“Glory to the Precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ”

Psalms 23: 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen

Hallelujah 

In our life, the bride, the church the Lord is our shepherd.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the portion of the Bible that we meditated upon in the past days, we meditated that in our soul, the bride, the church the deeds of the twelve tribes should be united as one by the one Spirit of Christ and only with spiritual thoughts we must glorify God.

 Next, what we are meditating is that Judges 20: 1 – 9 So all the children of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the Lord at Mizpah. 

And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers who drew the sword. 

(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?”

So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “My concubine and I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night. 

And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died. 

So I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they committed lewdness and outrage in Israel. 

Look! All of you are children of Israel; give your advice and counsel here and now!”

So all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house; 

but now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up against it by lot.

According to the above-mentioned verses, all the children of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the Lord at Mizpah. And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers who drew the sword. In this manner, they gathered together in one place. The reason why they gathered in this manner is that they came to ask what is the iniquity that the Benjaminite’s did and when they enquired regarding the things that happened to that Levite’s concubine, that Levite is telling regarding the things that happened. That is, regarding his concubine while getting down in Gibeah, the Benjaminite’s from the area ravished her and he is telling regarding how she died. 

Also, he is telling in Judges 20: 6 So I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they committed lewdness and outrage in Israel.

In the above-mentioned words, he is telling regarding how he cut her into twelve pieces and sent it throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel. Then what he is telling is that Look! All of you are children of Israel; give your advice and counsel here and now!” So all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house; but now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up against it by lot.

In this manner, Judges 20: 10 We will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to make provisions for the people, that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel.

What the children of Israel are telling is that we will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to make provisions for the people, that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel. So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man.

My dear people, in the above-mentioned verses the two groups and the children of Israel were brothers only among themselves. But between both the groups there was no unity. The reason for this is that among both deeds of flesh was there a lot. Therefore God to judge both the groups God is manifesting with great wisdom.

That is, in Ezekiel 34: 20 – 31 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: “Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. 

Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, 

therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. 

I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. 

And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

 “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 

I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing. 

Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 

And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid. 

I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, nor bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore. 

Thus they shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people,” says the Lord God.’

 “You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God,” says the Lord God.

When we meditate upon the above-mentioned verses, in those days because there were no kings or priests for God to manifest as a shepherd in the midst of them, he is showing us as a pattern that he will be our shepherd and we will be his flock forever. For this, he is judging the sheep’s and he is telling us to become a sheep. In this manner, let us submit ourselves to the Lord as he is our shepherd.

Let us pray. May the Lord bless you all abundantly. 

- To be continued