April 4 - Judges 11:29-15:20

Good morning everyone,

As we begin today you will remember that Jephthah, because he was the son of a prostitute and a threat to the inheritance of his brothers, had been thrown out of the town and went to live in the land of Tob where a gang of worthless rebels would join up with him. When the Ammonites began war against Israel they sent for the J man to be their commander, he accepted the position and led an army throughout the land against the Amorites. 

In verse 30 we read of the vow Jephthah makes, offering to the Lord, as a sacrifice, what ever comes out to meet him when he gets home, never thinking the first thing he would see is his daughter, an only child. Because God does not honor human sacrifice, this was a little confusing to me. When I looked into it I found that while some scholars believe the girl was actually sacrificed on an alter with fire others will argue that that is not what happened at all. They will point out that in verse 31, and you will see this in the King James version, you can use the word “or” instead of the word “and” thus having the vow be “I will dedicate to the Lord or I will sacrifice.” I am not going to pretend that I know what actually happened there, that is something that I may never know this side of heaven, but whatever it was one thing is for certain, Jephthah made a vow to God and he kept it and because he is mentioned in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 we can believe he wholly trusted in God.

 Next we will take a brief look at Ibzan, Elon and Abdon. Little is known about these kings aside from the fact they must have had great wealth due to the number of kids and donkeys they had. Now that kind of makes me chuckle but nonetheless that’s the way it was.

That brings us to the sixth cycle of disobedience and Sampson. Though a man hand picked by God, while still in the womb, to be one to fight for Israel in a time of oppression, he will prove to have questionable morals. Sampson was a man of incredible strength, a gift from God that sadly wasn’t always used to glorify God. Sampson would prove to violate God’s law on different levels on many occasions and be weak to the sensuous eyes of a woman. However despite all of Sampson’s short comings, all of his past mistakes, in the end Sampson recognized his dependence on God. He would ask God for his strength back and take down the Philistine leaders.Sampson too has honorable mention in Hebrew’s Hall of Faith.

I love the lesson here, that no matter how badly we have failed in the past, it is never too late to repent and put our faith in Jesus because Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” but 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” that Psalm 103:12 “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” and, get this, Hebrews 10:17 “Then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” God will remember them no more! I love that promise! Even as we continue beating ourselves up over stupid things we do and have done, God has already forgotten them. Our God is such a loving and forgiving God who longingly wants to have a personal relationship with you and with me, with anyone who desires to walk down that narrow path with Him. We will read how Sampson made some really poor choices but God still loved him and in the end would still hear his prayer of confession and repentance and use Sampson one last time. Our God is an awesome God!

I pray you have a super good day, to God be the glory.

God bless you all …