Thematic Bible: Israelites for deliverance


Thematic Bible



Time went by and the king of Egypt died. The Israelites still groaned because they were slaves. So they cried out, and their cries for help went up to God. God heard their groaning. He remembered his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the Israelites being oppressed and was concerned about them.

Jehovah said: I have seen how my people are suffering as slaves in Egypt. I have heard them beg for my help because of the way they are being mistreated. I feel sorry for them. I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians. I will bring my people out of Egypt into a country where there is good land, rich with milk and honey. I will give them the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. My people have begged for my help. I have seen how cruel the Egyptians are to them. read more.
Now go to Pharaoh! I am sending you to lead my people out of his country.

I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come to deliver them. Come, I will send you into Egypt.


Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots, and he ruled the people of Israel with cruelty and violence for twenty years. The people of Israel cried out to Jehovah for help.

So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. The children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

But the people forgot Jehovah their God. So he let the Philistines and the king of Moab and Sisera, commander of the army of the city of Hazor, fight against your ancestors and conquer them. Again they cried to Jehovah for help! They said: 'We have sinned, because we turned away from you, Jehovah. We worshiped the idols of the Baals and the Ashtoreth (Greek: Astarte). Rescue us from our enemies. We will worship you!' Jehovah sent Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, and finally me. Each of us rescued you from your enemies. You lived in safety.


Once again the Israelites did evil against Jehovah by worshiping the Baals and the Astartes. They also worshiped the gods of Syria, of Sidon, of Moab, of Ammon, and of the Philistines. They abandoned Jehovah and stopped worshiping him. The anger of Jehovah burned against Israel. So he allowed the Philistines and the Ammonites to conquer them. They afflicted and oppressed the sons of Israel. For eighteen years they lived in Amorite country east of the Jordan River in Gilead. read more.
The Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. Israel was greatly distressed. The children of Israel cried out to Jehovah: We sinned against you. We left our God and served the Baals. Jehovah answered: Did I free you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines? Did I save you from the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites? They oppressed you and you cried out to me. You still left me and worshiped other gods. I am not going to rescue you again. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them save you in your time of trouble. But the people of Israel said to Jehovah: We have sinned. Do to us what seems best to you, only please, save us today! So they removed the foreign gods and worshiped Jehovah. He could bear the distress of Israel no longer. Then the Ammonite army prepared camped in Gilead. They prepared for battle. The people of Israel gathered and camped at Mizpah in Gilead. There the people and the leaders of Gilead asked one another: Who is the man to lead the fight against the Ammonites? Whoever does will be the leader of everyone in Gilead.

Jephthah was a brave soldier from Gilead. He was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was his father. They had other sons by his wife, and when they grew up, they forced Jephthah to leave home. They told him: You will have no inheritance from our father for you are the son of another woman. Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. There a group of worthless men joined with him and they went around together. read more.
After time passed the Ammonites went to war against Israel. When this war occurred, the leaders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob. They said: Come and be our commander, so that we can fight the Ammonites. Jephthah answered: You hated me so much that you forced me to leave my father's house. Why have you come to me now that you are in trouble? They replied: We turn to you now because we want you to go with us and fight the Ammonites and lead all the people of Gilead. Jephthah said: If you take me back home to fight the Ammonites and Jehovah gives me victory, will I be your ruler? They replied: We agree. Jehovah is our witness. Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. The people made him their ruler and leader. Jephthah stated his terms at Mizpah in Jehovah's presence. Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon. He said: What do you have against us that you want to fight us? Why have you invaded our country? The king of Ammon answered Jephthah's messengers: Because Israel took away our land when they came out of Egypt. They took land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and the Jordan River. Now you must give it back peacefully. Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of Ammon. This was his answer: It is not true that Israel took away the land of Moab or the land of Ammon. It happened this way: 'when the Israelites left Egypt, they went through the desert to the Gulf of Aqaba and came to Kadesh. They sent messengers to the king of Edom to ask permission to go through his land. But the king of Edom would not let them. They also asked the king of Moab, but he would not let them go through his land. So the people of Israel stayed at Kadesh. Then they went through the desert around the land of Edom and the land of Moab until they came to the east side of Moab, on the other side of the Arnon River. They camped there, but they did not cross the Arnon because it was the boundary of Moab. The people of Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon. They asked him for permission to go through his country to their own land. But Sihon refused to let Israel do it. He brought his whole army together, camped at Jahaz, and attacked Israel. Jehovah, the God of Israel, gave the people of Israel victory over Sihon and his army. So the people of Israel took possession of all the territory of the Amorites who lived in that country. They occupied all the Amorite territory from the Arnon in the south to the Jabbok in the north and from the desert on the east to the Jordan on the west. Jehovah, the God of Israel, drove out the Amorites for his people, the people of Israel. Are you going to try to take it back? You can keep whatever your god Chemosh has given you. But we are going to keep everything Jehovah, our God, has taken for us. Do you think you are better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever challenge Israel or fight with them? Israel has occupied Heshbon and Aroer for three hundred years, and the towns around them, and all the cities on the banks of the Arnon River. Why did you not retake them during that time? I have not done you any wrong. You are doing wrong to me by making war on me. Jehovah is the judge. He will decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.' The king of Ammon paid no attention to this message from Jephthah. The Spirit of Jehovah came upon Jephthah. He went through Gilead and Manasseh and returned to Mizpah in Gilead and went on to Ammon. Jephthah promised Jehovah: If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will sacrifice with a burnt offering the first person that comes out of my house to meet me, when I return from the victory. I will offer that person to you as a sacrifice. (Jeremiah 19:5) Jephthah crossed the river to fight the Ammonites, and Jehovah gave him victory. He struck at them from Aroer to the area around Minnith, twenty cities in all, and as far as Abel Keramim. It was a great slaughter. The Ammonites were defeated by Israel.


