Judges 9 presents the story of Abimelech, Gideon’s son. This is a relatively unfamiliar story. It is never taught in Sunday School and it is not a very popular topic for preaching. This is possibly because it is so gruesome, so horribly sad, and because it seems to have no redeeming value. It is a […]
Sometimes God places people in our lives who change us forever. One such person in my life was my first piano teacher, Mrs. Jo Kooiker. When I was seven years old, my dream was to play the saxophone. At the insistence of my parents, however, I first took piano lessons to acquaint myself with the […]
The year was 410. Visigoths were plundering and sacking Rome, the great city that was once the seat of the world’s largest and strongest empire. Many Romans saw this destruction as a direct punishment from the gods for the Romans’ departure from pagan religion. Many Christians despaired, wondering why God would send this pestilence into […]
Readings: Joshua 23, Judges 1 Judges 1 serves an an introduction to the entire book of Judges, setting the stage with a list of triumphs and tragedies, fulfillments and failures. A Positive Beginning The Book of Judges begins by telling the reader that Joshua, the great leader of the conquest, has died. […]
Readings: Joshua 5, Judges 2-3:6 The Angel of the Lord Judges 2 opens with the Angel of the LORD appearing to the people of Israel at Bochim. First, notice the Angel goes up from Gilgal. What was He doing in Gilgal? The last reference to the Angel of the LORD in the Bible is when […]
Readings: Judges 2:11–23; Judges 3:7–12 Judges 1 and 2 provided us with the historical background of the book of Judges, serving as an introduction to the stories that follow. Judges 2:11–23 gave us a paradigm, a general pattern for the action of the rest of the book (Israel sins, God sends an oppressor, the people […]
Reading: Judges 3:12–31 Judges 3:12–30 presents the story of Ehud, possibly one of the most troubling passages for commentators and pastors. Philip P. Elliot, in his exposition on the book of Judges, says this: “By even the most elementary standard of ethics, [Ehud’s] deception and murder of Eglon stand condemned. Passages like this, when encountered […]
Readings: Judges 4 Judges 4 opens in a less than pleasant manner. By now we have come to expect it, but here at the beginning, it is confinedthe Israelites just do not get it. Think back to the covenant ceremony of Mounts Gerizim and Ebal (Deuteronomy 27 and 28). How much more clear could God […]
Readings: Judges 5 Judges 5 presents a song, an epic poem by Deborah and Barak. In his commentary on the book of Judges, K. Lawson Younger Jr. points out that Judges 4 and 5 really give us two accounts of the same events. Judges 4 gives us the traditional “logical” account. It presents the facts, […]
Readings: Judges 6 In Judges 6, Israel had again fallen into sin, resulting in the LORD handing them over to the Midianites. For seven years the Israelites toiled under Midianite captivity. The Midianites took everything-all the crops, sheep, and donkeys. Verse 5 describes the Midianites as locusts; continuously plaguing the Israelites much like the locusts […]