April 1: Judges 3:31 – Judges 6:40

Shamgar – Judges 3:31

• Shamgar, son of Anath, kills 600 Philistines and saves Israel.

Deborah and Barak – Judges 4

• After Ehud dies, the people again do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, so He sells them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan. The people of Israel cry out to Him for help because Jabin oppressed them for twenty years.
• The prophetess Deborah was judging Israel at the time, from her place between Ramah and Bethel in the land of Ephraim. She sends for Barak and instructs him to take 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and Zebulun and go to war again Jabin. He tells her that he will go if she will go with him. She agrees.
• Deborah, Barak, and the 10,000 chase Sisera, Jabin's army commander, and he goes to the tent of Jael (wife of Heber the Kenite) for safety. She offers to conceal him, but once he is asleep, she drives a peg into his temple, killing him. Jael then goes out to meet Barak and brings him to her tent to show him Sisera.
• Israel subdues Jabin the king.

The Song of Deborah and Barak – Judges 5

• Deborah and Barak sing a victory song, praising God for His triumph over the Canaanites on Israel's behalf and describing their victories.
• The land rests for forty years.

Midian Oppresses Israel – Judges 6

• The people of Israel again do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, and God gives them into the hand of the Midianites for seven years. The Israelites make for themselves dens in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. Whenever they planted crops, the Midianites and Amalekites would devour all their produce. The people of Israel cry out to God for help, and God points out that He has brought them out of slavery and told them not to fear the Amalekites, but they have not obeyed Him.

The Call of Gideon 

• The angel of the Lord appears to Gideon, son of Joash the Abiezrite, while he was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. The angel tells him that God is with him, and Gideon asks why, if this is so, that they have been given into the hand of the Midianites. He asks how he can save Israel, since he is the least of his father's house and his clan is the weakest in Manasseh. God tells him that He will be with him, and Gideon asks that if God has found favor with him, that he would show him a sign—that He would stay there until he returns with a gift. God agrees.
• Gideon goes into his house and prepares a young goat and unleavened cakes. He puts the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and takes it to Him. The angel tells him to put the meat and cakes on a rock and pour the broth over them. When Gideon does, the angel reaches out the tip of his staff and touches the meat and cakes, and fire consumes them. Then the angel disappears.
• Gideon believes that the angel was from the Lord and builds and altar there. That night, the Lord tells him to take his father's bull, tear down his father's altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it, and build an altar to the Lord. He is then to offer the bull as a sacrifice. Gideon takes ten of his servants and did what the Lord instructs, but he does it at night instead of during the day because he fears his family and the men of the town. 

Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal

• When the men of the town wake up in the morning, the altar of Baal is destroyed and the Asherah cut down. They learn that Gideon has done it, and tell his father Joash to bring him out so they can kill him. Joash tells them to let Baal contend for himself. Gideon is then called Jerubbaal.
• The Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east come together and cross the Jordan. The Spirit of the Lord clothes Gideon, and he sounds the trumpets, calling out the Abiezrites to follow him. Messengers are sent to the people of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and together they go to meet them.

The Sign of the Fleece

• Gideon tells God that he is laying a fleece on the threshing floor, and that if God will save Israel by his hand, to place dew on the fleece but not on the ground beside it. The next morning, Gideon is able to fill a bowl with dew wrung from the fleece. He asks God to again give him a sign by placing dew on the ground but not on the fleece, and God again follows through.