Daily Bible Devotionals

“The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about 3,000 men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them. He called out to the Lord: ‘Lord God, please remember me. Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.’ Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple and leaned against them, one on his right and the other on his left. Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines.’ He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And the dead he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.” Judges 16:27-30 (HCSB)

The Lord is the God who hears the cry of his servant in desperate circumstances. In today’s passage, the Lord’s answer comes not only in the midst of desperate need but also in the wake of miserable failure. This is the Samson who would rather play around with Delilah than protect the Lord’s gift. This is the Samson who faithlessly bartered away the Lord’s strength in order to court a treacherous lover. It is this Samson – this faithless, foolish, fallen…humbled Samson – who the Lord hears.

Samson is sort of an “Israel in concentrated form.” The Israelites who heard Samson’s story were supposed to see the pattern of their own unfaithfulness. That being so, how was Israel to receive this latter part of the Samson story? Were they not meant to hope? Were they not to understand that though the Lord’s hand may justly cast down His unfaithful servants, His ears are nevertheless open to their cries? Through it all, His arm is still ready to act on their behalf. Should Israel not see that even in her sinfulness, God was still encouraging her to call upon Him in her day of trouble?

Of course, there will be objections. Someone will argue that Israel (like Samson) does not deserve the Lord’s help. So what else is new? Those who champion such objections are frequently those who have little sense of their own sinfulness!

And what of the followers of Jesus who have stupidly and miserably failed the Lord? Shouldn’t they find hope in seeing that being cast down does not mean being cast off? Should we not rejoice that we may also call on the Lord, even from “Dagon’s temple”?

Finally, as we look back over the whole tragic story, we must mention the strangeness of the Lord’s choice. Why would He use a character like Samson as His servant? Here is a guy who shatters all our molds, conventions, and expectations about what a servant of God is to be. Worse yet, Samson is not only unconventional but also unfaithful. He seems to think his God-given strength was his plaything; he didn’t seem to realize that spiritual gifts are not given so we can toy with them as we please but to serve and care for the good of God’s people. But here is this Samson, a sort of “wild ass” of a man, entertaining yet unpredictable, so promising, and so tragic. He seems so unlike our image of an evangelical believer. God will not be confined by our respectabilities. He chose Samson, and He chooses us as well.

“Then 3,000 men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, ‘Don’t you realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?’ ‘I have done to them what they did to me,’ he answered.” Judges 15:11 (HCSB)

The men of Judah blurt out their mission; they have come to bind Samson and turn him over to the Philistines. Oddly enough, Samson offers no resistance, which apparently Judah expected, or they wouldn’t have sent out so many men. He only extracts an oath from them that they will not kill him themselves; they willingly accept this condition. No reader can miss the irony of their reply: Oh, Samson, we don’t want to kill you; we only want to bind you and give you over the Philistines, so they can kill you! Thanks.

Judah, (the tribe that had formerly waded into battle after battle) had become a collection of spineless wimps. They regarded the Philistines as their rulers and Samson as their enemy. In that sense, they remind me of many people in the “church” today. It seems Christians are increasingly afraid of offending non-believers with the gospel than they are concerned with offending God for not standing up and proclaiming His Word. The men of Judah didn’t even want to be the Lord’s “free people”; they didn’t even see that as a possibility. Are you willing to stand and be counted among His people today?

It is always a dark day in the history of God’s people when they are content to allow His enemies to control them. Something is wrong with us when we no longer despise our true enemies. Friendship with the world offends God. (Romans 8:7)

In the wake of our initial faithlessness, the Lord declared He was imposing “enmity” between the Serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed (Genesis 3:15). This divisiveness, this “hostility,” came from the Lord. He was not going to allow even His fallen creatures (Adam and Eve) to cuddle up in the bosom of evil. The Maker of heaven and earth refused to walk away from Eden, shrugging His shoulders and muttering, “You win some, and you lose some.” No, He is the stubborn God who will set all creation on fire with holy war in order to have a seed and a people for Himself. Jesus extends the same promise to never leave or forsake His followers as well.

That’s why redemption is an act of violence; that’s why Jesus came on a mission of violent destruction (1 John 3:8). That’s why lovers of God are commanded to “hate” evil (Psalm 97:10) and why compilers of Psalms did not edit out verses 19-22 from Psalm 139.

