1 Corinthians 1: 18

Judges 7 vs7

And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.

For further study - Judges 7:1-25

As we read of the victory over Jericho under the leadership of Joshua in our previous devotional, I was amazed at how the Lord accomplished His promise to Israel and did so in His way. Now in Judges we see an account of God's direction and provision in what seems to be a foolish strategy.

The phrase, "the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord" is used a number of times in Judges to describe the spiritual condition of the Jewish people in the days of the Judges. Because of this, they became vulnerable to the attack of their enemies.

In our reading for today, we see that Israel is being threatened by the Midianites, a very strong enemy who wanted to destroy the Jewish nation. God knew that if He allowed the entire military might of Israel to fight this battle they would become very proud and believe that they had won the victory, not the Lord winning the victory for them, verse 2.

As we read through our extended portion of the text, we see how the Lord trimmed down the Israeli army to a mere 300 men. This process brought Gideon and his entire troop a victory that only the Lord could have given the children of Israel. This is another illustration of how the Lord will preserve His people for His purpose. The Lord has done so now for almost 4000 years.

I have read the last chapter and I know our Lord will continue to do so until He has completed His plan for the Jews. The Scriptures tell us that these truths and record of history, even recent history, gives us proof of His word.

In 2007 the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem was celebrated by the Jewish people. This reunification of Jerusalem was the result of the Israeli Defense Force capturing the Old City of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount after some 2000 years.

This victory took place at the end of a six-day war with Israel under attack on three sides. Syria from the north, Jordan from the east and Egypt from the south were all defeated in six days, which also included the victory in Jerusalem. This victory for Israel against all odds, militarily, was somewhat like the days of Gideon.

The future will reveal God's provision and protection, as well, because He has a plan for His people, yet to be fulfilled. Bible prophecy will be fulfilled.

PRAYER THOT: Thank you Lord for your provision and protection for me as a Christian, which I know will come about because of Your provision and protection for Your people, the Jewish people.

Judges 17 vs6 

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

For further study - Judges 16:23-31

Please notice in our devotional reading for today our key verse is in Judges 17 and the extended reading in Judges 16. I do this to reveal that during this time in history, recorded in the book of Judges, that the children of Israel were without a king. As our key verse tells us, the Israelites simply did that which "was right in their own eyes."

A thorough reading of Judges will reveal that the actions of the Jews during that time were not in concert with what God wanted for His chosen people. More on that in a moment.

The book of Judges is the record of a number of Judges that the Lord brought to power to rule over His people. Samson was one of those “judges” , in fact, the thirteenth of the “judges”. You can read the account of his life and ministry, and failures, in Judges 14, 15 and 16.

In our extended reading we see the account of the death of Samson. Having been imprisoned, Samson would go to his death victorious. As a Nazarite, Judges 13:5, this judge constantly defiled his “vow of separation” through "fleshly appetites." However, Samson had a mighty faith in the Lord in a time of apostasy, a faith which God honored, Hebrews 11:32.

The story of Samson's death reminds us of his mighty work for the Lord as he gave his own life to defeat the enemies of God. The truth is that Samson actually slew more of God's enemies in his death than he did in his life, Judges 16:30.

We all are human, like Samson, all with fleshly appetites. But the Lord would have us overcome these appetites with our faith and our close walk with Him each day.

Please notice once again our key verse, Judges 17:6, and the thought that since Israel had no king, “they did that which they thought was right, in their own sight”. We will see in the next couple of books in the Old Testament that God will give the Jews a “king” because they rejected Him 2,000 years ago. The Jews are today living in a way that they see "as right in their own eyes."

King Jesus is coming and with the conditions of our world today, it seems that it will be very soon. All of us must be ready.

PRAYER THOT: Help me, dear Lord, not to yield to my fleshly appetites, even as I look for You to come and gather me up to be with You forever more.


Judges 21 vs25

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

For further study - Judges 21:1-25

Though this verse describes the days of the Judges, it sounds like a description of the Jews in the state of Israel today. In fact, the phrase "every man did that which was right in his own eyes" is used twice in the book of Judges, Judges 17:6 & 21:25.

There is another similar phrase used several times in Judges, "Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord." Both of these statements come from the fact that Israel had no king then and has no king - no Messiah - no Saviour today.

Therefore, God raised up judges - men like Gideon and Samson - to deliver the Israelites. A complete study of the book of Judges will be a blessing to the student as it will help the reader too understand not only the Jewish people but the life that many are living today.

