Map of the Danites

 

Use this map in reference for Chapter 18!

http://www.bible-history.com/maps/books.php

Judges Chapters 13, 14, and 15

Samson is one of the most well known people in the book of Judges! He is renowned for his long locks and his relationship with Delilah but I am hoping to delve in deeper than what is the basic story that all have come to know about him and the importance of his role for the Israelites and more importantly his role as a judge and how he is just one of the many things that God gave to His people at this time to save and protect them from the evil doers at the time which were the Philistines.

At the beginning of chapter 13 the Israelites were being ruled by the Philistines for 40 years. There was a Danite, from Zorah [] named Manoah who was married to a baren woman whose name we do not know. Manoah was told by an angel that his wife would have a child, more specifically a son. However, there were instructions given to Manoah that most be followed by his wife and the son that was to be born. He was to be a, “Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death,” Judges 13:7. This means that the son would not be able to cut his hair, drink alcohol, and eat unclean food. There is a key message from the angel that must be emphasized. The angel said, “he [the son] shall BEGIN to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines,” Judges 13:5. This son would not complete the saving, for as we all know, Jesus will fulfill the saving of God’s people! Begin is obviously the key term in the message. Manoah and his wife were scared of this angel that came to them for angels are scary things, as one sees throughout the Bible. No one looks lovingly toward an angel when they appear – they scare the recipients of the messages. They contain such glory that one cannot face, just as one cannot face God for all of his glory [think of Moses having to cover his face on the Mount]. The man and wife have questions for the angel of what is to come of their son and the angel only continues to emphasize the concepts of being a Nazirite, which we will see in a few chapters as to why it is so important. At the end of chapter 13 we learn something important about Samson, other than him being a Nazirite after his birth, and that is, “And the young man grew, and the LORD blessed him. And the Spirit of the LORD BEGAN to stir him in Mahaneh-Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol,” Judges 13:24-25. Once again it is only the beginning but Samson is continuously protected by God and blessed throughout his life.

As Samson ages he continues to live as a Nazirite. We will quickly learn another trait of Samson – he is impulsive. Samson falls in love with a girl that he had just met and she was a Philistine. He tells his parents to get the girl for him even though his parents believe he should stay within the tribe (Danites). The girl was actually from the LORD as a way for Samson to get an opportunity to defeat the Philistines. Next is the famous story of Samson tearing apart the lion with his bare hands, for “the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him,” Judges 14:6. After doing that he casually continued on to meeting the girl he wanted to marry. When Samson returned to claim her (as they called it at the time) he saw the carcass of the lion that he had killed and there was honey within the carcass. He decided to eat the honey and give the honey to his parents as well. FYI this is definitely not considered eating clean…he broke one of the rules that God had given him and his parents. Another trait of Samson was that he was cocky and thrived on his knowledge of being blessed. He tantalized 30 Philistine men into trying to figure out a riddle. If they figured out the riddle in a week then he would give them 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes – which was expensive and a lot. His riddle was, “’Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet,’” Judges 14:14. After three days they did not know the riddle so they got Samson’s Philistine wife to trick Samson into telling her the secret, or else they would burn down her father’s home. Samson knew as soon as they gave the answer to the riddle, “’What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion,’” Judges 14:18, that his wife had told them the answer. Samson gave the Philistines the promised wager by having the Spirit of God once again rushing upon him! He went to a town and struck down 30 men and took their spoil and garments to those that figured out the riddle. Samson then got rid of his wife. Impulsive is the key term.

Samson had been so angry at his wife that he left her with her father and his friend but he eventually cooled down and went to…lay with her. Once he arrived, her father said that he believed that Samson had hated her so he gave her away to Samson’s friend and he tried to give Samson his other daughter instead. Samson being impulsive, decides to take down the Philistines in the most peculiar but awesome way! He grabbed 300 foxes (how he found 300, I don’t know) and tied their tails together and put torches between the tails and set them free so that the foxes would run in with the torches into the buildings and burn down all of their grain. The Philistines learned it was Samson that did this and they killed Samson’s wife, which had been given away as well as her father. He then struck them and then hid in a cleft of the rock of Etam. The Philistines could not find him so they decided to get revenge by attacking the people of Judah who did not understand why they were being attacked until the Philistines told them it was because of Samson. The men of Judah were fearful and decided to go and find Samson to prevent the Philistines from harming them. Samson agrees to go with them if they promised to not attack him. Samson was also cunning. When the men of Judah took him to the Philistines the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him once again! Samson was able to defeat them with the jawbone of a donkey! That is just so crazy: first the lion, then the foxes, and now the donkey jawbone! God was able to provide water for him and bring him back to full strength falling the killing of a thousand men with the donkey jawbone. Samson then judged Israel for 20 years!

