Latest / Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan / September 16, 2026 - Judges 11 & Proverbs 15:5-8

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September 16, 2026 - Judges 11 & Proverbs 15:5-8 · Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan, where you are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength with God's word lighting the way.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Josiah Smith, joined by Tyler Sanborn.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Today is Wednesday, September 16th, 2026.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a quick summary of Judges 11.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Judges 11, verses 1 through 11, is the details of Jephthah being called to lead Israel.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: So Jephthah is a man from Gilead.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: He was considered a mighty warrior, but he had been kicked out of his homeland because he was the son of a prostitute.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he lived in the land of Tob and made friends with, as it says, we've seen this phrase before, worthless fellows.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Think of Abimelech and the people that he hired with the 70 pieces of sh silver.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: They were called worthless fellows.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Here we have Jephthah making friends with worthless fellows.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then we see the Ammonites that are making war with Israel in verses, that was really back in chapter 10.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the men of Gilead begged Jephthah to come back and lead their army, and that they promised him that he would be the leader of all the land of Gilead if he managed to fight off the Ammonites.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So then in verses 12 through 28, we have Jephthah sending messengers to the Ammonites.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: He dispatches messengers to ask the king why he was intent on making war.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's back and forth, there's of course battles and things like that that ensue.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um the king of Ammon wouldn't listen to Jephthah and his intention to make war on Israel, was not swayed.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So then the end of the chapter, verses 29 through 41, Jephthah makes a vow.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: He vows to the Lord that if God would give him victory over the Ammonites, he would sacrifice the first thing he saw from his household when he returns to battle.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this ended up being something that was heartbreaking because Jephthah met the Ammonites on the battlefield.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: God, of course, gives him victory.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: But after the war, as Jephthah approached his house, his daughter came out to meet him with music and dancing.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And upon seeing her, Jephthah tore his clothes because of his promise and his vow that he made to God.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: He explained his vow to his daughter, and ultimately she agreed that he needed to keep his word to the Lord.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So she asked his father, uh her father, for two months to go up and down on the mountains and weep for her virginity.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And Jephthah ends up granting this request, and when the two months were complete, she returned to her father, and he did with her according to his vow.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the summary of Judges eleven.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Listen intently to God's written word.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Proverbs fifteen, verses five through eight.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: A fool despises his father's instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but trouble befalls the income of the wicked.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: The lips of the wise spread knowledge, not so the hearts of fools.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, today we have a first on the Lamp and Light podcast.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: We have kind of soft launched our app that is a companion to the Bible reading app.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: We haven't officially launched it yet.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: We hope to do that soon.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: We'll put it on the website.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: We'll make sure that you have all the details to secure that, to download it on your phone.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: It will be available on the App Store and the Google Play Store.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: But someone who has access to it already in the soft launch submitted a question for us to answer today.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And just to let you know, that is one of the features of the app.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can ask a very specific question about even an individual verse, or you can ask a question just about anything theologically speaking, from the Bible, Christianity, the Christian life.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we will seek to answer it to the best of our ability on the podcast.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the way that's going to work, of course, is we will always be ahead in the podcast.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll kind of go back and recover some of the ground that we've already covered to answer your questions as they come in.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: So the question is about Judges chapter 10, and really verses 13 and uh verses kind of 15 and 16.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: So verse 13, of course, you remember hopefully uh we have the instance of uh Israel continuing to disobey.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: We have the five nations surrounding them, that they are adopting pagan gods and pagan worship as um in their culture, and as a result of that, they are being oppressed and crushed, it says in verse 7 the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year for 18 years.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if we skip down to verse 13, it says, this is kind of God speaking, yet you have forsaken me and served other gods, which of course is what Israel did.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I will save you no more.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So the implication seems to be that God is not going to save Israel any longer.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: But then if we read verse 15, so they cry out to the Lord, they say, We have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to you.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: So this is their response to what God just said, only please deliver us this day.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: So remember, verse 13, I will save you no more.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, verse 16, it says, So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is kind of reminiscent of Exodus language when God looks upon the sorrow and the suffering of his people, and you could say grows quote unquote impatient, meaning he is moved to action and he raises up Moses, who of course becomes the deliverer alongside Aaron, Aaron the mouthpiece of Moses, and he rescues the Israelites out of bondage to uh the Egyptians.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: So this is similar language where God is impatient over the misery of Israel, meaning he actually does rescue them from their oppressors after 18 years.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the question that came in was how does this make sense?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: If verse 13 says, I will save you no more, and verse 16 says that God, in fact, does become impatient over the misery of Israel and is led to save them, how is this not a contradiction?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the key to this answer is actually found in the response that the Israelites have to God's pronouncement of judgment.