Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Judges 6:11-27.  Let’s go!

Judges 6:11-16 (NIV)
11  The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.
12  When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
13  “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”

On verses 13-16:  God did not directly answer Gideon’s questions and doubts about why God seemed uninvolved and unconcerned when all this oppression was happening to his people (v13).  God could easily have pointed to all the ways that Gideon’s people had broken their covenant with God and how patient God had been with the Israelites up to this point.  But instead of focusing on that, instead of explaining anything, God gives Gideon a mission to save Israel from the hand of Midian (v14).

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Judges 5:14-31.  Let’s go!

Judges 5:14-18 (NIV)
14  Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek; Benjamin was with the people who followed you. From Makir captains came down, from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s staff.
15  The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; yes, Issachar was with Barak, rushing after him into the valley. In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart.
16  Why did you stay among the campfires to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart.
17  Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he linger by the ships? Asher remained on the coast and stayed in his coves.
18  The people of Zebulun risked their very lives; so did Naphtali on the heights of the field.
 
On verses 14-18:  The biggest theme of Deborah’s song in verses 2-13 was celebrating the willingness of the Israelites to go out and fight for their nation.  This theme continues as Deborah praises the willing tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun and “Makir”, which scholars believe is a poetic reference to the tribe of Manasseh (v14).  Deborah also praises Issachar (v15a), Zebulun and Naphtali (v18).  However, Deborah calls out the tribe of Reuben for not going to fight and instead pictures them comforting themselves by a fire, having second thoughts (v15b-16).    Deborah also calls out “Gilead”, which probably is a reference to the tribe of Gad, as well as Dan and Asher (v17) for not participating.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Judges 4:11-24.  Let’s go!

Judges 4:11 (NIV)
11  Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.  
 
On verse 11:  The author of Judges has been talking about Deborah and Barak of the Israelites going to war against the Canaanites, so what does Heber the Kenite have anything to do with this?  We’ll see starting at verse 17. 

Judges 4:12-14 (NIV)
12  When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,
13  Sisera gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River.  
14  Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by ten thousand men.
 
On verses 12-14:  Previously in Judges 1:19, the tribe of Judah could not advance successfully in the plains because they were intimidated by their enemies’ iron chariots.  Now the Israelites are facing iron chariots again, but rather than being intimidated, Deborah tells Barak to move forward in faith.  She reminds him that the LORD has already gone before him.
 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Judges 3:12-31.  Let’s go!

Judges 3:12-15 (NIV)
12  Once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.
13  Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.
14  The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.
15  Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer–Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.
 
On verses 12-15:  Consistent with the pattern that we’ll see repeatedly in Judges, the Israelites forsake the LORD (v12) and are subjected to another nation for many years (in this case, Moab with the help of the Ammonites and Amelekites) (v12-14).  The Israelites cry out to the LORD for help (v15), and God sends them a deliverer who, in this case, is Ehud (v15).  Ehud is from the tribe of Benjamin (which literally means “son at my right hand”) and yet, ironically, Ehud is left-handed (v15). 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Judges 2:11-23.  Let’s go!

Judges 2:11-19 (NIV)
11  Then the Israeites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.
12  They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger
13  because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

On verses 11-19:  These verses summarize a pattern that you’ll see happening over and over again in the book of Judges: the Israelites forsake God; the Israelites are attacked, plundered and abused by other nations; the Israelites cry out to God; God sends a deliverer (a judge) to save them; the Israelites serve God for a time while under the deliverer’s leadership, but when that deliverer dies, the Israelites go back to forsaking God all over again, and the cycle repeats itself.