The One Year Bible - Day 148

Amnon rapes his half-sister Tamar. On the back of the previous story where David has pretty much done the same thing, we read that Amnon is not forgiven, never humbles himself and ends up murdered in revenge by his half brother Absalom. Can we deduce that he ended up punished because he did not repent? We cannot really say, we all know people that have suffered more or less because of their sin but there is obviously no specific cause and effect, some people simply suffer more than others.

The One Year Bible - Day 147

Do you ever wonder what it was like for someone like Nathan to bring God's prophecy to David? Despite us knowing that David was a Godly man, the king was still to be feared. He was a warrior and no stranger to killing and here was God asking Nathan to rebuke him. It is easy for us to say that "when God sends you, you go" but it must have been incredibly hard and yet he did what he had to do. At the time when David had stopped fearing the Lord, there was someone else who hadn't.
The question is, what would have happened if Nathan would have bottled out? Would David have become proud and even more sinful? Would the history of God's people been much worse?
We must deal with difficult situation as they arise and God directs us to. The dealing might be very painful but the alternative is unthinkable.

The One Year Bible - Day 146

David and Bathsheba, a very famous passage involving the sin of one of the Bible's most Godly men. When we step back from the impulse to simply judge David because he committed "such a great sin", we need to remember how powerful he was, how much temptation he would have been under constantly and we remind ourselves that we all have a weakness in one or more areas. Perhaps we are weak with money or the lust for power or attraction to women generally or specifically?
We do see in detail however the way that sin plays out in our lives. Right from the outset, the passage tells us that David should have been out at war but he stayed at home, "the devil finds work for idle hands"! Then, was the initial temptation when David sees Bathsheba. At this point, he could have averted his eyes and walked away but the temptation leads to curiosity and he asked his servants to find out who she was. When he found out she was married, he definitely should have backed off but he sleeps with her straight away and she becomes pregnant. He has now crossed a line and as is so common when we do wrong, we are slow to make ourselves right and spend more effort trying to cover it up. Despite his best efforts to try and get Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba so everyone can think the baby was his, it doesn't work and again, rather than David coming clean, he decides to take the ultimate step in what he thinks will put paid to the sin - he arranges for Uriah to be killed which would release Bathsheba from her marriage and allow her to marry David. Of course, he thinks he has gotten away with it until the prophet Nathan comes and passes judgement on what David has done at which point the full effect of his sin is made known and the son born to Bathsheba dies. Interestingly, Bathsheba is also the mother of Solomon who we read later on has the opportunity to build the Temple and is very much a man after God's heart so we should still be gobsmacked at how God has not only forgiven David his massive sin, but also makes things alright again.

The One Year Bible - Day 145

2 Samuel 7 is prophetic on two levels, God is telling Nathan both about Solomon who will build the temple and also Jesus who will build a 'temple' both are David's descendents. The temple that Solomon made was a physical building, the one Jesus created was the church! The living and breathing temple of God where His presence lives and can be taken by each believer to millions of places at the same time. Oh how we pine for Jesus to be here when His power and presence has been given to us by the Holy Spirit as if we were millions of Jesus' Sometimes we need to stop looking at what we are not and consider who He has made us in Christ!

The One Year Bible - Day 144

We read about God bringing about the reunion of Israel under King David but under the unfortunate human hands of Recab and Baanah who had decided that Ishbosheth needed to be murdered. They ended up executed but still you wonder what might have been if they had not intervened. Somehow in scripture there is a way in which God's will occurs even if carried out by the hands of humans (whether knowingly or not). There is a part of me that thinks they shouldn't have killed Ishbosheth but then another part where I can see God knowing that His will was done to reunite his people. Sadly later, we read that Judah and Israel separate again and we wonder whether it should have happened another way.
We are then reminded that even after 'success' we must not run headlong into new experiences without staying in check with God. David asks God about conquering the Philistines rather than just going ahead with it.
We then read about the Ark again (remember this represents God's presence) which has been in exile in some far flung corner of Israel. We read again about both its holiness and also its blessing as an object for the Israelites. We can understand David's anger that Uzzah died but we must remember that God is holy and is not to be toyed with. God had told them how to carry the ark and it was on poles carried by priests. The fact that they had used a cart and this resulting in an Ox stumbling should be no surprise. We need to constantly remind ourselves not to treat His presence with contempt otherwise He will simply go somewhere else.

