Judges 18 - t

Ok, back on track today.  I think I finally got all the Turkey out of my system.


It seems there are 2 stories going on at once here, and they converge at Micah's house.

“Be quiet! Don’t say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn’t it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man’s household?” ²⁰ The priest was very pleased. 


I find this verse to be very telling.  The priest is supposed to be the person keeping those around them on track to following God.  They are supposed to be the "example".  But, in this case the human side of the priest comes out, and he gives in to flattery.  I really don't think God cares how large your congregation is.


I do, however, like how the Danites stopped to ask the priest if he thought God would be on their side in the battle.......I go into battle, many times, without really asking myself if God is with me.  Is it really something that is worth fighting over?.......or am I acting more like Micah, and asking the priest to come live with me, because I think it covers the other thing I'm doing that aren't so good in the eyes of the Lord.

Judges - t

My input today is in regards to the entire book of Judges up to this point.

It is very cyclical in nature.  Israelites doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, and God allowing someone to conquer them.  Here's my point.
Every time God raises someone up to help the nation out of bondage....its someone completely different than the last time.  I was looking back through the chapters, and I'm amazed at the difference in the people, as well as their approach to God and his plan.
Take these 3 for example.
1.  Deborah - we don't have a record of her speaking to God, or receiving a message from God......and probably the biggest thing that makes her unique is the fact that she is a woman.  Women usually didn't hold offices at this point in history, and were almost considered second class citizens.  And yet, God works his wonders through her.
2.  Gideon- we find him thrashing wheat.  He is the youngest/weakest man in the weakest tribe of Israel.....and God comes to him directly.  Gideon needs several signs to convince him that God is really talking to him.  But, when he is convinced, he turns into this great warrior for God.  Everything he does is for the glory of God.
3.  Samson - there isn't any narrative that talks of God speaking to Samson.  The angel speaks to his parents, in preparation for him.  Samson is the most outwardly strong hero we have seen.  He has all the attributes needed to bring down the Phillistines.  And yet, I don't see anything in the story that tells me that he is concerned about what God wants.  He is almost the accidental hero for God.  This is proof-positive that God can do his work through people that think they are acting according to their own plan.   The other one that really gets me here, is that the Spirit of the Lord comes over Samson 3 times in his portion of the story.  He is the only one where we see this.
This is only my opinion is that Samson has the worst attitude of all the heroes, and yet he receives the greatest gift.  Doesn't that seem strange?

Three completely different people.  Three completely different approaches to how to accomplish the goal.  Three completely different attitudes.  Crazy!

If you re-read about the other heroes, they are equally unique in their story/background/heart.

God is amazing!  I don't always understand why/how he does things.  But, I'm grateful to serve a God that is infinitely smarter than I am.

Have a great Turkey-Day.
go Lions!

Judges 17 -knut

¹³ And Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.”

So Micah is clearly focused on the wrong things, having his idol and his ephod and basically worshiping false gods. So to make himself feel good he hires a priest to live with him, and now all is well in his mind.

Well clearly we don't do things exactly like that today-hiring priests to live with us. But it is a reminder to me to make sure I am genuine in my faith and relationship with God and not to do things to either make me feel better or give the appearance that I am faithful. Going to church, tithing and giving cheerfully back to God, volunteering for projects at church are all good things.. But I need to make sure I am doing them to honor, obey and grow closer to God, not just to make a good showing or fake myself into believing I am getting closer to God--its a heart thing and I know when I'm genuine and when I'm not.

Judges 16 - t

Again Samson seems very selfish, and self motivated.  Even when he prays to God for strength, he is doing it out of revenge for the Phillistines gouging out his eyes.....not because he wants to bring Glory to God.  And yet, God is using his as part of his plan.
This is a great reminder to me that the people around me that I don't care for, or that don't act how I think they should act.....can still be an intricate part of Gods plan, and therefore command my respect and grace.  Most times, I find that really hard!

The other thing in this chapter is the "fool me once shame on you...fool me twice, shame on me."  I don't even know what you say when you try to fool me for the third time.  Look, wives can be very persistent with their opinions/requests....BUY WHY WOULD HE EVER TELL HE THE TRUTH!  It makes no sense.  Was he really that tired of the nagging?  Or, was this another part of God's plan, that he needed be subdued....to be in the temple......to kill the Phillistine leaders....to bring down that empire.

