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Thom Keller: God allows there to be consequences to our sins to let us realize there's a price to pay for sin. He doesn't do that because he enjoys spanking us; he does that because he wants us to live a life of blessing. A life of blessing is not a life that follows a life of sin.

It happens as a cause and effect. You sin, certain things happen, a price is exacted from you, and what it's designed to do is wake us up and say, "I don't want to keep living this way." Then God begins the blessings. But it is not reasonable to expect God to answer our prayers to get us out of jams that we're in if we don't give up the very choices and lifestyle decisions that got us in that jam. It is not reasonable.

Guest (Male): It's good to remind ourselves that God wants to bless us and sometimes that blessing comes in the form of chastisement that will result in deliverance and greater blessing. This is Study the Word with Thom Keller. What will it take for some to turn away from their bad choices and back to God?

Very often it's the harsh consequences of those choices and the realization that God is the only solution. That's not an uncommon occurrence as we learn today. As a caution and before we begin, we're going to hear of some awful things that were done in the past that will be difficult to hear and probably not well suited for children. But it's in the Bible and that's what we teach. So let's begin from the pulpit of Calvary Chapel Lebanon, picking up in Judges chapter ten. Here is Pastor Thom.

Thom Keller: Judges chapter ten. If you remember at the end of chapter nine, Abimelech is killed by a woman of Thebez who drops a millstone on his head. He had ruled for three years total, and now we pick up after his death. Judges chapter ten, verse one: "After Abimelech's death, Tola the son of Puah and descendant of Dodo"—what a bunch of names. Who'd name their child Dodo? Dorothy named her dog that.

Tola "came to rescue Israel. He was from the tribe of Issachar, but lived in the town of Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. He was Israel's judge for twenty-three years, and when he died he was buried in Shamir." He was born in the area of Ephraim and we're going to be talking a lot today about Gilead, and Gilead is right in this area here up to the mountains and in this general range. That's where most of what today is going to take place.

"After Tola died, a man from Gilead named Jair became judge over Israel for twenty-two years. His thirty sons rode around on thirty donkeys, and they owned thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which are still called the towns of Jair. When Jair died, he was buried in Camon." Again, he was from Gilead, which would have been in this region. It says that he had thirty sons and thirty donkeys.

I remember talking to a man who told me that he had known a man that was in prison that had nine children from eight different women. As he told me that, he said, "But what's really neat is he supports them all." I said, "How do you support that many—nine?" He said, "He's a drug dealer." What he was saying to me was that he respected this guy because he earned enough money to support that many children and wives.

The same kind of thought is here. When they say that this guy had thirty donkeys and he had thirty sons, it was an indication that he was wealthy. In other words, a donkey was like an SUV. So they're saying he had thirty kids and each of them had a car. He gave each of them a car, and that's a sign of wealth that he had that much that he could do that. It was a mark of prosperity.

That's all we really know about him. We don't know where his thirty sons rode on those thirty donkeys, but they probably stirred up some dust. Then we go to verse six. After he dies, there's no king. There's no judge. There are no kings in Israel yet at all. That's a big mistake on my part; there have been no kings in Israel yet. That's coming. But there's no judge.

In verse six it says, "Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight. They worshipped images of Baal and Ashtoreth and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. Not only this, but they abandoned the Lord and they no longer served him at all. So the Lord burned with anger against Israel, and he handed them over to the Philistines and the Ammonites, who began to oppress them that year."

For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites east of the Jordan River in the land of the Ammonites that is in Gilead. The Ammonites also crossed to the west side of the Jordan and attacked Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. The Israelites were in great distress. Again, do you remember where the Philistines are? Which side, left or right? Very good. The Philistines are along the coast. The Ammonites are here and they start squeezing in.

The Ammonites cross the Jordan River and they're coming in and attacking. The Philistines, of whom giants are legend, cross in and they come attacking on the other side. They're attacking these areas—these three tribes in particular: Ephraim, Benjamin, and Judah. Finally, they cried out to the Lord. So they abandoned God, they turned away, they're worshipping these other gods.

Finally, verse ten: "They cried out to the Lord saying, 'We have sinned against you because we have abandoned you as our God and have served the images of Baal.' The Lord replied, 'Did I not rescue you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites? When they oppressed you, you cried out to me and I rescued you. Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods.'"

