Value

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

VALUE

Judges 18:7-31

7 So the five men left and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, unsuspecting and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous. Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no relationship with anyone else. 8 When they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, "How did you find things?" 9 They answered, "Come on, let's attack them! We have seen that the land is very good. Aren't you going to do something? Don't hesitate to go there and take it over. 10 When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever." 11 Then six hundred men from the clan of the Danites, armed for battle, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol. 12 On their way they set up camp near Kiriath Jearim in Judah. This is why the place west of Kiriath Jearim is called Mahaneh Dan to this day. 13 From there they went on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah's house. 14 Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish said to their brothers, "Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod, other household gods, a carved image and a cast idol? Now you know what to do." 15 So they turned in there and went to the house of the young Levite at Micah's place and greeted him. 16 The six hundred Danites, armed for battle, stood at the entrance to the gate. 17 The five men who had spied out the land went inside and took the carved image, the ephod, the other household gods and the cast idol while the priest and the six hundred armed men stood at the entrance to the gate. 18 When these men went into Micah's house and took the carved image, the ephod, the other household gods and the cast idol, the priest said to them, "What are you doing?" 19 They answered him, "Be quiet! Don't say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn't it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man's household?" 20 Then the priest was glad. He took the ephod, the other household gods and the carved image and went along with the people. 21 Putting their little children, their livestock and their possessions in front of them, they turned away and left. 22 When they had gone some distance from Micah's house, the men who lived near Micah were called together and overtook the Danites. 23 As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and said to Micah, "What's the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?" 24 He replied, "You took the gods I made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you ask, 'What's the matter with you?'" 25 The Danites answered, "Don't argue with us, or some hot-tempered men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives." 26 So the Danites went their way, and Micah, seeing that they were too strong for him, turned around and went back home. 27 Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a peaceful and unsuspecting people. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city. 28 There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there. 29 They named it Dan after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel — though the city used to be called Laish. 30 There the Danites set up for themselves the idols, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land. 31 They continued to use the idols Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.

This is a lot of text, but it's one complete story that is difficult to separate. There is one thing that bothers us. The Danites were looking to take the land that was assigned to them under the direction of Moses, and these are Israelites who have a history with Yahweh. Of course, they did not personally cross the Red Sea or see the pillar of fire and the pillar of smoke that led them through the wilderness. Those who crossed the Red Sea were their forefathers, but certainly they passed on the stories of how God delivered them from Egypt and brought them into the land of promise. However, when they came to the House of Micah, they took his idols and the Levi priest; in essence, they were no better than their forefathers when they wanted Aaron to make a golden calf to worship. Why would the chosen people of God want to take idols? Once again, we are faced with the concept of being God's people because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, and yet may very well have things that would be considered an idol. God was very specific when he said that we are to have no other gods before him. Although an idol may not be considered a god, it is something that we may place value on. If we are Christians, the only thing that we should place value on is our relationship with God. Yet, we find ourselves still placing value on many material things. We lock up all our homes to protect our possessions within. We place our money in a bank and maybe even invest in some worldly venture to increase our wealth because we place value on it, while all the time, Jesus said that we cannot serve two masters. Another point of interest is that although the Danites had been assigned a lot of land, they needed to destroy those living in it before they could take possession of it. They attacked the city and burned it to the ground. We think that was rather self-centered as it does not appear they counseled with God nor asked him to lead them. Once again, we know that these graven images or idols have no eyes to see, no ears to hear, and no mouth to speak, so why would they want them when the God almighty would simply give the Danites the land that was promised? Although they were successful, it was by their own hands, their own large numbers who overpowered the unsuspecting people who were living peacefully and had no relations with others, which means they had no allies to help defend them. It would seem the strong win, and the weak are the losers. We should not confuse being weak with being meek, in fact, we are in the Lord's army and dressed in his armor so that we can take our stand against the evil schemes of this Dark World and the forces of evil in the spiritual realm, for our battle is not against flesh and blood as the Danites fought against. Let us not look to our strength or our abilities, training, education, or wealth to win some worldly prize, whether that be success, power, or authority. When we humble ourselves before the Lord, he will lift us up, not that the reason we humble ourselves is so that He will lift us up. We are told, as far as it is up to us, we are to live in peace with all men. If we could do just that, there would be no conflicts, no envy, no jealousy, or bitterness. Because we are followers of Jesus Christ, we live in peace and harmony with each other, which means we do not live a self-seeking or self-centered life. In addition, because we follow Jesus, we have no need for idols. The only person we put value on is Jesus.

