In today’s section, we read about various of Israel’s judges:
Shamgar (3:31)
Deborah (ch 4-5)
Gideon (ch 6-8)
Abimelech (ch 9)
Tola, Jair (ch 10)
Jephthah (ch11-12)
Samson (ch13 ff)
Some things that struck we today (although there are not as many as usual as I had other things on my mind!):
Jdg 6:12 in the NLT translates this verse as “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you”. I can’t imagine Gideon seeing himself as a mighty warrior, seeing as he was hiding at the bottom of a winepress, threshing wheat. Yet that was how God saw him!
The fleeces in 6:36-39 were after Gideon had stood up for God against the idols. He was called (6:14), the Spirit came on him (6:34) and he went out to victory (6:36-40). This is a pattern that continues in the story of Jephthah (ch10), Samson (ch 14-16), through the kings (1 Sam 10-11; 1 Sam 16-17) and is seen in the baptism of Jesus.
Jdg 7:10 - God clearly knows what Gideon is like. Even though Gideon doesn’t ask for a sign, the Lord is willing to give him the reassurance he needs.
Jdg 8:1 –You’d have thought they’d have been happy that the Midianites had been defeated, but now that God has won them the victory and it’s safe, they want to have been included in this.
Jdg 8:23 – I don’t know what to make of this. Was this humility that comes from knowing who God is, or is it a cop-out from taking on the responsibility that comes with the calling from God?
Jdg 10:10 – I was struck by the word ‘finally’. Only after they had been oppressed by the Philistines and Ammonites, did they turn back to God.
Jdg 10:12 shows how much the Israelites had exasperated the Lord – “Did I not rescue you from (a whole list of nations)?... Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not rescue you any more.” And yet God is still moved by their plight so he helps them (10:16).
Jdg 10:30 – It is almost as if Jephthah is treating God like a slot-machine; if he just gives God something, God is bound to give him success. It is as if the calling and anointing with the Spirit (v29) are not enough, and he needs to twist God’s arm. It shows a lack of faith and a misunderstanding of God’s true nature.
Jdg 13:18 is fabulous – “Why do you ask my name… It is too wonderful for you to understand”
Samson really annoys me. He has wonderful parents, who see this amazing calling (esp 13:19) and yet Samson, even when the Spirit comes on him, he has no self-control, no sense of the calling of God. Instead, it is all ‘me, me, me’. In a sermon on Eph 4, Chris Edwards defined gentleness as controlled strength. This is the complete opposite of Samson. What a waste.
Jdg 14:4 makes me uneasy if it is taken as a justification for marrying non-believers. There are so many injunctions against inter-marriage with the tribes surrounding Israel, that this cannot ever be the best course of action. Instead, what it shows is that nothing is beyond God’s amazing power to redeem.
No comments:
Post a Comment