I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     After his victory the Israelites wanted to make Gideon their king and set up his family as a royal dynasty. Gideon rejected the idea of becoming king. He did, however, collect a gold earring from the plunder that each of the Israelites had taken. He took this gold and made an ephod. He placed this ephod in his hometown. However, the Israelites soon started worshiping the ephod rather than God (or perhaps in addition to God), even Gideon and his family. Nevertheless, Israel had peace for the rest of Gideon’s life.
     As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites returned to worshiping Baal. One of Gideon’s sons, Abimelech, went to visit his mother’s brothers in Shechem. He asked them, as his flesh and blood, to gain the backing of the citizen’s of Shechem for him to become ruler of Israel over his half-brothers. The leaders of Shechem agreed to this and took 70 silver pieces from their temple to Baal and gave it to him. Abimelech used this money to hire a bunch of thugs (or as the passage describes them, troublemakers). He used these thugs to kill his 70 half-brothers. However, his youngest half-brother, Jotham, escaped. Then the citizen’s of Shechem and a neighboring city gathered and made Abimelech their king.
     When Jotham heard what they were gathering to do, he went to the top of nearby Mount Gerizim and shouted a prophecy down to them. He compared Abimelech to a thorn-bush. The he told the people of Shechem that if they had acted honorably towards Gideon and his family that he wished them joy of Abimelech as their king. But if they had not acted honorably toward Gideon and his family (and he pointed out that they had just killed seventy of Gideon’s sons), then Jotham called for fire to come out of Abimelech to consume the citizens of Shechem and its neighboring city and for fire to come out of the citizens of Shechem and its neighboring city and consume Abimelech. Jotham then fled to another city because he was afraid of Abimelech (justifiably so).

     At about noon on the day Jesus was crucified, darkness fell across the land and it remained dark until three in the afternoon. Early Christian writers reference works by pagan authors who, also talk of a long “eclipse” at that time (I put the word eclipse in quotes because Passover occurred at the full moon and eclipses can only occur at the new moon). Unfortunately, none of those works by pagan authors survive to this day. Luke tells us that the curtain in the Temple was torn asunder. Then Jesus cried out to God and breathed is last. The Roman centurion who was overseeing the crucifixion was deeply moved by what happened and praised God. The people who saw this went home greatly saddened. Meanwhile Jesus’ followers stood at a distance watching. I am not sure I understand the significance of it, but Luke makes a point of mentioning the women who followed Jesus from Galilee.
     After Jesus’ death, Joseph, who we are told was a dissenting member of the Jewish high council, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body in order to bury it. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a linen cloth and placed it in a new tomb (meaning no one else was buried there yet). The women followed to see where the body was buried. Then they went home to prepare the burial spices and ointments that were traditionally applied to a loved one’s dead body at that time. They were unable to complete these preparations before sunset, which was the beginning of the Sabbath, so they did not return and apply them that day.
     On the morning of the day after the Sabbath (which was the first day of the week), they returned to the tomb with their prepared spices and ointments. When they arrived, they found the stone rolled away from the entrance of the tomb. They entered the tomb and found it empty. They stood there in confusion (think about how you would have reacted in a similar situation) and suddenly two men in dazzling robes appeared. The women were frightened (another very understandable reaction) and bowed their heads to the ground. The men who had appeared asked them why they were looking for the living among the dead and reminded them that Jesus had said that He would be killed and rise on the third day. When they heard this, they remembered that Jesus had indeed said that.
     The women returned to where the disciples (the Eleven and others) were gathered and told them what they had seen and heard. The men thought this sounded like nonsense and did not believe them. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he looked in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there and went away wondering what had happened.
     I have several thoughts on this passage. The first is that we should take note that there were those on the Jewish high council who dissented from the decision to ask Pilate to crucify Jesus. We have no evidence that Joseph was a follower of Jesus, but he acted compassionately to mitigate a decision made by his fellows of which he disapproved. The second is that the account tells us that the first witnesses to the fact that Jesus had risen were women. Women were not considered credible witnesses in that day. It seems unlikely that a made up story would credit them as the first to believe that Jesus had risen. Finally, think about the state of Peter’s mind. He had bragged tat he would face death at Jesus’ side, yet when the time came he had denied that he even knew Him. Now, the women came claiming that Jesus had risen and when he went to see the tomb it was empty and the linen wrappings were left lying there. Peter had to be in a state of turmoil. Could he hope that Jesus was risen? But if Jesus had risen, what did that mean for him, who had denied that he knew Him? If Jesus had risen, it meant that He was the Messiah, but Peter, who had been among the first to call Him that, had abandoned Him when the chips were down. On the one hand, perhaps the man whom Peter had loved so much was not dead. On the other hand, how could Peter face Him again after failing to live up to who he had proclaimed himself to be? I can understand Peter’s turmoil.

