05. The Work of Othniel 1. The Challenge

The Work of Othniel 1. The Challenge

"And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley. And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher: And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs." (Jude 1:9-15)

It was Caleb who gave the challenge, and he gave a wonderful promise too, that for anyone who was prepared to overcome the city Kiriath-sepher, there would be given his daughter for a wife. Now Othniel answered this challenge and he fought against this city. The name of this city means the ’city of a book’. Without being imaginative it could be suggested that this represents all the accumulated wisdom and knowledge that man has acquired down through all the ages of his culture, all the things that he boasts in, all the things that he has accumulated in opposition to God (the libraries are full of this today); but there is nothing to help the soul, there is nothing there to lead us to God, indeed, it would all take us away from God, and we are reminded that "the world by wisdom knew not God" (1 Corinthians 1:21), and "none of the princes of this world knew [the wisdom of God]; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2:8). Golgotha, that place of a skull, really sets forth the features of man’s empty knowledge; no eyes to see God, no ears to hear anything about God, no tongue to speak for God, nothing in the mind to be held for God - the skull, an empty thing, typifying man’s accumulated wisdom. This was the kind of thing that Othniel overcame, he responded to the challenge. We might almost say that he said ’There is only one thing that I am concerned about, and that is doing God’s will in overthrowing all that man boasts in, and securing the city for God’. There was certainly going to be blessing for him; this was what we might call a secondary thing in one sense, the first thing was acquiring the territory that really belonged to God and His people. When the ark of the covenant went over the river Jordan, the name of the ark was "the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth" (Joshua 3:11), and because the ark went over and the nation behind it the nation was to secure the land for God that it might be for His pleasure and His people might dwell in it, but conflict had to be waged in order to make this a reality, and so Caleb says, ’If anyone is prepared to fight and overcome Kiriath-sepher I will give him Achsah, my daughter, for a wife’. Not only was Othniel the member of a favoured tribe, he had a very famous uncle, Caleb, a man who "wholly followed the Lord" (Numbers 32:12, Deuteronomy 1:36, Joshua 14:14). What a faithful and devoted man Caleb was. We read in the book of Joshua that there came the moment when he said, "I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me [to spy out the land]; as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in", and he was well over eighty years of age when he said it (Joshua 14:10-11). For forty years he had gone through the desert with Israel, but in his heart there was the faith that laid hold of the land; he was prepared to share all the circumstances of the wilderness, he was prepared to accept the government of God because of the failure of the others, but all that was in his heart was the desire of the land. ’I had the faith to go in and possess it, but others would not help me’ he said, but the time came when he had the opportunity to enter in, and he proved that he had the faith and he had the strength, and he overcame the territory that was rightly his, and he acquired it.

Now here is Othniel, the nephew of this great man. He shows the same characteristics. It would be a wonderful thing if all the nephews and sons of the men of God were to follow the pathway of faith, but sadly, they do not. Many of them give up, many of them have no interest in divine things; but here was a true follower of his uncle. Here was one who exhibited exactly the same features of courage, determination and faith in order to do the things that were pleasing to God; and he overcame sin. It is a great thing when men are prepared to turn aside from man’s knowledge with all it’s boasted heights and accept God’s will and God’s direction.

There was a young man who at one time was a very bright young Christian. He was a very intellectual young man, but there came a moment in his life when he did not want to be connected with the few despised Christians in the University city where he was. When he occupied a chair in that University city, he said his students would not think very highly of him if he identified himself with the few Christians who were meeting there gathered to the Lord’s name. He despised them. There may come a day when his students will despise him. He made a choice for this world’s wisdom, this world’s position and he refused the company of the few despised ones who sought to be true to the Lord according to the truth; and many others have failed in exactly the same way. This world’s knowledge with all its charm and with all the pre-eminence that it gives to people is a great obstacle for young people to overcome, and some get carried away with it, and they would rather have that than the truth of God. But Othniel overcame this obstacle. He was not going to be overcome by man’s boasted knowledge, however great it was, he overcame, and in overcoming he got a wonderful blessing. It is a marvellous thing to have a good wife, a wife with spiritual desires, and that is what Othniel found, a woman who was ardent in desiring blessing; she asked Othniel to ask her father a blessing, and we get the impression that perhaps Othniel was a little slow, so she jumped down herself and she went to her father and asked this blessing. "Give me a blessing," she said, "give me also springs of water" (v.15). What a wonderful woman to have as a companion, one who was ardent in desire, one who knew what to ask for, something worthwhile.

I am not going to try to spiritualise these two springs, the upper and nether springs, except to say that above all things it represents real life and refreshment. Those who have been in the Middle East know something about the scarcity of good, clean, fresh water. What a boon it is, being very, very scarce in many parts, it is something to be desired. It means life, it means refreshment, it means health and wealth, for men, cattle and produce. And this was one of the things that was promised by God in Deuteronomy 8:7, the land was to be "a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills". There was an abundant supply of water; and here is this dear woman asking for these two springs, she wants refreshment in life, she wants real life there that she can depend upon. Now man may make a reservoir and may do all sorts of things in relation to water, but a spring is something that sovereignly comes from God. It is something there that He provides, it is something that springs up with life and vitality and it is fresh and pure and clean. We read in the days of Genesis of the conflicts that went on in relation to springs of water, and when they were filled up with earth they had to be re-dug so that the springs could come forth with all the refreshing vigour (26:17-22).

Now here was the woman saying, "give me also springs of water", and her father gave them to her. That was his present to her, and she was his present to Othniel; so he was wonderfully blessed and this is the whole point of this passage here, that conflict is worthwhile. It is easy to give up if there is some particular problem in our life, some particular spiritual matter that requires to be entered into with God in conflict. If we are not finding the blessing, if we are not finding the victory, then it is so easy to say, ’What is the use? I am not going to worry any more, I am not going to seek that victory that I was so concerned about, I am going to give up.’ But Othniel said, ’I am going to win. I am determined to win’; and he did, and what a wonderful recompense he got. Not for one moment should we approach the difficulties of our spiritual lives just simply to have the joy of saying, ’I have won’. This is a very low standard of spiritual desire. It should be so that we might be better equipped to represent God, that there might be more testimony in our lives, that there might be something worthwhile in our lives of a permanent character.

Now after the battle was waged, and Othniel and Achsah went about arm in arm. People would say, ’There is the fruit of that man’s courage, there is to be seen the value of a man who was prepared to fight for something, and look at what he has obtained.’ There would be a continual witness of his courage and of his faith and of his sterling worth. There was the evidence of victory secured. Paul said to Timothy that he was to "meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all" (1 Timothy 4:15). There would be the evidence in Timothy’s life of a life devoted to God in earnest spiritual conflict, and that not only would there be personal profit for him, but there would be benefit to the saints of God also. That is the real secret of conflict in connection with things of the Lord. There is not any Christian who is not in a conflict; Satan attacks us every day of our lives, seeking to overthrow us in our testimony if he could, but let us thank God for spiritual conflict and for the determination to overcome.