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 …
Category Archives: RTB 2025 – Search the Scriptures, Part 2
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 …
May 13 / Judges 7:24-8:35
Judges 7:24-8:35 Dear RTB’ers, Yesterday we read the Lord’s promise to Gideon: With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand … (v. 7:7a), and we saw that, in fact, the battle was the Lord’s. Today the end of that battle continues, with the Midianites fleeing and …
May 12 / Judges 7:1-23
Judges 7:1-23 Dear RTB’ers, And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Exodus 14:13-14 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear …
May 11 / Judges 6
Judges 6 Dear RTB’ers, First, clearing up an item… Yesterday I made a light-hearted remark about Gideon and fleece before the Lord. That remark was only intended to introduce the next day’s reading – I am not a person who supports the idea of our putting fleece before the Lord. But clearly the connection between …
May 10 / Judges 5
Judges 5 Dear RTB’ers, I asked a couple of days ago whether the judges are deliverers for all of Israel or if they are more regional in their leadership. Today we see a very national Israel at war with Sisera and the Canaanites – national, except that not all tribes participated. First of all, Judah …
May 9 / Judges 4
Judges 4 Dear RTB’ers, Today we have our only female judge, Deborah, and another female hero, Jael. If an “average” Bible reader were asked to name Israel’s judges, the three most commonly named (in my mind) would be Deborah, Gideon, and Samson. In truth, more pages are devoted to these three than to any of …
May 8 / Judges 3:7-31
Judges 3:7-31 Dear RTB’ers, The geography might be a bit confusing. When we left Joshua, Israel had possession of the Promised Land plus the Trans-Jordan land where Reuben, Gad and one-half of Manasseh lived. We also learned two days ago that Israel did not drive out all the inhabitants of the land, but that in …
May 7 / Judges 2:6-3:6
Judges 2:6-3:6 Dear RTB’ers, There are a couple of key verses in today’s reading. First, And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that He had done for Israel. (v. 2:10b) One generation had served the Egyptians and seen the miracles that the Lord had brought about …