     Another psalm of praise that is a great one to read when I need a reminder to praise the Lord. One of the things I love about the read through the Bible in a year program that I am following is that it has a psalm as part of everyday. While some of the psalms are a little bit of a downer, most of them encourage me to praise God and lift my spirit. This psalm reminds us that God is a forgiving God, but will punish our misdeeds. God punishes our misdeeds, not out of spite, but in order to train us to behave in the manner that will lead to our greatest happiness. This knowledge leads me to exalt God and worship Him.

     These two proverbs contain very important lessons. The first tells us that it is foolish to mock those who feel remorse for their sins, that fools mock the very idea of feeling remorse for sin. Further it tells us that the godly acknowledge what they have done wrong and strive to do what is necessary to be reconciled to those they have sinned against.
     The second tells us that no one can truly understand either the bitterness or the joy of another person. While this is true, it does not mean that we should not try to understand the bitterness that others feel, nor that we should not attempt to share our joys. It is just that we should understand that in both cases we will not be completely successful.

     I am still trying to adjust my writing to the fact that the computer I usually compose these blogs on is down, but God has blessed me in going over these scriptures in this time. Of course, adjusting my writing to using a different computer is the fact that there have been problems at work that have disrupted my schedule as well. I hope that this has not led to a reduction in the quality of my posts (and overall I don’t think that it has, but I’m not a good judge of that).
     I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     After receiving the signs of the fleece, Gideon led his army out towards the Midianites. However, when they camped within striking distance of the Midianite army, God told Gideon that he had too many men. That if he went to battle with such a large army and was victorious, the Israelites were likely to take credit for the victory themselves rather than praising God. So Gideon told the army that anyone who was nervous or afraid about the coming battle should go home. This reads to me as if he said that anyone who was there because they felt an obligation to be there, but were frightened by the prospect of battle, was not obligated to remain and indeed should go home. We are told that 22,000 men left, leaving an army of 10,000.
     God told Gideon that his army was still too large, so, inspired by God, Gideon devised a test. He took his remaining men down to a stream and had them drink. Those who leaned down and lapped the water out of the stream with their tongues were sent home. Those who cupped their hands and brought the water up to their mouth to drink were asked to remain. With these remaining 300 men, Gideon came up with a battle plan.
     Gideon was still nervous about the attack, so he snuck down to the enemy camp. When he got close, he overheard one man in the camp tell another about a disturbing dream he had just had. The second man interpreted the dream to mean that God was going to hand the camp of the Midianites over to Gideon. Thus encouraged, Gideon returned to his camp to put his plan into action.
     Gideon carefully positioned his men around the Midianite camp and had them simulate an attack by a much larger group. The Midianites panicked and began attacking one another while Gideon’s force watched. Those who were not killed fled in disarray. Gideon summoned the warriors of the surrounding Israelite tribes to pursue them. As part of this, Gideon called upon the warriors of Ephraim, who he had not summoned to his earlier muster. The warriors of Ephraim responded, controlled the crossings of the river Jordan, killed a large number of the Midianites and captured two of the Midianite leaders. When they brought the heads of the Midianite leaders to Gideon, they challenged him because he had not summoned them to his earlier muster. Gideon soothed their anger by praising their effort in holding the Jordan river and pointing out that what they had done in a supporting role was more than what he had done in the main role.
     Gideon then led his 300 men in pursuit of the remaining fleeing Midianite leaders. When he crossed the Jordan, he asked for supplies from two cities on the other side (the passage is not clear, but I read these as being cities occupied by Israelites who had settled east if the Jordan River). Both cities denied him aid, saying they would give him aid when he had captured the Midianite leaders, Gideon told them that when he had defeated the Midianites completely, he would return and punish these cities. Gideon continued his pursuit of the Midianite leaders and overtook them as they camped. Gideon attacked the Midianites from an unexpected direction and defeated the remaining 15,000 men with his force of 300. Gideon then returned and carried out his promised punishment of the two cities which refused to provide him with supplies.

