Judges Chapter 10 Verses 1 – 2

• Poor Tola. That’s all that we are told of him even though his service as a savior, a judge of Israel was relatively long, lasting 23 years. To top off this train wreck of names, Tola is quite close to the Hebrew word towla which literally means “worm” in Hebrew…so he’s got that going for him…

Judges Chapter 10 Verses 3 – 5

• We also know very little about Jair, basically just this and from this we can only conclude that he was a man of great wealth and legacy. Not necessarily a polygamist. Having thirty sons by two women was not unheard of in these times and it could have been that he had 15 from one wife and she may have died and then 15 from his second wife. At any rate, it doesn’t really matter…all we know is that he judged Israel for 22 years and set up provinces or cities and then set one of his sons over each, and notice, they were mobile…so he was a pretty smart character…but then…he died! HA!

Judges Chapter 10 Verse 6

• You know, verses 1 – 5 mention nothing about the people other than them being saved. Do you see that? Verses 1 – 5 also mention nothing about any evil in the sight of the Lord. So what do verses 1 – 5 mention that verse 6 does not? One simple word. One simple commonality in both accounts of Tola and Jair that is absolutely absent in verse 6 as the people turn to idolatry. One word. “Arose.”

• Tola arose. Jair arose. Verse 6. No more arose. To me, that is tragic. The word literally means, “stood up…to take a stand.” After Abimelech, Tola took a stand. After Tola, Jair took a stand. After Jair, no one would stand…and the people again did evil in the sight of the Lord and served perfect error. Seven idols mentioned here.
• I want to ask you tonight to consider this hidden truth in the scripture set…that all evil needs is for good men and good women to do nothing…what are you standing for in your life? In your house? In your place of work? In this culture? Here’s how you answer that question. Answer this one. What are you standing against? Because be very sure, you cannot stand for anything at all unless you are standing against its enemy.
• Are you standing for the Lord in your house? Are you standing against the things of the flesh? Same question. Do you care enough to do anything about it? 55 years of peace and God honoring…no one arose…no one willing to stand for truth…immediate evil…

Judges Chapter 10 Verses 7 – 9

• Notice the result of no one being willing to take a stand…even if it meant standing alone…verse 8 says that they harassed and oppressed the children. You know this is coming no matter what in our world. Just in the last 20 years the issue of bullying has come center stage as a cultural epidemic and has received much press. Now it is true that it is easier today to harass and oppress than it was 20 years ago. We have texting and tweeting and posting now which really allows no rest for the weary…
• I remember when I got into a fight and lost I could go home and hide…you can’t really do that anymore with smart phones and iPads and stuff…you can’t escape like you used to and so I know that it is much more difficult on youngins’ now-a-days…but do you know that bullying has been around since Cain and Abel?
• Your child in this world will be one of three types…they will bully, they will be bullied (probably both of those at one time or another)…or they will take a stand. Kids today with the pressures that are upon them are throwing in the towel…killing themselves in desperation over bullying and yet I know the call is upon me as their father to prepare my kids…so that they may stand. How do I do that? I make enemies…so simple. I take a stand.

• I stand for what is right in their eyes. I teach them intolerance of cruelty and the imperative to stand up for those that cannot. The hard part of that is if they will not be taught. Kids living for themselves end up bullied or bullies….kids teachable and wise end up taking a stand. I pray they will defend the people. Save those around them. I pray they will arise and I do more than pray…I arise! And I’m just fine with enemies. Lest they be harassed and oppressed. The issues of children in the school yard today are symptoms of a disease in the home…prepare them to fight.

• Madison gets upset easily. Very easily. She is very soft hearted because I have showered her with love and affection since day one…she is 9 years old…Dad began getting real with her about a year ago and I will progressively turn up the volume as she ages…teaching her to care less about what someone says about her in the classroom and more about who she knows she is…and if she is attacked physically, or someone around her is attacked physically, immediately…engage. Same thing for Link.
• I see these videos of kids getting beat up…a boy beating up a girl in the hallway of a highschool and every kid has their phone out recording it in a circle around them…NO! You be the one who spear tackles that fool! Immediately! I don’t care the consequence, you stand up…now can they still be bullied? Absolutely! Will they grow stronger with each harassment and oppression? Absolutely!

Judges Chapter 10 Verses 10 – 14

• There’s a lot when they are crying out. Are they crying out in repentance or in distress of their consequences? What kind of father would save his children from all of the consequences of their sin and foolishness? Not a very good one…right? God knows and I know as a father and as a pastor, you have to be truly sick of your sin before you will genuinely turn from it…how will you ever get there if daddy always bails you out? You stay sick…
• It seems that Israel was willing to worship just about anything except the One True God. Why? Because the truth is that when you stop worshipping God, you don’t stop worshipping…you just start worshipping anything.

Judges Chapter 10 Verses 15 – 18

• So God does not remove their circumstance or consequence…not because He doesn’t want to, He does! But that would be bad for them! And we begin to see what John the Baptist talked about and is recorded for us in Matthew 3 and Luke 3 as he spoke of, “bearing fruit worthy of repentance!” They put away their foreign gods finally and returned to serving the Lord and notice what it does to God…it breaks His heart because although desire is there, even sincerity, the next thing they do is look for a man…  
• It’s not all fixed…you’ll see next week as we get into, in my opinion, a most terrible deliverer…a judge that would only last six years and leave a stamp on history that Israel mourns even today…