Today, I am reading and commenting on  Judges 20-21.

As I read this passage I see that the tribe of Benjamin knew that the rest of Israel was gathering at Mizpah to decide what to do about the events which occurred a Gibeah.  One way of reading this passage says that the tribe of Benjamin was summoned to this meeting along with everyone else and chose not to go.  Another way of reading it would interpret it that the tribe of Benjamin was not summoned, but knew that this meeting was happening, and why.  Either way, the tribe of Benjamin was in the wrong for not sending a delegation.  If the second scenario was true, then the other tribes were equally guilty for not inviting the tribe of Benjamin to the gathering to discuss the crime committed in Gibeah.  The tribe of Benjamin compounded their sin of not joining the rest of Israel to discuss dealing with the crime of Gibeah by defending the men of Gibeah rather than bringing them to justice.  Nevertheless, the rest of Israel was not justified in taking their war against Gibeah to the rest of Benjamin.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 17-19.

I am unsure what the significance is, but the first thing I noticed was that Bethlehem in Judah played a supporting role in both of these accounts.  In the account of Micah, his Levite, and the tribe of Dan, the Levite was from Bethlehem in Judah.  In the second account of the Levite and his concubine, his concubine was from Bethlehem in Judah.  The fact that both of these stories involve a Levite traveling from King David’s hometown tells us that there was a significant population of Levites living in Bethlehem during the pre-kingdom time of Israel.  That would certainly have played a role in David growing up with faith in God.  There is much to be learned by thinking about these accounts, and if you would like a little more about that try reading what I wrote in 2022: March 26, 2022 Bible Study — Idolatry And Betrayal

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Judges 14-16.

When Samson asked his parents to arrange a marriage for him with a Philistine woman, the writer tells us that this was from the Lord.  God sought to create a confrontation between Samson and the Philistines.  In previous years I have written about how this passage shows that Samson had poor judgement when it came to the women with whom he chose to have relations.  I still believe that holds true, but this passage shows how God used Samson’s weakness to accomplish His purposes.  For twenty years, Samson led Israel to follow God, and kept them free from Philistine rule, despite his weakness, despite the fact that he was unable to overcome his lust for Philistine women.  Yet, in the end, Samson’s poor judgement when it came to women, his inability/unwillingness to follow God’s commands regarding expressing his sexuality, led to his downfall.  Even then, when God’s enemies gave credit to another for Samson’s defeat, God used Samson to once more demonstrate His power.  In the same way, God will use us, flawed as we are.  Nevertheless, Samson also serves as an object lesson that, even though God may use us despite our flaws, we will pay a price if we fail to allow His Spirit to transform us to overcome them.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 11-13.

Back towards the end of the Book of Joshua when the warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half tribe of Manasseh were sent home from fighting alongside the other tribes west of the Jordan, they built an altar to remind those tribes that those Israelites living east of the Jordan River were their brothers.  Today’s passage contains evidence that their concern was justified.  After Jephthah was successful in defeating the Ammonites who were threatening the people of Gilead (the Israelite territory east of the Jordan River), the Ephraimites mustered against them.  Similar to when Gideon was victorious over the Midianites, the Ephraimites complained that they had not been summoned to the muster for war.  Jephthah claimed that he had called upon them to join him, but they had not come in a timely fashion.  In response, the Ephraimites called the Israelites living east of the Jordan river renegades from the territory west of the Jordan, in a manner similar to what worried those who originally built that memorial altar.  Their hostility for their fellow Israelites ended badly for the Ephraimites.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Judges 9-10.

I was going to write about Abimelek and Shechem but then I was struck by what happened before the people of Gilead decided to follow whoever was willing to lead them against the Ammonites.  We tend to perceive the Book of Judges as teaching that when the people cry out to God because of the suffering which their sin has brought upon them that God raises up a leader, a judge, to lead them back to Him.  However, the passage today makes clear that the people turned back to God before a leader rose up to lead them against their oppressors.  Which is consistent with what God told the Israelites through Moses and other prophets.  And is consistent with what He tells us today.  Personally I think the pattern laid out here perfectly expresses how we should turn back to God.

• Confession: We (I) have sinned
• Do with us (me) whatever You think best
• Get rid of the idols we(I) have set up for myself
• Serve the Lord
• God sends someone to lead us in serving Him

When we look at the world around us and see the corruption which abounds, let us not wait for God to send a leader to lead the people back to Him.  Let us confess our sins, throw ourselves on His mercy (which means admitting that we deserve the suffering we see coming on those around us), get rid of any and all things which lead us to sin, start serving God in whatever ways we can find.  Then perhaps God will send a leader to lead our society back to Him.  And, if not, well, we have turned to Him and serve Him.

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

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

When Israel’s enemies mustered their army to raid Israel once more, Gideon summoned the warriors of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulon, and Naphtali.  However, the army which answered Gideon’s summons was too large for God’s purpose.  So, God instructed Gideon to reduce his army, from 32,00 to 300.  Here is the important lesson we can take from the story of Gideon’s victory over the Midianites.  When God sends us on a mission, we can’t accomplish it on our own.  In fact, God wants us to go into it knowing that we will only succeed because of Him.  If we go into it thinking that we can pull it off with the resources we have gathered, we aren’t doing it right.  When we go into something to which God has called us, we have to know that we will only succeed because God ordained our victory.

There is a second lesson in this passage as well.  After his initial defeat of the oppressing army, Gideon summoned the warriors he had originally dismissed, plus the warriors of the tribe of Ephraim.  He asked the tribe of Ephraim to hold the crossing points of the Jordan so that the bulk of the enemy army could not escape.  They were successful, but resented that Gideon had not summoned them when he first gathered troops for battle.  However, Gideon did not give them attitude back.  Instead he praised their accomplishments.  He could have claimed credit for what they did, since, after all, what they accomplished was only possible because of what he had done first.  However, Gideon recognized that the glory was neither his, nor theirs, but rather the glory belonged to God.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Judges 4-6.

