Verses 8 through 15, Judges chapter 12. We'll be finishing up chapter 12 together. I mean, a few weeks back we were in chapter 12. If you remember, we haven't got to be here. But we will pick up again there now. Let's read together in Judges 12 and verse 8. It says, after him, Ibsen of Bethlehem judged Israel. And he had 30 sons and 30 daughters to give in marriage outside his clan. and 30 daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. He judged Israel seven years. The Nibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem. After him, Elon, the Zebulonite, judged Israel, and he judged Israel 10 years. And Elon, the Zebulonite, died and was buried at Ajlon in the land of Zebulon. After him, Abdon, the son of Hillel, the Pyrophonite, judged Israel, and he had 40 sons and 30 grandsons. who rode on 70 donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years. Then Abdon, the son of Hillel, the parathonite, died and was buried at Parathon in the land of Ephraim in the hill country of the Amalekites. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your word this morning. We thank you that you have not left us in darkness, but you have revealed yourself to us through your word. and through the incarnation of Christ God that we may look upon him and not ourselves. Give me strength now as a sinful man to do this, to look upon Christ and all that he is, that we would remember him and forget ourselves, that we would bear our cross and look toward Calvary. In his name I pray, amen and amen. So if you remember last time, it was Jephthah's conflict with Ephraim there. Jephthah had been called up from the people after he had been cast out because he was the son of a prostitute, but they then went and got him because he was a mighty warrior and they were in distress. They went and got him and he then come and he fought the Ammonites, I believe, yeah, Ammonites. And he had made a pledge to God that if he would win, he would sacrifice whatever come from the doorpost there. Of course, what came from the doorpost was more than he wanted to pay. That was his daughter. His only daughter. He had neither son besides her. And so because of that, she was offered up as a burnt offering after she was allowed to go up on the hills and wait for her virginity because she didn't, she wasn't able to marry or have children. Thus she couldn't contribute to the covenant family of God and couldn't have the Messiah come from her line. So that was her weeping. And so after that, what had happened is there had been a conflict with Ephraim about the battle because Ephraim wanted to have the spools and the honor of battle. And because they didn't get to do so, they came against Jephthah. and they said they were going to burn his house down around him. Very strong language. So because of that, we've seen a small civil war break out and the destruction of Ephraim come upon them. If you remember, they would make them men say a certain word and if they couldn't pronounce it right because of their accent, then they would kill them men. And multiple, multiple, I believe thousands of people were killed in that way. So then Jephthah, he had judged Israel six years. We see that in verse seven there of chapter 12. And then he died and was buried in Gilead. We're then given this list of these minor judges. That's what the section we're in today. That's verses eight through 15. Not that God didn't use them in a certain way. He most certainly did use them to help Israel, but it's simply that we are not given much information about them. So we're given very small sections. If you compare this section, which mentions three judges, to the section we just got out of that mentioned Jephthah, there's a lot more said about Jephthah than these judges. And we can see that. So that's why they're referred to as minor judges. So we're given three more judges here, Ibsen, Elon, and Abdon. That brings our total number of judges to 12 that we have seen. In the book so far, the nine before them, if you remember, was Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Debra, Barak, Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, Jar, and then Jephthah, the one we had just mentioned. They all came and were used by God in a certain way. The Spirit was upon them. Remember, that helped them to enact deeds for God, such as battle and things of that nature that they wouldn't have been able to do if the Spirit had not come upon them. They were used for a purpose. Yet, as we spoke of before, they all came, they all died, and they did not keep the covenant faithfully. They did not keep it indefinitely, which is something that we need for the people, because every time that a judge comes and every time that a judge goes away, the people spiral into idolatry. And we've seen this downward spiral in the book on and on and on and on again, this repetition of Israel's apostasy from God, their idol worship. And so that's our great need in the book, and it's going to continue to be our great need all the way through it, a pointing to something greater than what we see here. appointing to a need for a judge that will keep that covenant indefinitely. And that's what they are simply searching for here. So let's jump into our text in verses eight