Session 1 – Lesser Known Women of the Bible; Achsah, Daughter of Caleb: Dr. David Fleming, 09/01/24

Lesser Know Women Session 1
===

[00:00:00] Good morning and welcome. Glad you're here. Glad I'm here. Glad Beverly's here. There she is, sitting by Lorraine. Good to be back, and I get two weeks in a row, which I'm very happy about, so, uh, hang on. Uh, the thing is, I have been asked to kick off, as you heard Pastor Brent say, the series titled Lesser-Known Women of the Bible and Lesser-Known Aspects of the Known.

So we're not gonna exclude, uh, those we already know, but we're gonna be looking for things, even among those that are quite well known, that are a little less known about them in particular. But I'm gonna get us started with a few or a couple of the, the lesser-known types. We'll have a little break for the Revelation conclusion.

You won't wanna miss that. Uh, it'll [00:01:00] be fun, it'll be exciting, it'll be informative, it'll be challenging. It'll be controversial. But you can handle it. That'll be a great Sunday. And then Mark will jump right back in, and he's plowing towards Ruth. That won't be where we stop or all that is, is, uh, covered in this little series, Lesser Women of the Bible.

I wanna be clear that this doesn't mean women are lesser. Are we all on the same page there? Yes. Because one thing I know, when a man, which I am, has to teach on women of the Bible, which I'm about to, I am on razor-thin ice. I just wanna acknowledge that. I just want you to know I know that, and I also want you to know I know some of you have ice picks.

And I want you to keep them out of sight and safely disposed of, 'cause you're not gonna need them, 'cause I have run this teaching past both Beverly and my youngest daughter, both of whom are very perceptive, very intuitive, and by the way, both women. [00:02:00] So, uh, I've gotten their feedback, and there was a few in there where Rebecca said, "Yeah, don't say that."

I said, "Well, I don't mean she..." "It don't matter what you mean. Don't say that." So it's been daughter-proofed. Uh, it's been wife-proofed. And I won't tell you at, when we get to it, 'cause you might guess, but there was a section in this teaching where Beverly said, "Eh, eh." So it ain't here. So you'll never know what might've been here, unless you ask Beverly, and she will not tell you 'cause it was in confidence.

Hello. So I undertake this series with respect and all humility and the full acknowledgement, ladies, that I'm only a man. Only a man. So show me some grace, if you will, maybe a little patience, and, and don't start chipping away at the ice 'cause it is pretty thin. I wanna start us in the period of the Judges.

The period of the judges. So if you have a Bible, you wanna turn in your paper Bible, please do. On your phone, [00:03:00] whatever particular, uh, app you have, find the Bible, find the Book of Judges, find chapter one. I'll meet you there in just a few minutes. If you follow Mark's Video Thought for the Day, just a couple of weeks ago, he covered the whole Book of Judges in about four minutes.

And by the way, if you don't subscribe to Video Thought for the Day, you should. Uh, I can't tell you exactly how you can get on there except that if you'll contact Biblit or Pastor Brent Johnson, they'll be sure that you're subscribed to that. It's a four or five-minute teaching every single day. Uh, I receive them, watch them all, really enjoy them, always encouraged, inspired, challenged, and educated 'cause I'm learning something, little bit every day, and that's a great little way to stay connected, Video Thought for the Day.

Couple of weeks ago, Mark said of the Book of Judges, "Well, it's kinda like this." You know how y- y- you flush the toilet and then you sort of get this s- vortex or this swirling, spiraling, and it's not coming up, it's going down, and, a- a- and we want it that way, right? And, and the Book of Judges is a little [00:04:00] bit like that because the Book of Judges is a spiraling down of morality, of godliness, of faithfulness, of love, uh, of care for one another.

In other words, God's plan. He's got them to the promised land. Uh, Joshua has led in Moses' absence. The conquest has begun. We enter the period of judges, and that's where it begins to spiral downward. There's a recurring theme, as you probably know, in the Book of Judges. Judges 2, for example, "The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.

And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt." So this is the beginning of that downward spiral. It's spiraling out of control. And the repeated pattern in the Book of Judges, as you probably know, is this. Uh, there is a leader and then there is not a leader, and when there's not a leader, a judge, a Joshua, then people begin [00:05:00] to do what's right in their own eyes, and God gives them up to do what they wanna do, free will, and they receive the recompense or the reward or the consequences of their actions.

God lets them do what they wanna do. Outside kingdoms or other people rise up and oppress them and punish them and treat them very badly until the people finally hit rock bottom and cry out to God, "Help." And when they do, in repentance, God raises up a judge. And you know this, the term judge doesn't mean like in a court setting.

