I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 20-21.

In response to what had happened in Gibeah, the tribes of Israel gathered to make war against Benjamin.  The thought that came to me was a comparison to the time the tribes of Israel gathered to make war against the tribes who settled east of the Jordan (as recounted in the Book of Joshua).  As they had in the previous case, the tribes sent messengers to present their case for going to war and to request a response.  However, unlike previously, the tribe of Benjamin did not offer an explanation or an alternative.  Instead, the tribe of Benjamin gathered to defend those who had committed the crime.  When the tribe of Benjamin made clear that they would oppose bringing the criminals to justice, the rest of the Israelites asked God for guidance as to their order of march.

In the ensuing battles, the rest of the tribes of Israel lost more warriors than the tribe of Benjamin was able to muster in total, but still defeated Benjamin in the end.  In their anger over the crime, and from their losses in battle, the rest of the tribes killed all but a small number of the warriors of Benjamin and all of the rest of the tribe.  As a result, the tribe of Benjamin was almost completely wiped out.  The few remaining warriors only survived because they were able to hole up in a fortification where they were able to hold out for four months (it is not clear to me if they were under siege for four months, or if they were hiding out for four months.  I suspect the former).  Once the heat of battle had subsided the other tribes of Israel realized that they did not wish to wipe out the entire tribe of Benjamin.  The devastation wrought, primarily upon the tribe of Benjamin, but also in the losses suffered by the other tribes’ warriors, shows us what happens to a people when people are not held accountable for their sins.  

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 17-19.

The events described in today’s passage result from the truth of one phrase: “all of the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.”  It describes what happens when no one is accountable to anyone else.  The story starts with Micah returning money to his mother that he had stolen from her.  Micah’s mother used that money to make him an idol, which he set up and worshiped.  When Micah successfully recruited a Levite to officiate as his priest in worshiping this idol he believed that God would bless him as a result.  He held this belief despite God’s repeated commands to NOT create such idols.

Next we have a story involving the tribe of Dan.  On their way to scout out territory for the tribe of Dan to conquer, five scouts accepted the hospitality of Micah’s household.  There they discovered the Levite acting as a priest and got his story out of him.  Then, when they were leading their war band to conquer the territory they had scouted, they turned aside and stole Micah’s idols and recruited his Levite priest away from him.  When Micah pursued them to get his property back, they threatened violence against him.  The context suggests that the people of Dan also thought they were worshiping God as they worshiped this idol.  Further, it never occurred to the scouts that they had violated the hospitality which Micah had given them by later returning and stealing his property.

Which leads us to the final story of today’s passage.  Here we have the story of a Levite and his concubine returning to his home from her father’s home (there is a good bit to be examined in that part of the story as well).  As he was travelling the Levite continued on later than ideal in the day so as to stay in an Israelite town rather than that of another people.  The unspoken assumption being that they would be safer in a town with their fellow Israelites (in this case from the tribe of Benjamin) than among a foreign people.  This proved to be a bad assumption.  The Levite was prepared to spend the night in the town square since he had sufficient supplies for his needs.  However, a   man from the tribe of Ephraim who had been living in the town for a long time insisted that the Levite stay with him.  The Ephraimite’s comments made it clear that he knew how the town toughs would treat a stranger.  Unfortunately, the town toughs did not take kindly to the Ephraimite’s actions and demanded the Levite be given to them for abuse.  When the Levite gave them his concubine (there is more to be examined here), they raped her to death.  This story takes the abuse of hospitality one step further than the story about the tribe of Dan.  More important than the abuse of hospitality is the fact that no one held these town toughs accountable for their bad action.  The story makes clear that everyone local knew about their bad behavior, but no one was willing to do anything about it as long as they reserved their abuse for strangers.

Micah stole from his mother, but that was OK, because he confessed and gave it back when she uttered a curse against the thief.  The Levite served as a priest to an idol because Micah rewarded him handsomely for doing so.  The scouts for the tribe of Dan accepted Micah’s hospitality, but did not think twice about coming back and robbing from him.  The Levite betrayed Micah when the tribe of Dan made him a better offer (and it was a betrayl because he not only agreed to become priest for the tribe of Dan, he helped them steal the “holy” items from Micah).  Finally, the troublemakers of the town of Gibeah tried to force a man from elsewhere who lived among them to turn over his guest for them to abuse.  Abusing strangers was clearly something they did regularly, but no one from the town attempted to stop them.  In all of these stories we have people who seemed to have the attitude towards anyone who might wish to interfere with their actions of “What business of yours is it that I do this?”  Or, “If I think this is not wrong, who are you to tell me otherwise?”  Sound familiar?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 14-16.

