Judges 20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Receive Sight - May 30, 2022

Jesus told the blind man, “‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated sent)” (John 9:7). Access to the pool of Siloam involved the descent of three sets of stone-hewn steps, five steps each—no casual stroll for anyone, much less a blind man. But he did it, and he leaned over the edge of the pool and began to wash his eyes. And, from one moment to the next, he could see.

The question is often asked, “What does a person need to know to become a follower of Christ?” This story provides an answer. The man knew nothing of the virgin birth or the Beatitudes. He received sight, not because he deserved it, earned it, or found it.  He received sight because he trusted and obeyed the One who was sent to “open eyes that are blind” (Isaiah 42:7 NIV). Remember friends, you are never alone.

Judges 20 ... Then all the People of Israel came out. The congregation met in the presence of God at Mizpah. They were all there, from Dan to Beersheba, as one person! The leaders of all the people, representing all the tribes of Israel, took their places in the gathering of God’s people. There were four hundred divisions of sword-wielding infantry.

3 Meanwhile the Benjaminites got wind that the Israelites were meeting at Mizpah.

The People of Israel said, “Now tell us. How did this outrageous evil happen?”

4-7 The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, spoke: “My concubine and I came to spend the night at Gibeah, a Benjaminite town. That night the men of Gibeah came after me. They surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They gang-raped my concubine and she died. So I took my concubine, cut up her body, and sent her piece by piece—twelve pieces!—to every part of Israel’s inheritance. This vile and outrageous crime was committed in Israel! So, Israelites, make up your minds. Decide on some action!”

8-11 All the people were at once and as one person on their feet. “None of us will go home; not a single one of us will go to his own house. Here’s our plan for dealing with Gibeah: We’ll march against it by drawing lots. We’ll take ten of every hundred men from all the tribes of Israel (a hundred of every thousand, and a thousand of every ten thousand) to carry food for the army. When the troops arrive at Gibeah they will settle accounts for this outrageous and vile evil that was done in Israel.” So all the men in Israel were gathered against the city, totally united.

12-13 The Israelite tribes sent messengers throughout the tribe of Benjamin saying, “What’s the meaning of this outrage that took place among you? Surrender the men right here and now, these hell-raisers of Gibeah. We’ll put them to death and burn the evil out of Israel.”

13-16 But they wouldn’t do it. The Benjaminites refused to listen to their brothers, the People of Israel. Instead they raised an army from all their cities and rallied at Gibeah to go to war against the People of Israel. In no time at all they had recruited from their cities twenty-six divisions of sword-wielding infantry. From Gibeah they got seven hundred hand-picked fighters, the best. There were another seven hundred supermarksmen who were ambidextrous—they could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

17 The men of Israel, excluding Benjamin, mobilized four hundred divisions of sword-wielding fighting men.

* * *

18 They set out and went to Bethel to inquire of God. The People of Israel said, “Who of us shall be first to go into battle with the Benjaminites?”

God said, “Judah goes first.”

19-21 The People of Israel got up the next morning and camped before Gibeah. The army of Israel marched out against Benjamin and took up their positions, ready to attack Gibeah. But the Benjaminites poured out of Gibeah and devastated twenty-two Israelite divisions on the ground.

22-23 The Israelites went back to the sanctuary and wept before God until evening. They again inquired of God, “Shall we again go into battle against the Benjaminites, our brothers?”

God said, “Yes. Attack.”

24-25 The army took heart. The men of Israel took up the positions they had deployed on the first day.

On the second day, the Israelites again advanced against Benjamin. This time as the Benjaminites came out of the city, on this second day, they devastated another eighteen Israelite divisions, all swordsmen.

26 All the People of Israel, the whole army, were back at Bethel, weeping, sitting there in the presence of God. That day they fasted until evening. They sacrificed Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings before God.

27-28 And they again inquired of God. The Chest of God’s Covenant was there at that time with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, as the ministering priest. They asked, “Shall we again march into battle against the Benjaminites, our brothers? Or should we call it quits?”

And God said, “Attack. Tomorrow I’ll give you victory.”

