Saturday, January 24, 2004
Judges 4-5 -- the Song of Deborah
Judges 4-5 is the story of Israel's defeat of the Canaanite oppressor led by by Sisera, who
Judges 4:3 had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.
by Barak the military leader of Israel at the orders of the prophetess Deborah,
In chapter 5, Deborah sings a victory song (recall the Song of Miriam celebrating YHWH's deliverance at the Red Sea, Exodus 15) which recounts the events told in the prose narrative but with numerous differences.
According to the Jewish Study Bible, "Many scholars believe that the story was composed as an interpretation of the song: Stylistically, the song is in archaic heb, and is extremely difficult...." The most striking difference between the (later?) prose interpretation and Deborah's song is that the prose credit the warriors' swords in effecting God's deliverance:
NAU Judges 4:15 The LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak;
This is unique in the Bible; nowhere else does God use human agency in throwing his enemies into panic. In the song, the warrior's swords are not mentioned. Instead, the fight is God's alone:
Then the kings came, they fought:
The kings of Canaan fought
At Taanach, by Megiddo's waters --
They got no spoil of silver.
The stars fought from heaven,
From their courses they fought against Sisera.
The torrent Kishon swept them away,
The raging torrent, the torrent Kishon.
March on, my soul, with courage!
(TNK Judges 5:19-21)
Of course, the most memorable part of this story cycle is that Sisera fled from this battle by Megiddo's waters and sought refuge in the tent of his ally Heber the Kennite. There, his wife Jael, greeted him
Judges 4:18 Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, "Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear."
and then, when (according to the prose narrative) Sisera is sleeping, she hammers a tent peg through his temple. In the song, this is the only human fighting, and no mention is made of Sisera being asleep:
Most blessed of women be Jael,
Wife of Heber the Kenite,
Most blessed of women in tents.
He asked for water, she offered milk;
In a princely bowl she brought him curds.
Her left hand reached for the tent pin,
Her right for the workmen's hammer.
She struck Sisera, crushed his head,
Smashed and pierced his temple.
At her feet he sank, lay outstretched,
At her feet he sank, lay still;
Where he sank, there he lay -- destroyed.
(TNK Judges 5:24-27)
The Song of Deborah is a classic expression of the theology of divine warfare. God hears the cry of his people. Because of the oppression of the Canaanite kings, commerce had been destroyed in the land and people were no longer felt safe to live in unfortified cities:
In the days of Jael, the highways were deserted,
And travelers went by roundabout ways.
The peasantry ceased,
they ceased in Israel,
Until I, Deborah, arose,
Until I arose, a mother in Israel.
(NAU Judges 5:6-7)
God is intensely interested in the peace (shalom) of the peasantry and their ability to engage in ordinary commerce. This is not mentioned in the prose narrative, but Deborah sings of it – a sign that she was a leader in touch with both her people and with God. And in her song, it was not through the strength of the men of Barak’s army, but through the strength of the stars who fought in heaven and the torrents that flowed on earth, that the Lord defeated the 900 iron chariots of the oppressor. Where Deborah does sing of a human agent of deliverance, it was the hand of a woman, and a non-Israelite at that.
Judges 5:31b And the land had rest forty years.
Judges 4:3 had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.
by Barak the military leader of Israel at the orders of the prophetess Deborah,
In chapter 5, Deborah sings a victory song (recall the Song of Miriam celebrating YHWH's deliverance at the Red Sea, Exodus 15) which recounts the events told in the prose narrative but with numerous differences.
According to the Jewish Study Bible, "Many scholars believe that the story was composed as an interpretation of the song: Stylistically, the song is in archaic heb, and is extremely difficult...." The most striking difference between the (later?) prose interpretation and Deborah's song is that the prose credit the warriors' swords in effecting God's deliverance:
NAU Judges 4:15 The LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak;
This is unique in the Bible; nowhere else does God use human agency in throwing his enemies into panic. In the song, the warrior's swords are not mentioned. Instead, the fight is God's alone:
Then the kings came, they fought:
The kings of Canaan fought
At Taanach, by Megiddo's waters --
They got no spoil of silver.
