Judges 16 Devotional By Pastor Lawrence Unlike Joshua and his fellow spies, Samson doesn’t visit the house of the prostitute on a reconnaissance mission. No, he has fallen in love with a forbidden woman after sowing his royal oats freely throughout the land. Of course, Sampson’s folly isn’t really unique in that regard, but his case stands out particularly because he is one of the saviors/judges of Israel that is called not only to sanctify…

Judges 15 by Pastor Mark Hudson In our chapter, we discover a violent, destructive Samson.  Recall, that Samson stands out from his fellow Israelites.  In v. 11, the men of Judah have made peace with the Philistines.  Not Samson. In 13:5, “and he (God through Samson) shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”  In 14:4, “for he (presumably the Lord) was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.”  Samson can deliver and…

Judges 13 by Pastor Mark Hudson Judges 13 is an extended and unusual birth narrative.  We do not often see this in Judges, nor do we often get a birth to death narrative of a person.  We start off with a truncated cycle.  If you can call it a cycle.  “The people again did what was evil, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years” (v. 1).  There is…

Judges 12 by Pastor David Groendyk It’s not hard to distinguish where someone is from in America based on their accent. Vowels are pronounced much differently in Mississippi than they are in Michigan. (My wife and I frequently joke about how the words ‘pen’ and ‘pin’ sound exactly the same when our Mississippi friends say them.) In a different part of the country, you can tell a Bostonian from a mile away when you ask…

Judges 11 by Pastor Mark Hudson Now on to Jephthah in Judges 11.  Most take Jephthah as a rash person who made a myriad of mistakes.  Maybe that is true but there might be another way to look at this man.  This interpretation if from Prof. David Murray of the Protestant Reformed Seminary.  I listened to his podcast and sermon on Jephthah and found is convincing.  We will see if you do.  This is one…

Judges 10:6-18 by Pastor Mark Hudson Prof. David Murray suggests the following outline for the book of Judges 1          failures of the tribes of Israel 2-16     failures of the judges 17-21   failures of the Levites The Key verses are 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25 – there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in their own eyes.  For our devotional, we will concentrate on how this chapter sets up the story of Jephthah. …

Judges 9 Devotional By Pastor Lawrence Thus far in the book of Judges, we have seen at various points in Israel’s history how God has raised up men to save His people from their oppressors, and that each of these men, no matter how flawed and weak, still point the reader to the ultimate savior, Jesus Christ, who would save his people from their bondage to sin and Satan. But in this particular chapter we…

Judges 8 by Pastor Mark Hudson We begin chapter 8 with more conflict. Only this time we witness fighting within the tribes.  It appears pride is rearing its ugly head as proud Ephraim does not like its role in the battle.  “They accused him fiercely.”  Gideon is not done fighting and the criticism begins already. In chapter 6, Gideon fought against Baal.  In 7, it is the Midianites and in chapter 8, Gideon in fighting…

Judges 7 Pastor David Groendyk Pastor Lawrence wrote yesterday that sometimes we need to be reminded that we’re not as important as we think we are, but other times we need to be reminded that God can use us no matter what the circumstances are. In Judges 6, Gideon needed to learn the latter lesson. In Judges 7, Israel needed to learn the former. Verse 2 is the key to understanding this whole chapter, and…

Judges 6 Devotional By Pastor Lawrence Perhaps many times throughout our lives we need to be reminded that we are not as important as we think we are, not as essential to God’s overall plan, and not as humble as we ought to be. But there are other times in life in which we have the opposite problem when we don’t trust that God can use us at all in certain circumstances, and we think…

Judges 5 by Pastor Mark Hudson Verses 2-11c  The explosive God and humiliated people Bless Yahweh for willing people 2 Telling the story 3 The liveliness of God 4-5 The extremity of Israel 6-8 Bless Yahweh for willing people 9 Telling the story 10-11c Verses 11d-23 Daring warriors and cautious brothers The people and its leadership: the people ‘go down’ 11d-13 The valiant ones 14-15a The hesitant and secure 15b-17 The valiant ones 18 The…

Judges 4  Devotional By Pastor Lawrence Walking with God is not always easy, nor is it comfortable, for oftentimes the Lord calls on us to do the very things that we fear in order to lessen our fear of man and increase the fear of God in us. What Deborah was asking Barak to do that day really made no sense to him at all as a commander of an army. Even though he had…

Judges 3 by Pastor Mark Hudson The first 6 verses of this chapter belong with chapter 2. While God had commanded Israel “to devote them [nations living in the promised land prior to Israel’s conquest] to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show them no mercy” Deut 7:1-2), His people never obeyed God in this command. Sadly, we discover the reality of Israel’s disobedience throughout this book of Judges. The different…

Judges 2 By Pastor David Groendyk The book of Judges begins with two crises in Israel, and it ends with two crises in Israel. There is a territorial crisis in chapter 1, that is, the tribes of Israel fail to conquer the Canaanites in full; then, in chapter 2, there is a covenantal crisis, that is, Israel repeatedly disobeys God and his covenant. Pastor Lawrence pointed out yesterday that these two crises are inseparably bound…

Judges 1 Devotional By Pastor Lawrence Following the death of Joshua, the faithful and courageous leader of Israel, the next generations of God’s people begin not only fail to uproot the remaining Canaanites but also begin spiraling down into sin, doubt and disobedience to such an extent that there seems to be no more distinguishing difference between Israel and the surrounding nations. According to Deuteronomy 7:22, Moses had warned the Israelites that God would not…

Proverbs 31 by Pastor Mark Hudson Here are two ways to look at this passage starting at verse 10.  The first from a sermon by John McArthur.  He sees this outline: Character as a wife Devotion as a homemaker Generosity as a neighbor Influence as a teacher Effectiveness as a mother Excellencies as a person Waltke prefer a somewhat simpler outline Introduction: Her value          10-12 Body: Her activities               13-27 Conclusion: Her praise           28-31 This is…

Proverbs 30 Devotional By Pastor Lawrence The author of these particular proverbs, named Agur, is not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, nor is he identified by ancient scholars as one of renown; nevertheless, he seems to be well-known to the ancient Israelites, perhaps not as a Jew but a God-fearing gentile who feared the Lord. In the first nine verses he gives us a view of how he sees himself and his fellow man, and…

Proverbs 29 by Pastor Mark Hudson One of the themes in the Bible is God’s care for the poor.  Verse 7 reminds us that, “A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.”  Then in v. 14, “If a king faithfully judges the poor, his throne will be established forever.”  We may find this quite unusual if we have been reading the Bible all our lives.  But…

Proverbs 28 By Pastor David Groendyk It’s difficult to see at first, but verses 2–12 form one whole section that give a picture of a just society. The overwhelming message is that each individual in a society must fear the Lord and love his law; or, to put it another way, it is impossible to have a good society if the individual citizens are unjust. What does a godly society look like? Here are some…

Proverbs 27 Devotional By Pastor Lawrence “What a day!” is a rhetorical expression that most of us have used at some point to convey our understanding of a series of unexpected and remarkable events, whether good or evil, which have surprised and even baffled us by their improbability. Most days might seem to us rather tame in comparison to those very rare and exceptional days, but the truth of the matter is that every day…

Proverbs 26 by Pastor Mark Hudson From 25:28, Waltke sees this section as perverted types of humanity 25:28 26:1-12            the fool 26:13-16          the sluggard 26:17-28          Four kinds of troublemakers 26:17                 The busybody 26:18-19           The mischief maker 26:20-22          The slanderer 26:23-28          The hateful enemy As I read through this chapter, I found myself wondering who this chapter…