Judg 18

Devotion 1 of 1: Judg 18

The phrase in v.1, “In those days there was no king in Israel,” means that everyone did what was right in their own eyes. When that is true, the situation becomes dark and bleak. Such is the atmosphere of this chapter.
The tribe of Dan was still seeking their own land (v.1). They finally found the ideal place, the city of Laish, with a large land that didn’t lack anything. The people who lived there were like Sidonians, living in peace and quiet, far from Sidon, so they had no one to help them (v.7-10, 28). These conditions made them an easy target for the tribe of Dan.
But before they attacked, the Danites stole the Levite priest, along with the ephod and idols, from the house of Micah (v.18-20). When Micah caught up to them and protested, they threatened to kill him, so he backed down (v.22-26). Next, the men of Dan overpowered Laish, destroyed it and built a new city, calling it Dan (v.27-29).
The actions of the tribe of Dan show they were an unprincipled and amoral tribe. Moreover, their evil increased to such an extent that they were left out of the 12 tribes of Israel as recorded in Rev. 7:5-8!
Let us not live like the tribe of Dan, but live a life of faith, love and kindness. We want our names to be found in the Book of Life in heaven (Rev 20:15)!

JOHN 4: Free sharing!
This chapter contains the famous story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Let’s look at the origin of the Samaritans and why the Jews had no dealing with them (v.9b).
“Are You greater than our father Jacob…?” (v.12). The Samaritans were descendants of Jacob! This meant they were Jews in the past! What happened to them? Why were they despised in Jesus’ day?
Samaria was the capital of northern Israel when the nation was divided in two. Later on, because northern Israel rebelled against God and worshiped idols, God handed them over to Assyria in 721 BC.
The Assyrians took Israel captive and replaced them in northern Israel with many people from pagan nations (2 Kings 17:24). These Gentile people intermingled with the Jews who were left in the land and became the Samaritan people of Jesus’ day!
But the Jews despised them because they were a mixture of Jews and Gentiles, and their religion was a mixture of Judaism and pagan religions.
Today, especially in the Okubo area, we see many people from other countries in Japan. Let’s try to follow Jesus and overcome racial differences and accept and respect all nations and races. Lord, save all the people of different ethnic groups living in Okubo and Japan!