In the book of Judges we learned how Israel forsook Jehovah God, and “the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice. I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died. That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua”, and in chapter three and verse one of Judges, we begin to learn, “these are the nations which the LORD left” where we read,
Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them,
even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
The verse reads, “Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, …” The writer began with the words, “now these are the nations” which means “now the following exist as the foreign, pagan and heathen people groups: “which the LORD left” or “that Jehovah who is the existing One and the proper name to the One True God, allowed to remain, stay and continue”, “to prove Israel by them” which means “to test, try and assay Israel whose name means ‘God prevails’ and is the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob, through the means of them, the pagan people groups”. The writer shared how the following is a list of the pagan people groups that were allowed to remain among the people of Israel to test and try them.
The verse goes on to say, “… even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;” The writer continued with the words, “even as many of Israel” which means “also and indeed because a great number of the people who belonged to Israel whose name means ‘God prevails’ and is the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob” “as had not known” or “who did not in any manner perceive, understand, discern, distinguish and distinguish” “all the wars of Canaan” which means “each, every, the whole and everyone of the battles and fighting belonging to Canaan whose name means ‘zealous or lowland’ and was the fourth son of Ham and the progenitor of the Phoenicians and of the various nations who peopled the seacoast of Palestine”. The writer referred to the number of the people of “Israel” who were unaware of the numerous battles which were fought in opposition to the people of Canaan.
When we consider the words in this verse, we learn why Jehovah God allowed the pagan people groups to remain living among the people of Israel. God was to use them to “test” the people of Israel as to whether they would be faithful to Him and His ways or not. The current generation of the people of Israel did not experience the battles and fighting against the people of “Cana”, and therefore they were not as opposed to them like those in previous ages. God knew this, and because He knows all people tend to be unaware of the acts and deeds of previous generations, He sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind and raised from the dead after three days. When we put our faith and trust in Him as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and put His Holy Spirit within us to guide us into all truth and make us aware of past and current generational battles that have a direct affect upon His people. (See John 3:16; Ecclesiastes 1:4; Daniel 4:3)
Next time we learn that this was done, “that the generations of the children of Israel might know”, 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".
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