April 27, Reading Notes

Judges 7:1-8:17

Judges 7

This chapter has one of the more "well-known" stories or children's stories of the OT. It also gets used for management and discipleship pointers all the time.

Vs. 2-8

Note that since God was doing this, He didn't need the numbers. Actually, God could have fought this war completely without Gideon. So, why did God need anyone at all? There are some good things for us as disciples here.

V. 3 The last sentence where it says "Then 22,000…," the RSV and Luther say first that "Gideon tested them and then 22,000…" Gideon did as God said and people left. Humanly speaking, this says something for Gideon's faith in accepting God's way of doing things, considering he was facing a huge army. Later we will see King Saul break faith with God in following, when the people begin leaving him as he is waiting for Samuel to arrive and sacrifice and encourage the troops. This was just as much a test for Gideon.

I've heard people discuss why the "lappers" were chosen over the "kneelers," and my conclusion is that it had nothing to do with one group being better fighters than the others. God wanted the smaller group.

Vs. 9-25

Notice that it was God who told Gideon to go and listen to the dream (nightmare) being explained. The Lord's encouragement of Gideon was very gracious.

V. 18 When Gideon had the men yell out, "For the Lord and for Gideon," I think he included himself because of what he heard in the explanation of the dream. The enemy army knew Gideon's name.

Notice that once the victory was given, Gideon engaged the help of the other tribes. Gideon, in a good sense, always seemed to be thinking of doing what he did with others.

Judges 8:1-17

Vs. 1-3 are kind of strange and we'll see this kind of situation again, but not with a happy ending. The tribe of Ephraim seems to have an aggressive spirit. The issue is not that they wanted to help, but they wanted the booty, the goods and materials and money and weapons and livestock you got from the plunder. Gideon is the model of diplomacy. And, in fact, Ephraim was called and they were raking it in. In a few pages, Ephraim will pull this stunt again with a guy who has just "lost" his daughter, and he won't think it is funny.

Vs. 4-9 These towns guessed wrong. Since Gideon already had the Midianites on the run, these people should have trusted God and helped him. These should have been Israelite owned and operated, but during this time there was a lot of mixing and no one was really following the Lord. If Gideon was known to the Midianites, he was certainly known to his own people. To not help, was the same as refusing to follow the Lord. It might have been that these towns had seen how many Midianites had retreated, and were now looking at how few men Gideon had. Still, it is always better to side with the Lord and let Him make the final accounting.

Vs. 10-12 Here is where we get the numbers. The enemy began with 137,000 and were reduced now to only 15,000. Gideon only had 300 men and they were about to clean house. Obviously the victory was from the Lord, in fulfillment of what He had spoken to Moses in the blessings and curses. If Israel obeyed, one man would be able to put a thousand of the enemy to flight. It was God who fought. The people were merely representative and there for clean-up.

Vs. 13-17 Gideon, as a judge, also judged Israel. It seems to me that if Gideon killed the people of Penuel, they probably were Canaanites.

Luke 23:13-43

Vs. 13-25 Luke makes it clear that Pilate really did try to release Jesus, including a massive "pre-pre-crucifixion" beating to make the Jews feel sorry for Him and sense that justice had been delivered. The reality is, that if any of us had received that beating, we would have never been the same and might have died from the wounds. It might have been years before we could have done anything public and we would have never been normal. Here and in John's account, you have the sense of Pilate slowly understanding the deep and powerful, supernatural, irrational, spiritual hatred that was flowing through that place.

As disciples, that same supernatural, spiritual resistance and hatred is always at work. Our praying and serving need to be on that supernatural level. Reading books on conflict resolution is recommended. Thinking that we have the wisdom and skill to always succeed is foolish. Both Jesus and Paul said that our conflict is spiritual, both in dealing with the world rulers of this present darkness, and with dealing with the spiritually rebellious and depraved nature of men. This is no "cake walk," and any advances should be regarded as occasions to worship.

Vs. 26-31 Matthew, Mark and Luke all mention Simon of Cyrene. What is significant here is that as Luke writes Acts, the influence from Cyrene is seen. The men of Cyrene were some of the first Gospel preachers to the Gentiles. And I wonder, like you do, if Simon had some hand in this.

Luke is the only one who records Jesus' words to the women. It seems that His words to them foreshadow the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. The destruction among the Jews would be so severe, that the only women who wouldn't lose a child would be the childless.

Vs. 32-43 In keeping with Luke's interest in God's grace and the Gospel, Luke records the salvation of one of the thieves who were crucified with Jesus. The other writers mention that they verbally abused Jesus, at first, just like all the others did. But as the leaders paraded before Jesus expressing their irrational hatred, in those hours on the cross, it must have dawned on one of those men what was happening. All that he had heard about Jesus came to mind, and even on the cross as he witnessed Jesus and the hatred directed toward Him, believed the Gospel. This guy actually understood and believed that Jesus would be coming into His kingdom. That's maybe not how we "define" the gospel, but this guy understood a lot.

To think that among Jesus' final words on the cross, there were words of confirmation of salvation. Even in His death, Jesus gave "soul winning" testimony. Something for us as disciples to think about as we live and die for Christ in the harvest. Jesus did not wrangle or cry aloud, but His Father used His heart, His silence, obedience and gentleness in death to convict others.

Psalms 97-98

Psalm 97

I guess what I get from verses 1-5 is that the earth recognizes that God reigns and responds appropriately. The earth knows how to respond to God when He comes in judgment. Verses 6-9 encourage the world and its peoples to respond to God's righteousness and coming in judgment.

Vs. 10-12 seem to be for His servants and how we, as disciples, are supposed to respond to the Lord. It is interesting here to see the love of the Lord spoken of, but then, it is said that if we really love Him, it will be seen in keeping ourselves from things He hates, hating them too. Our joy is to be in His deliverance and light and joy as we follow Him.

Psalm 98

This song of joy is for the coming of God in judgment. The perspective is clearly that of being completely in love with the Lord. Judgment is only mentioned as being equitable. The real focus is that He will come and all will be complete and everything will rejoice at His arrival. A good thing to remember as we work in the harvest and live in a sad, tragic, dying world.

Proverbs 14:7-8

Verse 7 seems to compliment 8b in that the wise man seeks God in all the events of life to understand God's way and will for Him. For a wise man, there is nothing that helps him find God's will in the presence of a fool.

Apparently, a fool's own folly looks the right way for him.

If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link Every Day in the Word. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.” 

I'm writing these comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the harvest.

If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is, the commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.

I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.

Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.