The Word

In today’s reading, Saul has reigned two years in Israel when he starts a war with Philistines. When things begin to go badly, Saul, likely moved by fear and impatience, crosses a line and offers an animal sacrifice himself, which thing is forbidden to any but the Levites. Samuel arrives and rebukes him for his transgression and advises him of its cost. Eventually Saul’s son Jonathan attacks the P...

In today’s reading, Nahash the Ammonite comes to threaten Jabesh-gilead, who cries out to Israel for help. Saul hears and gathers men from all of Israel and Judah to fight against the Ammonites. They prevail against the Ammonites and scatter the survivors. Samuel and Saul go to Gilgal to renew the kingdom where Saul is then made king, and the people make sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lo...

In today’s reading, Samuel find and anoints Saul to be the first king of Israel at the LORD’s direction, and Saul shows a promising beginning, prophesying among the prophets by the Spirit of God, and well accepted by the people of Israel. Into/Outro music: "Unexpectedly" (c) 1995 Alex Grant Used by permission

In today’s reading, following the return of the ark to Israel Samuel calls the people of Israel to repentance, to turn away from false gods, which in their mourning of recent events they readily do, and the LORD grants them a lasting victory over the Philistines at Mizpeh. In the years that follow, as Samuel enters his old age, the Israelites demand a king to be appointed over them “to fight our b...

In today’s reading, the ark of the covenant is taken by the Philistines in battle, and the LORD quickly plagues them in all their cities where the ark is kept, until they finally relent and send the ark back to Israel with offerings for their trespass. Into/Outro music: "Unexpectedly" (c) 1995 Alex Grant Used by permission

In today’s reading, Samuel begins to know the LORD for himself, and the LORD blesses him, increasing his reputation throughout all Israel. Eli hears the prophecy against he and his house confirmed by the mouth of Samuel, and sees it comes to pass in the defeat of Israel against the Philistines. Into/Outro music: "Unexpectedly" (c) 1995 Alex Grant Used by permission

The first book of Samuel opens with a barren wife and a heartfelt prayer for a son. Upon vowing to the LORD to loan her son to him all the days of his life, He remembers her at the time appointed, and she conceives and bares the child, Samuel. She keeps her vow and after weening the child, she presents him to Eli the priest, and he begins his new life in the service of the LORD. The sad state of t...

In today’s reading, Naomi advises Ruth to position herself to be redeemed with Naomi’s land by the hand of Boaz. One obstacle remains: a kinsman nearer than Boaz, who in accordance with Moses’s Law desires to redeem the land, but not the Moabite woman who would come with it to raise up children to her late husband’s name. After refusing this responsibility, as was hoped for by both Boaz and Naomi,...

The book of Ruth, a short work at only four chapters, opens with the backstory of a family’s tragic sojourn in Moab, during the time of the judges. The father and sons die, leaving three widows behind, of whom only Naomi and Ruth, a mother and her daughter-in-law, return to Israel to start a new life from the ashes of the old. Their arrival in Bethlehem reunites Naomi with old friends, but she is...

The book of Judges concludes with all Israel rallying to destroy the men of Gibeah for the murder of the Levite’s concubine, but the Benjamites defend their own rather than giving them up. In the ensuing war, the casualties are high on each side, but the Benjamites are nearly destroyed, and in the aftermath, lest Benjamin should perish from the tribes of Israel, the other tribes make arrangements...

In today’s reading, we’re introduced to Micah, an idolator, and later to a Levite he hires to be his priest, in an apparent blend of Judaism and idol worship. But when a troop of Danites pass through, they hire the Levite away from Micah, and take his idols under threat of violence. After, another Levite travels with his concubine, and comes to the city of Gibeah, a Benjamin city, where a scene fr...

In today’s reading, the personal war between Samson and the Philistines continues to escalate, trading blow for blow until Samson takes an interest in a gentile woman in the valley of Sorek, and the Philistines bribe her into betraying him into their hands. After his capture and torment at the hands of the Philistines, the blinded Samson recovers his strength and prays, and the LORD grants him his...