The One Year Bible - Day 143

Notice today we have witnessed the start of the divided kingdom. In a shortish space of time we have gone from being the people of God to the peoples of God and we see the Spirit of denomination. Why? Well God had anointed David to be the king but some people could not accept that and decided to set up the nation of Israel while David stayed in Judah (Judah is the tribe of kings). The first act of celebration for this new partition? War.
It says a lot about denomination or party spirit that we spend more time fighting than we do working together. So massively sad and also anger inspiring. All these great leaders we look up to across all these world denominations and they still struggle to work together because of (mostly) minor differences in doctrine that honestly are really not that important.
You also read about the sad death of Asahel who obviously didn't learn when to stop pursuing, another lesson for us today. We can get an idea in our head so strongly that we pursue it to the point of death.

The One Year Bible - Day 142

An Amalekite (another foreigner) comes to tell David of Saul's death and ends up killed. Why? Because he killed Saul since Saul's suicide was apparently not successful. David still considers this treason. It is along the lines of, "Well he was finished anyway so I helped it along". Compare this to his armour bearer from yesterday who feared God and would not kill the king.
Our challenge is again not to try and help God do God's work. The ONLY thing we are called to do concerns ourself and own behaviour and character. God might well call us to do things involving others but this should only be those we are in authority over and only when God tells us to.
Authority is what keeps our house in order, lack of authority leads to Anarchy which leads to getting nothing much done!

The One Year Bible - Day 141

This passage is interesting because we see David offering to fight with the Philistines (arch enemies of Israel) against Israel and therefore against his own people. This is the same man who protected Saul because he was 'God's anointed one'. We obviously don't know whether David was planning some kind of coup against the Philistines mid-battle or whether he had got to the point where he was so tired of running away from Saul, he simply enjoyed the security of a foreign land. What we do see is God intervening and simply not letting David do it. This occurs via the other leaders (how does God do it without forcing His will onto them?) and results in David being unconnected with the slaughter of the Israelites.
We finally see Saul and Jonathan killed, interestingly we see Saul attempting to kill himself with his own spear to avoid the shame that he feels in defeat.

The One Year Bible - Day 140

I mentioned yesterday about how we need to let God deal with people who are out of line and just look after our own position before God. However, what we read about today involves other people. Imagine that you really can't stand someone and you secretly want to punch them in the face. You might decide that you shouldn't but if someone else did, you would be more than happy. This passage shows that this attitude is also wrong. Just because someone else does the 'dirty work', doesn't absolve you from blame.
If someone asked you if you wanted them to punch this guy in the face, what do you say?
1) I can't possibly comment (i.e. yes please)
2) Yes please
3) Well if you did, I wouldn't mind
4) It would be wrong to punch him

The One Year Bible - Day 139

David spares Saul's life. We can understand this because where we live, killing is not common and we would probably never pick up a sword or spear and kill anyone. For David and the people who lived at that time however, it was very much a part of life so it wouldn't have been strange for David to have killed anyone, let alone his arch-enemy.
What David recognises however is that Saul was anointed by God despite any objections he might have or any character issues that Saul has and for this reason, David will not touch him. Could the same be true of leadership in your churches that you can pick holes in and justify 'killing' so that you can step into their shoes? This betrays a lack of understanding of God's sovereignty and the fact that He can deal with people that need removing without us having to 'help' God. This troubles us because we like to think we know what is right but then again the root of all human suffering is the fact that we all think we know what is right!

The One Year Bible - Day 138

Doeg the Edomite. You could presumably write a PhD on the psychology of this man but the simple truth is that he was looking for the favour of man rather than the favour of God. If he was God-fearing, he would have not spoken up to tell them where David was. What is interesting is that several times in the OT, the people who do these things are foreigners and represent people who exist today. The Edomites were friends and relatives of the Israelites because of their help when the Israelites were coming into the Promised Land but the point was they were not Israelites, they therefore might well represent people who are closely linked with the church or Christians but who are not genuinely believers. I guess they most closely represent religious people who have no faith and therefore are prone to make decisions from human understanding or praise from men and not from the things of God.

The One Year Bible - Day 137

We read today about the fascinating friendship between David and Jonathan. People have suggested it is a homosexual relationship but that betrays the way in which our minds have been distorted from what real love actually means and that love does not necessarily mean sexuality.
In this situation where David is incredibly fearful because of Saul and particularly the fact that he doesn't know what he's done wrong, we read about powerful is the friendship that can sustain you through the hard times.