It's more like a, um, a warrior chief, a, a, a military leader whose role is to deliver the people out of the hands of the oppressor or those who have enslaved them or those who are just simply irritating them, various levels throughout the book. So God raises a judge. He leads the people back to God in faithfulness, and then God delivers them out of the hands of their oppressors.

And that's fine during the period of that judge. But when that judge dies off or moves off the scene, guess what? Everybody does what's right in their own eyes. And [00:06:00] this becomes the refrain. We see it all the way over in 21, "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

So there is a bit of disappointment and frustration and sadness, frankly, throughout the Book of Judges. And I'll tell you from chapter one today, uh, it's gonna get worse and worse and worse, all the way through to the end of the book. But there are some bright spots. There are a few encouraging characters, and we're gonna meet one of those today.

We'll find this person in Judges chapter one and begin there in about verse 11. And this is the story, immediately you'll know, of Caleb. "From there they," being Caleb and his group, "went against the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir was formerly Kiriath Sepher. And Caleb said..." Let me give you a little bit of the context here.

Caleb has just taken Hebron, south of Jebus or Jerusalem, and now they've come to this place south [00:07:00] of Jerusalem, south and a little west, called Debir. They had great victory there, and now Caleb said, "Whoever attacks the next spot," the next, uh, place, the next group, "who attacks Kiriath Sepher and captures it, I will give him Achsah."

Say that with me. Achsah. Achsah. Very good. Achsah. That's her name. "I will give him Achsah, my daughter." Caleb's daughter is... Achsah. You gotta practice that. It's Achsah, Caleb's daughter. "I will give my daughter Achsah for a wife. So Othniel, the son of Kenaz," Caleb's younger brother. So you see what's happening here.

Caleb's younger brother would be Caleb's what? Nephew. Okay, you're tracking. And so he gave him... Caleb's younger brother captured it and he gave him, Caleb gave Othniel Achsah, his daughter, as a wife. Well, let's get the whole story and then we'll stop and come back. [00:08:00] "When she came to him, she urged him," him being Othniel, "to ask her father Caleb for a field.

And she dismounted from her donkey. And Caleb said to her, 'What do you want?'" Now if you're a dad, you know you could be reading this any number of ways. What do you want? What do you want? I think it was a little more kind and respectful. What do you want? "She said to him, 'Give me a blessing. Since you have set me in the land of the Negev, give me also springs of water.'

And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs." So we meet Achsah, one of those lesser-known women of the Bible. How many have ever heard of Achsah before? I mean, like consciously, not you just read this story or you read the Book of Judges. But have any of you ever heard the name, thought of the name, know who she is?

Anybody? Good. I hit the target. Lesser-known woman of the Bible. Achsah, she's the daughter of Caleb. You know who Caleb is. Caleb [00:09:00] is a hero. Caleb is a warrior. Caleb's also a loving father, and he's gonna b- she's gonna become the wife of Othniel, who will become the first judge of Israel. So while she herself is lesser known, she's in the story of some very well-known male figures.

She's right there in the middle of history, as it were, for the people in the nation of Israel, and connected to some of the most prominent, well-known people in all of the Bible, Caleb for sure. So here's our roadmap for today. We wanna talk about the context, 'cause that's important. Whenever you find someone who the scripture doesn't give us a whole lot of information about the person...

Here we have just a couple of verses. We wanna be sure that we set that person and those few verses in the greater and grander context of scripture. Then we're gonna consider conduct. What did she do? I mean, we wanna know who she is. We wanna know what she did. What are those actions that she took that cause her to stand out to us today even though she's one of the lesser known?

And [00:10:00] finally, we'll look at her contribution both then and now, which we'll turn into our points for home and for conversation. So here we go in context. Remember, they have conquered Hebron. They're moving to the south and a little bit west to take Debir. You see here a map. The red line down the middle is the...

You'll s- see there, the route of the 12 spies. So this is about a span of 40-plus years. You know where they were in the meantime, right? Wandering in the desert. Wandering. I have a terribly unfunny joke to tell. Would you like to hear it? Yes. You know why the children of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years?

'Cause they didn't stop and ask a woman for directions. Now, you could play that either way. Just decide how you wanna tell it. It's yours now. You're welcome to tell it. You're welcome to tell it. But now the 40 years have passed. Moses is off the scene. Joshua has stepped into his role, [00:11:00] and he has begun the conquest of the land, the land of Canaan.

And he moves down from Jebus or Jerusalem, and he takes Hebron, you see there to the southwest a little bit, west of the Dead Sea, and he takes Hebron. And having taken this area, he sets his sights now on Debir. Debir, Kiriath-Sepher as it was called, on their way down into Beersheba and finally all the way down to Kadesh Barnea.

