Latest / Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan / September 12, 2026 - Judges 8 & Proverbs 14:29-32

Transcript

September 12, 2026 - Judges 8 & Proverbs 14:29-32 · Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bobing Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, with God's word letting the way.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Josiah Smith, joined by Tyler Sanborn.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Today is Saturday, September 12th, 2026.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Listen intently to God's written word.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Judges 8.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Then the men of Ephraim said to him, What is this that you have done to us not to call us when you want to fight against Midian?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And they accused him fiercely, and he said to them, What have I done now in comparison with you?
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Ebiazer?
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb, and Zaeb.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: What have I been able to do in comparison with you?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then their anger against him subsided when he said this.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: So he said to the men of Succath, Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zeba and Zalmana, the kings of Midian.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And the officials of Succoth said, Are the hands of Ziba and Zalmuna already in your hand that we should give bread to your army?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So Gideon said, Well then, when the Lord has given Zaba and Zalmana into my hand, I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briars.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: And from there he went up to Pinuel, and spoke to them in the same way, and the men of Pinuel answered him as the men of Sucketh had answered.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And he said to the men of Pinuel, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now Zaba and Zalmana were in Karker with their army, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the east, for there had fallen one hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbaha, and attacked the army, for the army felt secure.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And Zaba and Zalmana fled, and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zabah and Zelmana, and he threw all the army into a panic.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Then Gideon, the son of Joash, returned from the battle by the ascent of hears, and he captured a young man of Succath and questioned him, and he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succath, seventy-seven men.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And he came to the men of Succath and said, Behold, Zabah and Zelmana, about whom you taunted me, saying, Are the hands of Zaba and Zelmana already in your hand that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briars, and with them taught the men of Succath a lesson.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he broke down the tower of Pinuel and killed the men of the city.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Then he said to Zabah and Zelmana, Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: They answered, As you are, so were they.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Every one of them resembled the son of a king.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, They were my brothers, the sons of my mother.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: As the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: So he said to Jether, his firstborn, Rise and kill them.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a young man.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Then Zaba and Zelmana said, Rise yourself and Paul and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And Gideon arose and killed Zeba and Zelmana, and he took the crested ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you, the Lord will rule over you.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Gideon said to them, Let me make a request of you.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: For they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And they answered, We will willingly give them.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil, and the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city in Ophra, and all Israel hoored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more, and the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Jeru Baal, the son of Joash, went and lived in his own house.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives, and his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Gideon, the son of Joash, died in a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash's father, at Aphra of the Abizarites.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and hoard after the Baals, and made Baal Barith their god.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubal, that is Gideon, in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Proverbs fourteen, verses twenty-nine through thirty-two.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: The wicked is overthrown through his evil doing, but the righteous finds refuge in his death.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it didn't take long for Gideon, the mighty warrior, the great judge of Israel, to descend into idolatry, and ultimately to descend into sin.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we see, of course, at the end of the chapter here in Judges 8, he marries many women and has many sons, and uh he does not end well, he does not finish well.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Judges 8 is a is a hard chapter to read uh for a lot of different reasons, but especially when it comes to all of the gold earrings that Gideon took from the men uh and then made into an ephod.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you remember back in Exodus, an ephod was a special garment that the priest would wear in his priestly duties.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so this was something that was ultimately a, it says in the text, a stumbling block, a snare for the people and for Gideon, because instead of this being a sign that represented God's faithfulness, it became something that they ultimately worshipped, and something that became idolatrous from them.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: It says even in verse 27, and Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, and all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so even though God had given the Midianites into the hands of Gideon and Israel as a whole, the Midianites were oppressing Israel for seven years.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: They had 120,000 soldiers, there was this great decisive victory, and even in this chapter, of course, they're they're tying up the loose ends, they're chasing the rest of the army down that they ultimately catch up to and they finish off in this victory.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but even through all of that, we see Gideon continuing, or I should say, at least in this chapter, he he steps into idolatry, right?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: He does not continue in faithfulness, he does not continue uh to honor the Lord.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of his life, he just doesn't end well.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so it says in verse 30, Gideon had 70 sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: And his concupine, who was in Shechem, also bore him a son.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: He called his name Abimelech.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And Gideon, the son of Joash, died in a good old age, and he was buried in the tomb of Joash's father.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as Gideon died, listen to this in verse 33.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: The people of Israel turned again and hoard after the Baals and made Baal Bareth their god.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from all from the hand of all their enemies on every side, and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubal, that is Gideon, in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So even though there was this decisive victory, even though Gideon was this mighty warrior, all these crazy things happened, victories were secured.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Gideon does not end well, and as a result, uh, even the whole nation starts to turn away.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: They forget that the Lord is the one who's delivering their enemies into their hands, and we continue to see the pattern of God raising up a deliverer, a judge in his mercy, uh, Israel being brought to a place of repentance, uh, or at least seemingly so, and then shortly after falling right back into the same pattern of idolatry.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, we see that here in Judges 8.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: And what a what a reminder for those who are seemingly doing well.