Seek First

DEVOTION

JUDGES

SEEK FIRST

Judged 18:1-6

18:1 In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 2 So the Danites sent five warriors from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all their clans. They told them, "Go, explore the land." The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. 3 When they were near Micah's house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they turned in there and asked him, "Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?" 4 He told them what Micah had done for him, and said, "He has hired me and I am his priest." 5 Then they said to him, "Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful." 6 The priest answered them, "Go in peace. Your journey has the LORD's approval."

NIV

Now the descendants of Dan needed their own place where they had not yet taken the territory assigned to them. As they approached the House of Micah, we don't know how they recognized the voice of the Levite priest. Perhaps the different tribes or sons of Jacob, as they took their inheritance, developed a certain dialect that may have been different than some of the other sons of Jacob and their dialect. In either case, they understood that he was a priest. However, I am not sure that Micah wanted him to be a priest for his idols or for the LORD. However, the Danites, when they asked the priest to inquire of God to learn whether their journey would be successful, the word used in Hebrew was Yahweh, not Elohiym. There is a major difference between those two names, as Yahweh means the existing one. The Danites wanted to know whether Yahweh would bless their journey. They were not interested in what the idols had to say. It is also interesting that the Levi priest, being from the tribe of Levi, knew the history of their tribe being the priests in the Tabernacle during their sojourning in the wilderness. Whenever Yahweh, as either the pillar of smoke or fire, moved, it was the Levites who disassembled the Tabernacle, packed it up, and carried it, reassembling it whenever Yahweh stopped moving in front of them. We take our lesson from the question the Danites inquired of the priest. “Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.” Therefore, we should learn not to move by our own will for we do not know if we will fail or be successful however, the Lord God knows all good things and so we should always inquire of the Lord regarding anything that we do, whether that is where we live, where we work, and where we worship together in church. When we take the words of Jesus as he taught his disciples the pattern for prayer, he included, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The “on earth’ phrase implies explicitly us, as we are on earth. It might be possible that we consider our will all too often by either forgetting or ignoring God's will. We are aware he has a plan for our lives, and the only way we can live according to his plan is to always inquire about what he wants us to do or not do. This is not to be confused with the list we generate about the do’s and don'ts, which usually differ depending on various denominational biases. The key we know this is our lists and not God's is that over time our lists change, and we know God never changes or does his will. We may even look back and laugh at some of the old hard lists the church tried to live by. Yes, it would be behoove us to always inquire of the Lord about anything, then we will know whether our journey will be successful. When we inquire of ourselves, we cannot be sure whether we will be successful or fail. Always seek first the Lord and his righteousness.

Worship Who

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

WORSHIP WHO

Judges 17

17:1 Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim 2 said to his mother, "The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse — I have that silver with me; I took it." Then his mother said, "The LORD bless you, my son!" 3 When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, "I solemnly consecrate my silver to the LORD for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol. I will give it back to you." 4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into the image and the idol. And they were put in Micah's house. 5 Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some idols and installed one of his sons as his priest. 6 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit. 7 A young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been living within the clan of Judah, 8 left that town in search of some other place to stay. On his way he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim. 9 Micah asked him, "Where are you from?" "I'm a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah," he said, "and I'm looking for a place to stay." 10 Then Micah said to him, "Live with me and be my father and priest, and I'll give you ten shekels of silver a year, your clothes and your food." 11 So the Levite agreed to live with him, and the young man was to him like one of his sons. 12 Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. 13 And Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest."

NIV

This is wrong on so many levels, we wonder why God wanted this recorded for us to know about, other than to make sure we do not try to emulate Micah. The first wrong we see is his mother wanting to have the silversmith cast an idol. Micah and his mother are Israelites, and they have to be aware of their history as a people. We are told that his mother used, "The LORD bless you, my son!” Yet she wanted an idol cast from her silver. Why would she think the LORD would be pleased with her having an image, or idol, and then for Micah to have a shrine, or in Hebrew it means a house of gods. However, the worst thing we notice is that everyone did as they saw fit, for Israel had no king. When people do not worship the Lord God, the maker of heaven and earth, then they do whatever is fit in their own eyes. We can see that in our culture because so many have no moral compass; they are, in fact, living in darkness, hiding in the dark so they can do whatever they see fit. They could even be aware of God, in some sense, but refuse to acknowledge his authority in their lives, because they want to do whatever they want to do, being their own authority. We, however, are not like that, for we know God has absolute authority in our lives. We should not even say that we are going to go here, or go there, do this, or do that, without counsel from our Lord. The Apostle James warns us that we should not say, or decide today or tomorrow, we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make money. The fact is, our lives are but a mist, here today and gone tomorrow. We should be thinking correctly and saying, “If the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that”. We cannot do what is right in our eyes, because we have a King, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and he has given us life, and it is to worship him. We cannot build any shrine or make anything an idol in our lives, including our lives in the church. If we make “good deeds” or some special position or title, or even our giving into an idol, we are missing the mark. We have one God, and we worship Him and Him alone. Sure, our works may follow as a result of our worship for our Lord, but that is all it is; first and foremost, our worship is to our Lord, so that we do what is right in His eyes. 