The One Year Bible - Day 136

Fear is a strange thing. We read that Saul feared David and yet David feared Saul. How many things in life can be so two-way? Domination is usually one way, talent is usually one way, creativity or technical ability are mostly one way. In other words, in most areas of life, someone will always have the upper hand over someone else in a certain area. Only with fear can it travel so strongly in two directions. David feared for Saul's violence, Saul feared David's popularity and we all know that fear is a large powerful anchor that weighs us down and prevents us from being who we were made to be. Contrast with Daniel who showed no fear at any point and we see the Godly view on fear: If we trust God, fear has no hold on us!

The One Year Bible - Day 135

Sometimes I like to draw metaphor and deeper meaning from Bible passages but David and Goliath is so simple, it does not need complication.
David had faith, he trusted God and he slayed a giant, a giant that no one else even had the guts to face.
It is amazing and reminds me of Philippians 4:13

The One Year Bible - Day 134

Today we read about the results of modifying the plans God has given us. God quite clearly told Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites but Saul had decided to spare the king and kept the best of the animals alive. This ended up costing him dearly. It proved that his heart was not aligned to God's and ended up with Samuel slaying king Agag - I guess the metaphor would be the spiritual mop-up that we have when we do not follow God's plans. How many times have we suffered from a person or situation that we should have dealt with and didn't?
What is interesting however was that although God had rejected Saul, he was still king until he died. Why? Because God is not in the business of imposing himself directly onto men's systems. "If you want Saul as king, have him as king". God had already decided that David would be king and soon had even anointed David but Saul stayed in his office, as if the gift and calling are irrevocable - Romans 11:29

The One Year Bible - Day 133

Jonathans daring plan, to approach the Philistines with just him and his armour bearer and prove that the Lord is who He says He is! It appeared that the glory had departed the priesthood at that time and it therefore took a non-priest to cause God's will to happen. How sad throughout history when the church has failed to do God's will and He has chosen someone outside to do it instead!
The root issue here was quite simple to Jonathan, a simple but challenging premise: God is able to save us from the Philistines, therefore even two of us will be able to defeat 20 men.
We then read of the foolishness of man (Saul in this case) who decides that making an oath about his men not eating is some sort of way to motivate them to success. We cannot motivate each other to success, success only comes as we align our will to Gods. The result, almost calamity as the person who had followed God (Jonathan) nearly suffered execution. Fortunately, God intervened and Jonathan got to be an influence on his father for many more years.

The One Year Bible - Day 132

We often misunderstand the idea that God can be both loving and also allow us to suffer. The Old Testament uses phrases like "His hand will be heavy on you" and we get all confused and decide that God in the OT is not the same as the God in the new. We need to understand that the things that God does are all for love, even allowing us to suffer so that we realise where we have gone wrong and therefore return to God. The warnings for Israel apply to us as Christians as much as the Israelites all those years ago because they are based on the principle that God will do whatever He needs to do to bring the best outcome - some of that can be very ugly. If, however we remember who God is and pay Him the honour due to Him then we might find that we don't suffer in the same ways. I don't want to put too fine a point on it since some people suffer for no obvious reason and others who are bad people don't seem to suffer but we should always seek to do what God wants and the best outcome will always result.

The One Year Bible - Day 131

Preparation, what does that mean? In the workplace, we sometimes find that before we get a promotion, we have the chance to try out some of the tasks required to prove we can do it. In the church, the same could be said of people who are earmarked for leadership. We need to pray, to be tested, to take the counsel of others and various other preparations before we would presume to take over a role.

Sadly, too many people lack this preparation and find themselves ill-equipped to handle the challenges of their new roles.

The One Year Bible - Day 130

I wonder what parallels we can draw between 1 Samuel 8 and the modern day church. The original plan was that the people of Israel had people who told them what God said and they followed it. To be led into a decision was to enquire of the Lord. The people wanted a king however and this is what God gave them.

The same thing could be said of the vicar/pastor/leader model of church where you have a single person with ultimate say in issues, not necessarily that they make these decisions alone but that you have a single figurehead to "follow". Of course it makes many things easier since it is simply a case of, if you don't agree, go somewhere else whereas the kingdom of God should be about deciding what is right and pursuing that in prayer and ultimately agreement.

