Day 70 – A Year in the Bible – Judges 1-3
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Judges
In our daily Bible reading today, we begain the book of Judges. As we ended the book of Joshua, Joshua had died. The children of Israel, under his leadership, crossed the Jordan and entered the Promised Land. They settled there, though they hadn’t taken all the lands promised to them.
Once Joshua died, no one man was their leader, and the tribes of the children of Israel began to rebel against God. They began to do whatever seemed right in their own eyes. The book of Judges is the recordings of the period following the death of Joshua and the rebellion and abandonment of God by the Israelites.
This book gives a clear picture of where rebellion leads and its consequences.
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JUDGES 1 – GIVE ME A BLESSING
As I Have Done, So God Hath Requited Me
And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites. But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died. – Judges 1:5-7
Why did they cut off his thumbs and his great toes? For two reasons:
- Because he had mutilated 70 other kings in this manner
- To render him unfit for further warfare: he could not use a bow or sword, or move quickly
Othniel
and Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. – Judges 1:12-15
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JUDGES 2 – THEY FORSOOK THE LORD
The People Lifted Up Their Voice, and Wept
And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD. – Judges 2:1-5
There Arose Another Generation Which Knew Not the LORD
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. – Judges 2:10
They Forsook the Lord
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. – Judges 2:11-12
The reading today tells us the Children of Israel forsook the LORD! Moses and Joshua warned them, but they didn’t heed the warnings. The passage made me think of the word “forsook.” What does it mean to forsake or to have it said of you that you forsook something?
Forsake – to quit or leave entirely; abandon; desert; to give up or renounce (a habit, way of life, etc.)
Forsook – to have left in an abandoned condition; to have abandoned; to have rejected
When the disciples followed Jesus, the Bible says they forsook all and followed Him. They abandoned the world for Jesus. When the disciples left Jesus as He went to the cross, they forsook Him. They abandoned Jesus for the world. Two very different views on the word “forsook.” There have been times in my life when I forsook Jesus just as the disciples did. Oh, what a hard road that is to take. It seems easy at the time you do it, but the consequences are hard ones. Thank God for His mercy and grace and love that draws us back to Himself. I pray that for all the remaining days of my life, it can be said of me that I forsook the world to follow my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Other Bibles Verses Regarding the Word – Forsook
And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him. – Luke 5:10-11
But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled. – Matthew 26:56
And they all forsook him, and fled. – Mark 14:50
They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts. – Psalm 119:87
But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him, that stood before him. – 2 Chronicles 10:8
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. – Hebrews 11:27
At my first answer no man stood with me, but all [men] forsook me: [I pray God] that it may not be laid to their charge. – 2 Timothy 4:16
Nevertheless the Lord Raised Up Judges
Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so. – Judges 2:16-17
And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. – Judges 2:18-19
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JUDGES 3 – A GENERATION WHICH KNEW NOT THE LORD
Othniel
And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim. And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. – Judges 3:9-11
Ehud
But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.
But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: and the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out. Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.
When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their Lord was fallen down dead on the earth.
And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath. And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.
And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years. – Judges 3:15-30
Shamgar
And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel. – Judges 3:31










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