Way of the Shift

11/16/2024

But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.

2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.

3 And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few.

4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.

Joshua 7:1-4

This then was the lot of the tribe of the children of Judah by their families; even to the border of Edom the wilderness of Zin southward was the uttermost part of the south coast.

2 And their south border was from the shore of the salt sea, from the bay that looketh southward:

3 And it went out to the south side to Maalehacrabbim, and passed along to Zin, and ascended up on the south side unto Kadeshbarnea, and passed along to Hezron, and went up to Adar, and fetched a compass to Karkaa:

4 From thence it passed toward Azmon, and went out unto the river of Egypt; and the goings out of that coast were at the sea: this shall be your south coast.

5 And the east border was the salt sea, even unto the end of Jordan. And their border in the north quarter was from the bay of the sea at the uttermost part of Jordan

Joshua 15:1-5

Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

37 David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

1 Samuel 17:36-37

And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. 6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Revelation 5:5-6

As we have seen before, Judah's main enemy was that of the Philistine, or those out of Rephidim, the Naphtalim, who seems to stalk these intermittently. The reason for that is seen before in the annals of history when the children of Israel had to fight for their land. You know, that time when they first came out of the land of Egypt. They wandered forty years longer than necessary within the wilderness beyond itself. Now that God has brought them safely out, these are found within the land itself fighting the giants thereof out. If you will recall, the children had sent spies up before who told of the wonders of such a land. Given all they knew of Egypt, they ought not to have been as grasshoppers in anyone's sight. Regardless, they didn't listen to the Lord and wandered forty years. We're here now looking at damage control. Judah it seems had quite a good portion of land all the way from Egypt to the Red Sea, known that way for it being very salty, and a few other seas besides. So it came to pass that these had fought their giants and taken what is today known as modern-day Gaza.

After all that though, a problem remained. It came in the shape of the Philistines, who liked to come up from time to time and trouble the people. Knowing all you do of the Philistines and their rightful place in Naphtali, is it any wonder that these liked to come up so and remind the rest of their own mortality in the face of the angel and reaper hordes whether fallen or no. David had it right though when he said that the changing ability of Judah to go from one state to the next would have been as nothing even in the face of death. Judah's ability indeed is unique. We get our first introduction to it on the unpleasant finding of sin in the house. A man of that tribe had seen some fine clothes and some gold that he wanted as well. So, he did what any in their right mind would and kept it all to himself. Then came the rest of the people up against this place. They tried to take the source of the goods and were not able because of the sin and the power of the Lord. Isn't it funny how this man took what wasn't needed for the power to change the situation lay within himself all along. Anyhow, the situation soon turned out with the rest of the people beaten and running before the men of that place. You know though, once the issue was fixed, the situation turned out just fine.