However, there is a day coming when the Jewish people will have a King and his name is Jesus Christ. But until then, the Jewish people will continue to do that which is right in his own eyes.

In fact, the reality that the Jews are living as they did, doing that which they think is right in their own eyes is evidence that the King of the Jews, Jesus Christ, is about to come back to set everything in order.

Please remember that before Jesus comes as the “King” He will call for us, we Christians, to join Him in the “air”, the heavens, at the Rapture of the Church. This is an event that could happen at any moment, maybe even today. Keep looking up.

PRAYER THOT: Help me Lord, not to do that which what I think should be done, but that which is “right in Your sight”. We must not do that which is right only in our own eyes - but that which is right in the eyes of our Lord and Savior.


Lamentations 1 vs.8 - Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
For further study - Lamentations 1: 1 - 22
Today is "Tish B'av," the 9th day of the Jewish month of "Av." This is a very solemn day in the life of a Jew, especially a religious Jew, as they mourn the destruction of the two previous Temples in the city of Jerusalem.
Both the first temple, the one built by King Solomon and the second temple, refurbished by Herod the Great, were destroyed on the same day on the Jewish calendar, some 650 years apart.
Nebuchadnezzar and his mighty Babylonian army destroyed the First Temple on this day in 586BC. General Titus and the Roman military destroyed the Second Temple on this same day on the Jewish calendar in 70AD.
Our reading for today is from the book of Lamentations written by the Prophet Jeremiah and read by the Jewish people today as they mourn this destruction of their "worship centers" and pray for the next Temple to be built next Tish B'av.

The sorrow of Jeremiah expressed in Lamentations is from the loss of the city of Jerusalem to the mighty Babylonian army under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar. The chapter preceding Lamentations 1 is the 51st chapter of Jeremiah which is a record of the destruction of Jerusalem and the carrying away into the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people. In his third siege of Jerusalem, the Babylonian king killed the leadership of Judah, many of its Jewish residents, burned the city down and destroyed the temple (read Jeremiah 52 and II Chronicles 36). The lost of all sacred to the Priest - Prophet Jeremiah was what motivated him to write Lamentations, of course under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Once a year even until today the Jewish people will gather at the entrance to the Temple Mount to pray for the temple to be rebuilt and read through the book of Lamentations. This is their effort to have the Lord restore their temple worship and sacrificial system to meet the needs for purification as they search for redemption outside the person and work of Jesus Christ.

There will be another temple in Jerusalem, in fact, two more temples, but neither one will give them the salvation that only Jesus can give. By the way the next temple is ready to be erected in Jerusalem which will happen after the rapture - which could happen today.

PRAYER THOT: Help me to live today as if the rapture will happen today.

Lamentations 1 vs. 8 - Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.

For further study - Lamentations 1:1-22
The sorrow of Jeremiah expressed in Lamentations is from the loss of the City of Jerusalem to the mighty Babylonian army under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar. The chapter preceding Lamentations 1 is the 51st chapter of Jeremiah, which is a record of the destruction of Jerusalem and the carrying away into the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people.
In his third siege of Jerusalem, the Babylonian King killed the leadership of Judah, many of its Jewish residents, burned the city down and destroyed the Temple (read Jeremiah 52 and II Chronicles 36). The lost of all that was sacred to the Priest-Prophet Jeremiah was what motivated him to write Lamentations, of course under the “inspiration” of the Holy Spirit.
Once a year, even until today, the Jewish people will gather at the entrance to the Temple Mount to pray for the Temple to be rebuilt. They also mourn as they read through the book of Lamentations. This is their effort to have the Lord restore their Temple worship and sacrificial system to meet the needs for purification as they search for “redemption”

outside the person and work of Jesus Christ.

According to Bible Prophecy, there will be another Temple in Jerusalem, in fact, two more Temples, but neither one will give them the “salvation”

that only Jesus can give. By the way, all the preparations have been made for the next Temple to be erected in Jerusalem.

The next Temple in Jerusalem will be the one built during the Tribulation Period. All that must be done to build and operate a Temple has been done except for removing the gold-domed structure known as the “Dome of the Rock”.
When the Temple Mount is clear of any other religious building on this very sacred spot then the Jews will erect their Temple. Remember, this will happen sometime after the Rapture - which could happen today.
PRAYER THOT: Help me Lord to live today as if the Rapture will happen today.

Leviticus 1 vs. 1 - And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,

For further reading - Leviticus 1:1-17

You may be confused as you read our devotional passage for today. You might even be thinking, "why read about the system given to the children of Israel for preparing sacrifices?" I will get to that answer in a moment, but first, let me tell you that the book of Leviticus is the first book studied by all children of religious Jewish families.