The stars fought from heaven,
From their courses they fought against Sisera.
The torrent Kishon swept them away,
The raging torrent, the torrent Kishon.
March on, my soul, with courage!
(TNK Judges 5:19-21)
Of course, the most memorable part of this story cycle is that Sisera fled from this battle by Megiddo's waters and sought refuge in the tent of his ally Heber the Kennite. There, his wife Jael, greeted him
Judges 4:18 Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, "Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear."
and then, when (according to the prose narrative) Sisera is sleeping, she hammers a tent peg through his temple. In the song, this is the only human fighting, and no mention is made of Sisera being asleep:
Most blessed of women be Jael,
Wife of Heber the Kenite,
Most blessed of women in tents.
He asked for water, she offered milk;
In a princely bowl she brought him curds.
Her left hand reached for the tent pin,
Her right for the workmen's hammer.
She struck Sisera, crushed his head,
Smashed and pierced his temple.
At her feet he sank, lay outstretched,
At her feet he sank, lay still;
Where he sank, there he lay -- destroyed.
(TNK Judges 5:24-27)
The Song of Deborah is a classic expression of the theology of divine warfare. God hears the cry of his people. Because of the oppression of the Canaanite kings, commerce had been destroyed in the land and people were no longer felt safe to live in unfortified cities:
In the days of Jael, the highways were deserted,
And travelers went by roundabout ways.
The peasantry ceased,
they ceased in Israel,
Until I, Deborah, arose,
Until I arose, a mother in Israel.
(NAU Judges 5:6-7)
God is intensely interested in the peace (shalom) of the peasantry and their ability to engage in ordinary commerce. This is not mentioned in the prose narrative, but Deborah sings of it – a sign that she was a leader in touch with both her people and with God. And in her song, it was not through the strength of the men of Barak’s army, but through the strength of the stars who fought in heaven and the torrents that flowed on earth, that the Lord defeated the 900 iron chariots of the oppressor. Where Deborah does sing of a human agent of deliverance, it was the hand of a woman, and a non-Israelite at that.
Judges 5:31b And the land had rest forty years.
Friday, January 23, 2004
Judges 3 - the dirt within
In the last chapter, the text said that the purpose of enemies was to test our allegiance. Here, however, another reason is given:
Judges 3:2 so that succeeding generations of Israelites might be made to experience war -- but only those who had not known the former wars (TNK)
We Quakers and other Christian pacifists shudder at the way this sort of verse can be applied (mis-applied, from our viewpoint) as if it were an historical account to be emulated in the present. But, in our understanding, which harmonizes the warfare narratives with the peaceable teachings of Jesus by applying these passages as types of the spiritual warfare, we understand that is true that each generation must come to understand and partake of the warfare that is waged within each person between the Spirit of God and our sinful nature.
Thus, in the passage immediately after George Fox says that we will "come to walk cheerfully over the earth answering that of God in everyone..." he goes on to exhort us to confound deceit, "put the sword to it." Of course, Fox was speaking figuratively, and meant for us to put the "sword of the Word of God" to deceit, knowing that Truth would prevail.
In this chapter we have a perfect illustration of that dynamic. It is the story of Ehud, the annointed judge, who puts the sword to Eglon, king of Moab, the (very) fat man who was, as the text puts it, full of dirt. One can hear George Fox asking, "do you have the spirit of Eglon? Are you full of dirt, bloated with the fat of luxuriousness and oppression? Put the sword to it!"
See if you can enjoy the story as an allegory of the inward struggle against all that is oppressive and dirty within. If not, at least enjoy the bathroom humor.
Judges 3:15 But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent tribute by him to King Eglon of Moab. 16 Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length; and he fastened it on his right thigh under his clothes. 17 Then he presented the tribute to King Eglon of Moab.
Now Eglon was a very fat man.
18 When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ...19 ... said, "I have a secret message for you, O king." So the king said, "Silence!" and all his attendants went out from his presence.
20 Ehud came to him, while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber, and said, "I have a message from God for you." So he rose from his seat. 21 Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into Eglon's belly; 22 the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the dirt came out.
