The tribe of Judah had to live in the barren hill country, because they were unable to drive out the people from the more fertile plains. They did not enter the inheritance God had given them.
Before studying the theme of kingship in the first book of Samuel, we are going to look at the state of the nation of Israel after they had arrived in the promised land. This was the period prior to the establishment of the monarchy which began with Saul and continued with David and his descendants. The book of Joshua describes the series of victories which the Lord brought about as they defeated the nations living in the land of Canaan. But the next book in the Bible, the book of Judges, describes a sad and turbulent period in Israel’s history when Israel failed to conquer their enemies and to claim their inheritance. This had a very negative effect on their enjoyment of the land God had promised them and their relationship with God. Read Judges 2:18-19.
A cycle of sin developed as can be seen from this table
There is a repeated phrase which begins each section in the book of Judges: “The Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord.”
There was a cycle of sin, bondage, repentance, devotion - followed by sin and bondage again. Israel would follow the Lord when there was a strong leader who reminded them of the ways in which they should walk. Each of the twelve tribes was allocated a portion of land as their inheritance. Under Joshua many of the enemies that lived in the land were defeated and victory was achieved. It was necessary, however, for each tribe to move into its appointed area and dwell there.
The first chapter of Judges begins with some promising victories. But in verse 19 we read: The Lord was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people out from the plains, because they had iron chariots.
From then on, a pattern of behaviour developed. Tribes did not drive out their enemies (verses 21, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33). Instead of driving them out, they thought that they would simply live alongside them (verses 21, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33). They imagined that they could keep them under control, make slaves of them and demand forced labour (28, 30, 33, 35). God had repeatedly warned Israel that this was not to happen and even went so far as to spell out clearly what would happen if they disobeyed His commands by allowing other nations to continue living in the land. (See Exodus 23:23-33)
Israel thought they knew better. They felt they were strong enough to keep the enemy at bay and make slaves of them. God commanded them not to make agreements with the nations they had to drive out. He knew that the ways of the nations would become a snare to Israel and that they would eventually follow the nation’s gods.
During the time of the Judges, Israel did not have a king. They were ruled by judges who did exercise authority in their locality for a limited period of time. Again and again we read: There was no king in Israel etc [Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25]. Israel was supposed to be a theocracy (ruled by God) which made them distinct from other nations. However, Israel was disobedient to God and they were unwilling to accept the authority of God. There is a phrase which accompanies the declaration regarding the lack of a king – ‘every man did that which was right in his own eyes’ [KJV] or ‘everyone did as they saw fit.’ This sums up the postmodern world of the 21st century - especially in the West. There is a lack of reverence for the authority of God and a decline in Christian worship. More and more people declare themselves to be agnostics or atheists which is their desire to be free from God's authority.
There are lessons too to be learned from Israel's failure to enter their inheritance. Christians have a wonderful inheritance in Christ (Ephesians 1:11). We have been blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Sadly, we are often living in the barren wilderness of the hill country rather than entering into the good of the blessings which we have inherited in Christ.
Here is a PDF document which goes into more detail. This can be downloaded for your own personal use.
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