The One Year Bible - Day 129

The presence of God has the effect of causing great plagues in the Philistine towns. Is this because God is malicious and is punishing them? I don't believe so, I think what we see is the simple cause-and-effect of taking something that is holy into somewhere that is not. The fear is not so much that God punishes unholy people (otherwise most of us are screwed) but that if we, as unholy people, approach God, why would we expect anything else?

Even the Israelites are subjected to death when some of them look into the Ark, something they were clearly forbidden to do.

Although this can make us think of God as a bully, we need to remember that God actually gave instructions on how to deal with the ark to enable it to be used correctly. His presence is like carrying some radioactive material which is massively powerful and useful but also dangerous when mishandled.

The One Year Bible - Day 128ii

Another thing we see is Israel who are generally lacking any experience of God, try to force His presence in the camp by taking the Ark to the battle against the Philistines. God had clearly told them to leave the Ark where He told them to leave it and only move it when instructed, something that Israel had clearly ignored. It also mentions again that the priests are there in the thick of it, no doubt trying to get some glory in front of the people with what was a purely human endeavour. No doubt all the people were sucked into it and thought it was some amazing celebration of God and His presence when God had nothing to do with it.

As is usually the case in these situations, the people took a battering and in this case also had the ark (and therefore the potential presence of God) removed with it.

Is this still possible when we fake God's presence in our services? Is it possible that by treating the presence of God with contempt, we lose the ability to experience it until we repent and have it restored?

The One Year Bible - Day 128

We read today of Eli getting the law laid down by God. We might think it was unfair that he was being blamed for his sons actions but it was clear that he had full knowledge of what his sons were doing and had done nothing about it. Why? We don't know but we do know that God considered Eli just as guilty as Phinehas and Hophni. The result of this disregard for God was a warning that the tribe of Levi would start to die out and God would choose another to act as priest. Prophetically, believers are these people who become a new priesthood, whether Jewish or Christian believers in Messiah but we are again warned about people who presume to be religious leaders but who have major issues with their integrity and character. Perhaps we are too proud to think this refers to us but how often do we honestly sit down and question our own motives?

The One Year Bible - Day 127

I love the story of Samuel, a simply story of faith, integrity and ultimately power and authority. I noticed, that once again, Samuel's family are from Ephraim "the hill country". I'm not sure what was special about it but it seems that many people who are great in the Bible come from nowhere places. Perhaps that is simply to prove the point that God wants character rather than the big and famous names of the big cities or maybe it is because people from humble backgrounds have an environment that helps to foster a relationship with God. Perhaps both.

We also read of the terrible behaviour of the two sons of Eli the High Priest and the way in which they treat the things of God with contempt. We are sometimes guilty of that and mock what God is doing because in our proud eyes, we judge it is poor quality or lacking spirituality. How many times have you seen a simple children's club or old people's project in a small church and thought it was a bit lame rather than appreciating that God works in many ways, irrespective of whether we agree or not!

The One Year Bible - Day 126

There is a beautiful image in the reading from today in Ruth 2 about people who are saved and come from "foreign lands and foreign gods" to take shelter under God's wings. It is a great picture of a God of love and generosity who doesn't care where you've been so much as where you are now.

The One Year Bible - Day 125

This comment is made a few times in the book of Judges: "all the people did whatever seemed right in their eyes"

Sadly, this is a very easy comment to pass by yet it is the root of the human condition and the most common error that Christians make. We study, we experience, we listen to teaching and rather than all of this confirming that we do not know anything and need to take things to God, it seems instead to do the opposite. We become more independent in our knowledge rather than more God-dependent.

It is said that knowledge puffs up where love builds up so we need to ensure that we have love in our lifestyle and also that knowledge only makes us more aware of our need for God and the way he works in our lives - learning how to listen - rather than learning what to do as if a Christian walk is merely a recipe or set of instructions.

The One Year Bible - Day 124

Judges 19 and an incredibly strong story about a corrupt town. There are some things that are interesting when we first read this. A concubine was treated like a wife with no rights so it is unusual that the Levite actual travelled so far to get her back. In other words, she was important to him. We then read that although on the journey back they could have stopped at Jebus, they decided that they were better off amongst the Israelites and actually the house of someone from Ephraim where the Levite lived. This presumably indicates to us that we sometimes look to the church to find a place that is safe and appropriate for us to hang-out/rest/receive/give or whatever. This makes what happened so much worse because it is a family betrayal. If it had happened in a non-Israelite town, presumably although the Israelites would have retaliated, it would have been an expected situation but for people under the same law to commit such a crime was unforgivable.

