In today’s reading, Israel asks an aging Samuel to appoint a king over them before his death. Samuel warns them about what a king would demand from them, but the people urge him all the more. Ultimately, the concern is not so much that they want a king, but that they are looking to have a human king as a source of strength, protection, and provision. All throughout their history, God has been their strength, their protection, and their provider, but they fail to trust in Him. As Samuel installs ...
May 15, 2025•21 min•Season 5Ep. 92
Today, Israel goes to battle against the Philistines. They assume that if they bring out the ark of the covenant to the battlefield, that it’s presence would either oblige God to win the battle for them or that the object itself has some kind of mystical power. They are sorely mistaken, and the Philistines promptly defeat them and capture the ark. Assuming that their victory is a victory over Israel’s God, the Philistines place the ark in Dagon’s temple. Time and again, however, the Lord silentl...
May 14, 2025•20 min•Season 5Ep. 91
The instructions that the Lord has given to his people concerning justice, holiness, and priesthood have all been shattered in the time of the judges. It seems like all is lost for Israel, but even here we can see foreshadows of the Christ who has yet to come. There is a woman incapable of having children who is faithful to the Lord. In His providence, kindness and mercy, the Lord raises a prophet and priest from the barren womb of this woman, who had promised the Lord that her son would serve G...
May 13, 2025•20 min•Season 5Ep. 90
Ruth 1 - 1:01 . Ruth 2 - 5:19 . Ruth 3 - 10:56 . Ruth 4 - 14:19 . ::: Christian Standard Bible translation. All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross. Co-produced by the Christian Standard Bible. facebook.com/commuterbible instagram.com/commuter_bible twitter.com/CommuterPod patreon.com/commuterbible admin@commuterbible.org
May 12, 2025•20 min•Season 5Ep. 89
At this point in the narrative of Judges, the Lord is noticeably absent from the life of Israel. It seems like nobody knows how any of this covenant stuff works, even in the slightest. It becomes so bad that a Levite is involved in a scenario almost identical to that of Sodom & Gomorrah, only this time, those who are intent on sexually assaulting the town’s visitors are successful because the Levite betrays his concubine. Though he is not supposed to touch a dead body, he then mutilates her ...
May 09, 2025•22 min•Season 5Ep. 88
Today, we’ll conclude the account of Samson, one of Israel’s judges. As you may recall from the last episode, Samson was supposed to be dedicated to the Lord as a Nazirite from birth, and yet he did very little to keep that vow. We pick up his story with the account of his interactions with a Philistine woman named Delilah, a woman of the very nation that Israel had been tasked with destroying for their perpetual evil. As a representative of Israel, it’s no surprise that in the end, he falls to ...
May 08, 2025•20 min•Season 5Ep. 87
Today, we’ll begin to look at the life of Samson, a man who kept the Nazirite vow from his birth, until he didn’t, and violated it several times over. In short, Samson is a picture of Israel in one person. Meant to be set apart and holy, he instead takes his vows and his God lightly, defiling himself over and over. A Nazirite was supposed avoid dead bodies, yet he eats honey from a lion’s carcass and uses a jawbone for a weapon. A Nazirite was supposed to abstain from wine, yet Samson threw a dr...
May 07, 2025•19 min•Season 5Ep. 86
Two judges of Israel follow the death of Abimelech, and we know little about them, except that they each judged Israel for over 20 years with no ruckus to speak of. When Israel turns to idols yet again, they suffer under the Philistines & the Ammonites. They cry out to the Lord, but he rejects their pleas. When they confess sin and burn their idols, God begins to become weary of their misery. Later, God appoints a ne’er-do-well named Jephthah to deliver Israel from the Ammonites. Sadly, Jeph...
May 06, 2025•19 min•Season 5Ep. 85
When we last left Gideon and his army, he had attacked the forces of Midian with 300 hundred men. Though he and his small band had already killed 120,000 men, there are still 15,000 left. We begin with a discussion between Gideon and the men of Ephraim who have just killed the two princes of Midian as Gideon’s men routed them from battle. They’re upset that they weren’t called to fight, but Gideon basically tells them their leftovers are better than the full harvest of what his men have reaped. ...
May 05, 2025•22 min•Season 5Ep. 84
Our reading today begins by wrapping up the account of Deborah and Barak after Sisera’s defeat. It’s not long, however, before Israel turns, once again, to worship idols. The false gods of Baal and Asherah were meant to bring fertile crops and prosperity, but they only bring despair and a fractured relationship with the One True God. During a period of oppression by the Midianites, the Lord speaks to a young man named Gideon and calls upon him to destroy his father’s idolatrous altars. Later, th...
