punk kid

ok, Gideon's kid is quite the punk to take things into his own hands in his self declared leader status and killing all is brothers. At least Jotham (the youngest) could get some words in to the citizens of Shechem before he had to flee to Beer.

Interesting that God was the one that sent the evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem. More testimony that God has control of both good and evil.

Then Abimelech get's humbled by receiving a rock-to-the-head from a woman. Vengence is the Lord's.

politics

Judges 9 - Abimelech used ruthless methods in order to gain power. To kill 70 of your half brothers just to be in a position of leadership is pretty crazy. I kind of compare this type of greed for power to politicians (without the killings of course). But they do all this manuevering and say all this rhetoric just so that they can become a congressman or senator or whatever. Some of them have a genuine desire to do good, but others definately no. Maybe this is a reason why I shy away from certain leadership positions. Because I see so many people exploiting them. Plus I'm a big slacker and don't want the responsibility. :)

judges 9

who is the judge in this story? IS it the woman who drops a millstone on Abimelech's head? Or is it perhaps Jotham who cursed abimelech?

It seems that judges are defined more not by what they say, but by what they do. They are quite active.

random thoughts

Judges 9

hmmm... seems like quite a few men in the old testament met their end by the hands of a woman. not really sure what that means, just an observation.

No respect

Man, Gideon sure didn't get any respect when he was the one doing the dirty work during his time alive and after his death. although it shows more of Israel's wavering and dependance on earthly things than on God.

brotherly un-love

Judges Chapter 9

When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, "He is our brother." They gave him seventy shekels [a] of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelech used it to hire reckless adventurers, who became his followers. He went to his father's home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, escaped by hiding. Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelech king.

Reading this story is pretty disturbing... it's all Shakespeare-esque in the scope of its tragedy and drama.

I mean, this guy Abimelech gets money from his maternal half-brothers so he can raise an army to become king and massacre his paternal half-brothers... SEVENTY of them! That's messed up. Then, after he becomes king, he starts pillaging and burning cities, including the city of his maternal half-brothers, who in retaliation, drop a huge rock on his head, fataling injuring him.

So what kind of lesson can we take from this passage? I guess if you mess up as a father (like Gideon did), the consequences can pretty severe to your family.

Judges 8:27

27 Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Interesting that even though Isreal did wrong in the eyes of the lord, and the ephod(note says it is a holy garment associated with the preisthood, at other times a pagan object associated with idols) became a snare for Gideons family, Isreal still enjoyed prosperity until the death of Gideon. Then they immediately fell back to worshipping idols and forgot what the Lord had done for them. I'm not sure how to interpret this verse.

Only other thing of note in chapter eight was that Gideon prospered greatly, having 70 sons from many wives... enough to start his own division in the NBA.

Gideon vs. Florida

Ok, not really Florida...

Interesting that God says that there are too many men in Gideon's army that the people would get too self reliant and not humble of their potential conquering. But of course, it seemed like 22,000 were freaked out anyway and could go home. but with 10,000, there's still too many?! 300 sounds pretty good.

You don't really see this type of faith put into current practices of command and conquer. We would naturally be quick to call it insane or even, "God wouldn't have us doing something like that...especially if it's to take over a land."

vengeance and loose ends

Judges 8:1-21

The end of Gideon's story is pretty interesting, though I think the way that the story is told leaves it up to us to judge (judge, get it? haha) Gideon's actions. He asks for help from two different towns, who deny him... he later comes back and punishes them... "I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers" sounds pretty harsh. He also chases down these guys, Zebah and Zalmunna, who are responsible for the murder of his family... and he tells his own kid to kill them! Talk about crazy parenting...

I can only imagine the rage Gideon had as he executed those two guys. After all, if he's willing to torture a couple of towns for not giving him some food, imagine the things he'd do to a couple of guys who murdered his family.

