Slow Fade

Judges 1 begins with the death of Joshua, contains some exciting moments of victory for Israel but eventually ends up describing a nation lulled into a far less promising existence than what was first imagined. Consider the slow fade from conquest to quieted apathy as the Israelites no longer push forward in faith but rather allow their godless enemies to start dictating the terms of their inhabitance.

It begins well enough:
Judges 1:17 (ESV) And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and devoted it to destruction. So the name of the city was called Hormah.

Once again Judah is leading the way in conquest. This moment will sadly be the final description of complete victory for any of the tribes.

Judges 1:21 (ESV) But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites... so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

Judges 1:27 (ESV) Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants... for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land.

The same is true for Ephraim, Zebulun and Asher who let the Canaanites live among them. Sadly the verbiage swaps when it comes to Asher. Instead of the Canaanites living among them, the Asherites lived among the Canaanites:

Judges 1:32 (ESV) so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.

Even worse for Dan, it is the sheer will of the Amorites who stop them from taking the plain:

Judges 1:34–35 (ESV) The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain. 35 The Amorites persisted in dwelling in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labor.

How sad to see the slow fade from victorious conquests to a cornered settlement.

It's never a good thing for God's people to settle for where they are. I understand the need for contentment and the warnings scripture gives us about greed, but we need to clarify the difference between selfish desire and God-given directives for progress and advancement. The Church must be an advancing people. We must advance in justice and love for our neighbors, we must advance in purity and holiness among our own members and we must advance for truth and witness in our culture to them that do not believe.

The book of Acts maps out that NOTHING - legal power, unjust governance, persecution, strange cultures, jail, demons, beatings, riots, shipwrecks or anything else CAN stop the work of God among the nations. Here's what I don't want to be. I don't want to be a disbelieving Christian in my generation only to see the power of God move forward in the next generation for what we couldn't believe Him for. I want to be a part of God's advancement but it takes action on my part. Judges will teach us that God wants to move but it's typically we who hold Him back.

Why are these lessons so important? Because the only alternative to advancement is fading into obscurity among the world's powers. It happens slowly and inevitably as the little things we allowed to live in our lives start to control our lives. May it never be for me, for you or for the Church! Onward Christian. We may have setbacks, but God's Holy Spirit is the wind at our back, calling us to take new ground in the Spiritual realm and see His full promise come to pass.