I hope you guys are catching the significance of what’s being communicated here in Judges Chapter 1.
I’m talking about the difference between the peace that man constructs versus the peace the Lord instructs.
Fleshly Israel saw nothing wrong with making peace with their neighbors.
They saw nothing wrong with participating in their neighbors’ festivals where they bowed down to their neighbors’ false gods while at the same time proclaiming allegiance to the Lord.
They saw nothing wrong with inter-marriage between the Canaanites and themselves (which was quite common by the way).
Israel reasoned to herself all was fine and dandy because through their own fleshly efforts, they were able to achieve a measure of peace.
But it was a peace built on shifting sand instead of solid rock.
What irked fleshly Israel is that God’s way to peace meant war.
But Israel didn’t wanna fight a war.
So to avoid the difficult and the inconvenient, they decided to compromise.
Unfortunately, the Lord’s peace does not involve compromise.
Peace must be achieved in His Way or not at all.
And it must come from our free will.
The Lord will not force His way on us.
Unfortunately, it seems Israel was blind to their condition during this time.
They just couldn’t accept that maybe they were in the wrong with God.
Why?
Because, as I just said, through their own fleshly efforts they had attained a measure of peace by compromising.
And they felt good about it.
Well, as the old cliche goes, pride comes before the fall.
The moment I heard about the “Abraham Accords” I was reminded of this Scripture portion. Never fails,
man misses the mark.
Yup.