Reading for Today:

• Judges 1:1 Chapter 1 1 And it came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the children of Israel asked of Jehovah, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them? –2:23
• Psalms 48:1-8 Chapter 48 1 Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised, In the city of our God, in his holy mountain. 2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is mount Zion, `on' the sides of the north, The city of the great King. 3 God hath made himself known in her palaces for a refuge. 4 For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, They passed by together. 5 They saw it, then were they amazed; They were dismayed, they hasted away. 6 Trembling took hold of them there, Pain, as of a woman in travail. 7 With the east wind Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish. 8 As we have heard, so have we seen In the city of Jehovah of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah
• Proverbs 14:15-17 15 The simple believeth every word; But the prudent man looketh well to his going. 16 A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil; But the fool beareth himself insolently, and is confident. 17 He that is soon angry will deal foolishly; And a man of wicked devices is hated.
• Luke 14:1-24 Chapter 14 1 And it came to pass, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him. 2 And behold, there was before him a certain man that had the dropsy. 3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath, or not? 4 But they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go. 5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well, and will not straightway draw him up on a sabbath day? 6 And they could not answer again unto these things. 7 And he spake a parable unto those that were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief seats; saying unto them, 8 When thou art bidden of any man to a marriage feast, sit not down in the chief seat; lest haply a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him, 9 and he that bade thee and him shall come and say to thee, Give this man place; and then thou shalt begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest place; that when he that hath bidden thee cometh, he may say to thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have glory in the presence of all that sit at meat with thee. 11 For everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 12 And he said to him also that had bidden him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; lest haply they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. 13 But when thou makest a feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: 14 and thou shalt be blessed; because they have not `wherewith' to recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just. 15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 16 But he said unto him, A certain man made a great supper; and he bade many: 17 and he sent forth his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for `all' things are now ready. 18 And they all with one `consent' began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a field, and I must needs go out and see it; I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 And the servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and maimed and blind and lame. 22 And the servant said, Lord, what thou didst command is done, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain `them' to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say unto you, that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper.

Notes:

Judges 1:19 they could not drive out. “They” of Judah could not. They had been promised by Joshua that they could conquer the lowland (Josh. 17:16, 18) and should have remembered Joshua 11:4 4 And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea-shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many. –9. This is a recurring failure among the tribes to rise to full trust and obedience for victory by God’s power. Compromising for less than what God was able to give (Josh. 1:6–9) began even in Joshua’s day (Judg. 2:2–6) and earlier (Num.13; 14). In another sense, God permitted enemies to hold out as a test to display whether His people would obey Him (2:20–23; 3:1, 4). Another factor involved keeping the wild animal count from rising too fast (Deut. 7:22).

Judges 2:1 the Angel of the LORD. One of 3 preincarnate theophanies by the Lord Jesus Christ in Judges (see 6:11–18; 13:3–23). This same Divine Messenger had earlier led Israel out of Egypt (see Ex. 14:19). I will never break My covenant with you. God would be faithful until the end, but the people would forfeit blessing for trouble, due to their disobedience (see v. 3).

Psalm 48:2 The joy of the whole earth. See the judgment context of Lamentations 2:15 15 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, `saying', Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? . the sides of the north. “North” is an interpretive translation of a word that occurs as a Semitic place name, i.e., “Zaphon.” In Canaanite mythology Zaphon was an ancient Near Eastern equivalent to Mt. Olympus, the dwelling place of pagan gods. If this was the psalmist’s intention in Psalms 48:2 2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is mount Zion, `on' the sides of the north, The city of the great King. , the reference becomes a polemical description of the Lord. He is not only King of Kings but also is God of all so-called gods. The city of the great King. See Psalms 47:2 2 For Jehovah Most High is terrible; He is a great King over all the earth. and Matthew 5:34 34 but I say unto you, swear not at all; neither by the heaven, for it is the throne of God; , 35. God Himself has always been the King of Kings.

Luke 14:21 the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind. I.e., people the Pharisees tended to regard as unclean or unworthy. The religious leaders condemned Jesus for His associations with prostitutes and tax collectors (see 5:29, 30; 15:1; Matt. 9:10, 11; 11:19; 21:31, 32; Mark 2:15 15 And it came to pass, that he was sitting at meat in his house, and many publicans and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. , 16).

Luke 14:23 into the highways and hedges. This evidently represents the Gentile regions. compel them to come in. I.e., not by force or violence, but by earnest persuasion.

DAY 18: Why was there a need for the judges?

“Another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done” (Judg. 2:10). The first people in the land had vivid recollections of all the miracles and judgments and were devoted to faith, duty, and purity. The new generation were ignorant of the experiences of their parents and yielded more easily to corruption. To a marked degree the people of this new generation were not true believers.

The new generation “followed other gods” (v. 12). Idol worship, such as the golden calf in the wilderness (Ex. 32), flared up again. Spurious gods of Canaan were plentiful. El was the supreme Canaanite deity, a god of uncontrolled lust and a bloody tyrant, as shown in writings found at Ras Shamra in northern Syria. His name means “strong, powerful.” Baal, son and successor of El, was “lord of heaven,” a farm god of rain and storm, his name meaning “lord, possessor.” His cult at Phoenicia included animal sacrifices, ritual meals, and licentious dances. Chambers catered to sacred prostitution by men and women (see 1 Kin. 14:23, 24; 2 Kin. 23:7). Anath, sister-wife of Baal, also called Ashtoreth (Astarte), patroness of sex and war, was called “virgin” and “holy,” but was actually a “sacred prostitute.” Many other gods besides these also attracted worship.

“The anger of the LORD was hot” against them (v. 14), which was followed by plunderers and calamities designed as chastisement to lead the people to repentance. During these times, “the LORD raised up judges” (v. 16). A “judge” or deliverer guided military expeditions against foes and arbitrated judicial matters (see 4:5). There was no succession or national rule. They were local deliverers, lifted up to leadership by God when the deplorable condition of Israel in the region around them prompted God to rescue the people.

From The MacArthur Daily Bible Copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson Bibles, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc, Nashville, TN 37214, www.thomasnelson.com.

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