Absalom (part 5)

It is not known how much time elapsed following Absalom’s obviously less than amicable reunion with his father, but “Some time later Absalom managed to acquire a chariot and horses, as well as fifty men to serve as his royal guard” (2 Samuel 15:1).  Slowly but surely, he was going to take up the mantle of kingship that he perceived, perhaps rightly, to have been abandoned by his father.  After all, he could justifiably reason, a man that will not serve justice within his own family to defend the honor of his own daughter and to punish an evil perpetrated by his son, certainly could not be relied upon to perform that task for an entire people. 

Much like was seen with Absalom’s patience with Amnon, having waited two full years between the rape of Tamar and the final delivery of the consequences for those actions, Absalom acted meticulously.  First, there were the royal trappings.  That would be the chariot and horses and a royal guard.  Next would be gaining the trust and respect of the people.  He probably did not imagine that such would be difficult, for if he saw the king as weak then surely the people did as well.  To effect this, “Absalom used to get up early and stand beside the road that led to the city gate.  Whenever anyone came by who had a complaint to bring to the king for arbitration, Absalom would call out to him” (15:2a), determine his city of origin, listen to his complaint, and respond by saying “Look, your claims are legitimate and appropriate.  But there is no representative of the king who will listen to you” (15:3b). 

The natural corollary to this would be for Absalom to say, “If only they would make me a judge in the land!  Then everyone who had a judicial complaint could come to me and I would make sure he receives a just settlement” (15:4).  Naturally, one would have to imagine that Absalom’s commiseration with the complainer would also include his own sharing of his story of injustice and exile because there was no one, and especially not the king, that was truly interested in promoting the cause of justice for the people. 

Absalom continued his efforts at building the respect and loyalty of the people, doing so through both sharing with them his own complaints with the king, while commiserating with them in their complaints.  For the people, these complaints may not have initially been against the king, but in the end, Absalom would be sure that such would be the case.  The increase in his support would have then been due to the mutual sympathy of two aggrieved parties.  It is inescapable to notice that, contrary to all of the deliverers and judges and kings that came before him, Absalom is attempting to gain a leadership position within Israel without being anointed to that position.  He is trying, like Moses, to kill the Egyptian guard in order to “rally the troops” around him.  This will have only succeeded on a short-term basis. 

Absalom also made it a point that he did not act like David.  It is possible that he thought that his father had been condescending towards him when he had had been summoned to the palace to finally appear before the king.  Absalom bowed before David as a sign of humility and respect, and David had merely kissed him.  He was a prodigal of sorts, returned from a distant land, and that was all his father could muster.  One might be tempted here to think of the New Testament parable and a son that had gone so far as to wish his own father dead, and there one also sees a son that was embraced, kissed, and re-seated in a position of honor, all at the hands of a loving and forgiving father.  

In This Is Love (part 1)

In this is love; not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. – 1 John 4:10  (NET)

The author of the works that bear the name of “John” has a great deal to say about the love of the Creator God, and about the way in which that love was shown forth into the world.  The most famous of these statements, of course, is to be found in the third chapter of the Gospel of John, where so many have been able to joyfully read “For this is the way God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (3:16).  In that same presentation of the words of Jesus, the love of that God is juxtaposed with evil, when Jesus says “the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light” (3:19b-20a). 

In the first letter of John, the author appears to take up the theme that had been set forth in the third chapter of the Gospel of John, pitting the love of the Creator God against darkness and evil, writing that “The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil” (3:8).  This said, it is quite natural to think of the works of the devil as that which is productive of darkness and evil.  The revelation (sending) of the Son of God, of course, was a demonstration of the love of Israel’s God; and as has been indicated in the passage with which this study begins, this sending was for the purpose of being the atoning sacrifice for sins. 

Now, if the author has already stated that the Son of God was sent to destroy the works of the devil, then it would seem to be appropriate to replace “atoning sacrifice for our sins” with “destroy the works of the devil”.  This begs the question as to what exactly should be considered to be the works of the devil?  More importantly, to what does the author refer when he makes mention of such things?  Returning to the third chapter, the author writes that “The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous (3:7b).  This is what immediately precedes “The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning” (3:8a).  Thus the author would seem to be here defining sin as the opposite of righteousness. 