The next post will focus on his relationship with Delilah and Samson’s eventual downfall!

PS. Sorry for not having posted in a while…I was busy finishing up my undergraduate degree, which I have finally completed!

 

 

Zorah in the book of Judges

My next post will entail the story of Samson which is probably the most well known from the book of Judges because of his luscious locks and his relationship with Delilah! Zorah is the birthplace of Samson.

Judges Chapters 11 and 12

As we continue with the book of Judges, it is going to get more and more upsetting and depressing. The stories become more brutal as the book progresses, which just expresses how unrighteous the Israelites were being. Chapters 11 and 12 focus primarily on a man named Jephthah, a Gileadite. We will see how God uses him and brings to life an unexpected hero.

Chapter 10 finished off by explaining how the Israelites were in conflict with the Ammonites and they were staying in Gilead and the people of Gilead knew that whoever saved them from Gilead will lead them. Gilead was the father to Jephthah and Jephthah was a strong warrior but his mother was a prostitute. Gilead’s son wanted Jephthah gone so that the inheritance would go to his children with her so Jephthah fled to live in the land of Tob where he lived with “worthless fellows” aka criminals (Judges 11:3). Jephthah was running crime out in Tob, he was like a mobster in a way. After a while the people of Gilead were not able to get the Ammonites out so they asked Jephthah to help them – the man they had kicked out previously was asked to be their savior. Jephthah of course agrees to help but on the one condition that he would lead the people of Gilead if he was successful. Jephthah tries to use logic with the king of the Ammonites before having to go into battle. The king would not listen because he was still angered by the fact that the Israelites had taken their old land away. Jephthah tried to explain that the land was given to them from God because the Ammonites had not tried to help them when fleeing Egypt. The Ammonite king did not agree and still wanted battle.

This is when the story turns to the good for the Israelites but terribly for Jephthah. Jephthah promises God that he will do anything to win this battle and promises God that he would sacrifice whoever was the first one to come out of his home after he returned from winning the battle. He assumed of course that it would just be a servant or a pet even…he did not know that it would be who it was. Jephthah was victorious and returned home. Who was the one to come outside the house door first? His beloved, and only daughter that he loved more than anyone in the world! She was so excited to see him be victorious and now he would have to sacrifice her. He tells her that he has to do something he doesn’t want to do and she encourages him to keep his promise to God. Jephthah let his daughter have 2 months of life before he killed her. “And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made,” Judges 11:39. Jephthah had kept to his promise even when it meant killing his most beloved person. It is written that to this day people in Israel still honor Jephthah’s daughter and her lost virginity because it is recognized of his sacrifice.

To end off Jephthah’s role as judge we must examine in chapter 12 his battles with Ephraim. They were upset that they were not chosen to take part in battle against the Ammonites because they saw themselves as the top soldiers. The people of Ephraim had actually helped the Ammonites and as a result Jephthah decides to punish them by having them killed and they went after the Ephraimite fugitives too. Apparently Ephraimites could not pronounce the word “Shibboleth” the same as the Gileadites (they pronounced it as “Sibboleth”), so that is how Jephthah and his soldiers determined who the Ephraimites were. Jephthah judged Israel for 6 years.

3 Judges are mentioned in a tiny paragraph and they were: Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. Ibzan judged for 7 years. Elon judged for 10 years and Abdon judged for 8 years.

The next chapters are on a story that many are probably aware of and heard growing up in Sunday school, if they grew up in the church! I will leave that for the next post.   🙂

Judges Chapters 9 and 10

These two chapters are more of Debbie Downer chapters to say the least! But the brutality of this time is important to see for it shows what it is like to have a land of the godless…. think of all the violence we face in the world today and all of those that are faithless or flat out deny God. We as God’s children face such violence and unrest within a Godless society and it is evident while reading the book of Judges that it was happening for the Israelites as well.

