This recurring failure emphasizes the need for steadfast obedience to God and highlights His mercy

 Judges 4-6

Why did the Israelites do evil in the eyes of the Lord?

The phrase "the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord" is a recurring theme in the Book of Judges, describing a cyclical pattern of rebellion, oppression, repentance, and deliverance. The "evil" generally refers to abandoning God to worship pagan idols like Baal and Asherah, leading to foreign oppression. 

Key Aspects of Israel's Disobedience:

• Idolatry: They served Baals, Ashtoreths, and gods of neighboring nations (Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, Philistia).
• Forsook God: They stopped serving the Lord who brought them out of Egypt.
• Assimilation: They followed the practices of surrounding peoples. 

Consequences and the Cycle:

• Oppression: God handed them over to enemies like King Eglon of Moab or the Midianites.
• Distress: Oppression was often severe, leading to great poverty and oppression, as seen in Judges 6.
• Repentance & Deliverance: When the Israelites cried out in distress, God raised up judges (e.g., Ehud, Gideon) to deliver them.
• Reversion: After the judge died, the people returned to doing even worse than before. 

This recurring failure emphasizes the need for steadfast obedience to God and highlights His mercy, as He continually responded to their repentance.

Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you

 Joshua 10-12

Then the five kings of the Amorites—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon—joined forces. They moved up with all their troops and took up positions against Gibeon and attacked it.

The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us.”  So Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men. The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.”

The Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites. On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies.

The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them, slain, over to Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.”

At that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites from the hill country: from Hebron, Debir and Anab, from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua totally destroyed them and their towns. No Anakites were left in Israelite territory; only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod did any survive.

Thirty-one kings in all were killed by the Israelites.

Why?

With the Lord, no enemy can stand up before the army of Israel, so Joshua conquered the promised land as the Lord said.

How?

Trust in the Lord, God is with us, not only defeating enemies but also serving the Lord and walking on the way and working in my daily life.

Observe the commands of the Lord your God

 Deuteronomy 8-10

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him.

He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”

For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance

 Deuteronomy 32-34

Listen, you heavens, and I will speak; hear, you earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.

I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.

I will heap calamities on them and spend my arrows against them. I will send wasting famine against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the dust. In the street the sword will make them childless; in their homes terror will reign. The young men and young women will perish, the infants and those with gray hair. I said I would scatter them and erase their name from human memory

On that same day the Lord told Moses, “Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession. There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”

Moses Blesses the Tribes

And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.

Why?

The sin of Moses is that he did not uphold God's holiness among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh.

Mose is a good servant of the Lord, but he still sins against the Lord for the sins of the Israelites.

How?
Do may best to be a good servant of the Lord!

Love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul

 Deuteronomy 11-13

Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; 3 the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; 

So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you.  If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him— then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you.

Why?

Because the Lord is the real God, the Lord does not allow his people to worship other gods.

The Lord knew there were many things will entice people to turn away and worship other gods, so the Lord warned us. The consequence we have to bear by ourselves.

How?

Focus on the Lord and keep God's command with a pure heart and mind, live our life as the Lord commanded with faith, love, and hope!

You shall have no other gods before me.

 Deuteromy 5-7

Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

How?

I belong to the Lord, before the Lord I have no other gods!

Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you

 Deuteronomy 3-4

Og king of Bashan with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei. The Lord said to me, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”

We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city—men, women and children. But all the livestock and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.

We took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salekah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.

Of the land that we took over at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon Gorge, including half the hill country of Gilead, together with its towns. The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. 

However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you, until the Lord gives rest to your fellow Israelites as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.

At that time I commanded Joshua: “You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you.”

But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the Lord said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.” So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.

You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.

Why?

Be afraid of the Lord, for our God is the real God; besides him, there is no other.

How?

Be aware of the consequences of the Israelites' history recorded in the Bible. Our God is everlasting God, fear the Lord and remember God's mercy, the Lord's word, honor the Holy name of the Lord

The land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance is to have these boundaries

 Numbers 34-36

When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance is to have these boundaries: Your southern side will include some of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom. Your southern boundary will start in the east from the southern end of the Dead Sea, cross south of Scorpion Pass, continue on to Zin and go south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and over to Azmon, where it will turn, join the Wadi of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean Sea.

The land of Isreal now is smaller than Moses got from the Lord. So oneday Israelite will get their promised land.

Towns for the Levites are the cities of refuge. Help the needy person.

Inheritance of Zelophehad's daughters may got the inheritance from their father's family. It means not only sons but daughters have the right to get the promised land from the Lord.

How?

Everyone before the Lord has an equal right and treatment!

Daily Offerings

 Numbers 28-30

Daily Offerings: The Lord said to Moses, “Give this command to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Make sure that you present to me at the appointed time my food offerings, as an aroma pleasing to me.’