I guess what spoke to me the most from the passages is that even a generally good man like Gideon, someone who served and was used by God, could still not be perfect... especially in his relationships with other people. I know my weakness is often in how I deal with people that I feel have wronged me... I'd like to act gracefully, but I admit my first impulses are very Gideon-esque: inflict punishment.

diplomacy

In the beginning of Judges 8 Gideon was able to quell the Ephraimites' anger by telling them their accomplishments were greater than his. It seemed like it was one of those situations that could have turned ugly but Gideon was able to handle it. This is something I need to work on. Just being able to handle situations where people might be angry with me. Usually I act harshly when hearing complaints, or I run from the situation.

I think when it comes down to it it's a matter of having an attitude of love. And the simple truth is I don't have that attitude a lot of the time.

Judges 7

To be like Gideon, trusting in Gods power, reaching out in faith knowing that there's no possible way I could do this except through Gods providence. I know my faith is not that strong yet. Not by my own strength, but yours Lord.

"strict selection"

Judges 7:2-4

The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.' " So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

But the LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go; but if I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."

Reading this passage, I was reminded that God often has a different way selecting people to do his work than we do. I'm sure Gideon would have loved to have a huge army to fight the enemy with, but God wanted to show him and the rest of Israel that important thing wasn't the number of men fighting, but that God was fighting with the men.

For myself, I sometimes get caught up in the numbers game when I think about church and various ministries... I forget that the number of people isn't important, at least, it isn't as important as God being central first to whatever is happening.

300 able bodies

Well reading judges 7 I can't imagine being one of those 300 men left after having an army of 32,000. Sometimes I just feel overwhelmed by my circumstances and think that something is impossible but if God can use 300 men weilding only torches and jars then anything is possible. Lord help me to have that kind of faith.

"shine"

If Gideon ever sang karaoke, I think he'd definitely effectively convey the spirit of this one...


************


give me a word
give me a sign
show me where to look
tell me what will i find
lay me on the ground
fly me in the sky
show me where to look
tell me what will i find
oh, Heaven let your light shine down...

love is in the water
love is in the air
show me where to go
tell me will love be there
teach me how to speak
teach me how to share
teach me where to go
tell me will love be there
oh, Heaven let your light shine down...

Collective Soul ~ Shine

"spiritual procrastination"

Judges 6:6

Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

By this point, the Israelites had exhausted all their means in trying to fend off the Midians, and now had no choice but to call on the Lord for help. With this in mind, it's interesting to note the myriad of instances where it takes teetering on the verge of annihilation for people to finally call on the Lord for help / guidance. Shouldn't be the case, but sadly often times it is...

"breathing"

Judges 6:15

"But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."

Initially reading through the chapter, this is one of the passages that stood out to me. I suppose it stood out because it echoes a theme that's pretty prevalent in the Bible, where God utilizes people who would normally be considered among the least likeliest by the world to carry out some pretty heady tasks. Thinking about it fr. God's perspective, I suppose that the intent is to show humanity that their own efforts apart fr. Him at building themselves up will end up to be all for naught in the long run. That the concept of truly being saved only happens through the God's grace alone. It also seems that it's intended as a profound encouragement for His people who would be looked upon as the "dregs" fr. the world's viewpoint, and also perhaps fr. internal viewpoints w/in His kingdom.

guess what

looks like it's one of the most repeated sentences in the OT - "the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord." But God sends Gideon to "save" Israel. His first act of destroying the alter of Baal got the towns people hating on him pretty good. Of course, Gideon is freaking out and asks God for two signs to be sure that God will use Gideon to save Israel.

gideonca

I think I really relate to Gideon's character alot (which is why my yahoo account is gideonca - i.e. gideon + Chong Ahn). Not so much with his positive qualities but more because of his fault. Like the fact that he had so much skepticism and needed so much reaffirmation. His response when the angel first appeared is probably exactly what I would have said.

But after Gideon gets past those first humps of doubt is what I hope for. I just don't know when that'll be for me...

judges 5

hmm... this song doesn't really move me much. So what's its purpose? Who would sing it? Who would hear it? Any particular occasions or is this a one shot deal?

"why has all this happened to us?"

Judges 6:11-12

The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."

"But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."

