The Judges (Complete) by S. Jones

THE JUDGES, Part 1

By Dr. Stephen Jones

Moses warned Israel that if they cast aside His law in rebellion against God (who was their King), He would bring judgment upon the nation. The list of judgments is seen clearly in Deuteronomy 28, wherein we are given the laws of tribulation. Such judgment was to be progressive in nature, for if they persisted in their rebellion, the tribulation would increase. In the end, they would be placed under an “iron yoke” (Deuteronomy 28:48), which meant that they would be exiled to foreign lands where they would serve other gods (Deuteronomy 28:64).

Deuteronomy 28:48 NET instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty you will serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you. They will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you.

Deuteronomy 28:64 NET The LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone.

The lesser judgments, as we learn later through Jeremiah, were pictured as a “wooden yoke,” that is, a lighter sentence. A wooden yoke assumed that the people would accept God’s judgment and submit to the rule of foreigners that God raised up to enslave them for a season. We are given many examples of this wooden yoke captivity in the book of Judges and 1 Samuel. These were Israel’s captivities during the three centuries between the death of Joshua and the death of King Saul.

Moses’ warning was based on his prophetic knowledge that Israel would indeed rebel, violate their covenant with God, and ultimately be exiled to foreign lands. So he told them plainly in Deuteronomy 31:29,

²⁹ For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.

Moses’ words proved to be true. Just 42 years after their Jordan crossing, they experienced their first captivity. This was just 14 years after the death of Joshua. It is hard to believe that they could fall so quickly into rebellion. During the next three centuries, they spent more than a third of their history in captivity to a variety of foreign nations.

Yet the Israelites were allowed to remain in their land as they paid tribute to their foreign masters. Such is the nature of a wooden yoke. But these wooden yokes ended later, first when Israel was deported to Assyria and a century later when Judah was deported to Babylon. The era of the iron yoke brought both Israel and Judah into a long-term captivity of “seven times” (i.e., 7 x 360 years), which did not end until 2017. Babylon is now being brought into divine judgment for refusing to relinquish dominion over the world, as prophesied in Jeremiah 50:33, 34.

Jeremiah 50:33-34 NET The LORD who rules over all says, "The people of Israel are oppressed. So too are the people of Judah. All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners. They refuse to set them free. (34) But the one who will rescue them is strong. He is known as the LORD who rules over all. He will strongly champion their cause. As a result he will bring peace and rest to the earth, but trouble and turmoil to the people who inhabit Babylonia.

The Deliverers, or Saviors

The book of Judges gives us the history of the captivities and the manner in which God raised up judges to deliver the Israelites after they repented. Each of these are types of Christ in the sense that they delivered the people from bondage. They “saved” the nation from captivity, which made them “saviors,” foreshadowing a greater salvation that was to come through Jesus. His Hebrew name, Yeshua, literally means “Salvation.”

Later, the ninth chapter of Nehemiah recounts those days wherein Israel was delivered from captivities. Nehemiah 9:27 reads,

²⁷ Therefore Thou didst deliver them into the hand of their oppressors who oppressed them. But when they cried to Thee in the time of their distress, Thou didst hear from heaven, and according to Thy great compassion Thou didst give them deliverers [yasha] who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors.

Yasha is the root of the name Yeshua. It can also be translated “savior.” In fact, the KJV translates this word as “saviours.” Though Yeshua-Jesus is the ultimate Savior, there are many types of Christ who are also saviors that play an essential role in the history of the Kingdom.

Obadiah 21 prophesies about the deliverance in the latter days from the descendants of Esau,

²¹ The deliverers [yasha] will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain [kingdom] of Esau, and the kingdom will be the Lord’s.

The NASB again renders yasha as “deliverers,” but again, the KJV translates yasha as “saviours.” Both are correct, but I prefer saviours, because it suggests that these Judges are types of Christ.

Obadiah shows that Esau-Edom was to hold dominion in the latter days. The implication is that when Edom is brought into judgment, then “the kingdom will be the Lord’s.” Thus, one must know the history of Esau-Edom and how he would come to hold dominion in the latter days if one hopes to understand what is going on today in the latter days.

Though it is Mystery Babylon that gets the most attention, we must also understand that Esau’s descendants have taken the top positions in Babylon. Hence, Esau too is slated for divine judgment for refusing to release the people and to implement the law of Jubilee.

I gave that history in my book, The Struggle for the Birthright.

Obadiah also shows that there is more than one deliverer in the latter days, for his term is plural. In other words, in the latter days God will raise up Judges once again who will act in some way as deliverers and saviors in the overthrow of both Babylon and Esau.

The Early Judges

There are seven or eight judges in the first few centuries of Israel’s history in the Promised Land. Taken together as a group, they represent a body of saviors whose collective feats more closely resemble the final Savior, Yeshua the Messiah. Their names are prophetic as well, and when we study those names, a hidden message emerges to reward our efforts with greater understanding.

We will study each of these names in turn, but here is the overall revelation in their names, which we will prove afterward:

“The voice of God united in His sons (in an orderly manner that is subject to God’s Word) will fell the enemy and open the Ark to show forth the light of the Sun.”

The list of Judges are as follows:

1. Othniel

2. Ehud

3, 4. Barak and Deborah

5. Gideon

6. Jephthah

7. The Ark (with Samuel)

8. Samson

We will describe each of their ministries in their turn.

First Captivity Patterns

Israel’s first captivity was to “Chushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia,” the old name of Babylon which means “land between the two rivers.” (Judges 3:8). By the Law of First Mention, the first captivity is the pattern-setter for all the other captivities. It is most important because it was a captivity to a king of Babylon (under its old name). Babylon, of course, figured very prominently in a later captivity in the time of Daniel and Jeremiah. Mystery Babylon is the final form of captivity before the great deliverance at the end of the age.

Israel’s captivity to the king of Mesopotamia lasted just eight years, but these years established a more long-term pattern in terms of eight cycles of Cursed Time (8 x 414 years). If you study my book, Secrets of Time, chapter 10, you will see that this captivity was dated from the year 2530 to 2538 (years from Adam). Israel had crossed the Jordan in 2488, and the captivity came 42 years later in 2530.

By converting the years from Adam to our present way of reckoning on our modern calendar, the captivity began in 1365 B.C. Two cycles of 414 years later came to 537 B.C., the year that Babylon fell in Daniel 5.

Another six cycles of 414 years brings us to the year 1948 A.D., the year that the Israeli state was founded. From the fall of old Babylon until 1948 the dominion mandate was passed down to Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the extensions (“horns”) in various forms until 1948, when Esau was given the dominion mandate to fulfill Isaac’s prophecy in Genesis 27:40 KJV. Since Jacob had taken the dominion mandate from Esau by lying and by identity theft, Esau had a valid case against Jacob in the divine court. Hence, the dominion had to returned to him at some point in history in order for justice to be done.

Genesis 27:40 NET You will live by your sword but you will serve your brother. When you grow restless, you will tear off his yoke from your neck."

The descendants of Esau-Edom were later conquered and absorbed by the Judeans under John Hyrcanus in 126-125 B.C., as we read in virtually all history books that deal with that topic. The first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, tells us in Antiquities of the Jews, XIII, ix, 1,

“Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea [the Greek name for Edom], and subdued all the Idumeans, and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would be circumcised and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision and the rest of the Jews’ ways of living; at which time therefore, this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews.”

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia states more plainly on page 587,

“The Edomites were conquered by John Hyrcanus who forcibly converted them to Judaism, and from then on they constituted a part of the Jewish people.”

The Jewish Encyclopedia, under Edom, says further,

“From this time the Idumeans ceased to be a separate people.”

Hence, the descendants of Esau, who was called “Edom” (Genesis 36:8), was later known by the Greek name Idumea. They ceased to be a nation separate from the Jews in 125 B.C. This merger had huge prophetic implications, for at that point the Jews themselves had two sets of prophecies to fulfill—one for Judah itself and the other for Edom.

Of course, if either group had come under the New Covenant through Jesus Christ, they could have become a new creation, avoiding the judgments written in Scripture. But as long as they remain under the Old Covenant, they are subject to the prophecies of the cursed fig tree and the prophecies in Obadiah, Isaiah 34:6-10, and Malachi 1:1-4 regarding Edom. Fortunately, many individuals among them have come to Christ and have thereby reversed the curses, at least on their own behalf.

The year 1948, being the end of 8 x 414 years dating back to Israel’s first captivity, was an extremely important turning point in prophetic history. It marked the point where Esau-Edom received the dominion mandate from Babylon, carrying on the secretive policy of “Mystery” Babylon. The dominion mandate itself dated back to Genesis 1:26 and was the divine right to rule the earth. Hence, from 1948 to the present time, Esau has had dominion even over Mystery Babylon.

By understanding the big picture and how Israel’s first captivity to the king of Mesopotamia set the pattern even for the latter days, we are able to see through the “mystery” of secret governments in the latter days. The rise of Othniel as the first judge, deliverer, or savior, also instructs the overcomers in our time about how we ourselves may be types of Christ in bringing deliverance to the world.

In part 2 we will look at the prophecy inherent in Othniel and the other judges.

THE JUDGES, PART 2, EHUD

The first Judge to set Israel free from captivity was Othniel. The eight-year captivity began 42 years after Israel crossed the Jordan, and it lasted 8 years, concluding with their first Jubilee in the 50^th year. Essentially, Othniel’s deliverance of Israel established the first pattern of a Jubilee.

Of course, keep in mind that if Israel had entered the land at their first opportunity, at the 50^th Jubilee from Adam, their Jubilee calendar would have aligned with the Creation Jubilee Calendar. Their first Jubilee would have been the 51^st from Adam. However, they entered the land 38 years late, so their Jubilee calendar was out of alignment, and this problem would have to be resolved in the centuries ahead. The Babylonian captivity disrupted their calendar, and when it was reinstated through Daniel’s seventy weeks, the calendar was only seven years out of alignment. In 1996 the calendar was fully restored through the Hezekiah Factor.

The Meaning of Othniel

Lexicons give the meaning of Othni-El as “Lion of God,” but the word othni comes from a root word that means “to force.” Hence, it refers to the force or power of God (as displayed in the power and roar of a lion).

Without some context, it is difficult to know more than this, but when we combine it with the next two Judges, Ehud and Barak, a picture begins to emerge. Ehud means “united,” and Barak means “lightning,” which, as we will see shortly, is a representation of the sons of God. Thus, the phrase should be understood as the power (voice) of God united with (or in) His sons.

The word picture is of a son of God roaring as a lion, as if the lion is within him, or united with him. Essentially, it is the voice of God coming through the sons of God in a display of power. In that context, Acts 1:8 comes to mind,

⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.

This is the power of the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5) being displayed when the sons of God become Christ’s witnesses in the earth.

The Captivity to Moab

In the story in Judges 3:12-30, Israel again forsook the law of God, so God strengthened Moab to cross the Jordan and to occupy Jericho, the “city of the palm trees” (Judges 3:13). Israel remained under the dominion of Moab for 18 years, which was 10 years longer than their first captivity. This is significant because 18 is the biblical number for oppression or bondage. See my book, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers from One to Forty.

Captivities meant that the people had to pay yearly tribute (taxes) to a foreign king, in this case, Eglon, king of Moab. Eglon’s name comes from egel, “calf, bull, heifer.” It reminds us of the molten calf which Aaron made for Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 32:4). There again the word for “calf” is egel.

This captivity, then, suggests that God had put Israel into bondage to the golden calf which they had desired to worship. In general, when the Israelites desired to worship foreign gods, God responded by putting Israel under the dominion of the “chosen people” of those false gods. In this case, it appears that the Israelites wanted to worship the god of the Moabites. But that god had “chosen” the Moabites as His people, and so the Moabites were given dominion over Israel.

We seldom truly understand the detrimental effects of worshiping false gods. In our ignorance, we think that we can retain dominion given to us by the true God and still worship false gods. But Yahweh does not allow this, and so He whips us with the rod of our own choosing to show us that those false gods only bring us into bondage.

Ehud, the Second Judge

Ehud’s name means “united, undivided, joining together.” It is the same as Ohad, Simeon’s son (Genesis 46:10).

By contrast, the name Moab was given to them on account of their origins (Genesis 19:32, 37). Recall that Moab was one of the sons of Lot that was conceived through incest. Moab means “water (seed) of father.” Moab was the result of an unholy union not sanctioned by God (Leviticus 18:7).

The lesson here is to show that if an Israelite thought he could worship a false god and still be considered a son of God, he was portraying an unholy union that was unqualified. One must be begotten by our true heavenly Father to be a son of God. In fact, all fleshly conceptions from our earthly fathers cannot make us sons of God. As sons of God, we are begotten by incorruptible and immortal seed (1 Peter 1:23), or, as John 1:13 puts it, “not by blood(line), nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

As we will see in this study, the main theme in the story of the Judges is the message of Sonship. The story of Ehud (“united”) tells us that sonship must be attained, not through an unholy union (Moab), whose seed is corruptible, but through the true union with Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Any unlawful union (marriage) will fail to bring forth the sons of God.

