Author Archives: Joseph Malekani

Judges 17 Commentary http://www.lovingscripture.com We should not be fooled by the lip service to the name of the LORD by the characters in this chapter. They have clearly forgotten the first two Commandments. We have encountered this kind before: people having a very vague picture of worship but still proceeding with their worship. The worshipContinueContinue reading “Judges 17 Commentary”

Judges 16 Commentary http://www.lovingscripture.com  Chapter 16 winds down the story of Samson. What a story! It is a nice Sunday-school story but every grown man knows men don’t have to be this dumb. Samson is an embarrassment to the menfolk. There can be an easy conclusion to the story: with his hair, Samson is strong;ContinueContinue reading “Judges 16 Commentary”

Judges 15 Commentary http://www.lovingscripture.com One can decide to focus on the awesome strength of Samson and never get disappointed. Imagine the strength of a single man who rounds up a pack of 300 foxes! Most men will have problems catching one chicken! It took three thousand men from Judah to ask him to surrender toContinueContinue reading “Judges 15 Commentary”

Judges 14 Commentary http://www.lovingscripture.com His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” Indeed, isn’t there an acceptable man or woman among the brethren? Must you go to the nightclub to get a spouse?In DeuteronomyContinueContinue reading “Judges 14 Commentary”

Judges 13 Commentary http://www.lovingscripture.com Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. This statement here and in several other places in this book gives us an impression that Israel had a see-saw relationship with the LORD. We can doubt this view. Israel’sContinueContinue reading “Judges 13 Commentary”

Judges 12 Commentary http://www.lovingscripture.com Ephraimites confront Jephthah with the complaint that Jephthah didn’t involve them in his battles against Ammon. We first met this kind of reaction from the Ephraimites when Gideon defeated Midian. Gideon’s wisdom had pacified the situation. Jephthah is not Gideon and so the outcome of the confrontation is very different. CivilContinueContinue reading “Judges 12 Commentary”

Judges 11 Commentary http://www.lovingscripture.com The story of Jephthah is similar to Abimelek’s. Both are born under similar circumstances. You would expect Jephthah suffered abuse from other family members before he was eventually driven out. That is the difficulty that men subject their children to when they decide to have children in that way. The LORD,ContinueContinue reading “Judges 11 Commentary”

Judges 10 Commentary: Jephthah http://www.lovingscripture.com After the time of Abimelek, we have a couple of Judges that come and go without much-reported activities: Tola and Jair. Our attention is drawn to the eighth judge, Jephthah. He came into the picture at a time when Israel was in great distress. And for a change, Israel prayedContinueContinue reading “Judges 10 Commentary”

Judges 9 Commentary http://www.lovingscripture.com The history of Israel during this time was defined by the two idol temples mentioned in this chapter. Baal-Berith was a temple of crime. The other unnamed temple was a temple of sinful indulgence and revelry, from which Abimelek’s opponent mounted an insurrection. Idol temples have continued to influence world history.ContinueContinue reading “Judges 9 Commentary”

Judges 8 Commentary http://www.lovingscripture.com Now we can approximate the size of the army that had gathered against Israel. How can an army of 120,000 be routed by a mere 300 poorly equipped men? With God nothing is impossible and we are also reminded of the promise that one would put a thousand to flight. ThisContinueContinue reading “Judges 8 Commentary”