Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
All about leadership in the Bible
All about leadership in the Bible
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: All about leadership in the Bible
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 21:25 (ESV) I doubt any verse gives a more accurate of its respective book than Judges 21:25. This verse, the final verse of Judges, is the culmination of nearly 400 years of disobedience, strife, war, repentance, and temporary peace through God-appointed leaders. Inside of twenty words, this small excerpt manages to capture both the heart and soul of the Israelites after their conquest of the Promised Land. They were set apart; they had no earthly king and their history was one filled with miracles and impossible victories. Yet Israel’s people were still human; their failures were nearly equal to their victories and their frequent disobedience towards God had cost them greatly. They were hardly a unified nation, and despite a history rich in God’s provision, they were rebellious. Throughout the book of Judges, Israel falls away from worshipping their God no fewer than six times. Each time, they are invaded by neighboring nations and eventually forced into war. The judges God appointed led Israel back to their heritage in the Lord every time, but the death of a judge often signaled Israel’s imminent relapse into idolatry and immorality. Because of a decision made out of complacency—not driving the Canaanites out of Israel—four-hundred years were spent in a cycle they could not escape, or perhaps, weren’t willing to. In Judges 2:3, God tells the Israelites that the remaining inhabitants would be a “thorn in your sides” and that “their gods share be a snare to you.” The Israelites should have expected this, they knew the land was for God’s nation and His people alone. A single disobedient choice made by the people haunted their natio... ... middle of paper ... ...im in their nation. Israel had consistently fallen into idolatry, and they were unable to break the cycle. Despite years of enslavement in Israel, and entire decades lost because of disobedience, their nature was never changed. The lessons learned did not pass from the first generation to the next, and this was their downfall. The mistake of one generation soon became the mistake of many, and the snare transformed into a chain. Judges is a tragedy played out over four-hundred years and twenty-one chapters. It details the highs and lows of a people learning how to follow their God when He is not guiding them by a pillar of fire. The sins found in Judges are not unlike the rest of humanity’s misdeeds, and their story is made all the more tragic in light of it. Because in those days, Israel had no king. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes, and they still do.
Many people are straying from the path of God and falling prey to temptation. This passage from the Book of Judges reminds us of the seriousness of our sins, despite the fact that God is very merciful and forgiving. In addition, the passage also reminds us that even though God often works through humans, He is the one who deserves the praise from us. In conclusion, The Canticle of Deborah preaches a message of the magnitude of God’s forgiveness, while also reminding us of the seriousness of our sins and rebellions against
The story of the state of Israel began with a man named Abraham, and a promise that God made to him. God told him to leave his homeland, promising Abraham and his descendants a new home in the land of Canaan, known as present day Israel(Rich, 1). Abraham was a firm believer in God, and decided to carry out his commands, since he knew God would be able to fulfill His promise to him. It was here, that God gave Abraham a unique homeland for his descendents to form a model nation. In the Torah, The Land of Israel was claimed to be the only place on the earth where the Jewish people could create the model nation(Spiro, 1). Jews desired to fulfill God’s plan to create the model nation, forming a strong connection between the land and the people for all eternity. Nonetheless, the Jews have not always been in political control of Israel; foreign nations had always been attacking the land...
...thousands of years from times of nomadic tribes to kings that ruled over millions. While the land covered has been vast and the people many, one thing has been a constant in the history of the Jewish people, conflict. The conflict the people of Israel has faced has caused much destruction and horror in the lives of many, however, Israel has turned the history of conflict into a positive light in order to create a nation unified behind it. Israel has created a fast military force that gives thousands jobs both in factories and within the military itself. They have also created an economic system that creates vast productions of quality goods in order to compete with other countries in the Middle East and around the world. Israel has turned the devastation of war and the worries of continual conflict into a constructive action that has kept Israel alive and powerful.