This story, therefore, is rooted in the principle of New Covenant marriage found in Genesis 2:23, as revealed in greater detail throughout the rest of Scripture. In the end, the entire divine plan to unify heaven and earth is built upon the marriage principle. As individual sons of God, we too are children of a heavenly Father and an earthly mother, resulting in a kingdom of priests who have access to heaven and earth. We may minister to God in our linens and to people on earth in our woolens, to put it in Ezekiel’s terms (Ezekiel 44:17, 19).

Ehud, then, provides us with a very important principle of marriage and lawful unity, without which we cannot become the sons of God. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us as “the power of God” (Acts 1:8), we are given the exousia (authority, right) to become the sons of God (John 1:12). Eventually, all of creation will be brought into this same liberty (Romans 8:21).

The Judges, Part 3, Barak and Deborah

The third Judge to deliver Israel in the book of Judges is generally believed to be Barak, but, as we will see shortly, Deborah was a judge before him and cannot be ignored in this prophetic story. Deborah means “a bee,” with implications of being “orderly.” Her name comes from the Hebrew dabar, “to put words in order, to speak.” This name fits well with her prophetic gift, for she was called to speak the word of God to bring order and understanding in her judgments.

Barak’s name means “lightning, a flashing sword.” In the context of the list of the Judges’ names, he represents two main ideas: the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17) and the sons of God. So Barak and Deborah both represent the word of God in similar ways.

The Canaanite Captivity

The deliverance story itself is found in the fourth chapter of Judges, followed by the Song of Deborah in Judges 5. In Judges 4:1-3 we read,

¹ Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died, ² and the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor… ³ and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.

The name Jabin means “whom He (God) observes.” The name is derived from bene, “to discern, perceive, consider, understand.” The implication is that God discerned his heart and knew his motives. Canaan means “merchant, banker, lowlander,” so from a prophetic standpoint, this implies that the intents of the merchant banker’s heart may be hidden, but that God discerns all things. So Hebrews 4:12 says,

¹² For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword [Barak], and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge [discern] the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

When Barak defeated Jabin, then, he pictured the word of God discerning “the thoughts and intents of the heart” and thus bringing perfect divine judgment upon the merchant bankers. Because the rulers of Mystery Babylon are mostly merchant bankers and industrialists owning most of the large corporations, this has relevance to us today as the sons of God move to expose and overthrow the modern Canaanites.

Jabin’s general was Sisera, “a field of battle, battlefield.” How that actually plays out in later prophecy is obscure, unless it refers to the courts. Under an iron yoke, the battlefield is usually the site of a war zone, but under today’s wooden yoke, the battlefield is the court room. As sons of God involved in this battle, we find ourselves doing battle in the divine court, where the sword of the Spirit discerns the hearts and conquers all.

Barak, the Son

As I wrote earlier, Barak means “lightning.” Lightning is seen to be God’s arrows, for we read in Psalm 77:17, 18,

¹⁷ The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth a sound; Thy arrows flashed here and there. ¹⁸ The sound of Thy thunder was in the whirlwind; the lightnings [barak] lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.

Here we see that lightning is God’s arrows, for they appear to shoot from heaven to earth with great flashes. But arrows are also children, as we see in Psalm 127:3-5,

³ Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward. ⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. ⁵ How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

Children are like arrows, and flashes of lightning are God’s arrows. Therefore, Barak, or “lightning,” represents the sons of God.

Barak and Deborah

Deborah was a judge and a prophetess, as we read in Judges 4:4, 5,

⁴ Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵ And she used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.

Deborah’s husband was Lappidoth, which is a plural word meaning “torches, lamps, or even lightnings.” He appears to suggest a personal relationship that parallels her professional relationship with Barak, “lightning.”

The “palm tree of Deborah,” where she judged disputes, was her open air court room. A palm tree represents authority that is derived from the feast of Tabernacles, for they are in the list of trees whose branches were used to build booths at the time of the feast (Leviticus 23:40).

Deborah was the one who first received the word of the Lord that it was time to throw off the yoke of Jabin and to set Israel free from that captivity. Judges 4:6 says,

⁶ Now she sent and summoned Barak, the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “Behold the Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun.’”

She understood that Israel’s sentence was to serve for twenty years. When that time ended, she sent for Barak and instructed him of his calling to deliver Israel. Nothing is said this time about Israel repenting prior to their deliverance, but this is implied. Barak responded in Judges 4:8, 9,

⁸ Then Barak said to her, “If you go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” ⁹ And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.

This established a partnership between Deborah and Barak, linking them together in this deliverance ministry. Though some have taken Deborah’s response as a rebuke upon Barak for not doing his manly duty, it actually draws our attention to the importance of the feminine role in our deliverance from the merchant bankers of Mystery Babylon today. This builds upon the overall revelation of the Judges’ names and the marriage principle established in the earlier story of Ehud, whose name means united.”

Male and Female in Sonship

Barak, in this case, is united with Deborah, as suggested (on another level) by Deborah’s marriage to Lappidoth, whose name can also refer to “lightning.” Prophetically speaking, it sets forth the important truth that it takes both male and female to bring forth the sons of God, and that this must also be a New Covenant marriage relationship, where, in a sense, “there is neither male nor female” (Galatians 3:28).

Paul was not telling us that there was an absence of male and female, but that there was an equality and importance between the two. We must learn to transcend gender so that we may ensure that both are able to fulfill their callings in bringing forth the sons of God. Men beget; women bring forth. Alone, one cannot fulfill the calling of sonship.

Perhaps the biggest hindrance to the message of sonship in the past few decades has been that the men preaching sonship failed to recognize the importance of the female’s role in this. By not granting New Covenant equality to the female, they have begotten but have not allowed the woman to bring to birth.

New Covenant marriage was the original arrangement in the Garden prior to their sin. When they sinned, God put the man in authority over the woman, saying to her, “he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16). What is usually missed, however, is that authority always comes with an equal measure of responsibility. In this case, the man became responsible to ensure that his wife was set free to fulfill her calling and destiny.

Unfortunately, the men usually used that authority to enslave their wives and limit their role to that of servants (“Hagar”).

The full birthright is having the authority of the dominion mandate and using it to bring forth fruit (the fruitfulness mandate). The authority of Kingdom government is to be used to set people free through the law of Jubilee, not to bring others into slavery or bondage. The penalty for sin may be to enslave for a season, but this was never meant to be a permanent condition. The master’s responsibility was to teach his slave to be obedient to Christ so that he might ultimately be set free of his own carnal soul that has bound him through sin.

It took both Deborah and Barak to overthrow the Canaanite king. So also, it takes both sons and daughters of God, working in unity, to overthrow the present bondage of the merchant bankers of Mystery Babylon and to see the manifestation of the sons of God.

Deborah’s specific role (as a “bee”) was to bring in the divine order through the word of God. To arrange words is to bring understanding of the word—in this case, seeing the word through New Covenant eyes, which was the original order in the Garden. See my book, Old and New Covenant Marriage.

The Victory Credited to Jael

Though Barak defeated the Canaanites in battle, Sisera, the Canaanite general, was killed by Jael, the wife of Heber. Judges 4:17 and 21 says,

¹⁷ Now Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite…. ²¹ But Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and seized a hammer to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died.

Here again the names of the players involved hold prophetic keys. Jael’s name means “mountain goat,” because the root word ya-al, means “to ascend, hold as valuable or useful.” Mountain goats were known to have the ability to ascend to mountain heights. So also Jael represents a woman who has been allowed to ascend to great heights in her calling. Her husband has recognized her value. He was named after the original Heber, or Eber (Genesis 11:14), from whom is derived the designation of Hebrew people.

Heber means “immigrant,” one has crossed over (avar). The New Testament book of Hebrews is the road map to guide those who are immigrating from the Old Covenant into a New Covenant understanding. The main portion of the name Heber is bar, “a son.” It is preceded by the letter ayin, “an eye,” which signifies seeing, watching, or manifesting. Hence, in its ultimate sense, a Hebrew is a manifested son of God, made possible by New Covenant thinking.

See my commentary on Hebrews: Immigrating from the Old Covenant to the New.

The fact that Jael is the wife of Heber speaks volumes, for it is another example in this story of a New Covenant relationship that is necessary in bringing forth the sons of God. Hence, in this story the emphasis is on the importance of the role of the woman, without whom the enemy cannot be slain, nor can the sons of God be manifested.

Our conclusion, then, is that sonship is not simply a male phenomenon. Sonship is not possible apart from a female role being united with the male role. The word of God is the incorruptible and immortal seed that begets us as the sons of God (1 Peter 1:23). The “Deborah” role is to bring divine order as it was at the beginning in the Garden before the advent of sin. When Deborah and Barak are united, the enemy can be defeated and the sons of God can be manifested.

So the Judges so far reveal the power (voice) of God (Othniel) united (Ehud) in His sons (Barak). The power of God has to do with the voice of the Lion of the tribe of Judah speaking by the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we are united with that word, for it enters our ears and lodges in our hearts, where Christ is begotten in us. Inasmuch as we are begotten by the Spirit, we play the role of the woman (bride of Christ), collectively speaking. Deborah is a company of people who have been begotten through Passover, mature through Pentecost, and are finally birthed through the feast of Tabernacles.

THE JUDGES, PART 4, LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF CAPTIVITY

I want to pause briefly in our study of the Judges to comment on the legal background of Israel’s captivities. In other words, what hidden things are accomplished by putting Israel into captivity? What happens to the dominion mandate during a captivity? How does God view this shift in authority?

The Birthright and Dominion

First, it is important to understand that the Birthright originated in the first chapter of Genesis, even though it was not actually mentioned until Esau sold it to Jacob in Genesis 25:31, 32. There were two main provisions in the Birthright: the dominion mandate (Genesis 1:26 KJV), which gave authority and the right to rule, and the fruitfulness mandate (Genesis 1:28), which specified the responsibility that was to be accomplished.

Many miss this, because they see the idea of being fruitful and multiplying only in terms of increasing the population of the earth. But when this mandate was given, Adam had not yet sinned, and so he was truly a “son of God,” as Luke 3:38 describes him.

Because like begets like by the law of biogenesis, if Adam had brought forth children prior to his sin, he would have brought forth sons of God in his image and likeness. But when he sinned, he lost that pristine condition as a son of God, and when he later begat children, they were born in his imperfect and mortal image.

The Responsibility to be Fruitful

For this reason, the divine revelation from that point on was really designed to show us how to become the sons of God. John 1:12 thus says,

¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right [exousia, “authority”] to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.

We see here that the children of Adam are no longer sons of God but must “become children of God” by faith in Christ. Their genealogy from Adam does not make them sons of God, because they lost God’s “likeness” when Adam sinned. So John goes on to explain that this right to become children of God are those “born not of blood,” or better, “begotten not of physical bloodline.”

The point is that the Birthright, or Right of Birth, comes on two levels: physical and spiritual. Being physically a first-born son of the Birthright holder gave him certain legal rights, but those rights were conditional upon his spiritual character. Such rights were not absolute. So Ishmael was disqualified on account of his mother’s status as a slave, and Reuben was disqualified because “he defiled his father’s bed” (1 Chronicles 5:1; Genesis 35:22).

Ultimately, all the descendants of Adam were disqualified through sin, and so we must all become sons of God in another way—by a second begetting by faith through hearing the word and receiving the immortal seed of the New Covenant gospel.

Sin brings slavery and captivity, where men lose their freedom and are stripped of the authority inherent in the Birthright. This happened universally when Adam sinned, bringing us all into slavery to Sin (personified as the slave master), whose “law of sin” (Romans 7:23) we are forced to obey through the weakness of human nature. Hence, “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23).

In a national application of this principle, Israel as a nation held the Birthright, including the dominion mandate to rule the earth. In other words, they were “chosen” as a nation to bring forth the sons of God and thus fulfill their responsibility to be fruitful and multiply. Their mandate was primarily to beget children of God. However, they failed to do so through sin.

Giving the Birthright to Other Nations

Because the law allows a first-born son to be stripped of the Birthright if he proved himself to be unworthy, Israel as a nation was also stripped of the Birthright. God convicted Israel in the divine court, and because the nation lacked the spiritual resources to pay restitution, God “sold” them to the king of Mesopotamia (Judges 3:8).

Again, God “sold” Israel to Jabin, king of Canaan (Judges 4:2). This sale came through the law found in Exodus 22:3, which says that if a man cannot pay restitution, he was to be sold as a slave. In other words, he would lose his freedom and be forced by law to serve his master for a specified time.

