Bible in 90, Day 19: Right in our own eyes

Judges 15-Ruth-1 Samuel 2

*image courtesy of jeffphoto at www.sxc.hu

So that last part of Judges is pretty rough huh?  Did you find yourself reading and thinking, “How in the world could they do these things?!”  How is it that the people who not long ago were begging Joshua to accept their vow to follow the Lord (Joshua 24:19-22) were now killing, raping, mutilating, and generally running amok?  The answer is found repeatedly throughout Judges (17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25) – “There was no king in Israel.  Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Mark Driscoll talked about this in a sermon last year.  In that sermon, he said that without God, we are capable of anything.  He’s right.  The old cliché “But for the grace of God, there go I,” holds true.  If we totally abandoned ourselves to our sinful desires, held no regard for the things of God, and kept ourselves outside of the means of His grace, we might be shocked at what we would be capable of.

Oddly, it is in the midst of this period that the story of Ruth is told (Ruth 1:1).  In the original Hebrew ordering of the books of what we call the Old Testament, Ruth follows right after Proverbs.  Proverbs 31 talks about the virtuous woman, and then is followed by an example of such a woman – Ruth.  It is noteworthy, and speaks to Ruth’s character that her story should shine in the midst of the dark, perverse time she lived in.  Interestingly, Ruth is a not a Jewish woman!  The most faithful and noble character in this story is a Gentile!  Ruth has the honor of being one of only two women to have a book of the Bible named for them (Esther is the other), as well as being one of a handful of women who are mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (The others are Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba, and Mary – Matthew 1).

After this story, we are introduced to a new character, Samuel, and a new era in Israel’s history.  The wickedness continues into 1 Samuel, and is found now in the priesthood!  But God has a plan in place to bring Israel back to him.  We see the first peeks of this plan as God honors Hannah’s prayer and brings forth a very special son.  “Samuel” is Hebrew for “God hears/heard” and will be an ironic pun used later when God calls him as a young boy.

There are at least two things we can take from the theme we’ve examined today.  The first is that God is always working out His plan.  No matter how dark and twisted the times may get, God is still on the Throne (see Day 4)!  God kept enough people for Himself to maintain the holy line of the Messiah and bring about a beautiful story such as Ruth’s.

Second, is that we must never allow the culture or our sinful selves to determine our values.  Everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes in Israel.  How similar this is to our culture today!  “If it feels good, do it!”  “I’m ok, and you’re ok, and that’s ok!”  “It’s all relative.”  We do not live a day of firm moral conviction and undeniable truth.  We live in a day of lax ethics, uncertainty, pride, and selfishness.  We are not the only society to raise our own views and thoughts above everything and everyone else.  Rome did it, France did it, even Israel did it!

Let us never assume that 50% + 1 equals truth or right.  Let us never assume that our own views, formulated in the selfishness of our own hearts are the best.  Let us look to God and His Word for what is good and just, what is evil and corrupt.  Let us not do merely what is right in our own eyes, but let us walk humbly before our God.

Bible in 90, Day 18: Finishing well

Judges 3-15

*image courtesy of benjoosen at www.sxc.hu

I hope you read before breakfast today!  There was some gory stuff today!  Can I just say that Ehud is one of my favorite Bible characters?  I mean, you have to be really determined to stick a guy so hard with your sword that it pokes through his back and the handle gets sucked in by his belly fat!  And how about Jael.  She nailed his head to the ground with a tent peg!

Talk about girl power!

One of the more well-known characters in the book of Judges is Gideon.  We read the story of his entire life today.  Now, most of us are familiar with the story of Gideon and his fleece (Judges 6:33-40).  But how many of us know about Gideon’s gold robe?  If you read Judges 6-7, you only get part of the story of Gideon’s life.  You see him start as a man in hiding, called out by God to be a mighty man of valor (Judges 6:12), testing the call with the fleece, and eventually leading his special ops team in victory against the Midianites.

But what is his legacy?