Here's my new outlook on the behavior of others;
If someone is acting really strangely, and out of the ordinary.  I won't automatically assume they are crazy, maybe they are on a mission for God.  Wouldn't it be great to be able to recognize that?......and join in the CRAZINESS?

Judges 15 -knut

³ Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.”

⁷ Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.”

¹¹ Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?”

He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”

Sampson sounds like a little kid, he hit me first. There is no turning of the other cheek in this chapter. So while God gave Sampson the strength to win his battle, my take away here is more around actions of hate and vengeance create more hate. I should avoid reacting to behaviors of others, I can only control myself.

Judges 15 - t

I've heard several sermons on Samson over the years.  He seems larger than life.
The thing I have a hard time with, is that the narrative doesn't portray Samson as a truly Godly man.  We don't see Samson's encounter with an Angel.  We don't see him constantly praying to God for wisdom and strength.  We only see him engaged in revenge and deceit.  To be quite honest, he seems to act very selfishly.

Even this;
“You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” seems to be almost a challenge toward God, or a admonishment of God.  And yet, the Spirit of the Lord comes over him a total of 3 times in the entire story of his life.


Comic Book type story of strength.......yes
Different attitude than we've seen before by the Judges.....absolutley!


more later
tp

judges 14 -t

This one is FULL of deceit!

The first thing that struck me was that Samson wanted a Phillistine woman.  This was the downfall of the Israelites.  Not ridding themselves of the evil people that were in the promised land before they got there....but, this time.....it was all part of God's plan.

The part that confuses me on this one is this:
Then the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle.


Why would the Spirit of the Lord come over him to kill these 30 men?
Here's what I've got.  God created Samson to free the Israelites from the Phillistines.  I can only assume that these 30 dudes were Phillistines.  So, even though this seems like a very shallow, selfish act by Samson...perhaps in God's eyes it was a small amount in the larger plan to kill MANY Phillistines.


Then, the entire deal with his wife being given to his companion......strange.
Then kill a lion, rip it limb from limb....then come back and find honey....strange.
then catch 300 foxes and tie their tails together, and tie torches to them......strange


fun to read though

Judges 13 - t

"why do you ask me my name, it is beyond your understanding"

This is the verse that struck me out of this chapter.  Manoah and his wife have just been given unbelievable news from an unbelievable source......and what is their only question?........What is your name.  


I think I live my life like this sometimes.  God is doing amazing things around me, and for 
me.....and I'm focussed on the wrong thing.  Well intentioned, but completely unfocussed.


The other thing is that the name of the angel was far  beyond their understanding.  Even his name........crazy.


Short entry, but something that really hit me.

Judges 13-knut

⁶ Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name.

Today I was struck by the faithfulness of both Zorah and his wife. They receive a message that she is pregnant even though she is barren. Rather than doubt and question, they seek guidance on how to raise the boy. I'm pretty sure I would have thought Gina was crazy if she gave me this message. (Note I did say thought, not 'told')

A scary prayer for me to pray, is that the next time I believe I hear God's instruction I follow it faithfully. I like to try to be in control, but I pray that I can have open ears to what he wants me to do in life and the faithfulness to do it.

Judges 12 -knut

¹ The Ephraimite forces were called out, and they crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We’re going to burn down your house over your head.”

People's pride can be a fragile thing. Here the Ephraimites go from apparent friends of Jephthah and the Gileadites to being so angry because they weren't asked to help fight a battle that now they want to fight their friend.

I'm not sure I am tracking, but was it just poor communication that lead to this fight? They wanted to be asked to help, and Jeppthah said he did ask and they didn't come---end result a battle. I'm not sure this is the point of the chapter but it does occur to me how easily poor communication can turn into a serious disagreement between good people--churches are not immune.

Judges 11 - t

Well to be honest.....I didn't like reading this chapter.  At first read, this one made me very confused.  Why would God allow Jephthah to sacrifice his only daughter.  God would never do that.  Then I did a little reading on the side, and found out that the translation might be what is tripping me up here.  

Here's what I found;

Question: "Did Jephthah sacrifice his daughter to the Lord?"

