Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

  Click Here to Read Judges 11-12 Jephthah Becomes Israel’s Judge 1. Jephthah's mom was a prostitute, so his half brothers scorned him. Hence Jeppthah left town. But when the Ammonites threatened the Israelites, they knew Jephthah was a mighty warrior so they called him back home. Jephthah wanted to make sure they weren't just using him, so he made them promise he would be the ruler of Gilead if he came back. Gilead was on the East side of the Jordan river, one of the first areas the Israelites conquered by defeating the Moabites and the Amorites, who had conquered the Ammonites. This is why they had the land before the Israelites took it.  2. Jephthah reasons with the king of Ammonites, who accused the Israelites of stealing the land. Jephthah recounted the true history of how Israel conquered the land after Moab attacked them. He challeged their god, Chemosh with the God of Israel, Yahweh. He reminded them that Israel had been here 300 years, and they had not so much of hear...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings   Click Here to Read Judges 9:22-10:18 Shechem Rebels against Abimelech Abimelech reigned for three years when there was peace, but it was only a matter of time before the men of Shechem starting scheming against him for killing Gideon's 70 sons. The Shechemites picked Gaal as their new leader, who was a brash talking man who predicted how he would take down Abimelech. Not only was he drunk and cursing Abimelech, but he and his thugs were drinking in a temple of a local god.  Though eventually God would judge Abimelech, he ambushes Gaal and his men and drives them out of Shechem. The people who were living in the tower of Shechem fled and hid in a temple dedicated to Baal-berith. Abimelech and his men took branches and set the temple of fire. Abimelech was planning to do the same to another tower in the town of Thebez, where a lot of other the people had fled. But as he was about to do this a woman on top of the tower dropped a millstone on...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read Judges 8:18-9:21 Gideon’s Sacred Ephod 1. It would have been easy for Gideon to get prideful given the victories over the Midianites he had just led. The Israelites wanted him to be their leader and eventually to make him their god. Gideon quickly deflected the praise and gave it back to God. Gideon knew more than anyone that it was God's victory, he was merely God's instrument.  2. While he did not agree to rule over them, he did instruct them to give him gold from the plunder to make an ephod. This was wrong on a couple of fronts. One, he didn't necessarily need to make what amounted to a fortune off of the plunder. Generally speaking spiritual leaders should not make huge amounts of money, which far exceed those they lead. It doesn't send the right message. Secondly, he made it into a sacred ephod, which was reserved only for the priests when they ministered in the temple. It was an odd request from him. Since t...

