Judges 6 opens with Israel suffering under Midianite oppression because the nation has once again turned from God. For seven years, the Midianites invade at harvest time, destroy crops, steal livestock, and leave Israel impoverished and hiding in caves.

When the people finally cry out, God first sends a prophet. Before providing deliverance, He reminds Israel of everything He has already done: bringing them out of Egypt, defeating their enemies, and giving them the land. The problem was not God’s lack of power. Israel had invited evil into its life through disobedience and then forgotten the Lord’s past faithfulness.

This session then introduces Gideon, who is threshing wheat inside a winepress to hide from the Midianites. Wheat was normally threshed on an exposed hill where the wind could separate the grain from the chaff. Gideon is instead working in a confined hole, showing the fear, frustration, and defeat that had overtaken Israel.

The Angel of the Lord appears and calls Gideon a “mighty man of valor.” At that moment, Gideon does not look like a warrior. He is hiding, questioning God, and describing himself as the least important member of the weakest family in Manasseh. Yet God sees Gideon according to what he will become through divine power.

The study also examines the identity of the Angel of the Lord. The passage moves naturally from calling Him the Angel of the Lord to identifying Him as the Lord Himself, supporting the understanding that this was a physical manifestation of God and, as many scholars conclude, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ.

Gideon asks for assurance, and God patiently provides a sign by consuming the offering with fire. The passage reminds us that asking for guidance is different from using signs as excuses to avoid obedience.

The central assurance is simple: “I will be with you.” Gideon’s success will not depend on his family status, confidence, resources, or natural ability. It will depend on God’s presence.

Scripture: Judges 6:7–24
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

Questions discussed in this session:

• What should we do if we are in frustration and defeat?
• If God says he is with us, can we move forward in confidence?
• Is it wise for us to look to God for a sign?
• What does God do to build our faith?

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Judges 4 begins another cycle of Israel’s rebellion, oppression, and deliverance. After Ehud dies, the people once again do evil in the sight of the Lord. God allows Jabin, king of Canaan, and his commander Sisera to oppress Israel cruelly for twenty years with an army supported by nine hundred iron chariots.

The problem, however, was not the strength of the chariots. Israel had already seen God defeat powerful armies and fortified cities. Their weakness came from turning away from the Lord and losing the protection and blessing that came through obedience.

In this session, Glenn and Steve introduce Deborah, a prophetess and respected leader who judged Israel beneath the palm of Deborah. She summons Barak and reminds him that God has already commanded him to gather ten thousand men and confront Sisera’s army.

Barak hesitates and agrees to go only if Deborah accompanies him. His response reveals a mixture of faith and doubt. Yet Deborah remains faithful, holds him accountable, and goes with him. Together, they demonstrate how God can use believers with different strengths: Deborah provides spiritual confidence and accountability, while Barak ultimately obeys and leads the army.

The passage reaches its turning point when Deborah declares, “Arise! For this is the day in which the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Behold, the LORD has gone out before you.” God had already declared the victory before the battle began.

This study encourages believers who sometimes feel more like Barak than Joshua. Faith may be mixed with fear, hesitation, or uncertainty, but God can still work through those who ultimately trust and obey Him.

Scripture: Judges 4:1–16
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

Questions discussed in this session:

• What do we do if we find ourselves with doubting God?
• When God commands us to do something, do we need experience before we trust Him?
• Do we have to be in perfect obedience before God can bless us?
• Does God give us signs that He is with us?

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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve

Judges 9 introduces Abimelech, one of Gideon’s sons, and records one of the darkest chapters yet in Israel’s spiritual decline. Unlike the judges whom God raised up as deliverers, Abimelech seeks power for himself. With money taken from the temple of Baal-Berith, he hires reckless men and murders his brothers so that he can become king.

In this session, Glenn and Steve examine what happens when ambition and power operate without a moral compass. Israel was supposed to be different from the nations around them, yet the people of Shechem willingly support a violent man because he is one of their relatives and promises the kind of leadership they desire.

The only surviving brother, Jotham, responds with the parable of the trees. Valuable trees refuse to abandon their useful work in order to rule, but eventually the worthless bramble accepts the position. The warning is clear: the people have chosen a ruler who provides no real protection and will ultimately bring destruction.

