Birthright of Freedom: A Study in the Book of Judges

By Doyle Musser and Rebecca Musser

No matter your circumstance, everyone is born with a birthright and an inheritance. God has promised this inheritance to each and every one of us, although many of us may not know how to access our birthright—and some of us may not even know what we will inherit.

Birthright of Freedom is an in-depth Bible study centered on the Old Testament book of Judges. It focuses on seven major oppressors of Israel during that period, explaining their origins and the generational sins that typified their relationship with Israel. The study looks at the importance of covenant, covenant blessings, and consequences of covenant violations. There is opportunity to discover contemporary manifestations of those same generational curses, using the biblical model to deal with generational sin. Alongside each curse, authors Doyle & Rebecca Musser look at the covenant blessings God has given us through the redemptive gifts and the redeemer himself, Jesus.

As Jesus proclaimed, we are all heirs to the throne of the kingdom of God, and he has given us the freedom to claim our place alongside him in this coming kingdom. By identifying the specific areas that hold us back from the freedom God intends, you too can apply the Word to your life and begin following kingdom protocol.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973650577

Doyle Musser

Doyle & Rebecca Musser are lifelong followers of Jesus, and they have a passion to see people set free from the generational bondage that so often holds them back from their birthrights. Both received formal education at a small Christian liberal arts college, and Doyle also has a master’s degree in psychology. While Doyle & Rebecca pursued traditional work in the social sciences and education, thirty years ago they began learning about spiritual healing and deliverance. Today they stand as a powerful testimony of personal deliverance, and they have also founded a small ministry, Harbor Shalom.

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Personal Introduction

Introduction to This Study

How to Get the Most Out of This Study

Chapter 1   Foundational Concepts

Chapter 2   Historical Foundation

Chapter 3   The Aramean Curse

Chapter 4   The Moabite Curse

Chapter 5   The Canaanite Curse

Chapter 6   The Midianite Curse

Chapter 7   Jotham’s Curse

Chapter 8   The Ammonite Curse

Chapter 9   The Philistine Curse

Chapter 10   In Conclusion

Endnotes

Selected Bibliography

Acknowledgments

This study is the serendipitous convergence of life lessons, experiences and inspirations from so many people. To all our family, friends, teachers, co-workers, and mentors who have helped shape and grow our lives, we honor you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

We are particularly grateful to Arthur Burke, whose teachings on the Biblical Judges launched our own study and, to Johnny Enlow, whose book, The Seven Mountain Prophecy, partners with the lessons in Judges.

Elizabeth Heuer, Mom, Pastor’s wife, educator, and more, thank you for a thorough line edit of the manuscript. Your eyes saw what ours could not.

Most of all, we thank our God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- for not leaving us stranded with all our baggage, but delivering and emancipating us in love, so we may give what we have been given.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Preface

Matthew 28:18-20

"All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to

Me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything

I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always,

to the very end of the age." (NIV)

Jesus’s closing words to the disciples in the above passage launched a revolution to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. With the cross as the mechanism of sacrifice, the sinless, wounded body and blood of Jesus-Messiah completely fulfilled the just requirement of the Law of Most High God so that the love of Father-God might be requited in whoever believes in Him. . . (Jesus, Son of God) (John 3:16b). This was the overthrow of the usurper who came to steal, to kill and to destroy, (John 10:10, NKJV). The authority Christ gained has been delegated to every blood-bought believer for the advance of His Kingdom.

But we are not just soldiers of the cross, we are heirs to the throne … made to be vessels of His glory and vehicles of His light. ¹ Jon and Jolene Hamill have written powerfully in their book, Crown & Throne, In place of the darkness and bondage of the world systems Jesus commissions transformation of individuals and nations by a spiritual revolution that empowers freedom.² The apostle Paul said it earlier in Galatians 5:1a (NIV), It is for freedom Christ has set us free.

Two thousand years later, how do we fare? The reviews are mixed. China, one of the largest, most populous nations on the earth, continues to experience exponential Kingdom growth despite political oppression and persecution since the 1930’s. World missions experts forecast reaching the goal of every people group having a viable fellowship of believers in Jesus by 2020. There are global prayer networks. Outbreaks of revival, accompanied by miraculous signs and wonders, are reported in various places on earth. At the same time, there are also increases in the works of darkness Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24: war, famine, persecution, hatred, betrayal, an increase of wickedness in the earth, and love-less-ness. Terrorist groups of men and women who are sold out to an agenda of violence, hatred, and death spawned from the master deceiver are at work in almost every nation. The fury of hell rages against Jerusalem, the seat of God’s throne in the earth, and against the Christ-followers who also bear the authority of that throne. Truly, the darkness is getting darker but, the Light is growing brighter.