Whether it is the evil and sin within us or some form of it outside us, God does not call us to negotiate with sin and evil. That’s why we call it “spiritual WARFARE.” We are to wage war on sin and to maintain a holy hatred towards it in all its various forms. We are near hopeless when we begin to adopt Judah’s slogan: It has always been this way – how can we expect to change anything?

If we are truly a generation desperate for “change,” then we must fight for it!

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Judges 14. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

“For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” Judges 13:5 (NKJV)

It is difficult to read today’s passage and not think of the Bible’s account of the conception and birth of the Messiah Jesus. We harken to the words of the Angel, spoken to Mary, as he announces not only the miracle of virgin conception but also the reason. “Messiah is resting in your womb, set apart not just from the womb, but also before time began!”

Jesus is the Messiah, whom the prophet Micah wrote about:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2 (NKJV)

True, Jesus was a far greater “Samson,” but that fact should not cause us to take Samson lightly. He, too, was a savior (a messiah/anointed one). At Samson’s birth, a savior was born. As soon as Manoah’s wife is told she will bear a son, she hears of his mission: he will save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. Samson will only partially save, but even that constitutes him a savior.

Notice there is one particular danger. Samson is such a rollicking, entertaining, break-the-mold guy that we may become preoccupied with him. Try employing counter-culture thinking because our culture is fond of focusing on the SAVIORS whom God raises up. In doing so, we eclipse the GOD who saves by raising up saviors.

While we must hold our leaders in esteem because of their God-given positions of authority, we must also never lose sight of the fact that the same Spirit who works through great men and women of God resides in the heart of EVERY BELIEVER.

Perhaps, the greater focus should be on how we maximize the potential for greatness that God has entrusted to US when He conceived us in OUR mother’s wombs. Which “Philistines” were we created to destroy? Now that we have placed our faith in Messiah Jesus and been given the gift of the Holy Spirit pray the Lord will begin to reveal His plan as you read His Word daily. And commit to going wherever He leads, trusting that He will accomplish (through you) every task He has entrusted to you. And do not glory in yourself that you are being used by God. It is His calling, gifting/equipping, and Spirit that is working together through your obedience to accomplish His purposes. He is doing the heavy lifting. We simply respond, “Here I am, send me.” And we must faithfully go where He sends us, doing what He tells us to do with the gifts He has endowed us with in the manner He prescribes for us to use those gifts. Then, we will see the tasks (He calls us to) accomplished to the fullness of His desire.

“The Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, ‘Let me cross over,’ the men of Gilead would say to him, ‘Are you an Ephraimite?’ If he said, ‘No,’ then they would say to him, ‘Then say, Shibboleth!’ And he would say, ‘Shibboleth,’ for he could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites.” Judges 12:5-6 (NKJV)

Some people are not content to sit at the right hand or the left of the Kingdom but insist on occupying the throne itself! That describes Ephraim perfectly. After having brushed-off Jephthah’s plea for help in the fight against Ammon, Ephraim has the nerve to charge Jephthah, “Why didn’t you call us to go with you?” In their pride, they are “somebodies,” and you don’t treat somebodies like that.

Jephthah (having been a nobody - 11:1-3) was not impressed with somebodies. Jephthah reminds Ephraim that he had, in fact, summoned Ephraim, and they had left him in the lurch. However, what Ephraim failed to do, the Lord did!

Perhaps, Ephraim was expecting the psychology of Gideon (8:1-3). What they got was the sword of Jephthah! The whole thing escalated when the Ephraimites began flinging racial slurs at Jephthah’s Gileadite men. Jephthah returns the gesture with a little prejudice of his own. All of a sudden, the “high classed” prideful Ephraimite dialect becomes a death signal. This is much the same way the genteel Virginia accent must have been detectable to the Pennsylvania Yankee soldier during the American Civil War, where privileged plantation owners might have tried to deny their allegiance when confronted by a Union soldier.

Basically, we have an indictment against pride. And it is not unique to ancient Ephraim. The human spirit that feels it must dominate, must control, and be recognized is alive and well in our culture. It flourishes in our Church culture; how we want to be the ones on Jesus’ varsity squad! How difficult it is for us to rejoice in God’s saving work when we are not a celebrity in the middle of it. We don’t like to play the game unless people will appropriately stroke our egos for doing so.