So Abimelech was the son of Jerubbaal aka Gideon and he was the son to a concubine as well. He decided that in order to become ruler of the Israelites, really a king because Gideon set up himself to seem like a king, that he must kill all of his brothers. Gideon was a busy man and had 70 sons – it is safe to say Gideon was not faithful in his marriage. The thing is, that Abimelech missed one of his brothers named Jotham when he was murdering everyone (I am sure it was hard to keep up with names and faces with that many brothers). Abimelech crowned himself king believing that there was no one to go against him and his “claim” to the throne (remember this is the book of Judges not the book of Kings, so this “throne” will end soon enough). Jotham speaks to all of the elders and uses this wonderful parable to describe what it is like to Abimelech rule. There was a group of trees that wanted a ruler so it asked for the olive trees to lead, but they did not want to leave their prestigious life. Next they asked the fig tree but it did not want to lead because it had a sweet life. Next they asked the vine to lead them but the vine said it needed to make wine that brought such happiness to people. Finally the trees asked the bramble (a tumbleweed) to lead them and he said only if it is in good faith that they want him will he come otherwise he will rule them to their deaths (Judges 9:7-15). So the tumbleweed is of course Abimelech for he was not chosen to rule in good faith but by force, so he would bring ruin. Abimelech ruled for three years until GOD sent an evil spirit to bring down his relationships with his leaders and bring him down as the unrighteous leader that he was. God sent the evil spirit, which shows once again that God is in control even when it seems like he is not present.

Abimelech had a rather strange and gruesome death. He was trying to burn down an opposing city and had rounded up all of the people (women and children as well) into a tower and was going to cast the whole tower with fire. A woman threw a millstone from the tower onto Abimelech’s head. There are so many strange deaths throughout the book of Judges but they are definitely interesting. Think of Sisera with the tent peg in his head from Jael…it is interesting how household objects for this time were being used to expel evil. God was returning the evil to Abimelech that he had committed.

We fast forward through some judges in chapter 10 but we do know it is back to judges ruling rather than kings. Tola judged Israel for 23 years and he died and then God “arose” (remember God has a cycle and is always raising up a judge) Jair who judged for 22 years. The detail of his thirty sons and thirty cities created by Jair are included. The Israelites of course turned away from God and toward Baals and other false gods and as a result, for 18 years God allowed the Philistines and Ammonites to rule over the Israelites for God was tired of having to constantly save the unrighteous Israelites when they were just using Him to save them rather than worshipping Him. The Israelites at the end of the chapter are in search for someone to save them and God of course was already in the process of raising up a new judge and we will see in the next post who that was!

Map of Mizpeh in the Book of Judges (Chapter 10)

http://www.bible-history.com/maps/books.php

Judges Chapters 7 and 8

Sorry for not posting as often – with it being my last semester at UNC I have had a ton of work to do including applying to grad school! Oh and last weekend I got engaged! 😀 You could say that I am beyond excited and I cannot wait for what is to come! I have always felt since I have started dating my fiancé three and a half years ago and even before that when we were good friends year before that, that fate was pulling us together. Now I realize that it is God wanting us to work and help each other in life and I am ecstatic about it!

Chapter 7 has one of the cleverest battles throughout the Bible and it is of Gideon with 300 men taking on a whole Midianites army (thousands and thousands of soldiers). What makes this story interesting is that Gideon had 32,000 soldiers to begin with but God believed that was too many people, so the force dropped down to 10,000 and God still believed that this was too many to take on the Midianites. That is crazy to think that God was looking for only 300 to take on the Midinites, but that is what His ultimate plan was! No one could deny taking part in supporting Gideon and his army. God wanted the army to be as weak as possible while going against the strongest army at the time! There was as many Midianites as “the sand that is on the seashore,” Judges 7:12. God told Gideon to head toward the camp of Midianites and he did so and while he did this he heard a soldier of the Midianites telling of how he had a dream of God handing over the Midinites to Gideon…. this is all Gideon needed to hear to decide that God was truly on his side in this fight. It is hard for me to comprehend this because God had already proven himself (which was not needed) to Gideon but I guess Gideon needed assurance from a stranger? I mean I cannot say that I would not be fearful because I am sure I would be but it is crazy how God knew Gideon would need to hear about that dream. So Gideon returned to camp and grabbed his 300 men while the Midianites were changing their midnight shifts aka soldiers that were on the lookout farther out from camp were coming into camp to sleep and those that had been sleeping were going on watch, so there was a lot of movement going on amongst the Midianite soldiers. All 300 of Gideon’s soldiers were all playing trumpets and drums and lit jars and this actually scared the Midianites because from the distance, in the dark, it appeared that a very large troop was heading their way and the loud drums and jars made it look and sound like it was just the beginning. The Midianites then begin to attack this supposed large force and they were actually killing themselves and attacking one another because of the switching of the night watch that was coming in was thought to be the supposed large force! Clever clever clever! Gideon and only 300 soldiers defeated the Midianites! God gave Gideon all that Gideon needed and it was all because Gideon was able to eventually trust in God.