23 Then Ehud went out into the vestibule, and closed the doors of the roof chamber on him, and locked them.
24 After he had gone, the servants came. When they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, "He must be relieving himself in the cool chamber." 25 So they waited until they were embarrassed. When he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them. There was their lord lying dead on the floor.
So may the sword of the word deal with your inner dirt!
Judges 3:2 so that succeeding generations of Israelites might be made to experience war -- but only those who had not known the former wars (TNK)
We Quakers and other Christian pacifists shudder at the way this sort of verse can be applied (mis-applied, from our viewpoint) as if it were an historical account to be emulated in the present. But, in our understanding, which harmonizes the warfare narratives with the peaceable teachings of Jesus by applying these passages as types of the spiritual warfare, we understand that is true that each generation must come to understand and partake of the warfare that is waged within each person between the Spirit of God and our sinful nature.
Thus, in the passage immediately after George Fox says that we will "come to walk cheerfully over the earth answering that of God in everyone..." he goes on to exhort us to confound deceit, "put the sword to it." Of course, Fox was speaking figuratively, and meant for us to put the "sword of the Word of God" to deceit, knowing that Truth would prevail.
In this chapter we have a perfect illustration of that dynamic. It is the story of Ehud, the annointed judge, who puts the sword to Eglon, king of Moab, the (very) fat man who was, as the text puts it, full of dirt. One can hear George Fox asking, "do you have the spirit of Eglon? Are you full of dirt, bloated with the fat of luxuriousness and oppression? Put the sword to it!"
See if you can enjoy the story as an allegory of the inward struggle against all that is oppressive and dirty within. If not, at least enjoy the bathroom humor.
Judges 3:15 But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent tribute by him to King Eglon of Moab. 16 Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length; and he fastened it on his right thigh under his clothes. 17 Then he presented the tribute to King Eglon of Moab.
Now Eglon was a very fat man.
18 When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ...19 ... said, "I have a secret message for you, O king." So the king said, "Silence!" and all his attendants went out from his presence.
20 Ehud came to him, while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber, and said, "I have a message from God for you." So he rose from his seat. 21 Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into Eglon's belly; 22 the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the dirt came out.
23 Then Ehud went out into the vestibule, and closed the doors of the roof chamber on him, and locked them.
24 After he had gone, the servants came. When they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, "He must be relieving himself in the cool chamber." 25 So they waited until they were embarrassed. When he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them. There was their lord lying dead on the floor.
So may the sword of the word deal with your inner dirt!
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Judges 1-2 - why enemies?
The question is, why do we have enemies in our midst? Judges opens with a recapitulation of the conquest story that we read in the book of Joshua. There seems to be a bias in the story in favor of the southern tribe of Judah, and against the northern tribes. But despite that bias, we see that none of the tribes were able to clear the land of enemies:
Judges 1:19 The LORD was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain, because they had chariots of iron.
Apparently, chariots of iron were enough to stop the southern tribes. The northern tribes “did not drive out the inhabitants” either:
Judges 1:27 Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean ...
29 And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer;...
30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, ...
31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco...
33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh...,
All of this leads up to the thematic verses in chapter 2:
Joshua 2:22 In order to test Israel, whether or not they would take care to walk in the way of the LORD as their ancestors did, 23 the LORD had left those nations,...
Although the Bible often puts sentences like these in the active voice ("The Lord left those nation", "the Lord hardened Pharoah’s heart") to indicate the ultimate sovereignty of God, it does not actually mean that God created the opposition to himself but rather that God used these circumstances (the nations being left, the hardness of Pharoah's heart) to accomplish what God wished to accomplish given those circumstances (to test the loyalty of the Israelites, to bring glory to himself through the Exodus).
The book of Judges is the story of life: we do not live in splendid isolation; we live in the midst of people with different values than ourselves; we face competing spiritualities and an array of temptations. Judges suggests that this reality provides us with the opportunity to test the orientation of our hearts.
The book of Judges actually goes father than this and observes that we will inevitably fail this test. Joshua proposes a theory of life as cyclical. The text summarizes it like this: Because of the temptations that surrounded them...
