I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
     The Old Testament passage today is the story of Deborah. Once again, Israel falls away from God and once again they are oppressed and call out to God for deliverance. This time, the judge God raises up is a woman. She calls on one of the military leaders of Israel to go out to battle against the oppressors. She agrees, but tells him that as a result the credit for the victory will go to someone else. This is indeed what happens. Israel is victorious on the battlefield, but the enemy general escapes and is later killed by a woman at a place where he thought he could safely hide. What is interesting to me about this passage today is that it is told from the perspective that women are of lesser consequence than men, yet places the credit for the victory to two women without the slightest bit of sheepishness on the part of the writer.
     I am curious about something in this story, in the narrative of the story, Deborah tells Barak to call out “10,000 warriors from the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali”, yet in the song celebrating the victory several other tribes are belittled for not joining the battle. If they were not called upon to join the battle, why were they criticized for not doing so?

     The New Testament passage today has Jesus telling the disciples to gather a traveler’s bag and their money and prepare for what was coming then recounts Him going to the Mount of Olives and Judas’ arrival to betray Him. Jesus reminds the disciples that they did not take anything with them when He sent them out to preach the Gospel and they had no needs. Then He tells them that now they should gather equipment together for travel, including a sword. Yet when the disciples tell Him that they have two swords among them, He tells them that it is enough. The only thing I can figure from this is that Jesus was telling them that they should be prepared for the coming persecution. What is the point of this exchange?
     Then Jesus and the disciples went to the Mount of Olives. Here Jesus tells the disciples to pray that they will be able to resist temptation. Then He goes and prays to avoid the suffering He knows is coming, yet surrenders Himself to the will of the Father. It is a reminder of what should be our prayer. We should pray for the outcome we desire, yet be willing to accept the outcome that is God’s will.
     When Judas arrives to betray Jesus, the disciples appear to think that the time that Jesus will lead them to throw out the Romans has come. Jesus tells them to put up their swords and surrenders Himself to the authorities.

     The psalm today talks of those in positions of power who take advantage of those without power because they think that no one will hold them accountable. The psalmist tells us that even if no one on earth will hold them accountable, God will. This passage tells us that God will mete justice out against those who oppress the powerless. It tells us that if we walk in righteousness, God will be our protector.

The proverb today talks about how arrogant talk will lead to problems. Talking about how great you are will be used against you later. Whereas those who wisely choose their words will be safer for it. The second proverb tells us that hard work is required to gain success.