Chapter 8 is a sad ending in a way because Gideon began to go sour because of course he is of the flesh and a “broken savior” as my pastor says. While leaving the battle where they had defeated the Midianites and was going to now fight 2 more militaries (Zebah’s and Zalmunna’s armies), Gideon’s army was of course exhausted so he asked various territories they went through for food and drink. These territories would not help so after he defeated the two kings, he went back and pillaged the unhelpful villages and killed all that inhabited them. Gideon was then treating himself as a king of Israel versus a Judge and was expecting to have a large palace and concubines. The Israelites did have rest for 40 years and of course after these 40 years, God began to raise up another judge aka savior for the Israelites. At the time of Gideon’s death, he had 70 sons and many wives and concubines and there is mention of one of his sons, Abimelech, whom was the son of a concubine. After Gideon’s death the Israelites turned away from Gideon’s family and they also began to worship Baals again (the endless cycle of the Israelites at this time).

Judges Chapters 1, 2, and 3

I have been looking forward to blogging about the book of Judges after Pastor JD preached on the book this summer at the church I attend in the Triangle (Summit Church). The series was called “Broken Saviors” and it was a joy to listen to and study. So of course there are some things that I would not have known while reading this book, but luckily I have my notes from the sermons and they provide great insight! I will be using a combination of my sermon notes along with my notes I have taken while reading through the book as I was reading (which is what I normally blog off of).

The book of Judges shows the history of the Israelites following the death of Joshua and the constant ups and downs of the Israelites as they went back in forth on their faith in God and they experienced their greatest times of strength but also their greatest times of weakness. The first chapter tells of God handing the Canaanites into the hands of the Israelites as God had promised. All of the tribes had united to fight the Canaanites and the other various groups of people that were within the Promised Land from God and they were successful. The Israelites however did do something that they were not suppose to do which was allow the Canaanites to still live within the territories because they were being kept as slaves – God had told them specifically to kick them out completely. This is the beginning of the Israelites not following God completely. As a result of their failure to follow God completely, the Canaanites rose up once again against the Israelites. If they had gotten rid of the Canaanites completely, this would not have happened.

God tells the people that as a result of their disobedience: “’I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you,’” Judges 2:3. A thorn in a person’s side means that it would be an annoyance or a pest that will not go away. The thorn might not be hurting or annoying you for a certain period of time but eventually it will start to again. (In the New Testament, Paul tells of a thorn in his side that God wanted him to continuously fight in order to show faith in Him.) So what do the Israelites do? They sacrificed to the LORD in verse 5 and by verse 11 and the death of Joshua happening in between, they were already worshiping Baals. The result of their unfaithfulness to God and their faithfulness to the false gods was of course for the Israelites to be plundered and torn apart by other groups within the Promised Land. While the people were being unfaithful to God, God was always in the process of raising up a savior and these saviors usually had their own brokenness or weakness to themselves (this is why the series at church was labeled “Broken Saviors”). The cycle of what happens throughout the entire book is as follows: “Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge. For the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them, and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel…” Judges 2:18-20.

God would then bring war to Israel as a test for the people, to see if they would turn to Him or to the false gods. God wanted them to show their faith for Him and this did not necessarily happen. Eventually God allowed the king of Mesopotamia to take over Israel and of course he rose up a savior named Othniel to save them, and as soon as he died they returned to their unrighteous ways. God then of course raised up a new savior and an unexpected, broken savior at that. He brought Ehud up as the judge to save them. Ehud was labeled as the left handed judge which at this time meant that he was disabled in some sense – like he probably couldn’t even use his right arm or hand. At the time Moab was ruling over the Israelites and their king was an extremely fat king named Eglon. Ehud was able to use his wit to kill the king by pretty much making Eglon’s officials believing he was in the bathroom when he really was being stabbed and then killed by Ehud. Eventually the Moabites went against Ehud with 10,000 men and they were all killed and defeated because God was protecting Ehud. Under Ehud, Israel “rested” for 80 years without turning away from God, but as always when Ehud the judge died, the people turned away from God once again. The next judge consisted of one verse and his name was Shamgar and he saved the people from the Philistines after they had turned away from God after Ehud’s death.

