The Book Of Judges Part 2

The Kingdom is about taking back land from the enemy inside the Promised Land. There are enemies to conquer, if you do not conquer them, they will conquer you. The worst thing you can do is to make a deal with the enemies, compromising and allowing them to live with you in the Land. YHVH wants you to be active in the process of eliminating the enemies from your life and He wants you to take control over your life. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit and He wants you to steer and hit the breaks and the gas, He will guide you but it is up to you to obey. He does not want robots; He wants a spontaneous Bride who loves Him out of free will, doing spontaneously what He desires for your life.

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In Chapter two we see that Israel made a deal with the enemy and YHVH said to them that their enemy will be a thorn in their side and their gods will be a trap to the people. This is an exact quote form Num 33:55 and they still have not learned. They realised what they have done and named the place Bochim, that means ‘weeping’.

From Gilgal to Bochiem The messenger of YHVH came from Gilgal and went to Bochiem. Why do we need to know that? Surely there must be something below the surface we can learn from.

Gilgal Bochiem -

The Aleph-Bet

… Aleph Bet Gimmel Dalet

…

…

- rolling, scull

Kaf Lamed Mem

- Weeping

Bet is before Gimmel and Kaf is before Lamed in the Aleph-Bet. This means that Bochiem is alphabetically before Gilgal and they were moving backwards, so to speak. They went from a place of rolling to a place of weeping because of their sin. Moving into sin is moving backwards, what would have happened if they were moving forward?

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There is Strength in Worship Lets go to the next letter after Gimmel

, which is Dalet

and the letter after

Lamed , which is Mem . Then we get the word "damah" that means silence. Lets put the picture together; we either comes from a place of rolling backwards into sin which results into weeping, or we move forward into righteousness resulting in silence. You thought it would have been the opposite of weeping which is rejoicing and praise, but it is not, it is silence. We find this same truth in Psa_65:1. &

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There must be silence (worship) first, before there can be praise. We always thought to make a joyful noise and to praise first, but we see in this Psalm, that we get silent before YHVH before we praise Him. If we do not know how to worship YHVH in silence, you will not be able to praise Him making a joyful noise. To worship in silence is spiritual and cannot be seen in the open but to rejoice is physical and can be seen by everybody. To praise should be as a result of your worship and intimacy with YHVH. The Church has the order wrong when they praise before they worship in their services. We must start from the inside out because YHVH works from the inside out and Satan twisted everything and works from the outside in. When you truly worship YHVH, it is silent, and out of that, you can move into true praise. The strength of your relationship is found in the time you spent in silence before YHVH, worshipping and adoring Him. Do you make time to worship YHVH in you inner room and how do you manage your time you spent with YHVH? In this lies the key to a good and strong relationship with Him. Worship is the word “shachah”

and means; ‘to depress, that is, prostrate

(fall flat on your face in homage to royalty or YHVH): - bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat), humbly beseech, do (make) obeisance, do reverence, to admire, to show respect, worship. We see in the Hebrew letters a “Shin” Spirit, as in purifying fire, we see a “Chet” “Hey”

that means

that means ‘Life’, and we see a

that means ‘Light’. To worship YHVH is to Worship Him in Spirit and in

Truth and then you will experience real Life.. / /. 0+ $ + 0&# 2, ,23,1 4

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There are two types of worship; a spiritual way and a physical way. The spiritual way of worship is what we just looked at now, and is to go in isolation and in silence, adoring Him and to telling Him how much you appreciate and love Him. Then there is the physical way to worship Him, and that is to worship Him in Truth. This kind of worship is the Hebrew word “avodah” that comes from he root word “Avad” that means; servant, to work, to create, to make and worshipers. To worship in truth is to live a life where you express His Truth, living out His Commandments while doing your every day work.

