One Year Bible Readings and Commentary for Saturday April 30th CONGRATS WE ARE 1/3 of the WAY THROUGH the Bible.
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 heard from the Ammonites. Ironically this matches very closely with the number of years already accounted for in the book of Judges, again proving the historicity of the bible.
3. The king paid no attention to Jephthah's message.
This is why it is good to "not burn any bridges", because you never know when you will be called back into relationship with those who treated you badly.
Jephthah’s Vow
1. This is a sad story. Jephthah made a rash vow that if God gave him victory over the Ammonites, he would give to Him whatever came out to meet him when he came home. Unfortunately when he got home, his virgin daughter came out to meet him. She was his only child. She only asked if she could spend a few months with her friends, since she would die a virgin.
2. The Spirit of the Lord filled Jephthah for the fight. We have seen that the Holy Spirit came upon particular people, at particular times, for particulat purposes in the Old Testament. This was one of those times.
Even a Spirit-filled man can do foolish things. The Holy Spirit does not overwhelm and control us, He guides us – and that guidance can be resisted or ignored at smaller or greater points.- Guzik
3. God granted Jephthah victory over the Ammonites. In fact, He crushed them through Jephthah's spiritual leadership.
This is why it is so important we think about the words we are going to use before we say them. Paul says, "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no. Anything beyond that comes from the devil."
Ephraim Fights with Jephthah
1. We see something for the first time. A tribe within Israel fighting another tribe within it. Ephraim comes across the river and scolds Jephthah asking him why he didn't call on them. He even threatens to burn down his house. Jephthah reminded them that he actually had asked them to come help and they never responded.
“This clearly again reveals the sad disintegration of the nation. The consciousness of the unity of the people seems largely to have been lost.” (Morgan)
2. The men of Ephraim did not relent, so Jephthah prepared his men to fight them. In the battle Jephtha's men took 42,000 of the men of Ephraim. Jephthah was a judge for six years and then he died.
“Why should the Ephraimites complain about a victory accomplished through God’s intervention for the benefit of all the tribes? It was a strange jealousy that spurred on Ephraim.” (Wolf)
This seems like a really strange story. Why the men of Ephraim were so jealous of Jephthah and his men does not make sense. And the threat they made against him even less. It cost them their lives.
Three Minor Judges
Israel then had three more judges for the next twenty five years, and we don't know much about them other than their names: Ibzan, Elan, and Abdon.
Click Here to Read John 1:1-28
Today we begin the fourth gospel, the gospel of John. It is probably my favorite gospel. Here's why:
1. It is often called the "relational" gospel, as it tells us stories about Jesus' interactions with people one on one that the other three gospels don't tell us about.
2. It is called the "theological" gospel, because it is written approximately 30 years after the first three gospels, which are all written approximately between 60 and 70 A.D. This means John's gospel was written around the turn of the 1st Century A.D.
3. As you will soon see, John focuses on the person of Jesus Christ. He was facing equal and opposite heresies toward the end of the first century. One said that Jesus only looked like a human, but he was really a "spirit being". Another one said since he was human, he could not be God. John addresses this issue right away in chapter 1, as he tells of Jesus' pre-existence with the Father and the Spirit.
4. John gives us more info about the coming of the Holy Spirit and the role of the Holy Spirit, including the famous passage in John 3, where he describes how we are, "born of the Spirit', or "born again".
Strap on your seat belts this is going to be a fun ride! Enjoy!
Christ the Eternal Word
1 John starts by describing the "Word", which is the translation of the word "logos". It is an important word that symbolizes everything that can be known about God. This was a word that was common in the parlance of the day. Since everyone knew the word, John uses it to describe the Creation of the world at a specific time within God's eternal nature.
The Greek philosophers saw the logos as the power that puts sense into the world, making the world orderly instead of chaotic. The logos was the power that set the world in perfect order and kept it going in perfect order. They saw the logos as the “Ultimate Reason” that controlled all things. (Dods, Morris, Barclay, Bruce, and others)
2. Importantly the Word pre-existed with God, and everything God created through came through the Word, even life itself. The Word also brought light into darkness which the darkness will never overcome.
3. John says this light came into the world which John the Baptist testified to. This is the first sign that the Word is Jesus, as we know John the Baptist announced Jesus' coming.
4. Instead of embracing the light of the Word, most people rejected it. But for those who received the Word, he gave them the right to become children born of God. As John will explain in chapter 3 they are, "born of God, not of human flesh".
5. Another key verse in the chapter is verse 14 ,"So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son."
I like the NIV translation better which says he came full of "grace" and "truth". This verse makes it unmistakeably clear that John is referring to no other the Jesus Christ, the only Son of God.
6. Then John the Baptist says something amazing to distinguish Jesus from all the other prophets. He said the law came through Moses, but grace and truth have come to use in Jesus Christ. To distinguish Jesus as superior to Moses was a very important distinction. Further he notes,
"Though no one has ever seen God, His unique Son has revealed Him to us."
There is no way to overstate the importance of these words in chapter 1. It is a clear description that Jesus is fundamentally both fully God and fully man. He was with God in the beginning and God created the world through him, as the pre-existent Word. Jesus became flesh, or became human, so the world would know what God looked like.
In the book of Colossians chapter Paul says something similar,
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
This is saying essentially the exact same thing John is saying in chapter 1. Note the gospel of John is written after the book of Colossians, which was written around 62 A.D. Hence, 38 years before John's gospel. This again confirms the authenticity and accuracy of God's Word, and why we can absolutely trust in it!
Click Here to Read Proverbs 14:13-14
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