RPG Adults
OTHNIEL (I)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 6
Judges 3:1-11
Hebrews 13:7-17
“…the LORD was with the judge
and delivered them…”
OTHNIEL (I)
“God is not looking for men of great faith, He is looking for common men to trust His great faithfulness” (Hudson Taylor).
The picture presented in Judges 3 is of a seemingly handicapped generation. In Judges 2:10, they did not know God or His mighty deeds, but they had heard them in the accounts given to them. In Judges 3:2, they had not experienced the wars of the conquest. They had inherited the Promised Land and the peace they enjoyed. They did not see the battles of the conquest and they thought to place under tribute instead of to remove the Canaanites from the Land! They ended up being enslaved themselves and God raised for them a deliverer in Othniel.
“…Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother” (Judg 3:9 cf. 1:13- 15). This introduction is similar to Joshua 15:17. He had a rich history and a heritage of godly association. He had the experience of fighting alongside Caleb who had shown bravery and had a testimony of faithfulness and trust amidst a flood of evil report back in Kadesh Barnea. Just as evil communication corrupt good morals, godly association and apprenticeship can raise up a standard that God can use to fight the enemy when he comes in like a flood. The benefit and service that the godly home provides for the church cannot be measured. God has commanded the teaching of His statutes at home. Paul commended Timothy’s faith and linked it to the home where he was raised by his mother and grandmother. Not much is said of Othniel, his skills, how he delivered Israel, what he used to subdue and defeat the Mesopotamians, but his association with Caleb is set forth plainly! It was not only the home or familial relationship, but he also fought alongside Caleb in the conquest! In a generation that did not know the battles of the conquest, there was one who had been in those battles, alongside a godly and faithful man of God. He did not forget the example he saw, and he became the example to his generation!
THOUGHT: (Read 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13.)
PRAYER: “O give us homes where Christ is Lord and Master, the Bible read, the precious hymns still sung; where prayer comes first in peace or in disaster.”