The question then becomes, “what is righteousness?”  In the author’s day, “righteousness” was properly understood as “covenant faithfulness.”  One who was righteous was one that carried the status of being faithful to the covenant requirements of Israel’s God.  Contrary to that, sin would be defined as the violation of those covenant requirements.  Here, Jesus is spoken of as one who is righteous, as the author proclaims Jesus as one who carries the status of “faithful to the covenant,” demonstrating covenant faithfulness. 

In contradistinction to one that is faithful to the covenant, the author presents the example of “the devil,” along with those who are “of the devil.”  It is said that they practice sin, or unfaithfulness to the covenant, with this occurring “from the beginning.”  It is upon this definition of terms that the author then asserts the mission of the Son of God, which was “to destroy the works of the devil.” 

Before getting to that point, however, the author has made a few other statements that must be taken into consideration.  Backing up to the end of the second chapter, use is made of the terms that have now been more properly defined.  They are even used in the context of “son-ship,” as the author writes “If you know that He is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by Him” (2:29).  Then, in anticipation of what will be written in the fourth chapter, as the context for understanding the author’s point is provided on a narrative basis rather than through interpretative understanding based on a selective and subjective isolation of verses, one there reads “See what sort of love the Father has given to us; that we should be called God’s children---and indeed we are!” (3:1a)  

Joshua's Battles (part 4)

In the end though, because Jesus is reigning and because He has a people in covenant with Him through their confession of Him as Lord of all, in spite of the evil that can be seen, each and every time a true divine image-bearer (Jesus believer) is successfully able to gain a victory over the powers that attempt to compel a joining in the evil---each time a covenant member engages in an act of sacrifice and love that benefits only the recipient---then and there is one able to overcome the self-idolatry that was the primary reason for mankind’s initial rebellion against the responsibility given by the Creator God.

It is in this way that the covenant people, with a nod to ancient Israel in purpose if not methods, consistently attempts to annihilate the obstinate enemy.  They do so, thankfully, in an exercise of mercy, knowing that before Jesus accepted them into His kingdom by an act of mercy, they stood in the same position as these kings and enemies of Israel, in need of that mercy but deserving of none.  In such engagements, as believers are able to overcome, they begin to rightly bear that long-lost divine image, and in doing so, are able to embody and manifest Jesus’ ultimate victory over evil. 

With each act of mercy and self-sacrificial love, believers point to the fact that Jesus does indeed reign, and that through the mysterious activity of the Holy Spirit and the proclamation of the Gospel (Jesus is Lord) in both word and deed, the power of transformation and renewal and restoration and reconciliation is at work in this world.  Not only is it proven to be at work, but all of these things are reminders that it has been at work ever since the tomb was split open and Resurrection power flooded into this world. 

The Creator God enables His people to harness that flood of power and to carry it into the world through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus---again, in word and in deed.  The doing takes an equal place alongside the teaching (as indicated by the opening of the book of Acts), for why would there be any need to teach if it was not for the purpose of doing that which embodies and furthers the reach of the kingdom of heaven on earth (rather than teaching strictly for the purpose of training people to refrain from doing that which is labeled as “sin”). 

In all of the doing and teaching, as the Resurrection is proclaimed and embraced and brought to bear in the world, there is no denial that evil is pervasive.  Indeed, Israel could not deny that they had to go to battle to gain victories over that which their God pointed to as the embodiment of evil in the land of His promise, so even though it is in a world that has been and is being re-shaped by the message and power of the crucifixion and the Resurrection, why should it be any different for renewed Israel? 