This is what God did with Israel. The dominion mandate was taken away from Israel and given to foreign nations. The legal implication of this is that Israel lost its “chosen” status temporarily. The dominion mandate was given to various foreign nations, and God then treated them as being “chosen.” But those foreign nations, being largely ignorant of God’s law and His ways, used the dominion mandate for their own carnal advantage, rather than to seek to bring forth the sons of God. They were given opportunity to hold the scepter for a short season, but they did not understand the responsibility that went with it.

In this way, God “chose” other nations, each in turn, giving them opportunity to experience the Birthright. Yet the sovereign plan of God had determined ahead of time that these nations would not fulfill the terms of the Birthright, nor would they bring forth the sons of God. Flesh is always given the first opportunity to do the work, if only to prove its insufficiency and unworthiness.

So throughout the book of Judges, we can see how God chose Mesopotamia (i.e., Babylon), then Moab, then Canaan, then Midian, then the Philistines, and so on. All of them proved to be unworthy of the Birthright, and so all of them were stripped of it at their appointed times. The dominion mandate continued to revert back to Israel when they repented, but unfortunately, Israel always fell into sin again.

Finally, in the time of Isaiah, God cast Israel out of the land and put them into captivity to Assyria. This turned out to be a very long captivity, and they never returned to the old land. A century later, Judah too was taken captive to Babylon. They returned after 70 years, but even then they remained under the dominion of the Persians—followed by the Greeks and Romans and then the “little horn” that was an extension of Rome. (See Daniel 7.)

As long as they were in captivity, the dominion mandate was held by foreign nations. That means the Birthright itself—and the right to be “chosen”—was held by foreign nations who could never bring forth the sons of God to fulfill the fruitfulness mandate. During this long captivity, neither Israel nor Judah were “chosen,” for they were still in “the dispersion” and not in the Kingdom of God.

The Final Phase

In 1948 Esau, aligned with the remnant of Judah (the cursed fig tree that came back to life), was given the Birthright in order to satisfy Esau’s claim on account of Jacob’s sin against him in Genesis 27. Yet because Babylon’s time was not yet complete, Esau’s claim had to be fulfilled within the overall context of the Babylonian captivity. Otherwise, Babylon might complain in the divine court that its time was being curtailed. God solved this problem by having Esau-Edom take control of Babylon, so that both claims could be fulfilled concurrently in the final 70 years of the dominion of the beast nations.

Of course, neither Edom nor Babylon have fulfilled the terms of the dominion mandate, for both were carnal. Neither had any intention of bringing forth the sons of God. Both sought slaves, rather than sons, and we know that slaves are not inheritors of the Birthright. Hence, these nations all followed in the footsteps of Hagar, the bondwoman, who could only produce slaves as her offspring.

Who are the Saints?

In the end, Daniel 7:21, 22 KJV says that when the final beast has reached the end of its time, the dominion will be passed down to “the saints of the Most High.” Daniel does not define this term, leaving room for many to think that he was referring to physical descendants of Israel or Judah. But the New Testament shows clearly that there is no “saint” apart from Jesus Christ.

A “saint” is one who is holy, pure, or clean. Under the Old Covenant, such cleanliness was achieved by ceremonial washings (baptisms), which the priests performed at the laver before entering into the sanctuary. But Hebrews 9:8-10 says,

⁸ The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing, ⁹ which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, ¹⁰ since they relate only to food and drink and various washings [baptismos, “baptisms”], regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.

We read in 1 John 1:7, “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Jesus Himself said in John 15:3, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” Men are not cleansed by physical water but by the washing of the word—that is, by believing the word of Christ and applying His blood, which cleanses us from all sin.

That is how a “saint” is defined under the New Covenant. That, then, is how we must define the word used in Daniel 7:22. These are the ones who are have received the Birthright that has been stripped from both Babylon and Esau on October 12, 2017. And while those carnal nations have yet refused to release their slaves and give up the dominion mandate, God has allowed them to hold it beyond their time limit in order to establish lawful cause to take it from them and to enslave them to the Kingdom of God.

The Birthright goes to the inheritors of the Kingdom. Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 15:48-54,

⁴⁸ As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. ⁴⁹ And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. ⁵⁰ Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable… ⁵³ For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Paul was comparing Adam with Christ. Adam’s name means “earthy,” and we have all borne his fleshly mortal and corruptible image. But through a second begetting and new birth, we are being changed into the immortal and incorruptible image of Christ, so that we may inherit the Birthright and the Kingdom. The Birthright will no longer be given to carnal people who remain in the image of the earthy man. Those who are “chosen” at the end of the time of beast dominion will be those who are in Christ’s image.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we see that Israel and Judah proved themselves to be unworthy, so God gave other nations the opportunity to hold the dominion and to fulfill its responsibility. All failed, of course, because all of them remained in the image of the earthy man, Adam, and so they followed his example of sin and corruption.

The time of the Kingdom was yet afar off, because Adam and his estate were sold into slavery for “six years” (Exodus 21:2), which prophetically was 6,000 years. So the beast nations were given the dominion until the time appointed for the saints of the Most High to become the manifested sons of God. These saints will include those who have died in the past, because Paul says that they will be raised from the dead first.

The bottom line is that the saints of the Most High are those who not only are given the dominion mandate but who also are birthed as sons of God who. These are to be presented to God on the eighth day of Tabernacles and then manifested to the people on earth.

This will mark the beginning of new era of evangelism, where the kingdom of God grows exponentially during th

THE JUDGES, PART 5A, GIDEON

After the Canaanite captivity, the land of Israel had rest for 40 years (Judges 5:31). But during that time, the Israelites again used their liberty as “an opportunity for the flesh” (Galatians 5:13). So we read in Judges 6:1,

¹ Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian seven years.

This captivity was characterized mainly by foreign immigration by Midianites and Amalekites, for many Israelites found themselves displaced from their own land. Judges 6:4, 5 says,

⁴ So they would camp against them [Israel] and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. ⁵ For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it.

It appears that the Midianite population had increased to the point where their own land was insufficient to support their flocks and herds. Needing more land, they came into Israel and left no land for the Israelites’ animals. They even took over the Israelites’ houses in some cases, causing the Israelites to find refuge in “the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the [mountain] strongholds” (Judges 6:2).

The Israelites then “cried to the Lord on the account of Midian” (Judges 6:7). This time, instead of sending a deliverer, God sent them a prophet to teach them a history lesson. Judges 6:8-10 says,

⁸ that the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, and brought you out from the house of slavery. ⁹ And I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land, ¹⁰ and I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live.” But you have not obeyed Me’.”

The written record of that prophet’s message ends here, but it implies that the people listened to him and repented. God had dispossessed the Amorites on account of their sin, and the Israelites had suffered a similar judgment by their impartial God. Deuteronomy 6:10-12 says,

¹⁰ Then it will come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you will eat and be satisfied, ¹² then watch yourself, lest you forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

However, the following verses warn the Israelites that if they were to follow other gods, “He will wipe you off the face of the earth.”

Surely this was part of the message of the prophet sent to Israel during the Midianite captivity, for the people had forgotten the true God, much like the Canaanites had forgotten God prior to their judgment at the hands of Israel. Just as God gave Israel the fruit of the Canaanites’ labor, so also would God give others the fruit of the Israelites’ labor.

Such was the divine judgment when God raised up the Midianites to take land, houses, fruit, and crops that the Israelites had labored to produce. The same judgment that God brought upon Canaan was visited upon Israel. This shows that God did not simply give the Israelites the labor of others, as if to put other nations into slavery to Israel. Slavery is a divine judgment, and when men or nations sin against God, they incur a debt to the law. If they are unable to pay that debt, God sells them into slavery and takes their labor as payment.

This should not be viewed as the right to enslave others nor as the right to steal others’ labor. It should be viewed in terms of God’s impartial judgments for sin, for when the Israelites themselves were guilty, God treated them as He had treated the Canaanites earlier.

The prophet was thus sent to Israel to teach them history, and (hopefully) to teach them the laws and principles of their impartial God.

Gideon’s Call

The biblical account goes abruptly from the message of the prophet to the call of Gideon in Judges 6:11,

¹¹ Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites.

Wooden-yoke captivities are mainly characterized by paying tribute (taxes) to those in dominion. Gideon was an ancient tax protester, not wanting to pay the high, unjust taxes to the Midianites. Hence, he was threshing wheat in a wine press.

Prophetically speaking, wheat harvest comes at the feast of Pentecost, and so this is a reference to Pentecost. The incongruity of threshing wheat in a wine press is as glaring as using a sickle to harvest grapes in Revelation 14:18. When we see such incongruities, we ought to take notice and look for spiritual meaning and prophetic significance.

Wheat is a prophetic type of the church under Pentecost (i.e., during the Age of Pentecost between the two comings of Christ). Hence, threshing wheat represents the church in tribulation. The divine purpose of tribulation, then, is to remove the chaff from the wheat, as John the Baptist proclaimed in Matthew 3:12. The wheat itself is saved, while the chaff is burned by the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Threshing wheat in a wine press suggests that this “wheat” represented those Spirit-filled believers who were being prepared for the feast of Tabernacles, the feast where they were to pour out the drink offering of new wine for seven days (Numbers 29:12, 16 KJV).

There were three first fruits offerings each year at the main feast days. The Passover first fruits offering was of barley, Pentecost’s offering was wheat, and at Tabernacles, they offered wine for seven days. Gideon’s unusual actions linked Pentecost to Tabernacles by threshing wheat in a wine press. When he finally delivered Israel, we again see the pattern of feast days emerge in prophetic symbolism.

Those Chosen to Deliver Israel

In Judges 7 we read a lengthy account about how God chose His army to deliver Israel. The initial call to battle brought 32,000 volunteers. Judges 7:2, 3 says,

² And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, lest Israel become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me’. ³ Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, “Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead’.” So 22,000 people returned, but 10,000 remained.

Those 32,000 first responders represent those who believe the (new) covenant, because 32 is the biblical number of covenant. Such New Covenant faith is the first thing that qualifies a person to be in the end-time army of God.

Second, they must be without fear, because fear undermines faith and is evidence that one’s faith is immature or imperfect. It is interesting that 22,000 men were fearful and returned home, because that is the number of Levites who redeemed the first-born sons of Israel in Numbers 3:39. The number 22 is the biblical number denoting the sons of God, or “sons of light.”

In Judges 7 we see these 22,000 as fearful sons. According to the laws of war, anyone who was afraid or who did not have faith were to be given opportunity to leave the battlefield (Deuteronomy 20:8). The priests were called to “perform the service” (Numbers 4:23 KJV), which literally means “to war the warfare.” Their job was to win the battle ahead of time in the spirit in order to ensure victory for the troops on the ground (Deuteronomy 20:2, 3, 4).

However, if any soldier was doubtful about the spiritual victory, or if he had doubts about the righteousness of the battle that Israel was facing, he was allowed to leave without penalty. In the story of Gideon, even those representing the sons of God were not qualified to fight that battle, and only 10,000 remained.

But God said in Judges 7:4, “the people are still too many.” So He brought them down to the brook to see how they would drink the water of the word. Those who bowed and kneeled down to drink were disqualified. Those who scooped up the water with their hands and put it to their mouth were qualified (Judges 7:6, 7). Only 300 men then remained.

The number ten is the number of the law which brings things into divine order. Putting it all together, we see that Gideon’s army, prophetically speaking, had three main tests to see who was qualified. First, they had to believe in the New Covenant, which made them sons of God; second, they had to be lawful. Third, they had to be discerning in how they drank the word of God.

Each test sent many good people home. It did not mean that they were unsaved or that they were not genuine sons of God. It was just that not all New Covenant believers, or sons of God, or even lawful believers were qualified to fight that battle. This is a prophetic story of our own end-time deliverance through the second set of feast days (as we will see shortly), so it is plain that very few today are called to engage directly in the spiritual warfare that is delivering the world from the present slavery.

Next time we will show how the battle of Gideon prophesied of the manner in which God is presently delivering the world through the second set of feasts: Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles.

THE JUDGES, PART 5B, GIDEON

The battle of Gideon was unusual, not only because they fought with just 300 men but also because of their weapons of choice. Judges 7:16-18 says,

¹⁶ And he divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers. ¹⁷ And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. ¹⁸ When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets all around the camp and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon’.”

The trumpet, the (broken) pitchers, and the torches (light) were Gideon’s main weapons. These three represent the second set of feast days: Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. Hence, they were subduing the enemy and bringing deliverance through the message of the feast days. We know from other studies that Trumpets is the day of resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:52) and thus begins a new year or era.

Ten days later is the Day of Atonement, which is a day of repentance (breaking the pitchers). So Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:6, 7,

⁶ For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ But we have this treasure [i.e., the light of Christ] in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.

Paul here compares the light of Christ in our own earthen vessels (or bodies) with the torches in Gideon’s pitchers. When the flesh is broken, the light shines forth. Today we crucify the flesh in order that the light of Christ may shine forth from us, but the historic fulfillment of the Day of Atonement is the prophesied day that this occurs on a collective scale at the end of the age.

