Judges 21 Dear RTB’ers, Today we end Judges on a happier note that we’ve had the past two days. Although Israel has conjured up a plan to save the tribe of Benjamin, in the process they are losing a “sub-tribe”, a family from across the Jordan River, in their destruction of all the men and …
Author Archives: Fred
May 22 / Judges 20
Judges 20 Dear RTB’ers, Civil war in Israel, this time clearly involving all of Israel, eleven tribes from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead… (v. 20b) arrayed against their “brother”, Benjamin. Apparently this incident from yesterday and the battle today occurred early in the days of Judges, since we still have Phineas, the …
May 21 / Judges 19
Judges 19 Dear RTB’ers, If you are reading the book of Judges for the first time (or maybe the first time in a long time), rest assured that this “story” is not yet ended. We still have two more chapters to go. So, read ahead if you must, but don’t expect much of a happy …
May 20 / Judges 17-18
Judges 17-18 Dear RTB’ers, Two chapters today, two independent sets of activities – neither of which is praiseworthy – that come together and leave us wondering where God is in these activities, or more correctly, why the characters in these activities are not seeking the Lord in what they do. So first, Micah and his …
May 19 / Judges 16
Judges 16 Dear RTB’ers, I am thankful for John’s comment yesterday (as always!), but I think he misunderstood me. I didn’t say that I did not believe the stories or the numbers written in Judges 14-15 (30, 300, 1000). Yes, our God, “the Creator of the entire universe” can do anything He wants. But how …
May 18 / Judges 14-15
Judges 14-15 Dear RTB’ers, And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the LORD … And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, … And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. (vv. 15:18-20) …
May 17 / Judges 13
Judges 13 Dear RTB’ers, Today we begin the story of Samson, the final judge in this book of Judges, the sixth major judge. We’ll spend three days and read four chapters for this one character. Fundamentally Samson is setting the stage for what comes next in the history of Israel – Samuel, Saul, and finally …
May 16 / Judges 11:29-12:15
Judges 11:29-12:15 Dear RTB’ers, Today we close the book on Jephthah – unless you read ahead yesterday! What a tragic ending to an otherwise redemptive story. Here we have a man, the son of a harlot and a noble father, driven from his homeland by his own half-kin and surrounded by “worthless fellows”, then recalled …
May 15 / Judges 10:6-11:28
Judges 10:6-11:28 Dear RTB’ers, Today we meet another of the major judges, Jephthah, one who is less well known than Deborah, Gideon and Samson, probably because Jephthah does not show up in Sunday School stories. We’ll find out tomorrow why that’s the case! The land of Gilead becomes important in today’s reading. Gilead is often …
May 14 / Judges 9:1-10:5
Judges 9:1-10:5 Dear RTB’ers, I read through today’s reading twice in two different translations, then sat and pondered the readings and asked myself for any goodness in what we read. Then I looked at the STS questions and #1 includes the word “sin” three times. So it looks like STS agrees with me – not …