Commuter Bible OT

We’re reading through the genealogies handed down over the centuries that trace God’s people from Adam & Eve all the way through the exile to Babylon. Remember that each name represents a lifetime and a family: real people with real lives who either trusted in the Lord or who were stiff-necked and rebelled against the Lord. One day you and I may just be names on a list to those who come after us,...

Wait, weren’t we just in 2 Samuel? YES! This is where we’ll start alternating back and forth between Old Testament history books as we seek to read chronologically. We won’t be aligning historical events verse by verse, but we will be trying to align chapters so that the overall historical context is understood. That means we’re going to spend some time in 1 Chronicles as well as 2 Samuel for a bi...

In our last episode, we covered the aftermath of King Saul’s death, including a scramble for power and position by Abner, the commander of Israel’s army. After losing a battle against David’s men, Abner fled on foot and was chased down by Asahel. Abner killed Asahel, but escaped to live another day. Today, Asahel’s brother Joab seeks revenge against Abner, but he does so without David’s approval....

After Saul’s death, an Amalekite man comes to David claiming that he is the one who killed Saul, thinking he will be rewarded for his deed since Saul pursued David for so long. To say that David is displeased with this report, however, is an understatement. After a period of mourning for the house of Saul, David is anointed king in Judah, but Abner, the commander of Saul’s army, has other plans. H...

When we last left King Saul, he had consulted a medium when he didn’t hear from the Lord, where he learns that he and sons will die the following day. David almost joins the Philistine forces in the impending war against Saul, but the commanders don’t trust David like King Achish does. Returning to their settlement at Ziklag, they find their territory decimated and their families taken captive. Af...

Today, Saul sets his sights on David once more, bringing three thousand men with him, but David again has compassion on him. David and his men defect from Israel and escape to Philistine territory, where Achish, the king of the Philistines gives David the city of Ziklag. Later, as Saul faces the Philistine armies, he becomes fearful and tries to consult the Lord, but God does not respond. Being mo...

At every turn, it seems that Saul is hot on David’s trail until, at long last, he unwittingly happens upon the cave where David is hiding. Saul doesn’t realize, however, that David and his men are there. Saul ventures away from his troops and enters the cave to relieve himself. David takes advantage of this opportunity, but not in the way you might expect from someone who is being hunted down by t...

Saul starts to crack under pressure and becomes increasingly paranoid, imagining that David could strike at any moment. He accuses his men of not caring about him and conspiring against. Doeg the Edomite speaks up, remembering that he had seen David get supplies from Ahimelech. In a rage, Saul visits Ahimelech, accuses him of treason, and assigns Doeg the task of slaughtering an entire city of pri...

In our last episode, King Saul’s jealousy and hatred for David began to grow as David successfully conquered the Philistines in battle time after time. Saul began plotting David’s demise, but his plans to see him killed were all foiled. Today, Saul’s rage becomes clear to everyone. Saul instructs his son Jonathan and all of his men to kill David. Jonathan and David are close companions, however, a...

When the subject of a historical account like this one tells you the reason why he will be victorious before he achieves his victory, we should probably pay attention to that right? So often when someone references David & Goliath, they frame it as if it’s about a big guy versus small fry, and the underdog wins the day because of his ingenuity. Let’s just make this clear: you and I are not David a...

The Lord sends Samuel to tell King Saul that he is to wipe out the Amalekites completely, because they opposed Israel when God brought them out of Egypt. King Saul decides that he will wipe out everyone and everything, except for King Agag of the Amalekites, and, you know, all the good stuff. You can’t destroy the good stuff, right? Because of this disobedience, the Lord tells Samuel that he regre...

Israel is at war with the Philistines, and when our last reading ended, we were informed that a garrison of Philistines had taken control of the pass at Michmash. Up until this point, the Israelites had no blacksmiths and had been taking their weapons and tools to the Philistines to have them sharpened. This meant that only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons of war. Jonathan sneaks away from th...

In our last episode, Saul had just been anointed as king by Samuel the prophet and priest of Israel. In today’s episode, he is appointed as king in Gilgal to a fuller degree, complete with sacrifices and rejoicing. Samuel gives Saul instructions to wait for him there, but when the newly minted king feels like he is pressed for time he assumes that it will be best to make the burnt offering himself...