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, one thing that we need to affirm is called the immutability of God, meaning that God does not change.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: God is not a man that he should change his mind.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is what the scriptures say.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: They're very clear about that.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: But even though that's true, and it is true, I don't want to say even though, as if we were going to contradict it, that's true.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: We need to hold that firm in our mind.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: From a perspective of God's character, of his nature, he is always the same.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: He never changes.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to him relating with people, we do change.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: We change all the time.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: We are fickle.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: We do one thing one day and another thing the next.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And God, in relating with us, though his character remains the same, though his nature never changes, the relation might differ in kind as a result of us perhaps obeying or disobeying, this being a great example of that.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: So in verse 15, Israel is moved to a sort of genuine repentance.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: It says, We have sinned.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: So they're acknowledging sin.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So then they have this response, do to us whatever seems good to you.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: They tell that to God, only please deliver us this day.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And to show that they are actually genuinely repentant, they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: So because of Israel's genuine repentance, because they actually uh walked in the fruit of their repentance and got rid of the foreign gods, God's relation to them, of course, in his covenant from our perspective changes, though his character and his nature never changes, uh, and he shows mercy and he delivers them.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: So this isn't a contradiction.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Again, God is not necessarily the one that's changing, it's the people of Israel.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: They are brought to repentance.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, if they had continued in their idolatry, if they had continued to worship these other gods, God would not have uh been gracious to them in the way that we see he was here.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: But the text emphasizes no that they were repentant, they acknowledged their sin, they put away their foreign gods, and as a result, God showed his character, and his character is one of grace and mercy and forgiveness.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, uh, even thinking about the gospel, God doesn't just sort of beam into your heart uh the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: You have to hear it, you have to respond with repentance and faith, and he shows you his mercy and his grace in that moment.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so we see that here.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully that clarifies what's going on here.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a contradiction.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: God is not like changing his mind, he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: He is just showing his mercy and his grace.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, even think about the Psalms where it says, A broken and contrite heart you will not despise.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: So the nation of Israel as a whole, they have a broken and contrite heart.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: They are humble before the Lord, and the Lord accepts their repentance, grants them forgiveness, and uh ultimately rescues them from their oppression.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as we go back to our text for today, Judges chapter 11, a lot of things going on here with Jephthah and uh just the sacrifice ultimately that he has to make through this vow that he makes to uh the Lord.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, we continue to see um a lot of just interesting dynamics going on in in Israel.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the last couple of chapters have have made uh a point to draw our attention to who the mother is of the judge involved, right?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: That she is an outsider or that she is a prostitute, um, and how these judges are considered outcasts as a result of that.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, Abimelech was involved in that, and that was kind of a part of his whole coup that he used uh to become king and and kill all the 70 sons of um of uh Gideon.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um but nevertheless we we see that here.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: We see Jephthan or Jephthah uh interacting with the Ammonites.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: He's doing some good things at first, he he does honor his vow to the Lord there at the end, which is a really good thing.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: We see Israel as a whole sort of keeping with their repentance from chapter 10.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: But we know this story is not gonna last long if we continue to read in Judges chapter 12.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll get there, we'll see the cycle continue.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: But this is more of a positive uh movement here where we see faithfulness by Jeff, at least at the end of the chapter, to do what he said he would do.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, of course, that's something that is short-lived, but a win that we should celebrate nonetheless.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: As we think about leaders, pastors Josiah, I think about um followers, fathers that are diligent to to raise up their children, the fear and instruction of the Lord, and uh it'd be wise for for children to to see their parents, both both moms and dads, showing them the way that they should go and not and not despising them, not not looking at at their at their parents wishing that they weren't their parents.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um I know that it's uh it's common in our culture today to uh for for children to look at their parents and and just pick them apart, find all the flaws, all the ways that they were wronged in their upbringing, all the failures or the sins against um them that were committed by their parents.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, I think it's it's a good reminder today for us in our our proverb to see that when our parents are are looking to show us the truths of the scriptures, uh, comfort us, care for us with God's word, that's a blessing.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great thing for us to have.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's a privilege for us to have.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: And those who would be despising the instruction, yes, parents are flawed.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm flawed.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Every parent here on earth is going to fail their their children in a certain way, um, but because we're not perfect, but uh it would be foolish for for children to to look to their to their parents and and say, I want I want nothing to do with you, nothing to do with this wise instruction, this this scripture that you keep bringing to mind.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's it's of no use to me, it's no profit to me.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: That would be a foolish uh thing to do.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what what we should be doing, what a a child uh would be uh commended to do is is to take the uh the reproof of a parent, the proof, the correction, the refining that uh a parent would give and and be thankful for that and be and find the wisdom in the correction, find the wisdom in saying, you know what, I was wrong.