DAY 97 Read Judges 11 through 13.
Today's reading: The exploits of Jephthah are recounted, as well as the results of his rash vow; then, after brief mention of three other judges, we come to the birth of one of the most remarkable of all--Samson.
Memory gem: "Teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born" (Judges 13:8).
Thought for today:
Let us go back, back to that day when a child was born in a land under terrible foreign oppression. It is the land of Israel. The oppressors are the Philistines. An angel appears to the childless wife of Manoah, who is a worshiper of the true God. The angel brings a message that a child is to be born who will begin to deliver Israel. In view of this, instruction is given as to the treatment of this child: "Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing" (Judges 13:4).
This same prohibition was imposed upon the child, with the addition that his hair should not be cut, for from his birth he was to be consecrated to God as a Nazarite. And, by the way, if more mothers were careful regarding their physical and spiritual habits, more children would be strong and healthy, wise and true. A mother cannot be uncontrolled and intemperate and expect the children to whom she gives birth to be any different. And fathers, as well as mothers, are involved in this responsibility.
The instructions given to these parents so long ago show the importance of home influence. Lessons of temperance, self-denial, and self-control should be taught children even from babyhood. The angel's prohibition included not merely strong drink, but every unclean thing. Right sanitary principles were involved. "True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful, and to use judiciously that which is healthful."--Temperance, p. 138.
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Difficult or obscure words:
Judges 11:2. "Gilead"--In this verse the term is the name of a man, Jephthah's father. Everywhere else in the story, Gilead is the name of the region east of Jordan in the territory of the tribe of Manasseh.
Today's reading: The exploits of Jephthah are recounted, as well as the results of his rash vow; then, after brief mention of three other judges, we come to the birth of one of the most remarkable of all--Samson.
Memory gem: "Teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born" (Judges 13:8).
Thought for today:
Let us go back, back to that day when a child was born in a land under terrible foreign oppression. It is the land of Israel. The oppressors are the Philistines. An angel appears to the childless wife of Manoah, who is a worshiper of the true God. The angel brings a message that a child is to be born who will begin to deliver Israel. In view of this, instruction is given as to the treatment of this child: "Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing" (Judges 13:4).
This same prohibition was imposed upon the child, with the addition that his hair should not be cut, for from his birth he was to be consecrated to God as a Nazarite. And, by the way, if more mothers were careful regarding their physical and spiritual habits, more children would be strong and healthy, wise and true. A mother cannot be uncontrolled and intemperate and expect the children to whom she gives birth to be any different. And fathers, as well as mothers, are involved in this responsibility.
The instructions given to these parents so long ago show the importance of home influence. Lessons of temperance, self-denial, and self-control should be taught children even from babyhood. The angel's prohibition included not merely strong drink, but every unclean thing. Right sanitary principles were involved. "True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful, and to use judiciously that which is healthful."--Temperance, p. 138.
----------------
Difficult or obscure words:
Judges 11:2. "Gilead"--In this verse the term is the name of a man, Jephthah's father. Everywhere else in the story, Gilead is the name of the region east of Jordan in the territory of the tribe of Manasseh.
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