Reference links:
Old Testament
Fourth grade book report style!
So the Midianites, they were mean. Very mean. And because the Israelites did bad things, the Israelites had to deal with being bossed by the Midianites. For seven years! No fun at all. So the Israelites call out to God, and he totally sends an angel to talk to this guy, Gideon.
Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press. He was at this place called Ophrah. That’s kind of like Oprah, but not because it has an ‘h’. Anywho, so the angel told Gideon that he was a mighty hero when he said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”
He said that even though he (that’s Gideon) was just threshing wheat. That does not seem very heroic.
The angel told Gideon he was going to save the Israelites, but Gideon was all like, “but I’m the least important person the the weakest clan in my tribe.” But God’s all like, “That’s okay dude! I’ll help you.”
Gideon was kind of a doubting Thomas sort of guy, so he made God give him a sign. He cooked some goat and bread for the angel, and the angel set it on fire and then disappeared. I don’t know what he (the angel) disappeared for.
Gideon built an altar and destroyed the old one (that was an altar to Baal, who God did not like), but that made everyone really mad. God said those altars were bad, but the people liked them. But that was because the people were bad. When the people got mad at Gideon, he totally told them that Baal could defend himself. But I see people say that about God (like, God God, not Baal or anything), but he never strikes them down or anything, so maybe gods just don’t do that? But the people seemed to think that it showed that Gideon was right, so they did not kill them.
Gideon got together an army, but then he wanted God to do more miracles to prove that he was with him (Gideon, that is). He asked for something kind of weird. He told God to make a fleece (that’s like a cloth) wet when the ground was dry, and then he asked God to do the opposite the other night. God did both. But aren’t we supposed to just have faith in God? Why didn’t God get mad at Gideon for asking for a miracle? And why didn’t Gideon ask for something cool, like lasers to shoot at the enemy? That would have been awesome!
And that’s all. I bet tomorrow we’re going to read about how Gideon beats the Midianites. That will be cool, because there will be killing.
New Testament
Peter denies Jesus. Jesus is accused by the elders. Jesus stands before Pilate. Jesus stands before Herod Antipas. Wait a second… I don’t remember that part from Matthew or Mark. That’s because neither of them mention it. In both those gospels, Jesus goes from the elders to Pilate to death. Luke just adds this bit in here! Now, the other gospels do not say this did not happen, but if it were true, it’s a pretty huge detail for them to just leave out. Fortunately, we know that Luke is, at best, more like a writer of historical fiction than a historian.
Psalms and Proverbs
Nothing of particular note.