Judges 2:13 They abandoned the LORD, and worshiped Baal and the Astartes. 14 So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15 ... and they were in great distress. 16 Then the LORD raised up judges, who delivered them out of the power of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen even to their judges; for they lusted after other gods and bowed down to them.
This is the cycle: People succumb to temptation (here called idolatry); this results in their oppression; in their pain they cry out to the Lord; God raises up anointed leaders who save them; they enjoy peace and in their contentment they return to idolatry, and so on.
We live in a cycle of temptation, sin, oppression, return to faith, salvation, contentment, temptation, and so on. The fact that God continues to show us love, and continues to respond to our cries when we are in the down part of our cycle, is the evidence that we live solely by the grace of God.
Why do we have enemies? Enemies provide us with the opportunity to turn back to God. Even enemies are a means of grace.
Judges 1:19 The LORD was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain, because they had chariots of iron.
Apparently, chariots of iron were enough to stop the southern tribes. The northern tribes “did not drive out the inhabitants” either:
Judges 1:27 Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean ...
29 And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer;...
30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, ...
31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco...
33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh...,
All of this leads up to the thematic verses in chapter 2:
Joshua 2:22 In order to test Israel, whether or not they would take care to walk in the way of the LORD as their ancestors did, 23 the LORD had left those nations,...
Although the Bible often puts sentences like these in the active voice ("The Lord left those nation", "the Lord hardened Pharoah’s heart") to indicate the ultimate sovereignty of God, it does not actually mean that God created the opposition to himself but rather that God used these circumstances (the nations being left, the hardness of Pharoah's heart) to accomplish what God wished to accomplish given those circumstances (to test the loyalty of the Israelites, to bring glory to himself through the Exodus).
The book of Judges is the story of life: we do not live in splendid isolation; we live in the midst of people with different values than ourselves; we face competing spiritualities and an array of temptations. Judges suggests that this reality provides us with the opportunity to test the orientation of our hearts.
The book of Judges actually goes father than this and observes that we will inevitably fail this test. Joshua proposes a theory of life as cyclical. The text summarizes it like this: Because of the temptations that surrounded them...
Judges 2:13 They abandoned the LORD, and worshiped Baal and the Astartes. 14 So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15 ... and they were in great distress. 16 Then the LORD raised up judges, who delivered them out of the power of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen even to their judges; for they lusted after other gods and bowed down to them.
This is the cycle: People succumb to temptation (here called idolatry); this results in their oppression; in their pain they cry out to the Lord; God raises up anointed leaders who save them; they enjoy peace and in their contentment they return to idolatry, and so on.
We live in a cycle of temptation, sin, oppression, return to faith, salvation, contentment, temptation, and so on. The fact that God continues to show us love, and continues to respond to our cries when we are in the down part of our cycle, is the evidence that we live solely by the grace of God.
Why do we have enemies? Enemies provide us with the opportunity to turn back to God. Even enemies are a means of grace.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Joshua 24 - you cannot serve
Joshua 24:16 Then the people answered,;" ...18 ... Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God." 19 But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the LORD,..."
This stark exchange prefigures the exchange between Peter and Jesus, (Mark 14:29-30; Luke 22:33-34) when Peter affirms that he is ready to follow Jesus into prison and even to death, but Jesus foretells that Peter will deny that he knows him three times before the cock crows.
In this passage, the people, and the people are clear on their reasons for their loyalty to God:
Joshua 24:16 "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods: 17 for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight.
but Joshua is equally clear on why the people will forsake God:
Joshua 24:19 "for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins."
It is not enough to know the history. It is not enough to have the right doctrine. It is only the burning, indwelling, personal knowledge of the LORD present in our lives that holds us to him. This book closes with the summary:
Joshua 24:31 Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the LORD did for Israel.
The coming generations, for whom all of this was “just a story” did not, and could not keep faith. The biblical affirmation is that we, the people, cannot cleave to God in our own strength even when we assert with our heart, mind, and strength, that it is our intention so to do. If faith is to be kept, it is all God’s work. It is God who, by God's grace, and God's initiative, and by God's own active work in our lives keeps us close to himself.