The Day of Atonement is also the preparation day for the feast of Tabernacles, wherein the living overcomers will be “changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51). From Trumpets to the first day of Tabernacles is a two-week period, so the dead will be raised two weeks before the transfiguration and change will manifest in those “who are alive and remain” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

The main lesson to be learned from this is that the main weapons of the overcomers is the light of God’s presence, or “the knowledge of the glory of God” that resides within them. Gideon’s weapons show more specifically that the overcomers are fulfilling the second set of feast days which reveal the events surrounding the second coming of Christ at the end of the age.

The Barley Loaf

Before the battle, Gideon went down to the camp of the Midianites to discern what he could. Judges 7:13-15 says,

¹³ When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I had a dream; a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.” ¹⁴ And his friend answered and said, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand.” ¹⁵ And it came about when Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, that he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands.”

Gideon was the loaf of barley bread. I have shown in other studies that barley represents the overcomers, even as wheat represents the church and grapes represent the rest of creation. (See Creation’s Jubilee, chapter 6.) This story makes it clear that it is the overcomers—the barley company—which will fulfill the story of Gideon in the last days.

The Battle of Gideon

The 300 men in Gideon’s army defeated a massive coalition of “the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and all the sons of the east” (Judges 7:12). The number of them killed in that battle was 120,000, leaving just 15,000 that were defeated later (Judges 8:10). This seems to suggest that Gideon’s army of 300 was facing an army of at least 135,000.

The two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb, were captured and executed east of the Jordan River (Judges 7:25). Oreb was executed at “the rock of Oreb,” and Zeeb was executed at “the wine press of Zeeb,” both places named after the fact in remembrance of the occasion.

This execution, along with the battle as a whole, became the model of an end-time prophecy about the Remnant which was to deliver Israel from the Assyrians after their long captivity came to an end. Isaiah 10:5 begins this prophecy, saying, “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger,” which God had raised up to bring judgment upon “a godless nation” (Israel).

Isaiah personally witnessed the Assyrian conquest of Israel and its attempted conquest of Judah and Jerusalem. (The story is told in Isaiah 36, 37.) So the prophet saw the beginning of this long captivity but prophesied also of its end. Isaiah 10:12, 13 says,

¹² So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness.” ¹³ For he has said, “By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this…”

God was the One who took credit for bringing judgment upon Israel and Judah, but the king of Assyria took the credit for himself, as if he were sovereign over God. We know, of course, that the Assyrian empire lasted just over one century before falling to the Babylonians. But the fall of Assyria did not end Israel’s captivity, for they never returned to their old land—nor could they, because they had been divorced and sent out of the house (Jeremiah 3:8).

After the empire’s collapse, “Assyria” took on a new prophetic definition, for it became one of many prophetic names of Israel’s captors. Assyria was no longer literal, for the captivity far outlasted the Assyrian empire and was passed down to its successors, much like a slave is sold or claimed by others who kill or conquer his previous master.

The Returning Remnant

The story of Gideon in the book of Judges describes Gideon in terms of barley. Isaiah uses the term remnant, for that was his own revelation (Isaiah 37:31). Isaiah indicates that the Remnant will act as Gideon’s army at the end of the age, as we will see shortly from Isaiah 10:26. The prophet thus draws the parallel between Gideon’s army and the Remnant. Isaiah 10:20-23 says,

²⁰ Now it will come about in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them [Assyria], but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. ²¹ A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. ²² For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant within them will return; a destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. ²³ For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord God of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land.

More than any other, Isaiah is the prophet of the remnant. His son, Shear-jashub (Isaiah 7:3), literally means “the remnant will return.” He was named prophetically as one of Isaiah’s major themes, prophesying of the day when the remnant will “return… to the mighty God” at the end of the long captivity.

Hence, Isaiah prophesied of us today, those who are qualified as Gideon’s army. The remnant is not the only group that is saved, of course. Their job is to deliver the rest of the nation and the world itself from the last beast in the long series of empires. For this reason, it is very helpful to understand the story of Gideon in the light of Isaiah’s prophecy of the remnant.

Isaiah 10:24-27 prophesies of this great deliverance, saying

²⁴ Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did. ²⁵ For in a very little while My indignation against you will be spent, and My anger will be directed to their destruction.” ²⁶ And the Lord of hosts will arouse a scourge against him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea, and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt. ²⁷ So it will be in that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of fatness [shemen, “oil, fat”].

The prophet calls our attention to both Moses and Gideon here. Moses lifted up his rod and parted the Red Sea to deliver Israel from Pharaoh’s army, while Gideon destroyed Midian at the rock of Oreb, where the general was executed.

The “yoke” of captivity is to be “broken because of fatness.” Gesenius’ Lexicon says that this is “a metaphor taken from a fat bull that casts off and breaks the yoke.” A similar metaphor can be found in Deuteronomy 32:15, “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked,” implying that he (Israel) would become so big and prosperous that he would use his weight to break away from his Master.

Yet this also has a double meaning, as the KJV recognizes when it reads, “the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.” The shemen is fat or oil, and the oil can also represent the anointing of the Holy Spirit or one’s calling. So the implication is that when Israel’s captivity comes to an end, the Assyrians will lose control and “the yoke will be broken.” God will use the remnant to accomplish this deliverance, for they have both the spiritual weight and the anointing to succeed.

The Kings and Princes of Midian

The two main generals of Midian (Judges 7:25) were Oreb, “raven,” and Zeeb, “wolf.” The KJV calls them “princes.” It appears that they were captured and killed first. The “two kings of Midian” (Judges 8:12) were Zebah, “sacrifice,” and Zalmunna, “shade, covering, defense.” The death of Zalmunna suggests that his defense or covering had been removed.

If we link this king to Prince Oreb (“wolf”), we may discern the exposure of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. If we link King Zebah (“sacrifice”) to Prince Zeeb (“raven”), we might discern the sacrifice of a raven, which is an unclean bird that is a counterpart to a clean dove or pigeon.

We must also take into account the three-fold coalition Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east, which represent Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Midian means “brawling, contentious,” which well describes the church. Amalek was the grandson of Esau-Edom, and Edom was later absorbed into Judaism (126 B.C.). The children of the east came from Arabia and appear to represent the forces of Islam today.

All three are Old Covenant religions, whether they realize it or not. None of them seem to know the difference between the Old and New Covenant. The remnant has the anointing to overthrow all three religions, for they have this treasure in earthen vessels and are able to shine the light of Christ into the darkness of this world.

Gideon, the Feller

Gideon’s name means “feller,” that is, a wood cutter, or lumberman. Trees were a metaphor for men (Deuteronomy 20:19 KJV and Mark 8:24). Hence, it is said that Gideon means “warrior,” one who cuts down men as if they were trees.

In the sequence of the Judges’ names, Gideon’s name contributes to the overall revelation:

“The voice of God united in His sons (in an orderly manner that is subject to God’s Word) will fell the enemy and open the Ark to show forth the light of the Sun.”

The word of God, which is the light in these earthen vessels, is that which will “fell the enemy,” as in the days of Gideon.

THE JUDGES, PART 6, ISRAEL'S FIRST KING

After Gideon subdued the Midianites, he remained their leader until “a ripe old age” (Judges 8:32). The land of Israel rested, but after Gideon died, the people again turned to false gods (Judges 8:33, 34). So after 40 years of rest, a civil war divided Israel.

Gideon had many wives who bore him seventy sons (Judges 8:30). One of them was Abimelech, whose name is translated in various ways: “My father is king,” or “father-king,” or “father of the king.” No doubt either Gideon or his mother gave him this name, which suggests that Gideon was seen in some way as a “king” at the time of Abimelech’s birth. At the very least, Abimelech’s name seems to have instilled in him a growing sense that he himself was destined to be king—as if he were descended from royalty.

Gideon himself is not to be blamed for this, for Judges 8:22, 23 says,

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son’s son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.” ²³ But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.”

From this we see the beginnings of the monarchist party in Israel, which desired to be ruled by a king. The desire for a king came to fruition in the time of Saul, who became Israel’s first well-established king, but as we will see shortly, Abimelech ruled a portion of Israel for three years.

The Curse of Jotham

When Gideon died, Abimelech, whose mother was from the town of Shechem, desired to be the first king of Israel. Abimelech went to his mother’s relatives in Shechem and convinced them that it was better for one man to rule Israel than to have seventy sons of Gideon divide the nation among themselves. In the guise of uniting Israel, he brought division and strife.

His relatives agreed, “and they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith” (Judges 9:4) to finance his plan. Abimelech then hired seventy ruffians to kill Gideon’s sons—excluding himself, of course. The plan succeeded, except for the youngest son, Jotham, who managed to escape.

Shechem (now called Nablus) was situated between Mount Gerazim and Mount Ebal. In the last days of Moses, Mount Gerazim had been the place where half of the tribes of Israel had stood to bless Israel, while Mount Ebal is where the other six tribes stood to curse Israel for disobedience (Deuteronomy 27:12, 13).

After Jotham escaped, he hid for a time and then returned to the top of Mount Gerazim and laid a curse upon Abimelech for murdering his brothers. Jotham essentially removed the blessing of Gerazim and replaced it with the curse from Mount Ebal. One of those curses was directly applicable to actions of Abimelech, for Deuteronomy 27:16 says, “Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.”

Jotham told a parable in his speech on Mount Gerazim (Judges 9:7-15). He told how the trees wanted to anoint a king, so they asked the olive tree to reign over them. The olive tree did not want to leave its “fatness” (i.e., oil), so they asked the fig tree. The fig tree did not want to leave its sweetness, so they asked the vine. But the vine did not want to leave its new wine which brought cheer, so they finally asked the bramble, which accepted their offer.

¹⁵ And the bramble said to the trees, “If in truth you are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, may fire come out from the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.”

This parable insulted Abimelech, calling him a bramble (atad). The bramble was a buckthorn, a thorny bush that had strong roots but which could also pierce those who brushed up against it. The olive tree represented Israel (Jeremiah 11:16); the fig tree represented Judah (Matthew 21:19), and the vine represented the unified house of Israel which God (through Joshua, or Yeshua) had planted in the “vineyard,” that is, the Promised Land (Isaiah 5:2).

Abimelech was none of these, Jotham said, for he was unworthy of the throne of Israel. As a son of Gideon, Abimelech was of the tribe of Manasseh (Judges 6:15), which had not been given the promise of the scepter. Manasseh means “forgetful,” and his name prophesied of two things: that the Israelites would forget their father’s household (Genesis 41:51). That is, they were to forget their identity as Israelites after the tribes of Joseph were sold into captivity to the Assyrians. Secondly, they were to forget the true God during their captivity and adopt other gods during their long tribulation period (Deuteronomy 28:64).

In the days of Abimelech, the Israelites forgot God and turned to idols (Judges 8:33). Abimelech himself was paid from the treasury of Baal-berith (Judges 9:4), which put him in an alliance with Baal. Baal-berith literally means “Covenant with Baal.”

Hence, Jotham’s curse upon Abimelech was very real, and we soon learn from the rest of the story that God took it seriously. By going to Mount Gerazim, where the six tribes of Israel had stood in the divine court to bless Israel when they were in obedience to the law of God, Jotham essentially appealed to the divine court for justice to be done. His case was heard, and justice was indeed meted out upon Abimelech’s head, for we read later in Judges 9:53-57,

⁵³ But a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, crushing his skull. ⁵⁴ Then he called quickly to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest it be said of me, ‘A woman slew him’.” So the young man pierced him through, and he died… ⁵⁶ Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father, in killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ Also God returned all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal [i.e., Gideon] came upon them.

The curse of Jotham was based on “the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father,” according to the curse of the law in Deuteronomy 27:16. It is interesting to see how prophecies can be fulfilled in different ways at different times in history. In this case, the prophecy of Joseph in naming his son, Manasseh, prophesied that Abimelech would forget God; Mount Gerazim and Ebal provided the foundations of divine judgment according to the curse of the law; and finally, Shechem itself provided the finishing touches on the prophecy, for it was the site of an earlier act of violence, when the sons of Jacob slaughtered all the men of that city in Genesis 34:26, 27, and 30.

These stories all provide background to understand the spiritual and prophetic implications of Abimelech’s murderous attempt to become king of Israel.

Tola, the Judge in Israel

After the death of Abimelech, Israel reverted back to its system of deliverers, or Judges appointing Tola, who judged them for 23 years (Judges 10:1, 2). His name referred to a worm that was used to make scarlet dye. The scarlet worm, is known scientifically as the coccus ilicis. Of this we read,

When the female of the scarlet worm species was ready to give birth to her young, she would attach her body to the trunk of a tree, fixing herself so firmly and permanently that she would never leave again. The eggs deposited beneath her body were thus protected until the larvae were hatched and able to enter their own life cycle. As the mother died, the crimson fluid stained her body and the surrounding wood. From the dead bodies of such female scarlet worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were extracted. What a picture this gives of Christ, dying on the tree, shedding his precious blood that he might 'bring many sons unto glory' (Heb 2:10)! He died for us, that we might live through him! Psa 22:6 describes such a worm and gives us this picture of Christ. (cf. Isa 1:18)" (Henry Morris. Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Baker Book House, 1985, p. 73)

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H8438&t=KJV

We see from this that the scarlet worm represents Christ, who shed His blood for the remission of sin and who died that we might have life. Furthermore, because red dye was extracted from these worms and used to dye royal garments, the name Tola prophesies of the royal garments given to the deliverers, or saviors, who are called to reign with Christ.

