Nowata Methodists Podcast

It is somewhat of an offensive thing in today’s culture to speak about men and women as though they are different, or, rather, to acknowledge that men and women are different. One of the liberating things about reading the bible is that our scriptures do not care to toe the line of whatever civic orthodoxy any culture might have. Rather, God speaks through historic cultures, namely those of the Ancient Near East, to tell us the truth about ourselves.

Today’s passages deal with righteous living in the midst of a cruel and harsh world, particularly for what used to be called the “fairer sex” in our culture: women. God does show a unique care and concern for women. It would be a mistake to think that God’s concern has at all diminished alongside our society’s concern, which has effectively turned women into deficient men. There is unique virtue in being a godly women, as exemplified by Ruth, as depicted in the Psalter, as portrayed in Proverbs. As men are expected to grow in masculine virtue throughout our scriptures, women are similarly expected to find a right identity for themselves with God as a primary reference point. While our society might portray that as a sort of demeaning thing, it is actually quite ennobling.

The Christian faith has been the single largest blessing for the women of the world throughout history. Our roots are in these Jewish scriptures that speak of the difference between the sexes, alongside the unique and powerful ways that women can be exemplars of righteousness. One more reason to give God glory for these treasures we find in the scriptures:

Ruth 1

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land of Moab. 

The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there. 

Then Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons, who took Moabite women as their wives, one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. 

And after they had lived in Moab about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband. 

When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had attended to His people by providing them with food, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab. 

Accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road leading back to the land of Judah. 

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you loving devotion, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 

May the LORD enable each of you to find rest in the home of your new husband.” 

And she kissed them as they wept aloud and said, “Surely we will return with you to your people.” 

But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb to become your husbands? 

Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons, would you wait for them to grow up? Would you refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” 

Again they wept aloud, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 

“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; follow her back home.” 

But Ruth replied: 

“Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” 

When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to persuade her. 

So Naomi and Ruth traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole city was stirred because of them, and the women of the city exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 

“Do not call me Naomi,” she replied. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty  has dealt quite bitterly with me. 

I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? After all, the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me.” 

So Naomi returned from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Ruth 2

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a prominent man of noble character from the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 

And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go into the fields and glean heads of grain after someone in whose sight I may find favor.” 

“Go ahead, my daughter,” Naomi replied. 

So Ruth departed and went out into the field and gleaned after the harvesters. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech. 

Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, “The LORD be with you.” 

“The LORD bless you,” they replied. 

And Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?” 

The foreman answered, “She is the Moabitess who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab. 

She has said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the harvesters.’ So she came out and has continued from morning until now, except that she rested a short time in the shelter.” 

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Do not go and glean in another field, and do not go away from this place, but stay here close to my servant girls. 

Let your eyes be on the field they are harvesting, and follow along after these girls. Indeed, I have ordered the young men not to touch you. And when you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled.” 

At this, she fell on her face, bowing low to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, even though I am a foreigner?” 

Boaz replied, “I have been made fully aware of all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and how you came to a people you did not know before. 

May the LORD repay your work, and may you receive a rich reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge.” 

“My lord,” she said, “may I continue to find favor in your eyes, for you have comforted and spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your servant girls.” 

At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here; have some bread and dip it into the vinegar sauce.” So she sat down beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left over. 

When Ruth got up to glean, Boaz ordered his young men, “Even if she gathers among the sheaves, do not insult her. 

Rather, pull out for her some stalks from the bundles and leave them for her to gather. Do not rebuke her.” 

So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. And when she beat out what she had gleaned, it was about an ephah of barley. 

She picked up the grain and went into the town, where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she brought out what she had saved from her meal and gave it to Naomi. 

Then her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today, and where did you work? Blessed be the man who noticed you.” 

So she told her mother-in-law where she had worked. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said. 

Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, who has not withdrawn His kindness from the living or the dead.” Naomi continued, “The man is a close relative. He is one of our kinsman-redeemers.” 

Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also told me, ‘Stay with my young men until they have finished gathering all my harvest.’ ” 

And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “My daughter, it is good for you to work with his young women, so that nothing will happen to you in another field.” 

So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean grain until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Ruth 3

One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek a resting place for you, that it may be well with you? 

Now is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been working, a relative of ours? In fact, tonight he is winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 

Therefore wash yourself, put on perfume, and wear your best clothes. Go down to the threshing floor, but do not let the man know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 

When he lies down, note the place where he lies. Then go in and uncover his feet, and lie down, and he will explain to you what you should do.” 

“I will do everything you say,” Ruth answered. So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had instructed her to do. 

After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then Ruth went in secretly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. 

At midnight, Boaz was startled, turned over, and there lying at his feet was a woman! 

“Who are you?” he asked. 

“I am your servant Ruth,” she replied. “Spread the corner of your garment  over me, for you are a kinsman-redeemer.” 

Then Boaz said, “May the LORD bless you, my daughter. You have shown more kindness now than before, because you have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 

And now do not be afraid, my daughter. I will do for you whatever you request, since all my fellow townspeople know that you are a woman of noble character. 

Yes, it is true that I am a kinsman-redeemer, but there is a redeemer nearer than I. 

Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, good. Let him redeem you. But if he does not want to redeem you, as surely as the LORD lives, I will. Now lie here until morning.” 

So she lay down at his feet until morning, but she got up before anyone else could recognize her. 

Then Boaz said, “Do not let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.” 

And he told her, “Bring the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he shoveled six measures of barley  into her shawl. Then he went  into the city. 

When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked her, “How did it go, my daughter?” 

Then Ruth told her all that Boaz had done for her. 

And she said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said, ‘Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ ” 

“Wait, my daughter,” said Naomi, “until you find out how things go, for he will not rest unless he has resolved the matter today.”

Ruth 4

Meanwhile, Boaz went to the gate and sat down there. Soon the kinsman-redeemer  of whom he had spoken came along, and Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. 

Then Boaz took ten of the elders of the city and said, “Sit here,” and they did so. 

And he said to the kinsman-redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the land of Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. 

I thought I should inform you that you may buy it back in the presence of those seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to redeem it, do so. But if you  will not redeem it, tell me so I may know, because there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.” 

“I will redeem it,” he replied. 

Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi and also from Ruth the Moabitess, you must also acquire the widow of the deceased in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.” 

The kinsman-redeemer replied, “I cannot redeem it myself, or I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption, because I cannot redeem it.” 

Now in former times in Israel, concerning the redemption or exchange of property, to make any matter legally binding a man would remove his sandal and give it to the other party, and this was a confirmation in Israel. 

So the kinsman-redeemer removed his sandal and said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” 

At this, Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I am buying from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon. 

Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, to raise up the name of the deceased through his inheritance, so that his name will not disappear from among his brothers or from the gate of his home. You are witnesses today.” 

“We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May the LORD make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem. 

And may your house become like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring the LORD will give you by this young woman.” 

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And when he had relations with her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 

Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a kinsman-redeemer. May his name become famous in Israel. 

He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” 

And Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became a nurse to him. 

The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse, the father of David. 

Now these are the generations of Perez: 

Perez was the father of Hezron, 

Hezron was the father of Ram, 

Ram was the father of Amminadab, 

Amminadab was the father of Nahshon, 

Nahshon was the father of Salmon, 

Salmon was the father of Boaz, 

Boaz was the father of Obed, 

Obed was the father of Jesse, 

and Jesse was the father of David.

Psalm 58

My heart is stirred by a noble theme 

as I recite my verses to the king; 

my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. 

You are the most handsome of men; 

grace has anointed your lips, 

since God has blessed you forever. 

Strap your sword at your side, O mighty warrior; 

appear in your majesty and splendor. 

In your splendor ride forth in victory 

on behalf of truth and humility and justice; 

may your right hand show your awesome deeds. 

Your arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s foes; 

the nations fall beneath your feet. 

Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever, 

and justice is the scepter of Your kingdom. 

You have loved righteousness 

and hated wickedness; 

therefore God, your God, has anointed you 

above your companions with the oil of joy. 

All your garments are fragrant 

with myrrh and aloes and cassia; 

from palaces of ivory the harps make you glad. 

The daughters of kings are among your honored women; 

the queen stands at your right hand, 

adorned with the gold of Ophir. 

Listen, O daughter! Consider and incline your ear: 

Forget your people and your father’s house, 

and the king will desire your beauty; 

bow to him, for he is your lord. 

The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; 

men of wealth will seek your favor. 

All glorious is the princess in her chamber; 

her gown is embroidered with gold. 

In colorful garments she is led to the king; 

her virgin companions are brought before you. 

They are led in with joy and gladness; 

they enter the palace of the king. 

Your sons will succeed your fathers; 

you will make them princes throughout the land. 

I will commemorate your name through all generations; 

therefore the nations will praise you forever and ever.

Psalm 58

Do you indeed speak justly, O rulers? 

Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men? 

No, in your hearts you devise injustice; 

with your hands you mete out violence on the earth. 

The wicked are estranged from the womb; 

the liars go astray from birth. 

Their venom is like the venom of a snake, 

like a cobra that shuts its ears, 

refusing to hear the tune of the charmer 

who skillfully weaves his spell. 

O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; 

O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions. 

May they vanish 

like water that runs off; 

when they draw the bow, 

may their arrows be blunted. 

Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, 

like a woman’s stillborn child, 

may they never see the sun. 

Before your pots can feel the burning thorns— 

whether green or dry— 

He will sweep them away. 

The righteous will rejoice 

when they see they are avenged; 

they will wash their feet 

in the blood of the wicked. 

Then men will say, 

“There is surely a reward for the righteous! 

There is surely a God who judges the earth!”

Proverbs 31

These are the words of King Lemuel—the burden that his mother taught him: 

What shall I say, O my son? 

What, O son of my womb? 

What, O son of my vows? 

Do not spend your strength on women 

or your vigor on those who ruin kings. 

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, 

it is not for kings to drink wine, 

or for rulers to crave strong drink, 

lest they drink and forget what is decreed, 

depriving all the oppressed of justice. 

Give strong drink to one who is perishing, 

and wine to the bitter in soul. 

Let him drink and forget his poverty, 

and remember his misery no more. 

Open your mouth for those with no voice, 

for the cause of all the dispossessed. 

Open your mouth, judge righteously, 

and defend the cause of the poor and needy. 

A wife  of noble character, who can find? 

She is far more precious than rubies. 

The heart of her husband trusts in her, 

and he lacks nothing of value. 

She brings him good and not harm 

all the days of her life. 

She selects wool and flax 

and works with eager hands. 

She is like the merchant ships, 

bringing her food from afar. 

She rises while it is still night 

to provide food for her household 

and portions for her maidservants. 

She appraises a field and buys it; 

from her earnings she plants a vineyard. 

She girds herself  with strength 

and shows that her arms are strong. 

She sees that her gain is good, 

and her lamp is not extinguished at night. 

She stretches out her hands to the distaff 

and grasps the spindle with her fingers. 

She opens her arms to the poor 

and reaches out her hands to the needy. 

When it snows, she has no fear for her household, 

for they are all clothed in scarlet. 

She makes coverings for her bed; 

her clothing is fine linen and purple. 

Her husband is known at the city gate, 

where he sits among the elders of the land. 

She makes linen garments and sells them; 

she delivers sashes to the merchants. 

Strength and honor are her clothing, 

and she can laugh at the days to come. 

