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Weekly Guide：Week 37
September 20, 2020
Week 37 Day 1: Repay for Vow ⇧ ⇩
Question
What did Jephthah of lowly birth do when the Ammonites attacked?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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Eighteen years after they turned away from God and were repressed by the Philistines and Ammonites, the Israelites repented and gotten rid of foreign gods. The Israelites needed someone to lead them when the Ammonites attacked.
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Jephthah the mighty warrior was driven out of the family because of his lowly birth. The elders asked him to come back to lead them in their fight against the Ammonites.
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Jephthah told Ammonites the three hundred years of history that God had given Israelites the land and that God will judge the dispute. King of Ammon paid no attention.
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Jephthah vowed to God that whoever came out to meet him first when he returned in triumph would be devoted to the Lord. Unexpectedly, his daughter, the only child came out first. However difficult, Jephthah kept his vow.
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The Ephraimites were going to burn down Jephthah’s house because they weren’t called to fight the Ammonites. Jephthah called together the men of Gilead to fight Ephraimites. Forty two thousand Ephraimites were killed.
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Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon became judges after Jephthah.
Meditation: My Story
- Community - Despite of his lowly birth, God had an important mission for Jephthah. Are there people around me whom I look down upon? Let me respect them to give them the opportunity to see how God values them.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Week 37 Day 2: Bold and Unbridled ⇧ ⇩
Question
What did Samson do with his great strength given by God?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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Israelites were in the hands of Philistines for forty years for they again did evil acts.
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God commanded the once infertile parents of Samson to dedicate him to God for life as Nazirite.
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The Spirit of the Lord came to Samson and gave him great strength that he teared the lion into pieces. Samson acted absurdly ignoring the law and his status as Nazirite.
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Samson ignored the law and married a Philistine woman.
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Samson planned to take advantage of his companions with a riddle but leaked the answer to his wife. He had to give away his wife and give them cloths from thirty Philistines he then killed.
Meditation: My Story
- Integrity - Samson could have done great things for God with the great power God had given him. But he chose to follow his own will. Although he powered over the Philistines and displayed much personal glory, he paled in comparison to Gideon. Let me learn from Samson’s example to put God’s will first, obey His commands, and live to glorify God.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Week 37 Day 3: To Perish Together ⇧ ⇩
Question
What situation was Samson in when he killed the most enemies?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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Samson left his father-in-law’s in anger. When he came back, his wife was already given away. Samson avenged against the Philistines and caused the death of his wife and father-in-law.
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The people of Judah gave Samson up to the Philistines under pressure. God’s spirit came upon Samson and he killed a thousand Philistine with a donkey’s jawbone. God opened up a spring to save Samson from thirst.
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With lies and God given strength, Samson was able to escape from Philistines’ attacks number of times. His lust for women caused him to give away his secret and cost him strength. Philistine captured Samson and gouged out his eyes. After regaining his strength, Samson pulled down the temple’s pillars. Samson perished together with all Philistines under the temple roof. Samson killed many more when he died then when he lived. He led Israel for twenty years.
Meditation: My Story
- Integrity - God had given Samson great strength but he relied on himself. He prayed to the Lord only twice in duress and ultimately could not realize his God given talent. Am I often blinded by my talent or advantage and unable to see my weakness? Let me come in front of God to pray and ask Him to help me see myself.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Week 37 Day 4: A Private Shrine ⇧ ⇩
Question
Where did the Levite from Bethlehem become a priest?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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Israel had no King. Everyone did as they see fit. (17:6)
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Micah made an ephod, built a shrine, and installed his own son as priest.
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The young Levite from Bethlehem stayed at Micah’s and became his priest.
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The tribe of Danite was seeking land of their own instead inheriting from what Moses and Joshua had drawn out for them when they took the idols and ephod they saw at Micah’s shrine and lured the young priest as their own.
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The Danites attacked savagely and burned the peaceful people at Laish, took their land, changed its name to Dan, and installed Jonathan, a descendant of Moses, and his sons as their priests.
Meditation: My Story
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Integrity - Although Micah and his mother claimed to worship God, they did it in their own way and turned it unknowingly into idol worshiping. Let me examine myself: do I worship God with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind? Or, do I worship in my own convenience, at a place, time, and in ways that I see fit?
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Fidelity - That young Levite did not serve at a place God had predetermined for him. Instead, following his own desires and never once consulted with God, became a priest for Micah then for the Danites. Do I humbly offer myself to God and obey His command when I serve or do I serve to satisfy my own desires and for my own benefit?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Week 37 Day 5: Wicked and Immoral ⇧ ⇩
Question
How far would the Israelites fall, being away from God?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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An Ephraim old man took in a Levite who was on his way home with his concubine near Gibeah in Benjamin.
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They met unexpectedly in this land of Benjamite by an evil act that had happened only in Sodom (Gen. 19), the city God had destroyed: some wicked men wanted to have sex with the Levite. The old man was willing to substitute his own daughter for the Levite but those wicked men refused. The Levite sent his concubine instead and she was raped overnight to death.
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The Levite cut up the concubine’s body into pieces and sent to all areas of Israel. All who saw it were shocked and wanted to do something about it.
Meditation: My Story
- Integrity - It took just two generations for God’s chosen people, the tribe of Benjamite, to fall from the most God obeying people who defeated Jericho to the most immoral that was comparable only to those of the Sodom. To see such a drastic change in so short a time when there’s no king and everyone did as they see fit may seem surprising and yet it’s an eye-opening warning for us. We might believe we are good enough that we don’t feel the need for God to discipline us. But without discipline from God, we can fall easily on the slippery paths of the world.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Week 37 Day 6: The Great Punishment ⇧ ⇩
Question
What was the result of Benjamites’ evil and wickedness?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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Seen such unspeakable crime committed by the Benjamites, all Israelites gathered together wanting to punish those wicked Benjamites. The Benjamites refused to give up those wicked men and sent army instead. The Benjamites killed forty thousand Israelites. After consulting with God, Israelites scored complete victory over the Benjamites and left with them only six hundred alive.
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Israelites realized that one of the tribes would be cut off. They began to regret and attempted to find wives for the remaining six hundred Benjamites. We can see how far the Israelites have fallen when the Book of Judges ends with “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”
Meditation: My Story
- Walking with God - In the entire book, the Israelites inquired of the Lord in front of the ark of the covenant only once, when they were beaten by the Benjamites. Their rebellion and immorality came because they did not see God anymore. Let me not treat God, Christ Jesus, as an addition to my life, as my trophy. Rather, let me live my life centered around Him, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1b)