One is also able to read that “Joshua conquered the whole land, just as the Lord had promised” (11:23a).  So too did Jesus, with his conquering also occurring according to what He (and those that believe in Him) believed to be His God’s promise to Him.  The words that follow in Joshua point to the final outcome of Jesus’ conquering, in that the tribes of Israel were assigned the portions of the land for which they were responsible, which they were to rule and steward along with Joshua, with it being said that “the land was free of war” (11:23c).  It seems that Israel was charged with a responsibility to react and respond to evil, in full knowledge of their God’s promise of a victory already won. 

Because the Creator God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and because He does not change, in this day, the renewed Israel that is the covenant people via believing union with the Christ must do the same as their forbears in covenant, reacting and responding to evil in full knowledge of their God’s promise of a victory already won.  In both instances, the fact that there was a foregone conclusion in place did not remove the responsibility to work according to the Creator God’s plan that His covenant-bearers be His lights in the world, reflect His glory to and upon His creation, doing so according to His intentions, plans, and purposes.  That, it could be said, is the essence of the life of faith. 

Joshua's Battles (part 3)

The questions here posed are legitimate.  The same questions existed shortly after Jesus’ day, as His apostles were carrying the message of His paradoxical all-conquering victory via death and Resurrection into the world.  To wit, in the second letter of Peter, one is able to read questioning words like “Where is His promised return?  For ever since our ancestors died, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:4). 

In the face of the message that Jesus had conquered death, hearers in that day were no less able than “astute observers” today (who always think that they are the first to notice that there is evil all around them), to take in their surroundings and see violence, death, and inexplicable destruction, and say “Nothing much has changed.  Things pretty much look the same way that they have always looked.”  It’s a legitimate observation, so how is the question to be answered? 

Naturally, this is a difficult issue that has plagued all that have ever posited a God of love and a victorious Messiah.  As they fought to take possession of that which they believed had been promised to them, Israel would have been tempted to pose the same type of statement and its implied question to their God.  They could easily cast a collective gaze upwards and say, “Lord, You promised this land to our ancestors and to us.  You brought us out of Egypt.  You directed us to cross the Jordan and to re-claim that which you said is ours.  Why don’t these people know this?  You brought plagues on Egypt, parted the Red Sea, destroyed the Egyptian army, and gave us food and water in the wilderness, so why not just drive these people from the land with the obvious mighty power of your outstretched arm?  Would that not be easier?  Would that not be a greater demonstration of your power than us having to carry out these campaigns?” 

One could even imagine the covenant people attempting to employ some reverse psychology on the Creator God by saying, “Seriously, Lord, if you just drive them out, then you will get all the glory.  If we have to do battle against these people and these rulers, then we might get some of the glory too.  We don’t want that.  You don’t really want that, do you?” 

How might the God of Israel be disposed to respond to such thinking?  After all (and putting aside the potential ploy at reverse psychology), based on the reported experience of Israel in their journey out of and from Egypt, these are legitimate points.  Returning then to the eleventh chapter of Joshua so as to pick up where this study left off, and in response to the concerns of the covenant people of the Creator God, it is said that “the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel.  He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as He had instructed Moses” (11:20). 

Without getting sidetracked by the thought that this, in isolation, paints the picture of something less than a loving God, one finds that though the land had been given to Israel, and though the people of the land had been handed over to Israel, the Creator God wanted His people to annihilate them (though some could certainly see such reports as after-the-fact justification).  Regardless, the narrative suggests that Israel’s God did in fact desire that His people have a hand in the battle. 

Indeed, Scripture seems to suggest that the Creator God wanted to work through His people and empower His people to come alongside Him and work with Him to deal with and overcome that which despoiled, defaced, and decimated their land of promise---that first part of the creation that was to be redeemed through the care and stewardship of His covenant people.  In the end then, Israel should have been compelled to point to their God, and the power of their promise-making God, as the means by which they emerged victorious. 

