Judges 3:1-4 TEACH

 1These are the nations that the LORD left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. 2He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. 3These are the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. 4These people were left to test the Israelites—to see whether they would obey the commands the LORD had given to their ancestors through Moses.

Teach

“He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle.”

King David comes to mind when he was a young boy shepherding his father’s sheep. He practiced with his sling and used it on the wild animals for the sheep’s safety. Some wrongly believed when David killed Goliath it was a miracle at the Lords hand. The Lord was actually teaching David as a young boy with that sling and teaching him courage with the wild animals! So when David and Goliath went to battle, David was a seasoned warrior taught by the Lord.

1 Samuel 17: 34David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, 35I went after it, struck it down, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. 36Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”

37David added, “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

“Israel was to be in a hostile environment for the major part of her history, due either to the pressures of the petty kingdoms which surrounded her or, at a later stage, due to her strategic position between the successive world-powers of Assyria, Babylonia, Persia and Greece on the one hand and Egypt on the other hand. Military prowess was a necessary accomplishment, humanly speaking, if she was to survive.” (Cundall)

Blessings