May 02, 2025•24 min•Season 5Ep. 83
Under the rule of Joshua, Israel was doing well and was off to a good start in obeying the Lord’s commands. Not long afterward, however, they begin to intermarry with the Canaanites, signaling, not only an apathy toward God’s commands, but an acceptance of the gods that the Canaanites worshiped. God declares that he will no longer drive out the Canaanites before Israel, and he leaves them in the land to test Israel’s faithfulness to His commands. When their foes rise to power and they cry to the...
May 01, 2025•25 min•Season 5Ep. 82
::: Christian Standard Bible translation. All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross. Co-produced by the Christian Standard Bible. facebook.com/commuterbible instagram.com/commuter_bible twitter.com/CommuterPod patreon.com/commuterbible admin@commuterbible.org
Apr 30, 2025•18 min•Season 5Ep. 81
The clans and families of Israel are settling into their apportioned lands and beginning to find rest when a report spreads across the lands that the tribes on the other side of the Jordan are rebelling against God. It has been told that a replica of the Lord’s altar has been made across the river where the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh reside. The other tribes ready themselves for war, knowing that God is a jealous God, and they head out to confront their brothers. When th...
Apr 29, 2025•18 min•Season 5Ep. 80
Now that the majority of the Promised Land has been conquered, the land is being divided by lot and by size according to the number of people in each tribe. Today’s reading is the last section of text detailing the division of the land, and as a reminder from the last episode, consider the excitement and the joy that Israel experienced as each family learned where they would live and work and thrive for generations to come. While the descriptions may seem abstract to us, they were concrete and t...
Apr 28, 2025•19 min•Season 5Ep. 79
The work of conquering the Promised Land, in large part, has come to a close. Now it’s time to divide the land between the clans of Israel as Moses had instructed. To our modern ears, much of what we’ll hear today may not seem important or relevant, but to Israel, it sounded like real estate. If you and your family had been given large sums of land and houses by the work of God’s mighty hand, wouldn’t you find it important that the details about property lines be recorded for you and for future ...
Apr 25, 2025•24 min•Season 5Ep. 78
In our last episode, a coalition of nations conspired to fight against Israel, but they are no match for those with whom the Lord has covenanted, and God sends a natural disaster that lays waste to more men than the Israelites slay by the sword. Today, another set of kings sets their sites on extinguishing Israel. The northern cities and their kings will soon be defeated, included those men called Anakim, those whom the original party of spies feared so much, saying they felt like grasshoppers i...
Apr 24, 2025•25 min•Season 5Ep. 77
In our last episode, Joshua and his troops defeated Jericho, but one man chose to reject God’s command to set apart everything for destruction, which led to a heartbreaking defeat at Ai and a difficult task for Joshua. After the guilty party is stoned, the Lord turns from his burning anger and Joshua leads the people to victory. The nations hear of Israel’s conquests and plan to form a coalition and fight against Israel, but the inhabitants of Gibeon decide to take a different approach. Later, t...
Apr 23, 2025•24 min•Season 5Ep. 76
Joshua and the nation of Israel have crossed the Jordan and are now in the land that the Lord swore to give to his people. As you may recall, this is a new generation of Israelites; the former generation has passed away except for Joshua and Caleb. This generation has yet to be circumcised, and so the Lord instructs Joshua to have them circumcised. Outside of Jericho, they observe the Passover, after which the manna from heaven ceases to appear. The Lord gives Joshua instructions for conquering ...
Apr 22, 2025•22 min•Season 5Ep. 75
Moses has died, leaving Israel with a new legacy, a new Law, and a new leader. Before Moses’ death, the Lord appointed Joshua to lead and blessed Him. Today, Joshua takes charge over Israel and leads them over the Jordan and into the land of promise. You may recall that Joshua has seen the land already, as Moses sent him with other men to spy out the land, and that he and Caleb were the only two spies who trusted in the Lord to deliver them through battle. This same Joshua is now in charge and w...
Apr 21, 2025•19 min•Season 5Ep. 74
Moses has just given a song to Israel which predicts that they will abandon God’s ways. After this warning, the Lord told Moses that it was time to ascend Mount Nebo, where he will see the Promised Land before he dies. It’s at this point we enter into today’s reading where Moses has a final word for the people of Israel before he departs: a pronouncement of blessings on each tribe of Israel. Tradition and historical documentation note that it was Moses who wrote down the books of the Pentateuch,...
