April 3: Judges 9:22 – Judges 11:28

The Downfall of Abimelech – Judges 9

• Abimelech rules over Israel for three years. God sends an evil spirit between him and the people of Shechem, and the people treat him treacherously. Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his family move into Shechem, and the leaders put confidence in him. He asks them who Abimelech is that they should serve him. The recommend serving Hamor, son of Shechem
• Zebul, the ruler of the city learns what Gaal is doing and sends word to Abimelech. Abimelech and his men ambush them by night. He and Zebul are able to quell the revolt and raze Shechem, destroying its tower.
• Abimelech then goes to Thebez and captures it. All the men and women flee to a strong tower within the city and shutter themselves, going to its roof. As Abimelech is fighting the tower, a woman throws a millstone from the roof onto his head, crushing it. He calls over a soldier and tells him to kill him with his sword so it won't be said that he was killed by a woman. The man does as instructed, and the men of Israel return home. God has returned the evil committed by Abimelech and the Shechemites.

Tola and Jair – Chapter 10

• Tola, a man from the land of Ephraim, judges Israel for twenty-three years. After him rises Jair the Gileadite, who judged for twenty-two years. Jair had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys and had thirty cities. He died and was buried in Kamon.

Further Disobedience and Oppression

• The people of Israel continue to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, serving the gods of the peoples around them, so God sells them into the hands of the Philistine and Ammonites, who oppress them for eighteen years.
• The Israelites cry out to the Lord, begging for deliverance.
• The Ammonites are called to arms, and they encamp at Gilead. Israel encamps at Mizpah. The leaders ask who will fight against the Ammonites.

Jephthah Delivers Israel – Judges 11

• Jephthah the Gileadite is a mighty warrior but also the son of Gilead and a prostitute. His half-brothers drive him out because he was not born of their mother, and he flees to the land of Tob, where he meets worthless fellows.
• The Ammonites make war with Israel, and the elders of Gilead summon Jephthah back to Gilead to be their leader. Jephthah eventually agrees. (He is the first leader raised up by the people and not by God.)
• Jephthah sends messengers to the Ammonites, asking them why they are coming to fight against his land. The Ammonites claim it is because of how Israel came from Egypt and claimed their land. He reminds them that it was God who gave them the land, then tells them that he has not sinned against them and that God will decide between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon. The Ammonites do not listen to the words he sends.

April 2: Judges 7:1 – Judges 9:21

Gideon's Three Hundred Men – Judges 7

• Gideon and all the soldiers with him camp beside the spring of Harod, with the camp of Midian to the north of them. God tells Gideon that he has too many men with him, and if they overcome the Midianites, they will think they did it by their own hand. He tells Gideon to tell the men that whoever is fearful should return home. 22,000 return home, leaving 10,000 with Gideon.
• God again tells Gideon there are too many people with him. He tells him to take the men down to the water and have them drink. Any who lap with their tongue, like a dog, will be set aside and anyone who kneels to drink will be set aside. Those who lapped with the tongue numbered 300, and God tells Gideon to take them with him to fight the Midianites. The others are sent home to their tents.
• That night, God tells Gideon to take his servant Purah and go to the camp of the Midianites. At the outpost of the armed men, they see that the Midianites and Amalekites are many. They hear two men talking about a dream where a cake of barley tumbled into the camp and struck a tent so it turned upside down. The dreamer's comrade tells him that the dream depicts Gideon and that God has given them over to him. As soon as Gideon hears this, he worships God.
• Gideon gathers his 300 men into three companies and tells them that when they come to the outskirts of the camp, they are to do as he does. When he blows the trumpet, they are to blow their trumpets and shout, "For the Lord and for Gideon!"

Gideon Defeats Midian

• Gideon's men go to the outskirts of the camp, blow their trumpets and smash their jars, and shout. All in the Midianite and Amalekite army run. The men of Napthali, Asher, and Manasseh pursue them. The men of Ephraim are called in to "capture the waters". They kill the kings, Oreb and Zeeb, and bring their heads across the Jordan to Gideon.