This is the sort of the map and the flow. Of course, the other tribes went north. There were some across, but this is C- Caleb's particular route. And, and notice his familiarity, because he was who? Who was Caleb? One of the 12 spies, remember? We wanna keep those stories connected. Caleb was one of two. In context Who promised, uh, who, who spied out the Promised Land and came back with a favorable report.

Do you remember? 10 said, "Uh-uh. There are giants in the [00:12:00] land. There are walled and fortified cities. We're like grasshoppers. They will whip us good. We can't do it." And Caleb... And who was the other of the two spies? Joshua. Joshua said, "Wait a minute. Do we not serve the Lord? Is God not God, and has God not promised, and should we not be faithful and trust, and then put our faith and trust into action and take the land?

We can do it because God is on our side." But you know what happened. The people believed the 10 and not the two, and so in their rebellion against God, God sent them on that 40-year wandering through the desert, a very unpleasant period of time. So now they've come from Hebron to Debir and looking on now.

But at this point, for some reason, we don't know why, maybe it's just a opportunity to settle a family matter. After all, Achsah's obviously of marrying age. It's time to settle the question of [00:13:00] who will be her husband, who's gonna provide and protect and care for her, who's gonna take over the responsibility that, that Caleb had as her father, but as her husband.

Could just simply be that, or it could be that strategically the whole army, the whole people, are not required to take this smaller place. So we'll just send out a sort of a scout team or a smaller division to take Debir. And in this course, we have to understand this is no small ask. Caleb knows that the land is filled with giant people.

I mean, these people are massive. They are mean. They are tough. And they've got armor, and they've got weaponry, and they've got walls, and they've got protection. And we are just little fellas in their sight. And so he says, "I tell you what, let's send a smaller force," but let's be sure we understand what's happening here.

Caleb is asking for the mountain. Remember, Caleb's 85. That [00:14:00] may factor into why he's going to ask for a young warrior to go and take Debir. Maybe Debir is not a small task or a small city or a small armament. May- maybe it's a big challenge, and Caleb's 85, so it's time to delegate a little of that authority and responsibility and send somebody perhaps physically more up to the challenge, if indeed.

I don't know really, but it all comes together at this point, that at 85 he takes Hebron, sends someone else to Debir, and offers a prize to the one man who can take it, who can fight, who can attack, who can capture, and who can hold it. And the battle ensues. And Othniel, Othniel, Caleb's nephew, leads the attack and takes the city He takes the city.

Would've taken courage. Would've taken intelligence. Would've taken skill. Would've taken strength. Had to have take perseverance. [00:15:00] Had to have taken leadership. And does those sound to you, fathers, like qualities you'd like to have in a son-in-law? A potential partner and husband to your perhaps only daughter?

Sure. And maybe that's exactly why Caleb offered the challenge, to find out which among all of these men had the right stuff. In other words, was the right man to bring to his daughter in marriage and his daughter to him. So it's a battle, and there's fierceness, and Caleb's brother's son rises to the occasion, Othniel, and he wins the prize.

And here's the prize, guys. He gets to marry his first cousin.

Skip all the state jokes right here, but I did go to Alabama one time- ... where all of my ancestry are from in the recent history, and I went there to [00:16:00] perform the wedding ceremony for my first cousin, Aaron. And I had forgotten my shoes, at the time living in Louisiana in seminary days, and forgotten my shoes.

I had to go buy a new pair of shoes for the wedding. So I go into downtown Enterprise, Alabama, right over by the Boll Weevil Monument, if anybody have ever been to Enterprise, Alabama. It's LA, Lower Alabama. And I, I pick out the shoes, and I get the right size, and I put them on the counter, and the kind gentleman behind the counter says, "So what brings you to Alabama?"

Put a little R on the end. I said, "Well, I've come to marry my cousin."

But what's really funny is he never looked up. He didn't laugh. He didn't go, "Huh?" It's like he never heard it. It didn't phase him at all. Or I half expected him to say, "Yeah, I married mine, too." I don't... Now, that's a true story. I kid you not. That is a true story. So Othniel gets to marry his [00:17:00] first cousin, which by the way wouldn't have been all that ordinary, un- unordinary during this period of time.

But we shouldn't just think about Othniel, 'cause there's somebody else in this conversation, too, and she might also say, "What? Dad, you're giving me to whom? My cousin. Great. I'm so excited to marry my first cousin." Well, in all seriousness, hang on. Let's stop and talk just for a minute about the patrilineal or patriarchal system or culture or context.

What's really going on here? Is, is Caleb using her as some sort of a bargaining chip? I mean, is she his possession that he can do with what he wants? And if so, most of us recoil at this very thought. Most of the ladies in here go, "Uh-uh." Even though to this day, in many cultures around the world, this is still how things are done.

