Today, I am reading and commenting on  Judges 7-8.

I have thought of a couple different ways to approach this story, since the main point of the story has been covered over and over again.  But that main point is important, so I decided to go over it today.  I am going to take a slightly different approach to that point than is the default.  Gideon had raised an army to defend the Israelites against the Midianite raiders.  In a way there were two problems with his army.  On the one hand, it was not large enough to be able to defeat the Midianites straight up.  On the other hand, it was large enough that, if they did win, the Israelites would believe they had won purely through their force of arms.  So, if Gideon had taken his army directly against the Midianites they could only win if God aided them.  But, if he did that, the Israelites, and others hearing of the victory, would think they had done so by the strength of the warriors and Gideon’s great command ability.  So, God had Gideon reduce his army to 300 warriors.  From this we learn that sometimes an organization may be too large to accomplish God’s purpose.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Judges 1-3.

While the first verse of the Book of Judges seems to be saying that everything described in Judges happened after the death of Joshua, we know from the Book of Joshua that the story of Othniel marrying Caleb’s daughter happened while Joshua was still alive.  Which leads me to believe that the account of what happened at Bokim might actually be about the same event from the end of yesterday’s passage.  Overall reading this I get the impression that there those living in the land whom the Israelites were unable to drive out and those whom the Israelites subjugated rather than driving out.  The latter lead to the message from the angel to the Israelites.  The other thing I thought about today that I do not believe has ever occurred to me before is that Othniel, the first of Israel’s judges, had taken part in the conquest of Jericho.  To be perfectly honest I had previously never noticed that Othniel was the first Judge of Israel.  So, the Israelites fell away from following God within the lifetimes of those who experienced crossing the Jordan River and the conquest of Jericho.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 21-22.

As I read this passage I really felt like I wanted to write something about the the cities and towns given to the Levites.  However the only thought which truly stuck me was the way in which the Levites became identified with the tribes they lived among without losing their identity as Levites.  Which brings me to what followed the warriors of Reuben and Gad being sent home.  I want to start by pointing out the final instructions Joshua gave them.  He told them to hold fast to God and serve Him with all of their hearts and souls.   The fact that all of the Israelites followed this kept a civil war from breaking out among them.  Before crossing back to the east side of the Jordan, the warriors of Rueben and Gad built an altar as a monument.  However, the other tribes thought they had built the altar as a place to worship God separate from where the Tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant were.  The thought the Reubenites and Gadites were preparing to worship a separate god.  They remembered what had happened when Achan violated God’s commands, how all of Israel suffered for his sin, and feared similar consequences.  Fortunately, rather than acting immediately on the sin they believed the Reubenites and Gadites were preparing to commit, they sent a delegation to talk to them about it.  Also fortunately, the Reubenites and Gadites did not respond angrily to the accusation that they had built the altar to sin.  Instead, they explained the purpose for which they had built the altar: to remind future generations that those Israelites living east of the Jordan were just as much a part of Israel as those living to the west of the Jordan.  Then we have the final good thing which was done.  The other tribes accepted the explanation and did not get insulted by the Reubenites and Gadites thinking that such a monument was necessary.  We see here two groups who could have easily allowed their pride to be offended instead talk to each other and accept that the others had valid reasons for concern.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 18-20.

It is not very important, but I never noticed this before.  The passage tells us that the Israelites had taken control of the land (except for a few areas described in yesterday’s passage), but that seven of the tribes had not yet received their portion.  What I had not noticed was that the tribes of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) controlled the northern portion from their central location in the north and the tribe of Judah controlled the southern portion from their central location in the south.  Further, a look at the final allotments of territory described in this passage gives us an insight into the politics of Israel as it played out through the Book of Judges and the kings of the unified kingdom (really through the division of the kingdom).

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 15-17.

For the most part this passage lays out the borders of the territories allotted to the tribes of Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh.  However, there are three stories within it which deviate from that.  First, it describes how Caleb motivated those helping him capture his allotment by offering his daughter in marriage.  Then, as part of that, it relates how she requested that she, and her husband, be given some springs to go along with the rest of the land Caleb gave them.  The next such story, tells us how the daughters of Zelophehad asked Joshua to give them their father’s portion.  A request which they had previously made of Moses, who had granted it after consulting God.  Joshua followed through on Moses’ commitment to them.   Finally, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh together requested more territory than their original allotment because they felt the Canaanites in the low country of their allotment were too strong for them.  Joshua granted them more land, although less than they requested, and assured them that they would be able to drive out the Canaanites.  In all three cases, rather than complain about how they had been shorted, those involved asked for what they wanted.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 12-14.

I am not sure that this is of particular note, but it struck me that the kings east of the Jordan whom the Israelites conquered (Sihon and Og) controlled much more land than those whom they conquered on the west side of the Jordan River.  This reveals that while Sihon and Og controlled multiple cities, most, if not all, of the cities west of the Jordan were independent of each other.   This also suggests that the areas that the Israelites did not conquer under Joshua were controlled by more unified groups (such as the Philistines).

There are many passages in the Bible which encourage young people to serve God with fervor.  Today’s passage provides similar encouragement to those who are older.  Caleb had served God his entire life.  When he was forty, he was one of the twelve spies who spied out the Land of Canaan for Moses and the people of Israelites.   Unlike ten of the twelve, Caleb counseled the Israelites to go into the land, because he could see how God would give them victory.  Now, forty-five years later, he was ready to go to battle to claim his inheritance in the land which God had promised him.  He was not prepared to go into retirement and leave it to younger men to carry on God’s plans.  So, God still has a use for those of us who have a few years on us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 10-11.

Shortly after the Gibeonites entered into a treaty of alliance with the Israelites, the kings of the surrounding cities allied together and attacked them.  Joshua marched the Israelite army overnight to relieve the siege of Gibeon.  I want to note that we see the importance of Joshua quickly relieving the siege in the next little bit when we read how quickly the Israelites destroyed the southern cities.  It only took them a day or two to break down the walls of the cities they attacked, so it is unlikely that Gibeon would have held out much longer than that.  However, I want to especially point out that the Israelite victory owed a lot to God’s intervention.  First, more of Israel’s enemies in this event were killed by the weather, hailstones in particular, than by the Israelite army.  Additionally, things were going so well that Joshua requested of God that the sun stay still in the sky to give them more time to pursue their enemies, and the report tells us that the sun did indeed stay still in the sky.  The important lesson for us here is that if we do God’s will, He will fight the resulting battles for us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.