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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey family. We used church candy for our new church plant the Garden, and the response blew me and my team away. At our new church plant the Garden, we ran simple invite ads through none other than church candy, and hundreds of people responded. Seriously. People who had never even heard of us, who had never met me or heard me preach. They saw an ad on Facebook or Instagram. They showed up to a launch party or launch team training. Some of them have joined our team. Here's the best part. A good amount of them have started giving and tithing, which means the ads have paid for themselves. Our church plant is growing, and it's because we chose the right partner. We didn't have to figure out marketing strategies or spend hours tinkering with ad settings. Church candy handled it all and it worked. You might not be planting a church, but if you're a pastor who wants to see more new faces on Sunday. And by the way, I've never met a pastor who doesn't want to see more new faces on Sunday. It's time to check them out. How about you go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a discovery call, Let their team show you what's possible when the right people hear about your church family. Welcome to day one 44. We got four chapters of the Bible that we're covering today. Judges chapter 9, 10, 11, and 12. And we've got six judges that we are actually going to cover. If you're curious and you can't wait, their names are Tola, Jair, and I'll also give you, like, where they fall. Tola's judge number six. Jair is judge number seven. Jephthah is judge number eight. Ibzan is judge number nine. Elon is judge number 10, and then abdan is judge number 11. Okay, so we got six judges, we got four chapters. If you've done the reading, great job. If you have not done the reading, make sure that you stop the video, stop the audio, pause the recording, and go do the reading. We do not want this to substitute for you reading the Bible. God's got stuff to say to you directly from scripture, and we only want to amplify and clarify what God is saying to you through his Word. That is the purpose of these episodes. All right, so before we get into those six judges that I've already named, we gotta deal with your boy, Gideon's son, the dude who's named Abimelech. Okay, and let me make sure I'm right by what Abimelech means. Ah, it means melech, say, which is attached to molech is father. So it is a roundabout way for Gideon to call himself king. That's fascinating. Okay, sorry. Let's talk about Abimelech. So this is like our context clue. I want us to go back to Judges, chapter 6, verse 32. It says this, okay? This is after Gideon tears down his father's idol to baal. This is what his father says. Actually, we'll start reading in verse 31. But Joash, Gideon's father replied to the hostile crowd around him. Are you going to plead Baal's cause? Are you trying to save baal? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning. If BAAL really is a God, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar. So because Gideon broke down Baal's altar, they gave him the name Jerub baal, saying that day, let BAAL contend with him. Okay, so let BAAL contend with him. We're not gonna fight him. Let BAAL fight him. Okay, if he's a God, then this God can defend himself, BAAL can defend himself. BAAL can defend himself. So how does BAAL contend with Gideon? Well, I'll tell you exactly how he does it. Get down to Judges, chapter nine. Okay? And Abimelech, son of Jerubbaal, went to his mother's brothers in Shechem. Remember, he's got 70 flesh and blood brothers and killed them. He kills all of them but one. He went to his father's home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his 70 brothers, the sons of Jerub Baal. Okay, but one of one brother gets away. The youngest one escaped by hiding. Then citizens of shechem gave him 70 shekels of silver from the temple of Baal Berith. And Abimelech used it to hire reckless scoundrels who became his followers. Let me be clear about, like, what's going on. The father or the grandfather in this scenario is. Is a BAAL worshipper. Is a BAAL worshipper. Gideon tears down the altars, but then leads Israel to worshiping in a way that is not godly. Then grandson Abimelech. Okay, Abimelech, so you got Joash, you got Gideon, and you Got Abimelech. So grandfather but all worshiper father tears down the altar. Son kills all 70 of his brothers with money from the Baal Temple. So how does Baal just get Gideon back? By making sure that his son is a BAAL worshiper. Done. Done. No progress has been made. Zero progress made. And that's that. Like, like there's no, there's no point in the story where there's like man and Gideon did a great job. Like this is solid. No, like this is an absolute and utter fail. And the failure does is not even contained to Gideon's life. But his son begins to wreak absolute havoc. Now here's the last thing that I want to show you about his son. It says this in verse six of chapter nine. Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Milo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar and Shechem to crown Abimelech king. So we are now starting to get like Gideon was like kind of a king, like quasi king. And throughout the rest of the judges on today's reading, we are going to see all kinds of king like stuff that's popping up is not that God is the one that's anointing anybody to be king. It's not like there's prophets involved. There's no process whereby God is giving a thumbs up on any of this. God is not involved in this process at all. These are just human beings that have decided to appoint somebody as a king over them. And this trend is going to continue. This trend is going to now continue into the six judges that we are, that we are going to look at. So let's look at Jair. Okay. We're not really going to look at Tola in depth, but we are going to look at Jair. When we look at Jair. This is Numbers, chapter 10, verse 3. He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel 22 years. He had 30 sons who rode 30 donkeys. They controlled 30 towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havoth Jair. When Jair died, he was buried in Kimon. So 30 donkeys. