Judges 14-15

Dear RTB’ers,

And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the LORD … And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, … And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. (vv. 15:18-20) The ending paragraph of chapter 15 tells of a good and righteous, spirit-filled man. How to reconcile these few verses with all that went before?

What to make of the earlier 37 verses? And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town… (v. 14:19a) He, thirty men? Or So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines… (vv. 15:4-5a) 300 foxes tied tail-to-tail, bearing lit torches into the grain fields? And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men.. (v. 15:15) 1,000 men, single-handedly, with a donkey jawbone?

30, 300, 1000. What do we do with numbers like that? Let’s not immediately discount them; I’m sure conservative scholars have worked around these numbers with reasonable explanations. Our task is maybe not to fully understand, to comprehend every sentence, but to use what we read to God’s glory. All Scripture is God-breathed [inspired] and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (II Timothy 3:16-17, slightly edited)

And we’re not finished with Samson yet…!!

Blessings!

Judges 13

Dear RTB’ers,

Today we begin the story of Samson, the final judge in this book of Judges, the sixth major judge. We’ll spend three days and read four chapters for this one character. Fundamentally Samson is setting the stage for what comes next in the history of Israel – Samuel, Saul, and finally King David.

The wife of Manoah… We never learn her name. We know of three other barren women for whom divine intervention resulted in their motherhood: Sarai (Sarah, Abram/Abraham’s wife and mother of Isaac), Rebekah (Isaac’s wife and Jacob’s mother), and Elizabeth (Zechariah’s wife and John the Baptist’s mother), but we never learn Samson’s mother’s name. Interesting. She is clearly the hero of today’s reading. The angel appears to her twice (not to her husband) with the same instructions each time; she has wisdom that her husband is lacking (“If the LORD had meant to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things…”, v. 23a); and (left unsaid) she delivers her child in due time. And we never learn her name.

Maybe it’s OK if I have done something “substantial” (in my own estimation), and not received the credit that I thought I deserved. Maybe that’s OK. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory… (Ephesians 3:20-21a)

Blessings!

Judges 11:29-12:15

Dear RTB’ers,

Today we close the book on Jephthah – unless you read ahead yesterday! What a tragic ending to an otherwise redemptive story. Here we have a man, the son of a harlot and a noble father, driven from his homeland by his own half-kin and surrounded by “worthless fellows”, then recalled to be their leader. He then (with the Lord, see Jg. 11:29) brings about their “salvation”, but in the process sadly making a horrible promise to the Lord and sacrificing his own daughter. Then his long-distance kin, the Ephraimites trouble him with a complaint that points to their own failure to respond when called. [NOTE: Jephthah was from east-Manasseh; recall that Manasseh and Ephraim were brothers, Joseph’s two sons.] Jephthah tries to reason with them, accuses them rightly of their failure to come to his aid, then defeats them in battle. He then judges Israel (Gilead?) a few more years and dies peacefully.

Yes, Jephthah is a story of redemption, and possibly one close to home for a lot of us. How many of us have been mistreated or misjudged by our own family or by our nearby kin or by very dear friends? How did we react? Or maybe that mistreatment has been made right. Have we then moved on, or do we live with smoldering resentment? I believe we could write a good Sunday School story about Jephthah – but how would we deal with his vow and that tragic result? A good challenge for us! What are your thoughts?

Blessings!

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See also: March 16 (2023) / Judges 11-12.

Judges 10:6-11:28

Dear RTB’ers,

Today we meet another of the major judges, Jephthah, one who is less well known than Deborah, Gideon and Samson, probably because Jephthah does not show up in Sunday School stories. We’ll find out tomorrow why that’s the case!

The land of Gilead becomes important in today’s reading. Gilead is often associated with east-Manasseh, but Reuben and Gad are also part of a larger “Gilead”. Today’s reading begins in Gilead (see Jg. 10:8), but other tribes are also oppressed by the Ammonites (see Jg. 10:9), so the regional battle becomes more national in scope.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “God does not call the equipped, but rather He equips the called”. We certainly see that in Jephthah! He is the son of a harlot (and a father of nobility). He is driven from his home and surrounds himself with “worthless fellows” (Jg. 11:3). Then he is called back home to lead people who have no one else to whom they can turn. His past and his future are certainly bleak, but as noted above, “…God equips the called”.