The Proud and the Humble

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

THE PROUD AND THE HUMBLE

Judges 16:21-31

21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. 23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, "Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands." 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, "Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain." 25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, "Bring out Samson to entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, "Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them." 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived. 31 Then his brothers and his father's whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel twenty years.

NIV

So the Philistines praised their dead god, not because they overpowered Samson, but because a woman used her womanly prowess to get him to tell her the truth of his strength. In their pride, they made a mistake that would cost them their lives. It wasn’t good enough to praise their little useless god, but they had to celebrate and have Samson brought to them so they could watch his subjectiveness. But that is not what happened, for God did not forget Samson, and he strengthened Samson one more time so he brought the house down, so to speak. Solomon, known as the wisest man, said, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall”. We see this played in all the rulers of the Philistines, plus a crowd of men and women who filled the temple, as well as thousands more on the roof, which must have overlooked an open-air portion, or courtyard, of the temple. They were so proud of defeating Samson, they did not know what was about to happen. Pride is an awful thing to hold within the heart, which will do more damage to the prideful than to anyone else. Humbleness is opposite to pridefulness, and we are told by Jesus to take his yoke upon us and to learn from him, for he is gentle and humble in heart. The apostle James tells us to humble ourselves before the Lord; it is He who will lift us up. When we try to lift ourselves up, proclaiming our accomplishments, whether they be success in either the world or in ministry, our educational level, our titles, or whatever we think makes us better or of higher standings then others, pride not only is lurking at our hearts, but is has taken over and we are simply destroying ourselves from within. Even if we confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that pridefulness causes a division within our hearts, and we simply cannot serve both God and self. Because we profess our service to God and desire to serve the Lord with our whole being, we should be servants to others, as Jesus said he did not come to be served but to serve. We believe it is impossible to serve both God and people without first having a humble heart. Samson humbled himself before God and was given his strength one last time. We should not humble ourselves just to get strength from the Lord or to be lifted up, but simply because we should be humble. 

Weaken by the World

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

WEAKENED BY THE WORLD

Judges 16:15-19

15 Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. 17 So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man." 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come back once more; he has told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. NIV

Although Samson had defended himself against thousands of men, striking them down even with the jawbone of a donkey, he could not defend himself against that nagging, prodding woman, Delilah. Once again, she was not interested in the love of Samson, but took advantage of his love for her because she had a love for that silver she was promised if she could find out how to subdue or weaken Samson. On the surface, the woman won, and Samson told her everything. We might think he was a dope for giving in to her nagging and telling her the truth about his strength, yet we know God would expect honesty from His people. The fact that Samson was a Nazarite, one set apart for God, we could call Samson a “Man of God”, which all of us are in some sense. We are either a man or a woman of God, a brother or sister of Jesus, co-heirs with him, children of God. We are the sheep of the Great Shepherd, belonging to God, and have been set apart for and to God. Samson was set apart to deliver Israel from the rule of the Philistines, but we see the Philistine woman accomplishing what thousands of men could not. We will know the reason he began to weaken was not just a razor being put to his head, but the LORD left him.

20 Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

Was Samson true to the LORD, or did he allow himself to be deceived by his own desire? Because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and are now called children of God, set apart for him, and seeing Israel always turning to some other god, or idol, and now even Samson, a man set apart from birth, turns to a foreign woman, or turns to his own desires and thus, away from God, and as a result, God left him, and Samson was weakened. We should know better than to turn to anything or anyone other than God. The question we have to ask ourselves is, have we? Have we put our trust in anything other than our Lord? Of course, we would confess we can only trust him for our salvation, but what about the rest of life? Do we look to our own abilities, skills, talents, education, profession, or wealth for our success or security? Maybe we don’t turn away from the Lord, but just get distracted by all the things of this world. We know God’s intent is not that we are rich or poor, but that we seek him, and his righteousness first and foremost, and he will add whatever we need to our lives, and that can include all the things those who trust in the world chase after. Let us not be like Samson, allowing ourselves to become weakened by the world, but let us remain strong because we are in Christ and He is in us.