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The name Gilgal means, “rolling away”, and on a personal level means that our sin is rolled away and that we can enter the Promised Land. The only question is, will you move forward into worship and praising YHVH, or will you go backwards into sin, weeping? The time you allocate to YHVH will determine how open you will be towards sin. YOU have to drive out and keep out the Enemies 5

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Verse two is a quote from Numbers 33:55 and they did not obey the principle from the past; to wipe out the enemies because they will give you trouble in the end. Note, YOU have to drive out the enemies from the land, not YHVH. These are the ‘internal’ enemies in your life you have to deal with. Spiritually it means that you have to get rid of sin, bad habits, past hurts and issues in your life so that they wouldn’t become splinters in your eyes and become a thorn in your side or cause you to become a thorn in someone else’s side. When you live with the enemies making deals with them, (sin or past hurts), you will be like a person with splinters in your eyes. People like this cannot “see” properly and are stumbling and bumping into things. They get into other people' s space, touching them inappropriately, trying to find their way. This is a person who acts out of his or her emotions; they stumble into people' s lives, say things that hurt others and cannot see the consequences of their deeds. They touch people in a way that hurt or offend them or make them uncomfortable. They stumble through life like a drunkard with a trail of broken relationships. You need to be a servant of righteousness; you must never give up the fight against those things in your life that causes you to act half blind and drunk and you need to have a clear vision to see the results of your actions. You need to do introspection to see your sin and/or hurts and deal with them so that you can change and live in peace with one another. YHVH gave you the ability to fight off the ‘old enemies’ in your life. Just don' t give up and never stop to rage war on those things that cause you to stumble and cause division and strive in the assembly and in your life. The most important thing you have to do is to realise that everybody have enemies (past hurts and sin in your life, and you must ‘want to’ get rid of them because they are blocking your vision and cause you to hurt others. Remember, you can only give out what you have received. If you get stuck in one place with your hurts, you will hand this out to others and transfer the pain. Face it and deal with it and fill yourself with the love of YHVH (worship) so that you may be able to hand that out to people around you.

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Three Stages of slipping into Sin Do not settle into an agreement of compromise with these enemies, to live with them in the same land (your life). Do not accept any sin in your life thinking that it is not so bad and that it is part of your character and people have to accept you the way you are. Pursue them and wipe them out because they will cause you pain in the end and be a thorn in your side. You will have restricted vision and will always be in pain, feeling bad or facing bad consequences because of your actions. You will be miserable, alone and will not live a life of freedom and victory. ) 6) # %

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The three phases of slipping into serious sin: •

• •

Compromise: First they forgot YHVH, which is a small sin. This happens if you compromise only a little bit. You live a casual life and set the wrong example to your children, not taking YHVH’s Word serious enough and apply it in your daily activities. To compromise is to make a deal with the enemies (sin) in your life. Secret Sin: Secondly they prayed to Baal, this is when you do sin in secret, which only you and YHVH can see. This is your pet sin and it forms a habit, which is difficult to break. Backsliding: Lastly they followed other gods and physically bowed down to them, which is sin in its fullness and others can see as fruit in your life. This is when you have backslidden and do not even care about YHVH’s things any more.

Sin starts of by forgetting YHVH' s ways, compromising and slipping your standard by not putting Him first (worship). Then you secretly do things that are hidden that only you know about it. Then you will get accustom to doing that ‘pet sin’ and it wouldn’t be long before you show the physical evidence of sin in your life that everyone else can see. The word says that ‘you will be known by your fruit’ and your actions will show what is in your heart. Do not even allow the first step of compromise into your life because you as a believer in Messiah are not free from committing any grievous sin. It only takes a slip in the standard and in your commitment to follow YHVH, to let you slip and fall on your back into the world. The word says that you that stand, to watch out that you do not fall. It is a continual process of discipline, humility and commitment to maintain a healthy relationship with YHVH free from enemies in your life. The enemy, Satan, is especially interested in you as a believer, to draw you back into the world. Remember the Chariots of Iron, his tactics and worldly systems that will pull down anyone who lay slack in keeping the enemies and giants out of their lives.

