June 17, 2010 (Judges 16-21, Ruth 1-4)

The last verse of the book of Judges pretty much sums up the whole thing:

²⁵ In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

That's what happens with us, if we don't make Jesus our king - we do whatever seems right in our own eyes.

I love the book of Ruth. This time as I read it, I was struck by the overwhelming sense of God's name being mentioned all the time by all parties - Naomi saying "May the Lord bless you", Ruth saying "Your God will be my God", Boaz greeting the harvesters with "The Lord be with you", the harvesters replying "The Lord bless you", Boaz telling Ruth ”May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done.”, Naomi responding to Ruth "May the Lord bless the one who helped you", etc. etc.

I think Ruth was struck by her mother-in-law's faith - and she wanted a part of it. This is total speculation, but I don't think she wanted to go back to her Moabite people after her husband died because she got a "glimpse of God" through Naomi's life. And God rewarded her richly for seeking Him.

June 14, 2010 (Judges 10-15)

This section has a very weird passage - it talks of Jephthah, who makes a vow to the Lord and says "If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give You the first thing coming out of my house to greet me when I return in triumph." I can only imagine that he thought it would be his wife and he didn't like her, so that was his way to be rid of her. But what happened was his daughter - his only child - came out to greet him, playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy! So, she convinced him to let her go into the hills with her friends and weep for two months because she would die a virgin. So that's what happened. Very, very strange.....

Chapter 13 begins with the story of Samson - an angel of the Lord came to Manoah's wife (her name is never mentioned) who was unable to have children and told her she would give birth to a son who was to be dedicated to God as a Nazarite from birth. She told her husband who prayed and asked for the angel to return to give more instructions, and God answered his prayer. So in a land where the Israelites were again doing evil, it seems as if this couple believed in God. So Samsom was born and 'God blessed him as he grew up'.

Chapter 14 is a good example of us not really being able to look at current circumstances and knowing with certainty what God is up to. What I mean is, sometimes God is 'in' the things that seem contrary to His word. Samson saw a Philistine woman that he wanted to marry and told his parents about it. They were furious, and asked him why he couldn't marry someone within the Israelites but had to go to the pagan Philistines. But Samson said "Get her for me. She is the one I want". And then here's the verse -

^14:4 His father and mother didn’t realize the Lordwas at work in this, creating an opportunity to disrupt the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.

It seems Samson was somewhat of a spoiled brat - bossing his parents around and then paying people back for what they did to him.

³ Samson said, “This time I cannot be blamed for everything I am going to do to you Philistines.” ⁴ Then he went out and caught 300 foxes. He tied their tails together in pairs, and he fastened a torch to each pair of tails. ⁵ Then he lit the torches and let the foxes run through the grain fields of the Philistines. He burned all their grain to the ground, including the sheaves and the uncut grain. He also destroyed their vineyards and olive groves.

⁶ “Who did this?” the Philistines demanded.

“Samson,” was the reply, “because his father-in-law from Timnah gave Samson’s wife to be married to his best man.” So the Philistines went and got the woman and her father and burned them to death.

⁷ “Because you did this,” Samson vowed, “I won’t rest until I take my revenge on you!” ⁸ So he attacked the Philistines with great fury and killed many of them. Then he went to live in a cave in the rock of Etam.

And then here is how this story and chapter ends:

⁹ The Philistines retaliated by setting up camp in Judah and spreading out near the town of Lehi. ¹⁰ The men of Judah asked the Philistines, “Why are you attacking us?”

The Philistines replied, “We’ve come to capture Samson. We’ve come to pay him back for what he did to us.”

¹¹ So 3,000 men of Judah went down to get Samson at the cave in the rock of Etam. They said to Samson, “Don’t you realize the Philistines rule over us? What are you doing to us?”

But Samson replied, “I only did to them what they did to me.”

¹² But the men of Judah told him, “We have come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”

“All right,” Samson said. “But promise that you won’t kill me yourselves.”

¹³ “We will only tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines,” they replied. “We won’t kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

¹⁴ As Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came shouting in triumph. But the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson, and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax, and they fell from his wrists. ¹⁵ Then he found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey. He picked it up and killed 1,000 Philistines with it. ¹⁶ Then Samson said,

“With the jawbone of a donkey,
I’ve piled them in heaps!
With the jawbone of a donkey,
I’ve killed a thousand men!”

