King James Daily Bible Study: His Own Eyes
Date: Tuesday March 29, 2011
Chapters: Judges 18-19
Click Here to Read Them or Go to: http://www.imfollowingjesus.com/bible-march-29
Details of Today's Reading: The Danites seek to enlarge their inheritance, and rob Micah, the wickedness of the men of Gibeah.

Hello My Friend/Guest,
The last five chapters of the Book of Judges explain how the Israelites fell into corruption, first with the introduction of false gods and idolatry, then homosexuality and rape. You know, usually when we are going through some kind of affliction we can not understand why, but after a while we realize it was not just one thing that caused it, it was several little things adding up to it. These chapters give us a little insight as to how one can turn from being a faithful servant of God to not knowing God at all. The Bible says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” - Romans 1:18-21. We are all born with the knowledge of God, but the more one ignores God, the more they sin, the further away the get from Him and of the truth, hence they make up their own god through their own imaginations.

After Joshua died the Israelites were left without a leader, almost instantly, the Israelites went from knowing the one true God to following false gods and idolatry. How? “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” - Judges 17:6. They did what they thought was the right thing to do with their own eyes. So, it did not take long for them to become so corrupted that they had no idea who the true Almighty God was any more. When the promised land was distributed by Joshua, considerable territory was allotted to the tribe of Dan, but submission and obedience to the will of God was missing. As a result, they did not succeed in defeating the inhabitants as God had commanded them to do. Now, they were out to find land of their own and came upon the house of Micah.

“And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest...And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war. ” - Judges 18:2-4,17.

Those five men took off with all Micah's idols and the priest he hired, this goes to show us that everyone wants God in their lives, and His blessings, and are willing to go through anything to get them. The sad thing is that they go about it the wrong way, instead of listening to God and learning His way they do what they think is best,

creating a god of their own. Micah's only response when confronting the Danites. “Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?” - Judges 18:24. They took his gods, which he made, Micah thought he lost everything he had, including God. He did lose God, but all he had to do to see him was learn of Him and repent.

What he and many others fail to realize is that God is not a statue or an image, He is God. We do not need a statue, an image, or person to remind us who God is. God reminds us who He is, from the beauty of the world, to the birth of a baby, to His Word, God reminds us who He is. The key to knowing Him is having faith in Him. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” - Hebrews 11:1-3.

The consequences and repercussions of sin rarely effect just the individual, it effects everyone around them. We learn of this through another illustration of a Levite and his concubine. When a Levite thought in his own eyes to get involved with a woman outside of his tribe he never realized the consequences of that sin, not only for him, but the woman, and all of Israel. The woman left him and went back home to her father, four months later the Levite went to retrieve her resulting in a mess of introducing them to adultery, homosexuality, rape, murder, and vengeance

“And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. And his master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah. And he said unto his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah...And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites...Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly...But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.” - Judges 19:11-13,16,22,23,25.

The woman died, the Levite later declared vengeance, causing a civil war between the tribes. Sin is sin and the consequences of it is death. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” - Romans 6:23. We can praise God for sending Jesus to redeem us from sin, but the repercussions of it will never go away. The best thing we can do to avoid unnecessary suffering is to do what is right in God's eyes, not what is right in our own. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments. My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly.” - Psalm 119:165-167.

Jesus Christ Revealed: Today Jesus is revealed through the days there was non king in Israel. The Israelites were to have one king, God, but they rejected Him as king, in search of an earthly king. Christ was the rejected King of Israel. “But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.” - John 19:15.

Thanks and God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

Learn How Jesus Can Set You Free: http://www.godsprice.com
Visit I'm Following Jesus: http://www.imfollowingjesus.com
Subscribe To This Devotional: devotions@imfollowingjesus.com