She opens her mouth with wisdom, 

and faithful instruction is on her tongue. 

She watches over the affairs of her household 

and does not eat the bread of idleness. 

Her children rise up and call her blessed; 

her husband praises her as well: 

“Many daughters have done noble things, 

but you surpass them all!” 

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, 

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. 

Give her the fruit of her hands, 

and let her works praise her at the gates.

"And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:28-31

This week we make it though chapter 14 of the Gospel of Matthew. In this chapter we are told about the death of John the Baptist, Jesus feeding the five thousand, Jesus walking on water, & Jesus healing the sick in Gennesaret.

Today we finish Judges. It is a rough book. The last few stories get increasingly messed up. It is always important to remember that, while the cultures were indeed quite different from us today, we are no better than they were. Human nature is the same across time and space. We are born in sin and inclined towards evil. The bible is clear about these things. Were it not for the supernatural interference of Jesus, we would be lost.

Humans are not naturally noble creatures. While we have remnants of God’s goodness in us, we are wrong to think that those parts dominate, or that they can win out against our worst selves. Rather, supernatural interference is required if we are to know any measure of holiness in this life, much less the next life.

Read these stories and be warned: This is what awaits any society that insists on doing things their own way. “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” This is a portrait of hell on earth. Any man or woman with a shred of wisdom flees from a society ungoverned by the King of Heaven.

Judges 16

One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her. 

When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded that place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet throughout the night, saying, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.” 

But Samson lay there only until midnight, when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and both gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. Then he put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron. 

Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 

The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.” 

So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.” 

Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become as weak as any other man.” 

So the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. 

While the men were hidden in her room, she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” 

But he snapped the bowstrings like a strand of yarn seared by a flame. So the source of his strength remained unknown. 

Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me! Now please tell me how you can be tied up.” 

He replied, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become as weak as any other man.” 

So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” 

But while the men were hidden in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like they were threads. 

Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me all along! Tell me how you can be tied up.” 

He told her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man. ” 

So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. Then she tightened it with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” 

But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin with the loom and the web. 

“How can you say, ‘I love you,’ ” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!” 

Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death, 

Samson told her all that was in his heart: “My hair has never been cut, because I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become as weak as any other man.” 

When Delilah realized that he had revealed to her all that was in his heart, she sent this message to the lords of the Philistines: “Come up once more, for he has revealed to me all that is in his heart.” 

Then the lords of the Philistines came to her, bringing the money in their hands. 

And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him. 

Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” 

When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. 

Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison. 

However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved. 

Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.” 

And when the people saw him, they praised their god, saying: 

“Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy who destroyed our land and multiplied our dead.” 

And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars. 

Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.” 

Now the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them. 

Then Samson called out to the LORD: “O Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, O God, just once more, so that with one vengeful blow I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.” 

And Samson reached out for the two central pillars supporting the temple. Bracing himself against them with his right hand on one pillar and his left hand on the other, 

Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” 

Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life. 

Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.

Judges 17

Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver  that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have the silver here with me; I took it.” 

Then his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD!” 

And when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I wholly dedicate the silver to the LORD for my son’s benefit, to make a graven image and a molten idol. Therefore I will now return it to you.” 

So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver  and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into a graven image and a molten idol. And they were placed in the house of Micah. 

Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained  one of his sons as his priest. 

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. 

And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah. 

This man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to settle where he could find a place. And as he traveled, he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim. 

“Where are you from?” Micah asked him. 

“I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he replied, “and I am on my way to settle wherever I can find a place.” 

“Stay with me,” Micah said to him, “and be my father and priest, and I will give you ten shekels of silver  per year, a suit of clothes, and your provisions.” 

So the Levite went in and agreed to stay with him, and the young man became like a son to Micah. 

Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. 

Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”

Judges 18

In those days there was no king in Israel, and the tribe of the Danites was looking for territory to occupy. For up to that time they had not come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 

So the Danites sent out five men from their clans, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. “Go and explore the land,” they told them. 

The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. 

And while they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they went over and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?” 

“Micah has done this and that for me,” he replied, “and he has hired me to be his priest.” 

Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to determine whether we will have a successful journey.” 

And the priest told them, “Go in peace. The LORD is watching over your journey.” 

So the five men departed and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living securely, like the Sidonians, tranquil and unsuspecting. There was nothing lacking in the land and no oppressive ruler. And they were far away from the Sidonians and had no alliance with anyone. 

When the men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “What did you find?” 

They answered, “Come on, let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Why would you fail to act? Do not hesitate to go there and take possession of the land! 

When you enter, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land, for God has delivered it into your hand. It is a place where nothing on earth is lacking.” 

So six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war. 

They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. That is why the place west of Kiriath-jearim is called Mahaneh-dan  to this day. 

And from there they traveled to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house. 

Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should do.” 

So they turned aside there and went to the home of the young Levite, the house of Micah, and greeted him. 

The six hundred Danites stood at the entrance of the gate, armed with their weapons of war. 

And the five men who had gone to spy out the land went inside and took the graven image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molten idol, while the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred armed men. 

When they entered Micah’s house and took the graven image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molten idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 

“Be quiet,” they told him. “Put your hand over your mouth and come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?” 

So the priest was glad and took the ephod, the household idols, and the graven image, and went with the people. 

Putting their small children, their livestock, and their possessions in front of them, they turned and departed. 

After they were some distance from Micah’s house, the men in the houses near Micah’s house mobilized and overtook the Danites. 

When they called out after them, the Danites turned to face them and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you that you have called out such a company?” 

He replied, “You took the gods I had made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’ ” 

The Danites said to him, “Do not raise your voice against us, or angry men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.” 

So the Danites went on their way, and Micah turned to go back home, because he saw that they were too strong for him. 

After they had taken Micah’s idols and his priest, they went to Laish, to a tranquil and unsuspecting people, and they struck them with their swords and burned down the city. 

There was no one to deliver them, because the city was far from Sidon and had no alliance with anyone; it was in a valley near Beth-rehob. 

And the Danites rebuilt the city and lived there. They named it Dan, after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel—though the city was formerly named Laish. 

The Danites set up idols for themselves, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. 

So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image, and it was there the whole time the house of God was in Shiloh.

Judges 19

Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. 

But she was unfaithful to him  and left him to return to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. 

After she had been there four months, her husband got up and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring her back, taking his servant and a pair of donkeys. So the girl brought him into her father’s house, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. 

His father-in-law, the girl’s father, persuaded him to stay, so he remained with him three days, eating, drinking, and lodging there. 

On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning and prepared to depart, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh your heart with a morsel of bread, and then you can go.” 

So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and let your heart be merry.” 

The man got up to depart, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. 

On the fifth day, he got up early in the morning to depart, but the girl’s father said, “Please refresh your heart.” So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate. 

When the man got up to depart with his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, the day is drawing to a close. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, that your heart may be merry. Then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey home.” 

But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up and departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine. 

When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Please, let us stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night here.” 

But his master replied, “We will not turn aside to the city of foreigners, where there are no Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.” 

He continued, “Come, let us try to reach one of these towns to spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.” 

So they continued on their journey, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. 

They stopped to go in and lodge in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one would take them into his home for the night. 

That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was residing in Gibeah (the men of that place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the field. 

When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where have you come from?” 

The Levite replied, “We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I am going to the house of the LORD; but no one has taken me into his home, even though there is both straw and feed for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me and the maidservant and young man with me. There is nothing that we, your servants, lack.” 

“Peace to you,” said the old man. “Let me supply everything you need. Only do not spend the night in the square.” 

So he brought him to his house and fed his donkeys. And they washed their feet and ate and drank. 

While they were enjoying themselves, suddenly the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they said to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house, so we can have relations with him!” 

The owner of the house went out and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Do not commit this outrage. 

Look, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine, and you can use them and do with them as you wish. But do not do such a vile thing to this man.” 

But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. 

Early that morning, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, collapsed at the doorway, and lay there until it was light. 

In the morning, when her master got up and opened the doors of the house to go out on his journey, there was his concubine, collapsed in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 

“Get up,” he told her. “Let us go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home. 

When he reached his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel. 

And everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has been seen or done from the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until this day. Think it over, take counsel, and speak up!”

Judges 20

Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah. 

The leaders of all the people and all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: 400,000 men on foot, armed with swords. 

(Meanwhile the Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) And the Israelites asked, “Tell us, how did this wicked thing happen?” 

So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered: “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. 

And during the night, the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house. They intended to kill me, but they abused my concubine, and she died. 

Then I took my concubine, cut her into pieces, and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance, because they had committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel. 

Behold, all you Israelites, give your advice and verdict here and now.” 

Then all the people stood as one man and said, “Not one of us will return to his tent or to his house. Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: We will go against it as the lot dictates. 

We will take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to supply provisions for the army when they go to Gibeah  in Benjamin to punish them for the atrocity they have committed in Israel.” 

So all the men of Israel gathered as one man, united against the city. 

And the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has occurred among you? 

Hand over the wicked men of Gibeah so we can put them to death and purge Israel of this evil.” 

But the Benjamites refused to heed the voice of their fellow Israelites. And from their cities they came together at Gibeah to go out and fight against the Israelites. 

On that day the Benjamites mobilized 26,000 swordsmen from their cities, in addition to the 700 select men of Gibeah. 

Among all these soldiers there were 700 select left-handers, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair without missing. 

The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, mobilized 400,000 swordsmen, each one an experienced warrior. 

The Israelites set out, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God, “Who of us shall go up first to fight against the Benjamites?” 

“Judah will be first,” the LORD replied. 

The next morning the Israelites set out and camped near Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and took up their battle positions at Gibeah. 

And the Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down 22,000 Israelites on the battlefield that day. 

But the Israelite army took courage and again took their battle positions in the same place where they had arrayed themselves on the first day. 

They went up and wept before the LORD until evening, inquiring of Him, “Should we again draw near for battle against our brothers the Benjamites?” 

And the LORD answered, “Go up against them.” 

On the second day the Israelites advanced against the Benjamites. 

That same day the Benjamites came out against them from Gibeah and cut down another 18,000 Israelites, all of them armed with swords. 

Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, where they sat weeping before the LORD. That day they fasted until evening and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD. 

And the Israelites inquired of the LORD. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there, and Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, served before it.) The Israelites asked, “Should we again go out to battle against our brothers the Benjamites, or should we stop?” 

The LORD answered, “Fight, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.” 

So Israel set up an ambush around Gibeah. On the third day the Israelites went up against the Benjamites and arrayed themselves against Gibeah as they had done before. 

The Benjamites came out against them and were drawn away from the city. They began to attack the people as before, killing about thirty men of Israel in the fields and on the roads, one of which led up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah. 

“We are defeating them as before,” said the Benjamites. 

But the Israelites said, “Let us retreat and draw them away from the city onto the roads.” 

So all the men of Israel got up from their places and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamar, and the Israelites in ambush charged from their positions west of Gibeah. 

Then 10,000 select men from all Israel made a frontal assault against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjamites did not realize that disaster was upon them. 

The LORD defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords. 

Then the Benjamites realized they had been defeated. 

Now the men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin because they were relying on the ambush they had set against Gibeah. 

The men in ambush rushed suddenly against Gibeah; they advanced and put the whole city to the sword. 

The men of Israel had arranged a signal with the men in ambush: When they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city, the men of Israel would turn in the battle. 