So, we must fight against taking credit for accomplishing what can only be accomplished by the Holy Spirit. We must remain humble and remind ourselves that, while we may be co-inheritors with Messiah, we are also “slaves” with a Master. And we are nothing apart from the redeeming atonement of Messiah Jesus.

“Jephthah the Gileadite was a great warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father. Gilead’s wife bore him sons, and when they grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, ‘You will have no inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.’ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Then some lawless men joined Jephthah and traveled with him. Some time later, the Ammonites made war with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. They said to him, ‘Come be our commander, and let’s fight against the Ammonites.’ Judges 11:1-6 (HCSB)

The sin of “Prostitution” in the Bible is seen in two lights. First, there is the literal act of prostitution, obviously a sin. Then, there is spiritual prostitution, also known as “spiritual adultery.” In both cases, two parties are involved: The party selling themselves and the party that elicits the prostitute’s services. Judges 11 is the story of the sour fruits of both literal and spiritual prostitution. Gilead strayed from God’s path, and the generations that followed paid the biggest price.

Even in today’s secular culture, it is shameful (but by no means unforgivable) to have been born as the result of an act of prostitution. It doesn’t surprise me that Gilead’s “legitimate” sons would loathe the existence of Jephthah. In seeking to cover the family’s shame (and attempting to recover its reputation), they distanced themselves from the evidence of their father’s sin.

It is quite possible that Jephthah was his father’s firstborn simply because the story begins with his birth. That would mean the son of a prostitute would eventually lead the legitimate children. Interestingly is how even today, most non-Messianic Jews consider Jesus’ birth as “illegitimate.” That’s pretty much where the Jephthah/Jesus similarities end.

Perhaps it was the circumstances surrounding Jephthah’s illegitimate birth which denied him solid spiritual teaching. Maybe, the rebels he hung around with had a negative influence on his spiritual discernment. Whatever it was, Jephthah made an impetuous oath to the Lord, and it cost him his firstborn child.

The overall lesson of Judges 11 is that one compromise leads to another. Compromise builds upon compromise. Unless we commit ourselves to know the Lord, follow Him through a saving relationship with Jesus, and study His Word (the Bible), spiritual “true north” will always elude us. Even our best intentions, without the Lord, can lead us down destructive paths.

"After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tolah, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in the mountains of Ephraim. He judged Israel twenty-three years; and he died and was buried in Shamir. After him arose Jair, a Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years. Now he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns, which are called “Havoth Jair” to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried in Camon. Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him." Judges 10:1-6 (NKJV)

Chances are that Tolah and Jair are not on your list of favorite Bible characters. We really don’t know much about them. Scholars refer to Tolah and Jair as “minor judges” – as opposed to “major judges” like Deborah or Gideon. The fact that Tolah and Jair receive less “ink” in the Bible does not mean they were of no importance. If we squint at the details, we can see how these men contributed to both the salvation and degradation of their generations.

Tolah: Verse 1 is clear to state that Tolah arose to save Israel. It speaks to the goodness of the Lord. We do not know whether Tolah established stability through administration or military victory. But his saving work (however it was displayed) came after Abimelech, the destroyer, had done serious damage. At the time of deepest darkness, the Lord appointed Tolah for a saving mission. And we expect that from the Lord. He does not go on rebuking forever, allowing His people to be trampled without hope, but after the Valley of the Shadow, He anoints our heads with oil - from sorrow and sighing to joy and gladness. God will never allow the “Abimelechs” of this World to be the last word for His people!

Jair: If in Tolah’s regime, we find a hint of the Lord’s goodness in Jair, we catch a glimpse of man’s potential for badness. Look carefully. The text only depicts Jair’s wide influence through his thirty sons. That does not necessarily imply any wrongdoing. In ancient Israel, numerous sons were a gift from the Lord and a means of protection from one’s enemies. However, the accounting of Jair’s thirty sons (not to mention numerous daughters he surely sired) implies multiple wives. The text records no displeasure about this. Yet, when we heard about Gideon’s seventy sons (chapter 8), the writer gave the explanation, “for he had many wives,” a circumstance which made the Abimelech fiasco possible. So, now we know why Israel fell back into moral disrepair after Jair’s reign as Judges ended. Jair sought the trappings of kingship despite official denials of it. He led Israel by bad example through serving himself and established a culture of compromise that endured.