     When Herod returned Jesus to Pilate, Pilate told the Jewish leaders that he found no basis for executing Jesus and neither had Herod. He said that he would have Jesus flogged and released. The crowd that had gathered demanded Jesus’ death. Pilate attempted twice more to ask them why they wanted Jesus killed, but the crowd got louder and more out of control. Finally, Pilate gave into to their demands and ordered that Jesus be crucified.
     The soldiers took Jesus out to be crucified along with two convicted criminals. As they put Him on the cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Those watching sneered and said that if He was the Messiah, He should be able to save Himself. One of the two criminals being crucified with Him joined in the mockery by telling Jesus that if He was the Messiah He should save all three of them. However, the other criminal rebuked the first, admitting that he deserved to be crucified, but stating that Jesus did not. He then turned to Jesus and asked Him to remember him when He came into His kingdom. Jesus told him that he would join Him in paradise.

     These two psalms are great songs of praise to God. God’s power precedes Him and destroys His enemies before He even approaches them. God does not have to take action to defeat His enemies, their destruction is a product of His essence. We should praise the Lord because His very essence spreads joy to those who love Him. If we love the Lord we will hate evil.
     Let us sing a song to God, telling of His wonderful deeds. I will praise the Lord because He has done marvelous things. God will judge the world with justice and fairness bringing joy to those who love Him. These two psalms bring joy to my heart and lift me up when I feel down.

     The writer advises us to stay away from fools because what they say is devoid of knowledge. He continues by telling us that the prudent look ahead carefully to see where the road they are on ends up, while the foolish convince themselves that the road they are on goes where they want to go without ever looking to see if that is so.

     I am still running behind in getting these finished and published. Today it is because my main computer is not working properly. I am pretty sure I can fix it, but I did not have the time today. On the other hand, in some ways this break in my routine has helped me see these passages in a different light.
     I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     Once more the Israelites did evil in God’s sight and He allowed them to be oppressed by raiding peoples, primarily Midianites. Whenever the Israelites would plant crops, raiders would come and camp in the land, destroying the crops and taking the Israelites’ livestock. This left the Israelites with little to eat. They called out to the Lord for help and He heard them. God sent a prophet to tell the people how they had failed to follow His commands and had worshiped the gods of those other peoples among whom they lived.
     God, also, sent a messenger to Gideon. The messenger (the word translated angel means something like “divine messenger”) told Gideon that the Lord was with him. Gideon responded that if the Lord was with him, how come the Israelites were being oppressed by the Midianites? And why didn’t they see the great miracles that their ancestors had told of? The messenger then told him to go with the strength that he had and rescue Israel from the Midianites, God was sending him. Gideon responds that he came from the weakest clan of his tribe and his family was the weakest of his clan, how could he defeat the Midianites? The messenger told Gideon that God would be with him and he would defeat the Midianites as if there was only one of them.
     Gideon then asked the messenger for a sign that this was really a message from God. He requested that the messenger remain until he could return with his offering. The messenger agrees to wait for him to return. When Gideon returned with his offering (which from the description would have taken some time to prepare), the messenger told him to lay it out on a rock, pouring the broth over it. Once Gideon had done this, the messenger touched the offering with the tip of his staff and fire burst forth from the rock consuming it and the messenger disappeared. Gideon was terrified because he had seen the angel of God face to face. God told him not to be afraid, that he would not die because of this.
     That night God told Gideon to destroy his father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole that was next to it. He was then to build an altar to God in its place and sacrifice one of his father’s bulls upon it, using the wood from the Asherah pole for the fire. Gideon took 10 servants and followed these instructions during the night out of fear of his family and the townspeople. When the townspeople discovered what he had done, they demanded that his father turn him over to them to be killed. His father asked them what was the point of worshiping Baal if Baal was unable to defend his altar?
     Shortly after this a large force of the raiding armies invaded Israelite land once more. Gideon sent out a call to arms to the tribes in the vicinity. While Gideon was waiting for the Israelites to assemble, he asked God for a sign. Gideon placed a fleece on the ground over night. He asked God that if he, Gideon, was to rescue the Israelites from the Midianites the fleece would be wet in the morning, but the ground would be dry. In the morning, the fleece was so wet that Gideon wrung a bowl full of water out it, yet the ground was dry. But Gideon was not satisfied, he asked for a second sign. Once more he put a fleece on the ground over night. This time he asked that the ground be damp and the fleece dry. Again, Gideon received the sign he had asked for and the fleece was dry.
     There is a lot in this passage. However, there is something I never noticed before. When the Israelites cried out to God for deliverance, God sent a prophet to tell them that they had sinned. A casual reading of the passage might lead one to think that the prophet was Gideon, but it does not read that way to me. As I read this passage today, I envisioned Gideon hearing this prophet speak and being inspired to serve God and turn from idol worship. Then he receives a visitor who encourages him to not only turn from idol worship, but to fight back against it. As I read the passage today, it struck me that there was a combination of actual physical messengers from God and the Spirit moving in Gideon’s heart. I think there are a series of steps we can see in this passage.
     First God sent a prophet out to call the people of Israel to repentance. One of those who heard and heeded this call was Gideon. But he was not alone, others throughout Israel heard and responded to the call. However, none of them quite knew what to do. Then God sent a messenger to Gideon who told him to stand up for what he believed in, God would be with him. Thus encouraged to act, the first thing Gideon did was destroy the places where those closest to him conducted idol worship. Word certainly spread of Gideon’s actions and Gideon was emboldened by his success. When the Midianites returned once more, Gideon sent out a call to those who trusted God to join him in confronting them. The point is that when Gideon felt God’s call to serve Him, he did not start with attacking those oppressing his people. Gideon started by tearing down the altars where he and his family had worshiped idols and setting up a place to worship God in their place. He started locally and led by example.

