Thursday, February 19, 2004
Ruth 1 - Ruth and Orpah's Choice
The story is simple. Naomi followed her husband from Bethlehem to Moab in search of food. In Moab, their two sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. The menfolk all died. Then Naomi...
NAU Ruth 1:6 heard in the land of Moab that the LORD had visited His people in giving them food.
Naomi, we learn by the end of the chapter, is in despair. She has met famine; she has become an economic refugee; now she has lost her husband and sons. When the womenfolk back in Bethlehem greet her, she answers:
Ruth 1:20 Call me no longer Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly [marar] with me. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty; why call me Naomi when the LORD has dealt harshly with1 me, and the Almighty2 has brought calamity upon me?"
For Naomi, the famine was not only of food, it was a famine of the heart, and it is out of her heart-famine that she speaks to her two daughter-in-laws, begging them three times,
Ruth 1:8 "Go back each of you to your mother's house...."
She loves them, but she despairs of their well-being with her, so she prays:
Ruth 1:9 The LORD grant that you may find security [rest], each of you in the house of your husband." Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud.
This sets up the choice that Orpah and Ruth must make. Naomi believes that the promised rest is to be found through the security of husbands and kinship ties. She is bitter, for she has lost hers. In her despair she is willing to return to her family's home town. She advises her daughters-in-law to do as she is doing. Thus, she presses Orpah and Ruth to return to their mothers' homes.
Her daughters-in-law argue with her, because they love her. Naomi, however, proves by her barren body that she will bear no more menfolk for them to marry, and that, therefore, their security must be found with their kin in Moab. (Ruth 1:11 "Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands?" )
Orpah, persuaded, kisses Naomi and leaves.
Ruth makes the choice to follow Ruth.
Her profession of faith as ever since served as the affirmation of all Gentiles who have made the choice to sever ties with their natural families in order to place their hope in the God of Israel:
Ruth 1:16 "Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God."
Orpah is the spiritual follower of Naomi whose bitter faith is in kinship ties. Ruth is the spiritual follower of Naomi's God who sees through hardship the God-given ability to rest in love.
NAU Ruth 1:6 heard in the land of Moab that the LORD had visited His people in giving them food.
Naomi, we learn by the end of the chapter, is in despair. She has met famine; she has become an economic refugee; now she has lost her husband and sons. When the womenfolk back in Bethlehem greet her, she answers:
Ruth 1:20 Call me no longer Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly [marar] with me. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty; why call me Naomi when the LORD has dealt harshly with1 me, and the Almighty2 has brought calamity upon me?"
For Naomi, the famine was not only of food, it was a famine of the heart, and it is out of her heart-famine that she speaks to her two daughter-in-laws, begging them three times,
Ruth 1:8 "Go back each of you to your mother's house...."
She loves them, but she despairs of their well-being with her, so she prays:
Ruth 1:9 The LORD grant that you may find security [rest], each of you in the house of your husband." Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud.
This sets up the choice that Orpah and Ruth must make. Naomi believes that the promised rest is to be found through the security of husbands and kinship ties. She is bitter, for she has lost hers. In her despair she is willing to return to her family's home town. She advises her daughters-in-law to do as she is doing. Thus, she presses Orpah and Ruth to return to their mothers' homes.
Her daughters-in-law argue with her, because they love her. Naomi, however, proves by her barren body that she will bear no more menfolk for them to marry, and that, therefore, their security must be found with their kin in Moab. (Ruth 1:11 "Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands?" )
Orpah, persuaded, kisses Naomi and leaves.
Ruth makes the choice to follow Ruth.
Her profession of faith as ever since served as the affirmation of all Gentiles who have made the choice to sever ties with their natural families in order to place their hope in the God of Israel:
Ruth 1:16 "Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God."
Orpah is the spiritual follower of Naomi whose bitter faith is in kinship ties. Ruth is the spiritual follower of Naomi's God who sees through hardship the God-given ability to rest in love.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Judges 21 Restorative Justice Perverted
In Part 2, the attempt of the tribes to accomplish retributive justice for the brutal rape and murder of the Levite's concubine runs amok and all the women of the tribe of Benjamin are slaughtered. The only Benjaminites left alive are six hundred who had "fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon." It appears that:
Judges 21:1 Now the Israelites had sworn at Mizpah, "No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin."
and the consequence of this, of course, is that one of the tribes of Israel was about to disappear.