When the Benjamites had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, “They are defeated before us as in the first battle.” 

But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, the Benjamites looked behind them and saw the whole city going up in smoke. 

Then the men of Israel turned back on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had come upon them. 

So they fled before the men of Israel toward the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and the men coming out of the cities struck them down there. 

They surrounded the Benjamites, pursued them, and easily overtook them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east. And 18,000 Benjamites fell, all men of valor. 

Then the Benjamites turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel cut down 5,000 men on the roads. And they overtook them at Gidom and struck down 2,000 more. 

That day 25,000 Benjamite swordsmen fell, all men of valor. But 600 men turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months. 

And the men of Israel turned back against the other Benjamites and put to the sword all the cities, including the animals and everything else they found. And they burned down all the cities in their path.

Judges 21

Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.” 

So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, lifting up their voices and weeping bitterly. 

“Why, O LORD God of Israel,” they cried out, “has this happened in Israel? Today in Israel one tribe is missing!” 

The next day the people got up early, built an altar there, and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings. 

The Israelites asked, “Who among all the tribes of Israel did not come to the assembly before the LORD?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah would surely be put to death. 

And the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjamites, and said, “Today a tribe is cut off from Israel. 

What should we do about wives for the survivors, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them our daughters in marriage?” 

So they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah?” And, in fact, no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. 

For when the people were counted, none of the residents of Jabesh-gilead were there. 

So the congregation sent 12,000 of their most valiant men and commanded them: “Go and put to the sword those living in Jabesh-gilead, including women and children. 

This is what you are to do: Devote to destruction  every male, as well as every female who has had relations with a man.” 

So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young women who had not had relations with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. 

Then the whole congregation sent a message of peace to the Benjamites who were at the rock of Rimmon. 

And at that time the Benjamites returned and were given the women who were spared from Jabesh-gilead. But there were not enough women for all of them. 

The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the tribes of Israel. 

Then the elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” 

They added, “There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. But we cannot give them our daughters as wives.” 

For the Israelites had sworn, “Cursed is he who gives a wife to a Benjamite.” 

“But look,” they said, “there is a yearly feast to the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel east of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” 

So they commanded the Benjamites: “Go, hide in the vineyards and watch. When you see the daughters of Shiloh come out to perform their dances, each of you is to come out of the vineyards, catch for himself a wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 

When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we will tell them, ‘Do us a favor by helping them, since we did not get wives for each of them in the war. Since you did not actually give them your daughters, you have no guilt.’ ” 

The Benjamites did as instructed and carried away the number of women they needed from the dancers they caught. They went back to their own inheritance, rebuilt their cities, and settled in them. 

And at that time, each of the Israelites returned from there to his own tribe and clan, each to his own inheritance. 

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Today we meet Samson, who was a real threat to the Philistines. I cannot help but feel sorry for the Philistines a bit. He’s implacable and aggressive against them, and quite unfair to the poor gal he chose to be his bride. The story about the foxes always amuses me greatly, as it was surely more labor to capture them and tie them to those torches than it would have been to just do the arson himself. The energy he has for hatred of the Philistines is really quite remarkable.

A few years ago, I read John Wesley’s Notes on the Old Testament. Throughout Judges, he does all kinds of mental gymnastics to make all of these judges look like good guys. In the face of Jephthah, who kills and sacrifices his own daughter, Wesley straight up denies that it happened despite the clear language here. I have a hard time excusing him that easily. And despite the fact that she isn’t named, the fact that a tradition existed for some time afterwards, such that it was mentioned in the bible, that her memory would be preserved is quite a thing. There is a beauty to the scriptures even when what is described is quite reprehensible. It is a general reminder to me that the Lord and his word are not at all under an obligation to meet my standards of acceptability. The holy comes to me on terms that aren’t mine. My posture is to be that of complete surrender.

Judges 11

Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor; he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father. 

And Gilead’s wife bore him sons who grew up, drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.” 

So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him. 

Some time later, when the Ammonites fought against Israel and made war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. 

“Come,” they said, “be our commander, so that we can fight against the Ammonites.” 

Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and expel me from my father’s house? Why then have you come to me now, when you are in distress?” 

They answered Jephthah, “This is why we now turn to you, that you may go with us, fight the Ammonites, and become leader over all of us who live in Gilead.” 

But Jephthah asked them, “If you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me, will I really be your leader?” 

And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.” 

So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the LORD at Mizpah. 

Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight against my land?” 

The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore it peaceably.” 

Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or of the Ammonites. 

But when Israel came up out of Egypt, they traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea  and came to Kadesh. 

Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed in Kadesh. 

Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border. 

And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land into our own place.’ 

But Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So he gathered all his people, encamped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel. 

Then the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, who defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who inhabited that country, seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. 

Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you now possess it? 

Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us. 

Are you now so much better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them? 

For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon, Aroer, and their villages, as well as all the cities along the banks of the Arnon. Why did you not take them back during that time? 

I have not sinned against you, but you have done me wrong by waging war against me. May the LORD, the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.” 

But the king of the Ammonites paid no heed to the message Jephthah sent him. 

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah of Gilead. And from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 

Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” 

So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hand. 

With a great blow he devastated twenty cities from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites. 

And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her. 

As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.” 

“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me as you have said, for the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.” 

She also said to her father, “Let me do this one thing: Let me wander for two months through the mountains with my friends and mourn my virginity.” 

“Go,” he said. And he sent her away for two months. 

So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity upon the mountains. 

After two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she had never had relations with a man. 

So it has become a custom in Israel that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Judges 12

Then the men of Ephraim assembled and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down with you inside!” 

But Jephthah replied, “My people and I had a serious conflict with the Ammonites, and when I called, you did not save me out of their hands. 

When I saw that you would not save me, I risked my life and crossed over to the Ammonites, and the LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come today to fight against me?” 

Jephthah then gathered all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are fugitives in Ephraim, living in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.” 

The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim would say, “Let me cross over,” the Gileadites would ask him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” 

If he answered, “No,” 

they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.” 

If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. So at that time 42,000 Ephraimites were killed. 

Jephthah judged Israel six years, and when he died, he was buried in one of the cities of Gilead. 

After Jephthah, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 

He had thirty sons, as well as thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage to men outside his clan; and for his sons he brought back thirty wives from elsewhere. Ibzan judged Israel seven years. 

Then Ibzan died, and he was buried in Bethlehem. 

After Ibzan, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel ten years. Then Elon the Zebulunite died, and he was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. 

After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, judged Israel. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. And he judged Israel eight years. 

Then Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, died, and he was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Judges 13

Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. 

Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children. 

The angel  of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are barren and have no children; but you will conceive and give birth to a son. 

Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean. 

For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall come over his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite  to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 

So the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. His appearance was like the angel of God, exceedingly awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. 

But he said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now, therefore, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’ ” 

Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, “Please, O Lord, let the man of God You sent us come to us again to teach us how to raise the boy who is to be born.” 

And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God returned to the woman as she was sitting in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 

The woman ran quickly to tell her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has reappeared!” 

So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” 

“I am,” he said. 

Then Manoah asked, “When your words come to pass, what will be the boy’s rule of life and mission?” 

So the angel of the LORD answered Manoah, “Your wife is to do everything I told her. 

She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink any wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.” 

“Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.” 

And the angel of the LORD replied, “Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah did not know that it was the angel of the LORD. 

Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes to pass?” 

“Why do you ask my name,” said the angel of the LORD, “since it is beyond comprehension?” 

Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife looked on, the LORD did a marvelous thing. 

When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. 

When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground. 

And when the angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it had been the angel of the LORD. 

“We are going to die,” he said to his wife, “for we have seen God!” 

But his wife replied, “If the LORD had intended to kill us, He would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things or spoken to us this way.” 

So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him. 

And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Judges 14

One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he saw a young Philistine woman. 

So he returned and told his father and mother, “I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.” 

But his father and mother replied, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” 

But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, for she is pleasing to my eyes.” 

(Now his father and mother did not know this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.) 

Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, and the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 

Then Samson continued on his way down and spoke to the woman, because she was pleasing to his eyes. 

When Samson returned later to take her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and in it was a swarm of bees, along with their honey. 

So he scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. And when he returned to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass. 

Then his father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as was customary for the bridegroom. 

And when the Philistines saw him, they selected thirty men to accompany him. 

“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can solve it for me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 

But if you cannot solve it, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.” 

“Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let us hear it.” 

So he said to them: 

“Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” 

For three days they were unable to explain the riddle. 

So on the fourth  day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?” 

Then Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me! You do not really love me! You have posed to my people a riddle, but have not explained it to me.” 

“Look,” he said, “I have not even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?” 

She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and finally on the seventh day, because she had pressed him so much, he told her the answer. And in turn she explained the riddle to her people. 

Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the city said to Samson: 

“What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?” 

So he said to them: 

“If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle!” 

Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave their clothes to those who had solved the riddle. And burning with anger, Samson returned to his father’s house, and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

Judges 15

Later on, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter. 

“I was sure that you thoroughly hated her,” said her father, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” 

Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in doing harm to the Philistines.” 

Then Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails. 

Then he lit the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, burning up the piles of grain and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves. 

“Who did this?” the Philistines demanded. 

“It was Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite,” they were told. “For his wife was given to his companion.” 

So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 

And Samson told them, “Because you have done this, I will not rest until I have taken vengeance upon you.” 

And he struck them ruthlessly  with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam. 

Then the Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and deployed themselves near the town of Lehi. 

“Why have you attacked us?” said the men of Judah. 

The Philistines replied, “We have come to arrest Samson and pay him back for what he has done to us.” 

In response, three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Do you not realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?” 

“I have done to them what they did to me,” he replied. 

But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.” 

Samson replied, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.” 

“No,” they answered, “we will not kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. 

When Samson arrived in Lehi, the Philistines came out shouting against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him. The ropes on his arms became like burnt flax, and the bonds broke loose from his hands. 

He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men. Then Samson said: 

“With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.” 

And when Samson had finished speaking, he cast the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi. 

And being very thirsty, Samson cried out to the LORD, “You have accomplished this great deliverance through Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 

So God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned, and he was revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, and it remains in Lehi to this day. 

And Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Psalm 49

Hear this, all you peoples; 

listen, all inhabitants of the world, 

both low and high, 

rich and poor alike. 

My mouth will impart wisdom, 

and the meditation of my heart will bring understanding. 

I will incline my ear to a proverb; 

I will express my riddle with the harp: 

Why should I fear in times of trouble, 

when wicked usurpers surround me? 

They trust in their wealth 

and boast in their great riches. 

No man can possibly redeem his brother  

or pay his ransom to God. 

For the redemption of his soul is costly, 

and never can payment suffice, 

that he should live on forever 

and not see decay. 

For it is clear that wise men die, 

and the foolish and the senseless both perish 

and leave their wealth to others. 

Their graves  are their eternal homes— 

their dwellings for endless generations— 

even though their lands were their namesakes. 

But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; 

he is like the beasts that perish. 

This is the fate of the self-confident  

and their followers who endorse their sayings. 

Selah 

Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. 

Death will be their shepherd. 

The upright will rule them in the morning, 

and their form will decay in Sheol, 

far from their lofty abode. 

But God will redeem my life from Sheol, 

for He will surely take me to Himself. 

Selah 

Do not be amazed when a man grows rich, 

when the splendor of his house increases. 