In the progression of judges’ names, we must insert Tola into our sequence—something I did not do earlier. In that Tola is the Judge that follows Gideon, “feller,” we can now read the prophecy:

“The voice of God united in His sons (in an orderly manner that is subject to God’s Word) will fell the enemy by the power of the blood of Christ and open the Ark to show forth the light of the Sun.”

Tola, then, tells us the power by which the enemy is to be “felled.” We see that it is the power of the scarlet worm, which in turn prophesies of Christ in His shed blood on the cross. It is also significant that Tola judged Israel for 23 years, for this is the biblical number of death and resurrection. (See my book, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers from One to Forty.)

Tola was then replaced by Jair, whose name adds yet another dimension to this prophecy of the Judges.

THE JUDGES, PART 7, JAIR

The battle of Gideon shows prophetically how the feast days give us revelation about the end-time overthrow of God’s enemies through the feast days—in particular, the second set of feasts, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. The revelation of the feasts is the specific “sword of the Spirit” that will send confusion into the ranks of the ungodly and will overcome them.

However, lest some should misunderstand, let it be clear that we are not advocating any kind of violent overthrow of God’s enemies (real or perceived). The physical sword was used under the Old Covenant only because the Israelites had rejected the sword of the Spirit when they refused to hear the word at Mount Horeb under Moses (Exodus 19:18-21). By failing to experience Pentecost, they were left only with a physical sword that conquers enemies by killing them.

Our weapon is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17), for “our struggle is not against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12). The results are far different and give much greater glory to God, because instead of killing enemies, we ask them to “crucify the flesh,” so that a new self (identity) may come forth according to the New Covenant. Enemies are destroyed by turning them into friends of God.

The main battle of Gideon killed 120,000 Midianites and their allies, but under the New Covenant we see 120,000 being saved by putting to death the “old self” (Romans 6:6). The number 120,000 is an important prophetic number as well, for it was also the number of citizens living in Nineveh who repented in Jonah 4:11. The number 120 is the biblical number associated with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (2 Chronicles 5:12; Acts 1:15; 2:1, 2).

When we step back and put Gideon into the context of the sequence of Judges and determine the prophecy of their names, we see that Gideon’s name indicates a “feller” of men, or a warrior who subdues enemies. The battle of Gideon itself is the prime illustration of what it means to “fell the enemy,” which we today apply with a New Covenant understanding.

 “The voice of God united in His sons (in an orderly manner that is subject to God’s Word) will fell the enemy by the power of the blood of Christ and open the Ark to show forth the light of the Sun.”

In the context of the name sequence, the enemy being “felled” is that which prevents the opening of the Ark. It turns out that the revelation of the feast days is the primary word that defeats the enemy and opens the Ark of God’s presence. Judge Tola is the scarlet worm, suggesting that this battle must be fought “by the power of the blood of Christ.” Furthermore, Tola judged the people 23 years, and this number speaks of Christ’s death and resurrection.

The Revelation of Jair

The name Jair comes from the Hebrew word owr, “light.” Jair can mean “he enlightens,” or “he who is enlightened,” or “one who enlightens.” The central meaning has to do with portraying light. That, of course, ties back to the battle of Gideon, which was won by breaking the pitchers (Atonement) and shining forth the light (Tabernacles).

In fact, both Jair and Gideon were from the tribe of Manasseh. Jair was from Gilead (Judges 10:3) in the territory of Manasseh. The original man named Gilead was the grandson of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, for we read in Numbers 26:29,

²⁹ The sons of Manasseh: Of Machir, the family of the Machirites; and Machir became the father of Gilead: of Gilead, the family of the Gileadites.

Jair's tribe may suggest also that the feast of Tabernacles was to be a forgotten feast. Manasseh means "forgetful," and Jair's name adds the revelation of Tabernacles to the sequence of Judges' names.

The purpose of Christ’s first coming was to shed His blood on the cross for the sin of the world to fulfill the feast of Passover and prepare for Pentecost. Yet the purpose for His second coming is to fulfill the second set of feasts that will culminate with the transfiguration, bringing us into the fullness of our inheritance in Christ. This was foreshadowed when Jesus was transfigured on Mount Hermon in Matthew 17:2, for then “His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as light.”

As we will see later, this progression sets us up for the revelation of Samson, “like the sun,” whose name is derived from shemesh, “the sun.” Shemesh comes from an unused Hebrew root word that means “to be brilliant.” This is precisely how Matthew describes the transfiguration of Jesus, when “His face shone as the sun.”

Tola and Jair, then, contribute their names to the sequence of Judges in order to portray the purpose of the two comings of Christ. Tola speaks of His death, while Jair speaks of His transfiguration. By extension, we too, as members of His body, must also be crucified with Christ in order that we may be transfigured at the time of His second coming.

Twenty-Two Years

Judges 10:3 says,

³ And after him, Jair the Gileadite arose and judged Israel twenty-two years.

THE JUDGES, PART 8, JEPHTHAH

After the death of Jair, Israel again “did evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judges 10:6), by following the gods of the surrounding nations—including the gods of the Philistines and the Ammonites. So God “sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon” (Judges 10:7). The Philistines assaulted Israel from the west, and the Ammonites from the east beyond the Jordan River. This lasted eighteen years (Judges 10:8), and then Jephthah was raised up to deliver them.

When the Israelites complained to the Lord about their oppression, He told them in Judges 10:14,

¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your distress.

The people knew that the gods of Ammon and the Philistines would never deliver them. After all, the Ammonites and Philistines were the “chosen people” of those gods. If those gods had any power, would those gods work against the interests of their own people? The people knew, of course, that they would only be enslaved more rigorously if they increased their devotion to those false gods. So Judges 10:15 says,

¹⁵ And the sons of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to Thee; only please deliver us this day.” ¹⁶ So they put away the foreign gods from among them, and served the Lord; and He could bear the misery of Israel no longer.

When word of Israel’s revolt reached the ears of the Ammonite king, he gathered an army and marched to Mizpah in Gilead to put down the revolt. The Israelites then had to decide who to choose a general to lead them in battle (Judges 10:17, 18).

Jephthah the Gileadite

Like Jair in the previous generation, Jephthah was from Gilead. In fact, his father was named Gilead, no doubt a common name on account of their ancestor, the patriarch of that family. There was just one big problem—his social status. Judges 11:1 says,

¹ Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant warrior, but he was the son of a harlot. And Gilead was the father of Jephthah.

In other words, Jephthah’s father, Gilead, had a moral problem. We are not told the extent of Gilead’s lawlessness, but the underlying implication here is that he represented the lawless condition of his generation. In other words, his tribe, Manasseh, had forgotten the true God in favor of false gods who set forth their own laws and standards of morality (or immorality). Because the nation of Ammon itself was founded by incest through Lot and his daughter, the tribe of Manasseh had put itself under that curse by worshiping the gods of the Ammonites.

The main god of Ammon was Moloch, to whom men sacrificed infants.

The family of Gilead were quite religious, nonetheless. The religious spirit inevitably follows the traditions of men, attempting to change impure hearts by the power of flesh. As we see in the New Testament, the traditions of men attempt to follow the law without truly understanding the spirit of the law—the intent of the Lawgiver. Such fleshly religion tries to enforce morality by law enforcement rather than having God change hearts from the inside by the power of the Holy Spirit. Failings and lapses in morality then bring judgment without mercy.

In the case of Jephthah, we read in Judges 11:2 and 3,

² And Gilead’s wife bore him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob; and worthless fellows gathered themselves about Jephthah, and they went out with him.

It appears that Jephthah was the oldest son of Gilead. When he begat legitimate children, they were fearful that their older illegitimate half-brother might claim the family inheritance on the grounds that he was the oldest son. So they drove him away, and he fled to Tob, “fruitful land,” east of Syria in the land of Haran, where Abraham’s relatives had settled.

Nothing is said about their treatment of Jephthah’s mother, the harlot, but we may assume that she was not treated well, nor did she come to live in Gilead’s house.

The Art of the Deal

Jephthah, however, was also a “valiant warrior,” and when the Israelites needed a capable general to lead them in battle against the Ammonites, they realized that they needed his help. Jephthah’s half-brothers probably objected to this, but the alternative was unacceptable. When they sent for Jephthah, he did not immediately accept their offer. Judges 11:7 says,

⁷ Then Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me from my father’s house? So why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?”

Jephthah then made a deal with the men of Gilead. If they would agree to make him their leader (after winning their independence, of course), then he would lead them in battle. The Israelites agreed to this, and so Jephthah returned to Gilead—specifically to the army base at Mizpah (Judges 10:17).

Mizpah was the place where Jacob and his uncle Laban had made a covenant of peace (Genesis 31:48-53). Jacob was returning to the land of Canaan after spending 20 years in Haran working for his uncle. Recall that Jacob had to flee to Haran after being threatened by his brother Esau. This forms the backdrop of the story of Jephthah, who too had to flee to Haran after being threatened by his brothers. Likewise, Mizpah once again became the scene of a covenant or agreement, where the parties called upon God as their witness.

 There seems to be a direct parallel also between God’s first response to the Israelites’ plea for divine help and Jephthah’s first response to their plea for military help. God had questioned their sincerity, saying, “Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your distress” (Judges 10:14). Now Jephthah questioned them in the same manner, saying, “Did you not drive me from my father’s house? So why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?” (Judges 11:7).

The implication is that the Israelites had wronged Jephthah even as they had wronged God Himself. They had rejected both God and Jephthah, and yet now they wanted their help. First God made a deal with them, telling them in essence: I will help you if you make Me your Head. Then Jephthah made the same deal with them. In that manner, Jephthah was a type of Christ.

He then established his house in Mizpah and brought his wife and daughter to live there.

Jephthah’s Deliverance

After negotiations broke down with the Ammonites, we read in Judges 11:29,

²⁹ Now the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, so that he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon.

There were many places called Mizpah, and the term Mizpah of Gilead appears to make it clear that it was not the same Mizpah where the Israelite army had gathered earlier. (In 1 Samuel 22:3 we read of Mizpah of Moab, which was still another Mizpah.)

Before the battle with the Ammonites, Jephthah made a rash vow, which later came back to haunt him. Judges 11:30, 31 says,

³⁰ And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If Thou wilt indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, ³¹ then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

The Lord did indeed give Jephthah victory over the Ammonites. Then Judges 11:34, 35 says,

³⁴ When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. Now she was his one and only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵ And it came about when he saw her, that he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me; for I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.”

Jephthah did not actually offer her up to God as a burnt offering but gave her to the tabernacle to serve God as a perpetual virgin. He gave her two months return to her friends (in Tob) to mourn the fact that she would never be married, that is, to “weep because of my virginity.” Note that she did not weep for her life but for her virginity. Verses 39, 40 conclude, saying,

³⁹ And it came about at the end of two months that she returned to her father, who did to her according to the vow which he had made; and she had no relations with a man. Thus it became a custom in Israel, ⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went yearly to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

Nothing is said about her becoming a literal burnt offering. In fact, such an offering would have been unacceptable to God. Christ alone could fulfill the prophecy inherent in all of the sacrifices, including the burnt offerings. Even Christ Himself did not have to be a literal burnt offering to fulfill that prophetic type. He was crucified, not burnt. The fire in the law represented the judgment of the “fiery law” (Deuteronomy 33:2 KJV), not “hell” that many envision.

The prophetic meaning of this rash vow, in fact, points to the Church itself and is a lesson to all of us to be careful what we vow. When the Church met in various Councils to vote on doctrinal disputes, their decisions essentially took the form of vows to enforce their creeds. This led ultimately to the Church burning people at the stake for “heresy,” in essence, turning them into burnt offerings which they thought were acceptable to the Lord.

War with Ephraim

After the Ammonites were defeated, the men of Ephraim came with an army to Jephthah, for they were offended that they had not been invited to fight in the battle. They even threatened him, saying, “We will burn your house down on you” (Judges 12:1). Jephthah told them that he had called to them for help, but because of the Ammonite threat, they were forced to fight the battle before the Ephraimites could arrive.

The men of Ephraim were not appeased by his explanation, so a battle erupted, where 42,000 Ephraimites were killed (Judges 12:6).