Gideon's story has always been one of my favorites in Judges, both because of the great amount of details in it and the character of Gideon himself.

The above verses stood out to me because of Gideon's initial response to the angel. Maybe he didn't recognize it was an angel immediately, but Gideon seems to not really be the sort of guy who's a big believer that the Lord is the savior of the Israelites. He instead focused on the reality that his people are oppressed, suffering, and seemingly abandoned by God.

I sometimes fall into the trap of having the same response as Gideon - "If the Lord is with us, how come all this horrible stuff is happening right now to friends, family, and myself?" It's hard to remove myself from present circumstances sometimes and get perspective, to see God working.

la la la

It's an interesting song in Judges 5 that Deb and Barak sang back in the day. It's like one of those old folk narative songs, but also praises. Nice how the chapter wraps up with "Then the land had peace for forty years."

a simple song of hope

When reading Judges 5 I thought of Pastor Barker's sermon this last sunday and the passage from Isaiah 40:31.

"but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

I don't know if anyone remembers a CCM song way back when that used that passage but I'm always reminded of it when I hear this passage. This got me thinking about the "soar on wings like eagles" which Pastor Barker paralleled how God can answer prayer through divine intervention (or 'the way of ecstacy'). I'm not sure what God's Will is sometimes, well alot of times, but I wonder when I can be experiencing that soaring on wings like eagles.

lipservice

Judges 5
This chapter is Deborah and Barak singing a song of praise to God celebrating their victory over Sisera. It makes me think about the modern church and "worship". To many people in the church today, the word "worship" has becoming synonymous with singing songs, and that concerns me a bit. Websters defines worship as:

Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): -shiped or -shipped; -ship·ing or -ship·ping
transitive senses
1 : to honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power
2 : to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion
intransitive senses : to perform or take part in worship or an act of worship
synonym see REVERE

Singing is a part of how we worship God, but it is only one aspect of it. Another aspect, is the state of mind in which we come to worship. Yes, a good worship set can bring us into a better state of reverence and worship, making it easier for the pastor's message to reach the congregation. But I feel the need to stress that worship is what we give(to God), not what we take away. Sunday service is the "worship service", because that is the day we come to the House of the Lord to give Him praise, and learn from His word.

Are we singing praise songs to God, because the words in the song are what we truly feel? Or are we singing them because they make us feel good about God? Two similar statements, but two totally different state of minds.

judges 4

dang... that is NOT the way to go.

I'm interested in v 14:

"Then Deborah said to Barak, "Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?" So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by ten thousand men."

(italics mine)

Of course we always hear about how God has been preparing situations for us, but it's always good to see a concrete example of such.

war song freestyle

After the interesting narrative the chapter before, it seems kind of strange that there would be a chapter that's entirely a song... but given the pattern of many of the stories of the Old Testament, one might notice that great events / victories / miracles / etc. are always accompanied by praise and people's response to God.

The song mentions all the details of the story, the main heroes, and making mention of all the tribes of Israel that helped defeat Sisera. But the last verse especially caught my eye:

"So may all your enemies perish, O LORD!
But may they who love you be like the sun
when it rises in its strength."

It's an interesting analogy that they make, saying that people who love the Lord should be as like the sun at it's hottest point in the day - but what exactly does that mean? I guess it depends on what characteristics you'd ascribe to a high noon sun, but the author cuts off the song.

Godly women & subverting the dominant paradigm

The thing that sticks out to most people in Judges 4 are the roles of the women in story, Deborah and Jael. The Bible has often been accused of being a very patriarchal book, but maybe people think of it that way because the roles of women in Bible are much more subtle than people think.

In the story, Deborah is the voice of God (prophetess), and Jael ends up being the hand of God (tent peg +10), but I think the larger theme is that God is always seeking to do things differently than the way us hu-mans would do it. Women during this period of time weren't valued or considered useful by society, but God still used them as if to say, "Hey, why don't you realize the way that you do things isn't right! Try it my way."