Apr 18, 2025•20 min•Season 5Ep. 73
Now that Moses has given the statutes and ordinances to Israel a second time, he faces the end of his days at the direction of Almighty God. It is time to appoint and commission Joshua to lead the people in the stead of Moses, and God does so by appearing at the tent of meeting in a cloud. Sadly, the Lord tells Moses that the people he shepherded for so long will soon abandon God and His ways. Moses gives Israel a song to pass down which prophesies the coming wrath of God for Israel’s rebellion,...
Apr 17, 2025•20 min•Season 5Ep. 72
Moses continues to explain to Israel that they will be blessed if follow the Lord and cursed if they follow other gods. He calls out that thought which is so common to mankind: I am the exception to the rules, and as Moses puts it, “I will have peace even though I follow my own stubborn heart.” Contrary to what much of western society teaches, we are not called to pursue out heart’s desires; we are instead called to position the Lord as our heart’s desire and follow hard after him. By making the...
Apr 16, 2025•20 min•Season 5Ep. 71
In our reading today, Moses outlines the blessings and the curses that will fall upon Israel: blessings if they keep the covenant of the Lord, and curses if they abandon the Lord’s covenant. Keep in mind that these statutes include prescribed ways in which Israel can repent of sin and execute justice. To reject the statutes and ordinances is to reject a good God who loves His people, denying that His ways lead to prosperity. Israel will serve as a witness to the nations about the Lord and His po...
Apr 15, 2025•19 min•Season 5Ep. 70
Our reading today contains some statutes that seem harsh, some that seem odd, and others that could easily be incorporated into daily interactions today. A few things to remember: first, the covenant with Israel was one in which the entire community had to remain holy because the Lord is holy and lived among them; sometimes this means being set apart and pure in simple daily routines as a reminder that they are to be distinct among the nations. Second, it’s clear that the Lord hates injustice, w...
Apr 14, 2025•21 min•Season 5Ep. 69
Moses continues to speak to the Israelites before his impending death, reminding this new generation about the laws and statutes that have been put in place. Many of the structures given here for a system of justice continue to provide a template for our judicial systems in the west today, including concepts such as the testimony of multiple witnesses, a hierarchy of courts, and varying degrees of manslaughter. We’ll see a foretelling of King Solomon’s fall as Moses forewarns them about the dang...
Apr 11, 2025•21 min•Season 5Ep. 68
There is a beautiful picture on display in the act of bringing a tenth of your produce to the Lord as an offering. The instructions given to Israel are that they should bring the tenth to where the Lord resides and have a feast in the presence of God. So get this: God provides all the food as a gift, the Israelite brings some of it back to supply the party, and then in a way the Israelite and God feast together at the same table. Who would turn aside from this God? And friends, one day, we, too,...
Apr 10, 2025•20 min•Season 5Ep. 67
If Israel enters the land and follows the Lord’s statutes and ordinances, they will be blessed by the Lord. If, however, they turn from keeping his law, they will receive a curse from the Lord, rather than a blessing. After warning the Israelites of what’s at stake, Moses begins to give a second presentation of the law of God to a new generation, hence “Deuteronomy,” meaning “second law.” Among his many admonitions is the destruction of high places and altars to foreign gods, saying, “You are no...
Apr 09, 2025•21 min•Season 5Ep. 66
Today, Moses preaches against the very sins that end up bringing a curse upon Israel. As Moses continues his prelude to a recounting of the Law to Israel’s next generation, he warns them against both idolatry and self-righteousness, which in both cases is a means of robbing God of the glory that is due Him and Him alone. He urges them to remember that the land they are entering has been given to them, not because of their righteousness, but because of the wickedness of the nations they are enter...
Apr 08, 2025•20 min•Season 5Ep. 65
You can hear a sense of desperation and heartfelt pleading as we read the words of Moses today, as he continues to urge a new generation to trust the Lord and obey His statutes so that they might flourish. When they are given to fear, when they are tempted to worship other gods, when they get comfortable in the land they are being given, in all these things, they are told to remember what the Lord has done. Moses recounts the Ten Commandments in today’s passage and if you’re acquainted with the ...
Apr 07, 2025•23 min•Season 5Ep. 64
We began the book of Deuteronomy in our last episode and we’ll pick up where we left off today. Deuteronomy loosely translated means “second law,” because it’s in this book that Moses reviews the Law and the promises of God for a new generation before he, himself, passes away. The former generation has all died because of their iniquity, just as the Lord had sworn, which means that the next generation needs a recap of what has happened so far. In his final words to the nation of Israel, you’ll h...
Apr 04, 2025•23 min•Season 5Ep. 63