For when he dies, he will carry nothing away; 

his abundance will not follow him down. 

Though in his lifetime he blesses his soul— 

and men praise you when you prosper— 

he will join the generation of his fathers, 

who will never see the light of day. 

A man who has riches without understanding 

is like the beasts that perish.

Today we get the stories of Gideon and Abimelech. Each of them are remarkable in their own rights. Gideon is generally lauded as a hero, but we learn that he also formed an ephod that became something of an idol to himself and the people. Abimelech is generally hated as a fratricidal tyrant, but we also see him leveling politics in Shechem. Clearly a lot of texture is needed to fully understand these things. We get what we get.

I’m generally grateful for the field of anthropology, which is fleshing out a lot more of the culture and practice from this era. These small city-states and interrelated people groups interacted in ways that are quite foreign to us today. Of course, understanding these things is not key to salvation, but it can be helpful for making sense out of some of this stuff, I’m sure.

All that to say that study of the scriptures is not contained only to the text itself. Rather, if the truth is of God, then it is helpful for us to study fields of knowledge that add to the texture of the truth that we find in the scriptures. No truth can be offered or received that contradicts the scriptural witness, but there is a great deal in many bodies of human study that actually validate and vivify the scriptural witness. Remember that theology was once termed the “queen of the sciences” precisely because it sat atop all sciences as the primary witness of who God is. Anyway, enjoy learning more, or reinforcing more, with me today.

Judges 6

Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; so He delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, 

and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. 

Whenever the Israelites would plant their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east would come up and invade them, 

encamping against them as far as Gaza and destroying the produce of the land. They left Israel with no sustenance, neither sheep nor oxen nor donkeys. 

For the Midianites came with their livestock and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were innumerable, and they entered the land to ravage it. 

Israel was greatly impoverished by Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD. 

Now when the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian, 

He sent them a prophet, who told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 

I delivered you out of the hands of Egypt and all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 

And I said to you: ‘I am the LORD your God. You must not fear  the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.’ But you did not obey Me.” 

Then the angel  of the LORD came and sat down under the oak  in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 

And the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 

“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.” 

The LORD  turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?” 

“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” 

“Surely I will be with you,” the LORD replied, “and you will strike down all the Midianites as one man.” 

Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me. 

Please do not depart from this place until I return to You. Let me bring my offering and set it before You.” 

And the LORD said, “I will stay until you return.” 

So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to present to Him under the oak. 

And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 

Then the angel of the LORD extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire flared from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. 

When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he said, “Oh no, Lord GOD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!” 

But the LORD said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid, for you will not die.” 

So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 

On that very night the LORD said to Gideon, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old, tear down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 

Then build a proper altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold. And with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down, take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering.” 

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city, he did it by night rather than in the daytime. 

When the men of the city got up in the morning, there was Baal’s altar torn down, with the Asherah pole cut down beside it and the second bull offered up on the newly built altar. 

“Who did this?” they said to one another. 

And after they had investigated thoroughly, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.” 

Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has torn down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.” 

But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Are you contending for Baal? Are you trying to save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If Baal is a god, let him contend for himself with the one who has torn down his altar.” 

So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he had torn down Baal’s altar. 

Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 

So the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, who blew the ram’s horn and rallied the Abiezrites behind him. 

Calling them to arms, Gideon sent messengers throughout Manasseh, as well as Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, so that they came up to meet him. 

Then Gideon said to God, “If You are going to save Israel by my hand, as You have said, then behold, I will place a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that You are going to save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” 

And that is what happened. When Gideon arose the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water. 

Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time let it be dry, and the ground covered with dew.” 

And that night God did so. Only the fleece was dry, and dew covered the ground.

Judges 7

Early in the morning Jerubbaal  (that is, Gideon) and all the men with him camped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 

Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many people for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ 

Now, therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” 

So twenty-two thousand of them turned back, but ten thousand remained. 

Then the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go. But if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” 

So Gideon brought the people down to the water, and the LORD said to him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel to drink.” 

And the number of those who lapped the water with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men; all the others knelt to drink. 

Then the LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped the water I will save you and deliver the Midianites into your hand. But all the others are to go home.” 

So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred men, who took charge of the provisions and rams’ horns of the others. And the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. 

That night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up and go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. 

But if you are afraid to do so, then go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Then your hands will be strengthened to attack the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant to the outposts where armed men were guarding the camp. 

Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore. 

And as Gideon arrived, a man was telling his friend about a dream. “Behold, I had a dream,” he said, “and I saw a loaf of barley bread come tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent so hard that the tent overturned and collapsed.” 

His friend replied: “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has delivered Midian and the whole camp into his hand.” 

When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Get up, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.” 

And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch. 

“Watch me and do as I do,” Gideon said. “When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do exactly as I do. 

When I and all who are with me blow our horns, then you are also to blow your horns from all around the camp and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’ ” 

Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands. 

The three companies blew their horns and shattered their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” 

Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army fled, crying out as they ran. 

And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the LORD set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah  as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath. 

Then the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued the Midianites. 

Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim to say, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth-barah.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth-barah. 

They also captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian; and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. So they pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.

Judges 8

Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you done this to us? Why did you fail to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him violently. 

But Gideon answered them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? 

God has delivered Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian, into your hand. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he had said this, their anger  against him subsided. 

Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit. 

So Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give my troops some bread, for they are exhausted, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” 

But the leaders of Succoth asked, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your army?” 

“Very well,” Gideon replied, “when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness!” 

From there he went up to Penuel  and asked the same from them, but the men of Penuel gave the same response as the men of Succoth. 

So Gideon told the men of Penuel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower!” 

Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army of about fifteen thousand men—all that were left of the armies of the people of the east. A hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had already fallen. 

And Gideon went up by way of the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their army, taking them by surprise. 

When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, Gideon pursued and captured these two kings of Midian, routing their entire army. 

After this, Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle along the Ascent of Heres. 

There he captured a young man of Succoth and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succoth. 

And Gideon went to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your weary men?’ ” 

Then he took the elders of the city, and using the thorns and briers of the wilderness, he disciplined the men of Succoth. 

He also pulled down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. 

Next, Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?” 

“Men like you,” they answered, “each one resembling the son of a king.” 

“They were my brothers,” Gideon replied, “the sons of my mother! As surely as the LORD lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.” 

So he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword; he was fearful because he was still a youth. 

Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and kill us yourself, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments from the necks of their camels. 

Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you and your son and grandson—for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” 

But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD shall rule over you.” 

Then he added, “Let me make a request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his plunder.” (For the enemies had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) 

“We will give them gladly,” they replied. 

So they spread out a garment, and each man threw an earring from his plunder onto it. 

The weight of the gold earrings he had requested was 1,700 shekels, in addition to the crescent ornaments, the pendants, the purple garments of the kings of Midian, and the chains from the necks of their camels. 

From all this Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household. 

In this way Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. So the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon, and he—Jerubbaal  son of Joash—returned home and settled down. 

Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives. His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. 

Later, Gideon son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 

And as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves with the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as their god. 

The Israelites failed to remember the LORD their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. 

They did not show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for Israel.

Judges 9

Now Abimelech son of Jerubbaal  went to his mother’s brothers at Shechem and said to them and to all the clan of his mother, 

“Please ask all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.” 

And when his mother’s brothers spoke all these words about him in the presence of all the leaders of Shechem, their hearts were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” 

So they gave him seventy shekels of silver  from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him. 

He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself. 

Then all the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo gathered beside the oak  at the pillar in Shechem and proceeded to make Abimelech their king. 

When this was reported to Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and cried out: 

“Listen to me, O leaders of Shechem, 

and may God listen to you. 

One day the trees set out 

to anoint a king for themselves. 

They said to the olive tree, 

‘Reign over us.’ 

But the olive tree replied, 

‘Should I stop giving my oil 

that honors both God and man, 

to hold sway over the trees?’ 

Then the trees said to the fig tree, 

‘Come and reign over us.’ 

But the fig tree replied, 

‘Should I stop giving my sweetness 

and my good fruit, 

to hold sway over the trees?’ 

Then the trees said to the grapevine, 

‘Come and reign over us.’ 

But the grapevine replied, 

‘Should I stop giving my wine 

that cheers both God and man, 

to hold sway over the trees?’ 

Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, 

‘Come and reign over us.’ 

But the thornbush replied, 

‘If you really are anointing me as king over you, 

come and find refuge in my shade. 

But if not, may fire come out of the thornbush 

and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’ 

Now if you have acted faithfully and honestly in making Abimelech king, if you have done well by Jerubbaal and his family, and if you have done to him as he deserves— for my father fought for you and risked his life to deliver you from the hand of Midian, 

but you have risen up against my father’s house this day and killed his seventy sons on a single stone, and you have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the leaders of Shechem because he is your brother— 

if you have acted faithfully and honestly toward Jerubbaal and his house this day, then may you rejoice in Abimelech, and he in you. 

But if not, may fire come from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come from the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.” 

Then Jotham ran away, escaping to Beer, and he lived there for fear of his brother Abimelech. 

After Abimelech had reigned over Israel for three years, God sent a spirit of animosity  between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem and caused them to treat Abimelech deceitfully, 

in order that the crime against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the leaders of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers. 

The leaders of Shechem set up an ambush against Abimelech on the hilltops, and they robbed all who passed by them on the road. So this was reported to Abimelech. 

Meanwhile, Gaal son of Ebed came with his brothers and crossed into Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem put their confidence in him. 

And after they had gone out into the fields, gathered grapes from their vineyards, and trodden them, they held a festival and went into the house of their god; and as they ate and drank, they cursed Abimelech. 

Then Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? You are to serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech? 

If only this people were under my authority, I would remove Abimelech; I would say to him, ‘Muster your army and come out!’ ” 

When Zebul the governor of the city heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, he burned with anger. 

So he covertly sent messengers to Abimelech  to say, “Look, Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem and are stirring up  the city against you. 

Now then, tonight you and the people with you are to come and lie in wait in the fields. 

And in the morning at sunrise, get up and advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, do to them whatever you are able.” 

So Abimelech and all his troops set out by night and lay in wait against Shechem in four companies. 

Now Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate just as Abimelech and his men came out from their hiding places. 

When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountains!” 

But Zebul replied, “The shadows of the mountains look like men to you.” 

Then Gaal spoke up again, “Look, people are coming down from the center of the land, and one company is coming by way of the Diviners’ Oak.” 

“Where is your gloating now?” Zebul replied. “You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the people you ridiculed? Go out now and fight them!” 

So Gaal went out before the leaders of Shechem and fought against Abimelech, but Abimelech pursued him, and Gaal fled before him. And many Shechemites fell wounded all the way to the entrance of the gate. 

Abimelech stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem. 

The next day the people of Shechem went out into the fields, and this was reported to Abimelech. 

So he took his men, divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose up against them and attacked them. 

Then Abimelech and the companies with him rushed forward and took their stand at the entrance of the city gate. The other two companies rushed against all who were in the fields and struck them down. 

And all that day Abimelech fought against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he demolished the city and sowed it with salt. 

On hearing of this, all the leaders in the tower of Shechem entered the inner chamber of the temple of El-berith. 

And when Abimelech was told that all the leaders in the tower of Shechem were gathered there, he and all his men went up to Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took his axe in his hand and cut a branch from the trees, which he lifted to his shoulder, saying to his men, “Hurry and do what you have seen me do.” 

