Fri.’s Devo - Signs That Make Us Wonder

Read: Judges 8:18-9:21; Luke 23:44-24:12; Psalm 99:1-9; Proverbs 14:9-10
Yesterday we read where Gideon captured the Midianite kings, Zebu and Zalmunna. When Gideon learned they were personally responsible for killing his bothers he told his young son to kill them. When his son couldn’t do it, Gideon stepped in. God wanted him to fulfill his destiny. Israel wanted to make Gideon their king but Gideon told them that God was their king, then he did a very foolish thing. He asked for the earrings of the plunder from each man. This was the same thing Aaron asked of the people and made the golden calf. They gladly gave them to him and he made an idol. The people worshipped it as their god.
While Gideon was alive, the people were in peace but as soon as he died, so did their peace. Israel went after Baal.
Gideon had had many wives that gave him 70 sons. One of these sons was Abimelech who was the son of Gideon’s servants. He went to his mother’s family and convinced them to make him the leader instead of all the sons. They agreed to help him kill all the other brothers. Jotham, the youngest escaped.
Jotham stood on the top of Mount Gerizim (the same mountain that Israel stood and pronounced the blessings of God) and shouted a parable about four different kinds of trees that had refused to be their king. I think he was referring to the judges Israel had had: Othniel, the olive tree; Ehud, the fig tree; Deborah, the grapevine; and Gideon, the thorn bush. Another clue was that one of the kings that Gideon captured was named Zalmunna and his name means “the shade was withheld”. In Jotham’s speech he say that the thornbush told the other trees if they really wanted him to be their king they could take refuge in his shade. All the other judges had refused to become their king though they had judged Israel well. Jotham was rebuking the people of Shechem for making Abimelech their king after all the other judges delivered Israel, yet refused the office of king. Abimelech had done nothing to deserve kingship yet he was conferring it upon himself. Jotham was declaring the fiery judgment of God to fall upon Abimelech.
In Luke, we have the end of Jesus crucifixion and his resurrection. I want to zoom in on one minor character in the crucifixion and that man is Joseph of Arimathea. We read that he is a member of the council. Joseph did not consent to Jesus’ crucifixion and he was diligently waiting for the kingdom of God to come. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. He laid his body in linen and laid him in his own tomb. His tomb had been carved out of a rock making it very expensive and fulfilling the scripture in Isaiah 53:9 that “he made his grave with the wicked and the rich in his death”.
Arimathea is the same as Ramah. Ramah was the birthplace of Samuel and where he judged Israel from. Samuel was the last judge. Ramah was the place where David was anointed king. David was a type of Jesus, the suffering Savior.
Matthew 27:47 tells us that Joseph of Arimathea was a disciple of Jesus. Joseph in the Old Testament had to empty his tomb from Egypt to the Promised Land just as this Joseph gave his tomb to lay Jesus. It was emptied as Jesus left the Egypt of this world and went to the promised land of heaven.
Lord, help us to see the mysteries of your Word that your glory may be shown.