through 10. It says, after him, that is Abimelech, Ibsen of Bethlehem judged Israel. He had 30 sons and 30 daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan, and 30 daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. Then Ibsen died and was buried at Bethlehem. So we started off with Ibsen here, who ruled or was a judge for seven years. We were told every one of their years in office here, we were told that Ibsen was seven, Elon was ten, and Abdon was eight. Very short spans of time here. So we're seeing sometimes less than a decade here, besides Elon, going on and on and on. These judges coming and going. And the question may be, why is that? Why do we see these judges pop up and then go away? The answer to that is what we spoke of before. Probably either they fell into some sort of snare of sin, or they simply died and was not able to carry on the work that God had them to do. And so someone else had to be raised up. Not only that, but if we look in Proverbs 28, we can see more of a picture of what's going on here. Proverbs 28, one and two, what it says here. The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Listen to verse two here. When the land transgresses, it has many rulers. But with a man of understanding and knowledge, its stability will long continue. When a land transgresses, it has many rulers. This is the judgment of God. When transgression comes upon a land, they are not stable. They have many rulers. They come and go. And we don't really think of it much in our time, but at that time, kings definitely, but even judges, people that were directing the way your nation went, can change drastically. We have presidents now, but they can't just, in one fell swoop, just destroy the Constitution. You see what I'm saying? They're trying, but they don't have as much power as the kings. But you can see the difference in leadership. Yeah, the kings did at the time. Absolutely, you can see the difference in leadership. But they can't just destroy it in one fell swoop. But this was a judgment upon a land. They had many kings and therefore it changed back and forth drastically through a time. You could have peace in one time and prosperity with one king and then an ungodly king come up and it simply be despair and turmoil within the same generation. Are you seeing that? So this is the judgment upon Israel, I believe. And we can definitely see that and we spoke of it many times in the last chapter of the book in chapter 21 there. We can turn there together. We've spoken of this anarchy that we end the book with. Chapter 21 and 25, and this is how this book is going to cap off. This is the last verse here. It says, In those days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. So that is indeed still the judgment of God upon them all through this book. Although judges come up and they look like they have great potential, it looks like God is using them in a certain way. I'll go ahead and spool it. None of these judges are the ones we are looking for. None of these judges are going to keep the covenant. They are but character studies to show us that man cannot in his own will. even with the aid of the Spirit upon them, even in all their greatness, even when we're gonna get into the next section of Samson, he could not keep it indefinitely. So let's continue back in our text. So back with Ibsen here before we jump off, we were told that he died and was buried in Bethlehem. That's where he was from. But before that, that, I don't know. Yeah, sorry, we were told he died and was buried at Bethlehem. Commentators are divided on exactly where this is. So there's the normal Bethlehem that we normally read about in the Bible, which is in Judea, and then there's one which is in Zebulun. And this is mentioned only once in the Bible, we won't go there for the sake of time, but it's mentioned in Joshua chapter 19, verse 15. Another Bethlehem there. So commentators go back and forth with that, I don't think there's any, really way we could know, but the main thrust is that this man did die and he was buried in a certain place, something that we'll get back to later. His grave is there, right? It's telling us as an audience, this man died, his grave is there, and he's still there today in that sense. The second thing we're told is that he had 30 sons, 30 daughters, making 60 children, which he'd given marriage, which shows that he, although he was a judge for seven years, he obviously lived longer than seven years to be able to marry off all them children, do all those things. So obviously he was probably a judge later in his life, in that last seven years, and then he died. This is interesting when we compare this to Jephthah, right? The judge we just got up, who only had one daughter, and no sons. Remember, that's what we had spoken of before there, chapter 12, verse 34. Let's see here. I think I've misread there. Nevertheless, remember it was said when he come to his daughter that she come out with dances and things of that nature and that he was grieved and he ran his garment because she was his only daughter. He had neither son nor another daughter besides her, so she was all he had. And we're making that comparison of these judges who seemingly had loads and loads of