The Bible by David Alley

The Bible by David Alley

di David Alley
Miglioramento personaleCristianitàReligione
Stagione 1

Judges 7 - Gideon's Victory and Aftermath | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Judges 7 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 7 Gideon’s army camps at the spring of Harod to fight the Midianites. Harod means trembling. The Israelites were camped at the spring of trembling which was probably named after their experience there. So they were basically terrified. And in response God whittles their army down from 32,000 to just 300. This is reminiscent of the Spartan 300 who fought at Thermopylae except that here Gideon’s 300 will win. God seeks to encourage Gideon who overhears the dream of one of the Midianites. It turns out that they are also terrified, and this is encouraging news for Gideon. It is also a window in the world of dreams and dream interpretation in the scriptures. God’s strategy pays off and Gideon has a great victory. Once the enemy is on the back foot, it was much easier to get others to join in the pursuit. The challenge always seems to be obeying the Lord because his directions can be difficult, but in reality there are two challenges. The first and maybe bigger challenge is to know what the Lord is saying. We need to seek Him.
S1 · E218
9 ott 2022
14:26

Judges 6 - Gideon and the Midianites | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Judges 6 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 6 the Midianites oppress Israel in a terrible widespread oppression which seems more significant than the previous oppressors in the book of Judges. The Lord appears to Gideon, calling him a “man of valour” and telling him to go in the strength of his hand. Normally going in your own ability doesn’t work, but when the Lord sends you, he is fighting for you as in the book of Joshua, and your own might is able to do it. Gideon asks for an initial sign, after which he obeys the Lord and cuts down an altar to Baal and an Asherah pole. This earns the fury of people in his nearby town, but then also a nickname, Jerubbaal. In 2019 pottery was discovered in the Shahariya forest in Israel with the name Jerubbaal written on it - the first time this name was found outside of scripture. It was also carbon dated to the biblical period of the Judges. GIdeon is delaying with his requirements for multiple signs. This is because of fear which makes the Lord’s description of him as a man of valour seem sarcastic. Moses delayed too but it seemed out of low self esteem, but the situation with the Midianites must have been quite terrible. Gideon ultimately asks for three signs and gets them all, first with the angel and then twice with the fleece. What reasons do people delay obeying the Lord? For some it is fear, or low self-esteem, but for many it is laziness, self absorption, or simply wanting to do their own thing first.
S1 · E217
8 ott 2022
14:37

Judges 5 - The Song of Deborah | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Judges 5 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 5 Deborah sings a song which makes a number of points and further elaborate how the victory in chapter 4 came about. Firstly, The people who fought offered themselves willingly - there was no compulsion. And not all of the tribes responded in this fight. It is like this sometimes in the kingdom of Heaven - not all are willing, but those who are are rewarded. Verse 15 suggests that in the tribe of Reuben there was remorse that they did not participate. Verse 17 tells us that Dan and Asher didn’t participate. Verse 18 tells us that Zebulun and Naphtali risked their lives. Such are the contrasts even in the body of Christ today when it comes to fighting for the Lord. Some are willing to risk their lives, and others like Dan, happy to remain safely at home. Verse 4 tell us that the sky trembled and the clouds dropped water. It began to rain. The river Kishon is normally just a stream, but when the heavens opened on Tabor flash flooding occurred, causing huge problems for the heavy iron chariots. God was fighting for them. A similar thing happened in response to many prayers at Dunkirk when storms kept the German forces back allowing the evacuation of more than 150,000 soldiers from the beaches of France in WWII. God was involved, even though it was just as natural as supernatural. The last verse says “So let all your enemies perish, Yahweh, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength.” This is the prayer of every believer.
S1 · E216
7 ott 2022
13:15

