Today, we see the birth of Sampson. The angel who comes to his family tells them that Sampson is to be a nazirite.  He is to be set apart, no unclean food, no wine, no haircuts. He is to be … Continue reading →

We have seen a lot of stories thus far of well-known judges. Gideon’s story took chapters. But today, we see the story of three individual judges that takes about seven verses. We don’t know much about them. We don’t know … Continue reading →

Today, we looked at a story about the warfare among the tribes, but it was so much more than that. We see the concept of a “Shibboleth.” This is a word that certain tribes could not pronounce correctly, thus revealing … Continue reading →

Jephthah is always one of the more interesting stories in the Bible to me. He is a judge who makes a hasty vow that comes at a great cost to his daughter. This is a cautionary tale to us to … Continue reading →

We see the Israelites fall into sin and slavery again today.  We take a few moments to unpack again what idolatry truly is.  It is not a golden calf on top of the TV, or some pagan pole in our … Continue reading →

We see the story today of two judges whom we do not know much about.  And saying we see their story isn’t really right, either. We don’t see their stories. We see their names and that’s about it. We don’t … Continue reading →

We see the conclusion of what started yesterday with the parable. Abimelech reaped what he sowed. One thing that is really important for us to realize is that as Christians, we do not believe in karma. That is not a … Continue reading →

We see a beautiful parable today about trees and power. In this parable, the trees go to two other trees, the olive tree and the fig tree, and ask them to be their king. But, they say no, because while … Continue reading →

We see Gideon die today, and while he told the people that he, nor his children, would be king of them, one of his kids, Abimelech, sees the power that could be his if he were king. So, he begins … Continue reading →

The people come to Gideon and ask him to be king. He responds in the right way, no, that is not what you need. So, he gets that right. But then asks for golden earrings and makes an idol from … Continue reading →