The chapter then descends into betrayal, crime, civil war, and violence. Abimelech and the people who empowered him eventually turn against one another. Judges 9 also raises the difficult question of God sending an evil spirit between Abimelech and Shechem. The discussion considers this statement in its larger context of divine judgment on people already committed to violence and idolatry.

Abimelech eventually dies after a woman drops a millstone on his head. Even in his final moments, he appears more concerned about his reputation than about getting right with God.

Judges 9 reminds us that sin may appear to go unpunished for a time, but God is not mocked. It also warns us to be careful whom we trust, whom we follow, and what ultimately serves as the anchor of our lives.

Scripture: Judges 9
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

Questions discussed in this session:

• What happens when we hire relatives?
• What would cause tribes of Israel to fight each other?
• Should churches try to be like the world?
• What happens when we make worthless people our leaders?

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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve

In this special theology discussion, Reasoning Through the Bible steps away from the normal verse-by-verse format to address an important question: Does God change His mind, emotions, or knowledge based on what people do?

This session looks at passages where Scripture says Israel provoked the Lord to anger, God tested people, God regretted making man, and God relented. How should these passages be understood alongside other Scriptures that say God does not change, does not grow weary, does not learn, and is not like man?

The discussion explains key theological terms such as immutability, impassibility, omniscience, and anthropomorphism. It also addresses open theism, word of faith teaching, prayer, God’s emotions, and why biblical language sometimes describes God in human terms so people can understand His actions.

Topics in this episode include:

• Does God change His mind?
• God’s immutability
• God’s impassibility
• God’s emotions
• anthropomorphic language in Scripture
• omniscience and God’s knowledge
• open theism
• prayer and God’s will
• does God learn?
• can we make God more angry?
• does God regret?
• biblical theology and systematic theology

Reasoning Through the Bible is a verse-by-verse Bible teaching ministry committed to careful exposition, biblical context, and faithful application.

Questions from this session:

• Does God have human emotions?
• Can humans change God’s emotions?
• Can God change His mind?
• Was Christian theology built upon Greek philosophy?

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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve

Jephthah returns from victory over the Ammonites only to discover that his only daughter is the first person to come from his house to greet him. His careless vow suddenly becomes the defining crisis of his story.

In this session, Glenn and Steve examine whether Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering. Although the wording of the original vow refers to a burnt offering, the later passage repeatedly emphasizes her virginity, her lack of marriage, and the end of Jephthah’s family line. This provides a strong contextual case that she may have been permanently dedicated to the Lord rather than killed.

The discussion also explains that human sacrifice was clearly forbidden under the Mosaic Law. Jephthah could have appealed to the provisions of the law regarding an invalid vow rather than carrying out something God had prohibited.

Jephthah’s story offers a sobering lesson: a person may genuinely trust God, follow His direction, and still make a very foolish decision. The Bible does not hide the flaws of its people, and believers should be careful not to place Christian leaders on pedestals or discard everything good they have taught when a weakness is later revealed.

Judges 12 then records another conflict with the tribe of Ephraim. They threaten Jephthah because they were not included in the battle, even though Jephthah says he had previously asked for their help. Their jealousy and divisiveness lead to civil war and the deaths of forty-two thousand Israelites.

The session closes by examining how internal division destroys churches and communities. When believers turn inward and fight each other, ministry, outreach, and witness quickly suffer.

Scripture: Judges 11:35–12:15
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

Questions discussed in this session:

• Can people be in the will of God and still make foolish mistakes?
• Can jealousy and hatred cause people to be unreasonable?
• What should we do when we meet people who cause division?
• How effective is the church when it’s fighting amongst itself?

Support the show

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You can find free study and leader resources at the following link - Resource Page - Reasoning Through the Bible

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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve

Judges 15–16 completes the tragic story of Samson, a man given extraordinary strength but repeatedly controlled by selfish desires, sexual temptation, anger, and pride.

The session begins with Samson being handed over to the Philistines by his own countrymen. The Spirit of the Lord empowers him to break his bonds, and he kills one thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. Yet even after this remarkable victory, Samson’s first recorded prayer is motivated primarily by his own thirst rather than a desire for God’s guidance or glory.

Judges 16 then records Samson entering Gaza to visit a prostitute. The Philistines attempt to trap him behind the city gates, but Samson tears the gates, posts, and bars from the wall and carries them away. The act demonstrates his supernatural strength, but it also reveals how consistently he wastes his gift on personal situations rather than leading Israel against its oppressors.