What does the judge Ehud show about God? He puts His strength in the weak and those that are willing to rely on their faith to protect them! God protects the weak always and He works through the weak to make them strong!

Deuteronomy Chapter 31

Why is this post only one chapter? To put it briefly before I write more in this post, it is because it is setting up the Israelites for a new era. Throughout all of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and almost all of Deuteronomy it has been the Israelites with Moses but now Moses is passing the torch to a new leader of the Israelites for Moses will not cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan.

Moses was speaking to all of Israel about how he was 120 years old (woah!) and that he will not be entering Canaan and Joshua has been chosen by God to be the new leader to the Israelites going into the land of Canaan. Joshua was an impressive warrior with great skills to fight off the people in the land of Canaan, and of course he would have God’s support for God said that the Canaanites and other inhabitants would be handed to the Israelites like what had happened in Sihon and Og. One of my favorite verses I say to myself in hard times and I just need reassurance and it comes from this chapter of Deuteronomy; it is:

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

God will always be with you, even if you feel like you are in the darkness alone, God will deliver. The end of this verse reminds me of when Jesus is on the cross and he cried out in pain “God why have you forsaken me?” Jesus died for our sins and that meant he was alone to face the darkness of sin and evil, which means that God would not be with him during crucifixion. Just a thought – the Old Testament can bring up a lot of things from the New Testament if you read carefully and this is one of those times for me!

Moses wrote down the law that God had given him and then handed it to the priests and the elders and told them that it is to be read at the Feast of Booths after the people have entered the land of Canaan. Every one in Israel must know and hear these laws and Moses wants it assured. Joshua was then commissioned to lead Israel by a cloud coming in front of the tent (sanctuary) and we all know from past experiences of Moses with God that God likes to come in a cloud formation for it gives off a hazy sense for no one can look at Him.

God tells Moses straight up that the people will turn and whore around with other gods and not worship as they have been told orhonor God at all, so God wanted Moses to write a song for the Israelites to learn, and this song will hopefully serve as a reminder to the people that they should not forget or break the laws and that hopefully this song will make them less tempted to do so. Moses will write a song that is in the next chapter but first Moses has the Levite priests witness him putting the laws in the Arc of the Covenant for now they can be held responsible for also teaching the Israelites the laws since Moses will die soon and he wont be there to do it.

The song will be in the next post along with the end of Deuteronomy!

Deuteronomy Chapters 28, 29, and 30

These chapters in this post remind me of works righteousness but I know that it is not. Works righteousness being that if you do certain things like go to church every Sunday and pray every day that you will be saved, but of course if you don’t give your life over to Christ then doing these acts will do nothing for you. A lot of people live through works righteousness rather than through faith and love for Jesus. We no longer need to believe in this concept of work righteousness because of Jesus and we are so blessed!

Chapter 28 is labeled as “Blessings for Obedience.” God blessed the obedient within the Israelite tribes and disobedience would lead to the curses that were listed in chapter 27. Now we have the ultimate blessing of Jesus Christ dying for us, but that does not mean that you can live your life without at least trying your best to sanctify yourself by living the life of Christ. All of the things that God wanted from His people in the book of Deuteronomy were to follow laws that no one would be able to withhold, other than Jesus Christ.

God after explaining the necessity of following His laws came the new covenant that God made with His people in Moab. Moses reminds the people of all that God has done for His people, by taking them out of Egypt, providing them with a way of life in the wilderness, and by fulfilling the promise of giving the land of Canaan to His people, and by giving the land of Canaan to His people, He also helped them to beat King Og and King Bashan in order to hold onto this land. Moses writes something that I really enjoy and shows just how omniscient God truly is:

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29.

Moses wants the people to understand that they will never ever know what God knows completely, but they will know enough for God will give them all that they need. They should not try to understand more!

Repentance has to be done in order for God to provide forgiveness, for God knows that we are not perfect and disobedience will occur. We repent our sins by acknowledging that Christ took all of our terrible sins on the cross, and we are accepting and understanding just how important it is that Jesus is able to wipe us clean of these sins. If one is to ignore their actions then it wouldn’t mean much to a person about what Christ did for them. I see chapter 30 as a foreshadow of what Christ is doing for us and this includes how the Israelites were told to repent and how they were told that they are the ones choosing between life and death. Life for us as Christians would mean eternal life through accepting Christ and death would mean not believing in Christ and believing in the flesh and worldly things. It is a person’s own faith and when one decides between believing Jesus and not believing Jesus then we are choosing between life and death…it is that simple.