children. and that the request she had had before God to go wait for virginity, proving that he had no grandchildren as well, which is what we will see there. She was not married off, she had no husbands, whereas Ibsen was able to marry all of his children off. We're seeing these contrasts between the two judges here. All right, verse 11 to 12 there. Verse 11, after him, Elon the Zebulonite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years. Then Elon the Zebulonite died and was buried at Agilon in the land of Zebulon. This is believed by some commentators to be the point in which we start the persecution of the Philistines upon the children of Israel. So in verse one there, some commentators believe it was during this time period of Elon, it's not unanimous, but some believe that, verse one there, you can read it with me, in chapter 13, the people of Israel did, again, did what was evil on the side of the Lord, and so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years. Some believe that it was during this reign of Elon that this persecution began. Now, some don't, but that would bring us in to Samson and what's gonna go on in his time, probably one of the most well-known judges in the book of Judges. So we were told very little things about Elon here, except that he was a Zebulonite and where he died. And this might be a good thing, as we've spoken of before. The less we are told about a judge, it could be, the better. We're simply not told that he made an idol of anything or burnt his daughter or anything of that nature or rebelled against God. We're simply told that he come up and was a judge and left, which is seemingly better than what we are told of all the other judges and the sins that they committed. So nothing is recorded in that sense of him there. Verses 13 through 15. It's either good or bad, really, is it? Because they don't really mention nothing about them. Other than they're just judges. Right. Alright, 13 through 15. I mean, during that time period, though, when you go back and start to search other places in Scripture, it did begin to fall under persecution of the Philistines. They were under full persecution when Samson Yeah, commentator, like I said, I've seen one or two that would make connections with that. Although, like I said, it's back and forth with them that show different things. But I don't hold one way or another. But that is a good point. 13 through 15 here. After him, Abdon, the son of Hillel, the parathonite, judged Israel, and he had forty sons and thirty grandsons who were on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years. Then Abdon, the son of Hillel, the parathonite, died and was buried at Parathon in the land of Ephraim, an ill country of the Amalekites. So Abdon here, we're told he had 40 sons and 30 grandsons, something also that we mentioned before that Jephthah did not receive, for his daughter wasn't married, as we said before, therefore she had no children. She was simply burned before she could do so. And this is yet another penalty that Jephthah was brought upon Jephthah for thinking that he could bribe God. That is, he thought he could give God something which God did not already have, which makes no sense at all. Look at Psalm 50 with me. Stress this point again because it's something I think that we all can do in our lives even me maybe not meaning it Not understanding what we're doing I guess I should say is we can try to bribe God with the things we have not understanding that all the things of the world Including ourselves are the Lord's Look in Psalm 50 in chapter 7 there with me if you will says here. Oh my people. Oh, I will speak Oh Israel, I will testify against you. I'm God your God and Not for the sacrifices do I rebuke you, your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle of a thousand hills. I know all the birds on the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world in its fullness are mine. I do not eat the bulls or drink the blood of goats. Offer to God sacrifice of thanksgiving and perform your vows to the Most High." So this is just God simply reminding Israel here. And we can all think in this sense because it would be easy for the children of Israel to look upon the continual sacrifices they make and to be somewhat like the idol nations. Right? The idol nations thought, man, we're offering up this sacrifice to God and this is how he's eating. Like this food is how he gets sustenance. He needs us. We give him food that keeps him sustained. He gives us rain for our crops. This was the thinking of the time, you see. And Yahweh says, that's not me. Don't take me wrong. If I were hungry, I definitely would not ask you. I need no food from you. These burnt offerings that you're giving me, I'm not eating them. They're not my food. And in reality, they're more for the Israelites than for God. Now it was worship to God, don't get me wrong, but it's for the Israelites that those are instituted. It's not that God says, well, I need someone to bring me breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So it's going to be you because you're my chosen people. See, but it's so easy, that seems crazy, but it's so easy for even us as Christians to think that the things we do help God