On a side note, I think Barak is also an important side character because his behavior illustrates a big problem with a lot of people who claim to follow God. Sure, I'll lead this army of 10k men, God... just don't send me against those damn iron chariots! They got like 900 of them, yo! Our obedience sometimes only goes so far, in when God gives us a direct command. In the end, God will do as He wills, but it's us who are missing out the opportunity to serve Him, just like Barak missed out on the opportunity to capture and kill Sisera, the man who had been oppressing the Israelites.

what?

that's right, you didn't see this one here before, because i didn't get to blogging it, but i did my reading before. whine whine.

it's kinda weird to see that this is one of the few times that a woman leads Israel. God calls who he wants...

Jael, Heber's wife, dang - a tent peg to the temple of Heber.

deadly tent pegs

Chapter 4 highlights a couple of women who did God's work. Interesting how Barak had to lean on Deborah's strength to have confidence in beating the Canaanite army. On top of that he got the final kill of Sisera taken away from him by a woman (with a tent peg!). Some serious demasculinization goin on. I guess that's what he gets for doubting God's Word.
What's the lesson here? Don't trust a woman with a tent peg!

Rambling thoughts

She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: 'Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.' "

Barak said to her, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go."

"Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman."

Judges 4:8-9

It's a pretty straight forward passage, but I'm certain there was more to that conversation between Deborah and Barak then just that. I'm pretty sure Barak was more than a bit skeptical that Deborah had heard the voice of God. He doubted that what she said would work, that if he did follow what Deborah said, he and his men would be annihialated. He doesn't say that, but his response shows his lack of faith. Deborah can see it plainly, and agrees to his terms, but because of his weak faith, God will hand the glory of the victory to a woman. But reading it through the first time, I glossed over the facts and didn't catch any of the undertones.

I think sometimes we have a hard time relating to whats being said in the bible because it doesn't impact us, they're just words on a page, recounting something that happened long ago and far away. Many times, I read the Bible from a detached, clinical point of view, trying to get something out of it... looking for that golden nugget of the day to apply. I forget that these were real people going through a real, and intense situations... and it loses its impact and relevancy to me.

The words on the page tell you what happened, but they don't quite convey fully the emotions, thoughts and feelings that the people are going through. It's hard to describe, I think it like Mel Gibsons "The Passion of Christ". Sure, we know that Jesus suffered and died on the Cross for our sins. But its still a fairly abstract concept we know, but the full impact those words don't hit you until you see it, in the movie, of Jesus, hanging nailed up by his hands, bleeding to slowly to death, his face contorted in excruciating pain. And that the reason He is there is because of us, and our sins, because He loved us that much. Hard to picture that when just reading it as words on a page.

I guess what I'm saying is that we(me) need to not just read the words on the page, but also to what those words say; about God, about man, man's relationship to God, etc.(exactly what the speaker at the ttic/basic retreat was talking about!). If we(I) don't do this more, we won't be impacted by Gods word and it will just be words on page, not words that change our lives. Bleh, that's about the gist of what was on my mind, so i'll stop rambling now.

judges 3

i think i've always overlooked Shamgar when i read through judges. Damn --- 600 dudes whacked with an oxgoad. That's pretty hardcore. Of course this 2 sentence account begs tons more questions. Why was Israel threatened by 600 philistines? Did civil arbitration fail? Lastly, how dumb do you have to be to be #600? Me, i'm outta there around number, say, 300.

judges 2

¹⁰ After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.

so who's fault is this really? I think that speaks volumes for how responsible we are for the generation after us.

judges 1

i'm struck by the graphic images of warfare as the Jewish people go and pillage Canaan. It reminds me what life is *really* like for the vast majority of people for most of human history: scrapping and clawing for every inch of land, and endless toil for food and shelter. Yup, we're overpriviledged here. And yup, i'm still gonna enjoy wasting time on my PS2.

The Hard Draw

(was supposed to be posted Sunday night, but airplane was late...)

Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.

I'm probably the only one among us who's had to fight with a sword / sword-like weapon, the description in this passage was as impressive as it was a bit graphic. To draw a weapon with your other hand while your right hand is extended (offering tribute) takes some skill, as well as the fact that a foot-long blade is a lot bigger than your average knife. I guess the guards didn't do a very good job of frisking Ehud.

