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June 8

Reading 1 - Judges 4 & 5

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4 v.21 - This well-known incident is acclaimed in ch.5:24-27 as an act of great heroism which brought her 'blessing above all women', a higher accolade even than Mary had, being 'blessed among women' (Luke 1:28,42).
Peter Cresswell
ch.5:14-18 - Was it the case that the members of each tribe kept themselves to themselves so much that such generalised statements as this could be made? Was it also the case that different tribes practised different arts? Does v.14 tell us that those of Zebulum were specialists in writing - scribes? or just that their scribes were used on this occasion?
Peter Cresswell

4 v.2 'sold them into the hand ...' is a refrain in the book of Judges which is found once also in 1 Samuel. Judges 2:14 3:8 here 10:7 1Samuel 12:9 and marks chastening from Yahweh to cause Israel to repent and turn to him. In the book of Judges this happens every time the chastening comes. This is a mark of the long suffering of God. He knew hoe His people would respond and knew that they would turn away but He still loved them. A wonderful comfort for ourselves.
4 v.4 There are only two references to prophet / prophetess in the book of Judges [Judges 4:4 6:8]

Ch. 5 - Whereas chapter 4 gives little detail of the way in which Yahweh discomfited Sisera the song of Deborah in this chapter, if we are willing to take the languages she uses as describing literal events, provides great insight into what happened.
5 v.6 There are only two mentions of Shamgar in Scripture. It seems almost as if the mention of his being a judge is to provide an explanation to the words of Deborah. [Judges 3:31 5:6] It seems that despite Shamgar's exploits Israel were in dire straits until Deborah arose. See also verse 7.
Peter Forbes

Chapter 4
The circumstances surrounding Deborah and Barak are used elsewhere in Scripture

Sisera
Psalm 83:9
Jabin
Psalm 83:9

So this Psalm draws on the Deborah and |Barak incident to speak of a future deliverance.


Chapter 5
Here are a couple of interesting links with Proverbs

Window
Proverbs 7:6
Lattice
Proverbs 7:6

Whilst Proverbs was written after Judges the sentiments of Proverbs marks exactly the mind of Sisera's mother. He was seeking to pervert Israel in a similar way that the strange woman of Proverbs was seeking to seduce Israel.
Peter Forbes

4:3 We noticed (1:9) that Israel saw the chariots of iron something they could not contend with - so they failed. On this occasion confidence is placed in Yahweh - and Israel overcame their enemies. Surely a powerful warning to us as to where we should place our confidence.

5:12 The leading of 'captivity captive' draws on Deuteronomy 21:10. However it also forms the basis for Psalm 68:15 - Ephesians 4:8). The deliverance by Deborah forms a pattern of the work of Christ in delivering us from sin and death.
Peter Forbes

Reading 2 - Isaiah 32

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v. 15 - The times we find in Isaiah's prophecy that the condemnation is followed by the view of the everlasting kingdom to give the people something to work towards. We all need this sort of encouragement, so let us take these opportunities for ourselves.
Peter Cresswell
v.20 - Remember that though we sow it is God that gives the increase (1Cor.3:6,7). This idea is developed further later in the book (Isa.55:10,11) to make us sure that it is by the action of God that we each live, and not our own labour.
Peter Cresswell
v. 3 - the seeing eye and hearing ear shows that the time when ‘a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment’ is the kingdom. The ‘princes’ reigning with the ‘king’ are the glorified saints.
Peter Forbes
32:2 This verse develops 4:6. Isaiah 4:6 has a 'tabernacle' for a shade. Here Isaiah explains that the tabernacle is actually a 'man' - It is the risen Lord Jesus who is the one who opens the house of David to men and women of faith.
Peter Forbes
:9 The contemporary prophet Amos (6:1) speaks in more details about the warning to those 'at ease' - From Amos' comment it would appear that those in Judah were looking to the northern kingdom for support.
Peter Forbes

Reading 3 - James 2

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v.6 - To despise the poor is a very human tendency. There are a number of scripture passages warning us against this course of action. e.g. Psa.14:6, Prov.14:31, 17:5, Ecc.9:15-16. Let us remember that our Lord was poor Isa.53:3.
Peter Cresswell
v. 8 - That we should implement the commandment 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour' is seen extensively in Scripture. Here are some occasions. [Leviticus 19:18 Matthew 5:43 19:19 22:39 Mark 12:31 Romans 13:9 Galatians 5:14] As the second command which is like unto the first we can see that if we can get this one right all the rest will fall into place. Hence the importance of this commandment.
Peter Forbes
2:12-13 Another reference to the law of the year of release and the Jubile. Notice that we are to be judged according to how we treat others. Under the law the faithful Jew was to have an open hand (Deuteronomy 15:8) - that is a generous spirit. How do we fare?
Peter Forbes
:25 The inclusion of Rahab as one who was justified by faith is a powerful testimony to the truth that observance of the law of Moses is not a pre requisite for pleasing God. A powerful lesson for Jews.
Peter Forbes
MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGEMENT
George Speight, the leader of the coup in Fiji a few years ago has since been sentenced. He was tried and found guilty of treason. The judge ruled that he should be hanged. News reports said that in hearing this, George Speight hung his head and cried. However, in the face of this judgement mercy prevailed, and now, instead of facing a death sentence, he now faces life imprisonment. This is a clear case where mercy triumphed over judgement.

God decreed that we should all face death. In Romans 6 v 23 we read that, "the wages of sin is death." Because we all sin we all deserve death. But God in his mercy has offered us a gift - not because we deserve it but because he loves us. "But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6 v 23). It is God's mercy that allows us to have our sins forgiven. God's mercy will triumph over judgement.

We too are told that we need to show mercy to those people that we have association with. We need to let mercy triumph over judgement from us to our neighbour. Then God will show mercy to us.
Robert Prins
PROVE YOUR FAITH

"But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.'" (James 2 v 18).

James gives us quite a challenge. How do we show our faith without actions? The answer is simple: we can't. As James says a little later on, "Faith without works is dead." The only way to prove that we have faith is to put it into action - put it to the test. We might think that we have the faith to stand up in certain situations, or to do certain deeds, but we can even surprise ourselves when it comes to doing it. Peter said he would never deny his Lord, but he did! And yet Peter also doubted he could walk on water, but he stepped out and proved his faith wrong. It is not until we test our own faith that we know how strong it is.

The chapter we call the Faith Chapter, Hebrews 11, is full of examples of faithful people, yet they all had one thing in common. They all showed their faith in their actions. Hebrews 11 is, to coin a phrase, Action Packed!

So it is up to us to make sure we put our faith into action. It's not just something to talk about - faith is something we do. Let's step out in faith, put our trust in God, obey him even against our better judgement and prove our faith by the things that we do.
Robert Prins