The story then turns to Delilah. The Philistine rulers offer her a large payment to discover the source of Samson’s strength. Although she repeatedly betrays his supposed answers, Samson remains with her and gradually moves closer to revealing the truth.

Samson becomes spiritually blind before the Philistines physically blind him. He ignores the obvious warnings, compromises his Nazirite calling, and finally reveals that his uncut hair represents his dedication to God. When his hair is removed, Scripture records one of the most tragic statements in his story: Samson did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

The Philistines imprison, blind, and publicly humiliate Samson. Yet his hair begins to grow again, and in his final moments he cries out to God for strength. His prayer remains mixed with personal vengeance, but God still answers and uses him to strike a devastating blow against the Philistines.

Samson’s story is both a warning and a message of hope. Great ability cannot replace obedience, but even after serious failure, it is not too late to turn to God and ask Him to use what remains.

Scripture: Judges 15:13–16:31
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

Questions discussed in this session:

• When God gives us a gift, what does He expect us to do with it?
• What happens when people try to trap God?
• How could Samson be so blind as to not recognize Delilah for what she was?
• Can God use us even if we’ve been a failure up to now?

Download our free Lesson Plans on our website: Reasoning Through the Bible – Straightforward with some Critical Thinking

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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve

Ruth chapter 4 brings the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz to its beautiful conclusion.

Boaz goes to the city gate, gathers the elders, and properly follows the law to settle the question of redemption. A closer relative has the first right to redeem Naomi’s land, but when he learns that Ruth must also become part of the family inheritance, he declines. Boaz then steps forward and publicly declares that he will redeem both the land and Ruth.

The transaction illustrates what redemption means. Something has been lost, a legitimate claim exists, and a price must be paid to restore it. Boaz pays that price and gains the legal right to redeem Ruth and restore the family inheritance.

The session connects this with Jesus Christ. Scripture teaches that believers were bought with a price. Christ paid the debt of sin in full through His death on the cross. Redemption is not merely forgiveness in the abstract—it is a costly act in which the Redeemer pays what we could not pay for ourselves.

Ruth’s progression throughout the book is remarkable. She begins as a foreigner, then calls herself a maidservant, then becomes Boaz’s maid, and finally becomes his wife. She moves from poverty and exclusion to belonging, inheritance, marriage, and blessing.

Naomi experiences a similar transformation. She once asked to be called Mara because she believed the Lord had dealt bitterly with her. By the end, she holds a grandson in her arms while the women of Bethlehem celebrate with her.

The book closes with the genealogy leading to King David, showing that God’s providential work in the lives of Ruth and Boaz becomes part of the larger story of redemption that ultimately leads to Jesus Christ.

Scripture: Ruth 4:1–22
Series: The Book of Ruth — An RTTB Study

Questions discussed in this session include:

• What does it mean when we say Jesus paid for our sins?
• What is redeeming and why is it important to us?
• How is Jesus our redeemer?
• What is the state of a person before and after they come to Christ?

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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve

John the Baptist was not impressed by outward religion, family heritage, or public appearances. When the Pharisees and Sadducees came to him, he challenged them to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” In this session, Glenn and Steve examine what genuine repentance means and why changed thinking should eventually produce changed actions.

John’s message also contains strong warnings of coming judgment: the axe at the root, the winnowing fork, the chaff, and unquenchable fire. We discuss the difference between baptism with the Holy Spirit and baptism with fire, why religious heritage cannot substitute for faith, and how John’s warning fits with both the justice and love of God.

The session then moves to the baptism of Jesus. Why was a sinless Savior baptized? We consider how Jesus identified with humanity, how baptism points toward death and resurrection, and how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all revealed together at the Jordan River.

Matthew 3:7–17 | The Book of Matthew — Session 4

Questions discussed in this session include:

• Are there modern-day Pharisees and Sadducees?
• Can someone be a true Christian without showing the fruit of repentance?
• Does Jesus ever do unpleasant and violent things?
• Is the doctrine of Hell found in the Old Testament?
• When will be the baptisms of the Holy Spirit and Fire?

Support the show

Thank you for listening!! Please give us a five-star rating to help your podcast provider's algorithm spread RTTB among their listeners.

You can find free study and leader resources at the following link - Resource Page - Reasoning Through the Bible

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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve