I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
Today’s passage contains a tragic story. A Levite was traveling from Bethlehem to the remote hill country of Ephraim with a servant and his concubine. He stopped for the night in Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. Initially, no one took them in, but as it was getting late a man who was originally from the hill country of Ephraim invited them to stay at his house. Actually, the man insisted that they do so rather than staying in the town square. The Levite and those traveling with him went to stay with the man. While they were eating the men of the town started pounding on the door of the house demanding that the Levite be brought out to them so that they could rape him. The man the Levite was staying with offered the men of the town his daughter and the Levite’s concubine, but the men of the town did not listen to him. The Levite finally forced his concubine out the door. The men of the town raped her throughout the night and let her go at daybreak. She returned to the house the Levite was staying at and died on the doorstep.
This story has many elements that are wrong. First, the men of this town demanding to be given the visiting man so that they could rape him. This is especially significant because the Levite chose to travel later in the day to stay in a town of the Israelites rather than in a town of non-Israelites. Then we have the Levite’s host offering the men his daughter and the Levite’s concubine. Finally, we have the Levite forcing his concubine out to the men to be raped to death. All in all a tragic story with no real good guys (although the man who took the Levite and his family in for the night comes close).
When the Levite got home, he sent messages to all of the tribes of Israel calling for something to be done. The tribes gathered and vowed to punish the city of Gibeah for its crime. It is worth noting that the crime was not just the rape and murder of the Levite’s concubine and the attempt to rape the Levite. It is clear from the story that the men of Gibeah routinely preyed upon travelers. Once they had assembled their army the Israelites sent word to the tribe of Benjamin requesting that they turn the men of Gibeah over for punishment. Rather than doing so, the Benjamites gathered to defend Gibeah. The Israelites gathered their army and vastly outnumbered the Benjamites. On the first two days of battle the Benjamites inflicted heavy casualties on the rest of the Israelites. On each of those days, the Benjamites killed almost as many of the Israelite army as there were Benjamite fighting men. On the third day, the Israelites withdrew for a day of prayer and fasting. After the day of fasting, the Israelites returned to attack Gibeah. This time they set an ambush. When the Benjamites came out to fight them, the main army retreated as if being defeated like the first two days of battle. The Benjamites pursued them. Once the Benjamites had been drawn away from the city the force set in ambush entered the city and sacked the city. At the moment the Benjamites realized that the city was being sacked, the main army counterattacked. The overwhelming majority of the Benjamite army was killed that day, but a small force of about 600 fled to a stronghold. When the remnant of the Benjamite army withdrew to a stronghold, the Israelite army destroyed all of the Benjamite cities and towns, putting everyone to the sword.
Jesus left Jerusalem and spent some time in the Judean countryside where He preached and His disciples baptized people. John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing not far from where Jesus was (at least that is how the passage reads to me). John’s disciples got into an argument with “a certain Jew” over ceremonial washing. This argument led them to return to John and ask him about Jesus. They were apparently concerned because Jesus was gaining honor that they thought should be going to John the Baptist. John the Baptist replied to them that this was as it should be. His purpose was to prepare people for Jesus’ coming and to point the way to Him. John finishes his words to the disciples with something we should all take to heart and live by, “He must become greater, I must become less.”
While John the Baptist was speaking in terms of a ministry that had become a big deal before Jesus was on the scene, nevertheless we also should approach life like that. I strive to live my life so that any glory that comes from my actions goes to Christ, not to myself. I just realized that I need to work on that mindset for my approach to this blog. I have been disappointed in the number of hits I have been getting. However, my disappointment was because I was not gaining a following. I need to remind myself that I do not truly want a following. I want more people to follow Jesus Christ. If people come to follow Jesus through reading my blog, or become better followers of Him that way, then God be praised. If people are reading my blog because they want to follow my writings, I have failed.
Today’s psalm is a continuation of yesterday’s and continues the theme of “Let all that I am praise the Lord.” There is much in this to raise my spirits and lead me to praise the Lord.
I will praise my God to my last breath!
May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,
That last phrase shall be my prayer for today. I will pray to God that He guide my thoughts this and every day so that every last one of them may be pleasing to Him.
There are three proverbs in today’s passage. The first tells us that those who plan to do evil will be lost, while those plan to do good find faithfulness and love. This explains why so often evil plans fail. IF you study history, you will see time and again evil people who make plans to do great evil (and they often do do great evil) but their plans fail because of some action which was an obviously bad idea.
The second and third are linked. The path to profit is hard work applied with wisdom. Those who are all talk end in poverty and the work of fools yields nothing of value.