The prophetic meaning of this appears to be an extension of the problem of Jephthah’s daughter, who was to be a “burnt offering” as well. I take it as a prophetic warning to the Church about their unjust doctrines of hell-fire. Everyone was quick to consign people to a fiery judgment.

In this case, 42,000 Ephraimites were killed, which (to me) suggests the duration of the final age of judgment. The Great White Throne judgment comes at the end of 7,000 years of Adamic history, leaving another 42,000 years (or six “weeks”) until the Creation Jubilee.

Likewise, 42 is a number associated with tribulation, as we see in Revelation 13:5. This number is based upon “the time of Jacob’s distress” (Jeremiah 30:7), because Jacob himself experienced two times of distress, each lasting 21 years, for a total of 42 years. See my book, Secrets of Time, chapter 14 for more details.

Jephthah’s Name in the Prophetic Sequence

Jephthah had an illegitimate birth but was a Judge who delivered Israel. As such, he was unique and provides an interesting prophetic picture as set forth in the message of the Judges’ names. His name, Jephthah, means “He will open,” or “he opens.”

In the sequence of names, we find his name signifying the opening of the Ark.

“The voice of God united in His sons (in an orderly manner that is subject to God’s Word) will fell the enemy by the power of the blood of Christ and by the light of transfiguration and will open the Ark to show forth the light of the Sun.”

One had to be qualified to open the Ark, because anyone who touched it might be killed (by electrocution). A man named Uzzah made the mistake of touching the Ark and died as a result (2 Samuel 6:6, 7). Likewise, the men of Beth-shemesh opened the Ark when the Philistines sent it back to Israel (1 Samuel 6:19). We will have more to say about that story later for the Ark of the Covenant was the final Judge that delivered Israel in the sequence of the Judges.

In those days, the Ark was not to be approached except by authorized priests. In the tabernacle of Moses and later in the temple of Solomon, even the high priest had access to the Ark just once a year, and it was doubtful if even he dared to touch the Ark.

The fact that the men of Beth-shemesh opened the Ark and were killed relates directly to the story of Jephthah. 1 Samuel 6:13 tells us that the Ark was returned at the time of wheat harvest (i.e., Pentecost). Hence, it is a Pentecostal story, and the men of Beth-shemesh played a prophetic role as Pentecostals. Pentecostals are not yet qualified to open the Ark, for Pentecost is only the training ground for imperfect people, and for this reason it was established as a leavened feast (Leviticus 23:17). Only the overcomers who have experienced the fullness of the Spirit through Tabernacles may open the Ark.

The parallel, then, is between Jephthah and the men of Beth-shemesh. Jephthah was illegitimate, the son of a harlot, and the men of Beth-shemesh were acting as illegitimate priests by opening the Ark. The lesson is that the full presence of the glory of God cannot be “touched” through the feast of Pentecost but only through the feast of Tabernacles. Anything less than Tabernacles is spiritually “illegitimate.”

In the broader prophecy in the Judges’ names, the procedure is given in the rest of the sequence whereby the Ark may indeed be opened. It starts with the blood of Jesus, which established the first work of Christ (Passover and Pentecost). When this work is completed in us, we will be transfigured and come into the light and glory of the feast of Tabernacles. Those who follow this sequence will indeed “open” the Ark and live to tell about it.

THE JUDGES, PART 9, IBZAN, ELON, AND ABDON-BEDAN

Jephthah judged Israel for just six years and then died (Judges 12:7). After him came three minor judges in succession before the rise of Samson.

Ibzan judged Israel seven years (Judges 12:8, 9); Elon judged Israel ten years (Judges 12:11), and Abdon judged Israel eight years (Judges 12:13, 14). So from Jephthah to Samson there was a total of 25 years.

To put these Judges into context, we should know that Samson judged Israel for 20 years (Judges 16:31) and that he died shortly before the 40-year Philistine captivity ended. Hence, Samson judged Israel during the last half of the Philistine captivity.

By working backward, we can see that Ibzan was probably the Judge in the years leading up to the captivity, while Elon and Abdon judged Israel for 18 years (total) during the first half of that captivity while Samson was growing up. It is likely that Samson was born about the first year of the captivity and that he was about 20 when he was chosen as the Judge in the middle of the Philistine captivity.

In my series of novels, which are set in the time of the Philistine captivity, Book 2, Through Timeless Mountains, makes Ibzan the Judge when the elders had to decide whether or not to submit to captivity. In Book 3, My Father’s Tear, we meet Elon and Abdon. In the story, I explain why Abdon had two names, the second being Bedan.

Judges 12:13 calls him “Abdon the son of Hillel,” but 1 Samuel 12:11 calls him Bedan, saying,

¹¹ Then the Lord sent Jerubbabel [i.e., Gideon] and Bedan and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security.

It was common in those days to have more than one name. Gideon himself was known as Jerubbabel to commemorate his father’s defense after Gideon had “torn down the altar of Baal” (Judges 6:30, 31, 32). His father convinced the outraged Israelites to let Baal himself handle the insult himself, if he really had the power to do so. So Jerubbaal means “Let Baal contend.”

In my own novel, I portray Abdon, “servile,” as originally a devout follower of God, serving Him with all His heart. But then he contracts leprosy, which shatters his faith and forces him to be separated from his family and friends. While traveling to Shiloh with Elon to keep the feast of Tabernacles, we encounter Abdon and heal him of his leprosy. He would later succeed Elon as the Judge, and so his name was changed to Bedan, or b’dan, which means “in judging.” (The main part of his name is Dan, “judge.”)

The Message of Ibzan

Ibzan’s name means “whiteness, splendid.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H78&t=NASB

By inserting his name into our sequence of Judges’ names, we can now add a further detail:

“The voice of God united in His sons (in an orderly manner that is subject to God’s Word) will fell the enemy by the power of the blood of Christ and by the light of transfiguration and will open the splendid Ark to show forth the light of the Sun.”

We also have the added detail that Ibzan was from Bethlehem, and so we see that he was of the tribe of Judah and was from the town where Jesus was later born. Jesus, of course, was the earthly manifestation of the glory and presence of God. It takes little imagination to see that the splendor of God’s presence on the Ark is being pictured in Ibzan, the Judge, when we view him in the context of the Judges as a whole.

The Message of Elon

Elon was from Zebulun, so named in Genesis 30:20 because his mother Leah believed that Jacob would favor her by “dwelling” with her. Jacob’s main tent was with Rachel, whom he loved, causing Leah to feel rejected. When we factor Zebulun into the sequence of Judges’ names, the picture emerges of the splendor of the glory of God indwelling the Ark.

Elon’s name means “mighty,” as in a terebinth tree.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H356&t=NASB

His name is derived from the Hebrew word ayil, usually translated “ram.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H356&t=NASB

Therefore, his name pictures the Lamb sitting on the throne (Ark). A ram is a fully grown lamb. Christ is pictured as the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for the sin of the world and who was later seated upon the throne (Hebrews 1:8). So Revelation 7:9-11 says,

⁹ After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; ¹⁰ and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation [Yeshua-Jesus] to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” ¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God.

The passage continues to speak of Christ in Revelation 7:17, saying, “the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their Shepherd.”

Hence, the addition of Elon to the sequence of Judges’ names broadens the picture for us.

“The voice of God united in His sons (in an orderly manner that is subject to God’s Word) will fell the enemy by the power of the blood of Christ and by the light of transfiguration and will open the Ark, revealing the splendor of the indwelling Christ, the Lamb of God, seated on His throne, showing forth the light of the Sun.”

The Message of Abdon-Bedan

The next Judge is Abdon (“servile”) or Bedan (“in judging”). The message of his name gives us the ministry of Christ as He sits upon His throne. In all of His Splendor and glory and honor, He still ministers to us as a Lamb. The name Abdon has to do with service or ministry. He told His disciples that they were not to judge as men judge. Matthew 20:25-28 says,

²⁵ But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. ²⁶ It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

So we find that the Ark is the throne of Christ, where the Lamb is seated in all His glory, judging the world as its greatest Servant. He is also pictured as the Great Shepherd in Hebrews 13:20,

²⁰ Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord…

A good shepherd serves the sheep and has their best interests in mind as he leads them to green pastures and still waters and as he defends them from predators. We too are called to do as our Example has done. We are to do as He did and to be as He was. This is not possible without serving others and having their best interests in mind.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:2, “do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” Even so, God will not place anyone upon the throne of His glory who has not learned to be a servant, for such people have yet to learn the purpose of authority. The names of Abdon and Bedan are vital in the prophecy of the Judges’ names, for these present to us the ministry of Christ the Judge.

There are some who think that Christ came the first time as a servant but will rule as a king in His second coming—as if these are somehow separate. But no, Christ is not presented as the King on a throne, but as the Lamb on the throne. It is the great Servant who has been given all authority in heaven and in earth (Matthew 28:18).

He did not become a servant in order to earn the right to be served later. He proved His worthiness as the King by proving His love for all mankind as the great Servant and Shepherd of the sheep. He will never stop being the Lamb of God, even while He is the Lion of God. He is the Lion with all power, who is as gentle as a Lamb.

By inserting Abdon-Bedan’s name to the sequence of Judges, the revelation is expanded to read:

“The voice of God united in His sons (in an orderly manner that is subject to God’s Word) will fell the enemy by the power of the blood of Christ and by the light of transfiguration and will open the Ark, revealing the splendor of the indwelling Christ, the Lamb of God, seated on His throne, judging the nations as the great Servant, showing forth the light of the Sun.”

This takes us to the story of Samson.

THE JUDGES, PART 10, SAMSON

Though Samson was a Judge in Israel, his story gives no indication that he judged Israel. Samson judged the Philistines in the sense that he brought judgment upon the Philistines.

A Judge is a deliverer, but Samson never delivered Israel from the Philistine captivity. In fact, neither did Ibzan, Elon, or Abdon, all of whom were Judges in Israel during the Philistine captivity. Deliverance did not come until after Samson was dead, and it was accomplished through the Ark itself, as we will see shortly.

This is appropriate, because Samson was a Pentecostal type, which cannot bring deliverance, but the Ark represents Jesus Christ Himself.

Samson’s Calling

Samson’s name (Hebrew) is shimshown, “like the sun.” It is derived from shemesh, “the sun.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H8123&t=NASB

And so the addition of his name to the sequences of the Judges reveals that the deliverers will shine like the sun, even as Jesus was transfigured on the Mount.

Matthew 17:2 says,

² And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.

Therefore, the revelation of the Judges is now as follows:

“The voice of God united in His sons (in an orderly manner that is subject to God’s Word) will fell the enemy by the power of the blood of Christ and by the light of transfiguration and will open the Ark, revealing the splendor of the indwelling Christ, the Lamb of God, seated on His throne, judging the nations as the great Servant, showing forth the light of the Sun.”

This pictures the transfigured Christ and the overcomers judging the nations. It is not surprising, then, that virtually all of Samson’s ministry as a Judge focused upon the Philistines, which, in this case, was representative of the nations.

Yet Samson’s story is long and tragic. The revelation of his name alone gives us the final result, but the rest of his story shows us the tortuous path by which the overcomers must achieve this authority and use it successfully. Samson himself was unsuccessful, for he himself was overcome by his moral lapses, blinded by his enemies, and in the end died with the Philistines.

Pentecost

His story was dominated by Pentecostal signs and stories, and his moral lapses reveal why Pentecost was a leavened feast. Leviticus 23:16, 17 says,

¹⁶ You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering [of wheat—Exodus 34:22] to the Lord. ¹⁷ You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave-offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of fine flour, baked with leaven, as first fruits to the Lord.

Pentecost was celebrated seven weeks after the wave-sheaf offering of barley, the day commonly known today as Easter, the first Sunday after Passover. Inclusively, this was the fiftieth day. It came at the time of wheat harvest, because wheat ripened later than barley. In the Old Testament, this day was called the feast of harvest in Exodus 23:16 and the feast of weeks in Exodus 34:22. It was not called Pentecost until a thousand years later when the Greek word Pentecost was used. Pentecost is Greek for “fiftieth day.”

The Pentecostal offering of wheat was the only offering that had leaven (yeast) in it. In all other offerings, leaven was banned, for Leviticus 2:11 says,

¹¹ No grain offering, which you bring to the Lord, shall be made with leaven, for you shall not offer up in smoke any leaven or any honey as an offering by fire to the Lord.

And yet God commanded that the Pentecostal offering be made of wheat “baked with leaven.” This apparent contradiction is resolved when we understand the nature of Pentecost itself. In the Old Testament, the offering had to be “baked” in the fire. In the New Testament, Pentecost came with tongues of fire (Acts 2:1, 2, 3). John the Baptist himself prophesied in Matthew 3:11, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

It was the fire that made the Pentecostal offering acceptable to God according to the law, for the fire killed the leavening action in the bread and in those receiving that baptism. The ultimate offering, of course, is that which comes from the heart. Because all have sinned, every heart has been leavened, but the baptism of fire has been designed to purify hearts so that you may “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1).

