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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

All Rise: The Honorable Ibzan Presiding

As we continue our journey through the "Judges" of Israel we come to Ibzan.  Ibzan was from Bethlehem and he judged Israel seven years.  He had thirty sons and he gave away thirty daughters in marriage. He brought in thirty daughters from elsewhere for his sons then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.  That's all the bible says about him in the book of Judges.  Ibzan in Hebrew means illustrious. 

There is an important lesson to be learned from Ibzan and that is we are to seek to live illustrious lives.  Illustrious means well-respected or to be admired for past achievements or accomplishments. What I think is interesting is that Jewish tradition suggest that he is Boaz from the book of Ruth.  If that be the case then he definitely lived an illustrious life but whether he is Boaz from the book of Ruth or not does not diminish the fact that he was worthy to be mention in the book of Judges. We also know he ruled longer that Jephthah who may have the more popular story but doesn't mean he lived the more illustrious life.  Ibzan was respected and most likely well-off.  If is indeed Boaz we admire him for being Ruth's kinsman-redeemer. 

Do you live a life seeking to be well-respected by man or by God?  When you seek to earn the respect of God you receive the favor of God.  Notice I said respect you already has is approval thanks to being in Christ Jesus if you believe in the gospel.  But you can join Job, Noah, and Enoch just to name a few on list of people that were well-respected by God.

Scripture Reference:  Judges 12

God bless,
Bondservant Hollis

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