As a sort of personal application, assassinating somebody is a pretty extreme thing to do. I wonder how Ehud felt about the task after God called him to do it... I'm not sure I could easily do something that extreme if God called me to.

God uses all

Ehud was left-handed but used that "handicap" and became a great leader. Hmm I wonder if God can somehow use my lazyness for something great? hehe probably not. I think though that sometimes its good that I have all these faults (which are alot). It definately keeps me humble and I think I relate well with alot of people who have the same faults.

Messages from God

Judges 3

God talks to us through His word, circumstances, answered prayersm, etc... but I don't think I would ever expect God to send me a message in the form of a foot and a half long, double edged sword. I'm pretty sure the King of Moab didn't expect that either. Are we listening to what God is saying to us in love? Or are we waiting till God sends us a message we can't ignore, like Pharoah of Egypt, Eglon King of Moab, or Jonah.

judges 3

What do you know, the Israelites are doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. And when in trouble, they finally cry out to the Lord and He send Ehud, the left-hander with a double-edged sword. This which leads to Ehud killing the evil king in graphic proportions. Then the Israelite butts were saved again...and they took the land from the Moabites.

impacted

I guess there's a reason why God wanted the Israelites to completely wipe out those people who they conquered. So that they wouldn't become influenced/swayed by these evil religions/practices. How am I making that effort to IMPACT other people. Or amy I just the one being impacted.

chong

Judges 2

Its sad that within 2 generations after Joshua, Isreal had forgotten what God had done for them. They turned away from the God of their fathers, and God punished them. If we were in Isreal's shoes, I wonder which generation would we represent...

judges 2:1-5

There's something about receiving a message directly from the Lord (whether it's by angel messenger or directly from God) that strikes a chord with people and change is made.

judges 1

When God says Judah will drive out the Canaanites and take the land first, it will happen. So when God says something will happen, you best believe it.

generational memory

From Judges 2:6-7, 10-13

After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel....

After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.."

Reading this chapter is an interesting set-up to the theme of Judges... people forgetting about God and then they suffer; God continually raising up a leader to save the people and lead them; the leader dies and the people screw things up again. It's sad to see that even after all the amazing things that happened with Joshua, it only took one generation for the poeple to forget everything that happens.

I think for our generation, how often is it the same? That us younger people forget about the struggles and lessons of the generation before us?

Just using CBC as an example, I think I sometimes take having the church building for granted, forgetting all the work it took for my father and his generation to build the addition to the church (gym and west wing)... and even the elderly generation of CBC people before that, who moved the church from Chinatown to Beacon Hill. That generation of people grew so much in their faith by simply trusting God, regardless of who was the leader at the time.

And now here we are again, leaderless, in a "time of testing"... I wonder often what choice our generation will make. Will we the generation that helps to restore and maintain our church... or will we be the generation that betrays it?

Judges 1

Ouch, cutting off someones thumbs and big toes seems pretty harsh. I wonder what the signifigance of that was, other than not letting him be able to pick anything up or run with balance.

chapter 1

Wow, I read the exact same commentary as Dwight and thought what a good book to read in conjunction with spiritual leadership. It's good to sometimes read the faults of bad leaders (i.e. the lack of completely driving out the Canaanites by most of the tribes).
Again piggy backing off of Dwight's comment about not following leaders but following God, wouldn't following God actually lead to being a good leader and thus be followed by other people following you? hehe.
That isn't a total copy of Dwight's post right???

Judges 1... first (new) post!

From Judges 1:27-30.

But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them; but they did subject them to forced labor.

As I was reading the end of this chapter, I found it interesting that many of the Canaanite peoples were not completely driven out of the area where Israel settled... instead, they were subjected to "forced labor". And isn't "forced labor" a nicer term for SLAVERY?

There's a certain irony that after their slavery in Egypt, the nation of Israel was so quick to subject another people group to the same treatment. I guess human nature is cruel like that.