So each man also cut his own branch and followed Abimelech. Then they piled the branches against the inner chamber and set it on fire above them, killing everyone in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women. 

Then Abimelech went to Thebez, encamped against it, and captured it. 

But there was a strong tower inside the city, and all the men, women, and leaders of the city fled there. They locked themselves in and went up to the roof of the tower. 

When Abimelech came to attack the tower, he approached its entrance to set it on fire. But a woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, crushing his skull. 

He quickly called his armor-bearer, saying, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” 

So Abimelech’s armor-bearer ran his sword through him, and he died. And when the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home. 

In this way God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father in murdering his seventy brothers. 

And God also brought all the wickedness of the men of Shechem back upon their own heads. So the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

Judges 10

After the time of Abimelech, a man of Issachar, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose up to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. 

Tola judged  Israel twenty-three years, and when he died, he was buried in Shamir. 

Tola was followed by Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. 

He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. And they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth-jair. 

When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon. 

And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him. 

So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites, who that very year harassed and oppressed the Israelites, and did so for eighteen years to all the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. 

The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, and Israel was in deep distress. 

Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have indeed forsaken our God and served the Baals.” 

The LORD replied, “When the Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines, 

Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites  oppressed you and you cried out to Me, did I not save you from their hands? 

But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of trouble.” 

“We have sinned,” the Israelites said to the LORD. “Deal with us as You see fit; but please deliver us today!” 

So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and He could no longer bear the misery of Israel. 

Then the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, and the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah. 

And the rulers of Gilead said to one another, “Whoever will launch the attack against the Ammonites will be the head of all who live in Gilead.”

Psalm 43

Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case 

against an ungodly nation; 

deliver me from deceitful and unjust men. 

For You are the God of my refuge. 

Why have You rejected me? 

Why must I walk in sorrow 

because of the enemy’s oppression? 

Send out Your light and Your truth; 

let them lead me. 

Let them bring me to Your holy mountain, 

and to the place where You dwell. 

Then I will go to the altar of God, 

to God, my greatest joy. 

I will praise You with the harp, 

O God, my God. 

Why are you downcast, O my soul? 

Why the unease within me? 

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, 

my Savior and my God.

We begin Judges today. It is a book written for adults about very adult things. I always have a hard time reading it. Failure, betrayal, abuse, dysfunction, and death are the norms throughout these stories. Such is one’s life when lived outside of faithful covenant relationship with the LORD.

It’ll be a few dark days as we make our way through the material. It can’t be all sunshine and rainbows, y’all. Christ walks us through the valley of the shadow of death, so we need not fear the evil. Indeed, there’s a reason why the scriptures lead us here. Lots of reasons. Let the wisdom speak to you.

Judges 1

After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the LORD, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?” 

“Judah shall go up,” answered the LORD. “Indeed, I have delivered the land into their hands.” 

Then the men of Judah said to their brothers the Simeonites, “Come up with us to our allotted territory, and let us fight against the Canaanites. And we likewise will go with you to your territory.” So the Simeonites went with them. 

When Judah attacked, the LORD delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek. 

And there they found Adoni-bezek and fought against him, striking down the Canaanites and Perizzites. 

As Adoni-bezek fled, they pursued him, seized him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. 

Then Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered the scraps under my table. As I have done to them, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. 

Then the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire. 

Afterward, the men of Judah marched down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, in the Negev, and in the foothills. 

Judah also marched against the Canaanites who were living in Hebron (formerly known as Kiriath-arba), and they struck down Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. 

From there they marched against the inhabitants of Debir (formerly known as Kiriath-sepher). 

And Caleb said, “To the man who strikes down Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage.” 

So Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz captured the city, and Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage. 

One day Acsah came to Othniel and urged him  to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you desire?” 

“Give me a blessing,” she answered. “Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me springs of water as well.” 

So Caleb gave her both the upper and lower springs. 

Now the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms  to the Wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad. They went to live among the people. 

Then the men of Judah went with their brothers the Simeonites, attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and devoted the city to destruction. So it was called Hormah. 

And Judah also captured  Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron—each with its territory. 

The LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plains because they had chariots of iron. 

Just as Moses had promised, Judah gave Hebron to Caleb, who drove out the descendants of the three sons of Anak. 

The Benjamites, however, failed to drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. So to this day the Jebusites live there among the Benjamites. 

The house of Joseph also attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them. They sent spies to Bethel (formerly known as Luz), 

and when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Please show us how to get into the city, and we will treat you kindly.” 

So the man showed them the entrance to the city, and they put the city to the sword but released that man and all his family. 

And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called it Luz, which is its name to this day. 

At that time Manasseh failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, and their villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. 

When Israel became stronger, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor, but they never drove them out completely. 

Ephraim also failed to drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer; so the Canaanites continued to dwell among them in Gezer. 

Zebulun failed to drive out the inhabitants of Kitron and Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and served as forced laborers. 

Asher failed to drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, and Rehob. 

So the Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, because they did not drive them out. 

Naphtali failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath. So the Naphtalites also lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, but the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served them as forced laborers. 

The Amorites forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to come down into the plain. 

And the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. But when the house of Joseph grew in strength, they pressed the Amorites into forced labor. 

And the border of the Amorites extended from the Ascent of Akrabbim  to Sela and beyond.

Judges 2

Now the angel  of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I had promised to your fathers, and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ 

Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done? 

So now I tell you that I will not drive out these people before you; they will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.” 

When the angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voices and wept. 

So they called that place Bochim  and offered sacrifices there to the LORD. 

After Joshua had dismissed the people, the Israelites went out to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. 

And the people served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had seen all the great works that the LORD had done for Israel. 

And Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. 

They buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-heres  in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 

After that whole generation had also been gathered to their fathers, another generation rose up who did not know the LORD or the works that He had done for Israel. 

And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. 

Thus they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down to them and provoked the LORD to anger, for they forsook Him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 

Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 

Wherever Israel marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them to bring calamity, just as He had sworn to them. So they were greatly distressed. 

Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them. 

Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done. 

Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, He was with that judge and saved them from the hands of their enemies while the judge was still alive; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed them and afflicted them. 

But when the judge died, the Israelites became even more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They would not give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. 

So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed the covenant I laid down for their fathers and has not heeded My voice, 

I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. In this way I will test whether Israel will keep the way of the LORD by walking in it as their fathers did.” 

That is why the LORD had left those nations in place and had not driven them out immediately by delivering them into the hand of Joshua.

Judges 3

These are the nations that the LORD left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan, if only to teach warfare to the subsequent generations of Israel, especially to those who had not known it formerly: the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. 

These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out whether they would keep the commandments of the LORD, which He had given their fathers through Moses. 

Thus the Israelites continued to live among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 

And they took the daughters of these people in marriage, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. 

So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 

Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years. 

But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them. 

The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge and went out to war. And the LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into the hand of Othniel, who prevailed against him. 

So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died. 

Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. 

After enlisting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join forces with him, Eglon attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms. 

The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. 

And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. 

Now Ehud had made for himself a double-edged sword a cubit long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his cloak and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man. 

After Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ushered out those who had carried it. 

But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” 

“Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him. 

Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room. “I have a word from God for you,” Ehud said, and the king rose from his seat. 

And Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly. 

Even the handle sank in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And Eglon’s bowels emptied. 

Then Ehud went out through the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upper room behind him. 

After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said. 

So they waited until they became worried and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upper room. Then they took the key and opened the doors—and there was their lord lying dead on the floor. 

Ehud, however, had escaped while the servants waited. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. 

On arriving in Seirah, he blew the ram’s horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hills, and he became their leader. 

“Follow me,” he told them, “for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” 

So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. 

At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men. Not one of them escaped. 

So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years. 

After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.

Judges 4

After Ehud died, the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the LORD. 

So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his forces was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. 

Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. 

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 

And she would sit under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where the Israelites would go up to her for judgment. 

She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun. 

And I will draw out Sisera the commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his troops to the River Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hand.’ ” 

Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 

“I will certainly go with you,” Deborah replied, “but the road you are taking will bring you no honor, because the LORD will be selling Sisera into the hand of a woman.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh, 

where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him. 

Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law  of Moses, and had pitched his tent by the great tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh. 

When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor, 

he summoned all nine hundred of his iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the River Kishon. 

Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone before you?” 

So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 

And in front of him the LORD routed with the sword Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot. 

Then Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and the whole army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a single man was left. 

Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 

Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Do not be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. 

Sisera said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again. 

“Stand at the entrance to the tent,” he said, “and if anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’ ” 

But as he lay sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She drove the peg through his temple and into the ground, and he died. 

When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man you are seeking.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera dead, with a tent peg through his temple. 

On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. 

And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.

Judges 5

On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song: 

“When the princes take the lead in Israel, 

when the people volunteer, 

bless the LORD. 

Listen, O kings! Give ear, O princes! 

I will sing to the LORD; 

I will sing praise to the LORD, 

the God of Israel. 

O LORD, when You went out from Seir, 

when You marched from the land of Edom, 

the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain, 

and the clouds poured down water. 

The mountains quaked before the LORD, 

the One of Sinai, 

before the LORD, 

the God of Israel. 

In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, 

in the days of Jael, 

the highways were deserted 

and the travelers took the byways. 

Life in the villages ceased; 

it ended in Israel, 

until I, Deborah, arose, 

a mother in Israel. 

When they chose new gods, 

then war came to their gates. 

Not a shield or spear was found 

among forty thousand in Israel. 

My heart is with the princes of Israel, 

with the volunteers among the people. 

Bless the LORD! 

You who ride white donkeys, 

who sit on saddle blankets, 

and you who travel the road, 

ponder the voices of the singers  

at the watering places. 

There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, 

the righteous deeds of His villagers  in Israel. 

Then the people of the LORD 

went down to the gates: 

‘Awake, awake, O Deborah! 

Awake, awake, sing a song! 

Arise, O Barak, 

and take hold of your captives, O son of Abinoam!’ 

Then the survivors came down to the nobles; 

the people of the LORD came down to me against the mighty. 

Some came from Ephraim, with their roots in Amalek; 

Benjamin came with your people after you. 

The commanders came down from Machir, 

the bearers of the marshal’s staff from Zebulun. 

The princes of Issachar were with Deborah, 

and Issachar was with Barak, 

rushing into the valley at his heels. 

In the clans of Reuben 

there was great indecision. 

Why did you sit among the sheepfolds 

to hear the whistling for the flocks? 

In the clans of Reuben 

there was great indecision. 

Gilead remained beyond the Jordan. 

Dan, why did you linger by the ships? 

Asher stayed at the coast 

and remained in his harbors. 

Zebulun was a people who risked their lives; 

Naphtali, too, on the heights of the battlefield. 

Kings came and fought; 

then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach 

by the waters of Megiddo, 

but they took no plunder of silver. 

From the heavens the stars fought; 

from their courses they fought against Sisera. 

The River Kishon swept them away, 

the ancient river, the River Kishon. 

March on, O my soul, in strength! 

Then the hooves of horses thundered— 

the mad galloping of his stallions. 

‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD. 

‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants; 

for they did not come to help the LORD, 

to help the LORD against the mighty.’ 

Most blessed among women is Jael, 

the wife of Heber the Kenite, 

most blessed of tent-dwelling women. 

He asked for water, and she gave him milk. 