Gideon Defeats Zebah and Zalmunna – Judges 8

• The men of Ephraim accuse Gideon of not calling them in for the initial fight against Midian. Gideon's flattering response that God gave the kings over into their hands, not his, and they are pacified.
• Gideon and his 300 men pursue Zebah and Zalmunna, two other kings of Midian. When they reach Succoth, they request food from the townspeople, but the townspeople tell them they must catch the kings before they will give them food. Gideon moves on to Penuel, and the townspeople there give him the same answer. Gideon tells them that when he returns in victory, he will tear down their tower.
• Gideon captures the two kings, then returns to Succoth and demands that a young man write down the names of the 77 officials and elders of the town. He punishes the elders of the town with thorns and briers and tears down the tower in Penuel, killing all the men in the town.
• Gideon asks the two kings what the men at Tabor who they killed looked like, and they tell him they looked like Gideon. Gideon tells them they were his brothers and that if they hadn't killed them, he wouldn't kill them.
• Gideon tells his young son, Jether, to kill them, but he doesn't draw his sword (he is a young man). Zebah and Zalmunna tell Gideon to kill them himself, and he does.

Gideon's Ephod

• The men of Israel tell Gideon to rule over them along with his son and grandson. Gideon tells them to have God rule over them. He then requests all the golden earrings the men had taken as spoils, and they give them over as well as crescent ornaments, pendants, and purple garments worn by the Midianite kings and collars worn on the necks of their camels. From these Gideon makes an ephod (ornate ceremonial garment). He puts it in his city, and all of Israel "whores" after it. The land rests for forty years.

The Death of Gideon

• Gideon returns home and has seventy sons by his many wives. One son by his concubine is named Abimelech. Gideon dies and is buried in the tomb of his father. Right away, the people of Israel turn to other gods, making Baal-berith their god.

Abimelech's Conspiracy – Judges 9

• Gideon's son Abimelech goes to his mother's relatives in Shechem and tells them to ask the leaders what would be better—to be ruled by seventy sons of Gideon or one son (Abimelech). They agree that it would be better to be ruled by Abimelech and give him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith. 
• With the money Abimelech hires worthless and reckless men to help him kill all his brothers. They murder all but Jotham, Gideon's youngest son, who hides himself. All the leaders of Shechem come together and make Abimelech king.
• Jotham goes the the Shechemites and tells them a fable depicting noble trees in the forest each rejecting kingship, which is then accepted by a lowly bramble bush. He tells them if they acted in good faith in making Abimelech king, then they should rejoice in Abimelech and let him rejoice in them. But if not, let fire from Abimelech devour the Shechemites and let fire from the Shechemites devour Abimelech. Jotham then flees to Beer and lives there.

January 9: Genesis 25:27 – Genesis 28:5

Esau Sells His Birthright – Genesis 25:27–34

• Jacob and Esau grow up. Esau becomes a skilled hunter, while Jacob prefers staying at home. Jacob loves Esau, while Rebekah loves Jacob.
• Esau arrives home from hunting, very hungry, while Jacob is cooking stew. He asks Jacob for some stew, and Jacob agrees if Esau will give him his birthright.
• Esau agrees, and trades his birthright for bread and lentil stew, showing contempt for his rights as firstborn. He then leaves the tent.

God's Promise to Isaac – Genesis 26

• A famine strikes the land where Isaac is living, so he moves to Gerar, where Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, lives.
• The Lord appears to Isaac and tells him not to go to Egypt, but to stay as a foreigner in Gerar, and He will bless him and give him the lands for him and his descendants.
• Isaac stays in Gerar, and when people ask him about his wife, Rebekah, he tells them that she is his sister, because he is afraid they will kill him if he admits that she is his wife.
• One day Abimelech sees Jacob caressing Rebekah, and calls Jacob to him, asking him why he has lied, since she is obviously his wife and not his sister.
• Jacob admits that he was afraid, and Abimelech questions how he could have lied and put Abimelech or another man at risk for great sin if they'd taken his wife and slept with her. Abimelech issues a public proclamation that any man who touches Rebekah will be put to death.

