Into the Land of the Hittites - Judges 1:26

In the book of Judges we learned how, “the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them. And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Show us, we pray you, the entrance into the city, and we will show you mercy. And when he showed 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”, and in chapter one and verse twenty-six of Judges, we learn how “the man went into the land of the Hittites”, where we read,

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.

The verse reads, “And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz:” The writer began with the words, “and the man” which means “and the male human being who revealed where the entrance to the city of Bethel was located” “went into the land of the Hittites” or “left, departed and proceeded into the region, territory and district belonging to the Hittite whose name means ‘descendant of Heth’ and was the nation descended from Heth, the second son of Canaan; once inhabitants of central Anatolia (modern Turkey), later in north Lebanon”, “and built a city” or “and erected and constructed a dwelling place, habitation and abode”, “and called the name thereof” which means “and declared and proclaimed the fame, reputation and glory pertaining to the dwelling place to exist as” “Luz” whose name means ‘almond tree’  and was the early name of Bethel and probably the name of the town in close proximity to the actual location of the altar and pillar of Jacob”. The writer shared how the man who was set free by the people of Joseph who showed them the entrance to “Bethel” departed to the territory belonging to the “Hittites” and erected a dwelling place to which they gave the name of “Luz”. 

The verse continues, “which is the name thereof unto this day.” The writer added the words, “which is the name thereof” which means “that exists as the city’s fame, reputation and glory” “unto this day” or “to the current sunrise to sunset or time period”. The writer shared how “Luz” exists as the “name” for the territory overtaken by the “man” to the current time period.

When we think through the words in this verse, we discover how the “man” who exposed the entrance of “Bethel” to the spies of “Joseph” departed to the area where the “Hittites” lived, and he constructed a dwelling place there and renamed the city to “Luz”. Because of his willingness to serve the spies from “Joseph”, he was given his own area in which to build and dwell. God desires to have a personal relationship like this with all of us, and it begins when we surrender our lives to His Son Jesus who died on the cross for the sins of all mankind and was raised from the dead after three days. When we yield to Him as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and give us His Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and provide the ability to conquer whatever areas He has in mind for us. (See John 3:16; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 3:20)

Next time we learn, “neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".