Sabbath offering: 

On the first of every month

The Passover:

On the day of firstfruits, when you present to the Lord an offering of new grain during the Festival of Weeks.

The Festival of Tabernacles: On the tenth day of this seventh month, hold a sacred assembly. You must deny yourselves and do no work.

This is what the Lord commands: When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.

Any vow or obligation taken by a widow or divorced woman will be binding on her.

Why?

The Lord defined the regulations in the family about the Vows and many offerings. This makes the man need to take more responsibility in his family.

Let offering to the Lord become a custom in God's people; it makes God's people remember we belong to the Lord.

How?

Praying and reading the Bible daily, and going to church on Sunday, are symbols of Christianity and remembering the Lord in our lives.

The Second Census

 Numbers 26-27

After the plague the Lord said to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by families—all those twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army of Israel.” So on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them and said, “Take a census of the men twenty years old or more, as the Lord commanded Moses.”

                          seeond censer                                                             First time in Numbers 1

These were the clans of Reuben; those numbered were 43,730. The tribe of Reuben was 46,500.

These were the clans of Simeon; those numbered were 22,200.  Simeon was 59,300

These were the clans of Gad; those numbered were 40,500.   Gad was 45,650.

These were the clans of Judah; those numbered were 76,500.  Judah was 74,600.

These were the clans of Issachar; those numbered were 64,300. Issachar was 54,400.

These were the clans of Zebulun; those numbered were 60,500. Zebulun was 57,400

These were the clans of Manasseh; those numbered were 52,700. Ephraim was 40,500

These were the clans of Ephraim; those numbered were 32,500.  Manasseh was 32,200.

These were the clans of Benjamin; those numbered were 45,600. Benjamin was 35,400.

These were the clans of Asher; those numbered were 53,400.  Asher was 41,500 

These were the clans of Naphtali; those numbered were 45,400.  Naphtali was 53,400.

All the male Levites a month old or more numbered 23,000.   Dan was 62,700.

The total number of the men of Israel was 601,730.   The total number was 603,550.

Dan had disappeared.

Why?

This is the sensus to people of Israelites from out of Egypt and before enter the promised land

How?

Time is the best test of our hearts and faith in the Lord

I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord

 Number 23-25

Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?

Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”  He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

The Lord met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”

Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded.”

Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, ‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord—and I must say only what the Lord says’? Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you of what these people will do to your people in days to come.”

Then he spoke his message: “Alas! Who can live when God does this? Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus; they will subdue Ashur and Eber, but they too will come to ruin.”

Why?

Even Balaam hoped to get the money and gifts from Balak, but he could not say the word that the Lord did not allow.

Even the donkey knew the Lord was not allowing Balaam to curse God's people. Balaam still try to find a chance get the money from Balak.

How?

To serve the Lord is not to get the rich or good way, but for the Lord first loves us without any payment, or devotion, or one-tenth devotion is give our thanks to our Lord; everything I have is the blessing and grace of the Lord.  

I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting

 Numbers 17-19

So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them. Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant law. The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.

The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your family are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood. Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the tent of the covenant law. They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar. Otherwise both they and you will die. They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting—all the work at the tent—and no one else may come near where you are.

Then the Lord said to Aaron, “I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion, your perpetual share. You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain or sin[a] or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons. Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy.

The Lord said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.

I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting.

Why?

The staff of Armon was not only sprouting but had budded, blossomed, and produced almonds. It is out of nature's rule for almonds, so it symbolize it is the work of the Lord and God's chosen in on Armon tribe.

The Lord said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.” Moses did just as the Lord commanded him.

How?

The tithes in Chriatisns are belong to the Lord, so we give tithes today to honor the Lord and represent out devoteion and thanks giving from our Lord. I am glad that I have this a little opportunity to serve the Lord. All I have is the grace of the Lord!

In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him

 Numbers 15-17

Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home and you present to the Lord food offerings from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the Lord—whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings— then the person who brings an offering shall present to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of olive oil. With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.

With a ram prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a third of a hin of olive oil, and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Offer it as an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, for a special vow or a fellowship offering to the Lord, bring with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with half a hin of olive oil.

You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord: The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you.’

When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. 

He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?”

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.

Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. He warned the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”

As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”

So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned to death, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, 40 as the Lord directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the Lord, or he would become like Korah and his followers.

But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped.

Why?

The Lord is Holy; who can despise the servants of the Lord? No one, every God's people is chosen by the Lord. If anyone did something wrong, the Lord will judge them. We do not have the authority to judge other brothers or sisters.

God is love and faithful. So we should honor the Holy name of the Lord, and love each other, with love and grace, and keep ourselves from sins.

How?

Do my best to be a good Christ-like Christian, with love, faith, and hope.