But most of us in this society, in this culture, in our day and time, would say two things: "I'm not about to let my dad give me to whomever he [00:18:00] chooses," and two, "It's certainly not gonna be my cousin." But this isn't our day and time in the text. So what we have to understand here about this system is really important, and that is this: that Caleb, as a loving and responsible father, is going to ensure a few things.

One, he's going to ensure that the man who takes his daughter's hand is the right man. He's not just giving her to anybody. He's not even giving her to somebody who has the most money or is the best looking. He's looking for something inside, some character, something of the kind of heart that he has with courage and boldness and a deep and abiding faith in God to deliver Israel what God has promised.

So Caleb's looking for his replacement, and Othniel rises to the occasion and proves he's a lot like Caleb, with courage and boldness, with skill and resourcefulness. [00:19:00] So that's his loving responsibility, to make sure she goes to the right feller. Secondly, he's gonna ensure that his daughter's cared for, that she's taken care of, that she's provided for, that she's protected.

And who better to provide for her and protect her the way he has done for all of her life than one that's a lot like him, having proved himself as Othniel had done. And thirdly, he's responsible. A loving and responsible father has the duty to ensure that the family is strengthened through their union.

So in this system and in this culture, Caleb is doing what Caleb should have been doing. And by the way, this is an example in Judges 1 of how this system was supposed to work. Now, by the time you get to the end of Judges, not so much. Hit pause on that. We'll save that for the end of Judges. But it gets worse as we see the flesh occur, and we're gonna go down from here.

But what we see here, even though we might [00:20:00] personally go, "Ew." Say that with me. Ew. Ew. Uh, then and there, this is exactly the right thing to do, and this is a great way to do it. And what Caleb is doing is demonstrating his love and his concern and his care for his daughter. It's a good thing. He's found a man of faith and courage and godly character- And he brings the two together.

So we're getting a picture of the context, but let's move now and let's examine what happens next. Those first three verses we read focus more on the context, the battle, how they got here, what was the challenge, and who was the prize, the prize. But how did she respond? 'Cause we see here for sure that she trusted her father.

She believed in Caleb, and she obviously had a deep and abiding faith in her father's heart, knowing that his intentions were good for her. I mean, nowhere do we see Caleb appear as a self-serving type person. He's not a, uh, an [00:21:00] egotistical... He, he's not a, he's not a selfish, he's not a self-serving kind of character.

We just don't ever see that about Caleb. We see him on the front edge of faith. We see him as a wonderful example, he and Joshua, what it means to, to follow God with your whole heart and to trust in Him from the depths of your soul, and to be willing to step out based on that faith and trust in actions of obedience.

Now, she's seen this her whole life, so she has this sort of seemingly passive role, and yet I don't know really if trust and faith and obedience are passive. Leave that for a later discussion, 'cause she is not a passive participant in this story. First three verses, eh, kinda seems so, except for that whole faith and trust and obedience part.

But she is not by any means a passive participant. Notice these last two verses of Judges 1, or 14 and [00:22:00] 15: "When she came to him," that would be Othniel, that's her husband, "she urged him to ask her father for a field." So it seems like up until now, this has been a transaction between Caleb and Othniel, father and son-in-law, to give his daughter's prize to Othniel for conquering Debir.

Apparently, there's a wedding, and along in the wedding comes the dowry or the bride price, and apparently that's some land south of Debir, closer towards the Negeb, which is dry place or desert. Could've been the proper place of Debir, which is just south... Uh, sorry, of, uh, Negeb, which is just south of Debir, or it could just mean generally the, the plot that I've inherited, the bride price, my dowry to me and Othniel, uh, it's just dry and barren.

So she says to Othniel, whose responsibility it would've been to [00:23:00] interact and transact business, as it were, with his father-in-law, "Ask him." She urged him. I mean, I've used the word encouraged, but I think it's a little stronger. She urged him to ask her father for a field. Presumably, the field is an area in some proximity to what she'd already inherited and Othniel already owned by virtue of the wedding.

But that had access or the very presence of water. So she's encouraging Othniel, who's just inherited a piece of property that he's earned through battle, to ask for a little bit more. And it's not a small little bit, it's the difference between, well, perhaps life and death. Now, for whatever reason, Othniel apparently pauses, hesitates.

I don't know what that conversation was like. We don't have the record, but we know what she does next. She dismounted from her donkey, which is a sign of respect. She's not talking over her father. She dismounts her donkey. [00:24:00] She's showing respect, deference, and she comes to Caleb and he says, "Daughter, what can I do for you?