29-31 This time Israel placed men in ambush all around Gibeah. On the third day when Israel set out, they took up the same positions before the Benjaminites as before. When the Benjaminites came out to meet the army, they moved out from the city. Benjaminites began to cut down some of the troops just as they had before. About thirty men fell in the field and on the roads to Bethel and Gibeah.

32 The Benjaminites started bragging, “We’re dropping them like flies, just as before!”

33 But the Israelites strategized: “Now let’s retreat and pull them out of the city onto the main roads.” So every Israelite moved farther out to Baal Tamar; at the same time the Israelite ambush rushed from its place west of Gibeah.

34-36 Ten crack divisions from all over Israel now arrived at Gibeah—intense, bloody fighting! The Benjaminites had no idea that they were about to go down in defeat—God routed them before Israel. The Israelites decimated twenty-five divisions of Benjamin that day—25,100 killed. They were all swordsmen. The Benjaminites saw that they were beaten.

The men of Israel acted like they were retreating before Benjamin, knowing that they could depend on the ambush they had prepared for Gibeah.

37-40 The ambush erupted and made quick work of Gibeah. The ambush spread out and massacred the city. The strategy for the main body of the ambush was that they send up a smoke signal from the city. Then the men of Israel would turn in battle. When that happened, Benjamin had killed about thirty Israelites and thought they were on their way to victory, yelling out, “They’re on the run, just as in the first battle!” But then the signal went up from the city—a huge column of smoke. When the Benjaminites looked back, there it was, the whole city going up in smoke.

41-43 By the time the men of Israel had turned back on them, the men of Benjamin fell apart—they could see that they were trapped. Confronted by the Israelites, they tried to get away down the wilderness road, but by now the battle was everywhere. The men of Israel poured out of the towns, killing them right and left, hot on their trail, picking them off east of Gibeah.

* * *

44 Eighteen divisions of Benjaminites were wiped out, all their best fighters.

45 Five divisions turned to escape to the wilderness, to Rimmon Rock, but the Israelites caught and slaughtered them on roads.

Keeping the pressure on, the Israelites brought down two more divisions.

46 The total of the Benjaminites killed that day came to twenty-five divisions of infantry, their best swordsmen.

47 Six hundred men got away. They made it to Rimmon Rock in the wilderness and held out there for four months.

48 The men of Israel came back and killed all the Benjaminites who were left, all the men and animals they found in every town, and then torched the towns, sending them up in flames.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, May 30, 2022
Today's Scripture
2 Corinthians 5:11–19

That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure. It’s no light thing to know that we’ll all one day stand in that place of Judgment. That’s why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God. God alone knows how well we do this, but I hope you realize how much and deeply we care. We’re not saying this to make ourselves look good to you. We just thought it would make you feel good, proud even, that we’re on your side and not just nice to your face as so many people are. If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.

A New Life

14–15     Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

16–20     Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing.

Insight

Paul makes this sobering statement in 2 Corinthians 5:10: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” Yet he uses this truth not as a scare tactic but as a tool to spur us on to useful service for God. This is why he says, “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others” (v. 11). Paul added, “Christ’s love compels us” (v. 14). Because Jesus “died for all, . . . those who live should no longer live for themselves” (v. 15). Jesus’ love motivates our service for Him. By: Tim Gustafson

Healing for the Whole World

God . . . reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:18

Tucked into a remote gorge in western Slovenia, a secret medical facility (Franja Partisan Hospital) housed an extensive staff that tended to thousands of wounded soldiers during World War II—all the while staying hidden from the Nazis. Though avoiding detection from numerous Nazi attempts to locate the facility is in itself a remarkable feat, even more remarkable is that the hospital (founded and run by the Slovenia resistance movement) cared for soldiers from both the Allied and Axis armies. The hospital welcomed everyone.

Scripture calls us to help the whole world to be spiritually healed. This means we need to have compassion for all—regardless of their views. Everyone, no matter their ideology, deserves Christ’s love and kindness. Paul insists that Jesus’ all-embracing love “compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:14). All of us suffer the sickness of sin. All of us are in desperate need of the healing of Jesus’ forgiveness. And He’s moved toward all of us in order to heal us.

