The last couple of days have been very busy at work, so I have been getting these posted later than I would like. I hope that has not caused any problems for those close to the International date line. I will say that even though my routine has been disrupted, working on these has been an even greater blessing than usual for me.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
After the death of Ehud, the Israelites once more sinned and God turned them over to a Canaanite king and his general, Sisera. Sisera ruthlessly oppressed the Israelite people until they cried out to God for relief. At the time, Deborah was serving as a judge for Israel. One day, at God’s instruction, she summoned Barak son of Abinoam. She told him that God commanded him to call out warriors from the tribes of Napthali and Zebulun and go to war against Sisera.
Barak said that he would only go if Deborah went with him. She responded by telling him that she would go, but as a result Barak would get no credit for the victory. Sisera would die at the hands of a woman. So Barak mustered the troops of Napthali and Zebulun. When Sisera hears that the Israelites were mustering, he gathered his forces to attack them. The Israelites ambushed Sisera’s army and threw it into disarray. Sisera escaped on foot while the Israelites killed his entire force.
Sisera ran to the tent of Jael, who was married to Heber the Kenite. Heber’s family was on friendly terms with the king who Sisera served. Jael greeted Sisera and invited him into her tent, where she covered him with a blanket. When Sisera asked her for some water to drink, she instead gave him some milk from a leather bag (this suggests to me that the writer is suggesting that the milk was fermented). Sisera told her to stand at the door of the tent and if anyone asked if someone was inside to tell them “No”. Sisera soon fell asleep from exhaustion. As soon as he did, Jael crept up to him and pounded a tent peg through his temple into the ground, killing him. Shortly after this Barak came in pursuit of Sisera. When he came by Jael’s tent, she came out and brought him in to see Sisera, dead on the floor of her tent. From that time forward the Israelites pushed back against the king that Sisera had served until they destroyed him completely.
As they are talking after the meal, Jesus asks them if when he sent them out with no money or supplies if they lacked for anything. To which the disciples replied that they did not. Jesus then tells them that now, if they have a purse they should take it with them and a bag if they have that. He goes on to say that if they do not have a sword, they should sell their cloak and get one. When His disciples tell Him that they have two swords among them He tells them that this is enough. I never before noticed that Jesus contrasted His instructions here with when He sent them out without any gear. I find that very interesting. I think at least part of the message of this passage is that while sometimes we should go forth completely relying on God to provide for us, at other times we should prepare in advance and gather what gear we need. It also seems to me that when the disciples pointed out that they had two swords, Jesus told them that was enough because they were not getting what He was saying.
When they were finished, Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives, accompanied by His disciples, as He had been doing since He arrived in Jerusalem. When they got to the Mount of Olives, Jesus told His disciples to pray that they would not fall into temptation. He then withdrew about a stone’s throw and prayed to the Father that He take the cup of suffering from Him, but also prayed that He would surrender to God’s will. The passage tells us that an angel appeared to Him and strengthened Him. He returned to where His disciples were and found them asleep. He woke them asking them why they were sleeping and told them to stay awake and pray not to fall into temptation.
While He was speaking to them a crowd led by Judas came upon them. Judas approached Jesus to kiss Him in greeting. Jesus confronted Judas that He was betraying Him with a kiss. Jesus’ disciples, remembering what He had said earlier about swords, asked if they should strike with their swords and one of them immediately did so. Jesus told them to stop and promptly healed the man His disciple had injured. Jesus then confronted the crowd, saying that He had been in the Temple every day and they made no attempt to arrest Him there. That they waited until after dark to arrest Him was very revealing of their motivations.
I read this psalm and immediately saw that it is a warning and a comfort to the righteous that God will avenge those who do wrong. It talks about how the wicked are arrogant and boast in their wickedness. Then I got to verse 7:
and murder orphans.
It goes on to say that the wicked think “God isn’t looking and besides He doesn’t care.” This made me think of the trial of Dr. Gosnell and of those who enabled him to go on for so long. He is on trial for killing a woman who could be viewed as a widow, she had no husband or father to act as her protector. She was certainly a foreigner, a refugee from Bhutan. He is also on trial for killing babies which survived his attempts to abort them. I would certainly say that by my understanding of God’s reckoning, an infant whose mother desires to kill it while it is still in the womb is an orphan. When you hear the testimony about Dr. Gosnell’s attitude towards the women who came to his “clinic” and the babies which he killed. He certainly fit the bill of one who thought that God did not care about what he was doing. Dr. Gosnell is not alone. There are others like him and there are those who chose to look the other way because it was politically advantageous to do so.
The psalmist goes on to point out what fools they are. Do they really think that the one who created their ears is deaf? Do they really think that He who made their eyes cannot see? The psalmist goes on to tell us that the wicked will receive their just reward, that those who gang up against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death will face the judgment of God. God will stand forth and protect those who call on His name. He will exact justice for the powerless and not only on those who commit the acts, but on those rulers whose edicts permit injustice. Those political leaders who found it politically expedient to turn a blind eye to those who committed evil acts, will face God’s judgment.
A fool talks big, but ends up suffering for his braggadocio. The wise are cautious in what they say and are careful to only commit to what they can accomplish.
It is easy to keep the stable clean if you don’t have oxen in it, but oxen are necessary to plant and harvest crops in any quantity.