What do you need? What do you want?" And she says, "I, I need a blessing." Not that the original dowry or bride price or the land that we've inherited is not a blessing. No, no, it was a blessing. There's just one small problem with the blessing. There's no water . "So give me also springs of water." And Caleb, being the loving father who's made a lifetime of giving and protecting and caring for his daughter, gives her the upper and lower springs.

So she trusts her father, but that doesn't mean she's a passive participant in this story. In fact, she encouraged or urged her husband when she recognized a problem, a challenge, or a need. She [00:25:00] encouraged him. She's playing sort of a part in this conversation. She's not sitting back waiting for Othniel to summon the courage, which by the way, I sort of wonder about that a little bit.

This is the guy who took Debir, this fierce warrior, this man of courage, deep and abiding fai- All the good things we've said about him are true. I just wonder why his knees shook so much, apparently, when it came to asking his father-in-law, Caleb, for a little more land. I don't know if he chickened out.

We're only speculating, but I remember when I asked Floyd Skipper, my father-in-law, for his daughter's hand in marriage. I was terrified. Guys, any recollection there? I mean, father- fathers have this huge place in our lives. Fathers-in-law, oh, like giants in the land. And then there's the mother-in-law, who's even [00:26:00] bigger.

But typically easier to talk to. I mean, here's this father figure now in your life that you have almost no relationship with, and he's looking at you-

watching you, checking up on you. Not really But I felt like I was talking to a giant. I'm just glad he said yes. Beverly, aren't you glad he said yes? What would we have done if he'd said no? Ooh, I don't even wanna think that. He said yes. So she encourages her husband to talk to her dad. This is good. This is a good place to stop and think about this.

This little picture I just gave you a flash of a moment ago, maybe some of you are familiar with this, and I'm sorry for any copyright infringements, but what you have here is sort of a coming together of a couple of different systems. They're all very similar. They probably all, uh, go back to a single source.

They're just different applications of it. But I know it as Insights or Insights Discovery, and this is when typically in the [00:27:00] workplace, but Beverly and I did this, gosh, 35 years ago, uh, as a young married couple at First Baptist Church, Folsom, Louisiana. We went through the little study and the little survey, took the test to determine what our particular personality styles are, which then equipped us, one, to be more self-aware, and secondly, more aware of what our spouse or coworkers or fellow staff members at the church are like and how they work and how they think and process.

So we went through this 30... Oh, at least 35 years ago, 34 maybe. And what you see here is a, a color wheel, and each color is somewhat indicative of the personality. So we have the red, which is sort of competitive, maybe driving, demanding, uh, very determined, and this is on the side of extroversion, or these people are ex- extroverts.

They're outgoing, and it's under the side of thinking. So these are thinking, outwardly focused, [00:28:00] driven kind of people. Do you know a type A? Then you know what red means. Uh, it's red. Uh, the second color, D-I-S-C, is the in- is the, uh, life of the party type. I'm too close to read it, so let me back up. Uh, can y'all read that?

No. Me neither. So let me read it to you, if I can get down here to my computer. I used to could see. I, I used to could see, but I cannot tell you. I think it says sociable. Uh, I think it says enthusiastic. Hang on.

I think it says persuasive. I know somebody like this. My brother-in-law is all yellow. He's never met a stranger. He loves talking to people. He had his and his wife's photo this week with Michael Phelps, who they happened to bump into in a hotel out west and spent 20 minutes chatting with. Most of us would keep moving, but not [00:29:00] my brother-in-law, because he takes life and energy from engagement.

That's an I. Uh, I can read the rest from up here. The green is the caring, sharing, patient, peacemaker type. And the blue is your accountant and engineer. They're cautious, they're precise. I don't know what deliberate means, but maybe it means deliberate in some other language. Uh, y- your accountants and engineers fit well in, in that category.

So Beverly and I did this study, and guess what? At the time, and I was a much younger man, I was right here. Now, don't judge me. We need these people in our world. And Beverly, right here. Now, what do you notice about this and this? One is a thinking extrovert and the other is a feeling introvert. And the two are [00:30:00] opposite.

And when we finished the study and got our results and had a conversation, we said, "Maybe we messed up." 'Cause we are exact opposites. Or maybe God knew exactly what He was doing and put two people together who have complementary strengths, and strengths and weaknesses, and weaknesses. And what we see here with Othniel and Achsah is a coming together of two minds with differing gifts and skills and abilities, with different perceptions.