Isaac and Abimelech

• Isaac plants his crops and then harvests a hundred times more than he planted because the Lord blessed him. He becomes a very rich man, and acquires many flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and servants.
• The Philistines become jealous of him and fill his wells, which had been dug by the servants of Abraham, with dirt. Finally, Abimelech orders Isaac to leave because he has become to powerful for them.
• Isaac moves to the Gerar Valley. He has his servants reopen his wells, and the servants also open a well in the Gerar Valley. Shepherds from Gerar claim the well belongs to them, and Isaac has his men dig another well, but the shepherds again dispute the well. Isaac's servants dig another well, and this time the shepherds don't dispute the well.
• Isaac moves to Beersheba, and God appears to him that night. He tells Jacob he will be with him and bless him because of his promise to Abraham. Isaac builds and altar there and worships the Lord. His servants dig another well.

A Treaty with Abimelech

• One day Abimelech, his adviser Ahuzzath, and his army commander Phicol visit Isaac.
• Isaac asks why they have come there since they have removed him from his land in Gerar and obviously hate him.
• They respond that they can see the Lord is with him and they want to make a covenant with him. They ask that Jacob will not cause them any harm, pointing out that they sent him away in peace and God has blessed him.
• Isaac prepares a covenant feast, and the next morning they take an oath not to interfere with each other. The men then leave Jacob in peace.
• The next morning, Isaac's servants return to him with word that they have dug another well (called Beersheba) and found water.
• At the age of forty, Esau marries two Hittite wives, Judith and Basemath. Esau's wives make life difficult for Isaac and Rebekah.

Isaac Blesses Jacob – Genesis 27

• Isaac, who is old and becoming blind, calls for Esau and tells him to go and hunt some wild game and prepare his favorite dish for him. Isaac will then bless Esau.
• Rebekah overhears them. She has Jacob go and get two young goats from their herds so she can prepare Isaac's favorite dish, then has him take the food to his father so Isaac will bless him instead.
• Rebekah dresses Jacob in Esau's clothes and covers Jacob's arms and neck with the skin of the young goats (so he will feel like Esau) and has him take the food to his father.
• Isaac asks which son he is, and Jacob claims he is Esau. Though Jacob doesn't sound like Esau, when Isaac feels his arms and smells his clothes, he believes he is Esau.
• Isaac blesses Jacob, and soon after Jacob leaves his father, Esau returns from his hunt and learns his father, who was deceived, has blessed Jacob instead. Esau asks that Jacob bless him as well, but Isaac cannot because he has nothing left to give Esau. 
• Esau is upset that Jacob has stolen both his birthright and his blessing.

Jacob Sent to Laban – Genesis 27:41 to Genesis 28:5

• Esau plans to kill Jacob, but Rebekah overhears his plan. She tells Jacob to flee to her brother Laban and stay there until Esau's rage has waned and she calls him back to them.
• Rebekah tells Isaac that she doesn't want Jacob to marry a local Hittite woman, and Isaac calls Jacob to him and tells him to go to Paddan-Aram, to the house of his grandfather, and marry one of his uncle Laban's daughters.
• Jacob goes to Paddan-Aram to live with Laban.

January 7: Genesis 21:8 – Genesis 23:20; Genesis 11:32; Genesis 24:1–67

God Protects Hagar and Ishmael – Genesis 21

• Abraham plans a great feast when Isaac is weaned. Sarah sees Ishmael laughing about Isaac and tells Abraham to send away Hagar and Ishmael. (Even in this culture, it would be considered reprehensible for Sarah to send away Hagar and Ishmael in this way. As well, Abraham loved his son Ishmael.)
• God tells Abraham to do as Sarah says, as He will make a nation of both Isaac and Ishmael.
• The next morning, Abraham gives Hagar bread and water, and sends her away with Ishmael. The two wander in the desert of Beersheba.
• When the water was gone, Hagar placed Ishmael under a bush and went away from him (about "a bow shot away") so she would not have to watch her child die. She and Ishmael cry, and God hears them.
• An angel appears to Hagar and tells her to go get Ishmael because God will make a great nation of him. God opens Hagar's eyes and she sees a well, where she fills her water skin and gives water to Ishmael. 
• God is with Ishmael as he grows up, and Ishmael lives in the wilderness of Paran and becomes an expert with a bow. His mother takes a wife for him from the land of Egypt (one of her own people).

A Treaty with Abimelech

• Abraham reproves Abimelech about a well of his that Abimelech's servants had seized. Abimelech denies knowing anything about it.
• The two men make a covenant, with Abraham giving Abimelech seven ewe lambs.
• Abimelech and his army commander Phicol return to the land of the Philistines, and Abraham plants a tree at Beersheba, calls on the name of the Lord there, and sojourns for many days in the land of the Philistines.