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that donkeys are like a symbol of humility. But to be honest, the donkeys that are in ancient Israel at this time are kind of like, they're actually a cross breed between horses and donkeys. They can carry a load like a. They can actually carry a lot of equipment like a donkey, but they have sure footing like a horse. This is actually king like language. I Need you to remember this, that Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Not because that this is like a humble statement. It's a king like statement. I think we, in an American culture, donkeys communicate some kind of humility or a humble theme. And we then read that back into the Bible as if that's what the Bible means when it's using donkey imagery. But donkeys don't mean humility in the Bible. Okay? Jesus is not being humble. He is 100% just being a king. This is royal. So when the Bible tells us in Judges chapter 10 that Jair had 30 sons who rode 30 donkeys, this is giving you king language. This is like, I mean, warning signs. This is bad. This is just as bad as a man having 70 sons and one of those sons being named Abimelech. This is just as bad as Abimelech getting crowned king. Like, this is not good. We are spiraling out of control. So donkeys don't mean in the ancient world what they mean to us. And we have to be really, really careful of purporting back to, onto the text what things mean in our own mind. Family, the wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos is out now and available everywhere. Books are sold, Literally. Today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble or you can go to a box books a million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. Okay, I'm trying to think of more stories where donkeys are prevalent. Balaam, I mean, is a famous, famous sorcerer in the ancient world who Balak pays to prophesy, and he has a donkey. Like, this is not. Like this is not a non fancy animal. This is a very fancy, expensive animal. All right? Donkeys equal prominence and royalty and kingship, which is obviously why Jesus is riding on one as he comes into Jerusalem. All right, let's get into Jephthah. Okay, so verse 6 of chapter 10 again, the Israelites did Evil in the eyes of the Lord. They serve the Baals and the Asheriths. And Israel forsook the Lord and no longer served him. He became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites. Everything pretty normal so far. For 18 years, they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan, in the land of the Amorites, the Israelites cried out to the Lord, we have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals. The Lord replied, when the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Moonites oppressed you and you cried out to me for help. Did I not save you from their hands? But you have forsaken me in server of the gods, so I will no longer save you. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble. That is. Wow, like, God is very upset. But the Israelites said to the Lord, we have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us. Now. Then they got rid of their foreign gods. Here we go. This is real repentance. Then they got rid of their foreign gods among them and served the Lord and he could bear Israel's misery no longer because they actually change. Now, we could preach on that, that just because you cry out for help does not mean. So in the first one, they said, we have sinned against you. Okay, please rescue us. But then once God says no, they say, don't just rescue us. We will put all of our idols away. Here's where in our cycle of judges, the Lord appears to somebody. Right? Right. God appeared to Gideon. We none of that. It just tells us that Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His mother's a prostitute. All of his father's sons drive him away. And then finally he settles out in the land of to. And a gang of scoundrels gathers around him and follows him. So they. They probably become like, I could imagine, like a biker gang. You know what I'm saying? Like, they're just. They're. They're. They're robbing banks, you know, just a group of. A group of scoundrels like, like these. These are not good guys. And now when the Ammonites start fighting against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to Jephthah from the land of Tob and said, come. They said, be our commander so that we can fight the Ammonites. Jephthah said, didn't you hate me and drive me from my father's house? Why do you come to me now when you're in trouble? The elders of Gilead said to him, nevertheless, we are turning to you now. Come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be head over all of us who lead in Gilead. Okay? Essentially, we'll make you king. I need you to see this. At no point is God involved. At no point does Jephthah ask God anything. At no point do we know that Jephthah worships God. At no point are we sure that Jephthah is submitted to the Lord or surrendered to God. There's no place where the text gives us a clue that these elders know the Lord. No one has asked the Lord anything. No one has inquired of the Lord, and the Lord has not called anybody. There's no place where God has called Jephthah into the ministry. The most we get is verse 29 where it said, then the spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He now makes a vow to God, if you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering. If you. Then I'll. This is a