All of the biblical prophecies, types, and shadows dealing with Pentecost show that this feast was designed to purify hearts and to train us by the leading of the Spirit during our wilderness journey. If we indeed continue to follow the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day, Pentecost will take us to the brink of the Jordan River. There Pentecost is superseded by the feast of Tabernacles, the greater feast that brings us into our inheritance in the Promised Land.

However, Scripture shows that only two of the original Israelites that left Egypt actually entered the Promised Land. Most died in the wilderness. First, they refused to hear God’s voice and receive the rest of the law at Mount Horeb (Exodus 20:19). They were too fearful to draw near to God in the midst of the fire (Exodus 20:20, 21). Hence, that first Pentecost failed to fulfill its underlying purpose, and it was deferred 1480 years until a small group of 120 disciples went up the mount (“the upper room,” Acts 1:13, 15) to meet God in the fire.

Samson the Pentecostal

The main turning point in Samson’s life was when he burned the wheat of the Philistines (Judges 15:1, 5). This occurred about the time of Pentecost, as the wheat was then ripe and ready for harvest. Burning their wheat was a disaster to their economy, but it also prophesied of a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit that was yet to come upon all nations as a baptism of fire. This great baptism is to be administered by the deliverers and “saviors” (Obadiah 21 KJV) whom God is even now raising up for this purpose.

After burning the Philistines’ wheat, Samson found refuge in the cave at the rock of Etam (Judges 15:8), a cave that can still be seen today. It was not far from his home town of Zorah. When the Philistines came to bind him, he killed a thousand of them with the jawbone of a donkey (Judges 15:15). Donkeys and wheat are the primary symbols of Pentecost in Scripture. The jawbone of a donkey thus represents the gift of tongues, which is designed to kill the flesh in a New Covenant setting.

After the slaughter, Samson became very thirsty, and when he prayed, a spring of water suddenly came to the surface of the ground. It was named En-hakkore, “the spring of one who calls” upon the Lord. This is the spring, or fountain, of the water of life that springs up from one’s innermost being (John 4:14; 7:37, 38).

Samson, the Blind Servant

In spite of Samson’s great strength, he was overcome by the seduction of Delilah (Judges 16:18). The leaven in his life had grown when he ceased to follow the pillar of fire. By rejecting the word of the Lord, he was blinded to the understanding of the word, and so the Philistines put out his eyes (Judges 16:21). Thus, he prophesied of Israel’s blindness, for the prophet says, “Who is blind but My servant?” (Isaiah 42:19). Isaiah 29:10 says,

¹⁰ For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep; He has shut your eyes, the prophets; and He has covered your heads, the seers.

Again, the prophet says in Isaiah 44:3,

³ For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring.

And yet in the same passage he says later in Isaiah 44:18,

¹⁸ They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend.

Men have always had difficulty maintaining the presence of God in Pentecost. It seems that the leaven in men’s hearts, given enough time, grows as the fire of God wanes and grows cold. Though Pentecost is a good feast and divinely ordained, it is fully dependent upon the fire of God to act against the leaven that is in it. In the end, only the overcomers, following the pattern of Caleb and Joshua, are able to endure to the end (Hebrews 12:1).

In the overall picture, Samson is listed as a man of faith (Hebrews 11:32), because in spite of his moral weakness and blindness, he was humbled and brought to repentance in the end. So in the sequence of the Judges’ names, Samson’s story reveals how the overcomers will judge the nations. But on closer scrutiny, we find that his Pentecostal journey was full of failure that portrayed the leaven of Pentecost. His life serves as a lesson and a warning to all who aspire to judge the world.

The Law of Blind Servants

Exodus 21:26 says,

²⁶ And if a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye.

After Samson was blinded by the Philistines, he had a lot of time to ponder, pray, and repent as he worked at the mill grinding wheat. He came to understand God and Truth itself in those months. The day came when the Philistines took him to the temple of Dagon as a trophy proving the superiority of Dagon to Yahweh. There Samson prayed his final prayer in Judges 16:28,

²⁸ Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”

I believe that Samson appealed to God and His law in Exodus 21:26, knowing that the Philistines had been God’s agents when they had destroyed his two eyes. Later, Isaiah makes it clear that God took responsibility for blinding Israel, in order that the law in Exodus 21:26 might apply to them. By taking such responsibility, God made Himself responsible to set them free.

This principle, therefore, would also apply to Samson, who was a type of shadow of the blind servant. At any rate, God answered his prayer and gave him the strength to destroy the temple of Dagon. Samson was killed, along with 3,000 Philistines (Judges 16:27, 30), and so ended the life of this Judge.

The story is both tragic and victorious. For Samson personally, it was victory in the midst of tragedy, enlightenment in the midst of blindness, and strength in the midst of weakness. All of these principles and more, I attempted to reveal in Book 4 of my series of novels, Power of the Flame, which focuses primarily on the life of Samson.

That which is death under the Old Covenant is life under the New Covenant. Hence, the 3,000 would-be Pentecostals who died under the Mount in the time of Moses (Exodus 32:28) were like the 3,000 who were given life on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:41).

In the same manner, the 3,000 Philistines who died in the temple disaster in Judges 16:27 must be viewed through New Covenant eyes today. The scene of death came in the context of the Old Covenant, but we are now in a New Covenant era, where the judgment upon the nations is the death of the flesh. Paul says in Romans 6:7 says, literally, “he who has died is justified from sin.” Justification requires one to be crucified with Christ, not literally, but through the principle of legal identification with Him in His death (Romans 6:3, 6).

If we view the story of Samson through Old Covenant eyes, we will see divine judgment as a destructive force, rather than as a restoration. We will see the fire of God as something to be feared, rather than as a fire to be embraced. We will see death as evil, rather than as the requisite for resurrection life. Our perspective, then, is important, because it determines whether or not we are blind.

Paul makes it clear that the Old Covenant acts as a veil over one’s eyes (2 Corinthians 3:14). Veils blind us partially. Paul tells us that Moses put a veil over His face in Exodus 34:30, 33, 34, because the people were afraid to see the glory of God in Moses’ face. Paul explains that as long as men remain under the Old Covenant, or have an Old Covenant view of things, a veil remains over their faces.  Let us embrace the New Covenant and behold His glory without fear.

If we view the story of Samson through Old Covenant eyes, we will see divine judgment as a destructive force, rather than as a restoration. We will see the fire of God as something to be feared, rather than as a fire to be embraced. We will see death as evil, rather than as the requisite for resurrection life. Our perspective, then, is important, because it determines whether or not we are blind.

THE JUDGES, PART 11, ELI AND SAMUEL

There is no biblical evidence that Samson went to Shiloh to worship God at the tabernacle where Eli and his sons were ministering. Samuel was there as well, for he was the son of a priest and had been dedicated to God at an early age. No doubt they all knew each other well, and for this reason, I wrote My Father’s Tear and Power of the Flame in a way that portrayed the friendship between Samson and Samuel, and I also showed the antagonism between Samson and Eli.

The Philistine captivity essentially defined the entire ministry of Eli, for his ministry lasted 40 years, and he died just as the 40-year captivity was ending. Both Samuel and Samson were born around the beginning of the same captivity. Samson was probably about 20 when he was elected Judge, and he died 20 years later in the temple of Dagon.

The 40-Year Types and Antitypes

The 40-year Philistine captivity itself was a type and shadow of the Church during the 40 Jubilees of Church history. That captivity was thus similar to Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness under Moses, as well as Israel’s kingdom under the 40-year reign of King Saul. Each of these 40-year cycles give us insights, in different ways, to later Church history.

Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness under Moses shows us the rebellious nature of the “church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38 KJV). It shows us why both Israel and the church had to wander in the wilderness before they could enter the Promised Land. Since faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17), their refusal to hear God’s voice at Mount Horeb resulted in weak faith—too weak for them to face the giants in the Promised Land. So Hebrews 3:19 says,

¹⁹ And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief [apistian, “lack of faith”].

This set the pattern for the church in later years, ending only recently after 40 Jubilees of wilderness wandering.

Likewise, the 40 years of Saul’s reign portrays the same cycle in terms of the Kingdom in a political sense. It tells us that the Kingdom began with Pentecost in Acts 2:1, when the Holy Spirit crowned the church, even as Saul himself had been crowned king on the day of wheat harvest, or Pentecost, in 1 Samuel 12:17. Yet that kingdom was again characterized by rebellion, for Samuel chided Saul for his disobedience in 1 Samuel 15:23,

²³ For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.

This tells us that the church kingdom that began on the leavened feast of Pentecost has been a leavened kingdom. The problem began as soon as men began to reject the baptism of fire, and it progressed as men began to assume that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was only for the first century. Some teach that when John died in 100 A.D. that the gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased. Such teachers are known as Cessationists.

The church, then, ruled as Saul, not as David. Samuel said that Saul was guilty of “insubordination” (1 Samuel 15:23). The Hebrew word is patsar, “to be stubborn.” Though it is a different Hebrew word from that which is used in the law of stubborn sons (Deuteronomy 21:18, 20), the meaning is the same. The point is that a stubborn son may be disinherited when he proves himself to be unworthy.

Saul was a stubborn son, and so his family lost the right to rule when God replaced him with David. So also, in church history, the Roman popes have been insubordinate to Christ, thinking that the throne was theirs to rule according to their own will. Hence, they have already been replaced by the overcomers (“David”), whom God has been raising up in this generation. That replacement process began on Pentecost, May 30, 1993, on the 40^th Jubilee of the church.

The High Priesthood of Eli

The 40 years of Eli’s rule, wherein he refused to correct his corrupt and lawless sons, is a picture of the church as well. Like Saul, Eli was in rebellion against God. But whereas Saul pictured the church’s political role as king of the Kingdom, Eli was a priest and therefore represented the church in its priestly capacity. Eli’s line was ultimately replaced by Zadok in the early years of Solomon’s reign (1 Kings 2:27, 35).

Zadok was a type of Melkizedek, and his appointment prophesied of the change of priesthood that was to occur later. Hebrews 7:9-12 says,

⁹ And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, ¹⁰ for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. ¹¹ Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? ¹² For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.

The author of Hebrews shows that the Levitical priesthood was flawed and inadequate, and so it had to give way to an older order of priests whose head was Melchizedek, rather than Aaron. So also Eli, who was of Levi (and specifically of Phinehas) was replaced by Zadok. This replacement, however, only prophesied of a greater fulfillment yet to come, for even Zadok was of the line of Aaron, though not of Phinehas. The Zadok line ended with the Hasmonean dynasty of king-priests when Antigonus was put to death by Herod in 34 B.C.

When the last of the Hasmonean kings had passed, Jesus was sent to replace not only Zadok specifically but also the entire Aaronic priesthood of Levi. The church, however, reverted back to Old Covenant thinking, rebelled against the laws of God, and proved itself once again to be unworthy of the priesthood. In more recent years the Roman church has been shown to be as Eli in that it has refused to depose its rebellious sons (pedophile priests).

Samuel himself was a prophet sent by God to minister as a true priest in the tabernacle at Shiloh. In his youth, a man of God was sent to Eli to tell him that because he had refused to hear the word of the Lord in regard to his rebellious sons (1 Samuel 2:29), and so God was going to replace him. 1 Samuel 3:11-13, we read what God told the prophet:

¹¹ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. ¹² In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. ¹³ For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he did not rebuke them.”

This prophecy was fulfilled only gradually. It took some years before Samuel grew to maturity. Finally, Eli and his sons died on the same day, but even then his grandson Ahitub succeeded him as the high priest, and when he died, his son Ahijah wore the ephod (1 Samuel 14:3). Ahimelech was next in line, and finally his son Abiathar succeeded him (1 Samuel 22:20). Abiathar was the last of Eli’s line to hold the high priesthood, for he was replaced by Zadok, who was from a different family of priests.

Even then, as we said earlier, this only replaced that particular family of Levi and Aaron.

It would be a thousand years later when Jesus, who was of the Melchizedek Order, replaced Aaron and Levi altogether.

The church was supposed to follow the pattern of Melchizedek, and indeed, it did so in a small way. The priests were no longer of a particular lineage. However, as time passed, they reverted to Old Covenant methods of worship, complete with priestly robes, incense, physical temples, and (unfortunately) the traditions of men.

Samson Brings Down the House

Samson died in the temple of Dagon after toppling the main pillars holding up the roof (Judges 16:29, 30). That final act as a Judge angered the Philistines, who soon mustered an army to punish the Israelites as a whole. Most people miss this fact, because the narrative ends in Judges 16:31 with the death and burial of Samson.

The final chapters in the book of Judges seem to be misplaced, chronologically speaking, because it gives a story of a much earlier time shortly after Israel had entered the land of Canaan. The territory allotted to the tribe of Dan was mostly Philistine territory in the plain, but they were unable to conquer that portion of the land. A few of the Danites, including Samson’s ancestors, occupied the hills overlooking the plain, but the Philistines had chariots of iron and were able to defend the plains.