These are words you never want to hear, and they're not said many times in the Old Testament, but they do come up a few times: "So I will not rescue you anymore. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them rescue you in your hour of distress." He says that you've worshipped the gods of the children of Ammon, and that god is Milcom or Molech.

What they would do—Molech was made of brass, and they heated him from his lower parts. His hands being stretched out and made hot, they put a child between his hands, and it was burnt. When the baby would vehemently cry out, the priest would beat a drum so that the father would not hear the voice and thereby his heart not be moved.

A different rabbinical tradition says that the idol was hollow and was divided into seven compartments, in one of which they put flour, in the second turtledoves, progressively up—or maybe up to down, it doesn't say that—in the second turtledoves, in the third a ewe, in the fourth a ram, in the fifth a calf, and in the sixth an ox. That's a big compartment to get an ox inside. And in the seventh, a child, which all were burnt together by heating the statue inside.

The idea was that there was some opening here that this flame would come out, start the fire down here, the flame would come out here, and burn this child. I've seen pictures where actually the arms were up here at the mouth and the flames would come out of the mouth and then consume the baby in the flames. Now, this was a very common god that was worshipped by a lot of cultures.

The Phoenicians called this same god Cronus or Saturn or Baal-hamon. It says there stands in their midst a bronze statue of Cronus, its hands extended over a bronze brazier, and flames of which engulf the child. When the flames fall upon the body, the limbs and the open mouth—the limbs contract and the open mouth of the baby seems to be laughing until the contracted body slips quietly into the fire.

Thus it is that grin that is known as sardonic laughter, since they die laughing. When they would see that smile on the face of the baby, they then believed that the gods were appeased. It was a way of pleasing the gods. In Carthage, when Carthage was defeated, the nobles of Carthage believed that they had displeased the gods by substituting low-born children instead of their own.

In other words, these nobles, instead of sacrificing their own children, would go find slaves' children or other children to sacrifice instead. They figured that the reason they lost the war was because they had done this; they had not sacrificed their own children. They attempted to make amends by sacrificing two hundred children at once, children of the best families. In their enthusiasm, they actually sacrificed three hundred children.

So that's Molech. That's the god that the Israelites were worshipping. Again, it does say in Psalms that the children of Israel in this time did sacrifice their children in the fire to demons. That's who they're worshipping. And here God says no. Why is he so harsh here? Why does God say, "I will not answer you"? The answer really is in verse sixteen.

In verse fifteen it says, "But the Israelites pleaded with the Lord and said, 'We have sinned. Punish us as you see fit. Only rescue us today from our enemies.'" Verse sixteen: "Then the Israelites put aside their foreign gods and served the Lord, and he was grieved by their misery." It was only after he said, "I will not help you," that they put away their foreign gods.

He says, "I will not help you," and the reason is they're coming asking him for help, but at the same time they're refusing to put away their foreign gods. They want help from him but are not willing to give up the very thing that has got them in this situation. When they finally put away their false gods, God's heart changes toward them.

Have you ever been in a situation or known someone in a situation where they cry out to God to help them out of a jam because of a lifestyle or sinful choices that they've made, and yet they're not willing to give up the sinful choices and the lifestyle that they're living, yet they want God to help them out of the jam? Is that reasonable? Really think about it. Is it really reasonable?

God allows there to be consequences to our sins to let us realize there's a price to pay for sin. He doesn't do that because he enjoys spanking us; he does that because he wants us to live a life of blessing. A life of blessing is not a life that follows a life of sin. So it happens as a cause and effect. You sin, certain things happen, a price is exacted from you, and what it's designed to do is wake us up and say, "I don't want to keep living this way."

Then God begins the blessings. But it is not reasonable to expect God to answer our prayers to get us out of jams that we're in if we don't give up the very choices and lifestyle decisions that got us in that jam. It is not reasonable. Not only do they do that, but they say, "Punish us as you see fit." So they've turned a corner.

Verse seventeen: So they cry out to God and it says, "Then the Israelites put aside their foreign gods and served the Lord, and he was grieved by their misery." You know God is grieved by your misery. If you're in misery because of choices you've made and your decision is to walk away from that, he is grieved by your misery and he will act on your behalf if you put away those gods—if we put away those choices.

