March 23: Judges 9, 10 Civil strife became a common occurrence in Israel when the people did not live according to Gods laws. The two chapters of todays reading record some of that civil strife. Judges 9 – Contention for Power. When Gideon died, a power struggle began in Israel. The struggle was between Gideons seventy sons and Abimelech who was a son of Gideons concubine. •Desire of power: Abimelechs desire to reign over Israel was so great that he killed sixty-nine of Gideons seventy sons (the youngest son escaped by hiding) to get power; as it is with many nations in all ages, this power struggle was very bloody. •Denunciation of power: Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, gives a speech denouncing Israel for their ungrateful mistreatment of Gideon in slaying his sons. Jotham was right. •Defending of power: after a few years as king (v. 6), Abimelech experienced an insurrection in the person of Gaal, but Abimelech withstood Gaal who was more mouth than man. •Death of power: in fighting opposition to his reign, Abimelech was killed in Thebez when a woman dropped a millstone on his head from a tower; Abimelech, not wanting a woman to kill him, had his armor-bearer stab him to death; his death was Divine retribution for his evil of killing Gideons sons. Judges 10 – Corruption of the People. The repeated corruption of the people is emphasized in this chapter. •Politics during the corruption: the seventh judge Tola and the eighth judge Jair are mentioned, their achievements were minimal with Jairs achievement being only that he had thirty sons who road on donkeys and each son had a city—nothing of character here, only prestige; but when corruption sets in the land, politics reflect it. •Particulars of the corruption: it was the worship of the idol gods of the various nations surrounding Israel. •Penalty for corruption: when God allowed Philistia and Ammon to oppress Israel because of Israels idolatry, Israel prayed to God for help; but He refused to hear Israels prayer and told them to pray to their false gods for deliverance from their troubles. •Plea in the corruption: Israel confessed their sin, pled with God for mercy, and put away their idols and served God which caused Him to again have compassion for the Israelites. —Butlers Daily Bible Reading (1) Synopsis
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 10:53:59 +0000
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