In fact, if the family is of the Tribe of Levi, the priestly family, the young boys of that family would study this book for 28 years, until their 30th birthday, to prepare to do the priestly duties in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

Now to your question of why read about the sacrificial system that God gave the Jewish people, since Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. That is a valid question.

The book of Leviticus not only gives us the “system of sacrifice” for the Jewish people in the first seven chapters, it gives us a “standard for priests” who are to perform these sacrifices in Leviticus 8-10. The last part of the book, chapters 11-29 reveals a “system of worship” in a Tabernacle or a Temple.

The technical interpretation of Leviticus is for the Jewish people, those in Biblical times and those in the Kingdom to come. The sacrificial system, or at least a portion of it, will be reinstated in Messiah's Temple, located in Jerusalem, in His 1000 year Kingdom, Ezekiel 45. These future sacrifices will be done in “memorial” as the Jews look back to what Jesus did for them as the sacrificial Lamb.

The sacrificial system set up in Leviticus was for the purpose of having the Jews to look forward to what Jesus would do through His death, burial and resurrection. But I haven't answered your question of why read Leviticus?

I mentioned that the technical interpretation of Leviticus is for the Jewish people past and prophetic, future. However, the spiritual application for reading Leviticus is precious. The word "holiness" is used 87 times in Leviticus.

If you want to understand the “holiness of God”, you can do so by reading this third book of the Torah, the books of the law for the Jewish people.

Read the entire book sometime. It will be a real blessing to you.

One final thought. I mentioned that the boys of a religious Jewish family would start to read the book of Leviticus at two years of age and do so for 28 years until they qualify as priests on their 30th birthday.

Today in Jerusalem there are thousands of Jewish young men and even some not so young who are studying the priestly responsibilities from Leviticus as they prepare themselves to serve in a coming temple in Jerusalem.

All preparations have been made for the next temple in Jerusalem. It is not there now, but it is greatly anticipated by hundreds and thousands of Jewish people today. The preparation being made to build the next Temple, the Third Temple, in Jerusalem is one of the great evidences of the Lord's soon coming. Keep looking up!

PRAYER THOT: Help me to understand the holiness of God.
Leviticus 23 vs2 

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts OF THE LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

For further study - Leviticus 23:1-14

Today for our devotion, we are reading the passage where the Lord gives the first three feasts to the Jewish people to observe on a yearly basis. Notice that these feasts are given to the Jewish people and not to Christians.

It is alright for Christians to study and even re-enact these feasts, but remember that these are “Jewish feast days” that God has given to His chosen people. God uses these feast days to teach His people about the coming Messiah.

Each of the feasts has at least a historic or prophetic significance. These first three spring feasts are related to Israel's past. The Passover is to remember the Exodus from Egypt and the journey to the Promised Land.

The second feast, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, is also associated with Passover. For seven days, the Children of Israel were to stop eating the “sourdough bread” to eat “unleavened bread” for the purpose of separating the bondage and the journey into the Promised Land.

The third feast, the Feast of First Fruits, was to be the celebration and thanksgiving of the very first of the “barley harvest”. These thoughts cover the historic aspect of the first three Jewish feast days. These feasts also have a prophetic significance.

The Passover was a prophecy of the Crucifixion or sacrifice of Jesus. Unleavened Bread was to honor the burial of Jesus Christ. Then on the first day after the Sabbath, after Unleavened Bread, or Sunday, would be the celebration of First Fruits, and that pictures the day of the “resurrection” of Jesus.

The historic record indicates that Jesus was indeed crucified on Passover, buried on Unleavened Bread, and did, in fact, resurrect from the dead on First Fruits, thus Jesus fulfilled the first three of the Jewish Feast, in the proper day sequences.

There are three Fall Feasts when Jesus will come back, enter into the Temple, and set up His Kingdom on these three Jewish feast days. In our next trip through the book of Leviticus, we will look more in depth into these future events, which are foretold in these feasts that God has given the Jewish people

PRAYER THOT: Thank you, Lord, for fulfilled Bible prophecy, which assures me of the truth in all of your Word.


Leviticus 23 vs24 - Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

For further study - Leviticus 23::23-44

Our extended reading for today is the set of instructions given by God to the Jewish people for the "Jewish Feast Days." There are three fall Jewish feasts; Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles.

There are four spring feasts, Leviticus 23:1-22; Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits and Pentecost. For a total of seven feasts that the Jewish people must observe each year.