Verse seventeen: "At that time the armies of Ammon had gathered for war and were camped in Gilead preparing to attack Israel's army at Mizpah." So again, they're camping in that area preparing to attack Israel's army at Mizpah, and Mizpah is down here right below Bethel. That's where they're planning to go to. To do that, they go through Ephraim, which we said was kind of the capital of the whole area.

They go through Shechem and Shiloh, the political capital and the religious capital of all of Israel. That's where they plan to march through—the very center. It would be like an enemy coming and going right to Washington D.C., crossing right over it on their conquest. Verse eighteen: "The leaders of Gilead said to each other, 'Whoever attacks the Ammonites first will become ruler over all the people of Gilead.'"

Now Jephthah, chapter eleven, "Jephthah from Gilead was a great warrior. He was the son of Gilead, but his mother was a prostitute." Now, it's interesting here, she was not a concubine. His mother was not a concubine; she was a prostitute. There's a difference and there's a difference in how it plays out. The Targum says that she was an innkeeper, and we talked about this before when we studied Rahab.

It says that Rahab was an innkeeper, and the understanding in this culture was that if a woman kept an inn, it was a house of prostitution—one and the same. There was no difference. If a woman kept an inn, it was a house of prostitution. So she kept an inn, she was an innkeeper, she was a prostitute. The difference that it affected the son was this: if a son was born to a concubine, he was legal property—if you can use that term—of his mother's family.

A concubine did not make him a legal heir to his father, but to his mother's family. But a prostitute—a child of a prostitute—was not considered a legal heir on either side. There was no family he could claim, not at all. Big difference between a prostitute and a concubine for the child of the same.

But his mother was a prostitute. Gilead's wife also had several sons, and when these half-brothers grew up, they chased Jephthah off the land. "You will not get any of our father's inheritance," they said, "for you are the son of a prostitute." So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Soon he had a large band of rebels following him.

Now, as we talk about this, we're crossing over into this just to mention briefly about polygamy. This comes up often. Why did God allow men to have multiple wives in the Old Testament? Why was that? Well, the truth is that the Bible in the Old Testament never condemns it. It never condemns it. In the New Testament, the picture's changed. In the New Testament, the teaching is one man, one woman.

In fact, I have a good friend who's a Mennonite pastor who studied the word "fornication." He said the word "fornication," when you take it to the very end and study it all the way, it is anything except sexual relationships between one man and one woman, that woman being his wife. Anything else, any other sexual activity at all, constitutes fornication. It's that narrowly defined.

So although the Old Testament never condemns it, every time it's mentioned, there are huge problems that come up from it. It is a lesson to us that it is a mistake to want, to think about, to have, to live in a culture where you have multiple wives. Think about it. Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. What a mistake, right? Jacob, Leah, and Rachel—remember that? What a mistake.

Gideon, his illegitimate son, Abimelech, well, from a concubine. What a problem—a mistake. Again, his half-brothers ran him out of town. Jephthah, here we go. David, multiple wives. What problems he had with the children of those. And Solomon, a thousand wives and concubines. Boy, that must have been fun, huh? Can you imagine to have a thousand wives and concubines?

He'd still be in the Valentine's card store buying Valentines. And you think if he sent two of the same cards just to two wives, they wouldn't find out? You know they would. He could only make one mistake there and they'd find out. What a horrible thing. It's always portrayed as something that led to trouble. So if somebody says, "What about the Old Testament about polygamy?" you say to them, "You take me to one good example where it played out well. Take me to one." There wasn't one.

Well, and again, here he is rejected by his half-brothers, and there's a truth here: that rejection leads to rebellion. You do not submit willingly to somebody who you sense has rejected you. You will rebel against that person. And that's why, a lot of times, when there is rebellion, we need to look back at the root of that. Now again, we are rebellious by nature, so this is not an absolute, but we do need to look back to the beginning, look at the root and say, "Was there rejection on the one side that actually led to rebellion?"