Jephthah knows his Israeli history. It’s interesting for us to recall the stories from the book of Numbers as Jephthah dialogues with the king of the Amorites (Jg. 11:12-26). I see Putin and Russia playing the same game as the Amorite king, now more than three millennia later, with Putin wanting to bring Ukraine back into “his fold” after they’ve enjoyed their independence for more than thirty years.

Today’s reading leaves us hanging! We’ll forgive you if you read ahead. And while you’re at it, imagine the Sunday School lesson that you would put together for Jephthah!

Blessings!

Judges 9:1-10:5

Dear RTB’ers,

I read through today’s reading twice in two different translations, then sat and pondered the readings and asked myself for any goodness in what we read. Then I looked at the STS questions and #1 includes the word “sin” three times. So it looks like STS agrees with me – not much goodness in today’s reading, other than Jotham (Jg. 9:5b, 7-21), where we see his curse upon Shechem fulfilled in Judges 9:57.

But, a couple of items for clarification… STS points out that Shechem was a Canaanite city, established by Hamor, a Hivite (Jg. 9:28) many years prior. Abimelech was Gideon’s son, but his mother was Canaanite and he was only a half-brother to the rest of Gideon’s sons, whom he killed. So any battles between Abimelech and other leaders can be read as Canaanites against true Israelites.

A few days ago I posted about national versus regional stories in the book of Judges. It seems as if all three judges in today’s reading are more regional than national. Shechem (mentioned often today) was in Ephraim, right on the border with west-Manasseh, land which later became Samaria in Jesus’ time. All of Abimelech’s conspiracy seems to be regional. Both of the judges in chapter 10 also seem to be regional, Tola in the northern part of the Promised Land and Jair from Gilead (east-Manasseh), a trans-Jordan tribe. Contrast today’s readings with yesterday’s, where Gideon was drawing warriors from a number of tribes to fight against the Midianites.

Blessings!

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See also: March 15 (2023) / Judges 9-10.

Judges 7:24-8:35

Dear RTB’ers,

Yesterday we read the Lord’s promise to Gideon: With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand … (v. 7:7a), and we saw that, in fact, the battle was the Lord’s. Today the end of that battle continues, with the Midianites fleeing and Gideon pursuing. Today we see Gideon as a strong leader, seeking help from Ephraim and then turning away their wrath with praise for their accomplishments. Then he continues his pursuit of the kings of Midian, in spite of resistance from the men of Succoth and Penuel. He kills the kings and deals with the earlier resistance.

Then he makes an unusual request of his men, that they surrender some of the spoil that they have taken from their victory. With that spoil Gideon then makes an ephod. While that activity might seem simple enough, creating a thing of beauty from the spoils of war, Gideon’s good intention is not a decision that is God-directed. We saw the making of a God-directed ephod back in Exodus 28:6-35, a holy ephod to be worn by the high priest. Gideon’s ephod, however, leads Israel astray: And Gideon made an ephod … And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. (v. 8:27) That whoring continues: As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. And the people of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side… (vv. 8:33-34)

My own moral to this sad ending – seek the Lord always, over and over again, in the little things and the big things. Seek Him first.

Blessings!

Judges 7:1-23

Dear RTB’ers,

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Exodus 14:13-14

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, … For the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give you into our hand.”

I Samuel 17:45-47

And the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.’”

II Chronicles 20:14-15

Blessings!

Judges 6

Dear RTB’ers,

First, clearing up an item… Yesterday I made a light-hearted remark about Gideon and fleece before the Lord. That remark was only intended to introduce the next day’s reading – I am not a person who supports the idea of our putting fleece before the Lord. But clearly the connection between Gideon and his fleece-test is an item well known, I daresay, to most Bible-reading Christians. So, what of it…?

First, as with Barak yesterday, Gideon is mentioned as one of the “heroes of the faith” in Hebrews 11:32, so if we are “non-fleece” people, let’s not judge him too quickly. If we have difficulty with Gideon’s fleece, maybe we should back up and have even more difficulty with his earlier request: And he said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your eyes, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me. (v. 17) Have any of us ever asked for a sign from the Lord before we proceeded with some particular activity? Carol and I had a good conversation on this item yesterday. We came to the conclusion that we are not “sign-seekers”. We do, however, seek the Lord when we are moving forward with a decision to make. So take, for example, our decision to teach in Slovakia last fall. Yes, we sought the Lord as to whether or not it was a good plan for us to move forward with that decision, but it was more a matter of our hearts telling us to go and our asking the Lord to show us somehow if that was a wrong decision. That is, any “sign” that we were seeking would have been something to hold us back, not for us to move forward.

