How People Miss the Message in Dunsin's 'Judah'

First of, Judah is one of the twelve tribes of Israel and they descended from the fourth son of Jacob whose name was Judah. Now, the story which birthed the song 'Judah' by Dunsin is the civil war story among the tribes when there was no king in Israel. The root cause had been the rape and eventual murder of a Levite's mistress who was journeying through Gibeah (a town belonging to the tribe of Benjamin). And since the whole tribe of Benjamin chose not to give up the perpetrators to be punished, the remaining eleven tribes decided to go to war against them to get justice for the Levite and his deceased concubine. So, they went up to God in Bethel and asked who should go first and God said Judah should. You will see all of these in Judges chapters 19 and 20.

Having started the song with this clear instruction from God, one would think Judah actually didn't do anything like Joshua and others before the wall of Jericho fell down in one swoop. In the case of Judah, it was actually different. For clarity, please know that battles of life (of all sorts) are first won in the realm of the spirit before they manifest. These manifestations happen differently, at different times too. Look at David, another perfect example. After his wives and everything had been taken, he asked God if he should pursue, if he would overtake and even recover. All of these didn't happen because he fought but because God won it already. You get the gist? So when you hear 'I won't have to fight, I won't lift a sword...',  it doesn't mean your physical input won't be part of it, it only means your eventual victory is facilitated by the mystery of your praise in the place of prayer.

    I go with my Judah

   I will never look back

  The battle is the Lord's 

   The victory is mine

I will stand still and know

The salvation of the Lord

This very stanza literally explains the resilience of Judah and others when the battle became very fierce. It will interest you to know that Judah and others were about four hundred thousand while Benjamin was about twenty six thousand. Of course they had the number but this small number 'defeated' them on the first and second day. Yet, on both occasions God told them to go. On the third occasion, God told them to go again and promised to give them victory the following day. This time, they didn't just go, they restrategised and went in battle formation.

At this point, a critical mind might say, ' Why did they lose the first two times even when God told them to go?' Or 'Weren't they prepared enough, we're they overconfident or they used outdated strategies?' Or 'Was God trying their patience?' Or 'Why did they fail before their eventual victory gan sef?' Whatever the reasons were, we may not know but one sure takeout is that Judah and other tribes never gave up. In summary, 'Judah' is a figurative representation of anything that goes ahead to facilitate an eventual victory. It is like a propeller. Your 'Judah' can be faith, hope, resilience, praise, prayer, giving alms, service, or anything at all that guarantees your victory. Do you know your JUDAH?

Please comment and share.