There's no excuse not to submit, but there's something within our nature that takes us there. And he builds up this gang of men. Soon he had a band of rebels following him. This again leads to thoughts of King David, what happened when he fled from Saul before he was crowned king. The commentary Gill says this: "Men whose pockets were empty. These were people that had nothing to live for; they had nothing. And they were a bunch of malcontents, dissatisfieds, who had nothing, had nothing to live for, really no reason to live in any other except in rebellion with him."

So they're out probably robbing and pillaging. Verse four: "About that time the Ammonites began their war against Israel. When the Ammonites attacked"—and that's key—the Ammonites have attacked. The battle has started. They have attacked. That's critical as we read this. The leaders of Gilead sent for Jephthah in the land of Tob. They said, "Come and be our commander, help us fight the Ammonites."

But Jephthah said to them, "Aren't you the ones who hated me and drove me out of my father's house? Why do you come to me now when you're in trouble?" "Because we need you,"—remember, they're attacking, the war is on—"Because we need you," they replied. "If you will lead us in battle against the Ammonites, we will make you ruler over all the people of Gilead."

Jephthah said, "If I come with you and if the Lord gives me victory over the Ammonites, will you really make me ruler over all the people?" "The Lord is our witness," the leaders replied. "We promise to do whatever we said." So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead and he became their ruler and the commander of the army. At Mizpah, in the presence of the Lord, Jephthah repeated what he had said to the leaders.

The battle's underway. Verse twelve: "Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon demanding to know why Israel was being attacked. The king of Ammon answered Jephthah's messengers, 'When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they stole my land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and all the way to the Jordan. Now then, give back the land peaceably.'"

This is still going on in the Middle East, isn't it? And it will till the end of time. Jephthah sent this message back to the Ammonite king: "This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not steal any land from Moab or Ammon. When the people of Israel arrived at Kadesh on their journey from Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea. They sent messengers to the king of Edom asking permission to pass through his land." This is, I believe, in Numbers 20.

He asked permission to pass through his land, but their request was denied. Then they asked the king of Moab for similar permission, but he wouldn't let them pass through either. So the people stayed in Kadesh. Finally, they went around Edom. The Israelites went around Edom and Moab through the wilderness. They traveled along Moab's eastern border and camped on the other side of the Arnon River. But they never once crossed the Arnon River into Moab.

Then Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, asking permission to cross his land to get to their destination. But King Sihon didn't trust Israel to pass through his land. Instead, he mobilized his army at Jehaz and attacked them. But the Lord, the God of Israel, gave his people victory over King Sihon. So Israel took control of all the land of the Amorites who lived in that region, from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

The reason God said to go around Edom and Moab was that they were kin. They were kin to the Israelites. They were related. And so he said, "Do not destroy them; don't touch them." That was not true of Ammon. And even though they asked permission to go through Ammon, he attacked. It's the first military victory that there was in the conquest of Canaan. It's the very first battle that Israel fought, was against King Sihon and the Amorites, going back as they first came into the land, which was some three hundred years ago, which you'll see.

So you see, it was the Lord, the God of Israel—he's still talking to the king by messenger—so you see it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who took away the land from the Amorites and gave it to Israel. Why then should we give it up to you? You keep whatever your god Chemosh gives you, and we will keep whatever the Lord our God gives us. Has rings of Gideon's father, doesn't it? You know, can't Baal take care of himself? You have to defend him? And he's saying the same thing here. Whatever your god gives you, you keep; whatever our God gives us, we'll keep.

Guest (Male): God's people are reasonably stating their case in a fair and diplomatic way. Will this diplomacy succeed? We'll find out next time as Pastor Thom Keller returns to Judges right here on Study the Word. To hear this message again, simply go to ccleb.com and look under resources. That's ccleb.com.

If you'd rather have a CD copy, call 717-507-7862. That's 717-507-7862. And for those that give to the ministry this month, we'll say thanks by sending you Pastor Thom's entire study of Daniel. There are twenty-two messages in this helpful series and we've put them onto a flash drive. Get the entire study of Daniel for a gift of any amount by calling 717-507-7862 or write Study the Word, 740 Willow Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, 17046.

If you live close by or will be visiting the area soon, drop on by. For service times and more information about Calvary Chapel Lebanon, turn to ccleb.com and download our free Android app. Search Calvary Chapel Lebanon in the Google Play Store. We'll get back into Judges next time on Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller. And may God richly bless you as you study the Word.