Steve Rogers was born during the Great Depression and grew up in a poor family. His father died when he was a child, his mother when he was in his late teens. Horrified by newsreel footage of the Nazis in Europe, Rogers was inspired to try to enlist in the Army. However, because of his frailty and sickness, he was rejected. Overhearing the boy’s earnest plea to be accepted, General Chester Phillips of the U.S. Army offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a special experiment called Operation: Rebirth. Rogers agreed and was taken to a top secret laboratory in Washington, D.C. where he was introduced to Dr. Abraham Erskine, the creator of a special serum.
After weeks of tests, Steve Rogers was at last administered the serum and was then bombarded by a special combination of radiation rays designed to accelerate and stabilize the compounds in his body. Rogers emerged from the chamber with a body as perfect as a body can be and still be human. A Nazi spy who observed the experiment murdered Dr. Erskine just minutes after its conclusion. He died without fully committing the formula to paper, leaving Rogers the sole beneficiary of his genius.
Rogers was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program, teaching him gymnastics, hand-to-hand combat, and military strategy. This new super-soldier was then given a red, white, and blue uniform and named Captain America: The First Avenger. His assignment was to stop the Nazi agent called the Red Skull and to protect America from evil.
When I was a young boy, I loved reading about Captain America. Almost every Sunday morning, instead of going to church, I would go to Nick Canyon’s Novelty Store and buy a Snicker’s candy bar and the new Captain America comic book and spend the afternoon reading about one of my favorite superheroes. Little did I know back then, but the Bible is filled with stories that have even more adventure, intrigue, insidious villains, and heroic figures than the comic books. Not only that, but these biblical stories have the power to bring salvation to our souls and to help us live better lives.
This is precisely the case with today’s Bible reading from the Book of Judges. It was a dark time in Israel’s history. God’s covenant people had abandoned the Lord and were worshipping foreign idols. Therefore, God gave them into the hands of the ruthless Mesopotamian king Cushan-rishathaim, who pressed them under his evil thumb for eight long years. But after the Israelites cried out to God for help, he raised up a noble hero named Othniel to deliver them from evil and become Israel’s first judge. Let’s take a closer look at the story!
Israel Forgets God (7)
This story begins with the heartbreaking backdrop of Israel doing evil in the sight of the Lord. These are the exact words that we saw in 2:11 and they will be repeated four more times, forming one of the key themes throughout the Book of Judges. But what exactly was the evil they did in the eyes of the Lord? The next phrase clarifies it for us: “They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and Asheroth. The Hebrew verb “sakah” which generally means “to forget” here denotes “to disregard” or “not take into account.” It describes a passive falling away from the Lord. The Israelites did not bump their head one night and wake up with a sudden spiritual amnesia, but just as dementia or Alzheimer’s patients lose their memory slowly over a long period of time, God’s people gradually drifted away from him until he completely faded from their collective affections and memories. If they had been alert, they would have actively paid attention to the Lord and kept him as a higher priority in their lives. They would have worshipped and served him daily, rather than become distracted by everything else around them.
Regrettably, the people of Israel forgot the one true God and served Baal and Asheroth, the chief god and goddess of the Canaanites. These so called gods were carved images made out of wood and stone and they promised prosperous agriculture, proliferation of many children, and protection from one’s enemies—all things that the Israelites deeply desired. So, they exchanged the glory of the living God for mere hand-held trinkets that gave them momentary pleasure.
This one verse aptly describes our modern situation. Like the ancient Israelites, so many individuals, churches, and even some Christian denominations have forgotten the Lord! Instead of actively worshipping him, they have succumbed to the hand-held idols and superstitions of the culture. Instead standing for God’s truth, they have caved into the pagan pleas for political correctness. Instead of holding on to God’s standards of ethics and morality, over time they have shifted away from the fundamental teachings of the Bible and have affirmed sinful lifestyles and attitudes that God deplores.
Are we suffering from a case of spiritual dementia? Do we remember the Lord and what he has done for us? Have we been distracted by other things and have slowly drifted away from him? Have we been led astray by the luster of foreign gods that promise momentary pleasure?
God Disciplines Israel (8)
Well, as we have already seen in the first few chapters of Judges, when God’s people forsake him, his anger flares up and he disciplines them. When they worship foreign idols, God sells them into the hands of a foreign enemy; and in this case it is king Cushan-rishathaim, the menace of Mesopotamia. He is the most powerful of all Israel’s enemies in the Book of Judges. Like the Red Skull in the Captain America series, Cushan-rishathaim is a world-class villain. For him to have extended his tentacles as far as Judah in southern Canaan, meant that he had enormous power. Even his name has a comic book quality to it: His given name Cushan means “dark” and his nickname Rishathaim means “doubly wicked.” (This name evokes similar sinister name/nickname combinations throughout the ages like the Romanian prince Vlad the Impaler, the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible, or my third child whom we have affectionately named Duncan the Destroyer.)