And we see them working together as partners, I see, in what other people might say is a male-dominated c- dominated culture and society, a patriarchal, patrilineal, the man is the man and he's the man. But what we see here in reality, in practice, is two people working very well together in a complementary way, and I think that's a great example.[00:31:00]

Years later, I retook the similar test, Insights. And whereas this in my younger days, uh, I, I actually have morphed more now towards this guy. So maybe as we get older, we get a little more reflective, a little more introspective. We think a little bit longer and speak a little bit less. Maybe so. A- and Beverly, oh my goodness, when she was here all those years ago, she's really-

really loves to fellowship. Lunch, breakfast, dinner, coffee, tea. She don't even drink coffee, but she'll watch you drink coffee. So we change over time, and that's the good news, right? That's the good news. We, we shouldn't be static. We should be... Our personalities are developing. We're, we're learning. We're becoming.

And spir- experiences are shaping us. The Holy Spirit is shaping us, so we change. And I put that out there just to sort of give you some sort of a context for how this relationship might be working [00:32:00] and working well because what we see are two people. Sure, they're man and woman. Yes, they're husband and wife, but two people who apparently have figured out how to help one another to get where they need to go.

It's a complementary relationship, and it's working together. So she's not a passive participant. She encourages her husband, urges him, and then when he hesitates for whatever reason, she steps in. She is full action now. If you had any idea she was a passive participant or an observer, not now. She is fully engaged.

She slides off her donkey, she approaches her father, and she makes a bold request. Something like this, "Dad, this Debir place is lovely, isn't it? It's so pretty here. It's so nice. I can see now why you chose to stay here and send Othniel and me further down the line. Because my p- place, Dad, although we're really grateful for it, I don't wanna seem at all like I'm complaining at all, but it's kinda dry and parched toward the Negev.[00:33:00]

So Dad, there's one little thing you could do for us in addition to all the amazing things you've done for us. One little thing, one more thing that would make all the difference, Dad. Could we have a little water? 'Cause if we had a little water, a spring maybe, well, then our desert could blossom and bloom, and we'd be fine because we could feed our family, and we could provide for the community.

We could live comfortably in this place." And he says, "You know what? You're exactly right. I don't know what I was thinking. I actually d- didn't remember that that parcel was so parched and arid and, and, and dry. But, but hey, the field you're asking for, the one right next to it, has, guess what, two springs, upper and lower.

I tell you what, take that." Now, just so that you'll understand the magnitude of the request and the response, just know that every square inch of this land is spoken for. It's been assigned. They're not just wandering out here across the [00:34:00] wilderness and find a good-looking place and put down a stake. No, this is with deliberation.

This is with intentionality. And so Caleb's now got to decide whether to give his daughter, upon her bold request, someone else's land that wasn't coming to her in her wedding price or dowry, and he does. So he's taking a bit of a risk. She's taking a big risk, and the result is she gets what she needs.

They get what they need. And how'd they get it? She made a bold request. So this submissive, silent daughter who was the prize of a man who conquered a city says, "Hang, hang on just a minute, fellas. Y'all forgot something. A woman needs water to survive, and so does a man." So she makes a bold request. So that's her conduct.

That's what she does, and now let's just wrap this up with some- Contributions. And of course, the first is obvious [00:35:00] in the there and then. In her time, she gets what she needs. Her family gets what it needs. Her husband get what he needs to survive in the land and to thrive in the land. So this is no small, uh, lesser deed.

I mean, she's providing not only for her immediate family, but for generations to come, 'cause this is now going to be hers and Othniel's land. Without water, not so good. If she hadn't asked, this would have been her future, and her husband's future, and her kids' future, and her grandkids', and their grandkids', and their grandkids' future.

This would have been their place. But she did ask. So because of her bold faith, and her boldness in faith that led to a bold action, she's taking care of her family, taking care of her family. That's the immediate situation. But there are some longer-term goals here. Let's apply this then to the, [00:36:00] to the here and the now.

We'll call this Points for Home. Achsah clearly trusted her father. So there's a lesson here on trust and obedience. Remember the hymn, Trust and Obey? She trusted him, and that trust resulted in obedience. She trusted what she knew of him, what she'd seen in him, what she'd experienced as his daughter, his wisdom, his judgment, his heart of love for her.

He knew... She knew he had her best interest at heart, so she trusted him. And there's a lesson here that we have to have the kind of relationship with our Heavenly Father where we have that kind of abiding faith and trust. 'Cause like the old song says, we don't always know why God is doing what God is doing, or why things are happening to us the [00:37:00] way they're happening.

It's possible to live a life that just happens to us, and leads us to a lot of confusion, and perhaps to doubt, or maybe even disbelief. But we gotta build the kind of relationship, and I wanna suggest to you that comes little by little, day after day. It's not something you get in the moment when you need it the most, right?

This kind of relationship with our Heavenly Father is built over a lifetime of experiences where we gain understanding and knowledge of who our Father is, and how He operates, and what makes Him think the way He does and do what He does. And the conclusion of all of this is, I don't know why this is happening.