Jesus’s promise, Surely I am with you to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20, NIV), is both comforting and empowering. That He is with us brings confidence in the declaration of God that HE will accomplish His purposes in the earth. With Christ’s presence comes the release of His mind, His strategy, and His authority to carry it out. Fresh revelation about God’s commission for His people to displace the evil principalities on the mountains (of influence in cultures) and occupy them with Kingdom citizens,³ is emancipating a generation to pursue God-given birthrights with passion and excellence. A greater understanding of the Courts of Heaven is producing a paradigm shift in the Body of Christ which allows the plans of God to be activated in the earth realm. We pray, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10, NIV), and Christ’s presence with us enables the Father’s answer. The crown and throne movement God is now birthing into this world is foremost a progression from slavery to freedom,⁴ and our mandate comes from Jesus’s own.

Luke 4:14-21 gives the account of the launch of Jesus’s public ministry. After His baptism and the testing in the wilderness, Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit (verse 14a, NIV). One Sabbath He went to the synagogue, which was His custom, where He stood to read the Scripture for the day. He read from Isaiah 60:1-2, then sat back down. Imagine the pregnant silence as people fixed their eyes on Him. What would He say about what had been read? Verse 21 tells us, ‘He began by saying to them, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ His reading revealed five purposes for the Spirit’s anointing: good news, release for captives, recovery of sight for the blind, emancipation of the down-trodden, and proclamation of the Lord’s favor. This was, and is, both amazing and wonderful! The good news is most simply spoken in John 3:16. God loves us so much He willingly gave His Son to redeem us and re-establish the way to intimacy with Him. More than that, this good news returns to the believer the access to birthright and inheritance. Freedom is the focus of the next three purposes: freedom from our captivity/imprisonment, freedom from our blindness, and freedom from oppression. The apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 5:1, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free (NIV). As we are set free and learn to live in the way of Christ, we experience the fifth purpose, the year of the Lord’s favor.

In this study we will explore seven specific areas that hold us back from the freedom God intends. After each lesson we will invite the Holy Spirit to apply the Word to our lives. Then, we will follow Kingdom protocol for dealing with any issues that affect and infect that area of our lives. May God bless each of you as you study, pray, and respond to this invitation to freedom.

Personal Introduction

Our bankruptcy was finalized in September of 2009. It was not the most positive season in our lives, at least by earthly standards; nor was it the hardest. We had lived on the edge, financially speaking, from the start of our marriage in 1974. Over the course of thirty-plus years, we had moved halfway across the country, raised eight children while living in various apartments, worked a variety of jobs, earned a Master’s degree, and changed careers. All the while, we loved God as best we knew, tithed faithfully, and even served sacrificially in the local church. Through this period there were some very low times when food stamps and welfare supplemented a too meager income. Through it all the Lord never left us. In every circumstance He was faithful to heal, to teach, and to refine us, His children. When we arrived at this bankruptcy season, we knew we were safe in His hands.

The Lord actually used the bankruptcy to confront some life-long issues so that He could launch us into a new season. Early on I, Doyle, was introduced to Arthur Burke’s teaching on the Seven Curses on Your Finances, from the book of Judges in the Bible. Listening to the CDs convicted me of six out of the seven points. I asked the team of prayer ministers who were helping me to work through issues related to bankruptcy to listen to the CDs and pray about them with me, which they willingly did. Becky subsequently listened and prayed the prayers and renunciations too. Before long, we found ourselves sharing our personal revolution with friends who also needed something. That was God’s kick-off.

However, this was not to be a new game, just the second half. Over the years the Lord had sown all kinds of dream-seeds in our hearts. The very first followed our year as house parents at a residential treatment facility. We left that position with a deep desire to someday have a home-based ministry where we could again work together. Many other ideas came in the seasons of the Lord teaching, refining, and using us. We often mistook these for wishful ideas because lack of money was our limiting factor. Yet, they did not just fade and die. More and more ideas came as the years passed.

During the early months after the bankruptcy and the deliverance from the curses, we seized an opportunity to take a class on