God subjugated his people under this wicked warlord for eight long years. He did this as a measure of discipline to humble his people and to bring them back to him. It is amazing how adversity and suffering can remind people of their need for God!
Thus is the case today too. In many places throughout the Old and New Testament, we learn that the Lord disciplines those he loves. When we forget the Lord and worship idols, he allows us to experience pain, suffering, and hardship to draw us back to him. He does not take pleasure in punishing his children, but he does it to protect us from the eternal consequences of our sin.
Most of you have experienced some microcosm of this principle as children. When I was a child, my grandmother gave me the very clear rule not to jump into the swimming pool when she wasn’t outside. Being the Olympic swimming prodigy that I was at six years old, I felt like this rule was oppressive and even borderline abusive. So, one day I jumped in before she came outside. My arrogant attitude and disrespectful behavior caused her anger to burn against me and she made me sit on the deck all day and watch my sister and cousin’s play in the pool. Needless to say, I never jumped in the pool by myself again until I was old enough to swim unsupervised. She certainly did not take pleasure in disciplining me, but she had to do it to teach me a lesson and to protect me.
Have you ever experienced the Lord’s discipline because of some sinful attitude or action? Are you under the Lord’s discipline right now? Please don’t misunderstand me; I’m not saying that every adversity we face is the result of God’s discipline, but I am saying that sometimes God does use pain and suffering to humble us and bring us back to him.
God’s Deliverance (9-11)
God’s subjecting Israel to Cushan-rishathaim’s cruelty for eight years worked. Finally, like a damsel in distress, Israel recognized that they could not make it alone and they cried out to the Lord for help. And when their hearts were humbled, God raised up a great champion to deliver them. Othniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother was a Judean hero, who was already distinguished for his courage and prowlness in capturing of Debir and winning the hand Acsah, Caleb’s daughter, in marriage (1:111-13).
As a heroic conqueror of the Canaanites who married within the covenant community, Othniel stood in stark contrast to those in the nation who had settled down and intermarried with the enemy. He is a model of faithfulness to God and the Scriptures reveal no flaws in his character. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that he became Israel’s first divinely appointed judge, who set the standard for all who will follow.
Unlike Captain America, Othniel did not need some secret super-soldier serum to make him powerful; all he needed was the supernatural empowerment of the Holy Spirit to come upon him and transform this minor Israelite officer into a conqueror of a world-class enemy. By the matter-of-fact way the narrator tells the story, Othniel easily defeated Cushan-rishathaim and liberated the Israelites from oppression and evil. After this, the land experienced peace for 40 years. The land returned to the same state of tranquility that marked the period of Joshua and his generation.
Othniel is an outstanding model of faith, courage, and obedience! Among a generation that had embraced idolatry and accommodated the surrounding culture, he believed God’s promises, married within the faith, and heeded God’s call in his life. And he experienced all of the blessings of a successful life and led his people to a prolonged period of peace and prosperity. Even now, over 3000 years later, we still remember Othniel’s legacy of excellence.
Are you living a life of faith, courage, and obedience to God? Will you believe God’s promises, marry within the faith, and heed God’s call in your life? Do you want to live a successful life?
Even though Othniel is the first judge and the human deliverer, I hope you noticed who the real super-hero of this story is: God. God is the one who “raised up” Othniel and “put his Spirit on him” and gave him the power to overwhelm the enemy. We must always remember that even our best human leaders are nothing without God’s power. Our greatest human efforts are nothing without God’s grace. Our best decisions are nothing without God’s guidance and direction!
As I conclude today, I would like to draw your attention to another Judean deliverer. Like Othniel, this deliverer had impeccable moral character, a steadfast heart of obedience to God, and the Spirit of the Lord was upon him. He too was raised up by God to fight against a fierce enemy, deliver his people from slavery, and to restore peace to the land. Who is this great hero, you ask? It is Jesus Christ, God’s own son! God raised up Jesus not to defeat a human warlord but to conquer Satan, the true enemy of our soul! He raised up Jesus not to free us from political or social oppression but to liberate us from bondage to sin! He raised up Jesus not to bring temporary peace here on earth but to restore true peace for eternity in heaven.
Jesus Christ is the ultimate judge! He is our divine deliverer! He is the greatest hero in the history of the world because he sacrificed his own life by enduring the pain of the cross to provide forgiveness and atonement for our sins!
What do we need to do to secure Jesus’ salvation? Stop trying to save yourself—cry out to the Lord—repent from your sin—put your faith in him—and accept his free gift of deliverance!