terrible format for faith. If you do this, then I'll do this. Actually, a good format for faith. Is this what the three Hebrew boys say? We know that God is able to deliver, but even if he doesn't, we will never bow down these like God. If you do. Hey, so Barack does this with Deborah. If you come with me, I'll go. But if you don't come, I'm not going to go. This whole, like, essentially manipulating God and making promises of what you're gonna do based on what he does is not faith. That is not faith. Faith is Lord. If you called me to do it, I'm gonna follow you. Whatever you ask of me, that's what I'll give. I don't know how this is gonna turn out, but I trust you. Okay? He makes a vow to the Lord. There's nothing that suggests he even has a relationship with the Lord, but he makes a vow to the Lord. Okay. They obviously win. He comes home and his daughter is the first thing that comes out to greet him. Oh, no. My daughter. You have brought me down, and I'm devastated. I've made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break my father. She Replied, you have given your word to the Lord due to me, just as you promised. Now that the Lord has avenged you and your enemies, the Ammonites. Now if you remember what I said a couple days ago, the way that you're able to see the health of a nation is in how women get treated. This is going to be a turn for the worse. This girl is about to get sacrificed to God by her father Jephthah. Now let us be reminded that Leviticus 27 gives a whole bunch of laws about what to happen if you need to break a vow. I think is it Leviticus 27. I'm tempted to go there is all about vows and, and how to break vows. I think you can go check Leviticus 27. I think that it would have cost 20 shekels to break this vow. You can break vows by paying a fee. It's like getting fined. It's like when Nike had too much color on Michael Jordan shoes. They just paid the fine to the NBA. God says in Leviticus 27, needers pay a fine. You just pay the shekels. If you, if you vow something and you can't do it, just pay. Just pay to not pay to get out of the obligation. Does Jephthah know what Leviticus 27 says? Clearly not. Clearly not. Which moves us right into our timeless truth. Not knowing the words of God can have a massive impact, detrimental impact on your life. Not knowing the words of God but wanting to have a relationship with God will always put you in a scenario where you are trying to have relationship with someone you don't actually know. Because God reveals himself through his word. Though now we are going to have a girl killed because her father made an ignorant vow and didn't have enough information to know to not make a vow like this. And didn't have enough information to get out of making a vow like this. And Judges chapter 12, verse 7, Jephthah led Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in a town in Gilead. Guess what's missing? And Israel had rest from her enemies for 20 years, or for 40 years, or for however many, however many years. Israel has no rest from her enemies. Because if Gideon was, I mean, didn't move the dial forward. Jephthah doesn't move the dial forward at all. This is absolute wickedness. The proof of Israel's wickedness is the fact that a girl has to get sacrificed when get this. The reason that God raises up Israel to dispossess the canaanites is because the Canaanites are sacrificing their children to Molech, sacrificing their children to foreign gods. They are stuck in the abominable practice of child sacrifice. God hates child sacrifice. And so God raises up the Israelites so that the Israelites can dispossess the land, because God hates child sacrifice. Now here we have the people of Israel literally acting like Canaanites. And. And we can see this thing is spiraling downwards and out of control. Here we go. Our timeless truth for the day is what you know about the Word can save your life. And what you know about the Word of God can actually give you the kind of clarity to engage with God instead of guessing with God. None of us need to be in a scenario where we're guessing what pleases the Lord. God clearly outlines what pleases him in his word. And Leviticus 27 could have a hundred percent become the solution in the event that you make a vow that you need to break. But Jephthah doesn't know that he shouldn't make a dumb vow. And he definitely doesn't know how to get out of the vow because he doesn't know God and he doesn't know God. And it seems like nobody knows God because no one asked God who should even be leading. Jephthah doesn't get called by God. God doesn't appear to Jephthah. There seems to be no relationship. And the leaders of the Gileadites just find some mercenary, some random dude who they're just like, we could pay you to fight for us. And he's like, nah, bet I ain't doing nothing else. I'm just up here in TOB hanging out with my scoundrels. Hanging out, hanging out with my desk despots out here just robbing banks. You know what I'm saying? Is in my biker gang. And these, this is now the people who are leading. All right, tomorrow we finally get into probably the most famous judge or the most infamous judge. It's a guy named Shimshon. Shimshon, or as we would call him, Samson. Tomorrow we got judges, chapter 13, judges, chapter 13, 14, 15 and 16. We're going to talk about Samson. Hey, if you're on a streak, I'm proud of you. Don't break your streak if you're not on a streak. Get with the program. Come on. I'm proud of you. Out of the way. Whether you're on a streak or not. I'm glad that you got your reading done for today. I'll see you right here for tomorrow's reading as we keep trekking through the Book of Judges together. I love you guys. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department Podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebibledepartment. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.