in some way. We might not admit that to ourselves, but it's easy for us to think that, oh, the things I do, I teach Sunday school, I do these things. Obviously, I am helping the kingdom of God when God says, I don't need any of those things. I don't need your help whatsoever. And he tells the children of Israel not to look at these things as what they are giving to God, but simply offer their sacrifice with what? Thanksgiving Thanksgiving what that God has shown mercy upon them an offering of Thanksgiving is the only offering we can make That's it. Thanks to God. We cannot give him nothing. He does not already possess We cannot make it so they couldn't add any sheep to his fold. He owns them all But that's important for us to understand. It's something that Jephthah didn't get and it's something sometimes that I believe a lot of churches don't get. That's right, sure. It's important for us to understand that. So let us give God thanksgiving because that's the only thing we can give him. We're then told that Abdon dies and is buried in Ephraim, a people who had trouble with pride, if you remember last time we spoke, and we spoke of earlier in our recap, and had last been seen in chapter 12 and verse 1 there, when they had come against Jephthah and told him they were simply going to burn. his house down around him and they were destroyed. This is the place in which he was buried, this last judge here. So we're told where all three of these judges die and where they're buried. And I think we've been told that most, almost with every judge, I believe. Definitely with Jephthah, you can look back and like we read in chapter 12, verse seven, we were told they die and they are buried. And this is the place where they are buried. I think it is. It's an antitype. And this is what I mean by that. Look, I think Peter explains this perfectly in his sermon on the day of Pentecost. So let's look in Acts chapter 2 together. Acts chapter two and verse 22 there. It says, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, losing the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand and I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell and hope for you not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy ones see corruption. You have made known to me the path of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence. Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. being therefore exalted on the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing." That was Pentecost. That was the tongues. Every man hearing it in his own language. This is what God is pouring out. But what I want us to see and really try to focus on for just a minute is verse 29. Peter's addressing of David. Now was David great? Yeah, as far as humanly concerned, okay? I'm not saying give him praise, I'm just saying as far as humanly concerned, he was a great king. Slayed his 10,000s, right? They sung songs about him, great guy. And that's how the children of Israel would have seen him, a fantastic king. But what does he say about David? Verse 29, brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. There's a big point in that. In all David's greatness, he could not overcome something, and that is death. Right. And all that he did for Israel, he was not able, just like these judges, to not die and be buried. And even in Peter's time, he could have looked and said, you know this judge, Samson, how great he was, his tomb is here. You know Othniel, how great he was? He was buried here, and he's still there to this day. But when we come to Christ, we find something different. We find that he says his tomb was here, but he's not there. He was dead, and he was buried here, but it could not hold him. The judge came, and he ruled for his people, and he kept the covenant, and it looked hopeless when he died. This judge was like all the other judges. He was great, and then he was cast away by death. Yet death could not hold him. And that judge is the same judge that reigns today. That judge is the same one that is over us. You see, we don't have to worry about that curse of a king that comes and goes indifferent, and how God will see us in a different light tomorrow than today, because Jesus ever stands to make intercession for his people. This is the hope we have, and without this, we have no hope at all. This is what the people were looking for, and this is why I believe when we come upon all these judges, this is what it said. He did these things, it was great, but he sinned normally, or at least he died and was buried in this place, and he's still there. There was no resurrection. He could not overcome death, and all that he was, he could not overcome death, which means, this is important, He could not save the people. If he could not overcome it, how can he help someone else overcome it? Yeah, absolutely. He could not. He could not overcome it. We see this in Psalm 49. Look there with me. Psalm 49 here. Important note, especially in the book of Judges. Psalm 49 in verse seven here. Truly no man can ransom another or give to God the price of his life. For the ransom of his life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit. For we see that even the wise die, and the fool and the stupid alike must