JUDGES 1-6: DAY 38 JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
February 7, 2023
JUDGES 1-6
DAY 38 JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
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Focus Verses for Today: Judges 2:16-19
Today, we begin our journey through the book of Judges. At the start of our journey today, we see what happens after the death of Joshua and before a king is anointed by the Lord. The history of Israel is a history of repetition, making the same mistakes again and again.
Take a few minutes to read chapters 1-6 of Judges. Pray for God to reveal the true meaning of what you have just read. During your prayer, ask God for guidance in areas of your life where you struggle, ask Him to bless someone you don’t feel should be blessed, ask God to help you overcome that feeling. Pray for your country. Does it seem to you that your country is in the valley that confronted the Judges we are about to study?
Judges 1-6: After Joshua, and the other elders of Israel died, it didn’t take long for the people of Israel to forget their promise of loyalty to God by forsaking the destruction of all foreigners who inhabited the land God had given them. Instead, the people of Israel chose to live with them. Some inhabitants of “the Promised Land,” were made slaves, while others cohabited amongst the people of Israel. This resulted in the people of Israel taking foreign wives and, eventually, forsaking God by worshiping the false gods of the people they were to destroy.
The remainder of our reading contains the same story, but with different characters: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, and Gideon are the judges God sent to save Israel. The people of Israel chose to follow a life of sin. God sends a conquerer to take the people of Israel captive and oppress them. After a period of time passes, the people of Israel shout out to God and resume worshipping God again. God then uses a judge to deliver the people of Israel from their captors. After the judge, which God used to deliver them dies, the people of Israel resume sinning against God. (Judges 1:1-6:40)
Our focus verses for today:
16Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. 18Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
(Judges 2:16-19, NIV)
The people of Israel sinned by worshipping false gods. The reading makes it clear that God did not want the people of Israel to marry foreign people. The primary reason was that a foreign spouse could lead the Israelites to follow a false god. The second reason could be that God had commanded the people of Israel to destroy the inhabitants of the land God had given them. The people of Israel entertained all forms of immoral conduct displeasing God. Do you follow the crowd? Do you make your own way? Are you afraid to set out on your own; you know, concerned about what others would think? What do you think was going on with the people of Israel?
We are using the Jeremiah Study Bible to prepare our year-long journey through the Bible. In one of the notes, Dr. David Jeremiah wrote that the people were not raising their children up in the way of the Lord. Sounds like the many countries around the world today. What do you think? If you were not raised up in the way of the Lord or just want more in your spiritual life join us on our year-long journey and get acquainted with Him.
Godspeace!
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