I was going to write about Deborah and Barak, but then I noticed something about the story of Gideon that we do not often pay any attention.  After the story of Deborah, Jael, and Barak, the writer tells us that the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and that they were oppressed by the Midianites for seven years.  As a result they called out to the Lord for help.  Then the writer goes into the account of Gideon, as he did for previous judges.  But before going into the account of Gideon the writer tells us that God sent a prophet who reminded the people about what God had done for their ancestors and about how they had failed to be faithful.

Now, why is that important?  Because, I believe, Gideon had heard that prophet and listening to him had led him to ask the questions he first asked when the angel came to him.  I imagine Gideon having the following conversation with a friend who also loved the Lord, or possibly even that prophet:
Gideon: “If the Lord is with us, why did this happen to us?  Where are the wonders that our ancestors told us about?”
Friend: “Because our people worship Baal, and other gods of our heathen neighbors.”
Gideon: “Well, I don’t and you don’t.  Why does God let us suffer?”
Friend: “Well what have you done about the idolatry?  Your own father has an altar to Baal!”
Gideon” “But my father thinks I’m just a boy, he won’t listen to me!”

I imagine that conversation going on regularly, interspersed with Gideon crying out to God, until God sent His messenger.  So, maybe we aren’t called to be Gideon, maybe we are called to be that prophet (or Gideon’s friend, who egged him on).

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.

Today’s passage helps explain why the account of Caleb’s daughter marrying his nephew, Othniel, was so important that it was recounted twice in the Book of Joshua, and then again here.  Othniel was the first of the judges to follow the death of Joshua.  I always struggle deciding how to write about this passage here at  the beginning of the Book of Judges.  The writer clearly combines his editorial content with the history he is recording so that it is difficult to separate what he includes because it tells us what happened when and what he includes here because it helps us understand why these things happened.  For example, the passage tells us that the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the elders who outlived him, but that once that generation had died they turned from Him.  Yet, the first of the Judges whom God raised up when they were oppressed was Othniel, the son-in-law of Caleb.  I think we can conclude from this that Othniel did not become a leader of Israel until after the death of his father-in-law and of his father.  However, what the writer does establish here is a pattern we can see in more recent history.

1. People experience suffering because they fail to follow the laws which God has laid down.
2. They cry out to God for deliverance,.
3. God sends a leader to deliver them and turn their hearts back to Him.
4. That generation dies and the next generation, or the one following that, repeats step 1

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Judges 20-21.

First, I want to comment on the fact that the passage tells us that the Israelites “assembled before the Lord in Mizpah.”  In fact, on multiple occasions throughout the book of Judges it says that the Israelites assembled at, or in, Mizpah.  For example, in Judges 10, in the account of Jephthah, it describes them as doing so.  However, on that occasion, Mizpah was clearly in the area east of the Jordan River (in fact, at one point later in the story of Jephthah it refers to Mizpah of Gilead).  While it is possible that the Mizpah referred to here was the same Mizpah, it seems more likely the Israelites assembled in the Mizpah which was in the territory of Bethlehem.  Considering that the Hebrew word transliterated as “mizpah” means “watchtower”, or “outlook”, I wonder if any of these were proper noun place names when the Israelites first gathered there.

So, the Israelites gathered, but the Benjamites did not join them, although the passage makes clear that the Benjamites were aware of the assembly.  Further, when the rest of Israel asked the Benjamites to bring these men to justice, the Benjamites rejected their request and mustered to defend the city of Gibeah.  We see here, and in the account of Jephthah which I mentioned earlier, that the tribes of Israel had been losing their unity.  So, while this event was devastating for the tribe of Benjamin, it did lead to the Israelites seeing themselves as one people once again.  At the end of the war, the Israelites realized that they had over reacted in the heat of battle and had almost wiped out the tribe of Benjamin.  They acted to preserve Benjamin.  Before this year, I never connected this account with the fact that Israel’s first king, King Saul, was a Benjamite, and from the very town which precipitated this war.  It is likely that the memory of this event, passed down through the generations, which caused King Saul, after the victory which established his authority, to refuse to kill those Israelites who had rejected him as king before that.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 17-19.

In today’s passage we have two accounts (the first one is a two part story) which provide us with almost no information about when they happened relative to the other events chronicled in this book.   Both of these accounts appear to be here in order to make the case for kingship.  First we have the account of the Levite who became Micah’s priest and then later the priest for the tribe of Dan.  There is a reference in Joshua which appears reference this event, but that doesn’t really narrow down when it happened by much.  This account suggests that the tribe of Dan set up a separate “cult” of worship of Jehovah from that which was centered around the Tabernacle, which would explain why King Jeroboam set up one of his idols in Dan after he rebelled from King Rehoboam.

The second account describes a Levite who was travelling.  He decided to not stop in Jerusalem for the night, but travelled on from there to Gibeah.  He chose to travel on to Gibeah because Jerusalem was inhabited by Jebusites at that time, while Gibeah was inhabited by Israelites of the tribe of Benjamin.  The implication being that he would be safer among his own people than among foreigners.  In fact, I believe that the offense which led to the war on Gibeah was exactly that, that the people of Gibeah treated their fellow Israelite worse than foreigners would have.  Another thing, before today I never made the connection that King Saul’s capital was the same Gibeah as related in this account.  Once I made that connection, I realized how close David grew up to where King Saul ruled from.  David’s family would have been known to Saul’s family, and vice versa.  Knowing that puts a whole new light on the relationships between those who served King Saul and those who served David.

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