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The story opens with the following words:

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It may be hard for us to believe that Israel would substitute the worship of the great and all-mighty Elohim for worship of pagan idols of wood and stone. But before we condemn them, we should remind ourselves that we are guilty of the same sin when we put other activities and priorities before our relationship with YHVH. What are your idols? They may not be made of stone, but to Elohim they are just as sinful. Television, sport, hobbies, friends…..anything that keeps you from a relationship with YHVH that is done excessively and out of balance. YHVH allowed enemies in the Land of Canaan for two specific reasons: $ / ,. 91 ,1. %

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YHVH left the enemies in Canaan to teach Israel warfare and to test them whether they would follow the Torah received by Moses. Everything in our lives that happens is a test and a teaching, testing if you will do His Commandments and to teach you if you have any shortcomings so that you will overcome when you get the same test again. In the process you will also learn who the enemies are and how to make war against them. Israel faced six main enemies, which dwelled among them and they were their main enemies: 1. Canaanites – Flesh: Their name means ‘merchants’, and comes from a root that means – ‘to fold together’, ‘be low’ or ‘to depress’. . They are descendants from the son of Cham who was cursed. A merchant had to carry everything he was to sell and had to fold it together and squeeze it into his package, which he carried on a donkey, camel or wagon. They had a skill of packing and trafficking. Satan is also known as a trafficker, Eze 28:18. .: ; ) $) 8) ; . ! # $ ' )$

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" This is addressed to the wicked king of Tyre, who is a picture of Satan. Satan is the enemy that lived in the Garden and YHVH is giving everything back to us that we lost through Satan' s lies. We win the ground back by following YHVH and His Ways and Torah. Verse 17 - Satan' s wisdom was corrupted because of His brightness, splendor and pride. Why is Satan described as a merchant? He did his first sale in Eden when he offered Eve the opportunity to become like YHVH. She bought it and had to pay with everything YHVH gave them in the Garden of Eden. They fell from this higher ‘State of Life’ and were cast out of the Garden to live in a cursed world in a cursed body. Y' shua, by dying on the tree, came to buy back that was legitimately sold to Satan, the field, man (the Bride) and creation (the land). Creation groans with us to be finally redeemed at the end of time. [Rom 8:22] When Y' shua said, "it is finished", that Greek word for finished means; paid in full. We are already bought back and paid for and belong to Him. When He comes back with Him after the thousand years, we will finally take back the Land and Creation that Y' shua paid for after took back from Satan. Satan does have dominion over the world currently, but he does not control every individual, he is only YHVH' s sheepdog that snaps at the heels of YHVH' s people. Every believer has to face this enemy found in Canaan or the Promised Land (redeemed life) and we have to overcome this enemy known as merchants. We have to overcome them and take back dominion of the Land Y’shua bought back from Satan. You can only do this if you have the Blood of the Messiah on your life as the proof and the title deed for the ownership of this Land. This enemy is like squatters who are found around every corner, who bugs you to try to sell you fleshly lies in trade for your Land. They will lead you into fleshly things, away from the Torah and you will loose ground in your spiritual life (Garden of Eden life). Y' shua was tempted in the same way in the wilderness where Satan promised Him the world, in exchange for worshipping him. Satan wants to give you riches and possessions (fleshly stuff) in exchange of your worship. Everything that is more important than YHVH in your life is an idol bought form these merchants, the Canaanites. Satan uses the “Chariots of Iron” we saw in Chapter 1 to overcome YHVH’s people. These possessions will keep you BUSY (Being Under Stan’s Yoke) and consume your time so that your relationship with YHVH will die. 2. Hittites – Fear: Descendants of Het

and it means fear

or terror. Satan controls by fear and he will make you ineffective by overwhelming you by troubles and cares of this world. Do not fear so that you do not submit under this enemy. Fear YHVH so that He can control you rather than Satan and his bad reports. You will serve the one you fear and you will become a slave of the enemy if you fear them. Fear is the opposite of faith. You fear because you do not believe. What should I believe in order not to fear? The promises of YHVH and the fact the He will provide and look after you, guide you and protect you, as we have seen in the prophetic picture where Israel was led through the Wilderness by the means of a pillar of could and of fire. Het is spelled Chet - Tav, Chet means life and Tav means stake (cross) which represents death.