In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds. 

She reached for the tent peg, 

her right hand for the workman’s hammer. 

She struck Sisera and crushed his skull; 

she shattered and pierced his temple. 

At her feet he collapsed, he fell, 

there he lay still; 

at her feet he collapsed, he fell; 

where he collapsed, there he fell dead. 

Sisera’s mother looked through the window; 

she peered through the lattice and lamented: 

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? 

What has delayed the clatter of his chariots?’ 

Her wisest ladies answer; 

indeed she keeps telling herself, 

‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil— 

a girl or two for each warrior, 

a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, 

the spoil of embroidered garments 

for the neck of the looter?’ 

So may all your enemies perish, 

O LORD! 

But may those who love You 

shine like the sun at its brightest.” 

And the land had rest for forty years.

Psalm 3

O LORD, how my foes have increased! 

How many rise up against me! 

Many say of me, 

“God will not deliver him.” 

Selah  

But You, O LORD, are a shield around me, 

my glory, and the One who lifts my head. 

To the LORD I cry aloud, 

and He answers me from His holy mountain. 

Selah 

I lie down and sleep; 

I wake again, for the LORD sustains me. 

I will not fear the myriads 

set against me on every side. 

Arise, O LORD! 

Save me, O my God! 

Strike all my enemies on the jaw; 

break the teeth of the wicked. 

Salvation belongs to the LORD; 

may Your blessing be on Your people. 

Selah

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." - Matthew 13:44

Matthew 13:44-58. This week we finish chapter 13 of the gospel of Matthew. In this section we go over three more parables (The parable of the hidden treasure, the pearl, and the net) as well as the story of when Jesus returned to his hometown to teach and perform miracles.

The final chapters of Acts of the Apostles describe the harrowing lawsuits against Paul at Caesarea, leading eventually to Rome. The book ends there before his martyrdom. I think my favorite part of this reading is when he makes the case for Christ to Agrippa. A man willing to look foolish for Christ, and doing so winsomely. It is a hard thing to master. I hope someday to be as gifted as Paul must have been. God help me!

The wisdom of the Proverbs seems deeper to me every time I read it. I used to rely on it a lot during my time doing jail ministry. I have yet to meet a man that didn’t find a part of himself loving the correction. I can’t tell you how many dozens of men, when reading Proverbs with me, identified as the ‘fool’ that Solomon so often warned about. Men in jail know they are foolish sinners. We should, too. It is foolish sinners that Christ came to save. I am one of them, too.

Acts 25

Three days after his arrival in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, where the chief priests and Jewish leaders presented their case against Paul. They urged Festus 

to grant them a concession against Paul by summoning him to Jerusalem, because they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way. 

But Festus replied, “Paul is being held in Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon. 

So if this man has done anything wrong, let some of your leaders come down with me and accuse him there.” 

After spending no more than eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he sat on the judgment seat and ordered that Paul be brought in. 

When Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they could not prove. 

Then Paul made his defense: “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.” 

But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to stand trial before me on these charges?” 

Paul replied, “I am standing before the judgment seat of Caesar, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. 

If, however, I am guilty of anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is no truth to their accusations against me, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!” 

Then Festus conferred with his council and replied, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!” 

After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice came down to Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. 

Since they were staying several days, Festus laid out Paul’s case before the king: “There is a certain man whom Felix left in prison. 

While I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews presented their case and requested a judgment against him. 

I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand a man over before he has had an opportunity to face his accusers and defend himself against their charges. 

So when they came here with me, I did not delay. The next day I sat on the judgment seat and ordered that the man be brought in. 

But when his accusers rose to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. 

They only had some contentions with him regarding their own religion and a certain Jesus who had died, but whom Paul affirmed to be alive. 

Since I was at a loss as to how to investigate these matters, I asked if he was willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges. 

But when Paul appealed to be held over for the decision of the Emperor, I ordered that he be held until I could send him to Caesar.” 

Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear this man myself.” 

“Tomorrow you will hear him,” Festus declared. 

The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the auditorium, along with the commanders and leading men of the city. And Festus ordered that Paul be brought in. 

Then Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man. The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him, both here and in Jerusalem, crying out that he ought not to live any longer. 

But I found he had done nothing worthy of death, and since he has now appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. 

I have nothing definite to write to our sovereign one about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this inquiry I may have something to write. 

For it seems unreasonable to me to send on a prisoner without specifying the charges against him.”

Acts 26

Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” 

Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense: 

“King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today to defend myself against all the accusations of the Jews, especially since you are acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. I beg you, therefore, to listen to me patiently. 

Surely all the Jews know how I have lived from the earliest days of my youth, among my own people and in Jerusalem. 

They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the strictest sect of our religion. 

And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise that God made to our fathers, the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to realize as they earnestly serve God day and night. It is because of this hope, O king, that I am accused by the Jews. 

Why would any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? 

So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 

And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority from the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them. 

I frequently had them punished in the synagogues, and I tried to make them blaspheme. In my raging fury against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them. 

In this pursuit I was on my way to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 

About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. 

We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 

‘Who are You, Lord?’ I asked. 

‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 

‘But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from Me and what I will show you. 

I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’ 

So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. 

First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance. 

For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple courts  and tried to kill me. 

But I have had God’s help to this day, and I stand here to testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen: 

that the Christ would suffer, and as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.” 

At this stage of Paul’s defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You are insane, Paul! Your great learning is driving you to madness!” 

But Paul answered, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus; I am speaking words of truth and sobriety. 

For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak freely to him. I am confident that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. 

King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.” 

Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Can you persuade me in such a short time to become a Christian?” 

“Short time or long,” Paul replied, “I wish to God that not only you but all who hear me this day may become what I am, except for these chains.” 

Then the king and the governor rose, along with Bernice and those seated with them. 

On their way out, they said to one another, “This man has done nothing worthy of death or imprisonment.” 

And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Acts 26

Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” 

Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense: 

“King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today to defend myself against all the accusations of the Jews, 

especially since you are acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. I beg you, therefore, to listen to me patiently. 

Surely all the Jews know how I have lived from the earliest days of my youth, among my own people and in Jerusalem. 

They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the strictest sect of our religion. 

And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise that God made to our fathers, 

the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to realize as they earnestly serve God day and night. It is because of this hope, O king, that I am accused by the Jews. 

Why would any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? 

So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 

And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority from the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them. 

I frequently had them punished in the synagogues, and I tried to make them blaspheme. In my raging fury against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them. 

In this pursuit I was on my way to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 

About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. 

We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 

‘Who are You, Lord?’ I asked. 

‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 

‘But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from Me and what I will show you. 

I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 

to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’ 

So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. 

First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance. 

For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple courts  and tried to kill me. 

But I have had God’s help to this day, and I stand here to testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen: 

that the Christ would suffer, and as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.” 

At this stage of Paul’s defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You are insane, Paul! Your great learning is driving you to madness!” 

But Paul answered, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus; I am speaking words of truth and sobriety. 

For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak freely to him. I am confident that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. 

King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.” 

Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Can you persuade me in such a short time to become a Christian?” 

“Short time or long,” Paul replied, “I wish to God that not only you but all who hear me this day may become what I am, except for these chains.” 

Then the king and the governor rose, along with Bernice and those seated with them. 

On their way out, they said to one another, “This man has done nothing worthy of death or imprisonment.” 

And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Acts 28

Once we were safely ashore, we learned that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us extraordinary kindness. They kindled a fire and welcomed all of us because it was raining and cold. 

Paul gathered a bundle of sticks, and as he laid them on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself to his hand. 

When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice  has not allowed him to live.” 

But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 

The islanders were expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. 

Nearby stood an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days. 

The father of Publius was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him, and after praying and placing his hands on him, he healed the man. 

After this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured as well. 

The islanders honored us in many ways and supplied our needs when we were ready to sail. 

After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered in the island. It had the Twin Brothers  as a figurehead. Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there three days. 

From there we weighed anchor and came to Rhegium. After one day, a south wind came up, and on the second day we arrived at Puteoli. 

There we found some brothers who invited us to spend the week with them. And so we came to Rome. 

The brothers there had heard about us and traveled as far as the Forum of Appius  and the Three Taverns  to meet us. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and gave thanks to God. 

When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with a soldier to guard him. 

After three days, he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, I was taken prisoner in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. 

They examined me and wanted to release me, because there was no basis for a death sentence against me. 

But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, even though I have no charge to bring against my nation. 

So for this reason I have called to see you and speak with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.” 

The leaders replied, “We have not received any letters about you from Judea, nor have any of the brothers from there reported or even mentioned anything bad about you. 

But we consider your views worth hearing, because we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.” 

So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets. 

Some of them were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe. 

They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit was right when He spoke to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: 

‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’ 

Be advised, therefore, that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” 

Paul stayed there two full years in his own rented house, welcoming all who came to visit him. Boldly and freely he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 2

Why do the nations rage  and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and against His Anointed One: “Let us break Their chains and cast away Their cords.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord taunts them. Then He rebukes them in His anger, and terrifies them in His fury: “I have installed My King on Zion, upon My holy mountain.” I will proclaim the decree spoken to Me by the LORD: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father. Ask Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession. You will break them  with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.” Therefore be wise, O kings; be admonished, O judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in your rebellion, when His wrath ignites in an instant. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.

Proverbs 26

Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, honor does not befit a fool. Like a fluttering sparrow or darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools! Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes. Like cutting off one’s own feet or drinking violence is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool. Like lame legs hanging limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. Like binding a stone into a sling is the giving of honor to a fool. Like a thorn that falls into the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or passerby. As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. The slacker says, “A lion is in the road! A fierce lion roams the public square!” As a door turns on its hinges, so the slacker turns on his bed. The slacker buries his hand in the dish; it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth. The slacker is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly. Like one who grabs a dog by the ears is a passerby who meddles in a quarrel not his own. Like a madman shooting firebrands and deadly arrows, so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!” Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a conflict ceases. Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being. Like glaze covering an earthen vessel are burning  lips and a wicked heart. A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart. When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. Though his hatred is concealed by deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him. A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth causes ruin.

For about two centuries, scholars in the West were pretty confident that the Old Testament was a collection of fables. If there was much legitimate history in there, it was seen as rare. Suffice to say, they didn’t think there was really ever any tribal period akin to the one described here, much less a time of slavery in Egypt. The history of the Hebrews was largely seen as fabricated and cobbled together from several combined people groups who meshed together.

Thank God for the field of archaeology. Over the last century, find after find has revealed that the history we have encountered throughout these first chapters of the bible has been true. These were real people, real clans and tribes, with real cultures that have largely been lost to time but also preserved in great measure in these writings.

Our God is the true God of history. He has made himself known at various times to various peoples, and those accounts have been written down reliably. That is why we study the scriptures: to know the true God who is not bound by time and space, but who had revealed himself in these ways. We would be wise to pay attention.

Joshua 22

Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh and told them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and you have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. 

All this time you have not deserted your brothers, up to this very day, but have kept the charge given you by the LORD your God. 

And now that the LORD your God has given your brothers rest as He promised them, you may return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you across the Jordan. 

But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 

So Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way, and they went to their homes. 

(To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other half Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan among their brothers.) When Joshua sent them to their homes he blessed them, saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth, with immense herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and very many clothes. Divide with your brothers the spoil of your enemies.” 

