Deep and Wide

Manoah and his wife are amazed when a messenger tells them they will have a baby boy. The man tells Manoah's wife not to drink wine or strong drink and to only eat meat according to the rules. He tells her not to cut the boy's hair because he will be separated to God from his birth until his death. He will start to deliver Israel from the Philistines. The man goes up into the flame of th...

God is so kind to Gideon. In Judges chapter 7, he tells Gideon that if he is still afraid to fight, he can sneak down to the enemy camp and hear what they are saying. Gideon hears the dream of the Midianite soldier - he dreamed that round loaf of barley bread came down to the camp and destroyed the whole tent. His friend told him that the dream meant Gideon was going to win! Gideon returns to the...

Gideon is sure that God is telling him to fight. He asked God to show him a sign with the fleece, and God did just what he wanted. Both times. Now Gideon has an army of 32,000 men. But God speaks to Gideon and tells him his army is too big. God tells Gideon to send 22,000 of them home. But 10,000 men is still too many. He wants the Israelites to know that it's God's power, not their own,...

In Joshua chapter 6, Gideon takes action. He calls for his family to come help him fight. And he sends messengers to the tribes of Asher, Naphtali and Zebulun. Then, just to make sure he got the right message, he sets out a fleece. He asks God to make it wet with dew, and leave the ground dry. God does it. Then he makes one more request with the fleece. Is God good to Gideon? What will happen next...

The Israelites have started worshiping the Midianite God. The God of Israel sends them a prophet to remind them who he is, but are they listening? At last, Gideon not only hears the voice of God, but he sees an angel of God. The angel of God tells him to fight the Midianites and God will be with him to do it. But it's hard for Gideon to believe. He asks the angel to wait while he prepares an...

After Joshua died, the Israelites did not love God. They disobeyed his commands and got themselves in trouble. When they cried out to the Lord, he rescued them. In Judges chapter 4, Deborah is a prophet in Israel. She tells Barak that God will free them from the oppression of Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army. He said he will gather 10,000 men to fight, but he wants Deborah to go with hi...

The Gibeonites called for help when the five neighboring kings came to attack. Joshua and his best fighting men came to fight off their enemies. Because God had given the Israelites the power, they were able to defeat the five kings. When Joshua needed more time to fight, God even  answered his prayer to make the day longer! 

In Joshua chapter 9, the Gibeonites are afraid that the Israelites are going to kill them next.  They pretend to come from far away so that the Israelites won't kill them. They told Joshua that they wanted to be friends. Joshua asked them where they were from. The Gibeonites showed them their old moldy bread, their worn out shoes, and their old clothes, hoping he would believe they had come a...

In the book of Joshua, chapter 8, God gives instructions on how to win the battle for Ai. Joshua sends soldiers to hide behind the city. Then he and his army attack from the front. When the men of Ai come out to fight, Joshua pretends to be losing the battle, and leads them away from their city. The soldiers who are hiding come out and set the city on fire. Now the army of Ai is stuck! There is an...

Because the town of Ai was so small, Joshua sent only about 2500 soldiers to fight. But what a surprise! The men of Ai fought back and chased the Israelites away! Thirty-six men were killed in the battle. Joshua got down on his face and asked the LORD what happened. God explained that someone in the Israelite camp had broken the agreement to keep the 10 commandments. The next day God showed Joshua...

When the Israelites come into their new land, there are enemies living there. The enemies close the gates of the city of Jericho so that Joshua and his army can't get in! Joshua has a surprise visitor that tells him how to get the walls to fall down. Will the plan work?

In Joshua chapter 3, the families of the Israelites are packed up and ready to cross the Jordan River into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The priests carried the ark of the covenant first. They stayed about a mile ahead of the tribes. When the priests set foot into the water, the water stopped flowing! They stood in the middle, while the Israelites passed through on dry land. Twelv...

Joshua sends two spies into the land to find out what Jericho is like. The spies stop at Rahab's house. When the king sends soldiers to capture them, Rahab hides them on her roof. Then she asks them to protect her family when they come to battle for the city of Jericho. The spies are safe, and they will keep Rahab safe, too. 

When the Israelites traveled in the wilderness they passed through the land of other nations.  God told them not to fight in Seir, or in Ar. But there were two kings that God did want them to fight.  God caused those other nations to lose! But they lost because they were wicked. And the Israelites didn't win because they were good, but because God was on their side.  God was keeping his promi...

In Numbers 22 we hear the story about what happened when the Israelites complained against Moses and against God. Instead of trusting God, they said negative words! God sent poisonous snakes into the camp as a punishment for their sin. When they realized they were wrong, they asked Moses to pray for them. God gave them a way to be healed. He put the punishment for their sin up on a pole. When they...

When the Israelites couldn't find water, they complained to Moses. They asked him why he had brought them out of Egypt. They said they wished they had died. They griped about not having nice food and water.  Moses and Aaron went right away to ask God what to do.  God told them that Moses could speak to the rock and the water would come out. But something was wrong with Moses that day. Instead...

King Balak is afraid of the Israelites that are traveling near his country. He wants them to go away. He wants Balaam to speak a curse over them. Balaam talks to God about it, and God says not to go. He doesn't want Balaam to curse the Israelites, because they are blessed by God. So Balaam refuses to go with Balak's messengers. They come again, this time bringing even more money with the...

Balaam's donkey talks to him. Balaam realizes he is making a mistake, thinking he can curse the Israelites. But he continues on to meet with King Balak. King Balak is expecting Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balaam builds seven altars, and sacrifices seven bulls and seven rams to God. Then God gives him the message. It's not a curse. A second time, Balaam builds seven altars and kills s...

When God told Jonah to go to Ninevah and warn them to stop being bad, Jonah didn't want to go. He went down to the sea and bought a boat ticket. He tried to go as far away as he could get. A big storm came up and the boat was going to sink. Jonah told the sailors that if they threw him overboard, the storm would stop. He was right  But God wants to save Jonah! What will happen to him when he...

God gave a special job to the Levites. The Levites got to work in the tent of meeting. They kept track of the incense, the bread, and the candles. They served as helpers to the priests. As payment for their work, the Levites received ten percent, or a tithe from each tribe. The priests, Aaron's family, served the Lord by actually offering the sacrifices. The Levites gave the priests ten perce...

From Numbers 14. When the Israelites turned away from entering the land that God had promised, they brought a punishment on themselves.  God told them that everyone who had grumbled against God and had rejected his promise would not be able to enter the land, but would die in the wilderness. Their children would have to live as shepherds for forty years in the wilderness until the older generation...

When the Israelites reached the border of the promised land, Moses sent in twelve men to see what it was like and report back. After forty days, they returned with good news and bad news. Yes, the land was good. No, they didn't think they were strong enough to go in and take it.  Only two of the men, Caleb and Joshua, voted for going into the land. God was so disappointed that the people didn...

At the tabernacle, the priests offered animals as sacrifices to God. You could bring an animal, and let the animal's death be a substitute for the death that you deserved. 

The Israelites made a tent to contain sacred furniture and the ark of the covenant.  When the tabernacle was completed, the presence of God came and rested on the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 

In Exodus 34, Moses returns to Mt Sinai to get another copy of the Ten Commandments on stone tablets. He had broken the previous tablets when he saw the golden calf. This time, God reveals himself further to Moses, repeating his name and sharing more about his character. Moses' face was radiant when he came down the mountain after talking to God. We might experience the presence of God, too,...