center>Luke 22:54-23:12

     Those who had accompanied Judas arrested Jesus and led Him to the high priest’s house. Peter followed behind at a distance. Some of those there lit a fire in the courtyard and Peter joined them. A servant girl saw Peter sitting there and told the others that he had been with Jesus. Peter told her emphatically that he did not know Him. After a bit, someone else said to Peter that he must be one of them. Again Peter denied it, speaking even more emphatically. About an hour later, a third person said that Peter must be one of Jesus’ followers because he was a Galilean. Peter denied this even more strongly (and possibly loudly). At that moment the rooster crowed and Jesus turned and looked at Peter. It was at that point that Peter recalled that Jesus has said that he would deny Him three times. Peter left the courtyard and wept bitterly. Do I feel the same level of shame and remorse for those times I have denied Christ? I am afraid that I do not and did not, but I am striving to learn to care so deeply that in the future I will. It seems strange to say that I wish I was more ashamed of what I had done, but perhaps we would all be better off if instead of attempting to feel less embarrassed by the bad things we have done, we strove to feel more embarrassed about them.
     At daybreak the council of elders of the people met together and had Jesus brought before them. They asked Him if He was the Messiah. Jesus answered that if He told them they would not believe Him. And if He asked them they would not answer (I believe a reference to their response when He asked them by what authority John the Baptist baptized). He concluded by saying that going forward the Son of Man would be seated on the right hand of God. The council then asked if He was saying that He was the Son of God. Jesus replied, “You say that I am.” At this the council needed no more testimony, they had heard Jesus say that which they considered blasphemy.
     The council took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor, and told him that Jesus was preaching insurrection against Rome. Pilate asked Jesus if He was the King of the Jews. Jesus answered Pilate, “You have said so.” Pilate returned to the Jewish council and told them that he found no basis to charge Jesus. The council replied that Jesus had stirred up riots from Galilee to Jerusalem. When Pilate realized that Jesus was a Galilean, he sent Him to Herod who was in Jerusalem at the time. Herod was happy for the chance to question Jesus, hoping that He would perform a miraculous sign. Herod questioned Jesus for some time and got no answer, while the Jewish leaders hurled accusations against Jesus. Herod and His soldiers began ridiculing and mocking Jesus. Finally Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate.