¹⁷ When he finished his boasting, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was named Jawbone Hill.

And finally we see that God truly was with him, to the point of doing a miracle for him. I guess it shows that God will fulfill His purposes through whomever He chooses.

¹⁸ Samson was now very thirsty, and he cried out to the Lord, “You have accomplished this great victory by the strength of your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of these pagans?” ¹⁹ So God caused water to gush out of a hollow in the ground at Lehi, and Samson was revived as he drank. Then he named that place “The Spring of the One Who Cried Out,” and it is still in Lehi to this day.

²⁰ Samson judged Israel for twenty years during the period when the Philistines dominated the land.

June 13, 2010 (Judges 6-9)

Chapter 6 starts with the tale of Gideon, but before I even got to that I noticed that it wasn't until the Israelites were at the point of starvation that they cried out to God.

^6:5 These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were as thick as locusts; they arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare. ⁶ So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.

Why didn't they cry out to the Lord for help as soon as the enemy hordes arrived? Why did they wait until the land was stripped bare?

Chapters 6-8 tell the story of Gideon - the man who was a chicken, but whom God called a Mighty Hero. Gideon was hiding out, threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress when God came to him and said "Mighty hero, the Lord is with you". To which Gideon replied, "Thank you for noticing how brave I am!" - Not - He basically said, "How can I rescue Israel? I'm the weakest person there is!" God told him that He would be with him, and that he would destroy the Midianites. Gideon still had a hard time believing that God had really chosen him, so he gave God some 'tests' to see if it was really true. And God obliged by answering him. So finally, Gideon got up and got his army ready, only to have God tell him he had too many warriors. He ended up with 300 instead of 32,000. The bottom line of this story is that God can/will do anything He wants to do. What He wants from us is a willingness to trust Him and to acknowledge that it is really Him that is fighting for us.

After Gideon and his army defeat the Midianites and their allied armies, Gideon makes a crucial error - I think in his heart he took the credit for what God did through him. Here's the story:

^8:22 Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Be our ruler! You and your son and your grandson will be our rulers, for you have rescued us from Midian.”

²³ But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The Lord will rule over you! ²⁴ However, I do have one request—that each of you give me an earring from the plunder you collected from your fallen enemies.” (The enemies, being Ishmaelites, all wore gold earrings.)

²⁵ “Gladly!” they replied. They spread out a cloak, and each one threw in a gold earring he had gathered from the plunder. ²⁶ The weight of the gold earrings was forty-three pounds, not including the royal ornaments and pendants, the purple clothing worn by the kings of Midian, or the chains around the necks of their camels.

²⁷ Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family.

His 'one little request' became a trap for him. He didn't ask for much - just one earring from all the many objects they confiscated, but it turned out to be his downfall.

As soon as Gideon died, the people reverted to their corrupt ways:

³ As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping the images of Baal, making Baal-berith their god. ³⁴ They forgot the Lord their God, who had rescued them from all their enemies surrounding them. ³⁵ Nor did they show any loyalty to the family of Gideon, despite all the good he had done for Israel.

June 12, 2010 (Judges 1-5)

Judges begins where Joshua ended, and actually overlaps. Chapter 2 says the same thing as Chapter 24 of Joshua - 2:⁷ And the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him—those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.

But it continues with more detail:

¹⁰ After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.

¹¹ The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. ¹² They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord. ¹³ They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth. ¹⁴ This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions. He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them. ¹⁵ Every time Israel went out to battle, the Lord fought against them, causing them to be defeated, just as he had warned. And the people were in great distress.

This kind of reminds me of America - God blessed our country because of it's founders and their belief in Him. But now, another generation has grown up, who does not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things He has done.

Judges is a book that repeats itself over and over. Here is what happens:

¹⁶ Then the Lord raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their attackers. ¹⁷ Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves by worshiping other gods. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands.

¹⁸ Whenever the Lord raised up a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime. For the Lord took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering. ¹⁹ But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them. They went after other gods, serving and worshiping them. And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

So, over and over, the people intermarry with the people around them (they failed to follow God's commands to totally drive them out) and worship their gods. Then God allows them to be defeated by their enemies, they repent and cry out to God, He raises up a judge to deliver them, during that judge's lifetime they serve God, but after his death then they forget about God and go on their merry way, worshipping other gods and the cycle repeats itself.

