Posts from 2022 (Page 20)

  DISCUSSION                                                                                   Tola and Jair. Their names are familiar because they are Judges, but we are only given five verses to describe their actions. These five verses can tell us, perhaps, more than we realized. In Judges chapter 9, we see how the Israelites fall into idolatry under the leadership of Abimelech, the self-appointed king. God exalts those who humble themselves, but brings down the proud. Isaiah 2.12 speaks of a…

  DISCUSSION                                                                                                   “Exhausted, yet pursuing…” These are the words Samuel used to describe the efforts of Gideon and his 300 men in Judges 8:4. In chapter 7, Gideon started with a force of over 30,000. After he gave the men an opportunity to go home, only 10,000 remained. God still thought that was too many. He knew with Gideon’s leadership as a Judge and His power, the Israelites could have…

  DISCUSSION                                                                       Once again, the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord and the Lord caused them to fall into the hands of the Moabites.   While under their oppression, the children of Israel cry out for help and God “raises up for them a deliverer, Ehud” (Judges 3.15).  There isn’t a whole lot mentioned about this judge.  First, we learn that he was left-handed (a trait…

  DISCUSSION                                                           The book of Judges is a book that sounds like it repeats itself throughout its entirety.  As Joshua is their leader, they follow the path that God provides for them.  However, when Joshua dies we have this “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. And they abandoned the LORD, the God of…

  DISCUSSION                                                              The eastern tribes were returning home after a long time of fighting and being away from their families. As a remembrance and memorial to God, they built a monument. The other tribes got the wrong idea of what that monument was for. They believed it was opposite of what God would want. So now they are ready to go to war with their…

  DISCUSSION                                                               Under the old law you had to have cities of refuge; Places to go after someone had been killed and you had been the one to kill them. It was a place where you could get a fair trial, a fair decision on guilt or innocence. The key was you had to get to those cities before you were killed by the family that had lost a loved one.…

  DISCUSSION                                                                                      Joshua has spent 40 years wondering in the wilderness because people had been selfish and had not trusted in God. Now, finally, it’s time to divide up the land and before it’s even finished people are complaining. “I don’t have enough land, give me more.” Why do we always want things handed to us? We will complain about anything. These people are in a land flowing…

  DISCUSSION                                                                                                 In Joshua 12-15, we see a list of kings that have been defeated in the time of Moses. Then we see a list of kings that were defeated in the time of Joshua. Joshua is getting old and tired at this point in the book, and all the land has not been conquered yet. It will be in the time of Solomon before it is all…

  DISCUSSION                                                                A whole new generation circumcised after they crossed the Jordan. Why? Well the obvious reason is that God needs a commitment from us. Why did He wait until they were in enemy territory? The reason is, God will take care of us in any situation. He wants to take care of us. By performing surgery on these men, in enemy territory, they had to totally depend on God to protect…

  DISCUSSION                                                                                                As we read the first four chapters of Joshua, we see our new leader, Joshua, taking over for Moses. Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt at age 80. We know he doesn’t get to enter the promise land because he struck the rock (Numbers 20:11). Moses made other mistakes, (Mark 10:4 says that he gave the right to divorce and we know God was against that).…

  DISCUSSION                                                                                   Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” -Matthew 4:5-6             The context of the…

  DISCUSSION                                                                                       “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land…