Marching Up From Gilgal (part 1 of 2)

So Joshua and his whole army, including the bravest warriors, marched up from Gilgal. – Joshua 10:7  (NET)

Gilgal was the place to which the Israelite nation first came after crossing the Jordan River and entering into their land of promise, doing so under the leadership of Joshua.  According to the Scriptural narrative as reported in the book of Joshua, it was at Gilgal that the men of Israel were circumcised, with this done in accordance with the terms of the Abrahamic covenant that has been effectively

re-confirmed and substantially expanded upon, through Moses at Mount Sinai.  With the circumcisions having been undertaken, “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have taken away the disgrace of Egypt from you’.” (5:9a)  The follow-up to that statement is that “the place is called Gilgal even to this day” (5:9b). 

The root of the word “Gilgal” is “galal,” which expresses the idea of something round, or circular, or rolling.  Because of this, the phrase “taken away” is sometimes translated or considered as “rolled away.”  The same root is to be found in the word “Galilee,” with this said to be related to the fact that the cities of the Galilee were set around the lake, in something of a circuit. 

Another word that is closely related to Gilgal is “Golgotha.”  The close relations occurs because of a shared root word.  Golgotha, of course, was the place where Jesus was crucified.  In Aramaic, the word is “Gulgoltha,” which becomes “Golgotha” in Greek.  The sharing of the root word “galal” occurs because of the occurrence of galal in the Hebrew word for “skull,” which is “gulgoluth.”  The “galal” in “gulgoluth,” presumably, is connected to the roundness of the human skull. 

Because of the close connection between Gilgal and Golgotha, together with the fact that “Joshua” or “Yeshua” is the Hebrew form of the name “Jesus,” close parallels are able to be drawn between the events that occur in connection with the place called Gilgal, and the events that occurred in connection with the place that is called Golgotha.  The natural and immediate connection to make is that just as the Creator God is said to have rolled away or taken away the disgrace of Egypt from off of His covenant people at that place, so too, within the single continuous narrative that is communicated via the Scriptures in which the ministry of Jesus and the reflections upon His ministry make sense, did He remove (roll away, take away) the disgrace of sin (failure to bear the divine image---exile from His purposes for them) from off of the new covenant people by means of the cross. 

While this should certainly be a cause for rejoicing amongst those that find themselves joining the people of the covenant through belief in Jesus as Messiah, that is not the focus of this study.  Rather, this study looks to the tenth chapter of Joshua, where “Joshua and his whole army, including the bravest warriors” (10:7a), can be found marching up from Gilgal to do battle with the five Amorite kings.

There, it is said that “The Lord told Joshua, ‘Don’t be afraid of them, for I am handing them over to you.  Not one of them can resist you’.” (10:8)  So just as Joshua marched up from Gilgal, with brave warriors in tow, so too does Jesus march up from Golgotha, with His saints, to do battle with the forces of evil.  Yes, those that have cast their allegiance with Him as King and Lord of all, go forth in the power of the Resurrection, but do so on the basis of what took place at the cross.  

Marring Of A Servant (part 2)

As the implications of the suffering servant and its relation to both Israel and humanity are considered, one does well to bear in mind that the Creator God referred to Israel as His firstborn son, and that Israel can also be thought of as a replacement for Adam---chosen as a people that would be the specific means by which the Creator God would deal with the problem of evil in the world. 

However, because their narrative suggests that they failed to rightly act in and for the world as the image of their covenant God, it would eventually be the person of suffering servant, the messianic Son of God that would be looked upon as the Creator God’s firstborn son (Son of God and firstborn son being titular rather than literal, which is how these terms would have been understood in the ancient near east and in the world of Jesus’ day), that would come to be understood as the actual representation of the divine image in and for the world, completely fulfilling the role that was rejected by Adam (the one originally looked upon as the son of the Creator God, as indicated quite notably by Luke). 

Tying the firstborn, divine-image-representing suffering servant with Israel’s self-understanding at the time of Isaiah, as dictated by the Torah narrative, it is understood that the suffering servant becomes marred so as to share in the horror-inducing cursing of Israel, as it is realized that this is a seminal part of his being their representative.  It is the marring that allows him to stand in the place of all peoples, as representative of a marred humanity as well. 