center>Psalm 95-96:13

     The psalmist calls on us to joyfully sing praises to the Lord. This is another one of those psalms which I cannot summarize a lesson out of that says it any shorter than what the psalmist wrote. Let us praise the Lord and sing to Him. I will proclaim the good news that He saves. I want to learn to do this every day to anyone who will listen. I want those who know me to either be saying the same thing or, “Yeah, I got it, you think God can help me with my problems.” I not only think He can help, I know that He can help.

center>Proverbs 14:5-6

     The first proverb tells us that either we are honest and do not lie or we breathe lies. I do not think it is quite that simple, but if we do not strive to always be completely honest, we will end up lying continuously.
     The second proverb tells us that if we mock others in our attempt to find wisdom, wisdom will elude us. While those who strive to understand others will learn easily.

     The last couple of days have been very busy at work, so I have been getting these posted later than I would like. I hope that has not caused any problems for those close to the International date line. I will say that even though my routine has been disrupted, working on these has been an even greater blessing than usual for me.
     I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     After the death of Ehud, the Israelites once more sinned and God turned them over to a Canaanite king and his general, Sisera. Sisera ruthlessly oppressed the Israelite people until they cried out to God for relief. At the time, Deborah was serving as a judge for Israel. One day, at God’s instruction, she summoned Barak son of Abinoam. She told him that God commanded him to call out warriors from the tribes of Napthali and Zebulun and go to war against Sisera.
     Barak said that he would only go if Deborah went with him. She responded by telling him that she would go, but as a result Barak would get no credit for the victory. Sisera would die at the hands of a woman. So Barak mustered the troops of Napthali and Zebulun. When Sisera hears that the Israelites were mustering, he gathered his forces to attack them. The Israelites ambushed Sisera’s army and threw it into disarray. Sisera escaped on foot while the Israelites killed his entire force.
     Sisera ran to the tent of Jael, who was married to Heber the Kenite. Heber’s family was on friendly terms with the king who Sisera served. Jael greeted Sisera and invited him into her tent, where she covered him with a blanket. When Sisera asked her for some water to drink, she instead gave him some milk from a leather bag (this suggests to me that the writer is suggesting that the milk was fermented). Sisera told her to stand at the door of the tent and if anyone asked if someone was inside to tell them “No”. Sisera soon fell asleep from exhaustion. As soon as he did, Jael crept up to him and pounded a tent peg through his temple into the ground, killing him. Shortly after this Barak came in pursuit of Sisera. When he came by Jael’s tent, she came out and brought him in to see Sisera, dead on the floor of her tent. From that time forward the Israelites pushed back against the king that Sisera had served until they destroyed him completely.

     As they are talking after the meal, Jesus asks them if when he sent them out with no money or supplies if they lacked for anything. To which the disciples replied that they did not. Jesus then tells them that now, if they have a purse they should take it with them and a bag if they have that. He goes on to say that if they do not have a sword, they should sell their cloak and get one. When His disciples tell Him that they have two swords among them He tells them that this is enough. I never before noticed that Jesus contrasted His instructions here with when He sent them out without any gear. I find that very interesting. I think at least part of the message of this passage is that while sometimes we should go forth completely relying on God to provide for us, at other times we should prepare in advance and gather what gear we need. It also seems to me that when the disciples pointed out that they had two swords, Jesus told them that was enough because they were not getting what He was saying.
     When they were finished, Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives, accompanied by His disciples, as He had been doing since He arrived in Jerusalem. When they got to the Mount of Olives, Jesus told His disciples to pray that they would not fall into temptation. He then withdrew about a stone’s throw and prayed to the Father that He take the cup of suffering from Him, but also prayed that He would surrender to God’s will. The passage tells us that an angel appeared to Him and strengthened Him. He returned to where His disciples were and found them asleep. He woke them asking them why they were sleeping and told them to stay awake and pray not to fall into temptation.
     While He was speaking to them a crowd led by Judas came upon them. Judas approached Jesus to kiss Him in greeting. Jesus confronted Judas that He was betraying Him with a kiss. Jesus’ disciples, remembering what He had said earlier about swords, asked if they should strike with their swords and one of them immediately did so. Jesus told them to stop and promptly healed the man His disciple had injured. Jesus then confronted the crowd, saying that He had been in the Temple every day and they made no attempt to arrest Him there. That they waited until after dark to arrest Him was very revealing of their motivations.