I don't know where this is coming from. I don't know why God allowed it. I don't know why God did it, whatever the case may be. But one thing I know, God is good And God loves me. I'm His child, [00:38:00] and so His heart for me is good. His intentions for me are good. His actions for or a choice not to act is for my good.

I know this is true. You can ask me a lot of questions I cannot answer. There are lots of things I do not know. But I have this unshakable conclusion: God is good, and He is a good father. Trust Him. And when you trust Him, like Caleb trusted Him, like Othniel trusted Him, and certainly like Achsah trusted her father, and through that relationship, her heavenly Father, she proved time and time again what she believed time and time again, that God is good.

Listen, we live in a world that often happens to us, where we are, if we aren't careful, passive participants. We get [00:39:00] knocked here and knocked there, and slammed here and pelted there. And it causes a person to wonder. But the one thing you can never let yourself wonder: Is God good? Does God love me? Is God gonna take care of me and provide for me as a good father, a loving father, a responsible father would?

And listen to me, 100% of the time, and you can't say that often, but 100% of the time, He's got a perfect record. God never fails. So the less- uh, the, the lesson from a, a lesser-known woman of the Old Testament is a lesson of trust and obedience. There's a second lesson, and I would call this the lesson of faith and courage.

But that's so tied to lesson number one, I wanna add a phrase, that leads to action. Lesson on faith and [00:40:00] courage that leads to action. We've seen that in Caleb. We know. He said, "Hey, we can do it, guys. Let's go. Let's take the city. Let's take the, the, the land. Let's take the nation. God has promised it. God is with us.

God will go before us. We can do it." That's her daddy. And now she, being handed from father's care to husband's care in suddenly a, a passive exchange on her part, which requires trust and obedience, faith. But then we see the kind of courage that leads to action when she urges her husband in order to provide for family, for home, for future generations, and then to her father, where she has to ask for just a little bit more.

It could've been a lot in some conversations We see her stepping up and taking action, and that's important because while she seemingly played along, given her context and culture [00:41:00] as a bride-to-be, you know this sometimes a woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do, and God help us if she don't. Because sometimes it needs doing.

Sometimes it needs doing. Sometimes it's because there's not a man around to do it, and a woman steps into that void or vacuum and does what a woman's gotta do, what a person has to do. But sometimes it's got nothing to do with whether there's a man hanging around to do it or not. It's because God's called a woman to do it.

In many specific examples, with men everywhere, God reaches out to a lady, says, "I got some work for you to do. Got some work for you to do." And I think that's a good third lesson is [00:42:00] sometimes a, a, a woman has gotta move beyond passivity to activity. I, I'll give you an example. I, I told you this is kind of Beverly.

She, she's a people person. She gets energy and life and enthusiasm from interacting with others. Uh, she's deeply caring, this, this green one. She's deeply caring. She cares about the least of these and the last of those, and she's good with details. She can handle a long list of to-dos. She can cover a lot of details, my goodness.

A- and then finally, this last one is, is, is the driving, uh, determined. Do you know? And you see where it is in her normal flow of things, right? But we have a joke in our house that came from 30-plus years ago, and the kids have heard it so many times, that while mom keeps her D down low, don't you think for a minute that she can't raise her D-

when a [00:43:00] woman's got to do what a woman's got to do. Lots of times, Beverly, who typically would say, "Let's just have a good time. Can't we all get along? Uh, did you remember your coat?" Has to say, "H- hang on. Let's talk." Now, a, a good, loving, and dutiful husband who isn't an idiot-

who is typically shaped more like this, do, do you know what he does?

He says,

"Yes, dear." "Tell me more." "Uh, w- what are you thinking, and [00:44:00] how does that make you feel?" "And, and, and what's your input? And what can I do?" Right? It... So, you know, I mean, I'm the man.

"So sweetheart, ..." "... what do you think?" Are you with me? And by the way, I don't think this is just a husband and wife conversation either. This is not Marriage 101. This is Life 101. But sometimes ladies, a woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do. 'Cause you're made in the image of God.

You are in- endued or endowed with skills and gifts and ability, with ways of processing and thinking that this guy doesn't get. He just wants everybody to get [00:45:00] out of the way. But if we aren't careful, we will remove a very important voice from the conversation. If we aren't careful, we'll miss a very valuable contribution in the process, if we both men and women don't understand that sometimes a lady's gotta do what a lady's gotta do.

And we're better for it. 'Cause I don't know about you guys, but in my house, mm. This would be sort of what I'd be looking at. I'd be out there in the middle of this dry desert with a spoon trying to find some water. Oftentimes, in our 30, now six years of marriage... Is that right? Yeah, 36. I knew that. Just making sure she did.

