lord and David (I Sam 25:1-27:12). In the meantime Saul was lost without Samuel, the evil controlling Saul at this time caused him to kill all the priests except for Abiathar, only because Abiathar was with David. In reference to this, Jesus said, “how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar..”; however, in I Samuel we are told Ahimelech is the high priest (I Sam 21:1 & Mark 2:25-28). Perhaps an overzealous scribe? Perhaps Jesus didn’t know His history? Not so, Jesus isn’t pointing to the Ahimelech the high priest, but to Doeg the Edomite (I Sam 21:7). Doeg saw the high priest give David the shewbread, he then ran to Saul, the one who was out to kill David (I Sam 21:7-8). Saul returned to Ahimelech with Doeg, along with several men, he ordered the men to kill the priests, but the men refused; whereas, Doeg killed the priests to gain honor in the eyes of Saul (I Sam 22:11-19). Abiathar was the only priest to escape, he then came to David where he remained as David’s high priest (I Sam 22:20-22). Jesus associates the Pharisees with Doeg, showing they are attempting to kill Jesus, the Son of David, just as Saul was bent on killing David. Jesus didn’t make a mistake, Mark didn’t make a mistake, the Holy Ghost didn’t make a mistake, Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees by pointing to Abiathar, the one who escaped and joined David, rather than Ahimelech, the one who died.

Saul was without a Seer, but his lust to have one caused him to seek out any seer, he would go where the devil had his witch waiting. Saul had ears, but couldn’t hear, he had eyes, but couldn’t see, thus he sought out one with a “familiar spirit” to guide him. Many years prior Saul put away all those who looked to the stars for their future, as well as all those who played with familiar spirits, now he is seeking one himself. Saul is returning to the evil ways, like a dog to his own vomit (I Sam 28:3-7 & II Pet 2:20-22). The term “familiar spirit” means one has connection to a demon who is familiar with the person, as the person is familiar with them. The word Familiar means, intimate relationship; showing the person has an intimate relationship with the demon; today they call it “spirit guide”, whatever a rose by any other name is still a rose.

The meeting with the witch of Endor could get confusing if one thinks Samuel appeared, instead of seeing it was the familiar spirit connected to Saul. Saul disguised himself, but as soon as the witch saw the familiar spirit she knew the man was Saul. Witches know the familiar spirits of each other, this image prophesied events, but it was going to take Saul to enter into the evil prophecy before it could come to pass. Saul didn’t see the image, but asked the witch what it looked like. All he heard was, “I saw gods ascending out of the earth”, with “he was covered with a mantle” (I Sam 28:13-14). Saul assumed it was Samuel, then he told the image about the Philistines coming to overtake the land, but the image who portrayed Samuel said, “wherefore then do you ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from you and is become your enemy”, clearly a statement centered toward the fear attitude of Saul (I Sam 28:16). This image was the result of the evil spirit on Saul, the evil spirit was the result of Saul’s rebellion. This should have been Saul’s clue to find the door; the Lord wasn’t Saul’s enemy, Saul was Saul’s enemy, as Saul made himself the enemy against the anointing. Saul was looking at the image of his own pride, ego and rebellion. The image went on to say, the Lord would deliver Israel into the hands of the Philistines (I Sam 28:19). If the image would have said, the Lord was going to deliver the armies of Israel under Saul into the hands of the Philistines, it would have spoke the truth, but David was more Israel than Saul, neither David or the army with him was delivered into the hands of the Philistines; therefore, this lying image implanted the thoughts of death and fear in Saul’s mind, instead of the Philistines killing Saul, Saul would kill himself (I Sam 28:19). In order for Saul to enter the prophecy the witch had to entice him into some demonic act, not any act, but one connected to Saul’s rebellion. The evil prophecy in and of itself had no effect, it would take Saul to join it in order to produce the mindset to complete the prophecy. Therefore, we never attempt to bring a prophecy to pass, the prophecy will prove itself by coming to pass. The witch knew Saul was fasting for the battle, thus she enticed him with a “morsel of bread” (I Sam 28:22). Saul was still leaning to the voices of men, although he refused the morsel of bread, his servants in conjunction with the witch compelled (begged) him to eat. When he agreed, the witch brought a fat calf with much bread (I Sam 29:23-25). When Saul obeyed the voice of the witch, his end was sealed, he became the product of the evil prophecy. The fat calf was a type and shadow of an evil sacrifice, just as Saul sacrificed against the commandment of the Lord, he was now joining to the sacrifice of devils. The battle against the Philistines was going bad against Saul, but it wasn’t lost. However, Saul was looking for any sign of failure, when an arrow struck him, he just knew death was at hand, but the arrow only wounded him, it didn’t kill him (I Sam 31:3). Saul recalling the evil prophecy, sought someone to kill him among his servants, but even his servants knew better than to harm anyone who had or has the anointing; therefore, Saul took a sword, falling on it killing himself (I Sam 31:4). The image said all Israel would fall, but the army of Israel under Saul ran, yet there remained others from Israel watching this battle, they didn’t flee or fall (I Sam 31:5-8).

The image also said, Saul and Saul’s sons would be with the image in the earth, rather than with Samuel in the Bosom of Abraham. All this shows how the “image” was a lying spirit, it wasn’t Samuel, but Saul assumed it was. Saul accepted the lie, allowing the lie to become a fable, which in turn convinced him he would die. Saul was the one who brought the lying prophecy to pass, not God.

Let’s go on to Second Samuel…

By Rev. G. E. Newmyer – s.b.i. les5rev10/© 2003