In Part 3, the story concludes with an attempt by the tribes attempt to restore Benjamin. The result is more death, more chaos. We listen in on their perverted reasoning:
Judges 21:6 But the Israelites had compassion for Benjamin their kin, and said, "One tribe is cut off from Israel this day. 7 What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them any of our daughters as wives?" 8 Then they said, "Is there anyone from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the LORD to Mizpah?" It turned out that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp, to the assembly.
So, in the darkness of their thinking,
Judges 21:10 the congregation sent twelve thousand soldiers there and commanded them, "Go, put the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead to the sword, including the women and the little ones. 11 This is what you shall do; every male and every woman that has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction."
Then, in their "compassion" for Benjamin, they
Judges 21:14 gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead.
This still was not a sufficient number of virgins to satisfy the needs of the men of Benjamin. So, the tribes settled on a plan to abduct the virgins from the town of Shiloh who were dancing at an annual festival.
Thus, the story ends. The rape and murder of the concubine, conducted by the Israelites of Gibeah, condoned by her husband the Levite, avenged by Israel with the slaughter of most of the men and all of the women of Benjamin, and restored by the slaughter of the men and women in Jabesh-gilead, and the abduction and forced marriage of the virgins of Jabesh-gilead and Shiloh. Here is the perversion of justice, epitomized.
The text provides a commentary in its concluding verse:
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.
The perversion of justice is the inevitable result of a society in which the people "do what is right in our own eyes." The picture is a land full of violence, populated by a people who do not even realize that they have abandoned God.
Judges 21:1 Now the Israelites had sworn at Mizpah, "No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin."
and the consequence of this, of course, is that one of the tribes of Israel was about to disappear.
In Part 3, the story concludes with an attempt by the tribes attempt to restore Benjamin. The result is more death, more chaos. We listen in on their perverted reasoning:
Judges 21:6 But the Israelites had compassion for Benjamin their kin, and said, "One tribe is cut off from Israel this day. 7 What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them any of our daughters as wives?" 8 Then they said, "Is there anyone from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the LORD to Mizpah?" It turned out that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp, to the assembly.
So, in the darkness of their thinking,
Judges 21:10 the congregation sent twelve thousand soldiers there and commanded them, "Go, put the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead to the sword, including the women and the little ones. 11 This is what you shall do; every male and every woman that has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction."
Then, in their "compassion" for Benjamin, they
Judges 21:14 gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead.
This still was not a sufficient number of virgins to satisfy the needs of the men of Benjamin. So, the tribes settled on a plan to abduct the virgins from the town of Shiloh who were dancing at an annual festival.
Thus, the story ends. The rape and murder of the concubine, conducted by the Israelites of Gibeah, condoned by her husband the Levite, avenged by Israel with the slaughter of most of the men and all of the women of Benjamin, and restored by the slaughter of the men and women in Jabesh-gilead, and the abduction and forced marriage of the virgins of Jabesh-gilead and Shiloh. Here is the perversion of justice, epitomized.
The text provides a commentary in its concluding verse:
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.
The perversion of justice is the inevitable result of a society in which the people "do what is right in our own eyes." The picture is a land full of violence, populated by a people who do not even realize that they have abandoned God.
Monday, February 16, 2004
Judges 20 Retributive Justice gone Amok
In Part 1 of this story, a husband thrust his concubine out to a group of men obviously intent on abuse, we read of her brutal rape and murder, and this at the hands of Israelites, not the non-believers; and we saw the husband collect her body, take it home and cut it up as a call to war of vengeance.
It is an ugly story, and it is a remarkable thing that a people would include such a history in the canon of scripture. God appears in the story only once. The various tribes have collected and are preparing their attack on Benjamin -- the tribe that defended the townspeople who committed the atrocity. The attacking tribes seek God's advice:
Judges 20:28 "Shall we go out once more to battle against our kinsfolk the Benjaminites, or shall we desist?" The LORD answered, "Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand."
The text goes on to affirm God's hand in Benjamin's defeat:
Judges 20:35 The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel....