 

True Love

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

TRUE LOVE

Judges 16:4-14

4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver." 6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued." 7 Samson answered her, "If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man." 8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered. 10 Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied." 11 He said, "If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I'll become as weak as any other man." 12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads. 13 Delilah then said to Samson, "Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied." He replied, "If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric [on the loom] and tighten it with the pin, I'll become as weak as any other man." So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and tightened it with the pin. Again she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.

NIV

This is a one-sided love, for we can clearly see from this narrative and the rest that will follow that Delilah was not in love with Samson, but was motivated by her own self-interest. She wanted that twenty-eight pounds of silver from each of the rulers of the Philistines. She had no commitment to Samson, and we would think that he could see right through her constant asking, or nagging, what his secret that gave him such strength. At first, he seemed wise to her persistence in wanting to know his secret, and with each time having the Philistines come upon him. He had to know by now that she was not interested in his well-being, but her own. Yet she kept on nagging, and he kept on keeping his secret, at least for now. We know what is going to happen, but our lesson today is about this one-sided love. We have often thought that within a relationship that is not established with mutual or equal love, the person who loves less controls the relationship. However, when love is mutual or equal, each is looking for the benefit of the other, giving instead of taking. Yet, while both give, each receives, and both are benefited by a union that is established by God. Samson would give in to this one-sided love he had for Delilah, as we are never told that she fell in love with Samson. Perhaps because the times were different and it was not necessary for a woman to love her man, but to obey him, yet Delilah didn’t obey Samson either, but had her mind on all that silver. In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he tells him that the love of money is the root of all evil. There is no question that Delilah’s love for that silver drove her to evil deeds against Samson. When we are in perfect harmony with each other because of mutual love, and our lives are dedicated to the Lord and not to this world’s wealth, we then see the absence of evil within our relationships. However, if we look to the ways of this world, if we desire the things of this world, the wealth, positions, power, looking for the esteem of men, rather than from God, evil lurks at the door of our hearts. When we take to heart the definition Paul gives, under the inspiration of the Spirit, of love in the letter to the Corinthians, then we see the love of God that we should emulate in our relationships with each other. Then we will know true love. 

The Gate

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

THE GATE

Judges 16:1-3

16:1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2 The people of Gaza were told, "Samson is here!" So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, "At dawn we'll kill him." 3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

NIV

It would appear that everyone who is not an Israelite is out to kill Samson. Are they just jealous because of his great strength, or is it out of fear that he will destroy them? He has a reputation for killing thousands of men, as we just saw with one jawbone of a donkey. Whatever the reason for their wanting him subdued or killed, he needs to be smart or listen to the Spirit. Although this could be seen as the world’s conflict with us, that is as long as we take our stand against the forces of evil, speaking up for the gospel. In fact, the enemy of our souls is always roaming about seeking whom he can destroy, tempting believers to have an affair with the world. But our story is about those city gates that Samson tore right off the hinges and then carried large, heavy wooden gates up a hill. There is another city where the gates are only open to those who have accepted the key to that city, which is now in the heavenly realm. This is the new city of Jerusalem, and Jesus is the key, the way into that city. It is just the same as when he died upon that cross, the curtain in the temple, keeping the people away from the Holy of Holies, the presence of God, was torn in two, giving the people a way to God. Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life. He is the way into the new city of Jerusalem. He threw open the gates, all twelve of them, each made from a single pearl. Jesus said that he was the gate, the one true gate into the presence of the Lord God Almighty. When John was given the revelation, he was shown an open door, or gate into heaven, and Jesus told him, “Come up here”. We cannot tear down that gate nor carry it alone on our shoulders. What we can do is accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and He will throw open the gates to heaven for us. In Addition, we do not even have to carry the burdens of this world alone, for we can take his yoke upon us and learn from him. He will lift the load; he will carry us through. No amount of our strength, abilities, knowledge, education, wealth, works, titles, or anything else of ours can carry us through the burdens of this world, or through the city gates of that new city. Only our faith in Jesus will get us access to the city of God. Samson may have carried those gates, but we have Jesus, the Gate, and he will carry us through.