Surely, we understand, Jair. Even in our service to God and community, in all our ways, there is the subtle urge to secure our position, display our status, extend our influence and guarantee our recognition. Yet, our plans to unseat the true “King” will always have a way of being exposed from behind, even our largest fig leaves.

“Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.’ His mother’s relatives spoke all these words about him in the presence of all the lords of Shechem, and they were favorable to Abimelech, for they said, ‘He is our brother.’ So they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith. Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men with his money, and they followed him. He went to his father’s [Gideon’s] house in Ophrah and killed his 70 brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal [Gideon], on top of a large stone. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived because he hid himself.” Judges 9:2b-5 (HCSB)

Abimelech was the son Gideon fathered with his Shechemite concubine.

“Gideon had 70 sons, his own offspring, since he had many wives. His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.” Judges 8:30-31 (HCSB)

In a story that could have been torn straight from Solomon’s book of Ecclesiastes, Gideon seemed to have gone a tad overboard with his fame and fortune. Upon reading Judges 7-9, it is clear that Gideon wanted to do the right thing, but at times he fell into the areas of sin, which are common to all men.

We’ll never know if it was Gideon’s humility or his fear that kept him from accepting the requests of Israel for him to be King. But in the end, Gideon’s compromise was that he chose to sire a child with a foreign woman. It’s not how you run the race. It’s whether you finish well.

Perhaps, the story of Gideon’s compromise is a strong reminder for us to be content with what the Lord has given us. We don’t need to court the World’s affections. As the hymnist once wrote, “All I have needed, Your hand hath provided. Great is THY faithfulness!”

Let’s not rest in past spiritual victories. Instead, ask the Lord to reveal those areas where we have compromised and supplemented the Lord’s provision with the World’s perversion.

The one area where Gideon compromised ended up destroying almost everything else that was legitimate.

“Now the weight of the gold earrings that he [Gideon] requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments, pendants and purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were around the camel's necks.  Then Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, Ophrah.  And all Israel played the harlot with it there.  It became a snare to Gideon and to his house.  Thus Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more.  And the country was quiet for forty years in the days of Gideon.”  Judges 8:26-28 (NKJV)

I have been in the music business for all of my adult life.  While I no longer earn the bulk of my living as a touring musician, there was a time (in my mid-late 20s) when my band, Big Tent Revival, was very successful.  Every time we had a #1 radio song, the record company would give me a plaque commemorating the success. Every time I was nominated for a GRAMMY or Dove award - another plaque.  Pretty soon, the entire front room in my home was devoted to my success in the music business.  But eventually, it became a source of pride, a distraction in my own home.  It was as if my success, and the display thereof, had become an idol.  How?  Because it put too much focus on my past, to the point where it kept me from making faith steps into the future for fear of jeopardizing my coveted legend.

Gideon, the former coward-turned-military-hero, had an idea.  He did not want to set up a political dynasty, but he definitely wanted to be remembered as a hero.  So, he made a monument to his military conquests: A golden ephod made from spoils of the military campaigns he led.  And whose gold did he take?  The Ishmaelites.  

“Then he said to them, “Let me make a request of you: Everyone give me an earring from his plunder.” Now the enemy had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.” Judges 8:24 (HCSB)

Remember Ishmael, Abraham’s son, with Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian slave?

“Then the Angel of the Lord said to her [Hagar]: You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction.  This man will be like a wild donkey.  His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; he will live at odds with all his brothers.” Genesis 16:11-12 (HCSB)

Once Gideon’s golden ephod (to be worn by a priest) was installed on permanent display, the people of Israel saw it as a “good luck” charm and idol of past victories they could worship, as opposed to trusting God for future victory.

Eventually, I took most of those music business plaques off the walls of my home.  Some went to storage, and others made it to my office.  Being successful is not a sin; it just can’t dominate our lives.  We tend to worship the success the Lord brings instead of worshipping God, who has brought our success.