Follow the Man

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

FOLLOW THE MAN

Judges 1:22-26

22 Now the house of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them. 23 When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz), 24 the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, "Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well." 25 So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family. 26 He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.

NIV

We know Joseph did not have his own inheritance but his father made his two sons, Ephriam and Manasseh, his own, and they received land as their inheritance, and later Benjamin was included as the house of Joseph. Bethel stands about twenty miles north of Jerusalem and sits in the land of Benjamin really close to the border of the land of Ephraim. Although all that is interesting and it does play into what happened in this narrative, the story is once again that the LORD was with them. Can we do anything unless the Lord is with us? Sure, we try to do things by our own strength based on our educational background, and training and maybe even our own plans for our lives. However, can we really be doing the design of our Lord for our lives? Are we living out His plans for us? We believe when the Lord is with us, we can do all things because he strengthens us, but all those things need to be in accordance with his plan and not ours. There is one other story here, and it's about the man who led them to a way into the city of Bethel, formerly called Luz. Of course, this is about a common man who was told he would be treated well for his efforts of leading them to a way into the city. But just to ponder on a spiritual side, there is another man, who is called Jesus, who led men to a way into another city in the kingdom of God. Of course, for his efforts he was not treated well, in fact, he was hung on a cross and shed his blood for the forgiveness of our sins. He treated us very well, by leading us to a way into the new city of Jerusalem, which is in the kingdom of God. The house of Joseph followed this man into the city and they put it to the sword, but spared him and his family. Someday the house of God will spare us, for we are following him into the city. However, we are not putting the city to the sword, but in some sense, we are putting his world to the sword on our way to into the city of God. The house of Joseph did not mingle with the people of Luz, nor incorporate any of their ways, they destroyed them all. This is how we put this world to the sword, we do not mingle with its ideologies or its way of thinking, but we put all its ways behind us, destroying them and forgetting about them, and straining toward what is ahead. When we follow the man, Jesus, into the city we will have victory.