So the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead, which they had acquired according to the command of the LORD through Moses. 

And when they came to Geliloth  near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan. 

Then the Israelites received the report: “Behold, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the border of the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side.” 

And when they heard this, the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them. 

The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the land of Gilead, to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 

With him they sent ten chiefs—one family leader from each tribe of Israel, each the head of a family among the clans of Israel. 

They went to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and said to them, 

“This is what the whole congregation of the LORD says: ‘What is this breach of faith you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the LORD and building for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel against the LORD this day? 

Was not the sin of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day? It even brought a plague upon the congregation of the LORD. And now, would you turn away from the LORD? If you rebel today against the LORD, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. 

If indeed the land of your inheritance is unclean, then cross over to the land of the LORD’s possession, where the LORD’s tabernacle stands, and take possession of it among us. But do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God. 

Was not Achan  son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath upon the whole congregation of Israel? Yet it was not only Achan who perished because of his sin!’ ” 

Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the clans of Israel: 

“The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! He knows, and may Israel also know. If this was in rebellion or breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today. 

If we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from Him and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the LORD Himself hold us accountable. 

But in fact we have done this for fear that in the future your descendants might say to ours, ‘What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no share in the LORD!’ So your descendants could cause ours to stop fearing the LORD. 

That is why we said, ‘Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices. 

Rather, let it be a witness between us and you and the generations to come, that we will worship the LORD in His presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings.’ Then in the future, your descendants cannot say to ours, ‘You have no share in the LORD!’ 

Therefore we said, ‘If they ever say this to us or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the altar of the LORD that our fathers made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’ 

Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from Him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God, which stands before His tabernacle.” 

When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation—the heads of Israel’s clans who were with him—heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were satisfied. 

Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this breach of faith against Him. Consequently, you have delivered the Israelites from the hand of the LORD.” 

Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, together with the other leaders, returned to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report regarding the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead. 

The Israelites were satisfied with the report, and they blessed God and spoke no more about going to war against them to destroy the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived. 

So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar Witness, for they said, “It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”

Joshua 23

A long time after the LORD had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, when Joshua was old and well along in years, he summoned all Israel, including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers. “I am old and well along in years,” he said, “and you have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, because it was the LORD your God who fought for you. 

See, I have allotted as an inheritance to your tribes these remaining nations, including all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan westward to the Great Sea. 

The LORD your God will push them out of your way and drive them out before you, so that you can take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you. 

Be very strong, then, so that you can keep and obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, not turning aside from it to the right or to the left. 

So you are not to associate with these nations that remain among you. You must not call on the names of their gods or swear by them, and you must not serve them or bow down to them. 

Instead, you shall hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. 

The LORD has driven out great and powerful nations before you, and to this day no one can stand against you. 

One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as He promised. Therefore watch yourselves carefully, that you love the LORD your God. 

For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry and associate with them, know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you. 

Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises the LORD your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed. 

But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you. 

If you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”

Joshua 24

Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. 

And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates  and worshiped other gods. 

But I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and led him through all the land of Canaan, and I multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 

Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and afterward I brought you out. 

When I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you reached the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. 

So your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, over whom He brought the sea and engulfed them. Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time. 

Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I delivered them into your hand, that you should possess their land when I destroyed them before you. 

Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you, but I would not listen to Balaam. So he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you from his hand. 

After this, you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The people of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I delivered them into your hand. 

I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you, but not by your own sword or bow. 

So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities that you did not build, and now you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’ 

Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 

But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!” 

The people replied, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! 

For the LORD our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and performed these great signs before our eyes. He also protected us throughout our journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 

And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because He is our God!” 

But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. 

If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, He will turn and bring disaster on you and consume you, even after He has been good to you.” 

“No!” replied the people. “We will serve the LORD!” 

Then Joshua told them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” 

“We are witnesses!” they said. 

“Now, therefore,” he said, “get rid of the foreign gods among you and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” 

So the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice.” 

On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he established for them a statute and ordinance. 

Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak  that was near the sanctuary of the LORD. 

And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone. It will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the LORD has spoken to us, and it will be a witness against you if you ever deny your God.” 

Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance. 

Some time later, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. 

And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-serah  in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 

Israel had served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced all the works that the LORD had done for Israel. 

And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up out of Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the plot of land that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. So it became an inheritance for Joseph’s descendants. 

Eleazar son of Aaron also died, and they buried him at Gibeah, which had been given to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.

Acts 22

“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.” When they heard him speak to them in Hebrew, they became even more silent. 

Then Paul declared, 

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but raised in this city. I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel in strict conformity to the law of our fathers. I am just as zealous for God as any of you here today. 

I persecuted this Way even to the death, detaining both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and the whole Council can testify about me. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to apprehend these people and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished. 

About noon as I was approaching Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. 

I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?’ 

‘Who are You, Lord?’ I asked. 

‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ He replied. 

My companions saw the light, but they could not understand the voice of the One speaking to me. 

Then I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ 

‘Get up and go into Damascus,’ He told me. ‘There you will be told all that you have been appointed to do.’ 

Because the brilliance of the light had blinded me, my companions led me by the hand into Damascus. 

There a man named Ananias, a devout observer of the law who was highly regarded by all the Jews living there, came and stood beside me. ‘Brother Saul,’ he said, ‘receive your sight.’ And at that moment I could see him. 

Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear His voice. 

You will be His witness to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name.’ 

Later, when I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord  saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here will not accept your testimony about Me.’ 

‘Lord,’ I answered, ‘they know very well that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in You. 

And when the blood of Your witness  Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’ 

Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ” 

The crowd listened to Paul until he made this statement. Then they lifted up their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He is not fit to live!” 

As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air, the commander ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. He directed that Paul be flogged and interrogated to determine the reason for this outcry against him. 

But as they stretched him out to strap him down, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it lawful for you to flog a Roman citizen without a trial?” 

On hearing this, the centurion went and reported it to the commander. “What are you going to do?” he said. “This man is a Roman citizen.” 

The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” 

“Yes,” he answered. 

“I paid a high price for my citizenship,” said the commander. 

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied. 

Then those who were about to interrogate Paul stepped back, and the commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put a Roman citizen in chains. 

The next day the commander, wanting to learn the real reason Paul was accused by the Jews, released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin  to assemble. Then he brought Paul down and had him stand before them.

Acts 23

Paul looked directly at the Sanhedrin  and said, “Brothers, I have conducted myself before God in all good conscience to this day.” 

At this, the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. 

Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit here to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck.” 

But those standing nearby said, “How dare you insult the high priest of God!” 

“Brothers,” Paul replied, “I was not aware that he was the high priest, for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’” 

Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. It is because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” 

As soon as he had said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 

For the Sadducees say that there is neither a resurrection, nor angels, nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 

A great clamor arose, and some scribes from the party of the Pharisees got up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 

The dispute grew so violent that the commander was afraid they would tear Paul to pieces. He ordered the soldiers to go down and remove him by force and bring him into the barracks. 

The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so also you must testify in Rome.” 

When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. More than forty of them were involved in this plot. 

They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. 

Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him down to you on the pretext of examining his case more carefully. We are ready to kill him on the way.” 

But when the son of Paul’s sister heard about the plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. 

Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.” 

So the centurion took him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner sent and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.” 

The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside, and asked, “What do you need to tell me?” 

He answered, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul to the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of acquiring more information about him. 

Do not let them persuade you, because more than forty men are waiting to ambush him. They have bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him; they are ready now, awaiting your consent.” 

So the commander dismissed the young man and instructed him, “Do not tell anyone that you have reported this to me.” 

Then he called two of his centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea in the third hour of the night. 

Provide mounts for Paul to take him safely to Governor Felix.” And he wrote the following letter: 

Claudius Lysias, 

To His Excellency, Governor Felix: 

Greetings. 

This man was seized by the Jews, and they were about to kill him when I came with my troops to rescue him. For I had learned that he is a Roman citizen, and since I wanted to understand their charges against him, I brought him down to their Sanhedrin. 

I found that the accusation involved questions about their own law, but there was no charge worthy of death or imprisonment. 

When I was informed that there was a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also instructed his accusers to present their case against him before you. 

So the soldiers followed their orders and brought Paul by night to Antipatris. The next day they returned to the barracks and let the horsemen go on with him. 

When the horsemen arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and presented Paul to him. 

The governor read the letter and asked what province Paul was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I will hear your case when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s Praetorium.

Acts 24

Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a lawyer  named Tertullus, who presented to the governor their case against Paul. 

When Paul had been called in, Tertullus opened the prosecution: “Because of you, we have enjoyed a lasting peace, and your foresight has brought improvements to this nation. 

In every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with all gratitude. But in order not to burden you any further, I beg your indulgence to hear us briefly. 

We have found this man to be a pestilence, stirring up dissension among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, and he even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him. By examining him yourself, you will be able to learn the truth about all our charges against him.” 

The Jews concurred, asserting that these charges were true. 

When the governor motioned for Paul to speak, he began his response: “Knowing that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I gladly make my defense. 

You can verify for yourself that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. 

Yet my accusers did not find me debating with anyone in the temple or riling up a crowd in the synagogues or in the city. Nor can they prove to you any of their charges against me. 

I do confess to you, however, that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. 

In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man. 

After several years, then, I returned to Jerusalem to bring alms to my people and to present offerings. 

At the time they found me in the temple, I was ceremonially clean and was not inciting a crowd or an uproar. But there are some Jews from the province of Asia  who ought to appear before you and bring charges, if they have anything against me. 

Otherwise, let these men state for themselves any crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin, unless it was this one thing I called out as I stood in their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’ ” 

Then Felix, who was well informed about the Way, adjourned the hearing and said, “When Lysias the commander comes, I will decide your case.” 

He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard, but to allow him some freedom and permit his friends to minister to his needs. 

After several days, Felix returned with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and listened to him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. 

As Paul expounded on righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “You may go for now. When I find the time, I will call for you.” 

At the same time, he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe. So he sent for Paul frequently and talked with him. 

After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. And wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.

Things are shaping up in the Promised Land as the rest of the tribes are being assigned land. Even the Levites finally get some cities in each of the regions. I find myself wanting to create animations with an aerial view, showing the locations and terrain described here. It is difficult to get much meaning out of many of these place names. It is okay if you get bored. Just power through. And if you want to enjoy it more, go through maps and bible dictionaries.

Acts of the Apostles continues to bear much fruit as it describes the ways in which the gospel bore fruit in those early days. A sermon I have given many times is that following Jesus comes at a cost, not just for the one following, but for the societies that choose to do so. In this case, the local economy is threatened by Jesus followers who preach against idolatry. At one point, a town gets so convinced about the importance of holiness that they burn a wealth of books. Believers cannot serve two masters; they cannot worship both God and money. There are many other sermons here, of course.

Joshua 19

The second lot came out for the clans of the tribe of Simeon: Their inheritance lay within the territory of Judah and included Beersheba (or Sheba), Moladah, Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem, Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen cities, along with their villages. Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four cities, along with their villages, and all the villages surrounding these cities as far as Baalath-beer (Ramah of the Negev). 

This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Simeon. The inheritance of the Simeonites was taken from the territory of Judah, because the share for Judah’s descendants was too large for them. So the Simeonites received an inheritance within Judah’s portion. 

