One of these things is not like the others,One of these things just doesn’t belong.Can you tell which thing is not like the othersBy the time I finish my song? ~ Sesame Street song Should we swallow anything anyone tells us, or should we be vigilant and on our guard…
The Book of Ruth might at first seem to be a very minor story in the Old Testament. It takes place “in the days when the judges ruled” (Ru 1:1), and it might seem to just be a filler book that merely explains the ancestry of David (and as a…
This is the last chapter in the Book of Judges, and it is the end of perhaps the most chilling story of all, which continues from Chapter 19 and Chapter 20. We saw how Benjamin harbored “sons of Belial” and defended their brethren in spite of the evil they perpetrated. …
Chapter 19 certainly had some twists and turns. Speaking for myself, portions of it are a little difficult for me to relate to. Chapter 20 picks up the story after the Levite cut up his dead wife into twelve pieces and shipped a piece to each of the tribes of…
Moving from Chapter 18 to Chapter 19 again represents the beginning of a story given out of time sequence. This story takes three chapters, the rest of the book. This certainly leaves one with a negative view of the book and the period. However, we need to remember that the…
In Chapter 17, we began the story of Micah the Ephraimite who had set up a house of gods and took in a wandering Levite to be his priest. Chapter 18 continues with the reminder that “In those days there was no king in Israel”. The tribe of Dan had…
Chapter 16 was the end of the first section, and we now come to the second section of the Book of Judges starting with Chapter 17. It is certainly set out of time sequence, and it was probably originally written by a different author. The circumstances dictate an early timeframe, but…
Samson was judge of Israel for 20 years. This was annotated at the end of Chapter 15 and is again noted again at the end of this chapter. It is not two periods of 20 years, but rather it is two references to the same time period. Two references. Yet,…
Last time in Chapter 14, we looked at the first part of Samson’s story after becoming an adult. We exploded the myth that his marriage to a Philistine was somehow sinful. We saw how God intended to use the marriage to seek an occasion against the Philistines. We also saw…
Last time in Chapter 13, we looked at Samson and the circumstances of his unusual birth. He was to be a Nazarite from birth. Usually, someone took a Nazarite vow for a specific amount of time and did so voluntarily, whereas Samson had no say in the matter. It is…