Judges 4 - The Story of Deborah and Barak | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Judges 4 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 4 Jabin King of Hazor oppresses Israel. Jabin is a title, like Pharaoh king of Egypt. This is a different person to the one mentioned in Joshua 11. The defeat of the northern alliance of kings in Joshua 11 was about 200 years prior. In the intervening centuries Hazor has been rebuilt. This is where Deborah the Judge and Barak the General work together against Sisera, the General of Jabin’s army. Deborah commanded Barak to go fight, but he wouldn’t go unless Deborah went too. This passage has at times been used to denigrate women, and paint Barak as a weak general, but instead it shows that the Lord was with Deborah. The Lord does use men and women for his purposes and his intent as prophesied by Joel was to pour out his spirit on all flesh. However this passage does open up a discussion of another nature. God has created men to take responsibility - it is a requirement. Women seem to be more responsible by nature. At Peace Christian Church in Rockhampton, it is our policy to require men to be leaders, but to give women the freedom to choose either way. If men are strong in church life, the whole church, children included will be strong in the Lord. When the battle began, God went before them, just like in the book of Joshua. In the next chapter in the song of Deborah we learn that there was a heavy downpour on Mt Tabor which turned the Kishon river into a flood zone. The many heavy chariots of Sisera were bogged and unable to be used and the drivers became easy prey. Sisera died in a grizzly manner. It is reminiscent of the book of Judith in the Catholic Bible’s apocryphal books where Judith killed King Helophenes and chopped off his head.
S1 · E215
6 ott 2022
17:05

The Bible: Judges Chapter 3

In this video listen to Judges 3 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 3 we meet the first three of the twelve judges, Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar. The Israelites intermarried, which they were told not to do. They mixed worldliness into their lives and became weak. Earlier in Genesis we saw that God had sent the Israelites to Egypt to help solidify them as a separate cultural group. The Egyptians saw the Israelites as distasteful and generally wouldn’t mix with them, so it preserved them as a group. But now they are beginning to intermarry and it is causing problems. This does NOT inform the question of cultural intermarriage in today’s world. Paul writes in the NT that believers should not be unequally yoked, but he isn’t speaking of one’s ethnicity, but rather of faith in Christ. Here we learn not to mix worldliness in with our faith as it has an undermining effect. The first of the judges is Othniel who delivers Israel from Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. Then there is rest for 40 years. The second of the judges is Ehud who delivers Israel from Eglon king of Moab, after which there is rest for 80 years. The third judge in this chapter is Shamgar, but basically nothing is said about him. The periods of rest are multiples of 40 - a number which means testing. Christ was tempted 40 days and the Israelites in the desert 40 years. This chapter teaches us that when all is quiet and peaceful - that is actually a time of testing of our souls.
S1 · E214
5 ott 2022
15:47

Judges 2 - The Death of Joshua | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Judges 2 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 2 Another generation arose who didn’t know Yahweh. This doesn't mean they didn’t know who God was, but that they didn’t know him meaningfully, or understand how to serve Him. Every generation faces the same challenges, but clothed in different clothing. The tendency to distrust the advice of parents, and to seek out one’s own advancements is an old problem. It takes very prayerful parents to raise children in a worldly age. We are, just like the Israelites, surrounded by things that influence against God. This chapter describes the cycle of apostasy, where they turn repeatedly to follow other gods, and are handed over to them by the Lord. God allowed them to have the thing they loved. Essentially this is also what happens at that final judgement. People hate God and love doing it on their own. The ultimate judgement is receiving that separation, the thing they love. Ultimate goodness, and all temporary goodness comes from the Lord only, and freedom only comes coupled with responsibility. So while God does judge as seen in this book, there are also consequences at work. So there are now a series of Judges. Each of them shows us a quality of Christ, even though they are clearly human. But Ultimately the big picture of Christ in this book is that He is the Ultimate Judge and while ever he lives, we are not handed over to our enemies. Because Christ lives forever, this is a permanent position for those who are in Him. There are now going to be 12 judges listed in this chapters ahead being, Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson.
S1 · E213
4 ott 2022
12:03

Judges 1 - Introduction to the Book of Judges | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Judges 1 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 1 we are reading what are the words of the prophet Samuel. We won’t learn about him personally until the book of Samuel, partially written by him, and partially written by other prophets Nathan and Gad. Samuel is the last of the Judges and the first of the Prophets if you discount Moses. In this chapter we are given an overview of the failings of eight and a half of the tribes to drive out the prior inhabitants of the land before them. This is going to set the scene for the rest of the book where they fall away from the Lord repeatedly in worsening cycles. This is sometimes called the cycle of apostasy, a process which many individuals also go through in their own lives. It is a reflection of lawlessness, not being submitted to God. Judges 1 described the defeat of Adonibezek at the hands of the tribes of Judah and Simeon. Adonibezek was a king who defeated seventy tribal chiefs and tortured them. After his defeat he suffered the same fate as what he inflicted on others. This chapter is a symbol of completion, but completion is mutilated by this king, and this chapter highlights how the tribes of Israel actually failed to complete the job of subduing Adonibezek who symbolises the idolatry… his name is lord of lightning and is a symbol of the false god baal. Even though Adonibezek is defeated and dies at Jerusalem, a symbol of peace, the picture of the failure and inability to complete the job is the big message of this chapter. The consequences of this flow in the rest of the book.
S1 · E212
3 ott 2022
17:25