God's Spirit came to Azariah, son of Oded. Azariah went to Asa and said: Listen to me Asa and all you men from Judah and Benjamin. Jehovah is with you when you are with him. If you will dedicate your lives to serve him, he will accept you. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you. Israel was without the true God for a long time. They were without a priest who taught correctly, and without law. read more.
When they were in trouble they turned to Jehovah the God of Israel. When they searched for him, he let them find him. No one could come and go in peace at that time. This is because everyone living in the land had a lot of turmoil. One nation crushed another nation. One city crushed another. God tormented them with every kind of trouble. But you must remain strong and not become discouraged. Your actions will be rewarded. Asa heard the prophet Oded's words of prophecy. He was encouraged and put away the detestable idols from all of Judah, Benjamin, and the cities he had captured in the mountains of Ephraim. He also repaired Jehovah's altar in front of Jehovah's entrance hall. Then Asa gathered all the people from Judah and Benjamin and the foreigners who had come from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon. Many of them had come to him from Israel when they saw that Asa's God, Jehovah, was with him. In the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's reign, they gathered in Jerusalem. They sacrificed to Jehovah a part of the loot they brought with them: seven hundred cattle and seven thousand sheep. They made an agreement with one another to dedicate their lives to serve the true God Jehovah, the God of their ancestors with all their heart and all their being. All people, young and old, male and female, who refused to dedicate their lives to the true God Jehovah the God of Israel were to be killed. Asa and the people swore their oath to Jehovah with shouts, singing, and the blowing of trumpets and rams' horns. All the people of Judah were overjoyed because of the oath. They took the oath wholeheartedly. They took great pleasure in looking for Jehovah. And he let them find him. So Jehovah surrounded them with rest and peace.


The Israelites saw the king coming with his army. They were frightened and begged Jehovah for help. They also complained to Moses: Was there not enough room in Egypt to bury us? Is that why you brought us out here to die in the desert? Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did we not say in Egypt: Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert. read more.
But Moses said to the people: Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of Jehovah. He will accomplish this for you today. The Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. Jehovah will fight for you while you keep silent. Jehovah said to Moses: Why are you crying out to me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. The sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians will know that I am Jehovah, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen. The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. There was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. Jehovah swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land. The waters were divided. The Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground. The water stood like a wall on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued them. Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and cavalry followed them into the sea. Just before dawn, Jehovah looked down from the column of fire and smoke and threw the Egyptian camp into a panic. He made the wheels of their chariots come off. They could hardly move. Then the Egyptians shouted: Let us get out of here! Jehovah is fighting for Israel! He is against us! Jehovah then said to Moses: Hold out your hand over the sea, and the water will flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and drivers. Moses held out his hand over the sea. At daybreak the water returned to its normal level. The Egyptians tried to escape from the water. But Jehovah threw them into the sea. The water returned and covered the chariots, the drivers, and all the Egyptian army that had followed the Israelites into the sea. None of them were left. On the other hand, the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on both sides. That day Jehovah saved the people of Israel from the Egyptians. The Israelites saw them lying dead on the seashore.


Then the Israelites cried out to Jehovah. So he sent someone to free them. This was Ehud, a left-handed man, who was the son of Gera, from the tribe of Benjamin. The people of Israel sent Ehud to King Eglon of Moab with gifts for him.

The Israelites cried out to Jehovah, and he sent someone to free them. This was Othniel, the son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz.


So you gave them up into the hands of their enemies who were cruel to them. In the time of their trouble, when they prayed to you, you listened to them from heaven. In your great mercy you gave them saviors, who made them free from the hands of their enemies.