Then, in a surprising move, God entrusted us with “the message of reconciliation” (v. 19). God invites us to tend to wounded and broken people (like us). We participate in healing work where the sick are made healthy through union with Him. And this reconciliation, this healing, is for all who will receive it. By:  Winn Collier

Reflect & Pray

Who are the people you think God won’t (or shouldn’t) heal? Where might He call you to be a reconciler and a healer?

God, I need healing. And so it shouldn’t surprise me that everyone else needs healing too. Help me be part of Your healing of others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 30, 2022

Yes—But…!

Lord, I will follow You, but... —Luke 9:61

Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about…?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”

Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.

By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure. The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R

Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 10-12; John 11:30-57

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 30, 2022

Why Lying's a Really Big Deal - #9231

Spiders build webs, and a lot of bugs get stuck in them. Well, that's because, see, the spiders know where the sticky spots are, so they don't get trapped in the webs they weave. But humans do.

I saw it once when I watched Oprah Winfrey's interview with Lance Armstrong. At that time, the kind of the world's greatest biker. "One big lie" - that's how he described what happened in his record-breaking sports career. It was all built on brilliantly concealed "doping" and a cascading series of cover-up lies. Lots of folks got caught in the web, from bicycle racing officials to teammates to a world of admirers.

Actually, the Latin root of the word "deceive" means "to ensnare." First of all, lying ensnares those being deceived. Ultimately, it ensnares the one doing the deceiving. Trust gets lost. Reputation is lost. Self-respect is lost. You get lost.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Lying's a Really Big Deal."

I'm sure a lot of people looked at that champion Lance Armstrong and said, "How could he do such a thing?" Well, how about we look in the mirror and ask, "How could I do such a thing?" Because here's what God says about the entire human race, "Their tongues practice deceit" (Romans 3:13).

The spotlight exposing the star athlete's lies actually spills over and I think it exposes some of our own dishonest ways of getting through life. Especially if you identify what lying really is. It is any intention to deceive; to mislead - to leave people believing something other than what's really true. You could do that by exaggerating, "spinning" the facts a little bit, covering up, leaving things out, making false promises, or telling people what they want to hear.

Oh, we have our reasons. Lance Armstrong back then said lying was part of "anything to control the outcome." We lie to get our way, we lie to get out of a jam, we lie to get people to like us, we lie to get ahead. We deceive our husband, our wife, our family, people at work, our pastor, the people at church. We lie to the doctor. We lie to people we want to impress.

More than we want to admit, the truth is often optional in how we do life, or at least bendable. And ultimately, we start to lose touch with reality and we can't even hear our own lies. Inevitably, we'll get caught in the web that we have woven.

We might think lying is no big deal. Well, It is to God, and we're going to answer to Him some day. On the Bible list of six things "the Lord hates," lying is the only one that appears twice in Proverbs 6:16-19. And in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 101:7, He bluntly declares that "no one who practices deceit will dwell in My house." Wow! God's a God of truth. Lying sets God against me. Dishonesty? It's a very big deal.

God hears lies when everyone else - maybe even the liar - thinks it's the truth. He says the one who "may dwell in (His) sanctuary" is the one "who speaks truth from his heart" (Psalm 15:1-2). That probing Scripture has given me a "lie detector" question to ask myself throughout the day: "Does what's coming out of my mouth match what's in my heart?" If it doesn't, it's a lie. Jesus tells me that the devil's "a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44). And that makes lying even scarier.

Some years ago, I started praying a prayer that God has been more than faithful to answer. "Lord, set off an alarm in my soul any time I'm saying something that is less than the truth"; asking the Lord for instant conviction of any statement that might be intended to deceive, followed by instant correction of that statement so I'm speaking the truth from my heart.

I am grateful that when "Christ died for our sins" (1 Corinthians 15:4), He paid for every lying thing, every selfish thing, every hurtful thing we've ever done. Which puts total forgiveness within our reach. Can you imagine a clean slate from the day you reach out and put your trust in Jesus? And if you've never had that day, let this be the day that every sin of your life is forgiven as you make the Savior your Savior. Wow! This could be the day you are finally clean.