If you read chapters 8-9, you’ll find out.  Part of his legacy is Abimelech, his son who brought so much controversy and death in Israel.  In Judges 8:22-35, Gideon declares that neither he nor his son will rule of the people, but that God will rule over them.  It is interesting then that he names the son he has by a concubine “Abimelech.”  You see, Abimelech is Hebrew for “my father (abi) is king (melech).”

This is why you should learn Hebrew… just sayin’

He declared at first that he would not presume to rule God’s people in His stead, but then names his child as though he were already doing just that.  Years later, Abimelech takes up this trend by trying to make himself king.  The time of war and partial anarchy that followed is part of Gideon’s legacy.

Then there’s the gold robe…

Rather than taking the kingship, Gideon only took one earring from each soldier’s plunder.  They were glad to give it!  He used the gold to make an ephod.  An ephod was a priestly robe (Exodus 28:6-14).  Now, it’s not clear from the text exactly why he made it, or what he did with it other than put it in his hometown of Ophrah.  What we do know from the text is that later, the Israelites began worshiping the gold ephod and it was a snare to Gideon’s family.  Israel had a habit of doing such things (2 Kings 18:4, cf. Numbers 21:4-8).  It seems that until the Exile, idol worship was Israel’s most common sin.  Gideon, whether intentionally or not, did not help them in this.  We can infer from the statement in 8:35 that Gideon was still alive when the worship began, yet he did not stop them.  The man who had chopped down an Asherah pole at the Lord’s command (Judges 6:24-32) had set up his own idol for the people to worship.

As important as it is to begin your journey well by choosing to walk in the ways of the Lord, it is equally important to stay on that path till the end.  I have known a few men in my short life who walked faithfully with God right up to the moment of their death.  There have been others, however, who have fallen tragically, some late in life.  Unfortunately, a lifetime of God-honoring faith and action can be overshadowed and virtually erased by one bad choice.  In Christ, there is no more condemnation (Romans 8:1-3).  But this does not mean that we may not ruin our testimony and drag the name of Christ through the mud with our own (1 Corinthians 6:15).

Let us run with endurance the race set before us (Hebrews 12:1).  Let us not grow weary in doing what is right (2 Thessalonians 3:13).  Let us not be foolish enough to think that though we began this journey by the work of the Spirit that we can continue it under our own power (Galatians 3:3).

We have begun well, let us finish well!

Bible in 90, Day 17: Promises Kept

Joshua 15 – Judges 3

*image courtesy of asifthebes at www.sxc.hu

There are several promises that are fulfilled and kept throughout today’s passage.  It begins in 21:43-35 where the narrator reports that God fulfilled every one of His promises about the Land.  Chapter 22 shows more promises kept as the Eastern Tribes return home.  They had promised to stay with the armies of Israel until the Land had been subdued before they would settle in their own inheritance across the Jordan.  Here, we see that duty being fulfilled and the Eastern tribes being released from their responsibilities.  They even remain faithful and ensure that future generations will remain faithful to the Lord.  Then in  24:29-32, we see that the Israelites who swore to follow the Lord did that for the entire lifetime and Joshua and the elders who outlived him.  Also, the bones of Joseph were buried exactly where they were supposed to be.  Joseph had told his children to carry his bones back to the Promised Land when God delivered them, and Moses was careful to be sure that the bones were carried with them (Genesis 50:25; Exodus 13:19).

Imagine the commitments involved here.  First of all, Moses was able to locate the bones of Joseph some 400 years after his death.  Then, the Israelites kept up with them, carrying them from place to place during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  But Joseph’s wishes were carried out.

Let’s also think about the men of the Eastern Tribes.  They had been given their inheritance, the land across the Jordan.  It must have been tough for them to continue fighting while their families waited at home for them in their new land.  It must have been difficult for the families to let them go and wonder if they would ever see them again.  But their commitments were firm.  They honored this difficult pledge to continue helping their fellow Israelites.

If only we would take our vows and commitments as seriously today!  Jesus told us to mean what we say.  We should not even need to swear oaths because our word should be honorable and mean something (Matthew 5:33-37).  Let us be men and women of our word.  Let us honor our commitments, whether large or small.