Thursday, February 12, 2004
Sorry about infrequent posts this week. We have General Board meetings at work and it is hard to find the time. This will ease up by Sunday. Ben
Judges 17-18 When there was no king
Beginning in this chapter, the phrase "there was no king in Israel" is repeated four times to the end of the book: Jdg. 17:6;. 18:1; 19:1; 21:25 The stories begin a lament for the anarchy that followed the collapse of the system of judges that was only put to rest with the monarchy under David.
So, in this chapter we see the tribe of Dan as marauders, and Micah and the Dannites seduced by idols.
Judges 17:1 There was a man in the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 He said to his mother, "The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and even spoke it in my hearing, -- that silver is in my possession; I took it; but now I will return it to you." And his mother said, "May my son be blessed by the LORD!" 3 Then he returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, "I consecrate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make an idol of cast metal."
He installed one of his sons as a priest.
Judges 17:5-6 This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and installed one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.
Not only that, but a wandering Levite appeared, and Micah installed him as a priest.
So, you see, the danger of decentralized worship.
Then along came the Dannites, who (despite the territory assigned them in Joshua 9:40ff, said they were:
Judges 18:1 seeking for itself a territory to live in; for until then no territory among the tribes of Israel had been allotted to them.
These Dannites commit two depredations:
First, they come by Micah's home, steal his idol and hire away his Levite to be their priest. Then they see the peaceable community of Laish a people, "quiet and unsuspecting" (v. 7) and they went in and slaughtered them:
Judges 18:27 The Danites, having taken what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, put them to the sword, and burned down the city. 28 There was no deliverer... :29 They named the city Dan
Here is the danger of religion where there is no accountability: that it might make you worse than you would have been otherwise because you believe that you can take God and make of him whoever and whatever you want, justifying your own desires and sanctifying it under the name of worship.
So, in this chapter we see the tribe of Dan as marauders, and Micah and the Dannites seduced by idols.
Judges 17:1 There was a man in the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 He said to his mother, "The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and even spoke it in my hearing, -- that silver is in my possession; I took it; but now I will return it to you." And his mother said, "May my son be blessed by the LORD!" 3 Then he returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, "I consecrate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make an idol of cast metal."
He installed one of his sons as a priest.
Judges 17:5-6 This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and installed one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.
Not only that, but a wandering Levite appeared, and Micah installed him as a priest.
So, you see, the danger of decentralized worship.
Then along came the Dannites, who (despite the territory assigned them in Joshua 9:40ff, said they were:
Judges 18:1 seeking for itself a territory to live in; for until then no territory among the tribes of Israel had been allotted to them.
These Dannites commit two depredations:
First, they come by Micah's home, steal his idol and hire away his Levite to be their priest. Then they see the peaceable community of Laish a people, "quiet and unsuspecting" (v. 7) and they went in and slaughtered them:
Judges 18:27 The Danites, having taken what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, put them to the sword, and burned down the city. 28 There was no deliverer... :29 They named the city Dan
Here is the danger of religion where there is no accountability: that it might make you worse than you would have been otherwise because you believe that you can take God and make of him whoever and whatever you want, justifying your own desires and sanctifying it under the name of worship.
Monday, February 09, 2004
Judges 15-16 Lust, betrayal, violence
Judges 16:1 Once Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to her.
Actually, the Hebrew here is ishshah which simply means woman or wife. For some reason unknown, the many English versions I checked all translate this word prostitute or harlot. In this they follow the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew. I guess that the translators couldn't help themselves when they considered that Samson "saw" this woman, immediately "went in to her" and didn't even spend the whole night!
This woman doesn't have any role in the story except that Samson doesn't spend the whole night with her, but leaves at midnight whereas the men of the town are still waiting for him at daybreak, and he performs the prodigious feat of tearing down the town gates and carrying them from Gaza to Hebron, some 35 miles away. This provokes the Gazans to seek revenge, which they do by bribing the next woman with whom we find Samson.
Judges 16:4 After this he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah
Incidentally, she too is an ishshah. For some reason the versions don't call her a prostitute or harlot. Seems to me that she was more inclined to do things for money than the other woman. The Gazans and other Philistine lords came and successfully bribed her to wheedle the secret of Samson's strength from her.
