In the book of Judges we learned how, “Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulcher of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites”, and in chapter eight and verse thirty-three of Judges, we learn how, “as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again” where we read,
And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again,
and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.
The verse reads, “And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, …” The writer began with the words, “and it came to pass” which means “and it happened and occurred”, “as soon as Gideon was dead” or “at the time and when Gideon whose name means ‘hewer’ and was the youngest son of Joash of the Abiezrites, fifth judge of Israel who led the Israelites against the Midianites was expired, lifeless and inanimate”, “that the children of Israel” which means “that the offspring and progeny belonging to Israel whose name means ‘God prevails’ and is the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob” “turned again” or “went back or returned” and did the following. The writer shared when “Gideon” expired the offspring belonging to “Israel” returned to the following.
The verse goes on to say, “… and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.” The writer continued with the words, “and went a whoring” which means “and committed spiritual adultery and fornication like a harlot” “after Baalim” which means “following Baalim whose name means ‘lord’ and was the supreme male divinity of the Phoenicians or Canaanites”, “and made Baalberith” or “and put, placed, established and appointed Baalberith whose name means ‘lord of the covenant’ and was a god of the Philistines” “their god” which means “their, the people of Israel’s, divine ruler and judge”. The writer shared how the people of “Israel” committed spiritual adultery as they pursued “Baalim” and appointed “Baalberith” as their divine judge and ruler.
When we mediate upon the words in this verse, we learn how the people of “Israel” once again turned away from Jehovah God and committed spiritual adultery by worshiping “Baal”. They were so blatant in their defiance that they caused “Baalberith” to exist as their divine judge. We shall see how this caused difficulties for them again, but for now, let us consider our own lives. Is there anything in our lives that has become an idol to us or that we give our time, energy and money to that has taken the place of Jehovah God? If so, we can turn from our ways and worship Jehovah God who sent His Son into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind and rose from the dead after three days. When we yield to Him as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and put His Holy Spirit within us to guide us into all truth and to help us keep Him and His righteousness as the priority in our lives. (See Matthew 6:33; 1 Thessalonians 1:9)
Next time we learn how, “the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".
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