The Bible by David Alley

In this video listen to Judges 14 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 14 the scene is set in Timnah. Back in Joshua 15, Timnah was a part of the dividing up of the inheritance of the land and part of the boundary of Judah, but now seems to have reverted to the Philistines. One of the big tragedies of not doing what God asks is that you lose ground. There doesn't seem to...

In this video listen to Judges 13 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 13 we now come to the backstory of Sampson, who was the twelfth and last of the Judges in this book. Samuel is ultimately the last of the Judges but is spoken of in the book of Samuel. Samuel is also the first of the prophets, with the exclusion of Moses. Samson is an enigma, but in some ways represen...

In this video listen to Judges 12 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 12 the tribe of Ephraim is jealous of Jepthah’s victory and threatens to burn down his house. This is the second time that Ephraim has been jealous. This also happened when Gideon was victorious over the Midianites. They seem to not want to fight the enemy, but seem to want the credit after it is over...

In this video listen to Judges 11 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 11 we meet Jepthah, the son of an Israelite and a Canaanite prostitute who becomes the eighth judge. There is a backstory to Jepthah that we know basically nothing of. His heroics with a band of outlaws sounds like King David who is to come, and he gets a reputation for bravery. He is asked to judge I...

In this video listen to Judges 10 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 10 we meet the sixth and seventh judges and very little is said about them. Tola is the sixth judge. There is no military victory described but he is said to have arose to save Israel. This is interesting because it highlights the idea of salvation as being much more significant than just a military o...

In this video listen to Judges 9 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 9 the story of Gideon continues as an excursus telling about his sons. Abimelech was an illegitimate son of Gideon from Shechem, who convinced this town to support his initiative. With their support, Abimelech killed 69 of his 70 brothers in an attempt to take total control of Israel. He wanted to be e...

In this video listen to Judges 8 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 8 the battle against the Midianites is still ongoing with 15000 troops and two king remaining on the eastern side of the Jordan at Karkor. Gideon requests help from two cities, Succoth and Penuel, but they hedge their bets and refuse help, probably thinking the Midianites might retain ongoing influence...

In this video listen to Judges 7 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 7 Gideon’s army camps at the spring of Harod to fight the Midianites. Harod means trembling. The Israelites were camped at the spring of trembling which was probably named after their experience there. So they were basically terrified. And in response God whittles their army down from 32,000 to just 30...

In this video listen to Judges 6 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 6 the Midianites oppress Israel in a terrible widespread oppression which seems more significant than the previous oppressors in the book of Judges. The Lord appears to Gideon, calling him a “man of valour” and telling him to go in the strength of his hand. Normally going in your own ability doesn’t wo...

In this video listen to Judges 5 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 5 Deborah sings a song which makes a number of points and further elaborate how the victory in chapter 4 came about. Firstly, The people who fought offered themselves willingly - there was no compulsion. And not all of the tribes responded in this fight. It is like this sometimes in the kingdom of Heav...

In this video listen to Judges 4 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 4 Jabin King of Hazor oppresses Israel. Jabin is a title, like Pharaoh king of Egypt. This is a different person to the one mentioned in Joshua 11. The defeat of the northern alliance of kings in Joshua 11 was about 200 years prior. In the intervening centuries Hazor has been rebuilt. This is where Deb...

In this video listen to Judges 3 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 3 we meet the first three of the twelve judges, Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar. The Israelites intermarried, which they were told not to do. They mixed worldliness into their lives and became weak. Earlier in Genesis we saw that God had sent the Israelites to Egypt to help solidify them as a separate cultur...

In this video listen to Judges 2 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 2 Another generation arose who didn’t know Yahweh. This doesn't mean they didn’t know who God was, but that they didn’t know him meaningfully, or understand how to serve Him. Every generation faces the same challenges, but clothed in different clothing. The tendency to distrust the advice of parents, a...

In this video listen to Judges 1 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 1 we are reading what are the words of the prophet Samuel. We won’t learn about him personally until the book of Samuel, partially written by him, and partially written by other prophets Nathan and Gad. Samuel is the last of the Judges and the first of the Prophets if you discount Moses. In this chapte...

In this video listen to Joshua 24 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 24 his dying words continue in a second chapter. Here we find the most famous verse in the entire book of Joshua, written on the walls of the homes of believers, and on church walls and more. Joshua says “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Serving other gods in antiquity was a more obvio...

In this video listen to Joshua 23 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 23 he is dying and going the way of all the earth. Here in these last two chapters are his final words to the Israelites, words of greater significance than normal. The chapter comments on how God has given them rest in the land. Note that it is God who has given them rest, even though it is them who...

In this video listen to Joshua 22 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 22 It has been seven long years that these faithful men have been away fighting. Seven is the Lord’s number and so we all see that we must fight for the Lord. The men now get to go home, and take with them the spoils of war. There are spoils in warfare for us too when we plunder the enemy's camp in pr...

In this video listen to Joshua 21 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 21 Even though the Levites didn’t get an inheritance, they were assigned cities to dwell in, which is covered here. There are various types of Levites, and those who were the sons of Aaron, ministering priests, were assigned cities within the inheritance of Judah, Benjamin and Simeon. This was the fut...

In this video listen to Joshua 20 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 20 the cities of refuge are assigned. These cities were mentioned in Numbers 35 and in Deuteronomy 4 and 19. Now they are assigned. The six cities are: Kedesh - which means holy - devoted to God’s work Shechem - the shoulder - the government shall be on his shoulders (Isaiah 9:6) Hebron - Fellowship -...

In this video listen to Joshua 19 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 19 the remaining six tribes are allotted. God gives an inheritance to all of his people. The first of these was for Simeon. This assignment was the mercy of God because Simeon was the smallest and weakest of the tribes after the second census. They rebelled at Baal Peor and twenty-two thousand of them...

In this video listen to Joshua 18 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 18 the tabernacle is set up in Shiloh. This was the home of the tabernacle for about 400 years now until David took the ark to Jerusalem, and then shortly afterwards Solomon built the temple. Biblical Shiloh is called Khirbet Seilun about 42 kilometres north of Jerusalem. It was in the inheritance of...

In this video listen to Joshua 17 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 17 the portion of land which is the inheritance of the second half of the tribe of Manassah is given out. This includes the land given to the daughters of Zelophedad mentioned twice previously in Numbers 26 and Numbers 36. Then the tribe of Joseph, being both Ephraim and Manasseh request even more lan...

In this video listen to Joshua 16 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 16 the tribes of Joseph receive their inheritance. Of course Manasseh already received land east of the Jordan. Once again, they received their inheritance, but didn’t drive out the inhabitants. This becomes a repetitive idea as it seems all of God’s people fail to do this properly. What parts of the...

In this video listen to Joshua 15 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 15 is longest chapter in the book of Joshua - 63 verses. The borders of the tribes are now being described. Without a good knowledge of the geography of Canaan, this won’t mean much to readers. I encourage you to download a map of the division of the land which will give a sense of it. The portion for...

In this video listen to Joshua 14 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 14 we now start covering the division of the land to the tribes west of the Jordan. In verse 10 we find out some facts about Caleb, that he was 40 when he spied out the land and is 85 now. Many marvel at the age of Caleb who is 85 here and strong as ever, yet here is the key to the length of the campa...