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God Raised up the First Judge, Othniel

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(Judges 3:10)

The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, so that he became Israel's judge and went to war. The LORD gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.

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After Moses, Joshua became the leader of Israel.

Joshua won the war with the Canaanites, so the Israelites were able to live in Canaan. The tribes of Israel lived in the land which Joshua distributed.

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Then their great leader Joshua died.

So the Israelites in that land should live as the people of God by their own faith.

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God was going to give great blessings to them if they would properly serve God in the land of Canaan, so God observed if they would truly live by faith.

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But soon, the Israelites lost all the attitudes of being the people of God.

The Israelites did not serve God.

Instead they served the idols which the Canaanites served.

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So, God decided to not help the Israelites anymore because they had betrayed Him to serve other false idols. At that time, Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Aram Naharaim (Mesopotamia) ruled over Israel.

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He ruled over Israel for 8 years and tortured Israel.

The Israelites were suffering very much.

They realized how painful it was to lose the help of God.

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The Israelites started to repent of their sins in front of God.

They realized their sins of leaving God to serve the false idols.

So the Israelites returned back to God and served Him only again.

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God accepted the repentance of the Israelites.

God always forgives us when we truly repent of our sins.

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During that time, there was no king in Israel.

So God raised up one person to lead the Israelites.

There were leaders raised by God and they led Israelites.

They were called the judges.

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The first judge of Israel was Othniel.

This Othniel was the nephrew of the well-known faithful man, Caleb.

Together with Caleb, Othniel had once won one big war in Kiriath-sepher.

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Othniel got the order from God and went to war.

It was really hard for the Israelites to win the war with Aram Naharaim (Mesopotamia).

Since the Israelites were so few in numbers and their weapons were too weak.

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But Othniel believed in God. Othniel relied only onto God.

Othniel believed that God was the one who would decide the winner of the war so Othniel bravely went to war.

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God was with Othniel because he had such great faith.

The army of the Israelites led by Othniel won the army of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim (Mesopotamia). A miracle happened. All the enemy troops ran away. They never came back to the land of the Israelites again.

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The Israelites were able to escape from the hand of Aram Naharaim (Mesopotamia).

Othniel and all the Israelites gave glory and thanks to God.

They realized what huge power they could have together with God.

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God raised up Othniel as the first judge of Israel.

Just like this, even today, God is looking for faithful people like Othniel who can humbly obey and work for God. I hope all you, dear friends, who are attending this Sunday service, can all become faithful people whom God is searching for and would choose like Othniel.