Study Desk

After he heard the men talking about the dream and what it meant, Gideon bowed down to God. Then Gideon went back to the camp of the Israelites and called out to the people, "Get up! The Lord will help us defeat the Midianites."

In the same way you have a better harvest now. God allowed you to capture Oreb and Zeeb, the leaders of Midian. How can I compare my success with what you did?" When the men of Ephraim heard Gideon's answer, they were not as angry as they had been.

Gideon used the gold to make an ephod, which he put in his hometown, the town called Ophrah. All the Israelites worshiped the ephod. In this way the Israelites were not faithful to God—they worshiped the ephod. The ephod became a trap that caused Gideon and his family to sin.

As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites again were not faithful to God—they followed Baal. They made Baal Berith their god.

The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God, who had saved them from all their enemies living around them.

So the leaders of Shechem gave Abimelech 70 pieces of silver. That silver was from the temple of the god Baal Berith. Abimelech used the silver to hire some men. These men were worthless, reckless men. They followed Abimelech wherever he went.

Jotham heard that the leaders of the city of Shechem had made Abimelech king. When he heard this, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted out this story to the people: "Listen to me you leaders of the city of Shechem. Then let God listen to you.

Abimelech had killed Gideon's 70 sons—and they were his own brothers. The leaders of Shechem had supported him in doing this evil thing. So God caused trouble between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem. And they began planning ways to hurt Abimelech.

One day the people of Shechem went out to the vineyards to pick grapes. They squeezed the grapes to make wine. And then they had a party at the temple of their god. The people ate and drank and cursed Abimelech.

There were some people who lived at the Tower of Shechem. When they heard what had happened to Shechem, they gathered together in the safest room of the temple of the god El Berith.

So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelech. They piled the branches against the safest room of the temple of the god El Berith. Then they set the branches on fire and burned the people in the room. About 1000 men and women living near the Tower of Shechem died.

In that way God punished Abimelech for all the bad things he had done. Abimelech sinned against his own father by killing his 70 brothers.

God also punished the men of the city of Shechem for the bad things they had done. So the things said by Jotham son of Gideon came true.

After Abimelech died, God sent another judge to save the Israelites. His name was Tola. He was the son of Puah, who was the son of Dodo. Tola was from the tribe of Issachar and lived in the city of Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.

After Tola died, God sent another judge. His name was Jair, and he lived in the area of Gilead. He was a judge for the Israelites for 22 years.

So the Israelites cried to the Lord for help. They said, "God, we have sinned against you. We left our God and worshiped the false god Baal."

But the Lord , the God of Israel, helped the Israelites defeat Sihon and his army. So the land of the Amorites became the property of the Israelites.

"It was the Lord , the God of Israel, who forced the Amorites to leave their land. And he gave the land to the Israelites. Do you think you can make the Israelites leave this land?

Surely you can live in the land that your god Chemosh has given to you. So we will live in the land that the Lord our God has given to us.

because you are pregnant, and you will have a son. He will be dedicated to God in a special way. He will be a Nazirite. So you must never cut his hair. He will be God's special person from before he is born. He will save the Israelites from the power of the Philistines."