Judges 11 is one of the weirdest stories in the Bible. It leaves us wondering: Did Jephthah do what it sounds like he did – offer his daughter as a burnt sacrifice to God? To answer that it’s important to know some things about the man and his story. Continue reading
Category Archives: Judges
Did he kill and burn his daughter?
Judges 11 is one of weirdest stories in the Bible. Did Jephthah really offer his daughter as a burnt sacrifice to God? That trivia question can distract us from a lesson that makes a life and death difference in today’s world, a lesson as up-to-date as tomorrow’s headlines.
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Why so many struggles?
Judges 3:4
(These hostile enemies of Israel) were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.
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We know the Lord could easily erase every struggle and make our lives smooth sailing into glory. But He allows it to “rain on the just and the unjust”. Christians get sick, have money problems, relational stresses, auto accidents, are victims in tragedies, on and on. In fact, as one first century accuser said, “You Christians have more problems than the average person. How can you believe a God who takes such poor care of you in this life is able to take care of you in the life to come?” Continue reading
The Big O Still Matters
Judges 1:19
Now the LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots.
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The Lord was with them and they took the high ground but was God impotent against iron chariots? Of courses not. Judges 4 shows even 900 iron chariots is no challenge for the Lord. So why couldn’t Judah drive out the “inhabitants of the valley”? Continue reading
Live happily ever after
Joshua 21:44, 45
And the LORD gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.
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This sounds like the OT version of “and they all lived happily ever after” – no more problems, no more enemies, all was well with everyone. Of course, we know that isn’t what happened. They did not all live happily ever after. Continue reading
Don’t hide it from the kids.
A main focus of Joshua 4, which tells the story of the crossing of the flooded Jordan River, is a memorial of 12 stones taken out of the Jordan and set up as a reminder of this miracle. Repeatedly the Lord says ‘tell your children”, “tell your children”.
God wants us to pass on to our children a heritage of faith and one of the best ways to do this is through stories of his faithfulness to us and other heroes of the faith. Not every generation will experience the awesome miracles of a Red Sea crossing or a Jordan crossing.
Some generations will live during the 400 years that Egypt was in bondage and saw few, or no, miracles rather than the incredible days of Moses and Joshua. These generations must know of His power through the stories of others. Continue reading