📅 23.November 2025
📚 BELIEVE HIS PROPHETS
📖 Daily Bible Reading
⚖️ Judges 10 – When Repentance Opens the Way to Salvation
✨ Of Human Unfaithfulness and Divine Mercy
🌐 Read online here
🔵 Introduction
Judges 10 leads us into a time of peace that exists only on the surface. Two quiet judges guide the people without major drama, and yet a hidden inner distance from God begins to grow. The chapter shows how far Israel has drifted from the Lord — and how deep God’s mercy reaches when genuine return takes place.
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🟡 Commentary
After the stormy and bloody period under Abimelech comes a phase of calm. In this silence, Tola steps onto the stage. He is not a man of great deeds, not a war hero, not a prophet performing signs and wonders. He is simply there — a judge from Issachar who settles in Shamir. There he judges Israel for 23 years. No headlines, no drama. He is like a quiet guardian, faithfully preserving order during a time of healing.
After him comes Jair, a Gileadite. His family appears almost royal: thirty sons riding thirty young donkeys, each having his own town. It is an image of peace, prosperity, and stability. Under Jair, order reigns once again — for 22 years. It seems as if Israel enjoys a long season of breathing freely.
But while the land appears calm, the heart of the people wanders. Perhaps it was prosperity, perhaps comfort, perhaps a false sense of security — but Israel loses sight of its God. Then the text speaks with painful clarity: “Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
They do not follow just one foreign god — they run after seven entire groups of pagan deities. It is as if Israel absorbs the voices of all surrounding nations and forgets the one God who carried them.
God sees how far they have gone. And like a father who sees his child in dangerous hands, He allows consequences to follow. The Philistines and the Ammonites oppress Israel. For 18 years the people feel the pressure. Fear grows, threats intensify, security fades. The Ammonites even cross the Jordan and attack Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. Distress becomes a constant companion.
Then Israel cries out to God. Not secretly, not half-heartedly. They cry out loudly: “We have sinned!”
But God answers differently than expected. He reminds them of all the deliverances of the past: Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines, Sidonians, Amalekites, Maonites — He had always been there. He had always saved them. And yet they repeatedly turned away from Him.
His words strike like a mirror:
“Go to the gods you have chosen. Let them rescue you.”
But this time something new happens. Israel does not stop at words. They do not evade responsibility, they do not excuse themselves. They say, “Punish us, but rescue us.”
Then they take the decisive step: they remove the foreign gods. They clean up their lives, break with the old, and intentionally turn back to God. Not with a brief moment of remorse, but with action showing courage and sincerity.
Then one of the gentlest sentences of the chapter appears:
“He could no longer bear Israel’s misery.”
God’s heart softens. The anger — which was just — turns into compassion. God sees not only their sin — He sees their suffering, their return, their longing.
While the Ammonites prepare for battle and Israel gathers at Mizpah, one question hangs over the camp: Who will lead us? A new leader is sought — someone who will prepare the way for what God intends to do next.
The chapter ends with this open tension. But the most important turning point has already happened: Israel has returned home.
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🟢 Summary
Judges 10 tells the story of a people who, after years of peace, lose their spiritual focus. Although two quiet judges bring stability, Israel drifts further and further away from God inwardly. Only when distress overwhelms them and no escape remains do they call on Him. But this time they do more than speak: they truly turn back — and in that moment God’s heart begins to lean toward them. He sees their sincerity, and mercy flows once again into the afflicted land.
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📢 Message for Today
This chapter reminds us how quietly one can drift away from God — and how lovingly He calls us back. When we release the things that pull us away from Him and return genuinely and honestly, it moves His heart. God does not wait for perfect people — He waits for sincere steps back toward Him.
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💬 Reflection Prompt
What are the “idols” in my life that I may have tolerated?
Am I willing to lay them aside and serve God fully — not only with words but with my way of life?
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📆 23 – 26 November 2025
📚 BELIEVE HIS PROPHETS
📖 Weekly Reading – Spirit of Prophecy
📘 Ellen White | Patriarchs and Prophets – Chapter 43
🔥 The Death of Moses | Justice, grace, and hope beyond the grave
🌐 Read online here
🟦 BLOG 1 – The Farewell Begins
🌤️ The God Who Loves and Judges – Moses’ Final Mission
Between Justice and Mercy
🔵 Introduction
Before Moses begins his final journey, God once more opens his eyes to His own nature: just, yet full of love. In this tension the beginning of Moses’ farewell unfolds — and this same tension carries him all the way to the end.
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🟡 Commentary
God’s story with Israel is the story of a Father who carries, teaches, and protects. Like an eagle that bears its young on its wings, God led His people — and Moses witnessed every tear, every miracle, every relapse.
But now the time had come when Moses had to accept God’s judgment: he would see the promised land, but he would not enter it. No prayer, no pleading could change that.
Yet Moses did not withdraw. He called Joshua to his side, stood with him before the descending pillar of cloud, and passed on the leadership according to God’s command. The people looked at the old man — the father among them — with renewed gratitude. They thought of his patience, of his prayers that had spared them from God’s judgment. And they felt remorse that their own stubbornness had led him into the sin that now cost him entrance into the land.
The silence of that moment was heavy. But Moses did not think of himself — instead, he gave Joshua courage, strength, and God’s assurance: “I will be with you.”
Thus his farewell began — not with complaint, but with surrender.
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🟢 Summary
Moses accepts the divine judgment, strengthens Joshua, and prepares Israel for the future. His farewell begins with trust — not bitterness.
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📢 Message for Us Today
God sometimes leads us to boundaries we ourselves may not cross. But those who trust like Moses discover: even there, God’s faithfulness does not cease.
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💬 Reflection Prompt
Which “boundary” in your life could you face today with Moses’ quiet trust?
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