Thinking about these things in this way allows an observer to consider that not only was the messiah of Israel to be the servant of the Creator God, but that Israel was to be their God’s servant, and that mankind as a whole was also supposed to be the servant of that same God.  Mankind, in Adam, was the first to be marred, taking the whole of the good creation with him.  Israel followed Adam’s footsteps in that marring. 

That being the case according to the historical narrative by which Isaiah’s worldview makes sense, it then also makes sense that the suffering servant, as representative of both Israel and humanity, had to undergo a marring as well.  By this, the suffering servant (the suffering servant would eventually be recognized as messiah, and therefore Jesus would eventually be read back into the suffering servant) would be able to sympathize with the situation and ultimately redeem both Israel and mankind (and then all of creation by extension) from out of that state of cursed marring.        

Putting these thoughts in play allow for a movement to the second half of the theme text, and to the suggestion that the suffering servant of Israel will “startle many nations” (Isaiah 52:15b).  When this startling of the nations is considered, one cannot help but think about the statement in the book of Acts, in reference to the preaching of the Gospel of a crucified and resurrected Jesus as the Christ (messiah) by Paul and Silas, concerning the “people who have stirred up trouble throughout the world” (17:6a).  That stirring up of trouble is often rendered as “turning the world upside down.”  It could be said that Rome itself was startled by this world-transforming message.  

Broken The Permanent Treaty (part 1 of 2)

The earth is defiled by its inhabitants, for they have violated laws, disregarded the regulation, and broken the permanent treaty. – Isaiah 24:5  (NET)

Before one reaches the verse above, one also encounters the verses which state that “The earth will be completely devastated and thoroughly ransacked.  For the Lord has decreed this judgment.  The earth dries up and withers; the prominent people of the earth fade away” (24:3-4).  Though this was clearly not the Creator God’s intention for His good creation, this is the situation wrought by man’s rebellion in the garden.  Man was able to have this impact on the earth because He is the creature made in God’s image (the divine image-bearer).  Man was specifically tasked by God and was given the responsibility to steward the creation---to steward it wisely as the vice-regent of the Creator God---and failed to do so, introducing evil and its effects into the world. 

In the Scriptural narrative, it is Adam’s faithlessness to what were his God-given responsibilities and limitations by which the earth becomes defiled.  The narrative insists that Adam willfully and egregiously violated the law that had been given to him by his Creator.  Tying this together with what is offered by Isaiah, it can be said that he most certainly disregarded the regulation.  The covenant God of Israel had designed His creation to be permanently good, and for man to tend His good creation in perpetuity, but that permanence proved to be fleeting.  As Isaiah writes, mankind broke “the permanent treaty.” 

Another rendering of the Hebrew that is here translated “permanent treaty” would be “the everlasting covenant.”  Adam, representing all mankind, violated the everlasting covenant of the Creator God.  Naturally, any talk of covenant would immediately call to mind the covenant governing the relationship between Israel and its God.  What was the result of this defiling, violation, disregarding, and breaking?  “To the woman He said, ‘I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children.  You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you’.  But to Adam He said, ‘Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat from it,” cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.  It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat of the grain of the field.  By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return’.” (Genesis 3:16-19) 

Yes, the Lord decreed this judgment.  The earth would be devastated and ransacked by thorns and thistles and pain and hostility.  Though the earth had produced bountifully, in effect it would now be dried up and withered.  Man would indeed fade away into dust.  It is in the stream of identity that flows from this understanding of their story that begins with Adam in which Isaiah would write, “So a treaty curse devours the earth; its inhabitants pay for their guilt.  This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, and are reduced to just a handful of people” (24:6).  Isaiah, whose worldview is shaped by the Adam story and all that flows from it, appears to indicate that Israel is effectively recapitulating the fall of Adam, failing in their stewarding responsibilities and their everlasting covenant.  

Thus, as one continues to focus in on what occurred with Adam, so as to read or hear Isaiah from within the sweep of the Scriptural narrative, it can be seen that God cursed the earth because of the broken treaty, the ignored agreement, the disregarded covenant.  As a result, man has continually suffered from death and decay and all that goes with man stepping outside of the bounds of God’s covenant.  