In today’s reading, Israel asks an aging Samuel to appoint a king over them before his death. Samuel warns them about what a king would demand from them, but the people urge him all the more. Ultimately, the concern is not so much that they want a king, but that they are looking to have a human king as a source of strength, protection, and provision. All throughout their history, God has been thei...

Today, Israel goes to battle against the Philistines. They assume that if they bring out the ark of the covenant to the battlefield, that it’s presence would either oblige God to win the battle for them or that the object itself has some kind of mystical power. They are sorely mistaken, and the Philistines promptly defeat them and capture the ark. Assuming that their victory is a victory over Isra...

The instructions that the Lord has given to his people concerning justice, holiness, and priesthood have all been shattered in the time of the judges. It seems like all is lost for Israel, but even here we can see foreshadows of the Christ who has yet to come. There is a woman incapable of having children who is faithful to the Lord. In His providence, kindness and mercy, the Lord raises a prophet...

It seems like so much has been lost in the time of the judges, but the author of Ruth gives us a glimmer of hope. In a season of drought, a family leaves Israel and moves to Moab hoping to find relief, but instead they find sorrow. The wife, Naomi, becomes a widow without family to help her. Her daughter-in-law, a foreigner, commits to love her and care for her, returning with her to the people of...

At this point in the narrative of Judges, the Lord is noticeably absent from the life of Israel. It seems like nobody knows how any of this covenant stuff works, even in the slightest. It becomes so bad that a Levite is involved in a scenario almost identical to that of Sodom & Gomorrah, only this time, those who are intent on sexually assaulting the town’s visitors are successful because the Levi...

Today, we’ll conclude the account of Samson, one of Israel’s judges. As you may recall from the last episode, Samson was supposed to be dedicated to the Lord as a Nazirite from birth, and yet he did very little to keep that vow. We pick up his story with the account of his interactions with a Philistine woman named Delilah, a woman of the very nation that Israel had been tasked with destroying for...

Today, we’ll begin to look at the life of Samson, a man who kept the Nazirite vow from his birth, until he didn’t, and violated it several times over. In short, Samson is a picture of Israel in one person. Meant to be set apart and holy, he instead takes his vows and his God lightly, defiling himself over and over. A Nazirite was supposed avoid dead bodies, yet he eats honey from a lion’s carcass...

Two judges of Israel follow the death of Abimelech, and we know little about them, except that they each judged Israel for over 20 years with no ruckus to speak of. When Israel turns to idols yet again, they suffer under the Philistines & the Ammonites. They cry out to the Lord, but he rejects their pleas. When they confess sin and burn their idols, God begins to become weary of their misery. Late...

When we last left Gideon and his army, he had attacked the forces of Midian with 300 hundred men. Though he and his small band had already killed 120,000 men, there are still 15,000 left. We begin with a discussion between Gideon and the men of Ephraim who have just killed the two princes of Midian as Gideon’s men routed them from battle. They’re upset that they weren’t called to fight, but Gideon...

Our reading today begins by wrapping up the account of Deborah and Barak after Sisera’s defeat. It’s not long, however, before Israel turns, once again, to worship idols. The false gods of Baal and Asherah were meant to bring fertile crops and prosperity, but they only bring despair and a fractured relationship with the One True God. During a period of oppression by the Midianites, the Lord speaks...

Under the rule of Joshua, Israel was doing well and was off to a good start in obeying the Lord’s commands. Not long afterward, however, they begin to intermarry with the Canaanites, signaling, not only an apathy toward God’s commands, but an acceptance of the gods that the Canaanites worshiped. God declares that he will no longer drive out the Canaanites before Israel, and he leaves them in the l...

The book of Joshua ends with the burial of three leaders. First ,we’ll consider the life and death of Joshua. Remember that Joshua experienced the exodus, was one of the first to see the Promised Land as a spy, was one of only two men who trusted the Lord to defeat the inhabitants therein, and was the right-hand man of Moses. Furthermore, Joshua lived to lead Israel in conquering that land after M...