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YHVH says in His Word that He puts life and death before us and that we should choose life [Deut 30:19] YHVH gave us the opportunity to choose between faith and fear, life and death, blessings or curses. Choose faith and live and be blessed by putting your trust in Him and the enemy will flee. 3. Amorites – Lies :Amor means blabbers or talkers. This enemy is actively spreading lies, slander and bad reports spreading confusion, destruction and fear. When you believe the lies of the enemy, you will be bound by those lies and be enslaved by them. The Amorites is a picture of false doctrine that is based upon man' s traditions and/or pagan intermixing better known as the system of Babylon. They are also a picture of people slandering, breaking up relationships and unity. These messages are conveyed through lies and comes directly as a tactic invented by the ‘father of lies (Satan). To defeat this enemy, you need the truth because it is only the truth that will set you free. You also need to keep yourself out of the loop of slander so that you will not get caught up in the sticky web of Satan. You defeat this enemy by washing yourself with the water of the Word and guarding your tongue. 4. Perizzites – Anti-Torah Spirit: Perizzites means ‘without walls’. Think of a city without walls. Back in the day, a city without walls were very vulnerable and open for attack. The Torah is our safeguard and the Wall we live in to protect us from the enemy. The Perizzites represents the enemy that will teach you to be passive regarding the Word and to cling only to Grace. They also teach that the Wall is done away with and that you will be supernaturally protected from your enemies. These people have no walls of protection and in other words have no boundaries of protection of the Torah. They live a life of “freedom” but bear the painful consequences of being entrapped by Satan. They mix with the world and look like people in the world and have no light to shine except for one candle called ‘Grace’. This is the enemy operates in the spirit of the Anti-Messiah and teaches people against Torah and YHVH’s Wall of protection [Ps 91]. 5. Hivites – False Prophets or Teachers: Hivites comes from the root word “chavah”; that means – ‘to live’. It also means ‘wickedness’. People who are wicked are people without faith. Wicked is the word "ra-ah" that also means ‘to shepherd’. The Hivites are the bad shepherds who are supposed to bring life but bring only messages that will tickle their ears of the people, preaching what they want to hear. (prosperity, love, self esteem, grace). [Rom 11:8, 2 Ti 4:3-4] , / )( . ! % $

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They are the false prophets that will deceive many. To overcome this enemy in your life you have to have a love for the truth and seek the will of YHVH and not to believe things that are not based on the fundamental truths found in Scripture. 6. Jebusites – Satan’s Plan of destruction : Jabus is the name for Jerusalem found in Jud 19:10. Jabus means trampled down and this is the result of Satan what Satan wants. A name also means a destiny and Satan wants to change Jerusalem' s name from “Yerushalom”, that means, ' the teaching of peace'or ' the Torah of peace’, to ' Trampled down' . “Yeru” or “yarah” is the root word found in “Yerushalom” that is also the root word for Torah or Instruction or to ‘learn how to shoot’. “Shalom” means peace as well as ‘completion of the building process’ and this shows us that YHVH will complete the building up process or restoration of His people resulting in the place called Yerushalom that fulfill His Plan. To defeat this enemy is to be aware of YHVH’s Plan and bigger picture so that you can be in line with the plan, purpose and vision of YHVH, so that He can use you to accomplish His Plan and defeat Satan. Satan wants to destroy you and others, and keep people ignorant of YHVH’s Plan so that his plan or renaming of the City to “Jabus” can be established. Even with the knowledge of these enemies, the people of Israel still mixed with them and learned their ways and brought a curse upon them selves. '8 %#

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People in the world today do exactly the same thing, mixing with the enemies and learning their ways and they act and look just like them. YHVH gave them over to the king of Mesopotamia and they served Cushan-rishathaim (meaning double wickedness) eight years. This shows that if you as a believer in YHVH refuse to take action against these six major enemies, that He will let you bear the consequences of ‘double wickedness’ becoming just like these enemies. The sin that you embrace will become strong in your life and overpower you and you will become a slave and vehicle for that enemy to work through you and be an instrument in Satan’s hands, helping him to try to fulfil his plan to turn Yerushalom to Jabus – trampled down ruins.

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