The only action, then, that the text attributes to God in this whole story is the punishment of one of the tribes. This is a truly amazing feature of a theology of God. According to the Bible, God is there not only as the Savior and Deliverer of his chosen people, but also as their judge. This will later be played out in full by the prophetic announcement of the great and terrible day of the Lord's visitation. In this story we see a foreshadowing of that theology. God appears to defeat one of the tribes because of their wickedness.
As for the rest of the story, in the original crimes in Part 1 or in what follows in Part 3, God is not to be found. The rest is a tale of horror exemplifying the failure of the judges. Similarly, the books of Samuel -- which deal with the failure of King Saul end with David's sin and judgment -- and the books of Kings -- which detail the destruction of David's kingdom by his children and concludes with the both the northern and southern kingdoms destroyed -- exemplify the failure of the kings.
As depressing and upsetting as this story is, it teaches us two things of enormous importance. The first is that God is holy and we who claim his name ignore his justice and righteousness at our own peril. The second is that human approximations of justice are often abysmal failures. It is just plain hard for us to "get it right." Just how hard it is may be judged by the slaughter with which this chapter ends:
Judges 20:46 So all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand arms-bearing men, all of them courageous fighters. 47 But six hundred turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and remained at the rock of Rimmon for four months. 48 Meanwhile, the Israelites turned back against the Benjaminites, and put them to the sword -- the city, the people, the animals, and all that remained. Also the remaining towns they set on fire.
It is an ugly story, and it is a remarkable thing that a people would include such a history in the canon of scripture. God appears in the story only once. The various tribes have collected and are preparing their attack on Benjamin -- the tribe that defended the townspeople who committed the atrocity. The attacking tribes seek God's advice:
Judges 20:28 "Shall we go out once more to battle against our kinsfolk the Benjaminites, or shall we desist?" The LORD answered, "Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand."
The text goes on to affirm God's hand in Benjamin's defeat:
Judges 20:35 The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel....
The only action, then, that the text attributes to God in this whole story is the punishment of one of the tribes. This is a truly amazing feature of a theology of God. According to the Bible, God is there not only as the Savior and Deliverer of his chosen people, but also as their judge. This will later be played out in full by the prophetic announcement of the great and terrible day of the Lord's visitation. In this story we see a foreshadowing of that theology. God appears to defeat one of the tribes because of their wickedness.
As for the rest of the story, in the original crimes in Part 1 or in what follows in Part 3, God is not to be found. The rest is a tale of horror exemplifying the failure of the judges. Similarly, the books of Samuel -- which deal with the failure of King Saul end with David's sin and judgment -- and the books of Kings -- which detail the destruction of David's kingdom by his children and concludes with the both the northern and southern kingdoms destroyed -- exemplify the failure of the kings.
As depressing and upsetting as this story is, it teaches us two things of enormous importance. The first is that God is holy and we who claim his name ignore his justice and righteousness at our own peril. The second is that human approximations of justice are often abysmal failures. It is just plain hard for us to "get it right." Just how hard it is may be judged by the slaughter with which this chapter ends:
Judges 20:46 So all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand arms-bearing men, all of them courageous fighters. 47 But six hundred turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and remained at the rock of Rimmon for four months. 48 Meanwhile, the Israelites turned back against the Benjaminites, and put them to the sword -- the city, the people, the animals, and all that remained. Also the remaining towns they set on fire.
Sunday, February 15, 2004
Judges 19 Sodm Redux
The book of Judges ends with a terrible story of threatened homosexual rape, the actual brutal rape resulting in the murder of a concubine, an internecine war of the tribes of Israel that nearly decimates the tribe of Benjamin, another slaughter "resolving" the threatened extinction of Benjamin through the decimation of an innocent village, and the capture and forced marriage of the virgins of that village and the girls of Shiloh. The disrespect shown to women and the thoughtless violence intrinsic to the attempts at retributive justice make the motto that surrounds the story poignant:
Judges 19:1 In those days, when there was no king in Israel,
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.
The story has three parts.
Part I: Sodom redux. (Judges 19)
Part 2: Retributive Justice Gone amok. (Judges 20)
Part 3: Restorative Justice Perverted (Judges 21)
Part I:
A Levite from Ephraim (in the north) took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem (in the south). In poignant contrast with the rest of the story, we see a glimpse into their romance.