As was right, the Israelites went to God and asked what they should do and if we suffer outrage at the hands of those in the church then it is right that we also seek the Lord's response to what happened. It was by no means a given that they should attack and destroy the town but by seeking God, that is what they were told to do - to purge the evil.

It is interesting that Judah is told to attack first. Judah was well known for being a warrior tribe but I wonder how much deeper the metaphor exists between tribes and perhaps NT ministries. Is there a 1-to-1 correlation between a tribe and a pastor or teacher, an apostle or a music leader? If so, it would be interesting to ask what is this ministry that so often gets to go first in the fighting? If it is the person who always goes first to rout out evil before the church arrives, it would presumably be apostles, prayers or music leaders.

I don't know but it's interesting.

The One Year Bible - Day 123

Judges 17 is one of those incredibly crazy stories that sound far-fetched even among the stories of God's miracles. This mum makes a silver idol which Micah installs as a shrine and employs a Levite to be the priest for it. It gets taken by a load of warriors from the tribe of Dan who worship it right up until the exile occurs. I really don't know what to say about it except I guess it reinforces the grip that idolatry can take on people - many people, for a long time. Is there similar idolatry in our lives? Do we idolise things that have a form of sacredness like church buildings, pastors, vicars, worship leaders, Christian bands, Christian books? They all have the ability to lead us astray if they take us from Christ to a poor imitation of Christ. Of course, we often say that these things "lead us to Christ" and of course some do but do they all? How much time do you give these things compared to how much time you give to God in prayer and Bible study? I didn't think so!

The One Year Bible - Day 122

I remember seeing Samson's final victory on a film as a child and there was something chilling about it. Something amazing about a person who had really hit rock-bottom, all because of his own fleshly action but someone who ultimately knew what needed to be done and sacrificed himself to kill as many Philistines as possible. It is a bitter-sweet moment in that we are sad to see this pitiful man end his life so abruptly but also part of us rejoices that he killed so many baddies at the same time.

The One Year Bible - Day 121

Samson, what a pain in the neck! If there is something that makes us think, it is how God gave such gifts to someone who was so egotistical he caused trouble at every turn. Despite losing a riddle because of his wife, he killed 70 men just to get the garments he had to pay for losing the bet!
Why does God chose anyone for anything? Who knows? It's not like He has a great pool of choice and perhaps He will accept that even total trouble makers have enough fruitful times to offset the bad they might also do.
It also reminds us that God is not looking for perfection in us. If He was, we would see nothing of Him since He would never find a suitable helper. Praise God that he works through the other Samsons amongst us.

The One Year Bible - Day 120

Jephthah's vow, oh my goodness me. If there was ever a lesson in being careful with your tongue, this was it. God did not ask him to make such a vow but presumably he was trying to push the point of needing victory and spoke carelessly. He would offer whatever was the first thing that came out of his house when returned. What was he thinking? Did he have loads of animals and just assume that one of those would come out of the house or perhaps he thought that God would miraculously provide the sacrifice even though a sacrifice by definition must cost the giver something and is not given by God! Anyway, his daughter comes out and what can you do? His vow to God took precedent and he did indeed sacrifice his daughter to God. Be careful what you speak!

The One Year Bible - Day 119

Judges 9:22 is nice and gritty. It would make a cool comic book or film. One of the things about the Bible is that it doesn't hide sin or the nasty side of people's character. There is no Hollywood here, just Abimelech who was conceived of a concubine and strayed as soon as he was able and ending up with his head smashed in by a millstone. You wonder why someone like Gideon, who was a mighty God-fearing warrior ended up with a concubine despite having so many natural sons and whether this act of union outside of marriage ended up sowing the roots of the hatred and destruction that came from Abimelech.