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: I I need to work on this, I need to turn from this, I need to hold on to to the the truths of the scripture.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking of just the the ways that our curl our culture just runs from verse five.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh our cur our our excuse me, our culture um looks at verse five and says, Yeah, that's I I like that.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: I want I want to be the person that's rubbing up against uh uh instruction because it doesn't apply to me.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's not good for me, it doesn't feel right.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Where we look to the words of scripture and and and say, uh these are the words of life.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is instruction for right living.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is good for me, and it's good to live under God's care in submission to Him.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I even think that's a continuation of that kind of same thought in verse six in the house of the righteous, there is much treasure.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's things that are valuable, there's things that are worthwhile.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, trouble befalls the income of the wicked.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there's any number of things that this could mean.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: One of which, of course, is that oftentimes in the Proverbs, the income and the wicked are sort of it implies that the income is made in some sort of unethical, ungodly, unjust way.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but even if we think more beyond just money, um, you know, a fool despises his father's instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, in that sense, someone who heeds reproof or correction from their actual earthly father or from a spiritual father, certainly their heavenly father, uh, in their house, the house of the righteous, there's much treasure.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: And even the treasure uh that comes from receiving wisdom in the and the just the blessing that comes from living your life in and God's created order in the way that God intends is a result of that.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: But trouble's gonna befall the income of the wicked, of course, financially.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: If it's earned in some sort of ungodly way, sinful way, then then you can see how that would be a problem.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, verse seven says the lips of the wise spread knowledge, but not so the hearts of fools.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, whenever I think of spread, in my mind, for whatever reason, I always think of in a sinful kind of connotation, I think of gossip, right?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: You spread gossip.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of the language that we use.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Stop spreading gossip.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's like this picture of uh almost like an infection, right?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: That spreads, right?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: When you get sick, you germs are spread.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of the whole idea.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I think of uh in verse seven, the lips of the wise, what are they spreading?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: They're not spreading gossip, they're spreading knowledge, but not so the hearts of fools.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: The hearts of fools are going to spread just about anything except for knowledge.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: So here we're having a contrast to the person who fears the Lord and the way that they speak and the things that they spread versus the one who doesn't fear the Lord and the ways that they speak and the things that they spread.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: So you can think of in this illustration, maybe uh maybe it's strange, but I think of someone who genuinely is sick, someone who is diseased and is spreading that to others, uh, versus someone who is healthy and uh who uh is actually promoting health and leading other people towards health.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the whole idea.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: There one is decaying, the other one is uh encouraging and leading others to flourish.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what we see here.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I would just, as a short summary of verse seven, I would say spread knowledge, not gossip.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of my takeaway from Proverbs 15, 7.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: And as we finish our section of the Proverbs today, I'm thinking back to acceptable sacrifices.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking back to Genesis, I'm thinking back to what is pleasing to the Lord, uh, what God approves of and what he doesn't approve of.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: And and God wants uh God wants a heart that is uh that is pure, that wants to um that wants to bring uh praise in a right way, in a proper way to him, worship and a sacrifice that that is pleasing to the Lord.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: So the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable uh to him.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: And uh one of the students uh on Sunday asked, Well, how did the people of the Old Testament pray?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: Who do they pray to?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: How do they pray?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: And as we call out in our need and our dependence on the Lord, just like we do today, so did the people of the Old Testament.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: They called out to the Lord for help in time of need.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: They called out for provision, they called out for God to rescue, to sustain, to give strength, uh, to heal.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and that's that's uh a prayer that we can continue to call out to God today.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, those who would be seeking to do what is right in the sight of the Lord, to be a person that is upright and acceptable to him is is to follow after God's commands, to to live in submission and to live within his care, within the context that God provides in the scriptures.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: So um hope hopefully you're a person who's bringing your prayers to the Lord in a way that's that's not self-seeking.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, God, I I just whatever the outcome is, I trust you with it.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: I want I want you to get the glory in this.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever the outcome is, uh, your your praise and your glory is on my mind.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: So do whatever you wish in my life.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna work hard and and strive to please you.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but God, may the the meditations uh of my heart, may the thoughts that I have, may they be acceptable in your eyes.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, absolutely.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I if we could even connect this to what we talked about on Sunday, the throne of grace is open, and God invites you to come with great confidence to draw near to him and to make your requests known, and you will receive mercy and grace to help in times of trouble.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's the great confidence and hope that we can have that we can go to our Father, we can ask for help, and he will give it.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bob Reading Podcast.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass Bible SV.org.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Keep reading, keep growing.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.