Daily Bible Reading for March 31, 2020

Today my Bible reading covers Judges, Chapters 3-5.  These chapters are like watching a movie. In it, we see the vivid account of the killings of a king, who is described as very fat, whose belly was thrust through with a sword, and a woman, hammering a tent peg into the temple of the commander who was hiding out.

In Chapter 3, the LORD left five nations in the Promised Land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the previous conquests, so that they would learn and experience war, and to see whether they would obey God’s commandments. But they did not. They brought God to anger by serving the idols of the inhabitants.

God causes them to be captured to serve the king of Mesopotamia, but when the Israelites cry out, God raises up a judge and they are only good until that judge dies, then they resort to committing evil, and God made the king of Moab go against the Israelites. But again when the Israelites cried out, the LORD in his mercy raises up another deliverer.

In Chapter 4, Israel again resorts to doing evil in the sight of God after their leader dies, so the LORD sells them into the hand of a Canaanite king who oppressed them for twenty years.  The Israelites cry out to God again for help, and again God is merciful. Deborah was the judge at this time. She was a judge that did settle matters. She summoned Barak to remind him of God’s charge to take on the Canaanite army and its general. Barak would only go if Deborah were to go with him.

“Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand? Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go…:” Vss. 6b-8a

God told him that he would give him the victory, but yet he wanted Deborah to go with him?  God did subdue Sisera and his army and the king. Another woman gets the credit for killing the general.

In Chapter 5, is the song of victory sung by Deborah and Barak detailing the conquests, praise to God, and commendations to Jael, the woman who killed the general.

My Thoughts On This: God is truly a God of mercy and grace. If you read these chapters, you will see God’s mercy over and over, they did evil, they were captured, they cried out, God provides a deliverer. He is also a God of might, and sovereign over the hearts of men. He is a jealous God and will send judgment both to teach and discipline. Judgment from God should be seen as a grace. It should make us respond out in a cry of repentance so that God can show mercy. As we go through this very trying time of this global health crisis, let’s cry out to God.

Let’s read the Book!