Answer: A judge of Israel, Jephthah, had made a foolish vow to the Lord that if God gave him victory in battle, he would sacrifice whatever first came out of his door when he came home (Judges 11:30-31). Jephthah’s daughter was the first thing to come of out his door when he came home (Judges 11:34). The Bible never specifically tells us whether Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering. Judges 11:39 seems to indicate that he did, "he did to her as he had vowed." However, since his daughter was mourning the fact that she would never marry instead of mourning that she was about to die (Judges 11:37-37), possibly indicates that Jephthah gave her to the tabernacle as a servant instead of sacrificing her.

Whatever the case, God had specifically forbidden offering human sacrifices, so God never would have wanted Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter (Leviticus 20:1-5). Jeremiah 7:31, 19:5, and 32:35clearly indicate that the idea of human sacrifice has "never even entered God's mind." Jephthah serves as an example for us, not to make foolish vows or oaths.

That's a great lesson for me to not make "deals" with God.  Just let him be the Ultimate in my life,....and that's enough to focus on.

later

Judges 10 -knut

The Israelites were off worshiping other gods, and now they are back asking for forgiveness yet again. But God calls them out basically saying their words don't mean much, their actions speak volumes. They call on him when needed but easily fall back to their old ways once he has taken care of them. But---

16 Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.

So I was thinking what foreign gods do I worship. My drag racing comes to mind. I think about it all the time and spend a large amount of money doing it. God gave me this gift so I don't think God is telling me I have to get rid of it from my life. But I think I would need to be willing to get rid of it from my life if it were causing me to stray away from him.

Maybe 10 years from now...

...this kinda of matched Todd's vision when he started our little blog page. Thought you might enjoy.

http://tomvanderwell.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/a-huge-milestone-but-not-the-end-of-the-journey/#comment-1820

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLD MAN!

What a unique date too 11/11/11. Hope you have a great day and remember you're now closer to 64 than you are to 22!

knut

Judges 9 - t

5 "He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers"


⁴⁵ All that day Abimelek pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people.


⁵⁴ Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him.’” So his servant ran him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ When the Israelites saw that Abimelek was dead, they went home.


When I read the Old Testament, I'm struck by the apparent lack deep meaning for the lives of people.  We've read several excerpts where the Israelites kill an entire village/town.  Its almost as if the author could be writing about a crack in the sidewalk as easy as a man's skull getting cracked open.  Don't you think that's odd?  I wonder if life was so difficult back then, that people were dying around you all the time....and it really wasn't a BIG deal, like it is to us.  
Thankfully, it happens very seldom to us, and is EXTREMELY dramatic and life changing.


Second thing;
⁵⁶ Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness.


Don't mess with God or turn against him....he might let you go on for a while, but eventually God's judgment comes looking for you, and he always finds you.  He even allowed Abimelek to rule over he land for a period of time....Abimelek probably thought he was "fine"

Judges 8 - t

Sheesh!  The same beat goes on and on!

Gideon's story is an interesting one overall.  He is the weakest of his family, and is first seen threshing the wheat....which is the lowest job one could have.  He wants no part of what the angel is telling him.....he has a hard time believing.  Then, miraculously (I can only guess, by the Grace of God)...he is transformed into the fearless leader.  That throws around statements like,

"Just for that, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.”  


That seems like a LONG way to come for one person, doesn't it? 


I can relate to how the Ephraimites spoke to Gideon after his victory.... 
“Why have you treated us like this? Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight Midian?”
Its always nice to think you are on the winning team, and would have the courage to stand up, if you were called...but, a completely different thing to do it when the conflict is starring you in the face.  It makes me think of the Joe Paterno situation....I keep hearing on the radio all the details, and the people calling in to say what they would have done......hind sight is always 20/20, but real courage takes blind faith sometimes.

Judges 7 -knut

So two thirds of Gideon's army were afraid to fight, lacking faith and were allowed to leave. They were followers who I presume had professed some faith in God and his promise to use Gideon to overtake Midianites, but when push came to shove they did have doubts. From the remaining 10,000 fearless (maybe more faithful followers?) God tells him to cut his numbers even further eventually down 300 from the original 32,000. He delivers on his promise with only 300 troops--clearly demonstrating he has the power to do anything.