The Sacrifice of Isaac

• God appears to Abraham and tells him to take Isaac, go to the land of Moriah, and there offer Isaac as a burnt offering.
• Abraham obeys. The next morning, he saddled his donkey and took Isaac and two men with him. He cuts wood to build a fire and goes to the place where God directs him. 
• On the third day, Abraham sees the place God has directed him to and tells the two men to stay with the donkey while he takes Isaac and goes to worship the Lord. 
• Isaac points out that they have wood and fire but no lamb to offer as a sacrifice. Abraham tells him that God will provide the lamb.
• When they reach the place God told Abraham to go, Abraham builds an altar, lays the wood in order, and binds Isaac and places him on the wood. When Abraham takes the knife to slay Isaac, God tells him not to lay his hand on the boy, and tells him that He now know that Abraham fears Him since he would not even withhold his only son from Him.
• Abraham sees a ram caught by its horn in a thicket behind him, and takes the ram and offers it as a burnt offering.
• The angel of the Lord tells Abraham that because of his obedience, God will bless him and multiply his offspring.
• Abraham returned to the two men and his donkey, and they all return to Beersheba, where Abraham continues to live.

The Burial of Sarah – Genesis 23

• Sarah dies, and Abraham goes to the Hittite elders to request a place to bury her. Since Abraham is consider "an honored prince," they give him their finest tomb to bury her.
• Abraham offers to pay the owner of the tomb, but the owner refuses and gives to tomb to him for four hundred pieces of silver (not nearly its worth).

Isaac and Rebekah – Genesis 24

• In his old age, Abraham has his servant swear that he will not take a wife for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites. Abraham instead wants him to go back to Abraham's country and take a wife from his people.
• The servant questions what to do if the woman he chooses will not come with him, and Abraham tells him he will not have to do what he's been instructed but he's not to take Isaac back to the country of Abraham.
• The servant takes ten camels and many gifts and departs for Nahor, in Mesopotamia. There he stops at a well while the women of the area are drawing water. The servants asks that God would show him the right woman by having her offer to water his camels when he asks her to get him water (a gesture that went far beyond her social duties).
• A beautiful woman comes to the well and the servant asks her for a drink. When she finishes giving him a drink, she offers water for his camels. The servant asks whose daughter she is, and if he can spend the night in her father's house.
• She tells him she is the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah and Nahor, and that they have plenty of straw, fodder, and room for him to spend the night.
• The servant worshiped the Lord, and the woman ran home and told her mother's household what had happened.
• The woman, Rebekah, has a brother named Laban, who comes to the well to meet the servant. Laban brings him back to the house and cares for the servant and his camels. The servant refuses to eat until he can say what he needs to say. He then tells Laban the story of Abraham and the servant's journey to find a wife for Isaac.
• Laban and Bethuel tell the servant to take Rebekah to be Isaac's wife. The servant gives Rebekah and her family silver and gold and garments.
• The family asks for ten more days with Rebekah, but the servant wants to leave before then, They ask Rebekah when she wants to leave, and she says she will go with him now. She and her nurse go with the servant.
• Meanwhile, Isaac is dwelling in the Negeb. He goes out into the field toward evening to meditate, and sees the camels coming.
• Rebekah sees Isaac in the field and asks the servant who he is. When the servant tells her he is his master, she veils herself (this would have been appropriate for an unmarried woman who was about to come into the company of a man). The servant tells Isaac of everything that has happened.
• Isaac takes Rebekah as his wife. He loves her, and she gives him comfort after Sarah's death.

January 6: Genesis 18:1 – Genesis 21:7

The Lord Appears to Abraham – Genesis 18

• While Abraham sits at the door of his tent, three men arrive (God and two angels). Abraham has Sarah make flour cakes, has a young man prepare a young calf, and prepares curds and milk for the men. He stands by while they eat under a tree.
• The men ask Abraham where Sarah is, and Abraham tells them she is in the tent. They respond that they will return in about a year, and at that time he and Sarah will have a son. 
• Sarah is listening from inside the tent, and she laughs to herself because she and Abraham are so old.
• The Lord asks Abraham why Sarah laughed, and reminds Abraham that nothing is too hard for Him. Sarah is fearful and denies laughing, but God confirms that she did laugh.
• The three men leave, heading toward Sodom, and Abraham goes with them. God says that due to the great sinfulness of Sodom and Gomorrah, He will go and see the cities Himself.

