Dailey Bible Food - Day Nineteen (19)

Good morning;

Here we go again and we will begin reading in Judges chapter 16.  Here we see that Samson went up to Gaza and met a harlot and laid with her.  This is funny or rather odd, here is a man who couldn't cut his hair, nor drink wine because of a vow to the Lord; but he went into a harlot.  Then he also met a lady he liked named Delilah.  And the men of Philistine gave her money to find out where his strength was and she went along with it.

It's from women like her than men down the generations say things like "do not trust any woman."

She pressed him daily about lying to her about what would cause him to have weakness, and finally he gave in to the woman as Adam did and she cut his 7 locks and the Lord departed from him.  Samson's action cause the Lord to depart because he broke his nazarite vow because he loved women more than God.  

The Philistines put his eyes out and put him in stocks.  And the Philistines threw a big party while they had Samson entertain them and he prayed one more time to Lord to give strength to pull the pillars down and God granted him it.

³⁰And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

Samson judged for 20 years but he died also in the last action where he killed a great number of top officials of the Philistines.

In chapter 17 we are talking about a man named Micah who had a house of gods and graven images.  We see they were not keeping God's commandments at all at this time.  ⁶In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Micah hired a Levite to be his priest in his house, instead of seeking the true God.  Look at Micah's words when the men of Dan took his gods and hijacked his Levite priest.  ²⁴And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?

We love to do this, make God in our image; but we are made in His glorious image. The Danites finally took the land that was given to them and quickly set up the graven image in the house of God.

Judges chapter 19 begins by telling the events of a Levite who's concubine wasn't too faithful to him.  But look how this has been said in the last few chapters...  ¹And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehemjudah.

There was no king in Israel in those days; no physical king and the Lord wasn't their King either.  This Levite sent his concubine back to her dad's house because she was playing the harlot.  After a few days there they were to leave and they left pretty late in the day, he and his concubine and they looked for a place to lodge.  ¹⁶And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites.

They were in this city where the children of Benjamin dwell and the old man saw them and begged the man not to stay in the streets.  Sounds like they were in one of those real bad neighborhoods.  When they began to drink wine and relax into the night; the men of the city demanded the man be brought out so they can sleep with the Levite.

 ²⁵But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

I don't know why men in those days offered a woman to men who wanted to lay with them; back in those days the men who were "homosexual" were strong & rough men.  And they wore her out until they practically killed her.  Can you imagine this; rape and abuse at a level continuously by different men who were all wanting a man but wow.  And the Levite wrote a letter to all the tribes demanded they do something about what the people of Benjamin had done unto him.

In Judges 20 the Levite tells the story to the elders of the tribes of Israel.  And the men of Israel decided to go up and arrest the men of Benjamin who did the abomination to the woman.  The children of Benjamin would not release the men who did that wickedness.  Instead they came out to fight against them.  Benjamin protected the homosexual men who practiced that horrible behavior of rape and even murder.

So the men of Judah ask the Lord who should go up to fight against Benjamin.  After a couple defeats finally the Lord helped them and smote Benjamin so bad they only left 600 men.  ⁴⁷But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.

In Judges 21; the men vowed not to give those men their daughters to wife; but it later repented them because Israel will be minus one tribe if those men do not procreate.  They then sought the men who did not come up to help them fight against Benjamin and killed them and only took 400 virgin girls for the men of Benjamin to keep the name of Benjamin alive.

They ended up kidnapping 200 girls who danced at Shiloh during a feast to fulfill the other 200 men left without wives.  Do you see how crazy and wicked Israel lived in those days?  Not much has changed today either mainly because of the verse the ends the book of Judges: ²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Every man did what was right in his own eyes.  If I feel it is right to kill you; that will be done and that is a horrible environment to dwell in; where every man thinks they are doing right in their own mind.

Now the book of Ruth chapter 1; it gives the account of the times of Judges where a famine was in the land.  This family left Judah to live in Moab where there was bread.  The woman had a husband and two sons who died.  Naomi was the woman, and her daughter in law was Ruth.  Since Naomi's sons died, she told their widows to return to the parents house, but Ruth did not want to leave her mother-in-law because she loved Naomi.  And who said daughter-in-laws and mother-in-laws can't get along?

¹⁶And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
 ¹⁷Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

Ruth loved Naomi; but she also knew that Naomi's God was the true God and she wanted to deal among the children of Israel.  This made her the mother of a beautiful blood-line.

In Ruth chapter 2; a wealthy man named Boaz meets Ruth and was very friendly to her because he knew of her background.  It pays to be a good humble person.

In chapter 3 Naomi helps Ruth plan on how she can get in with Boaz to perform what is suppose to be done when a woman's husband dies; then a near kinsman is suppose to give her seed to help the name of her husband live on.

In Chapter 4, Boaz plans to redeem Naomi and Ruth that comes with it, to the men who were near kinsmen to Naomi's husband: ⁵Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.  So Boaz purchased the rights to Ruth to keep the name of Mahlon her husband alive.  

So Boaz took Ruth to wife and they had a son and named him Obed, who is the father to Jesse, who fathered David, king of Israel.  See what I mean, she is the great grandmother of king David.

We move on to 1 Samuel chapter 1 where we read about a man and his name was Elkanah.  He had two wives, the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.  Hannah went to the temple to pray for a child.

There was also a man name Eli, a priest who saw Hannah sadden because she had no child and she prayed in the sight of Eli and he answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.  

Then the Lord remembered her after she knew her husband.  She had a son, and named him Samuel which she was to dedicate to the Lord.  And after he'd been weaned she would allow him to go stay with the Levites in the house of the Lord.