I'd like to think I would have made the cut into the 10,000 but I have a feeling I would have been on the fearful side seeing how clearly we would be out numbered and doubting God could make this work out. I definitely need work in the area of living on faith, I tend to need things to be very logical or doubts creep into my thoughts.

later, knut

Judges 6 -knut

So the cycle continues, we are introduced to the next prophet Gideon who will lead the Israelites out again from a dark period. Gideon appears to be a different leader than others in that he is less confident. He wants to serve the Lord yet needs signs that what he is hearing is real and not just something he made up in his own mind. So this feels like someone I can relate too, he's less confident or mature in his faith than he would probably like to be.

Deuteronomy 6:16: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”. Yet Gideon in this chapter does test God and God answers the test--not even showing any frustration with the test. So why is it okay for Gideon to test God? One perspective I read was that Gideon was not testing God seeking blessing, but instead just trying to confirm that he heard him right before he goes on to do what he believes God commanded. So while it would probably be better if his faith and connection to God were so strong that he knew the moment he heard the command it was from God and not his own ideas, but maybe its okay to ask for some reassurance from God--but I think we should try not to make a habit of it as it demonstrates some weakness in our faith.

This reminds me of when we were trying to figure out if we should move to the QC back in 2008. We prayed about it asking for signs we should go or even better not to go! I wish I would have documented how many signs God gave us before we said okay we get it. In that case neither Gina or I wanted to go and we were ignoring the clear messages we were getting, eventually it was overwhelming. Hopefully we have grown and would listen better today, but I suspect I have a little Israelite in me--I might find myself wanting to do my own thing. I'm rambling now but its also interesting that God picked someone who considers himself weak to do great things.

Funny after my first read through this I got little, now as I type I feel like maybe I need to re-read again as I am seeing many lessons captured in this chapter. have a great day

Judges 5 -t

Ummmmmmm.....I got nothin'

These Old Testament songs are difficult.  I can't imagine singing that.

Anyone else?

Judges 4 - t

Tent stake to the temple?  Man, that's harsh.  I'm not sure I could do that under the most extreme situation.

I feel like every chapter in Judges is the same story. 
Israelites turning away from God,
God handing them into some armies hands,
and then raising up a hero,
who triumphantly beats a massive army with a inferior force.

The difference here is that the hero is a woman.  That must have been a HUGE deal in that culture!
To be crushed by an inferior army, commanded by a woman was probably deflating, to say the least.

We've talked a lot about the need for faith...that God will show up when needed, or called upon.
And the need to be aware of the evil around us and the influence that it can have.
Those themes definitely run threw this chapter, likewise.

Judges 3 - t - cont.

You said your kids will love this passage.......are you discussing what you read with them?  If so, MAJOR KUDOS!  How are you doing that?  I'm been wanting to bring Max/Ben into this, but haven't been very successfull yet.

rock on!

Judges 3 - t

Look.....I like a good poop joke as much as the next guy, but this one is too easy.

I break this one down into a couple of different points.

I read the first part about the Israelites inter-marrying, and mingling with the tribes God left in place to test them.  It reminded me of our conversations around the end of Joshua.....and the negative influences around us.  Is God putting those people/things in place to test my faith?  It makes me think.

The story of Ehud just makes me laugh.....here's my favorite line;
He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace.” ²⁵ They waited to the point of embarrassment.
I guess its true....God can use any circumstance to his advantage.


I like how God is always faithful, and raises up someone that can defeat the oppressors that are holding the Israelites down.  That gives me great peace to know that God will always come to our rescue.....even if our circumstance is self inflicted.  He always forgives, and provides a way for us to dig ourselves out.

Judges 2 -knut

¹⁰ After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. ¹¹ Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD...

You can't follow the Lord if you don't know his ways. Even the Israelites lost their connection and faithfulness to God in just a generation. This might not be the point of this chapter but it hit me to make sure I help Luke and Katelyn know God and his word. Its hard enough to follow faithfully even when you know better, but if you haven't been introduced to Him and taught what his word says you are really fighting an up hill battle to avoid evil, just like the generation of the Israelites in this chapter.

Judges 1 -knut

I was observing today that while the Israelites were trying to follow the commands to completely drive the Canaanites out of the promised land they were falling short leaving some to dwell among them. This sets them up for future failure as they will likely be influence and develop relationships with the Canaanites that could be unhealthy or take up worshiping their gods and idols.

If I am totally honest with myself, I am certain I do the same today in my life. I allow myself to be in situations that can have a negative influence on me. I don't think its often, but its there and yet like the Israelites I am probably too complacent in allowing it to continue.