Sunday School Lesson -Return to Obedience Judges 10:10-18

Introduction:The children of Isreal experienced peace during the judgeship of Tola and Jair.But soon as Jair died they began to worship the gods of Syria,Sidon,Moab,Ammon,and the Philistines.God's anger was extremely hot.As a result of their repeated rebelliousness, He allowed the Philistines and the Ammonites to oppress the people.They exploited the children of Isreal for 18 years.In their heavily burdened-down condition, the Isrealites cried to the Lord.

The Lord responded,"I've heard this before.I delievered you from the Egyptians,Ammonites, Moabites, Philistines ,Sidonians, and Amalekites,yet you continue to forsake me and go after other gods.Let their god's save you this time".But the children of Isreal continued to cry out,"we have sinned,please deliever us".

Crying out to God

judges 10:10-14KJV

¹⁰And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim.

   ¹¹And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?

   ¹²The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.

   ¹³Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.

   ¹⁴Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.

footnote:

When the Isrealites cried out to God this time,they did not simply plead for relief from their oppression.Rather,they reconized that the root cause of their problem was their own sinful ways.So they confessed their sin to God,an important step of repentance.They also understood that there was a two-step process in their sin:turning from forsaking the true God of heaven and earth,and turning to serving the false gods of their neighbors.Same is true today,when the people of God stray from Him and His ways, it is a very small step to becoming ensnared by the evil ways of  our surrounding

society.

True Repentance

Judges 10:15-16
¹⁵And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day.

   ¹⁶And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

Footnotes:

The Israelites passed the test of sincerity, as seen by both their words and deeds.By their words,they continued to acknowledge their sin and expressed their willingness to accept from God whatever He desired to do to them.Their one request was that they be delievered from the oppression of their enemies.This speaks volumes to the heart of true repentance,then and now.However Israel's repentance did not end with just words,their actions also testified to the truth of it.That their repentance was genuine and their hearts were again right before the Lord is seen by His response.

Facing The Consequences in Faith

Judges 10:17-18

 ¹⁷Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpeh.

   ¹⁸And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another, What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
footnotes:

In their willingness to accept whatever came from the hand of God,the Israelites did not whine or complain when the Ammonites encamped against them.Instead the repentant people of God called a meeting to determine who would lead them into battle against their foes.It is important to see that God did not simply"bail them out" so to speak.the Israelites had to face up to the consequences of their sins.The difference is ,having repented from their sins,they had every reason to believe God would see them through,which he did.

We too must realize to be reconciled to God, we must acknowledge our sins,turn from them,and turn in faith to God through his darling Son Jesus.Only in Christ is there forgiveness from sin and life everlasting with Him.Through the years we can become complacent in our relationship with the Lord.We can begin to take Christ's sacrifice and God's daily grace for granted.Daily meditation in God's word,prayer,and communion are all reminders of the new covenant He has made with those who believe in Him.

Let God Rule -Judges 7:2-4,13-15,8:22-25

God called Gideon to deliever his people from the Midianites.Gideon gathered a large army of men,but God said "this army is to big.The solders might take credit and not give any regard to Me and My ability and power.When Gideon's men attempted to give him the praise for his military genius and desired him to rule over the people,Gideon instead wanted them to look to God as ruler.

********We today must be careful not to let the things which God blesses us with to become rulers of and in our lives.To God be the glory in every triumph of our lives,for without him we can do nothing,but through him all things are possible.Let God Rule****************

Too Many Soilders

²And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

   ³Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.

   ⁴And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.

***In response to the cries of the Isrealites,the Lord called Gideon to lead his people in defeating the oppressive Midianites who were plundering and destroying their crops and livestock.God told Gideon he had too many soilders,see God wanted the Isrealites to know it was Him who delievered them and nothing they did on their own.

The Midianite's Dream

 ¹³And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.

   ¹⁴And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.

   ¹⁵And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.

***That night, in order to give Gideon confidence,the Lord told Gideon to sneak into the Midianite camp and listen to the conversation of the enemy soilders.Gideon arrived as one soilder was relaying his dream to a friend.Barley, the cheapest grain in Isreal,symbolized Isreal in its impoverished state.The word "tumbling" implies an attack against a tent in the Midian camp,perhaps the main tent of the commanding general.The dreamer interpreted this as the sword of Gideon destroying the Midianite army.

The Lord Will Rule Over You

²²And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

   ²³And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.

   ²⁴And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan.

   ²⁵And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.

***Gideon's army routed the Midianites, and Gideon captured and killed two Midianite kings(Judges8:10-12). With the long and severe Midianite affliction now ended,the Israelites desired to reward Gideon and his family.They offered to make him king and establish a monarchy through which his descendants would also rule.Wisely, Gideon refused the offer to be king.Instead,he voiced his support for the continuing the pattern of God's rule through various judges.He simply told them,"The Lord will rule over you".

******Gideon learned to trust God,and his army routed the Midianites.Later, however,Gideon failed to lead Isreal in following God when he did not correct their response to the epod.We also can let the world's attractions,resources,or philosophies rule our lives rather than God Himself.We should pray with the psalmist,"keep your servant also from willful sins;may they not rule over me"(ps.19:13)


Hope you enjoyed this Sunday school lesson