     I read this psalm and immediately saw that it is a warning and a comfort to the righteous that God will avenge those who do wrong. It talks about how the wicked are arrogant and boast in their wickedness. Then I got to verse 7:

     A fool talks big, but ends up suffering for his braggadocio. The wise are cautious in what they say and are careful to only commit to what they can accomplish.
     It is easy to keep the stable clean if you don’t have oxen in it, but oxen are necessary to plant and harvest crops in any quantity.

     I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     After the generation that grew up in the wilderness died, their children did not acknowledge the Lord and took up the worship of Baal. They angered God by worshiping the gods of the people around them. God handed them over to raiders from the nations around them, when they went into battle He was not with them. The people were in great distress. This led God to raise judges for them to lead them against their enemies, but when the judges died the people went back to their evil ways.
     Shortly after Joshua’s death the people of Israel were forced to serve a king of Aram for eight years. When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, He raised up Caleb’s nephew, Othniel, to lead them. God gave Othniel victory over the king of Aram. There was peace in the land for forty years. However, after Othniel’s death the people returned to doing evil in the Lord’s sight.
     God gave Eglon, king of Moab, control over the people of Israel because of their sin. They served him for eighteen years being forced to pay him tribute. When the people of Israel once more cried out to God for help, He sent them a deliverer. Ehud, a left-handed man of the tribe of Benjamin, was sent to deliver the Israelite’s tribute to Eglon. Ehud made himself a long double-edged dagger and strapped it to his thigh, under his clothes. After Ehud delivered the tribute, he started home with those who had helped carry it. However, after they had gone past a point which got the others clear of Eglon’s forces, Ehud turned back. Ehud went to Eglon and told him that he had a secret message for him. Eglon commanded his servants to leave the room. As soon as they left the room, Ehud approached Eglon and told him that he had a message from God for him. Ehud then drew his dagger and buried it in Eglon’s stomach. Ehud closed and locked the doors to the room and escaped down the latrine. When the Eglon’s servants returned and found the doors locked, they thought that Eglon was using the latrine. After a long delay, they forced the doors and found Eglon dead.
     Meanwhile, Ehud had fled and mustered the people of Israel. Ehud took control of the Jordan River crossings and attacked the Moabite forces west of the Jordan River killing about 10,000 of their strongest warriors. Israel had peace for eighty years after that.

     As Jesus and the disciples sat down to eat the Passover meal, Jesus told His disciples that He had been eager to eat this Passover meal with them because it was the last He would eat until its meaning was fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. Jesus then took the cup and told the disciples to share it among them because He would not drink wine again until He did so in the Kingdom of Heaven. He continued by breaking bread and telling them to take it and eat it because it was His body broken for them. He then went on to tell them that one of them, sitting there with Him as a friend, would betray Him.
     The disciples then began to ask each other who among them might do such a thing. This discussion deteriorated into an argument about who was the greatest among them. Jesus interrupted their argument by telling them that the rulers of this world lord it over people and then call themselves the “friend of the people”. Jesus’ followers were not to be like that. If we want to be the greatest among His followers we must take the lowest rank and be the servant of others. The greatest among us are not those who tell others, “Do this” and “Do that”. The greatest among us are those who ask others, “what can I do to serve you?” or perhaps even just go ahead and do it without asking.
     Jesus then turned to Peter and told him that Satan desired to sift him like wheat. But Jesus had pleaded in prayer that his faith would not fail. That when he had repented and turned back to Jesus again, Peter would strengthen his brothers. Peter responded by telling Jesus that he would go to jail with Him, that he would even die for Him. At this Jesus told Peter that before the crow cried Peter would deny Him three times.
     I will probably touch on this again, but this passage is one which gives me heart. If Peter could be forgiven for denying Christ and become such a key contributor to the early Church, then there is hope for me after the times I have failed to stand up for what I believe to avoid being thought silly or looked down on. It does not mean I can do such things with impunity but it means that I dare hope that, if I am faithful going forward, God will make some use of me to build His Kingdom.

     I will proclaim God’s unfailing love in the morning and sing of His great faithfulness in the evening. When I think of what God has done for me, I am thrilled. His great works leave me in a state of awe. The Lord has given me strength and made me strong. The Lord is just and there is no evil in Him.