So a group of Danites went north and conquered Laish, renaming it the city of Dan. The story in Judges 17-21 is about the apostasy that occurred among the Danites in Laish (Dan). Samson himself, however, was born in Zorah that overlooked the plain where the Philistines lived. These last chapters in Dan are inserted at the end of the book of Judges in order to give us some background leading to the story of Samson himself. So these chapters were not really misplaced.

The story picks up again with the birth of Samuel in the first chapter of 1 Samuel. He was born about the same time that Samson was born and were about the same age. Samuel himself was the author of both books, so there is no doubt that he knew Samson personally. Samuel’s early life is set forth in the first three chapters of 1 Samuel. Then the story picks up where Judges 16 ended, and we find that the Philistines had sent an army against Israel. 1 Samuel 4:1 says,

¹ Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped beside Ebenezer while the Philistines camped in Aphek.

The initial battle saw about 4,000 Israelites killed (1 Samuel 4:2). The second battle was more significant, and 30,000 Israelites were killed, including the two sons of Eli (1 Samuel 4:10, 11). The Ark was also taken and brought to the temple of Dagon in Ashdod (1 Samuel 5:1). When word came to Eli in Shiloh, he fell backward from his perch and broke his neck (1 Samuel 4:18). Tradition says that it was actually Saul who was the runner bringing the bad news to Eli.

The point is that Samson’s final act of judgment upon the Philistines indirectly brought about the death of Eli and his sons, thus fulfilling the prophecy of the man of God many years earlier.

In the big picture, this history lesson shows us the role of the Ark at the end of the period of the Judges, for it is the Ark that ultimately sets Israel free from their Philistine captivity. The Philistines took the Ark at the time of the feast of Tabernacles, and they returned it seven months later (1 Samuel 6:1) at the time of Pentecost, while men were harvesting wheat (1 Samuel 6:13).

The presence of the Ark in the temple of Dagon in Ashdod had overthrown their god (1 Samuel 5:3, 4), and the people were smitten with “tumors” (1 Samuel 5:6). The KJV correctly reads, “emerods” (hemorrhoids). Why would God do such a thing?

Philistine religion was based upon a male god (Dagon) and a female god (Atargatis). Dagon was a fish god (merman), while Atargatis was a fish goddess (mermaid).

Together, they portrayed a bad marriage, wherein each competed against the other for power and influence. In the courtyard of the temple of Atargatis, worshipped in the Philistine city of Askelon, there was a pond holding sacred fish. It was said that if anyone stole one of them, he would be afflicted with hemorrhoids.

Thus, when God smote the Philistines with hemorrhoids for stealing the sacred Ark, they understood the meaning of this divine judgment. That was how God induced them to give the Ark back to the Israelites.

I learned this while doing historical research for my book on the life of Samson, Power of the Flame. Alas, I learned this particular detail too late to include it in that book.

When the Ark was returned, the oxen took it to Beth-shemesh, (House of the Rising Sun) a small community on the ridge overlooking the valley and the road to Timnah and Ashdod. Shemesh means “the sun,” and it is also the root of Samson’s name. The wheat harvesters there were not qualified to open the Ark, and when they did so, they were struck down (electrocuted). This all plays into the message in the sequence of the Judges’ names, as we saw earlier.

The actual end of the Philistine captivity came shortly after the Ark was returned to Israel. Then Samuel led Israel into battle against the Philistines and defeated them (1 Samuel 7:10, 11). Samuel, being the one that God had anointed as the “faithful priest” (1 Samuel 2:35) to replace Eli, fulfilled the role of the overcomers at the time of the end, as the captivity of the church ends in our time.

THE JUDGES, PART 12 FINAL, SAMUEL AND THE ARK

As we have seen already, Samson’s ministry as a Judge was fulfilled almost exclusively among the Philistines, not in Israel itself. In doing so, he prophesies of the end-time Judges of the latter days, who will minister beyond borders to the nations of the world. The primary difference, of course, is that Samson ministered in the context of the Old Covenant, which brought much death and destruction through divine judgment. The end-time Judges now minister under the New Covenant, which brings death to the flesh so that men may be justified (Romans 6:4, 7).

This end-time ministry properly began on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1, when the Holy Spirit and the tongues of fire descended upon the disciples in the upper room. Samson’s real ministry as a Judge came at the time of Pentecost as well, when he burned the ripe wheat of the Philistines (Judges 15:1, 4, 5). After that, he faced one battle after another.

Samson overcame the male Philistine god, Dagon, who was portrayed as a god of strength and power, but he himself was overcome by the female Philistine goddess, Atargatis, who proved to be more powerful through her seduction than her male counterpart with his strength. Samson was a man of great strength, but I believe that his inner bitterness against Eli and his corrupt sons in Shiloh seeded him with an inner weakness for their female goddess.

When the Philistines took the Ark to Ashdod and put it in their temple, it was a disaster to Israel on the surface, but in the long-term divine plan, it represented the day when the glory of God would be sent beyond borders to overthrow the false gods of the nations. This idea coincides well with Samson’s entire ministry which was spent among the Philistines. The fulfillment of this prophecy actually began with the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19, 20) under the power of Pentecost, but it concludes in our time under the power of Tabernacles.

Pentecost was allotted 40 Jubilees (1,960 years) in which to fulfill the Great Commission and bring righteousness to the earth. It started out well but failed to complete the mission, as all of the Pentecostal types and shadows predicted. The 40 years of Israel in the wilderness ended with the death of all but Caleb and Joshua. The 40 years of King Saul ended with his death at the hands of the Philistines. The 40 years of the high priest Eli ended with his death, along with his corrupt sons that he refused to correct.

Finally, the 40 Jubilees of the church in the Age of Pentecost also failed to bring righteousness to the earth, for in the end it has succumbed to the same rebellious spirit of Israel in the wilderness, the half-hearted obedience of Saul, and the corruption of Eli. The modern Philistines have blinded the church and enslaved it to grind their wheat, as with Samson. The Saul church has been killed by the Philistines once again.

Opening the Ark Under Tabernacles

Many good Pentecostals are hoping for a second Pentecost to renew their attempts to establish righteousness in the earth. However, something greater is coming. It is a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit that is greater than what was seen in Acts 2. The Age of Pentecost must give way to a new anointing that is on the horizon—the anointing of Tabernacles, led by the overcomers.

The sequence of Judges’ names thus portrays the Ark being opened to release the light of the sun as it transfigures the overcomers. It is possible that the Ark of glory will return on Pentecost of some year, for that is when the Ark returned to the men of Beth-shemesh as they were harvesting their wheat. But it comes with a warning, as the story shows, for only the overcomers are qualified to open the Ark and to behold the glory of God.

We are told in 1 Samuel 7:1, 2 that the Ark was taken to nearby Kiriath-jearim after it was sent back to Israel, because Shiloh had been destroyed by the Philistines (Psalm 78:59-64). Furthermore, the glory had departed from Shiloh (1 Samuel 4:22), never to return to that place again. Years later, David moved the Ark to Jerusalem, and Solomon placed it in the temple that he built. But the priests in Jerusalem later corrupted themselves, and so that city met a similar fate (Jeremiah 7:12, 14).

Centuries later, the glory of God was seen in Jesus, and after He ascended to heaven, His glory was sent to earth to abide in a temple made of living stones (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 22:4). That temple has been built during the interim between the two comings of Christ, for we read in Ephesians 2:21,

²¹ in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.

That temple, I believe, was completed in 2006, which was “seven times” (2,520 years) after the completion of Jerusalem’s second temple in 515 B.C. After that time, our revelation says that the vessels of the temple—ministries of Melchizedek priests—began to be brought to completion. Our revelation from 2001 told us that God was about to build “effective apostleship.” We were given no time frame for this, but we know that this “effective apostleship” is still ongoing today.

Israel Repents on the Day of Atonement

After the Ark was returned and secured in the Gibeonite town of Kirjiath-jearim, Samuel gathered the Israelites at Mizpah, where the people repented of the sin which had caused their captivity 40 years earlier (1 Samuel 7:5, 6). We are given no clue as to when this gathering occurred. Some may think it occurred 20 years later, based on the statement in 1 Samuel 7:2 that the Ark remained in Kirjiath-jearim for the next 20 years. However, that 20-year period describes only the length of time the Ark remained in that town. It did not refer to the last half of Israel’s 40-year captivity.

In my view, which certainly cannot be proven by any biblical text, the gathering took place as the feast of Tabernacles was approaching. This was a few months after the Ark had been sent back at Pentecost. It is possible that the people were at Mizpah for the Day of Atonement and that this is the occasion for their fast in 1 Samuel 7:6. At the very least, their fast prophesied of the Day of Atonement, which was a day prophesying repentance.

We are also told specifically that “Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah,” which indicates that Samuel was elected as Israel’s next Judge to replace the late great Samson. Because a Judge was also a military commander to set Israel free from captivity, it is plain that the people expected Samuel to act in that role in addition to being a priest and a prophet.

When the Philistines heard of the gathering at Mizpah and got wind of the talk about revolt, they themselves gathered an army to put down the revolt. 1 Samuel 7:7 says,

⁷ Now when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

But God brought deliverance through Samuel, because the presence of God had returned to them. Because the people had repented at the word of the prophet, they were now eligible for deliverance, and the captivity was about to end.

Deliverance at the Feast of Tabernacles

We read in 1 Samuel 7:10,

¹⁰ Now Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, and the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them, so that they were routed before Israel.

Notice the comparison between this rain and the rain that came on the day of Pentecost when Saul was soon to be anointed as king. 1 Samuel 12:17, 18 says,

¹⁷ Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to the Lord, that He may send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord by asking for yourselves a king. ¹⁸ So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

Notice that on both occasions, the people were afraid. The two rainstorms speak of the early and latter rains prophesied in Joel 2:23. The early rains came in October and November to prepare the soil for planting, while the latter rains came in April and May to ripen the wheat for harvest. These rains prophesy of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on two occasions.

On Pentecost in Acts 2, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the latter rain at the time of wheat harvest. The 120 disciples represented the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and after they were offered to God, the general harvest began in order to fulfill the Great Commission.

The second outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the early rain that is associated with the feast of Tabernacles. The timing of the two rains appear to be inverted chronologically, for it seems strange that the latter rain would come before the early rain. However, because Moses had changed Israel’s calendar in Exodus 12:1, 2, the first month was shifted from September to April, that is, from the month of Tabernacles to the month of Passover.

The Pentecostal rain that God sent at the coronation of Saul was designed to cause the Israelites to repent of their desire for a man to displace God’s direct rule. That rain was poured out upon the church to teach them that having a vicar of Christ is not the same as being ruled directly by Jesus Christ. The Tabernacles rain, however, was directed at the Philistines after the church had repented.

What does this tell us in prophecy?

The latter-day outpouring of the Holy Spirit will be for the benefit of the nations. They will lose control of the last beast empire, which will appear to be a disaster to their carnal minds, but in reality, it will be the extension of God’s mercy to them. They too will be brought into the Kingdom, for the great Stone Kingdom will grow until it fills the whole earth (Daniel 2:35). This rain, when interpreted through New Covenant eyes, builds upon the earlier prophecy that the Ark (glory of God) was to go beyond borders to overthrow idols and false gods.

Recall that the Ark was taken by the Philistines seven months before it was returned at Pentecost (1 Samuel 6:1). That indicates that the Ark had been taken at the feast of Tabernacles, which was seven months before the next Pentecost. One year later, then, at the feast of Tabernacles, the early rain hit the Philistines as they marched toward Mizpah to subdue the Israelite revolt. This rain caused great “confusion” among the Philistines, because that is what happens when the carnal mind encounters the Spirit of God.

Samuel the Last Judge

Samuel’s name is derived from two Hebrew words: shama and el. The word shama means “to hear or obey.” El is “God.” As a child, Samuel heard the word of the Lord and obeyed (1 Samuel 3:10). His obedience should be seen in contrast to Eli, who refused to obey God.

Hence, in the sequence of the Judges’ names, we must view Samuel as representing the overcomers who hear and obey God’s voice. They are the ones who have the promise of transfiguration as the body of the transfigured Christ. They are the ones through whom the glory of God will be revealed and through whom the rain of the Holy Spirit will be sent forth. These are “the priests of God and of Christ” who will reign with Christ for a thousand years in the great Tabernacles Age, the Sabbath Millennium that is soon to come (Revelation 20:6).

So we may now make the final addition to the revelation of the Judges’ names:

“The voice of God united in His sons (in an orderly manner that is subject to God’s Word) will fell the enemy by the power of the blood of Christ and by the light of transfiguration and will open the Ark, revealing the splendor of the indwelling Christ, the Lamb of God, seated on His throne, judging the nations as the great Servant, working through the overcoming priests of God who hear and obey His voice, and showing forth the light of the Sun.”