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

• Looking upon Sodom, Abraham asks God if he will sweep away the righteous of Sodom with the wicked. He asks that if there are fifty righteous within the city, would God spare them.
• God answers that if there are fifty righteous within the city, He will spare the entire city for their sake. From there, Abraham continues to question the Lord: What if there are forty-five righteous? What if there are forty? Thirty? Twenty? Ten?
• God tells Abraham that for the sake of ten righteous, He will not destroy the city.
• The Lord goes away, and Abraham returns to his tent.

God Rescues Lot – Chapter 19

• The two men (the angels with God) reach Sodom, where Lot is sitting at the gate (the gate of the city was where the town elders met, so Lot, in his wealth, had become a ruling elder).
• Lot greets them with respect and offers to let them stay at his home for the night. They reply that they will stay in the town square, but he insists and they agree to stay with him. Lot prepares a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they eat.
• Before they go to bed for the night, all the men of Sodom surround the house, and ask Lot to bring the two men out, so they might "know them." Lot steps outside and asks them to take his two virgin daughters instead of the men.
• The Sodomite men refuse, trying to break the door down, and the two men bring Lot into the house, shut the door, and strike the men outside with blindness.
• The two men ask Lot if he has any family in Sodom, and tell him to get them because they are about to destroy the city. Lot goes to his two son-in-laws, who are to marry his daughters, but they don't believe him.
• When morning comes, the two men tell Lot to take his wife and daughters and leave the city. Lot lingers, and the men take his wife and daughters by the hands and take them outside the city. The men tell them not to look back or stop anywhere in the valley, but to head to the hills.
• Lot tells them if he escapes to the hills, disaster may overtake him, and he asks if he can escape to  a small city instead. The men agree, and they escape to the city of Zoar.

God Destroys Sodom

• After Lot and his family reach Zoar at sunrise, God rains down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah.
• Lot's wife looks back and turns to a pillar of salt.
• Abraham goes to the place where he had stood with the Lord and looks down upon Sodom and Gomorrah. God has remembered Abraham and sent Lot away to protect him.

Lot and His Daughters

• Lot is afraid to live in Zoar, so he takes his daughters and goes up into the hills to live.
• His daughters conspire to get Lot drunk and have sexual relations with him so they would have children. (Their husbands were dead in Sodom, and their mother had also died and they doubted their father would remarry again. If they died childless, no one would carry on their name.)
• The firstborn lies with their father that night after he is drunk, and the next night the younger daughter does the same. Both daughters become pregnant; the firstborn bears a son she names Moab (he becomes the father of the Moabites) and the younger bears a son she names Ben-ammi (he becomes the father of the Ammonites). This shameful act of incest results in the birth of two sons who would later greatly trouble Israel.

Abraham and Abimelech – Genesis 20

• Abraham moves to the territory between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourns in Gerar. 
• There he tells people that Sarah is his sister, and Abimelech, king of Gerar, sends for Sarah and takes her into his house. 
• God appears to Abimelech in a dream and warns him that Sarah is married. Abimelech points out that he didn't know this and that he hasn't touched Sarah. God agrees that Abimelech has shown integrity (and the He kept Abimelech from sinning against him), and tells Abimelech to return Sarah to Abraham.
• Abimelech confronts Abraham, and Abraham explains why they deceived him (they feared that since they were among people who didn't fear God, Abraham would be killed and Sarah taken). Abimelech tells Abraham he may dwell where he pleases and gives him a thousand pieces of silver.
• Abraham prays to God, and God heals Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so they again bear children (the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah). In this way, the people of Gerar learn about the Lord, just as the people in Egypt learned of God when a similar thing happened there.

The Birth of Isaac – Genesis 21:1–7

• Sarah conceives and bears a son whom they name Isaac. When he is eight days old, they circumcise Isaac.
• Sarah says that "God has made laughter for me. ... I have borne [Abraham] a son in his old age." (Gen. 21:6–7)