Free Bible Commentary
“Jude 1:11-13”
Categories: Jude“Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”
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Jude had given three examples of sinful and rebellious GROUPS in verses 5-7, and in today’s reading he singles out three INDIVIDUALS who garnered God’s wrath and righteous judgment because of their wicked hearts and deeds. Like Cain, the false teachers had no interest in God’s concern and desires for them. The Lord compassionately appealed to Adam’s head-strong firstborn when his anger began to consume him: “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it” (Genesis 4:7). As Cain brushed aside God’s affectionate plea and went straightway and murdered his brother, so the false teachers ignored the words and warnings from the divine instruments of revelation, and worked with the selfish intent to spiritually kill their brothers in Christ with deceptive persuasion and damnable doctrines.
Like Balaam, the false teachers were motivated by greed. Balak, the king of Moab, offered to pay the prophet Balaam handsomely if he would pronounce a curse against the children of Israel whom he presumed to be a threat to his kingdom (Numbers 22-24). Even though Balaam refused to curse the Israelites at the behest of the king, he still looked for an angle by which he could bypass God’s will for him and sell God’s people out for filthy lucre. The greedy prophet found a way to lure God’s people into sinfulness by which they condemned themselves. It was “through the counsel of Balaam” (Numbers 31:16) that the Moabite woman seduced many of the men of Israel to commit sexual immorality and idolatry, and 24,000 people were subsequently killed (Numbers 25:1-9; 31:16; Revelation 2:14).
Like Korah, the false teachers desired to usurp authority that was not given to them by God. Korah was a Levite who rebelled against Moses and Aaron, and ultimately God, because he desired a greater place of prominence among God’s people than he was given (Numbers 16:1-11). Cain, Balaam and Korah were all driven by their own selfishness and arrogance to abandon the way of righteousness and rebel against the Lord, and they left much human wreckage in their wakes. All three of these self-willed individuals suffered God’s condemnation and the troublers of Jude’s brethren would ultimately suffer the same fate.
Jude used two more sets of threes to describe the horrid nature of the corrupters of God’s word and defilers of His people. They were like “hidden reefs” that rip the hulls out of the sailing vessels of unsuspecting seafarers. They were like “clouds without water,” promising relief and precious refreshment, but delivering none and only intensifying thirst. They were like “autumn trees without fruit,” promising fruit but offering no sustenance. They were “doubly dead” and destined to be “uprooted”. They were like “wild waves,” “wandering stars,” destined for “black darkness”. Friend, can you see from these vivid illustrations just how sacred and vital and inviolable that the word of God truly is? We dare not alter it in any way or try to bypass any of God’s perfect precepts and commandments in order to satisfy our own desires or inflate our own egos. If we do, we will suffer the same penalty of “eternal fire” (verse) and “black darkness…forever (verse 13) as these men will.
Please read Jude 1:14-16 for tomorrow.
Blessings!
-Louie Taylor