Splendor & Amazing Deeds (part 1 of 2)

Tell the nations about His splendor!  Tell all the nations about His amazing deeds! – Psalm 96:3  (NET)

Why does the Psalmist implore the people of the Creator God to “tell the nations” about Him?  The given answer is “For the Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise; He is more awesome than all gods” (96:4).  Along those same lines, the Psalmist goes on to exclaim, “For all the gods of the nations are worthless” (96:5a).  What gods were those?  Well, the history of religions throughout the world shows us the answer, as we see men worshiping the moon, the sun, the stars, the planets, comets and even the sky itself, ascribing divine powers and attributes, mythologies and legends, to such things. 

Indeed, with an appropriate sense of wonder and awe, men looked to the heavens and imagined that the things that filled their view, and even the things that filled the sky, such as lightning and thunder and even the rain itself in some cases, were there to be worshiped, though this be inappropriate.  The correct response would have been to ascribe praise and worship to the one that created these things, setting celestial phenomena in motion.  It is with such thoughts in mind that we hear the Psalmist saying, “but the Lord made the sky” (96:5b).  We can hear the writer mocking the idea of worshiping the works of the hands of their Creator God and saying, “You think thunder and lightning is impressive?  You think that the sun and moon are to be worshiped because of the light that they give?”  His rejoinder to that is “Majestic splendor emanates from Him” (96:6a).

As we move through this Psalm, and if we are to hear it rightly, it is incumbent upon us to recognize the underlying emphasis on the covenant.  The covenant, of course, as Scripture presents it, was for the purpose of causing the Creator God’s chosen people---the ones that would come to have this Psalm as part of their Holy writ---to be a blessing to all peoples.  The insistence upon the telling of His splendor and the telling of His amazing deeds was partly for the purpose of dragging men away from the idolatrous worship of the creation rather than the worship of the Creator, and to re-direct them from the ongoing self-subjugation of divine image-bearers to that which was not created in the image of the Creator God, with that inappropriate subjugation being yet another part of evil’s distortion of God’s good, created order. 

From the moment that the Creator God metaphorically laid hands upon Abraham (Abram) and set Him apart for His covenant purposes, that same God intended the message of His covenant faithfulness to be shed abroad to all the peoples of the world.  This can most assuredly be seen in the strategic positioning of Abraham, in the land of Canaan at the crossroads of the world, that would enable him to interact with all the peoples of the world as they crossed the sands of the middle east.  At least part of Abraham’s message, as the recipient and bearer of the covenant, was to be the testimony of the promises of His faithful God that had laid upon him a responsibility to be a blessing and to reflect the glory of the Creator God into the world (not unlike the charge that was understood to have been given to Adam---remember, the Psalmist and those that would hear this Psalm, would do so with the stories of Adam and Abraham as part of their collective memory and self-understanding). 

Unfortunately, as time progressed, and even though the position of the covenant-bearers would be unchanged, this message became isolated.  The message of the providential Creator God became restricted.  This God’s people, Israel, who were charged with being light-bearers for the purpose of the increase of God’s glory, became veritable cities on a hill that were actually hidden, and candles that had been lit and actually placed under a basket (to borrow New Testament imagery that fell from the lips of Jesus).  This happened in spite of their possession and memorization and recitation of Psalms such as this one, in which God’s all-nations plan and intention is clearly set forth. 

Beginning Of Deliverance (part 2 of 2)

What follows?  As the story goes, “The Lord’s angelic messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘You are infertile and childless, but you will conceive and have a son” (Judges 13:3).  Clearly, this is understood to be a miraculous intervention.  Though infertile, this woman was promised a son.  This is not an uncommon story within Israel’s controlling narrative.  In the midst of cursing (both nationally and individually), the Creator God breaks in and chooses to render a blessing to one of His chosen people.  The messenger repeated the report, saying “Look, you will conceive and have a son” (13:5a), adding “You must never cut his hair, for the child will be dedicated to God from birth” (13:5b). 

