Leaving Bethlehem-Judah

Let's read in Judges chapter 17 verse 7. Judges 17 and verse 7. And there was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah of the family of Judah who was a Levite and he sojourned there. And the man departed out of the city of Bethlehem Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And he came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah as he journeyed.

And Micah said unto him, whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. And Micah said unto him, dwell with me and be unto me a father and a priest and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year and a suit of apparel and thy vittles. So the Levite went in and was content to dwell with the man.

And the young man was unto him as one of his sons. And Micah consecrated the Levite and the young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah. Then said Micah, now I know I that the Lord will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my priest.

That was of course false, but that was what he thought. Judges chapter 19. Judges chapter 19, we have another man and he is traveling and traveling again from Bethlehem Judah.

Notice down at verse 16, and behold there came an old man from his work out of the field at Even, which was also of Mount Ephraim, and he sojourned in Gibeah. But the men of that place were Benjamites. And when he lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city.

And the old man said, whither goest thou and whence comest thou? And he said unto him, we are passing from Bethlehem Judah toward the side of Mount Ephraim from thence am I. And I went to Bethlehem Judah, but I am now going to the house of the Lord, and there is no man that receiveth me to house. Now we're not going to read the rest of the story in Judges chapter 20 and 21, but it was it's one of the most tragic stories that we have in all of our Bibles, the wickedness that took place there. Now chapter 1 of the book of Ruth, now verse 1, Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

Now let's go over to the book of 1st Samuel chapter 17. 1st Samuel chapter 17, this is the well-known story of David and Goliath that we learned some of us in childhood and others since they become believers later in life, but chapter 17 of 1st Samuel. Now David's brothers had gone down to the battle, and in verse 17 of 1st Samuel 17, Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this part's corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren, and carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.

Verse 20, And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took and went as Jesse had commanded him, and he came to the trench as the host was going forth to the battle, and shouted for the battle. So David begins to inquire about this, and in verse 28, Eliab his eldest brother heard when he speak unto the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither, and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down, that thou mightest see the battle. And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? And so he goes and talks about the possibility of defeating the giant.

Verse 38, And Saul armed David with his armor, and he put on a helmet of brass upon his head, and he also also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armor, and he acceded to go, for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them.

And David put them off, put them off him, and he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag, which he had even in a script. And a sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. Verse 42, And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.

And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. Now in our Bibles sometimes verses and or passages rather and words are found only in certain passages and places in the Bible, and then they disappear completely off the scene. And from Genesis all the way through to Judges chapter 17, there is no mention of Bethlehem Judah.

Bethlehem is mentioned, Judah is mentioned, but this combination of Bethlehem Judah is not found until you come to Judges chapter 17. And then it is found in the narrative of chapter 17, the narrative of chapter 19, the book of Ruth, and in 1st Samuel 17, and then it disappears completely again, and is never found in the rest of the Word of God. And that's amazing, when God does that, it's almost like a speed bump in a parking lot.

You kind of hit it, and you say, whoa, never saw this before. And you go over these four speed bumps, and then everything's smooth again. What is the purpose? In every case a person is leaving Bethlehem Judah, in every case.

And the first man is leaving Bethlehem Judah to be engaged in false worship, to do the work of the devil. The second one leaves Bethlehem Judah, and the whole thing is the work of the flesh. And the third man, Elimelech, leaves Bethlehem Judah, and he leaves it for another world.

And so in the first three, you have the devil, the flesh, and the world. But when you come to 1st Samuel 17, you have a son who leaves Bethlehem Judah. He leaves his home to do the Father's will.

Beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what we've been doing this morning. We have been thinking of the one who left the Father's home, that he might do the Father's will.

An interesting thing is that he comes to the valley of Elah. Now some translations give Elah in the plural, but it's actually a singular. And it is the valley of Elah, which means tree.

It is the valley of the tree. And when you think of that, you think of the land of Israel, and there were trees all over the place. And even if we were to talk in Iowa about the field of the tree, you would say, well there's trees in every field.

But the point is, there must have been a special tree in this valley that the people knew that it was a very special tree, and so it was called the valley of the tree. And brothers and sisters, you and I live in the valley of the tree, because there's one tree in all the earth that is significant, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are in the valley of the tree.

And here, David, he comes down into the valley of the tree, and he sees a giant, and that giant needs to be slain. And the Lord Jesus came into this world to deal with the question of sin. Now here, David, he puts on the armor, and he says, I can't go with this.

And he comes out to see the giant, and the giant laughs. You could understand. He looks at the youthful David, and no armor, and he's got a stave in his hand, and he's got his sling, and he says, am I a dog? And I think of 1st Corinthians chapter 1, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.

Who would have thought that it would ever be that someone, by dying, would destroy death and deliver us from bondage? And so David is a beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. He comes down into the valley of the tree, and he slays the giant, and he wins the victory, and we have been sitting here rejoicing in the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't come to do the devil's work, or the flesh, or for a world that he preferred over another world.

He left a world of glory and beauty, and came in fellowship with God, never once stepping outside the will of God. And what did he do? He came into the valley, and he won the victory, and that's why we can sit here this morning and praise him, and rejoice together, because he has won the victory, and we are the benefactors of his wonderful work.