In 36 years of marriage, there have been so many times, time and time [00:46:00] again, where Beverly has kept us out of the ditch, has, has s- saved us, protected us from making bad decisions, has encouraged us, urged me to make better decisions. And again, I'm backing the husband and wife thing, but let's keep the circle a little bigger to say, I see her in the work world and vocationally.

When it's time for Beverly to step up and speak and be heard, don't you think for a minute a woman'll do what a woman's gotta do. And the rest of us better be willing to say, "Got it. Thank you. Needed that. Appreciate that," responding to that- So whether it's at home in the family, whether it's in the workplace or anywhere out in the world, lesser known doesn't mean less important.[00:47:00]

So there's a lesson on faith and courage that leads to action, and finally, there's a lesson on who God chooses to use. Because even in this male, patrilineal, patriarchal culture, God is not obliged or obligated to follow our norms and customs and rules. Are you with me on this? God operates outside of our actions, restrictions, and even expectations.

It's not conforming. He'll use whomever he chooses to use, whoever. And he's used a great many women, of course, to do his will. Long list, just a few, Deborah, Jael, Ruth, Sarah, Hannah, Rachel, Esther, Rebecca, Old Testament, Mary and Martha, Priscilla, Phoebe, Lydia. You get the point. Lots of women that God chose to use in spite of their context and their circumstances or the cultural norms and expectations that would have [00:48:00] limited and restricted their usefulness.

God said, "I don't care about that. I've got something that needs to be done, and you're the right person to do it."

In this conversation with Beverly and Rebecca yesterday, Rebecca reminded me of her favorite story in all the Bible, and this may give you some indication of how she's wired. She said, "Dad, my favorite story is the story of the resurrection." Of course, I'm thinking easy answer. Glad you went to Sunday school, sweetheart.

Not hard, the resurrection. But not just the resurrection. It's what's happening on that first morning when the guys, M-I, and these precious few women that all four gospel writers tell us [00:49:00] and that Matthew and Mark later affirm as true. These few women make their way very early in the morning with the things they had to provide for the body of Jesus as an act of love and honor, show up at the empty tomb, and have an exchange wherein they are told, "He is not here.

He has risen. Go and tell.

Go and tell his disciples. Go and tell his faithful followers. Go and tell that strong band of warriors that wanted to take the kingdom by force to meet him." So think about this for a minute. A small group of women, emphasized by the retelling in all four gospels, are the first to hear the news, the greatest news, the most powerful news, the most impactful news [00:50:00] the world has ever heard.

Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, has risen and is alive. Go and tell.

Pretty important. Because in that day and time, as you probably know, in that culture, with those norms and expectations, with those restrictions and limitations, if you wanted to cook up a hoax, you wouldn't start by having women as witnesses. Their word didn't mean much. You wouldn't start a lie with something ridiculously unexpected.

You'd never do it. So in fact, the outrageousness of the first witnesses being women in a culture and a world where a woman's word didn't mean much, but it was their words that sparked this whole post-resurrection movement. And God was making a point, I suspect, not only to give us now [00:51:00] credibility to what would have been incredible then, but I think it goes a little deeper than that.

I think this is an intimate, powerful, and personal opportunity for God to use some ladies who did not stand there and argue and say, you know we're women, right? You know we're kind of passive in this society, right? You know our word isn't good. In fact, if we go tell the disciples that you're risen, they won't believe us.

And they didn't. That's why they went running to the tomb to see for themselves, because they didn't believe the women. Because women weren't believable. Sorry, I'm just saying that's the culture, that's the norm, that's the expectation. But these ladies, chosen by God, used by God to start everything since.

Wow. I think that lesson is here, that God chooses to use Oxa or Mary Magdalene, [00:52:00] Salome, those few women at the tomb to change the world. So I think that's the lesson. Sometimes, sometimes the most important thing to do, regardless of who you are, what gender, where you come from, or what your level of education, or your biblical training, or your degree in theology, or the time you have on your hands, or the people you know, sometimes God will choose you for a very important task.

In that regard, I guess I would remind us

Galatians 3:28, "There's neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." It's a lesson of trust and obedience. There's a lesson of faith and courage that leads to action. [00:53:00] There's a lesson on who God chooses to use, and He might just choose you.

Father, as we pray, we are grateful for this apparently lesser-known person named Achsah, and for her kind faith and trust, but for her courageous action in asking. She trusted Caleb as her provider and her protector her whole life. Why wouldn't she continue to trust him as a good father? And so she stepped in when she had to step up.

I pray we'll learn that lesson, be we male or female today, Lord, that we can always trust you. Our faith should always lead us to obedient actions because you might just ask us to do something. And whatever you [00:54:00] ask us to do, our answer is, "Yes, Lord." And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.