Knowing God Personally – by Courtney Gilmore

Do you know God through experience or just through intellect? Is your understanding of Him deep or superficial? Do you know Him personally, or just what your family or church has told you about Him? Superficial knowledge will not leave you strong enough to resist temptation. Without experiential knowledge, you will eventually be led astray. You will not be faithful to Him until you truly love Him, and you can’t love someone you don’t really know. So, get to know Him better today.

The basis for this lesson doesn’t start until Judges 2. Judges 1 is just a bit of history.

Battles Within Their Territories– Judges 1:1-36

Unlike when Moses died and made Joshua his successor, Joshua did not name anyone to replace him. Presumably, they were supposed to govern themselves more locally now that each tribe had its own land, and the priests lived in every territory. When Joshua began allotting the land to each tribe, he noted that all the other nations had not been completely eradicated from the land and commanded each tribe to clear their own territory of the foreigners. If they needed help from another tribe, they could ask. But they no longer needed the entire Israelite army to fight a massive war. So, he sent them all to their own territory and encouraged them to follow the Lord in their new land.

So, after Joshua died, Judah asked Simeon to fight the Canaanites with him. Since Simeon’s land was in the middle of Judah’s, the whole southern part of Israel belonged to them. It was fitting that since they lived together, they would also fight together. They defeated 10,000 of the Perizzites and Canaanites who lived in Bezek. They also caught their king and cut off his thumbs and big toes. The king of Bezek had done this to many of the kings he had captured, so it was fitting it would be done to him when he got caught. Even he recognized that God was the One who was repaying him for everything he had done to the other kings. If they weren’t going to kill their enemies, they could at least make sure they couldn’t hold a weapon, run, or remain steady on their feet. This would prevent them from ever being able to fight again, and it was a visible sign of defeat. But the king of Bezek did not have to wear that shame long because he died of his injury after the Israelites brought him back to Jerusalem.

The men of Judah also fought against the people of Jerusalem, capturing, defeating, and setting the city on fire. But they shared this city with the tribe of Benjamin, and they never defeated the Jebusites there. So, they lived in the northern part of Jerusalem with the tribe of Benjamin, whereas Judah fully possessed the southern part of the city.

Then, Hebron was just 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem, so they traveled in that direction and fought against the people in the hill country and the lowlands, conquering three of the four cities that made up the area of Hebron. Then, we are reminded how Othniel defeated Debir for his older brother Caleb, receiving his daughter as a wife. That whole area of land now belonged to him, along with the upper and lower springs.

Also, some of Moses’s in-laws had apparently crossed the Jordan River with the Israelites and settled in the southern part of Judah, too. The Kenites were related to the Midianites who were also from Abraham’s family through his wife Keturah. So, they lived with them not as a foreign nation but as a family adopted into the Israeli nation.

Judah and Simeon also defeated the Canaanites who lived in Zephath and renamed their city Hormah, meaning destruction. They also temporarily took three Philistine towns but couldn’t conquer all the lowlands near the coast. The Philistines could maneuver much quicker in their chariots on the plains than the Israelites could on foot, and the men of Judah did not stick with the fight long enough to conquer them all. So, they took full possession of the hill country but not all the lowlands within their territory. Then, even these Philistine cities did not remain theirs for long.

Then, the tribe of Ephraim went up against Bethel and defeated the people living there. But they did not defeat the people living in Gezer. So, its inhabitants lived there with the tribe of Ephraim. Then, Manasseh never defeated five of the cities in his land, though his tribe eventually submitted them to forced labor. Zebulun and Naphtali did the same thing with the two towns they each had yet to conquer. Asher had seven cities whose inhabitants remained in the land and lived with them. Then, instead of Dan living in the land with foreigners, the Amorites ran him out of his territory, and he dwelt in the north with Manasseh instead. Eventually, the descendants of Joseph submitted them to forced labor, but they continued to live in a decent portion of that land.

They Will Be a Problem – Judges 2:1-5

Some people believe this angel was the Pre-incarnate Christ, and others believe He spoke to them as God because He was relaying the Lord’s words. As the Lord’s messenger, He spoke with the authority of God. These details don’t matter as much as what God said to the people. He had brought them out of slavery in Egypt to an abundant land all their own. He had sworn never to break His promise to them, yet they were forfeiting it before His very eyes. While God made His covenant with them, they were making bonds with other nations. He had warned them about letting these foreigners remain in their land. Now, because they did not keep fighting to rid their land of these other people, God would no longer drive them out. They were going to be a continuous problem for the Israelites, and their gods would always be there to tempt them. Proverbs 18:7, 20:25, 22:24-25, 29:25; 1 Timothy 6:6-10

When the people heard the words of the Lord, instead of being angry, they were heartbroken and offered Him a sacrifice. Then, they named that place “weepers” because it is where they all cried over the consequences of their sin. Hosea 6:6; Psalm 40:6-8, 51:16-17

Knowing God Helps You Obey – Judges 2:6-10

Joshua’s generation served God faithfully because they had seen everything God had done for them. These men knew His power because they’d experienced it. They had personal knowledge of the Lord because He’d been leading, teaching, protecting, and working for them their whole lives. They saw it all firsthand. But their children didn’t know God personally. They had no real experiences with Him and hadn’t seen His power with their own eyes. Their knowledge was superficial and intellectual, and it didn’t compel them to follow Him wholeheartedly.