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the judges are people that we see that are that are taking a stand for the Lord, that are delivering and saving God's people, and they too are not above the sin, that they're not above um the folly that uh that comes with pursuing after their own desires, uh chasing after the uh the culture that that surrounds them, and um ultimately the the man who uh who tore down the the altar for Baal and Asheroth finished his life um in in the opposite direction, um going after towards uh towards the the lifestyle and the culture of the people around them that um that people are whoring after.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: So uh a caution, a caution for us.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you if you're doing well, continue to operate in the grace and continue to operate dependently, uh living your life for the Lord, not finding any confidence uh that is uh found in yourself if you're if you're doing well according to the Lord, following him, obeying him, it's it's the the spirit that is enabling that, uh promoting that desire in you, and um, and that glory belongs to the Lord.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um so as we look over to our passage in Proverbs today, uh we start with this idea that um people who are slow to anger, uh they have a better understanding.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: They have great understanding.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but those who are hasty, um hasty have it have a temper about them, exalt folly or they exalt or promote, lift high um this lack of of good judgment, uh, of good sense.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I was just thinking about the the the times in my life where I have been angry, my my judgment is is clouded.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not not sober-minded in that sense because my anger consumes.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: The anger um is is a filter or a lens that you see your life through and you are are selfish.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Everything revolves around you.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: You're blinded by uh by your anger, and and you're not making you're not making sense of the world around you.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: You're not you don't have a proper God-honoring understanding about what's happening in your life.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: So this is uh this is no surprise.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Those who those who are um who have a hasty temper, those who are angry are are going to exalt or lean into um poor judgment, leaning into the desires of the flesh.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: And as we move on to the next uh verse, a tranquil heart in verse 30 gives life to the flesh, but envy makes his bones rot.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking about a time, Pastor Josiah, when I was uh when I was in a uh position where I was riding down this hill when I was in in middle school, I have a brand new bike, brand new bike, and I and I cruised down and uh I have better brakes.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: My friend was cruising down right behind me, and he had an older bike with not so great brakes, and he crashed right into me.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: And he crashed right into me.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um the the envy that I had of just maintaining that that pristine bike was ruined all in one in one go.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: And inside I I beg began to to rot, I began to to come apart, become undone.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: And um it's because I had this this desire, this, this focus to to keep my my possession, the thing that I had, that I treasured most, that I was wanting to have for the longest time.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: I finally got it, uh, and how quickly it it fades away.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, where a tranquil heart, uh, a calm heart, a content heart uh gives life.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's refreshing to the flesh.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: You're not you're not worried um about about wanting more, having more, desiring more because God has provided enough for you.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this verse is incredibly relatable.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can kind of even just reading it, you can almost feel it.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's like an onomonopeia, but you instead of uh it sounding like something, it you feel it.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if there's a word for that.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you say something and then you feel it uh internally, but that's how I feel when I read this verse.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's a sense of relaxation, the sense of calm, uh steadiness, but envy makes the bones rot.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: You can, you know, rotting, of course, is this sense of you're literally dying inside.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's uh we see that envy and being envious and sinfully just feeling like you deserve what perhaps other people have uh is something that'll make you feel like you're rotting inside.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And on the opposite end, uh, a heart that's content, um, godliness with contentment is great gain, the the New Testament says.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: So a tranquil heart gives life to the flesh.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Then as we transition to verse 31, it says, Whoever opposes a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I love this verse because it showcases that every person is made in the image of God, regardless of their status, their position, or their wealth.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: So if someone was to oppose someone just because of their wealth or lack thereof, it says that you insult God, you insult his maker.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: But he who is generous to the needy honors God, honors the maker of that person.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: So just a great reminder of it doesn't matter what you are or who you are, rather, or what you've done.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh all that all of us equally are made in the image of God and therefore are uh valuable and have dignity.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we see that here in uh Proverbs 14 uh 31.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now the final verse for today is Proverbs 14, verse 32.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: The wicked is overthrown through his evil doing, but the righteous finds refuge in his death.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we we can look to sections of scripture like Romans 6 verses 9 and 10, and in the verses uh that go before that as well, we see that if we are crucified in Christ, and it's no longer us who live, but Christ who lives in us, we have this hope that goes beyond the grave.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: We have uh hope in a refuge in a strong tower in the one who defeated death, the one who uh who overcame.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Death has no longer has dominion uh over us because Christ um overcame death.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Dominion um is his.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Death has no power over Christ, has no power over us.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we find refuge and a confidence, not in ourselves, not in what that we have done, not in the in the future life that we have built or established for ourselves, but what Christ has secured uh as a result of um his righteousness that is applied to us, um, his his right standing, his perfection before uh before the Father.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: He is seated at the right hand of God and and he and he reigns and he rules.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: So whatever he says goes in our lives, whatever, whatever he promises to us will come to pass.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: So we uh we are dead to sin, we are alive to Christ, and and we can look to to heaven, we can look past death and see it as a portal into um life face to face forever with with our Maker.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and they are safe.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we see that, of course, reiterated in a different way in Proverbs 14 32.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: The wicked is overthrown through his evildoing, but the righteous finds refuge in his death.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: But thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Podcast.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass Bible SV.org.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Keep reading, keep growing.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.