Study Desk

But first, Sisera asked Jael for a drink of water. Jael had some milk in a bottle made from animal skin. So she gave him a drink of the milk and then covered him up.

But Jael found a tent peg and a hammer. She quietly went to Sisera. Sisera was very tired, so he was sleeping. She put the tent peg to the side of Sisera's head and hit it with a hammer. The tent peg went through the side of his head and into the ground. Sisera died.

Just then Barak came by Jael's tent, looking for Sisera. Jael went out to meet Barak and said, "Come in here, and I will show you the man you are looking for." So Barak entered the tent with Jael. There Barak found Sisera lying dead on the ground, with the tent peg through the side of his head.

So the Israelites became stronger and stronger until they defeated King Jabin of Canaan. The Israelites finally destroyed him.

So why did you sit there against the walls of your sheep pens? The brave soldiers of Reuben thought hard about war. But they stayed home listening to the music they played for their sheep.

"There is Sisera's mother, looking out the window, looking through the curtains and crying. ‘Why is Sisera's chariot so late? Why can't I hear his wagons?'

Again the Israelites did what the Lord said was wrong. So for seven years the Lord allowed the Midianites to defeat the Israelites.

The Midianites were very powerful and were cruel to the Israelites. So the Israelites made many hiding places in the mountains. They hid their food in caves and places that were hard to find.

The Israelites became very poor because of the Midianites. So the Israelites cried to the Lord for help.

The Midianites did all these bad things, so the Israelites cried to the Lord for help.

I saved you from the powerful Egyptians. Then the Canaanites hurt you, so I saved you again. I made them leave their land. And I gave their land to you.'

One time the angel of the Lord came to a place called Ophrah and sat under an oak tree. This oak tree belonged to a man named Joash from the Abiezer family. His son Gideon was beating some wheat in a winepress. He was hiding so that the Midianites could not see the wheat. The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, "The Lord be with you, brave soldier."

Then Gideon said, "Pardon me, sir, but if the Lord is with us, why are we having so many troubles? We heard that he did wonderful things for our ancestors. They tell us that the Lord took them out of Egypt. But now it seems the Lord has left us and is letting the Midianites defeat us."

The Lord answered Gideon and said, "I will be with you, so you can defeat the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man."

So Gideon went in and cooked a young goat in boiling water. He also took about 20 pounds of flour and made bread without yeast. Then he put the meat into a basket and the broth from the meat into a pot. He brought out the meat, the broth, and the bread without yeast and gave them to the Lord under the oak tree.

Then Gideon realized that he had been talking to the angel of the Lord . So he shouted, "Oh, Lord God ! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!"

So Gideon built an altar there to worship the Lord and named it "The Lord is Peace." It still stands in the city of Ophrah, where the Abiezer family lives.

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him to do. But Gideon was afraid that his family and the men of the city might see what he was doing, so he did it all at night, not in the daytime.

So the men of the city came to Joash and said, "You must bring your son out. He pulled down the altar for Baal, and he cut down the Asherah pole that was beside it. So your son must die."

The Spirit of the Lord filled Gideon. So Gideon blew a trumpet to call the family of Abiezer to follow him.