perish. and leave their wealth to others. Their graves are their home forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they called lands by their own names. See? No man can save another. Why? Because it's too costly. The thing that would have to be paid would have to be perfect. And no man can offer that up, except the man Christ Jesus, whose once for all sacrifice was enough for us, whose ruling and reigning was enough to keep his people within the covenant, who was enough to secure God's grace upon us forever, not just for a span of time, not just for seven to 10 years. Will we be okay in his eternity? Because that was what was offered up, you see, the precious savior. The graves are these judges' homes. They're not going to leave them until resurrection. But they're not just going to get out of them one day. On their own? On their own. Because death has a hold upon them. That's important for us to understand. These judges had but a mere glory at their time. That was nothing compared to Christ. Look in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 there. Look at this extensively. I think Josh is going to cover the same text. So he, uh, he has me covered. Second Corinthians chapter three. We'll just glance at it here and then we'll get the, we'll get the full thing from Josh this morning, but I didn't want to make a point here. Same Corinthians chapter three. Look at verse 10 there. So this is Paul addressing the old and new covenants. Okay, he's speaking of them there. Verse 10. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory. That's the old covenant at all because of the glory that surpasses it. That's the new covenant, what Christ had ushered in. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold. Not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened, for to this day, when we read the Old Covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. You see, these judges had but a mere glory that when Christ come upon the scene, faded away to nothing at all. Compared to Christ. Compared to Christ. It faded away to nothing at all. When the true judge came upon the scene, these other judges fell to but dust where they come from. You see it? This is the glory that surpasses it. This is why in the new covenant we can look upon our judge and have full hope and security that the covenant will be kept because it's based upon the precious blood of Christ. Amen. That will not fail. This is the hope that we have, church. And for the people that still look upon these judges, right? He's addressing Israel here, who's still looking upon that old covenant system of judges and kings and rulers and priests. The ones that still look upon man for their help. What does he say about them? Well, there's a veil over their face. They do not fully see the veil is still up. When Christ died, this is speaking of a veil over the face, but the veil of the temple was rimmed. Meaning what? We can go in, we have boldness. We can go in the presence of God and not worry about death because the blood of Christ covers us. So when he looks upon the Christian, he looks upon his son because when he looked upon Christ, he's seen your sin and shame. You see? That's the boldness we have. It's not of ourselves, it's of Christ. But there are still those today who wish to put this veil up. There are still those today that wish to look to man-made efforts, sometimes even their own, that will get them somewhere with God, that will bring them to be able to come into the presence of God, and it will never do so. It will never do so. And I urge you, I don't believe anyone here is, but if you are looking today to anything but Christ as your head, as your security, whether that be yourself or rulers or anything of that nature, there is no hope for you in those things. It will always, always be separation. There will always be a veil between you and the presence of God. Always. That's how it was with these judges. They did not understand Yahweh in the way that we understand him now. And that's because of Christ. That's because Christ revealing him to us. I listened to Jeff Durbin does apologetics with Mormons and Jeff Durbin, he said, it struck me. He said the same thing. He was talking to a Mormon missionary and he said, you know, he said, Christ came and he separated the veil and that we might go into the presence of God. And you know what the Mormon church did? they put it back up. If you go to the Mormon temple, you know what's hanging? A veil. They put that veil back up. Now they literally did it, but I'm afraid that a lot of the people in the churches today, they do it just the same. When they look to anything but Christ. And so this morning, let us look to him and nothing else that we may worship him because he is worthy of it. All right, pray with me. Father, I'm but a sinful man. Apart from your grace upon me, I cannot stand. I cannot do anything, God, but I thank you that I've been able to speak of you this morning. Give us strength in our lives, Lord, to look to Christ and Christ alone for our safety, that he would keep the covenant for us. God, understand that there is no possible way we can keep it in and of ourselves. Let us cling to him and all that he is. In Christ's name we pray, amen.