In today’s reading, Samson is grown and takes a wife among the Philistines, provoking considerable antagonism between they and himself, and who vex each other over a riddle and possessions, until the conflict escalates and blood is shed. Physically strengthened by the LORD, Samson takes vengeance on the Philistines for the murder of his wife and her family, and lays a thousand of their men dead in...

In today’s reading, Jephthah is confronted by the Ephraimites for excluding them from the battle against the Ammonites, and a genuine feud ensues between the Israelite tribe of Ephraim and the Israelite tribes in Gilead, namely Reuben, Gad and East Manasseh. The quarrel comes to open conflict with many thousands of Ephraimite casualties, and Jephtha goes on to judge Israel until his death and buri...

In today’s reading, Israel again turns to worshiping the false gods of the nations around them, and the LORD allows the Philistines and the Ammonites to oppress and rule over them. When Israel cries for deliverance, the LORD rebukes them for their faithlessnes. As they persist in their plea for deliverance, they put away their idols, and the LORD is moved with compassion to help them. Israel appea...

In today’s reading, the Ephraimites reprove Gideon for not calling on them to aid in the battle with the Midianites, and Gideon talks them down, abating their anger. When he is refused supplies from the men of Succoth while in the pursuit of two of the Midianite kings, Gideon promises to extract a price for their unwillingness, and likewise for the men of Penuel. When the mission is accomplished a...

In today’s reading, the Midianites vex Israel, and after the LORD sends a prophet to rebuke the Israelites for their own part in their woes, the LORD raises up Gideon to deliver them. Under Gideon’s leadership, the LORD works a miraculous victory over the Midianite army with only three hundred men of war. Into/Outro music: "Unexpectedly" (c) 1995 Alex Grant Used by permission

The book of Judges starts our strong with further conquests by the tribes of Judah and Simeon, but quickly deteriorates into compromise on the part of nearly all the tribes of Israel, failing to drive out the inhabitants of the land, and opting instead to make their enemies tributaries. Following the death and burial of Joshua, and the eventual deaths of all of Israel’s elders, and the emergence o...

The book of Joshua concludes with the Levites receiving the cities appointed to them with the surrounding lands for their cattle, which completed and fulfilled the divine promise of the LORD to give to Israel the land He had promised to their fathers, punctuated with the Word’s claim: “There failed not aught of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.” J...

In today’s reading, we find the detailed descriptions of the land inheritances of each of the tribes of Israel, by their borders, and the six cities of refuge. Into/Outro music: "Unexpectedly" (c) 1995 Alex Grant Used by permission

In today’s reading, the conquest continues, with other gentile kings forming an alliance against the Israelites, but the promise of God endured, and moving from city to city, land to land, Joshua and the Israelites defeat every enemy and every king. City after to city fall to the Israelites, and over many years, the north of Canaan is subdued, the kingdoms east and west of Jordan are subdued, with...

In today’s reading, the conquest of the promised land begins with the siege of Jericho and the Israelite’s miraculous victory over the same. Yet immediately following they suffer a humiliating defeat at the city of Ai, and they learn a painful lesson: God is with them only when they are with God: obedience and victory go hand in hand. After searching out the guilty party that brought the disfavor...

The book of Joshua begins with the LORD’s instructions to Joshua, describing again the borders of the land that the LORD promises them. As the people make preparation to cross over Jordan, two spies are dispatched to spy out Jericho, where they take shelter in the home of Rahab the harlot, and make her a promise of protection for herself and her family if she conceals their cause and doesn’t betra...

Deuteronomy concludes with the LORD reassuring the children of Israel that He will hear them when they cry out in repentance, and will restore them. The LORD appoints Joshua to lead the Israelites, and the Moses commands the priests to instruct all Israel in the Law every year of release, in the feast of tabernacles. The LORD appears to Moses, bears witness against the Israelites for their stiff-n...

In today’s reading, the LORD gives commandments regarding corporal punishment for Lawbreakers, duty to a brother’s childless widow, just weights and measures, offerings of firstfruits, and paying of tithes. He commands the writing of the Law upon great plastered stones at mount Ebal, and the building of an altar there, and pronounces twelve curses upon those who would break the Laws of the LORD. H...