READING FOR FEBRUARY 5, 2025: JUDGES 10, MATTHEW 3, PSALM 2:7-12 JUDGES 10 More Judges, More Disobedience by Israel, and More Oppression of Israel
The map shows the locations where some previous judges were active: Shamgar (Jud.3), Deborah (Jud. 4-5), and Gideon (Jud. 6-8). In this chapter Tola judged for 23 years. Jair followed him for 21 years and lived in Gilead. Jephthah will be the main figure in Judges 11. After Tola’s term, Israel’s cycle of serving other gods begins again. God’s response?
“He [God] became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, who that year shattered and crushed them” (vs. 7-8). Again, they cry out to God. This time God said in effect, “Haven’t I always bailed you out before? This time let those other gods save you.” Israel did something very important then. They confessed and rid themselves of their foreign gods.
God also wants us to repent and rid ourselves of anything causing us to sin. It could be job, family, sex, self, money, or entertainment. Consider Jesus’s decisive solution: “I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell” (Matt. 5:28-29). Jesus might be using hyperbole, but He truly wants us to rid ourselves of whatever causes of sin.
Israel’s reaction this time seems to be what God was seeking to draw out by His initial reluctance to rescue them again. Then Israel’s prime enemy this time, the Ammonites, gathered for battle in Gilead. The people of Gilead also gathered and asked themselves who would lead them against the Ammonites? Chapter 11 will provide the answer.
MATTHEW 3 According to verse 3, John the Baptist’s ministry was prophesized centuries before by the prophet Isaiah. John’s task, according to Isaiah, was to prepare the way for the Lord’s arrival. What was this message that would make the world ready, and us, for the arrival of Jesus’s ministry? “REPENT, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Do we really need to repent first to be ready for Jesus, to realize we need a savior? That’s seems counterintuitive, certainly in our culture. What if that message offends folks? But...what if it is true?
READINGS FOR FEBRUARY 5 CONTINUED: MATTHEW 3, PSALM 2:7-12 Here is a statement by a very popular current inspirational writer. It represents what many people believe: “Most people are good. Most people kiss their pets goodbye and read just ‘one more’ bedtime story to their children. Most people visit their grandparents even when they have no time and stop by to check on quiet friends, after a long day. Most people give money when money is scarce and most people worry about people they don’t even know, day in and day out. When the world seems bad, remember, most people are good.”
Most people may do these good things, but ever since the rebellion of Adam and Eve, all of us have fallen short of the perfect standards of a Holy God. We have continued to pursue our way instead of God’s way. John the Baptist’s message is that, although created in God’s image, we now first need to know that we are not good and need a savior. Our supposed natural goodness is not enough. One pastor summed up the gospel (the good news) well: “We are worse off than we realize, but we are loved more [by God] than we can ever imagine.”
Finally, after Jesus's baptism and temptation by Satan, what were Jesus’s very first words as He began His ministry? “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” At the end of His ministry, the unbearable weight of our sin led Jesus to pray, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Had our sin been no big deal, this matchless act of sacrificial love by Jesus would have not been needed. This sacrificial love is much greater than any our current culture could otherwise portray: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
PSALM 2:7-12 In Acts 13:33, Paul preached the good news that Psalm 2 promises: “God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘Thou are my Son: today I have begotten thee.’” The rest of this Psalm completes the story: God’s wrath remains on those who reject or ignore Jesus. God’s blessing is for all who take refuge in Him. God’s message of the hopelessness through our own efforts but the certainty of entrance into the kingdom of God for all who take refuge in Jesus is the good news of the entire Bible. THE GOSPEL.