This took longer then I would have liked because every time I read the story of Samson I am struck by the same thing.  Samson had poor judgment when it came to women.  There are really two aspects to his poor judgment.  First, he allowed himself to become infatuated with women who were a poor choice, women who did not worship God.  Second he allowed them to manipulate him.  The mistake Samson made with his wife is fuly understandable.  He was young, inexperienced, and had no reason to know that she would betray him.

As an aside, we tend to fail to realize just how major Samson’s bet with his groomsmen was.  With industrialization, clothing has become inexpensive, but in Samson’s time it would have taken hundreds of hours of labor to make just one item of clothing.  As a result, clothing was a major expense.

However, the circumstance with Delilah was different.  Samson was older and more experienced.  Most importantly, Delilah repeatedly demonstrated that she was going to test what Samson told her.  In fact, she demonstrated that she would betray him given the opportunity.  Yet despite this, he continued to see her and allowed her to, eventually, cajole him into telling her the secret of his strength.  Samson’s weakness in this regard is not unique to him, nor is it particularly rare among men.  For that matter, women often show similar poor judgment.  The fact that sex can cause people to show such poor decision making is a reason in and of itself for us to follow the laws regarding marital fidelity which God has given us.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 11-13.

Today’s passage starts out with Jephthah, whose brothers drove away because, while he had the same father, his mother was a prostitute.  He went elsewhere (the passage tells us he went to the “land of Tob”, but we don’t really know where that was).  While there he became a leader of men, probably bandits and raiders.  The passage tells us that his followers were worthless rebels.  However, here is the key difference between Jephthah and Abimelech: Jepthah’s men followed him because he was a leader, Abimelech’s men followed him because he paid them.    Or to put it another way, Abimelech wanted to be a leader, so he went out and found some followers.  Jephthah’s followers chose him as their leader.  Jephthah’s power came from the fact that people wanted to follow him, if he stopped looking out for his followers, his power would go away.  Abimelech’s power came from the fact that he could hire men to enforce his will.  If they stopped following him, he could hire others. 

I want to be clear that in what I am writing next I am not comparing any modern leaders to either Jephthah or Abimelech.  Instead, I am using them as examples of howleaders are chosen and how they should be chosen.  Abimelech was chosen as a leader because he wanted to be a leader.  No one asked if he had demonstrated an ability to be a good leader.  Jephthah was chosen as a leader because he had demonstrated leadership skills.  While either type of leader can go wrong, the former is more likely to abuse power than the latter.  In the Church today, too many of our leaders are chosen because they wanted to be leaders in the Church.  They went to college to study Bible, then went to seminary to become a pastor or other Church leader.  There is nothing inherently wrong with someone who senses God’s calling into Church leadership from a young age following that path, but more of our leaders should come from among those who have demonstrated leadership in the Church before they had any titles or authority.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 7-8.

One thing I never thought about before is that the battle described in today’s passage is clearly not Gideon’s first battle against Israel’s oppressors.  Based on the conversation which Gideon overheard in the Midianite camp, the Midianites were clearly aware of him as a military leader.  In addition, it suggests that they were aware that he had gathered an army to fight against them.  By overlooking how this story indicates that Gideon worked his way up to this battle, we often discourage people from doing the hard work that is necessary to accomplish great things.  The Bible does not tell us about the smaller battles which Gideon fought, but it lets us know that they happened.  We must work our ways through the smaller battles before we are ready for the big one.  

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 4-6.

We see today the theme of the Book of Judges:

• “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight.”
• “So, the Lord handed them over to XXX.”
• “Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.”
• The Lord sent a judge to rescue them.

The wording is not always the same, but the theme repeats.  To a degree we see this same pattern occur throughout history.  One or more generations of a people live upright, moral lives.  They attain wealth, and perhaps power. Life is good for them and their children.  A succeeding generation abuses their wealth and power, does evil.  That generation and their children fall on hard times.   If those succeeding generations turn back to God, things become good once more.  If they do not, that people disappears from history.   The funny thing is how people who can see this pattern fail to learn from it.

I have always loved the story of Gideon.  He saw the situation his people were in.  He thought he knew what needed to be done and felt called by God to do it.  But he lacked confidence and asked God to provide him with confirmation of what he believed to be true.  I can relate to that about Gideon.  I struggle with having the confidence to do that to which I believe God is calling me.  This passage tells me that it is OK to ask God to give us confirmation of His calling.  We often overlook an important lesson in Gideon’s story.  Before he went to battle to relieve them from their enemies, he destroyed their idols and led them back to worshiping God.  The first step in overcoming our problems in life is twofold. Turn away from the false gods we worship, the sins we rely upon, and turn to God.  We cannot defeat our “enemies” until we faithfully serve God.