June 11, 2010 (Joshua 16-24)

The last chapter of Joshua recount the people's requirements and God's faithfulness to the people if they are faithful to Him. Here were Joshua's final words to the people before he died:

Joshua 23

Joshua’s Final Words to Israel

¹ The years passed, and the Lord had given the people of Israel rest from all their enemies. Joshua, who was now very old, ² called together all the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel. He said to them, “I am now a very old man. ³ You have seen everything the Lord your God has done for you during my lifetime. The Lord your God has fought for you against your enemies.

⁶ “So be very careful to follow everything Moses wrote in the Book of Instruction. Do not deviate from it, turning either to the right or to the left. ⁷ Make sure you do not associate with the other people still remaining in the land. Do not even mention the names of their gods, much less swear by them or serve them or worship them. ⁸ Rather, cling tightly to the Lord your God as you have done until now.

⁹ “For the Lord has driven out great and powerful nations for you, and no one has yet been able to defeat you. ¹⁰ Each one of you will put to flight a thousand of the enemy, for the Lord your God fights for you, just as he has promised. ¹¹ So be very careful to love the Lord your God.

¹² “But if you turn away from him and cling to the customs of the survivors of these nations remaining among you, and if you intermarry with them, ¹³ then know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive them out of your land. Instead, they will be a snare and a trap to you, a whip for your backs and thorny brambles in your eyes, and you will vanish from this good land the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁴ “Soon I will die, going the way of everything on earth. Deep in your hearts you know that every promise of the Lord your God has come true. Not a single one has failed! ¹⁵ But as surely as the Lord your God has given you the good things he promised, he will also bring disaster on you if you disobey him. He will completely destroy you from this good land he has given you. ¹⁶ If you break the covenant of the Lord your God by worshiping and serving other gods, his anger will burn against you, and you will quickly vanish from the good land he has given you.”

And then, another passage seen on plaques, etc.:

^24:14 “So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. ¹⁵ But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

And finally, Joshua ends with what I fear for children who grow up in Christian homes and God is 'familiar' to them, without them seeing and experiencing God for themselves:

^24:31 The people of Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him—those who had personally experienced all that the Lord had done for Israel.

I believe there has to be a 'personal' experience of God in order to truly follow Him. And even then, as we saw so clearly in the lives of the Israelites, it's so easy to get distracted and turn away. God help us to follow you wholeheartedly.

June 10, 2010 (Joshua 9-15)

Joshua 9 has such a convicting story - every time I read it, I see myself doing the very same things. News of God defeating the current inhabitants of the land and giving the land to the Israelites spread far and wide. People in the town of Gibeon knew they were next on the list, so they disguised themselves as being from a far off country and said they heard of the great God and all He had done and they wanted to come to be their servants. They brought along moldy bread and old wine skins and worn out sandals, thereby looking as if they had come a long distance. Here is the convicting verse:

14 So the Israelite leaders examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord. 15 Then Joshua made a peace treaty with them and guaranteed their safety, and the leaders of the community ratified their agreement with a binding oath.

How often do I do the same thing? Look at surrounding circumstances and make a decision without consulting the Lord - too many times, I'm afraid to say. God, please help me to remember this story and consult You with all the details of my life.

At times like I am in now, where I am overwhelmed with life, I need to remember this:

10:42 .... for the Lord, the God of Israel, was fighting for his people.

I have to remember that God is fighting for me, and give Him the glory. I can't be out here 'on my own'.

June 9, 2010 (Joshua 1-8)

After the death of Moses, Joshua was commissioned by God to lead the Israelites. Here were God's words to him:

^1:6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. ⁷ Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. ⁸Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. ⁹ This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

What about us? Do we meditate on the "Book of Instruction" continually? Morning and night? God tells us that only then we will prosper and succeed in all we do.

In chapters 7 & 8 we see how the sin of one person affects more than just themselves. The Israelites were told to go and capture Jericho and take nothing for themselves. But one man, named Achan, not only stole some of the goods, but lied about it. So when the Israelites went to attack the next town, 36 of their men were killed because of the sin of Achan. God revealed to Joshua who had done this, and when confronted Achan admitted what he had done. He saw some things he wanted and then he said "I wanted them so much that I took them." That is what sin is - selfishness - wanting things for ourselves at the cost of disobeying God. And we see that because of his sin 36 innocent people died. God takes obedience seriously. He has given us His word to guide us. Again, we all have a choice as to whether we will obey or not.