The One Year Bible - Day 118

Judges 8:23 "I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The Lord will rule over you". It might be subtle but translate this to modern church life. How easy is it for leaders to become inflated either by their own egos or by the idolatry of others into a pseudo-ruler state. Where people talk more about their leaders and how amazing they are than how amazing God is? How often do leaders rebuke people who big other people up? How often are leaders genuinely troubled by accolade and how often do they join in with the whole ego thing? "Oh, wasn't X's talk amazing?", "The speaker was amazing at that conference". I suggest we stick to, "God really spoke to me through that speaker" and leave the bigging up to God. We can encourage people without going to stupid levels.

The One Year Bible - Day 117

300 men with Gideon against how many thousand Midianites? What odds would you give them of victory? Even the best of the Spartans managed a couple of thousand kills before they too were beaten in 480BC but here the Israelite are given victory. Again the deciding factor is God and as obvious as this is for us to read now, we face MUCH smaller challenges and still decide that God is not on our side and we will probably lose. Jesus said, "O ye of little faith" several times and it is so true!

The One Year Bible - Day 116

Judges 6:12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, "Mighty hero, the Lord is with you".
Easy to skip over this verse isn't it? Just a nice friendly greeting but one loaded with prophecy and potential. Perhaps you could even say that this was true reality even though Gideon saw himself as weak and insignificant. Because God sees what is happening at every time and in every place, there is only one reality and it isn't, "Mighty hero-to-be, the Lord is with you" but "Might hero, the Lord is with you".
Amazing. How does God see you? Do you ever ask Him or do you live in defeat before you have even tried anything? Don't believe the lies about where you come from or who you think you are but ask God who he knows you are!

The One Year Bible - Day 115

Judges 4: 10000 foot soldiers + God vs 10000 warriors in iron chariots. I like those odds!

The One Year Bible - Day 114

We are quick to dismiss the Old Testament as something from the past, something which is basically irrelevant to today's life but this is not theologically sound. To assume that the OT is basically discarded (or upheld!) by Jesus causes us to dismiss the many descriptions of God's character that are seen clearly in the books of the OT.
For instance, we see disobedience causing God to withhold His blessing and we read things that make us uncomfortable like "God handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions.."
If we discard these passages, to put it bluntly, we are being arbitrary and we are creating God in our image. We are forming Him to fit in with our very limited worldview. It is understandable that we have difficulty marrying up the God of punishment with the God of grace but unless we are happy being arbitrary about which parts of the Bible are true, or we think God has changed, then we need to come to a theological solution.
Fortunately, the truth is not obscure or illogical. What would happen if God did nothing in response to the disobedience of the Israelites (or us for that matter)? We would die in our sin. What happens if God allows us to be 'dealt with' in some way because of our disobedience? We are brought to our knees and humbled causing us to return to God like Israel did and beg for mercy. So even these seemingly harsh situations are simply God's reaction of love in desperation to bring as many to Him as possible!

The One Year Bible - Day 113

We have more reminders in Judges 1 of how quickly the Israelites started to stray from God. God had told them to conquer the land and they had some successes but then we read about all these people who they failed conquer. We can only presume that it was because they were either generally disobedient to God or that in specific battles, they did not follow His directions and the result was the enduring burden of something to be eradicated.
There is a lesson here for all of us. Many of us have enemy troops in our lives because we didn't deal with them in the way God demanded. Perhaps we were careless, perhaps we thought we didn't really need to destroy them. The net result like Israel is a constant reminder of our sin and a thorn in our side.
If there is anything in our lives living like an enemy people, for everybody's sake, get it dealt with through prayer!

The One Year Bible - Day 112

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord". Have you noticed how many times Israel is reminded on their heritage and testimony? The number of times that God reminds them of how much they are blessed? Do you wonder how they seem to so easily go astray despite this?
How many times have you been reminded of God and what He has done for you and those you know? How often do you go astray? We are really no different.

The One Year Bible - Day 111

Joshua 22. The priest and those who had travelled with him were probably pretty sure that the Eastern tribes had committed heresy by building their alter, over the weeks it would have taken to travel to their meeting no doubt there were many times where these judges had convinced themselves that there was probably no excuse and the Eastern tribes would need to be punished. However, when the tribes explained themselves to the representatives of Israel, the priest and others were convinced that the later was built for good purposes and not bad ones and were satisfied that no crime had been committed.
When was the last time you had to meet up with someone to deal with an issue that you thought needed to be dealt with? What was your attitude when you got there? Had you already decided their guilt or did you simply allow God to speak to you there and then? It is so easy to begin in the Spirit and end in the flesh.