     If you are wise, you will carefully build your house. On the other hand, those who are foolish tear it down by their foolishness.
     Those who fear the Lord walk upright on a straight path. Those who sneak along in the shadows as they wind their way trying to stay out of sight despise Him.

     Well, I am several days into my second year of this blog. Some days, I can tell that I see things in the passage I am writing on that I never saw before. Other days, all I get out of the passage is a reaffirmation of things I get every time I have read it. The story of the widow’s mite yesterday is a great example of this. I did not see anything new in the passage, but it still challenged me and led me to new resolve to make sacrifices in order to give to the Lord’s work.
     I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     I begin the book of Judges today. After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked God which tribe should first attack the Canaanites to clear their land. God told them that Judah should go first. The warriors of Judah asked the tribe of Simeon for help clearing their land, promising to help clear Simeon’s land when they were done. Together the two tribes drove out all of the Canaanites living in the hill country of the land allotted to both tribes. However, the Canaanites living on the plains had iron chariots and they were unable to drive them out. A similar pattern emerged as the other tribes renewed their drives to take control of their allotted land. The tribes conquered much of the territory but failed to completely drive the existing residents out.
     God sent a messenger throughout the land of Israel, challenging the Israelites for their failure to drive the peoples out of the land and making treaties with them. God told them that since they had made treaties with the people living in the land, He would no longer drive them out ahead of the Israelites, rather those people would remain as a thorn in the side of the Israelites. Their gods would be a constant temptation to the Israelites.

     Jesus tells us to be alert, to not let carousing, drunkenness, or the worries of this life dull our love for Him or cloud our minds. The Kingdom of God is near and we should pray that we remain strong enough to escape the coming horrors and to stand before God. Jesus tells us in this passage that “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.”
     Every day Jesus went to the Temple to preach and in the evening He went out to the Mount of Olives to spend the night. The religious leaders were plotting how to kill Jesus without triggering a riot. In the middle of their plotting, Judas approached them with an offer to help them arrest Jesus when the people were not around. The religious leaders were delighted at this offer and promised to pay him for doing so. The passage gives us no insight into Judas’ motives. Which in itself tells us something important, God does not care why we do evil. It is not our intentions that matter, but our actions. If I do wrong for the best of motives, it is still wrong. You can never accomplish good ends by evil actions.
     As the Feast of Unleavened Bread arrived, Jesus sent Peter and John to make preparations for Jesus and the disciples to eat the Passover meal. He gave them explicit instructions on how to find the person who would allow them to use his guest room. I used to read this as Jesus sending them to meet someone who He miraculously knew would allow them to eat in his guest room. However, a year or two back, I realized that Jesus’ instructions read like directions given to someone to meet at a prearranged place. I believe that Jesus had prearranged with the owner of the room for Jesus and His disciples to eat the Passover meal there.

     The psalmist tells us that God has been there ruling all since before there was time. He tells us that to God, a thousand years pass as a few hours of the night to us, hardly long enough to notice. God sees our sins, even those we think we have kept carefully hidden, they are in plain view to God. Our lives are short and even our best years are filled with pain and trouble. It is only through recognition of how brief our lives are that we can learn wisdom and even that comes solely at the hand of God.
     It is God who makes us glad through His unfailing love. The source of our happiness and joy are the works of God’s hands. As God shows us His power, we experience joy. It is only as we find favor with God that our efforts will be successful. When we strive to do God’s will, He will make our efforts successful. We do not accomplish anything, not even God’s will, through our own skill and power, it is God who makes our efforts successful.
     In the next psalm, the psalmist tells us that God will be our shelter. IF we place our trust in God we do not need to fear the traps that are set for us, nor the terrors of the night, nor the disaster at midday. If we but open our eyes we will see how the wicked are punished. IF we make God our refuge, no evil will be able to conquer us. He will order His angels to protect us wherever we go. Let us always remember that God keeps His word and He says:

     Those who love their children will discipline them, failing to discipline your child is a sign that you do not truly love them. I do not have children, but time and again I have seen how the children of those who apply stern discipline with consistency are confident of their parent’s love. But those whose parents cannot be bothered to discipline them are constantly seeking reassurance that they are loved.