Judges 1:1–2: “Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, ‘Who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?’ And the LORD said, ‘Judah shall go up. Indeed I have delivered the land into his hand.’”

April 15th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

We read almost the same opening line in Judges as we read in Joshua, “After the death of Moses.” Judges opens with, “after the death of Joshua.” At first the children of God started off well. Even after Joshua’s death, they sought the Lord, asking Him what they were supposed to do next. However, it wasn’t long before they began to fall into unbelief. God told Judah to go against the Canaanites, and in the very next verse Judah asked another tribe to help them because they lacked faith in what God had told them to do. God commanded, “Judah is to go,” and Judah immediately responded with, “Simeon, how’d you like to go too?”

We read in verse 19 that Judah failed to take all that God had given them, and by the end of the chapter we find that they not only didn’t dislodge the Amorites but allowed them to live among them. This was more an issue of obedience to God than of military superiority. They were satisfied with far less than what God wanted them to have, and far less than what God had provided for them. These Israelites didn’t say anything like, “let’s forsake God.” They simply decided they would rather be satisfied with less, than fully obey.

Ten tribes went against their enemies, and each had to make a choice whether they would obey God or obey their own will. And although they obeyed far enough to go out to fight the Canaanites, once they saw the strength of their enemy they, like Judah, decided to invite them in to live, rather than trust the Lord to completely defeat them. This is like inviting sin into our own lives, saying, “It’s just too hard to overcome this sin; a little bit can’t hurt that much, can it?” Each tribe was disobedient to God’s command, which resulted in their living with their enemies. They paid the price by not walking in all God had for them and making themselves vulnerable. As believers, if we satisfy ourselves with less than God’s best for us, we will never become all that God wants us to be.

“LORD, help us to see clearly the danger in our own lives of allowing the enemy to have any part of us by accepting sin, no matter how small. Forgive us and cleanse us this day to serve You with an undivided heart.”

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Judges 1 KJV

¹ Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? ² And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. ³ And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him. ⁴ And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men. ⁵ And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶ But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. ⁷And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.   ⁸ Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. ⁹ And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley.  ¹⁰ And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. ¹¹ And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher: ¹² And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. ¹³ And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. ¹⁴And it came to pass, when she came to him , that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? ¹⁵ And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. ¹⁶ And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people. ¹⁷ And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. ¹⁸ Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof. ¹⁹ And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.  ²⁰ And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. ²¹ And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day. ²² And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el: and the LORD was with them. ²³ And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) ²⁴ And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy. ²⁵ And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family. ²⁶ And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day. ²⁷ Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. ²⁸ And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. ²⁹ Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. ³⁰ Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries. ³¹ Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob: ³² But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out. ³³ Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries unto them. ³⁴ And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley: ³⁵ But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.  ³⁶And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.