Judges 2 – Unable to drive out the Canaanites (Judges 1:11-36)

Recap last message:
Achan – Through the story of Achan, we received the general answer as to why us humans are subject to the wrath of God and receive destruction. Original man were supposed to be completely dependent on God and live according to His will, but God is angry when we set our hearts on anything other than God and commit the sin of not depending on Him.
Achan committed that sin of disbelief when he took the Gold and Silver for himself.
Valley of Achor was the place to heap that curse against the sin. But at the same time, that Valley of Achor became the door of hope for us all = cross of Jesus Christ.
So the lesson we learn from the story of Achan is NOT “let’s not be like Achan”, but rather “we are all Achans, so without the grace of God we have no choice but to be cursed and destroyed, but by God’s grace we are re-created to be His children = gospel”

In today’s passage, there is something that is happening repeatedly. All the tribes of Israel, including the tribe of Judah are advancing into the land of Canaan, but every single one of those tribes do not drive all the Canaanites out, and leave some. Verse 28 explains why:
<Judges 1:28>
The Israelites left the Canaanites in the land in order to make them slaves, use their civilised developments, their conveniences, to ultimately enjoy a prosperous life in Canaan. And although in v28 it says that the Israelites left the Canaanites in order to use them as slaves, other parts of the passage says that the Israelites were unable to drive them out.
Which one is correct?
There is a difference in choosing not to drive them out and being unable to drive them out, right?
<Judges 1:19>
It says that the Lord was with Judah, but that Judah was unable to drive out the people from the plains because of the Iron Chariots right?
Then are the Iron Chariots stronger than God?
Here, the Iron Chariots do not appear as things that the Israelitesfear, but they appear as things that the Israelitesdesire. This is why later on, the Israelites use these Iron Chariots themselves. So the reason why the Israelites did not drive out the people from the hill country who made the Iron Chariots is not because the Iron Chariots were stronger than God, but because the Israelites were so impressed by the Iron Chariots, and thus kept the people that made them.
Then why does the bible record that the Israelites were “Unable” to drive these people out?
The bible is indirectly expressing how strong the attraction of this world’s power and value is. In other words, the bible is confirming that those who have not been “graced” by God cannot love God more than they love the appeal of Canaan (world). To the extent of disobeying God’s commands, the appeal of the world is strong for us.
When God sent His people into Canaan, the purpose wasn’t simply to go and find a good land for His people. If that was the case, He could’ve done that by Himself without getting the Israelites to go on this journey and fight wars. He could’ve just found a nice unoccupied land to take the Israelites to.
Rather, God sent His people on purpose to this well developed and civilised land of Canaan to ultimately teach the Israelites that those things are empty and meaningless, and that His people must completely depend on Him.

Ham, Shem and Japheth – 3 sons of Noah.
Ham is cursed. It is Ham’s descendants that raise up both Egypt and Canaan. 
God allows His people to experience the two lands that those cursed by God have built up, and experience how they are destroyed by God. Through that, God teaches His people who have been given grace (i.e. the descendants of Shem, God’s people), why we should not live according to the principles of the world kingdoms. But the appeal of this world is fatally strong so He exposes the fact that we cannot overcome that appeal by ourselves, and He introduces the cross of Jesus Christ into that state.
In the land of Canaan, it becomes clear that the descendants of Shem are no different to the descendants of Ham, the people of Canaan. But the only difference is the cross that invades them. That is the life of the believer.

Story of the Titanic
It was the greatest luxury ship in its time, and as such apparently there were a lot of the world’s richest people on board. And they had brought with them incredibly expensive jewellery and a lot of money to enjoy extravagance and gambling.
How envious do you think the working class people in the cheap rooms would have been? But on the 4th day of the voyage, the ship hit an iceberg and sank in the ocean.
Do you think the rich people needed their jewels and their money at that moment? All they needed at that time was a life jacket and a seat on the rescue boat.
But the life jacket and the life boat are things that look absolutely useless while the ship is cruising fine through the sea. No one would have paid any attention to them right?
To those who know that this world is facing God’s judgment, there should be nothing more valuable that the life jacket.
Jesus said that this world is like the titanic that at any time will sink:
<Matthew 24:37-39>
In this way, this world is just a massive cruise ship facing an imminent crash. No matter how much land you own, no matter how big of a house you have, no matter how much gold and silver you’ve got stored, you won’t be able to take any of those things with you. Not only that, it’s those who are holding onto more of those that will sink first.
Let’s have a look at the verse straight after…
<Matthew 24:40-41>
There will come a day when one of the two men in the field will be taken, one left behind. Then one woman from the hand mill will be taken and one left behind.
When we are numb and ignorant to that day that is coming, we may care about who has the bigger field, whose field is producing the best and most crops etc. What is being ground in the hand mills by who will also be a point of interest. But on the day of judgment, the heavenly kingdom which works on completely opposite principles as this world will clash with the earthly kingdom, and the people who belong in the different worlds will also be distinctly split.
At that moment, will it matter at all how much more the other person’s field had produced? What is important is who will be taken and who will not. If you are left behind, that is the end.
Which is why we need to stake our lives on whether we are living as those who believe in Jesus, who is the only way, truth and life.
Even so, our focus is on the Iron Chariots of this world. Those things are what’s making you angry, happy, crazy and disappointed right? No matter how much you deny it, and how much you think you have emptied your hopes and desires of this world, in a crucial moment you stumble because of the things of this world right? How God invades the lives of His people in those moments, that is the story of Judges.

If you look at the Hebrew names of the places where the Israelites left behind the Canaanites without driving them out in today’s passage, the meanings are very interesting:
<Judges 1:33>
“Beth Shemesh” means the “house of the sun” and “Beth Anath” means “The house of the Goddess of Anath”.
And “Mount Heres” in verse 35 means “mount of the sun”.
These names are implying that the failure of the Israelites to conquer Canaan is not simply a failure to conquer the land, but a failure in the holy war to overthrow the idols occupying that land.

This is our state.