These prophetic visions encourage the exiles actively engaging and enduring the long exile (587-538 BCE) until the end, and the eschatological transformation will surely come as YHWH promises “at that time.” Living in the divine hesed for the eschatological hope, Israel and Judah will have an opportunity to return ‘home’ and be reunited together with “the God of all families of Israel” in Zion, and both (reunited in one) possess God’s bountiful blessings.
However, even though the exiles were allowed to return to their ancestral homeland of Judah, many of the people chose not to return but to remain in the recently conquered city of Babylon. There are many contributing factors concerning why these Hebrew exiles chose to remain. Even so, it is difficult to understand why a people, who were located in Palestine for over a millennium and who had such strong religious beliefs and practices, would choose to abandon the location of their now destroyed sacred Temple and ancestral home after being exiled for only fifty years.
Prior to the establishment of the Abrahamic monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) religious justice was a muddled picture. In the polytheistic religions, gods each had their own interests, which often conflicted with the interests of other gods. “The belief in one god allowed the Abrahamic religions setup a fundamentally different dynamic in ethics; the dichotomous distinction between right and wrong.” (Stark, 2001). Human actions no longer served one god or another’s interests, they were now judged by the embodiment of all that was perfect and sacred; God.
Numbers 10:11-14:45, 17, 20-25, 33 – After spending time at Sinai, the Israelites finally set out toward the Promised Land, with God’s cloud leading the way. However, the people of Israel continuously groan and complain about all of their misfortunes and they incur the wrath of God as a result. A cycle starts to form where the Israelites complain against the leadership of Moses and Aaron and YHWH, then YHWH issues a punishment, followed by Israel’s mourning and repentance, and concluded by assumed forgiveness from YHWH until the cycle starts again. The degree of ingratitude and arrogance reaches high enough that their lack of faith in YHWH results in His declaration that no one but Joshua, Caleb, and the children will ever see the Promised Land. The Israelites are forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years until every person from the older generations has died. Not every event is negative, however, because the Israelites do find enough favor with God as to win military conquests in the lands of Ammon, Bashan, and Moab.
lives of the Israelite people within the first two books of the Old Testament. Serving a
The history of Israel is unique, commence years ago with the bible. Is mention that the book of Genesis through Acts are the pillars of this country creation. Israel have a unique background when it comes to Christian. But at the same time we see how the progress for this country growth since they came part of the United Nation, and be allied with the United States. We can said that Israel is the nations that is known as the scriptural history (Thomas S. McCall). This Scriptures present Egypt in relation to Moses and the Exodus; the Canaanites as the object of the Conquest; Babylon as it figured in the destruction of the Temple and in the Captivity; Persia as it brought about the resto...
As we live within the new covenant, it can be easy to brush over code laws from the Old Testament. However, readers can see a picture of God’s grand plan for redemption by studying the story of the Israelites. Professor Yarchin has pointed out that the greatest mistake in interpretation happens when we force our cultural context on the culture and time period depicted in Deuteronomy. So, modern day readers are presented with an extremely complex challenge: How are we to learn f...
Surveying the Old Testament reveals the theme of God’s faithfulness to his people. In light of this understanding, the restoration of the Israelites prophesized in the Old Testament is essentially the fulfillment of every covenant with God. This perspective relates to the work of Christ and encourages any follower of God to trust in his faithfulness.
Although humans sometimes choose to go their own, ungodly ways, God exercises astounding patience towards them. Such is the case of the ten tribes of Israel who separated themselves from the house of David. (1Kings 12) For two hundred and fifty-four years they disregarded God’s messages. Nehemia records in chapter 9 verse 30 that, ‘You were patient with them for many years. You warned them by your Spirit through your prophets.’
Charlesworth, Matthew. "The Covenants in the Old Testament." Academia.edu. N.p., 28 Nov. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
The people of Israel heard of Holofernes destruction of the west nations and then feared him. They were worried because they just recently moved to Judea and their temple had been declared sacred after they moved. The Israelites then prepared for war and started to pray out to God. They cleansed themselves of all sins before the altar of their Lord. They prayed that God was to not give up on their people and land.