Thursday, April 2, 2015

Thurs.’s Devo - The Fall of Israel

Read: Judges 8-9
Gideon seemed to have the same problem many of us have when we feel called to lead. Not everyone gets the e-mail. He had just defeated most of the Midianites and was chasing down two of their kings but none of the cities he passed through would help him. After he caught the two kings he came back to those cities and brought judgment. Israel then made Gideon a judge. Gideon foolishly asked for gold earrings from all the men to make an ephod. He caused all Israel to go into idolatry.
Gideon had 70 sons and a son from a concubine named Abimelech. Abimelech rose up and wanted to usurp the power so he had all the sons killed. Only Jotham escaped out of all the sons. Abimelech was made king of Shechem. Jotham stood up and preached a fiery speech against Abimelech then ran and hid in the desert.
God raised up an adversary to Abimelech to punish him for what he did to Gideon’s sons. His adversary were the men of Shechem. They robbed the people and made Gaal their leader. It ended in a battle. As Abimelech was setting the city on fire, a woman cast a millstone from the wall which hit Abimelech’s head and cracked his skull. God got revenge on the men of Shechem and Abimelech.
In today’s reading there were no “good guys” except for maybe Jotham. This was the spirit of the time they were living - there were few righteous people. People did what was right in their own eyes.
Lord, thank you that we live in a day when righteous people are standing up. Give us strength and fortitude to fight the battles of our day.

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