So, even here, in Joshua, the book of conquest, we have a foreshadowing of the Gospel -- the decision by God to come to us as Immanuel -- that we might be saved by God's grace, not by our own strength or goodness.
This stark exchange prefigures the exchange between Peter and Jesus, (Mark 14:29-30; Luke 22:33-34) when Peter affirms that he is ready to follow Jesus into prison and even to death, but Jesus foretells that Peter will deny that he knows him three times before the cock crows.
In this passage, the people, and the people are clear on their reasons for their loyalty to God:
Joshua 24:16 "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods: 17 for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight.
but Joshua is equally clear on why the people will forsake God:
Joshua 24:19 "for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins."
It is not enough to know the history. It is not enough to have the right doctrine. It is only the burning, indwelling, personal knowledge of the LORD present in our lives that holds us to him. This book closes with the summary:
Joshua 24:31 Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the LORD did for Israel.
The coming generations, for whom all of this was “just a story” did not, and could not keep faith. The biblical affirmation is that we, the people, cannot cleave to God in our own strength even when we assert with our heart, mind, and strength, that it is our intention so to do. If faith is to be kept, it is all God’s work. It is God who, by God's grace, and God's initiative, and by God's own active work in our lives keeps us close to himself.
So, even here, in Joshua, the book of conquest, we have a foreshadowing of the Gospel -- the decision by God to come to us as Immanuel -- that we might be saved by God's grace, not by our own strength or goodness.
Sunday, January 18, 2004
Joshua 23 - intermarriage
Joshua 23:11-13 Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God. 12 For if you turn back, and join the survivors of these nations left here among you, and intermarry with them, so that you marry their women and they yours, 13 know assuredly that the LORD your God will not continue to drive out these nations before you; but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a scourge on your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
The Religious Society of Friends, in the 19th century, decimated itself by taking this and similar injunctions against intermarriage and "reading out of Meeting" anyone who married someone who was not also a Quaker. After Friends had done sufficient damage to themselves they came to their senses and realized that whatever the significance of this teaching, it wasn't helping, so that part of the Discipline was removed. Now we marry everywhere and everyone. Now, the problem is not that we "read people out" for their failure to follow the Discipline, but the very opposite: such uncertainty about Discipline concerning marriage that very often Friends tolerate unmarried co-habitation, and provide families no support in their struggle to maintain faithfulness in a culture in which "self-fulfillment" trumps fidelity.
The question that this text poses to us is whether this path of "self-fulfillment" in sexual ethics leads to the loss of spiritual power. Can we observe in our faith community a diminishment of spiritual passion for God? a diminishment of God's powerful presence in our midst to "drive out" opposing spiritualities? Are we looking at the possibility of perishing from this good land that the LORD our God has given us? I'd say yes. As with many churches, the focus of controversy among Friends has been over the question of homosexual unions. The much more important question is whether any of us are willing to place their sexual life into the context of mutual accountabiliity under God.
The Religious Society of Friends, in the 19th century, decimated itself by taking this and similar injunctions against intermarriage and "reading out of Meeting" anyone who married someone who was not also a Quaker. After Friends had done sufficient damage to themselves they came to their senses and realized that whatever the significance of this teaching, it wasn't helping, so that part of the Discipline was removed. Now we marry everywhere and everyone. Now, the problem is not that we "read people out" for their failure to follow the Discipline, but the very opposite: such uncertainty about Discipline concerning marriage that very often Friends tolerate unmarried co-habitation, and provide families no support in their struggle to maintain faithfulness in a culture in which "self-fulfillment" trumps fidelity.
The question that this text poses to us is whether this path of "self-fulfillment" in sexual ethics leads to the loss of spiritual power. Can we observe in our faith community a diminishment of spiritual passion for God? a diminishment of God's powerful presence in our midst to "drive out" opposing spiritualities? Are we looking at the possibility of perishing from this good land that the LORD our God has given us? I'd say yes. As with many churches, the focus of controversy among Friends has been over the question of homosexual unions. The much more important question is whether any of us are willing to place their sexual life into the context of mutual accountabiliity under God.