Gideon asked for this first sign when his faith was weak (verse 17). God responded and Gideon then took action, tearing down the altar of Baal and the Asherah, even if he did so somewhat timidly in the middle of the night. He was moving forward, but needed a further nudge: But the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him.. (v. 34) When God put His Spirit on Gideon, he became a mighty man. But then, even in spite of this and even with Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali behind him, that is when Gideon put God to his fleece test. And lest we fault Gideon for this test, we need to remind ourselves that God must not have been offended – He responded as Gideon requested.

So, Gideon’s fleece… A good theological discussion! We’ll meet as an RTB group on May 25. Get it on your calendars, and let’s plan to discuss Gideon’s fleece!

Blessings!

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See also: March 14 (2023) / Judges 6-8.

Judges 5

Dear RTB’ers,

I asked a couple of days ago whether the judges are deliverers for all of Israel or if they are more regional in their leadership. Today we see a very national Israel at war with Sisera and the Canaanites – national, except that not all tribes participated. First of all, Judah and Simeon are not mentioned. You may recall that these two tribes inherited the southern land, what became known as Judea, all the Promised Land basically south of Jerusalem. So this battle today is more northern in its perspective, defeating the Canaanites and their King Jabin who ruled from Hazor, a city just north of the Sea of Galilee. Second, we read yesterday of the leadership of Zebulun and Naphtali, who settled west and northwest of the Sea of Galilee. They were joined by Ephraim, Benjamin, Manasseh (Machir, v. 14 was Manasseh’s oldest son, and Issachar. Finally, Reuben, Gad (Gilead, v. 17), Dan and Asher are chided for staying home. So all twelve tribes are accounted for – truly a national war!

My Study Bible had a note explaining the Lord’s hand in delivering Israel in this battle: From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera. The torrent Kishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. (vv. 20-21a) Evidently Sisera, the leader of the Canaanite army did not understand the power of the Kishon river when God sent storms to defeat him. In 1799 the flooded Kishon River had also aided Napoleon in his defeat of a Turkish army. This incident brings to mind the Egyptians being swept away in the Red Sea when the waters closed back in on them.

Gideon is next. Any of you have a particular fleece you would like to set before the Lord?

Blessings!

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See also: March 13 (2023) / Judges 3:7-5:31.

Judges 4

Dear RTB’ers,

Today we have our only female judge, Deborah, and another female hero, Jael. If an “average” Bible reader were asked to name Israel’s judges, the three most commonly named (in my mind) would be Deborah, Gideon, and Samson. In truth, more pages are devoted to these three than to any of the other three major judges or any of the minor judges.

So, today’s reading begins: And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor … and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years. (vv. 2,3b). Note that this is the first mention that we have of Israel being treated “cruelly” by her oppressors. Both Jabin and Hazor are mentioned in Joshua’s conquest of the northern part of the Promised Land. (See Joshua 11:1-11.) Jabin was the king of Hazor who amassed an army to do battle with Joshua. And the LORD gave them into the hand of Israel… (Joshua 11:8b) The victory was complete: And Joshua … captured Hazor and struck its king with the sword … And they struck with the sword all who were in it, devoting them to destruction; there was none left that breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire. (esp. Joshua 11:10-11) Hazor was completely destroyed by Joshua, but was apparently rebuilt a few years (decades?) later. So today we have another Jabin, king of a larger area of Canaan and residing in Hazor.

Today’s reading is fairly straightforward – Deborah and Barak lead the Israeli army to victory over Sisera, the leader of the Canaanite army. Again, the Lord wins the battle: And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. … and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left. (vv. 15a, 16b) Sisera flees, finding refuge with Jael – likely, a non-Israelite – who finishes this female-led incident by killing Sisera.

So, Barak… Is he a coward, unfaithful, untrusting of the Lord or is he simply being submissive to Deborah, the prophetess who was judging Israel at that time? Once assigned the task by Deborah, he follows through, complete to the end, pursuing Sisera and viewing the body with Jael. So, Barak… unfaithful and cowardly or submissive, dependable, and responsible? Your thoughts? (Spoiler alert: He is mentioned as one of the “heroes of the faith” in Hebrews 11:32!)

But with my focus on Barak, let’s not diminish this female-led victory. We’ll continue to celebrate it tomorrow!

Blessings!