Joshua 24 - Covenant Renewed at Shechem | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Joshua 24 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 24 his dying words continue in a second chapter. Here we find the most famous verse in the entire book of Joshua, written on the walls of the homes of believers, and on church walls and more. Joshua says “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Serving other gods in antiquity was a more obvious thing than the other gods so many follow now. Today it's possible to say the above with apparent sincerity and to be entirely wrong about it. People worship many things and their hearts follow many things that don’t look idolatrous. The twenty four chapters represent about 25 years of time, so the book closes at around about 1381 BC. At this point the book ends with three burials. Burial 1 - Joshua is 110 years old, a picture of Christ. Here he is labelled for the first time, with “servant of God” a title Moses was labelled many times with. May be all be servants of God. Burial 2 - Joseph also lived 110 years, the perfect age for an Egyptian. Burial 3 - Eleazar - the high priest of the righteous generation. Now the good generation is passing and the future awaits. This book represents many things. It represents the idea that God keeps his promises. What God said to Abraham 470 years earlier has come to pass. (430 plus 40) And it is a picture of Christ who brings the people into the fulfilment of the promises. Without Christ we cannot inherit anything from God. The book starts with them living in the desert, and ends with every single person successfully living in a new land, each with an inheritance. And this is a picture of GOd’s great plan for all of humanity too. This generation also was the good generation who didn’t grumble or complain, and who obeyed the Lord, unlike the generations before or after. Such are the people who are led by Christ. What a remarkable book, outlining all that God had done, and continues to do for us today.
S1 · E211
1 ott 2022
11:45

Joshua 23 - Joshua's Farewell Address | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Joshua 23 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 23 he is dying and going the way of all the earth. Here in these last two chapters are his final words to the Israelites, words of greater significance than normal. The chapter comments on how God has given them rest in the land. Note that it is God who has given them rest, even though it is them who have fought on the ground. Without God fighting for them, they would not have succeeded. Joshua warns them not to marry in with the people who are in the land who have not been removed because God will stop fighting for them. The great danger of mixing worldliness with godliness is that God stops fighting for you. This was the problem of the next generation after Joshua died. This is what Joshua is trying to warn them of in his last words. So many Christians today find that God is not fighting for them and it is too hard to be godly in a world like ours. We are weak as a result.
S1 · E210
30 set 2022
10:29

Joshua 22 - Altar Built by Eastern Tribes | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Joshua 22 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Joshua 22 It has been seven long years that these faithful men have been away fighting. Seven is the Lord’s number and so we all see that we must fight for the Lord. The men now get to go home, and take with them the spoils of war. There are spoils in warfare for us too when we plunder the enemy's camp in prayer. We also share the plunder with our brothers. The good things we obtain from the Lord are not for us alone. We are meant to fight, to inherit and to share. The soldiers of the three eastern tribes built an altar on the jordan river on their way home, which causes the western tribes to be indignant at what seems to be a gross violation. They are zealous for the Lord and this indicates a different mind to the previous generation. Plus they have paid with seven years of hard work for their inheritance… so should it be so lightly thrown away? Do we easily throw away things that have been hard fought? We should be zealous to keep them also. However in this case the eastern tribes were not sinful, but thinking with foresight. Verse 22 is one of many interesting things that undermine the JEDP theory. If the book was revised as theorised, why are all the names of God together in one place? The chapter finishes by highlighting one of the big problems in Christianity today. There are parts of God’s body that do not recognize other parts of God’s body, just as was the danger here between the tribes. They effectively say to the others “You have no part in God.” This is a great sin, which grieves God very much, and grieves me too. As my father John Alley has said on many occasions, it's sometimes not what we believe about God that is the problem, but what we believe about each other. This chapter is the witness against those people who say that, if they have eyes to see it.
S1 · E209
29 set 2022
18:35
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