Today is the first of the fall feasts, Rosh Hashana in Hebrew and Feast of Trumpets in English. Rosh Hashana is also the Jewish New Year, and the new year is 5768, which means that 5, 768 years ago God created the heavens, the earth and all that is in them.

According to Jewish tradition, based upon orthodox Jewish scholarship, today would mark the sixth day of creation, the day that God created man and woman. This makes a lot of sense since the year is 5768, and the year would be based upon the anniversary of man coming into existence and then he would count every new year on the anniversary of his creation by God.

The other significance about this day, the sixth day of creation, is the location where God created man. Again Jewish tradition states that the Garden of Eden, when God created man, was centered on the Temple Mount where the Holy of Holies would have been located during the time of the first and second temples.

The actual place was the "foundation stone" that today is located underneath the Dome of the Rock, the gold dome building on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The "foundation stone" would have been the center of the Garden of Eden, the inner garden where Jesus was as He created everything.(For more on the Garden of Eden see my audio series, "Return to Eden".)

One final thought about the Feast of Trumpets, the Second Coming of Jesus takes place on the Feast of Trumpets someday in the future, Matthew 24:31.

When Jesus returns to earth He has an angel "blow the trumpet", as was the case on the Feast of Trumpets.

I cannot go into more detail but Jesus comes back on the Feast of Trumpets, goes into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement to sit upon His throne in the Temple and the thousand year Kingdom begins on the Feast of Tabernacles.

These three fall Jewish feasts are fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ in the proper day sequences. Jesus fulfills all seven of the Jewish feast for the Jewish people.

PRAYER THOT: Thank you Lord for Your faithfulness to the Jews and to me and all Christians.


Leviticus 23 vs44 

And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.

For further study - Leviticus 23:23-44

Last time we visited Leviticus for our daily devotional we read from Leviticus 23:1-14 which has the directive from God to Moses, to the Jewish people about the seven "Jewish Feast." In our last reading we read about the first three of the Jewish feast, of the seven Jewish Feast. These are feast that the Lord gave to Moses, who then declared them to the Jews, verse 44.

Remember, that the first three feast, the spring feast were all fulfilled by Jesus Christ in their proper day sequences. Christ was crucified on Passover, buried on Unleavened Bread and resurrected on First Fruits.

As we come to our reading for today, we focus in on the last three Feast, the fall Jewish feast, Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Tabernacles. Verses 23-25 give the directions for the “Feast of Trumpets”. This feast day occurs on the first day of the seventh Jewish month, around the month of October.

This feast is when the “shofar” or the trumpet will be blown to signify the beginning of the feast days. The Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashana in Hebrew, is the "New Year" on the Jewish calendar. There are ten days between the first fall feast day and the second feast day, or should I say "fast day," because it is the day when the Jewish people "afflict" themselves, verse 29. I’ll have more on this feast day, in a moment.

Then the last of the feast days, "Tabernacles" is on the fifteenth day of the seventh Jewish month. These three “fall feast days” will also be fulfilled by Jesus Christ, in the proper day sequence.

The "second coming" of Jesus Christ will occur on the Feast of Trumpets, remember that is not the "rapture", but the second coming of Christ on the Feast of Trumpets. During the ten days, the ten "awesome days", that lead up to the the Day of Atonement, today the Jewish people endeavor to make sure that they are included in the "Book of Life."

The truth be known, the Jewish people will be cast into the "lake of fire", Revelation 20:11-15, at the Great White Throne Judgment, if their name is not in the "Book."

Jesus Christ will be in the Temple on the next "fast day", “Yom Kippur”, the Day of Atonement. Jesus has never been in the Holy of Holies in a temple that stood on the Temple Mount when He was on earth.

Jesus will enter the Holy of Holies when He returns to Jerusalem for the purpose of the salvation of the Jewish people on the Day of Atonement, Hebrews 9:25-28. That day the Jews will be saved, in a day, Zechariah 3:9, as Jesus, the "high priest" will enter the temple. Five days later, on the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus will begin the Millennial Kingdom.

So it is that Jesus will fulfill all of the Jewish feast days, the last three yet in the future. By the way, that future may well be a short-lived future. Before these three Jewish feast days that Moses declared to the Jewish people, verse 44, the "rapture" will take place. The "rapture" will happen before the Jewish feast days are fulfilled.

PRAYER THOT: Thank You Lord for being a faithful God who always keeps His promises to us. Help us to be faithful in our service to you.

Leviticus 25 vs23