OPPRESSED BY THE ENEMIES?

 ANCHOR OF LIFE DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE For THURSDAY, 13TH APRIL, 2023.

Author: PASTOR DR. SAMUEL AYORINDE – General Overseer, Anchor of Life & Redemption Ministry Int’l

Topic: OPPRESSED BY THE ENEMIES?

MEMORIZE: “So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.” Judges 4:2

SCRIPTURE READING: Judges 4:1-7.

“When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. 2 So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. 3 And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he harshly oppressed the children of Israel. 4 ¶ Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, "Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, 'Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; 7 'and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand'?"”

 EXPOSITION:

When they forsook God, he forsook them; and then they became an easy prey to every spoiler.  They alienated themselves from God as if he were none of theirs; and then God alienated them as none of his. Those that threw themselves out of God's service threw themselves out of his protection. What has my beloved to do in my house when she has thus played the harlot? Jeremiah 11:15 says “"What has My beloved to do in My house, Having done lewd deeds with many? And the holy flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you rejoice.” He sold them into the hand of Jabin, Judges 4:2. This Jabin reigned in Hazor, as another of the same name, and perhaps his ancestor, had done before him, whom Joshua routed and slew, and burnt his city, Joshua 11:1,10. But it seems, in process of time, the city was rebuilt, the power regained, the loss retrieved, and, by degrees, the king of Hazor becomes able to tyrannize over Israel, who by sin had lost all their advantage against the Canaanites. This servitude was longer than either of the former, and much more grievous. Jabin, and his general Sisera, did mightily oppress Israel. 

WHAT AGGRAVATED THE OPPRESSION WAS... 

1. That this enemy was nearer to them than any of the former, in their borders, in their bowels, and by this means had the more opportunity to do them a mischief. 

2. That they were the natives of the country, who bore an implacable enmity to them, for invading and dispossessing them, and when they had them in their power would be so much the more cruel and mischievous towards them in revenge of the old quarrel. 

3. That these Canaanites had formerly been conquered and subdued by Israel, were of old sentenced to be their servants (Genesis 9:25 “And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.”), and might now have been under their feet, and utterly incapable of giving them any disturbance, if their own (Israel’s) slothfulness, cowardice, and unbelief, had not suffered them thus to get head. To be oppressed by those whom their fathers had conquered, and whom they themselves had foolishly spared, could not but be very grievous. 

Israel returning to their God: They cried unto the Lord, when distress drove them to him, and they saw no other way of relief. Those that slight God in their prosperity will find themselves under a necessity of seeking him when they are in trouble. When they cried to God, He sent deliverer for them. Their deliverance is concerted between Deborah and Barak, Judges 4:6,9.  It is accomplished by their joint-agency.  Barak takes the field, Judges 4:10. Sisera, Jabin's general, meets him, Judges 4:12,13.  Deborah encourages him, Judges 4:14. And God gives him a complete victory. The army routed, Judges 4:15,16. The general forced to flee, Judges 4:17. And where he expected shelter he had his life stolen from him by Jael while he was asleep (Judges 4:18-21), which completes Barak's triumph (Judges 4:22) and Israel's deliverance, Judges 4:23,24. 

ACTION POINT: God the Father have raised Jesus Christ His Son for us as our deliverer. We must trust Him for our victory and restoration.

DAILY BIBLE READING IN A YEAR –  2 Kings 16-18.

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ANCHOR OF LIFE is the daily devotional guide of ANCHOR OF LIFE & REDEMPTION MINISTRY (ALRM), written by PASTOR DR. SAMUEL AYORINDE. It is an extraction of God’s word designed to draw the sincere seekers closer to God on a daily basis through an insightful exposition and analysis of God’s Word.

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