In chapter 2 Hannah prayed a thanks giving prayer to the POWERFUL GOD OF ISRAEL; this was a prophesy prayer and a beautiful prayer unto the Lord.  ⁶The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.

 ⁷The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.
Now Eli had two sons that were sons of Belial and they did not know the Lord (¹²Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.).  Just because you are the son of a pastor does not mean you believe in the Lord GOD.

Meanwhile, Hannah had more children.  ²¹And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.

²²Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Eli was an old man now and he knew about all the wicked things his sons were doing in the house of the Lord, sleeping with women, taking bribes, forcing people to give offerings, but Eli never removed his sons from their positions.  He condoned their behavior.  It's one thing to allow your kids to do wickedly in your house; but you cannot permit this in the house of the Lord God.
And making people turn away from God is basically the biggest transgression you can commit as a man or woman.  If you sin against a man; another man can intercede for you; but if you do so with God; who can stand in the gap for you then?  

 ²⁵If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them.
Then God sent a man of God to prophesy against the house of Eli and remove him and his sons from the work in the house of the Lord forever, and the Lord spoke that there will not be an old man in Eli's house, that they will all die in the flower of their age. 

³¹Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house.
 ³²And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever.
That is today's reading; thank you for joining me; grace and peace.

Tomorrow's reading on the Sabbath day will be from chapter 3 of 1st Samuel to chapter 15.  See you then.

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The Book of Judges - Day 18 Bible Food

Good morning; we're reading the Word of God today again as day 18 of our quest to finish the Bible in 90 days.  As Sponge Bob show opener would say, "are ya ready kids..."

We begin in chapter 4 and we'll go up to chapter 15.  Again the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud the Judge died and the Lord did them in again into slavery into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

And as usual; they would cry to the Lord for help and God sent a woman named Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.  And she prophesied and helped Israel out of the hand of Canaan.
Chapter 5 begins with Deborah singing a song and land had rest 40 years that she ruled.  

In Judges chapter 6 it starts out like this: ¹And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

It goes back and forth with them sinning against the Lord and the Lord punishing them at the hands of another nation; then the children of Israel would pray and God would send them a judge or prophet to deliver them; then that generation would be at ease until the judge would die and the new generation would go back to their vomit serving other gods.

The Lord sends a mighty man named Gideon.  ¹¹And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
 ¹²And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
²⁵And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:

His father worshiped the false god Baal and Gideon cast down his altar to build one for the Lord.  And the men of Gideon's father's house wanted to kill him for this; so it ended up changing his name to Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.  

Gideon gathered some men to go fight against Midian; and God told Gideon that he had too many men.  God wanted to show that it clearly wasn't the number of men; but the power of God.  So the Lord had Gideon send some of the men home.  They got it down to just 300 men.  And they took Midian as the Lord had given it to them.

Chapter 8 Gideon breaks Israel from Midian and this is what the children of Isarel said, ²²Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian.
 ²³And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you.  Even today, we don't have to let just Barak Obama rule over us; the Lord will rule over us.

And when Gideon died he had a son named Abimelech.  When Gideon died the Israelites went back to pagan gods; and the people did not show any love or respect to Gideon's house after all he did for Israel.

Judges chapter 9; Gideon had 70 sons; but the Abimelech son was born by a woman off the street and not a wife.  So he was treated poorly by his brothers; and when he grew he convinced the people to let him be their ruler.  And Abimelech went and got some thugs and killed his brothers killing 68 of them so that one remained.  But the Lord always turns the table of men who do evil.

²³Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:
And they fought against each other ⁵²And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.
 ⁵³And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his skull.
 ⁵⁴Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A women slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

God paid Abimelech back for the evil he did in killing his father's sons.
In chapter 10 arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years.

They fell back into their pagan worship.  ⁶And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.
 ⁷And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.
In chapter 11 the children of Israel are looking for a leader to help them fight off Ammon; after they repented to the Lord.  ¹Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.  His family didn't want him to inherit his fathers house because he wasn't from Gilead's wife.

But they later brought him back to fight against Ammon because he was a warrior.  So he went to Ammon and Jephthah made a horrible vow to the Lord.
³⁰And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
 ³¹Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
He took down Ammon and when he went home ³⁴And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.

She was taught well by her father because she didn't run off or tell her dad that that was his vow; but obeyed even unto death.  Do not make vows to the Lord because you must keep them.
In chapter 12 there was a civil war between Gilead and Ephraim and 42,000 men of Ephraim died.   Again in Judges chapter 13 the children of Israel begin to sin again in front of God and were thrown in the hands of the Philistines.

²And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
 ³And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.

God is preparing to send Israel a deliverer; you see the deliverer was not even born yet; that means they have to wait years to be delivered.  ¹⁷And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour?
 ¹⁸And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?
 
Angels are servants like us; we aren't to do them honor as we do the Lord; but they are a bit higher than us in that they work directly for the Lord; so you shouldn't act any type of way before them and as we can see asking to many questions isn't all that wise neither.  Nevertheless, Manoah and his wife had a child named Samson.

²⁴And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

In chapter 14, Samson grew and wanted to marry a Philistine girl; the Lord was setting it up for him to take the Philistines.  Samson judged Israel 20 years.  He was sort of a wild man, killed, chased women, but he kept his vow (up to this point).  We are finished with our reading today.

Judges is a weird time for Israel; they could not get generations to successfully follow the Lord and God would put evil generation in captivity in their own land to surrounding nations.  We'll read Judges 16 to 1st Samuel 2 tomorrow.  Have a good day.


DD
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