Click Here to LIsten to the Readings Click Here to Read Judges 7:1-8:17 1. The Lord continues to teach Gideon that it is His battle to fight. God wanted to make it really clear to Gideon and the people what was the difference between them and the Midianites. The only way he could do this was to whittle the amount of men down from 32.000 men to 300.  2. At Gideon's command the 300 warriors blew their horns and broke their clay pots, which ignited their torches. This threw the Midianites into a panic and they started fighting each other.  3. Unfortunately some of the Israelites refused to feed Gideon and his men. They were prideful and were angry because Gideon hadn't called on them earlier. When Gideon was done finishing off the Midianites, they were punished for their obstinance.  What does Gideon's victory with only 300 men teach you about how God empowers us when we take on our enemies in his power not our own? What battles are you fighting right now where you are tryin...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read Judges 6:1-40 Gideon Becomes Israel’s Judge The next judge we meet is Gideon. Gideon is a very interesting character for many reasons. The Israelites were now being oppressed by the Midianites, and if affected every area of their lives. They were so oppressed they hid out in mountain and caves. Every crop had been destroyed so they were also dying of starvation. Once again they cried out to the Lord, and the Lord sent Gideon 1. God appeared to Gideon under a tree as an angel . " The description of the encounter with the Angel of the LORD shows that this is not merely an angel speaking on behalf of God. It shows that God himself, appearing in human form, spoke to Gideon. " - Guzik 2. The angel called him a "mighty hero" . Although Gideon had not done anything yet, the Lord saw his potential.  “ Wherein did that valor consist? Apparently, he was a simple man living a very ordinary life. The Angel found him about ...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read Judges 4:1-5:31 Deborah Becomes Israel’s Judge After Ehud's death, the Israelites went back to their old sinful ways, and God once again allowed their enemies to oppress them for twenty years. The king's name was Jabin, and his military commander was named Sisera. Their army had 900 iron chariots, which were the latest in military circles. Because of the vacuum of leadership God raised up a woman named Deborah, who was a prophet.  Some consider it unexpected for God to raise up a woman as prophetess. But the New Testament makes it clear that God grants the gift of prophecy unto women also, and they are to practice it appropriately (1 Corinthians 11:5). (Guzik) Barak was their military commander, but he relied so heavily on Deborah that he insisted she go with him when they went to attack Jabin. With the Lord on their side. the 10,000 men that Barak had summoned easily defeated Sisera's men, but Sisera escaped on foot. ...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read Judges 2:10-3:31 Israel Disobeys the Lord We often talk in the church about passing on the faith to the next generation. Or we say, " Christianity is one generation away from extinction ." And while that may or may not be true, the point is that unless we intentionally teach our children what it means to know the Lord, there is no guarantee that what happened to the Israelites in today's passage won't happen to us and our children.  It says that after Joshua's generation, the next generation forgot what the Lord had did for them, when he rescued them from the Egyptians and fought for them in the land of Canaan where they now resided. Not only did they abandon the Lord their God, but they worshipped and served the gods around them, like Baal and Ashtoreth.  When they abandoned God, he gave them what they wanted, life without him. And they quickly saw what life without him was like, as they were easily defeated...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here ot Read Judges 1:1-2:9 Israel is at a critical place in their history. They were led by two godly leaders in Moses and Joshua. Though not perfect, they were faithful and obedient to the Lord and God used them in powerful ways. However, there is still a lot of work to do in conquering and occupying the Promised Land.  During the time of Judges (340 years), there was no national leaders like Moses or Joshua. God would raise up specific "judges" at specific times to do his bidding. The word "judge" is not like we understand it today, it is more like " heroic leader ". (Guzik) The Book of Judges shows us a time that is sometimes confusing, difficult, and dark. For this reason, many neglect the Judges and regard this period of time as a “dark ages” of Israel’s history. Yet if we neglect this book we neglect a wonderful account of the love and graciousness of God, and how He lovingly corrects His people. (Guzik) Th...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read Joshua 24:1-33 Today we come to the end of the book of Joshua, one of the most important books in the Old Testament. In the book of Joshua, Israel went from Moses being their leader to Joshua. They went from wandering in the wilderness to occupying the Promised Land. Joshua 24 recounts the salvation history of Israel.They gathered at Shechem, which had an important place in their history. At Shechem God confirmed his promise to Abram, and Abram built an altar there. When Jacob came back to the Promised Land, he camped in Shechem.  1. God set apart Abraham and sent him from where he lived in Haran to the land of Canaan. He gave him two sons, Jacob and Esau. Esau settled in the hill country of Seir, and Jacob led by Joseph eventually went to Egypt when there was a famine in Canaan. There the Israelites prospered and grew in number, but Pharaoh enslaved them and God sent Moses and his brother Aaron to free them from slavery....

