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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Bible Food Day 16 - The Book of Joshua

Good morning,

Today we are passing into the Book of Joshua; and Joshua is in charge and the Lord is setting him up to be the leader.  The Lord tells him to be strong and courageous and not to move from the law of the covenant at all.

In Joshua chapter two, Joshua sends two men out to spy the land; and Rahab the harlot allowed them to hide in her place.  She heard about the children of Israel and said their people were scared of them.  They heard about what God did in Egypt so she was well aware, and she made the two men promise they will deal kindly with her and her family when Israel comes in and take the land.  And that is how she saved her household, by her faith that the God of Heaven was the God of the children of Israel.

In chapter three the Lord is ready to perform a big sight to make the people know and believe that He is with Joshua: ⁷And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.

They are ready to cross the Jordan by the priest standing in the Jordan and the Jordan will dry up and when the priest held the ark of the covenant in the water, it dried and they went over dry shod.

In chapter 4; when the priest came out of the Jordan at the command of Joshua, the water went back and over flowed it's banks and the children of Israel feared Joshua as they did Moses and they took up the stones as a memorial, 12 of them, to tell their children about what the Lord has done in the Jordan.

In Joshua chapter 5; the people heard of what the Lord did for Israel; their heart melted and were sorely afraid of Israel.  And Joshua commanded that all the males be circumcised in the flesh.  Many of Israel did not circumcise themselves when they came out of Egypt because their parents didn't do it. So Joshua took off the reproach of Egypt off of Israel by circumcising the males.  They also held the passover on the 14th day.  

And the captain of the Lord's Host, the angel Michael, approached Joshua and he appeared to Joshua as a man; because until he announced himself Joshua approached him to see if he was coming in peace or in trouble.  He came in peace to give instruction and Joshua fell upon his face.  This lets us know angels can appear to us as men and we can't tell they are angels unless the let us know they are.

In chapter 6 Joshua is getting the instructions on how they will take the city.  ⁶And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD.

 ⁸And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on before the LORD, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them.

 ⁹And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
They were to march around the city one time each day for six days, seven priest with seven trumpets blowing the trumpets.  The trumpets announces the coming of a King and the announcing of a war.  Remember the ark of the covenant went after the priest with the trumpets and that ark of the covenant represents God Himself.
On the 7th day, they circled the city 7 times and on the last circle the people shouted and the wall fell down flat and they went in straight and took the city.
Yet they kept the house of Rahab and her family and burnt the city with fire; only taking the gold of the city, the city of Jericho.  Joshua fame went out through the whole country.
The children of Israel were not suppose to take any spoil especially any idol or cursed thing; but one man did (Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing:).  And the people of Ai smote some of the children of Israel; and Joshua inquired with the Lord why this was thus.  And the Lord removed Himself from Israel until the accursed thing was removed.
And whoever had the accursed thing would be burnt with fire because of his trespass along with all his belongings.  ²⁰And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:
²⁴And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.
 ²⁵And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
The Lord's judgment was harsh; but because of Achan's greed and disobedience, people were killed for his senseless actions; and the Lord is very serious and harsh on people to follow instructions.
Now in chapter 8; Israel reattempts to take the city of Ai; and do it with a strategy to ambush the city of Ai.  And they set them up greatly, for Joshua was a great general and they took the city and burned it; and hanged the king of Ai.
After they took Ai; Joshua read all the book of the law to the people that Moses wrote.  This reading of the law was very important.
In Joshua chapter 9 all the neighboring countries decided to gather together to fight against Israel as one.  And some of the people in the coast, the Hivites faked as if they came from a long journey and were not part of the nations Israel was to destroy.  They did this in order to make a league with the people of Israel.  
One thing they understood is God kept covenants and agreements that people made with Him and with each other.  Joshua and the elders took no counsel with God and made a league and thus could not kill them; but they remained servants to Israel.
Now when the king of Jerusalem (Canaanite people) saw that the Hivites ( of Gibeon) had made a league withe Israel he wanted to kill Gibeon for making the league with Israel; but Israel had to protect Gibeonites as they would protect themselves.  But the Lord gave the people of the lands into the hands of Israel and even rain hell stones on the people who the Israelites didn't get with the sword.
¹¹And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
 ¹²Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.
 ¹³And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
 ¹⁴And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.
Joshua was so insistent on killing these people they he commanded the sun to stay still until he finished; and the Lord listened to him and let it be.  This also was a great wonder in Israel.  In Joshua chapter 11; we see the taking down of more cities and the burning of Hazor and took spoil of other cities killing all the people and the kings.  ²³So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.
Chapter 12.  This chapter tells us all the lands and nations the children of Israel smote and took for a possession on each side of the Jordan that was divided among the children of Israel.  There were a lot of nations, 31 nations total.
Joshua 13 reads that there was still much more land for the Israelites to possess that they haven't yet.  And Joshua was getting old and it still needed to be done.  And they did more still some of the people to be destroyed and land to be taken still remained with Israel even until this day.  And the inheritance of each tribe is mentioned and given in this chapter.
In chapter 14, we see Caleb get his plot of land from the order of Moses and Joshua blessed him.  Caleb received the land of Hebron even until this day.  And the land rested from war.
This is our reading today.  Tomorrow we will finish Joshua and read 3 chapters in Judges.  I know there was a lot of killing; I should have put the rated "R" if you read with your kids.  One thing people rarely know is that the customs of the people that the Lord sent the children of Israel to take down; are the customs that many keep even today.  It is important to find out about those customs and refrain from them even if they are great family traditions.
Thank you and see you tomorrow.
Grace and peace.

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