Judges 19:2 But his concubine became angry with him, and she went away from him to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there some four months. 3 Then her husband set out after her, to speak tenderly to her and bring her back.
I love the reality of the concubine's anger, and her independence. I love the tenderness of the husband. And this is met by a display of warm hospitality by the concubine's father that must imply that an underlying warmth between the man and woman.
It is as the couple journeys back home that the story turns horribly wrong. Along the way, they decide not to go into a foreign city (Jerusalem) but to seek hospitality in Gibeah. There, they experience a repeat of the Sodom story in Genesis 19. Everything that follows turns on the awful and unexpected irony of the fact that the evil that follows happens among the people of God. This is the people God has called to holiness, but who we will now see exposed as sinners. There are none virtuous in this story.
A man finds them waiting in the city square, invites them to his home, but...
Judges 19:22 While they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, a perverse lot, surrounded the house, and started pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the master of the house, "Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have intercourse with him."
Here, the story is more horrible than Sodom. In Sodom, Lot offers his daughters to the men of the Sodom, but the angelic visitors intervene and blind the men of the city. Here, the host offers both his daughter and the concubine guest:
Judges 19:24 Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine; let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do whatever you want to them; but against this man do not do such a vile thing."
25 But the men would not listen to him.
So the man seized his concubine, and put her out to them. They wantonly raped her, and abused her all through the night until the morning.
It is incomprehensible to me that the man (who had shown her tenderness just before) now sacrifices her to this gang rape. But that is the story. Then he sleeps through the night only to find her body on the thresh hold of the house the next morning.
Judges 19:28 "Get up," he said to her, "we are going." But there was no answer.
That is inexplicable, and inexcusable. He loads the body on his donkey, takes her home, then cuts her into twelve pieces which he sends to the various tribes, seeking retributive justice.
This is ugly, and it is going to get worse.
Judges 19:1 In those days, when there was no king in Israel,
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.
The story has three parts.
Part I: Sodom redux. (Judges 19)
Part 2: Retributive Justice Gone amok. (Judges 20)
Part 3: Restorative Justice Perverted (Judges 21)
Part I:
A Levite from Ephraim (in the north) took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem (in the south). In poignant contrast with the rest of the story, we see a glimpse into their romance.
Judges 19:2 But his concubine became angry with him, and she went away from him to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there some four months. 3 Then her husband set out after her, to speak tenderly to her and bring her back.
I love the reality of the concubine's anger, and her independence. I love the tenderness of the husband. And this is met by a display of warm hospitality by the concubine's father that must imply that an underlying warmth between the man and woman.
It is as the couple journeys back home that the story turns horribly wrong. Along the way, they decide not to go into a foreign city (Jerusalem) but to seek hospitality in Gibeah. There, they experience a repeat of the Sodom story in Genesis 19. Everything that follows turns on the awful and unexpected irony of the fact that the evil that follows happens among the people of God. This is the people God has called to holiness, but who we will now see exposed as sinners. There are none virtuous in this story.
A man finds them waiting in the city square, invites them to his home, but...
Judges 19:22 While they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, a perverse lot, surrounded the house, and started pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the master of the house, "Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have intercourse with him."
Here, the story is more horrible than Sodom. In Sodom, Lot offers his daughters to the men of the Sodom, but the angelic visitors intervene and blind the men of the city. Here, the host offers both his daughter and the concubine guest:
Judges 19:24 Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine; let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do whatever you want to them; but against this man do not do such a vile thing."
25 But the men would not listen to him.
So the man seized his concubine, and put her out to them. They wantonly raped her, and abused her all through the night until the morning.
It is incomprehensible to me that the man (who had shown her tenderness just before) now sacrifices her to this gang rape. But that is the story. Then he sleeps through the night only to find her body on the thresh hold of the house the next morning.
Judges 19:28 "Get up," he said to her, "we are going." But there was no answer.
That is inexplicable, and inexcusable. He loads the body on his donkey, takes her home, then cuts her into twelve pieces which he sends to the various tribes, seeking retributive justice.
This is ugly, and it is going to get worse.
