July 8, 2024; Day 2 of Week 15

Daily Dose of Hope

July 8, 2024

Day 2 of Week 15

Scripture:  Judges 9-11; Psalm 17; Luke 23

Welcome back once again to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional that complements the bible reading plan for New Hope Church.  I’m going to ask all of you to be in prayer for our Vacation Bible School, which starts today.  We will be ministering to almost 200 children and their families.  Please pray that those who don’t know Jesus will come to know him, that those who just give a head nod to God will come to follow him more closely, and pray a special prayer of protection, strength, and wisdom for all our children, volunteers, and staff.  With that, let’s get right into our Scripture for today.

As usual, let’s begin with our Old Testament passages.  At the end of Judges 8, we see that Gideon dies and the Israelites begin to engage in idolatry once again.  The pattern is repeating itself.  This time, in Judges 9, we read about Abimelek, who is one of Gideon’s sons by a concubine from Shechem (Gideon had something like seventy sons by his many wives and concubines).  In my research, several scholars actually consider Abimelek a judge of Israel but certainly not one chosen by God.  He wanted to lead Israel and does so for three years, but he is cruel and violent.  Eventually, rebellion is stirred up against Abimelek.  In his own violent quest to squash the rebellion, he is killed. 

As we read this, it becomes evident how incredibly chaotic and ugly this time of the judges happened to be.  Moving into Judges 10, we meet Tola and Jair, two other judges that led Israel.  Then, it becomes clear that Israel is once again falling into depravity and idolatry.  God allows them to fall into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites.  We get the sense that a new judge is coming. 

Jephthah is next.  He is a complicated judge however.  He is the son of a prostitute and a man named Gilead.  This is kind of confusing, as the father has the same name as the region in which they live.  You may have caught that.  Anyway, Gilead’s sons by his legitimate wife drive Jephthah away from their home and he flees to a land named Tob, where he gains a name for himself as a warrior. 

I’m going to give a bit of a summary of what happened because I think it’s not incredibly clear as we read.  Basically, Israel is being oppressed pretty severely by the Ammonites and they decide to attack the region of Gilead once again.  The people are hurting but they have no leader.  Thus, they ask Jephthah, who they previously pushed away, to come lead them.  Jephthah tries to negotiate with the Ammonites first but that isn’t successful.  God’s Spirit comes over Jephthah and he is able to recruit fighters for the battle.  Then, he makes a horribly misguided vow.  He tells God that he will offer as a burnt offering whatever or whomever comes to meet him if he returns in victory.  Jephthah then attacks and thoroughly defeats the Ammonites, so Israel is saved for the time being.

But who comes out to meet Jephthah?  His only child, his daughter whom he dearly loves.  He is greatly distressed and tells his daughter what he vowed to God – to either give her up as a human sacrifice OR dedicate her whole life in service to God, two different interpretations by scholars of Jephthah’s vow.   The daughter requests two months of freedom to travel and spend time with friends and he grants her that.  Her primary concern in not getting to marry and have kids, which makes many think that she did dedicate her life to service to God rather than become a burnt offering, which God truly would have detested.  Only pagan gods required human sacrifice.  Regardless, the whole story is slightly bizarre.

Psalm 17 is a beautiful prayer written by David.  He is once again pledging to stay faithful to God, and he asks that God protects him from his enemies.  Most likely, this prayer was penned by David as he was fleeing from Saul who wanted to kill him.  David clearly trusts God completely and knows that God will answer.  There is a great expression here when David asks to be the “apple of your eye.”  This is a reference literally to the pupil.  This part of the body is the most protected, the most guarded against even a slight touch.  David asks God to guard him in the same way.

Okay, let’s move on to the New Testament.  Today, we focus on Luke 23, which includes Jesus’ trial before Pilate, the crucifixion, his death, and his burial.   Crucifixion was a horrific death.  He was beaten and mocked by the soldiers, betrayed by his own people, and nailed to a cross to die. I won’t go into the gory details of crucifixion, as you have probably heard them before, but it was a terribly painful and humiliating way to die.

There was a man named Simon from Cyrene who was passing by and they forced him to carry the cross.  Cyrene was on the tip of Africa so this man was far from home!  And here he was, just going about his business, and he is enlisted, or more like seized, to carry the cross of the Savior of the world.  I’m guessing that Jesus’ physical body was incredibly weak and bloody by this point.  And Simon walked by him, carrying the cross that would serve to execute Jesus but also save all humanity from their sin. We don’t know what happened to Simon after the crucifixion.  He isn’t mentioned again in Scripture.  But my guess is that his life was never the same again.  An encounter with Jesus is always life-changing.

Luke’s version of this passage has a lot of substance.  We read about the criminals executed on each side of Jesus, one of whom ends up believing and Jesus says, “Today, I will see you in paradise.”  Pretty amazing.  But Luke also includes the observation about the curtain in the temple.  When Jesus is about to breathe his last, the curtain in the temple, which separated the Holy of Holies (where God’s presence stayed) from the rest of the temple was torn in two.  Only the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies one time a year to make atonement for the sins of the people.  This tearing of the curtain was hugely symbolic and I don’t want us to miss it.  It meant that Jesus’ death was the final atonement for sin and now the Holy of Holies was open to all people.  God’s presence is never confined again, never to be in a place made by human hands.  Jesus Christ is God.  His body is the temple.  He is the final sacrifice and he has opened the door to all people, all believers, being able to go boldly into God’s presence with no barriers.   

I should also mention that now that Jesus has ascended into heaven, the presence of the living God is still with us in the form of the Holy Spirit.  And if we believe in Jesus and his sacrifice, then the Holy Spirit dwells in us.  The presence of God is now within us!  Think about that.  It’s really amazing and takes some time for us to wrap our brains around.  God is closer than your very breath.

Let’s chat again tomorrow.

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki