Read Judges 9:22-11:28
It is so important to read the Old Testament to understand God’s ways. When we look at circumstances we can’t just say if it is bad it is the devil and if it is good it is God. We start our reading today seeing that God sent a spirit that stirred up trouble - an evil spirit. That will mess with our theology. Satan’s demons are at God’s command. They are his servants just like the Gideonites were suppose to serve the Israelites. God used demons to bring division between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem. God was avenging Gideon’s seventy sons that were murdered by Abimelech. Many times in the Bible God turned his people over to the enemy to discipline them. He turned Israel over to the Philistines and the Ammonites in our reading today. It was because they had abandoned him and stopped serving the Lord all together. They needed an intervention.
God raised up a man named Jephthah who was the son of a harlot whose dad ruled the city. This man’s real sons threw Jephthah out of town because they didn’t want him to get any of their inheritance. Jephthah was a warrior so when their town was attacked by the Ammonites, these mean brothers came looking for Jephthah. They promised him that if would just come help them secure their land, he could be their ruler. He agreed to come.
Jephthah sent messages to the King of Ammon asking him why they were attacking his land. The king replied that the Israelites had stolen the land from him when they came from Egypt. Jephthah knew his history and told them how the Israelites got the land. God had given it to them because their king refused to let the children of Israel pass through it peacefully. Then he asked him who was stronger God or him? That is what it all comes down to. When God gives us a territory the devil will always come and try to take it back. We have to know the Word and what our inheritance is. We also have to stand up in the power of the Holy Spirit and stand our ground.
Lord, help us to hide your Word in our hearts that we would know our territory and how to defend it.
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