Tues.’s Devo - The Light of the World

Read: Judges 11:1-12:15; John 1:1-28; Psalm 101:1-8; Proverbs 14:13-14 The armies of Ammon had gathered in Gilead to attack Israel who were camped at Mizpah. The leaders of Gilead had announced that whoever lead the attack for them would become their leader. *** Gilead had a great warrior by the name of Jephthah but he had been driven off by his half brothers. Jephthah was the son of a prostitute while his brothers were sons of the wife of Gilead. They had told Jephthah that he would not get any of their inheritance, but now they needed his fighting skills. They sent for Jephthah who had fled to Tob. They told him that if he would come and lead the army to fight the Ammonites, they would make him their king. It took some convincing but Jephthah returned to help them. *** He sent messengers to the king of Ammon asking him why he was coming to fight them. The king of Ammon replied that the Israelites had stolen his land from him when they came out of Egypt and he wanted it back peacefully. **** Jephthah told him that was not exactly what happened. The children of Israel came to the land of Edom and had asked if they could peacefully pass through their land on the way to their promised land. They would pay them back anything they used from him but the king wouldn’t let them pass through. They ended up going the long way around through the wilderness. The same thing happened when they asked the Amorites win they could pass through their land. *** The Ammonites not only wouldn’t let them pass through their land but they mobilized their army to come out and fight the Israelites. God have them victory over the Ammonites and they took their land. So it wasn’t them who had taken their land, it was the Lord who gave them their land. *** Jephthah added, they could keep what their god, Chemosh gave them and they would keep the land their God gave them. (Great answer!) He wanted them to let the Lord, who is the judge, decide which one of them was right. *** The king of Ammon ignored Jephthah’s message. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah and he led his army against the Ammonites. He made a vow to the Lord that whatever came out of his door to meet him when he returned in triumph that he would sacrifice to the Lord. *** God did give Jephthah the victory and he totally defeated the Ammonites. When Jephthat returned home, instead of a cow or a goat coming out of his door, it was his only offspring - his daughter. He was devastated and told her the vow he had made to the Lord. She told him he had to keep his vow but just let her go to the mountain with her friends and mourn for two months. Then he could fulfill his vow. *** Jephthah agreed and she mourned the fact that she was a virgin and would never have children. It became a custom in Israel for young Israelite women to go away for four days each year to lament her fate. *** The people of Ephraim mobilized an army and came over the Jordan to Zaphon to pick a fight with Jephthah for not inviting them to the battle against the Ammonites. Jephthah reminded them that he had invited them at the first. They refused to come, so they had fought without them. They refused to be consoled so Jephthah attacked them and defeated them. *** In the battle with the Ephraimites, they captured one of the crossings of the Jordan. Whenever a fugitive from Ephraim tried to return home, he stationed men that would ask them if they were from Ephraim. If they told him they weren’t, he would have them say the word, “Shibboleth”. If they said it with a lisp they would be killed. They ended up killing 42,000 of them. *** Jephthah judged Israel for 6 years then died in one of the towns of Gilead. Ibzan from Bethlehem then judged Israel. He had 30 sons and 30 daughters. He sent his daughters out to marry men outside his clan and brought in thirty young women from outside his clan to marry his sons. He was infiltrating the tribes with his ideology. He judged Israel for 7 years. *** When Ibzan died, Elon from Zebulun judged Israel for 10 years. Then Abdon from Pirathon in Ephraim judged Israel for 8 years. He had 40 sons and 30 grandsons, who rode on 70 donkeys. He died and was buried in the hills of the Amalekites. *** Today we begin to read the book of John. John was written to the church and begins like Genesis One. “In the beginning…” Jesus was with God in Genesis creating the world. He was God’s Word spoken from his mouth. Jesus’ words brought forth light to everyone just like the light in Genesis brought light to the whole earth. Light is more powerful than darkness. *** John was to be a witness to this light that was coming in the body of Jesus Christ. The world didn’t recognized him and his own people rejected him, but to the ones who did believe in him, he gave the right to become children of God. *** The Word became a human being and lived among us bringing love and faithfulness. John testified that Jesus was coming to show us the Father. *** When people asked John who he was, he answered that he was a voice crying in the wilderness to make a way in your hearts for God to come in. He was only baptizing them with water, but the Christ would follow his ministry and he was not worthy to even be his slave or untie his sandal. *** Lord, may we be your lights in the world to bring others to the true light of Christ.