The third lot came up for the clans of the tribe of Zebulun: The border of their inheritance stretched as far as Sarid. It went up westward to Maralah, reached Dabbesheth, and met the brook east of Jokneam. From Sarid it turned eastward along the border of Chisloth-tabor and went on to Daberath and up to Japhia. From there it crossed eastward to Gath-hepher and to Eth-kazin; it extended to Rimmon and curved around toward Neah. Then the border circled around the north side of Neah to Hannathon and ended at the Valley of Iphtah-el. It also included Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem. There were twelve cities, along with their villages. This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Zebulun, including these cities and their villages. 

The fourth lot came out for the clans of the tribe of Issachar: Their territory included Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem, Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez. The border reached Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, and ended at the Jordan. There were sixteen cities, along with their villages. This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Issachar, including these cities and their villages. 

The fifth lot came out for the clans of the tribe of Asher: Their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph, Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal. On the west the border touched Carmel and Shihor-libnath, then turned eastward toward Beth-dagon, touched Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah-el, and went north to Beth-emek and Neiel, passing Cabul on the left. It went on to Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Greater Sidon. The border then turned back toward Ramah as far as the fortified city of Tyre, turned toward Hosah, and came out at the Sea  in the region of Achzib, Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob. There were twenty-two cities, along with their villages. This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Asher, including these cities and their villages. 

The sixth lot came out for the clans of the tribe of Naphtali: Their border started at Heleph and the great tree of Zaanannim, passing Adami-nekeb and Jabneel as far as Lakkum and ending at the Jordan. Then the border turned westward to Aznoth-tabor and ran from there to Hukkok, touching Zebulun on the south side, Asher on the west, and Judah at the Jordan  on the east. The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor, Iron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh. There were nineteen cities, along with their villages. This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Naphtali, including these cities and their villages. 

The seventh lot came out for the clans of the tribe of Dan: The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh, Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, Elon, Timnah, Ekron, Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon, Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, including the territory across from Joppa. (Later, when the territory of the Danites was lost to them, they went up and fought against Leshem, captured it, and put it to the sword. So they took possession of Leshem, settled there, and renamed it after their father Dan.) This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Dan, including these cities and their villages. 

When they had finished distributing the land into its territories, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun an inheritance among them, as the LORD had commanded. They gave him the city of Timnath-serah  in the hill country of Ephraim, as he requested. He rebuilt the city and settled in it. 

These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families distributed by lot to the tribes of Israel at Shiloh before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. So they finished dividing up the land.

Joshua 20

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses, so that anyone who kills another unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood. 

When someone flees to one of these cities, stands at the entrance of the city gate, and states his case before its elders, they are to bring him into the city and give him a place to live among them. 

Now if the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not surrender the manslayer into his hand, because that man killed his neighbor accidentally without prior malice. 

He is to stay in that city until he stands trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest serving at that time. Then the manslayer may return to his own home in the city from which he fled.” 

So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. 

And beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho, they designated Bezer on the wilderness plateau from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. 

These are the cities appointed for all the Israelites and foreigners among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.

Joshua 21

Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribes of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said to them, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities in which to live, together with pasturelands for our livestock.” 

So by the command of the LORD, the Israelites gave the Levites these cities and their pasturelands out of their own inheritance: 

The first lot came out for the Kohathite clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. 

The remaining descendants of Kohath received ten cities by lot from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 

The descendants of Gershon received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. 

And the descendants of Merari received twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. 

So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these cities, together with their pasturelands, as the LORD had commanded through Moses. 

From the tribes of Judah and Simeon, they designated these cities by name to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because the first lot fell to them: 

They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pasturelands, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the father of Anak.) 

But they had given the fields and villages around the city to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession. 

So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave these cities, together with their pasturelands: Hebron, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah, Jattir, Eshtemoa, Holon, Debir, Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh—nine cities from these two tribes, together with their pasturelands. 

And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave them Gibeon, Geba, Anathoth, and Almon—four cities, together with their pasturelands. 

In all, thirteen cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron. 

The remaining Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted these cities: From the tribe of Ephraim they were given Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Gezer, Kibzaim, and Beth-horon—four cities, together with their pasturelands. From the tribe of Dan they were given Elteke, Gibbethon, Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon—four cities, together with their pasturelands. And from the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Taanach and Gath-rimmon—two cities, together with their pasturelands. In all, ten cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the rest of the Kohathite clans. 

This is what the Levite clans of the Gershonites were given: From the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Golan in Bashan, a city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah—two cities, together with their pasturelands. From the tribe of Issachar they were given Kishion, Daberath, Jarmuth, and En-gannim—four cities, together with their pasturelands. From the tribe of Asher they were given Mishal, Abdon, Helkath, and Rehob—four cities, together with their pasturelands. And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three cities, together with their pasturelands. In all, thirteen cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the Gershonite clans. 

This is what the Merarite clan (the rest of the Levites) were given: From the tribe of Zebulun they were given Jokneam, Kartah, Dimnah, and Nahalal—four cities, together with their pasturelands. From the tribe of Reuben they were given Bezer, Jahaz, Kedemoth, and Mephaath—four cities, together with their pasturelands. And from the tribe of Gad they were given Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Mahanaim, Heshbon, and Jazer—four cities in all, together with their pasturelands. In all, twelve cities were allotted to the clans of Merari, the remaining Levite clans. 

For the Levites, then, there were forty-eight cities in all, together with their pasturelands, within the territory of the Israelites. 

Each of these cities had its own surrounding pasturelands; this was true for all the cities. 

Thus the LORD gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it and settled in it. 

And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. 

Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel had failed; everything was fulfilled.

Acts 19

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the interior  and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” 

“No,” they answered, “we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 

“Into what, then, were you baptized?” Paul asked. 

“The baptism of John,” they replied. 

Paul explained: “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the One coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 

On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 

There were about twelve men in all. 

Then Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 

But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way, Paul took his disciples and left the synagogue to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 

This continued for two years, so that everyone who lived in the province of Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord. 

God did extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs  and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them. 

Now there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits. They would say, “I bind you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.” 

Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. Eventually, one of the evil spirits answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” 

Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. The attack was so violent that they ran out of the house naked and wounded. 

This became known to all the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, and fear came over all of them. So the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 

Many who had believed now came forward, confessing and disclosing their deeds. 

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone. When the value of the books was calculated, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 

So the word of the Lord powerfully continued to spread and prevail. 

After these things had happened, Paul resolved in the Spirit  to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must see Rome as well.” 

He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed for a time in the province of Asia. 

About that time there arose a great disturbance  about the Way. 

It began with a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis, bringing much business  to the craftsmen. 

Demetrius assembled the craftsmen, along with the workmen in related trades. “Men,” he said, “you know that this business is our source of prosperity. 

And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. 

There is danger not only that our business will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and her majesty deposed—she who is worshiped by all the province of Asia and the whole world.” 

When the men heard this, they were enraged and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 

Soon the whole city was in disarray. They rushed together into the theatre, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia. 

Paul wanted to go before the assembly, but the disciples would not allow him. Even some of Paul’s friends who were officials of the province of Asia  sent word to him, begging him not to venture into the theatre. 

Meanwhile the assembly was in turmoil. Some were shouting one thing and some another, and most of them did not even know why they were there. The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward to explain himself, and he motioned for silence so he could make his defense to the people. 

But when they realized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 

Finally the city clerk quieted the crowd and declared, “Men of Ephesus, doesn’t everyone know that the city of Ephesus is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? Since these things are undeniable, you ought to be calm and not do anything rash. For you have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed our temple nor blasphemed our goddess. 

So if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open and proconsuls are available. Let them bring charges against one another there. 

But if you are seeking anything beyond this, it must be settled in a legal assembly. For we are in jeopardy of being charged with rioting for today’s events, and we have no justification to account for this commotion.” 

After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

Acts 20

When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples. And after encouraging them, he said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia. 

After traveling through that area and speaking many words of encouragement, he arrived in Greece, where he stayed three months. And when the Jews formed a plot against him as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. 

Paul was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas. 

And after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we sailed from Philippi, and five days later we rejoined them in Troas, where we stayed seven days. 

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Since Paul was ready to leave the next day, he talked to them and kept on speaking until midnight. 

Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. And a certain young man named Eutychus, seated in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead. 

But Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, and embraced him. “Do not be alarmed!” he said. “He is still alive!” 

Then Paul went back upstairs, broke bread, and ate. And after speaking until daybreak, he departed. And the people were greatly relieved to take the boy home alive. 

We went on ahead to the ship and sailed to Assos, where we were to take Paul aboard. He had arranged this because he was going there on foot. 

And when he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. Sailing on from there, we arrived the next day opposite Chios. The day after that we arrived at Samos, and  on the following day we came to Miletus. 

Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost. 

From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. 

When they came to him, he said, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia. 

I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, especially in the trials that came upon me through the plots of the Jews. 

I did not shrink back from declaring anything that was helpful to you as I taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and Greeks alike about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in town after town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions await me. 

But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus—the ministry of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. 

Now I know that none of you among whom I have preached the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 

For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. 

I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 

Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them. 

Therefore be alert and remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. 

And now I commit you to God and to the word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified. 

I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have ministered to my own needs and those of my companions. 

In everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” 

When Paul had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept openly as they embraced Paul and kissed him. 

They were especially grieved by his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

Acts 21

After we had torn ourselves away from them, we sailed directly to Cos, and the next day on to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. Finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we boarded it and set sail. 

After sighting Cyprus and passing south of it, we sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre, where the ship was to unload its cargo. 

We sought out the disciples in Tyre and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they kept telling Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 

But when our time there had ended, we set out on our journey. All the disciples, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city and knelt down on the beach to pray with us. 

And after we had said our farewells, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home. 

When we had finished our voyage from Tyre, we landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for a day. 

Leaving the next day, we went on to Caesarea and stayed at the home of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. 

After we had been there several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 

Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands, and said, “The Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and hand him over to the Gentiles.’ ” 

When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 

Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 

When he would not be dissuaded, we fell silent and said, “The Lord’s will be done.” 

After these days, we packed up and went on to Jerusalem. 

Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us, and they took us to stay at the home of Mnason the Cypriot, an early disciple. 

When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us joyfully. The next day Paul went in with us to see James, and all the elders were present. 

Paul greeted them and recounted one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 

When they heard this, they glorified God. Then they said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 

But they are under the impression that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or observe our customs. 

What then should we do? They will certainly hear that you have come. 

Therefore do what we advise you. There are four men with us who have taken a vow. 

Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law. 

As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.” 

So the next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he entered the temple to give notice of the date when their purification would be complete and the offering would be made for each of them. 

When the seven days were almost over, some Jews from the province of Asia  saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, crying out, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches everywhere against our people and against our law and against this place. Furthermore, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” 

For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple. 

The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. 

While they were trying to kill him, the commander of the Roman regiment  received a report that all Jerusalem was in turmoil. 

Immediately he took some soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd. When the people saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 

The commander came up and arrested Paul, ordering that he be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 

Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, and some another. And since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. 

When Paul reached the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. For the crowd that followed him kept shouting, “Away with him!” 

As they were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?” 

“Do you speak Greek?” he replied. 

“Aren’t you the Egyptian who incited a rebellion some time ago and led four thousand members of the ‘Assassins’ into the wilderness?” 

But Paul answered, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Now I beg you to allow me to speak to the people.” 

Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Hebrew: