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Wednesday, September 1, 2021

[A Man Who Deserves a Woman of Noble Character]

Judges 12:8-10

8 After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel. 9 He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years. 10 Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

Today's story talks about a judge named Ibzan.  There's nothing written about him except for the fact that he had 30 sons and 30 daughters and that they married foreigners.  I thought about what this means.  Marrying a foreigner means accepting their culture as well as their religion.  As Israelites leader, Ibzan should have been a role model for the people to follow.  But instead, he allowed his childeren to marry foreigners.  This implies that he also made allies with other nations who did not believe in God.  

As my kids get older my prayers have changed over the years.  Some of the prayer topics included being toilet trained, find a good preschool, find good friends at school, get good grades, and so forth.  As I read today's verse I realize that there's an important prayer I had forgotten about.  When they were littley my husband used to pray that they would find a woman of noble character as a wife.

I am reminded of that prayer today as I mediatate on Ibzan.  It is important to make political allies through marriage but it is more important that they keep their faith by marrying someone who also have belief in God.  So, today I pray that my kids marry a woman of noble character.  Not only that, I pray that they would be like Boaz who deserve to marry a woman of noble character.