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read 22:21-23:16 The tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh come to the rest of the Israelites to explain the reason why they built the altar before they crossed the Jordan. They didn't build the altar to offer unauthorized sacrifices to the Lord. They certainly didn't do it to worship other gods. They built it specifically on the west side of the Jordan to remind the Israelites that they were true descendants of Israel, when they came to worship the Lord. In this way they built it more as a memorial or a "witness" to who they were and how they had kept their promises to go into the Promised Land to help conquer the land.   When Phineas and the elders listened to the leader, and that they weren't using the altar for sacrifices, they were pleased. They came back and told the Israelites, who were also satisfied and decided not to go to war against them.  The Israelites rested in the land on all sides, ...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read Joshua 21:1-22:20 At the end of chapter 21, it says that not a single promise the Lord had given the Israelites was left unfulfilled. God had kept his every Word. God has a perfect record in the promise keeping department. Every promise he has made, he has kept. It God broke one promise, He would not be God. It is really good to know that you can trust in God's promises in every area of your life. You know if God made it, you can bank your life on it.  The chapter also tells of how the Levites, who worked in the temple of the Lord, were given land. Although they were not given out land which was originally divided up amongst the twelve tribes, they still needed a place to live. So all of the tribes helped out in equal ways.  The striking thing about this list is that God wanted the Levites “sprinkled” all throughout the land of Israel. He never intended there to be one “state” of Levi, but every tribe was to have the prie...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read Joshua 19:1-20:9 The rest of the land is divided up amongst the remaining tribes of Israel. Joshua is given thc choice of any land he would want, but he chose the hill country of Ephraim. This was a very humble choice.  Joshua received what was promised to him by God, but in remarkable humility, he receives his portion last. This is the kind of humble service and concern for others that makes Joshua such a wonderful picture of Jesus Christ. - Guzik Click Here to Listen to Luke 19:28-48 The Lord instructs the disciples to go into the village and ask for a young donkey that no one had ridden. They only needed to say, " The Lord has need of it ." In the church we often are hesitant to ask people for things that will help it accomplish its mission. I wonder if we were to use a similar tact and boldly proclaim, "T he Lord has need of it. "   As Jesus began his triumphal entry, the people shouted and praised God and ...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read Joshua 16-18 As was mentioned yesterday, though the Lord had commanded the Israelites to drive out all the Canaanites, they did not drive all of them out of Gezer. This compromise seemed innocent enough, especially since they used them as forced laborers, but eventually they tempted Israel with their idol worship.  We often rationalize doing things we know are sinful. I call this " rational-lies ". We usually justify our behaviors because we feel entitled to something. We figure just a little bit can't hurt. But often this opens the floodgates for something more damaging to come in down the road.  Then Joshua learns of an issue between the two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, who had to split up their inheritance of land, though they were two of the largest tribes. Joshua wisely tells them that they are a great people, and they can go get the land for themselves.  How different is their attitude than Caleb’s att...

Happy Easter!  Christ is Risen! He is Risen in Indeed! Click Here to Read Joshua 15 The Land Given to the Tribe of Judah Joshua 15 recounts the allotment of the land to Judah, and also specifically to Caleb, the other spy besides Joshua to spy out the promised land. Like Joshua, Caleb came back from spying on the land the Lord had promised and urged the Israelites to go and take the land. He reasoned appropriately that if God had promised the land to them, He would give them what they would need to prevail.  Like Joshua, he was strong and courageous.  The ending of the chapter is a little ominous. It says the Israelites could not drive out the Jebusites, who lived in Jerusalem. We are not exactly sure why this was the case.  Guzik offers this explanation, " We can understand why Jerusalem was a city hard to conquer. The fact that it was set on a hill made it easy to defend. " Then he adds, " Yet, no matter how hard the struggle, with God’s promise, and God’s help, we...

Click Here to LIsten to the Readings Click Here to Listen to Joshua 13-14 Joshua had conquered 31 kings and been obedient to the Lord at every turn. Now that he was getting old the Lord gave him a preview of the remained land that needed to be taken. Again we see that though the Israelites acted in obedience, it was the Lord who did the "heavy lifting".  “I myself will drive these people out of the land ahead of the Israelites. So be sure to give this land to Israel as a special possession, just as I have commanded you." 31:6 The tribes of Reuben and Gad and the other 1/2 tribe of Manasseh were given the land they conquered east of the Jordan, as previously agreed to. And the Levites, though they didn't not inherit anything, were given the Lord as their inheritance. I would say they ended up in pretty good shape.  Instead, the Levites had as their inheritance the offerings that Israel would bring to the LORD. These were their “financial security” in Israel. - Guzik Y...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Joshua 11-12 Map of Northern Kingdom Chapter 11 tells us how Joshua in obedience to the Moses and Lord's command defeated all the kings of the Northern part of the Promised Land. Quite a formidable force had allied and was arrayed against him at the waters of Merom, which was north of the Sea of Galilee.  All these kings came out to fight. Their combined armies formed a vast horde. And with all their horses and chariots, they covered the landscape like the sand on the seashore. verse 4 Joshua followed the Lord's orders by burning their chariots and crippling their horses. Importantly it says the Lord hardened their hearts so they did not offer to make a treaty of peace with the Israelites.  The hardening of men’s hearts is when God gives man up to the sin that is in his heart (Romans 1:24-28). Once again we see that the Israelites had to destroy the people so the Israelites so they would not have the potential to intermarry with these peopl...