To which nagging, Samson succumbed. Why is Samson this stupid? The story doesn't say. It was Samson's character flaw. He had also succumbed to the nagging of his wife in the matter of the riddle at their wedding feast. Her Philistine friends had threatened her with death if she didn't get Samson to tell them the secret:
Judges 14:17 [His wife] wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted; and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her.
That set off a chain of events that results in many people being killed, including Samson's wife who was eventually burned by the Philistines. That account of his relationship with his wife is repeated now with his love, Delilah:
Judges 16:16 Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day, and pestered him, he was tired to death. 17 So he told her his whole secret....
The result was that Delilah was able to have his hair cut off, the symbol of his dedication to the Lord. His strength left him. He was captured, his eyes gouged out, and he was bound and taken back to Gaza where he was put to slave labor. One day, the Philistines sought to humiliate him further by having him dance for them in the Temple of their god, Dagon.
Judges 16:27 Now the house was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about three thousand men and women, who looked on while Samson performed. 28 Then Samson called to the LORD and said, "Lord GOD, remember me and strengthen me only this once, O God, so that with this one act of revenge I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes."1
He was able to pull down the pillars, causing the collapse of the Temple:
Judges 16:30 So those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life.
Samson and his women seem to me to be caught in a tragic web of lust, betrayal, and violence. I see no redeeming virtue in these stories. even though God appears from time to time in the midst of this fog of confusion and moral relativity, to weaken the oppressive hold of the Philistines over Israel.
Surely there was a better way. As later we will see fallen "kings" (compared to the righteousness of David, in Samson, we see a fallen "judge" (compared, to the glory days of Deborah when God worked through stars, water, and foreign women to bring about deliverance).
Actually, the Hebrew here is ishshah which simply means woman or wife. For some reason unknown, the many English versions I checked all translate this word prostitute or harlot. In this they follow the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew. I guess that the translators couldn't help themselves when they considered that Samson "saw" this woman, immediately "went in to her" and didn't even spend the whole night!
This woman doesn't have any role in the story except that Samson doesn't spend the whole night with her, but leaves at midnight whereas the men of the town are still waiting for him at daybreak, and he performs the prodigious feat of tearing down the town gates and carrying them from Gaza to Hebron, some 35 miles away. This provokes the Gazans to seek revenge, which they do by bribing the next woman with whom we find Samson.
Judges 16:4 After this he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah
Incidentally, she too is an ishshah. For some reason the versions don't call her a prostitute or harlot. Seems to me that she was more inclined to do things for money than the other woman. The Gazans and other Philistine lords came and successfully bribed her to wheedle the secret of Samson's strength from her.
To which nagging, Samson succumbed. Why is Samson this stupid? The story doesn't say. It was Samson's character flaw. He had also succumbed to the nagging of his wife in the matter of the riddle at their wedding feast. Her Philistine friends had threatened her with death if she didn't get Samson to tell them the secret:
Judges 14:17 [His wife] wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted; and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her.
That set off a chain of events that results in many people being killed, including Samson's wife who was eventually burned by the Philistines. That account of his relationship with his wife is repeated now with his love, Delilah:
Judges 16:16 Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day, and pestered him, he was tired to death. 17 So he told her his whole secret....
The result was that Delilah was able to have his hair cut off, the symbol of his dedication to the Lord. His strength left him. He was captured, his eyes gouged out, and he was bound and taken back to Gaza where he was put to slave labor. One day, the Philistines sought to humiliate him further by having him dance for them in the Temple of their god, Dagon.
Judges 16:27 Now the house was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about three thousand men and women, who looked on while Samson performed. 28 Then Samson called to the LORD and said, "Lord GOD, remember me and strengthen me only this once, O God, so that with this one act of revenge I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes."1
He was able to pull down the pillars, causing the collapse of the Temple:
Judges 16:30 So those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life.
Samson and his women seem to me to be caught in a tragic web of lust, betrayal, and violence. I see no redeeming virtue in these stories. even though God appears from time to time in the midst of this fog of confusion and moral relativity, to weaken the oppressive hold of the Philistines over Israel.
Surely there was a better way. As later we will see fallen "kings" (compared to the righteousness of David, in Samson, we see a fallen "judge" (compared, to the glory days of Deborah when God worked through stars, water, and foreign women to bring about deliverance).