With that said, we of course find that we are in the midst of the story of Samson.  It is said of him that “He will begin to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines” (13:5c).  In this, we are able to hear the message of God’s salvation, not just in that He will be providing rescue and deliverance for His people Israel, but from our post-Christ event position, we can hear the message of deliverance for those that would come to be His covenant people through believing and declaring that Jesus is Lord through (faith).  In addition to that, we also hear the message of the salvation of the Creator God that is going to be extended to His once very good creation.  How so? 

As can be here seen, it is in the midst of Israel’s evil that God enters in for the purpose of providing His blessing.  If we make a wider application, appropriately thinking of Israel’s story (both as a people and as a land as a microcosm of all peoples and the entire creation), we can look to Israel as being representative of all peoples.  With that, we can then transpose the Samson story to see the promised son as Jesus, as the same Creator God (that is to be understood through the Israelites narrative that stretches back to the creation and Adam) breaks in to history amidst a race of people condemned to experience nothing beyond the wrath of God (as understood by Israel---the Levitical and Deuteronomic curses?), to deliver the blessing of His salvation---the renewal, re-creation, restoration, and life of the age to come in the here and now to be had through union with Christ---to people of all nations. 

In the Christ (a very Samson-like figure) and in His people, the kingdom of heaven has been established on earth, and is daily extended as His lordship is declared over all rulers and all powers.  Through His people, which is the renewed Israel under the new covenant marker of faith in Jesus as Messiah and Lord of all, the Creator God demonstrates His power, as it flows through His people as vessels for the communication of the Gospel in both word and deed, as they participate in His purposes for His creation.  Just as we can see the gift of a Son into the midst of fallen humanity as God’s faithful action for the salvation (deliverance from exile from the ability to rightly bear the divine image) of those that He declared to be His people from before the foundation of the world (all peoples, not national Israel alone---the inclusion of Gentiles in the covenant family was not a surprise, but always God’s intention, as is fairly clear from the Abraham story and the initial announcement of the covenant), we can also see a foreshadowing of God’s intention to restore and renew a world of His creation that was marred by that fall, when we read about the fact that this promised son would “begin to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines.” 

Through Samson, there would not be a complete deliverance, but a beginning.  So too can we understand, through the power that is unleashed in a marred world by the proclamation of the Gospel, as a measure of that power that raised up Jesus from the dead is graciously shared, by the Spirit of God, through His people, that even the creation itself is beginning to be delivered from the power of death under which it is held and under which it groans.  Creation’s complete renewal will be consummated upon Christ’s return, in conjunction with the resurrection of His people, as they are brought forth into a renewed physicality in the exact same way that Jesus was brought forth from the grave.  This beginning of the deliverance of creation (His people and this world) from the bondage of death to which it was unwillingly subjected by mankind’s rebellion against God, occurs because of the deliverance from that same bondage that is realized by those that share in eternal life, here and now, through their union with Christ.   

Beginning Of Deliverance (part 1 of 2)

 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years. – Judges 13:1  (NET)

Round and round they went.  With the use of “again,” it appears that the author wants to make it clear that this was an almost never ending cycle for Israel.  Israel did evil, they were turned over to their enemies, they cried out for a deliverer, and their God is understood to have provided them with a measure of redemption which would eventually be forgotten and the cycle would begin again.  It is both quite unfortunate, along with being the pronounced and prominent theme of the historical book of the Judges. 

Prior to the subjection to the Philistines that is implied in the text, Israel has been subjected to Aram-Naharaim (3:8), to Moab (3:12), to King Jabin of Canaan (4:2), to Midian (6:1), to the Philistines and Ammonites concurrently (10:7), and now here in the thirteenth chapter, to the Philistines alone.  This time it will be an extended period of time, forty years, which would be designed to call to mind a number of things from what would have been the collective and self-defining historical narrative tradition of Israel (forty days of rain in the flood story, Isaac taking a wife at the age of forty, the forty years of wilderness wandering, Moses’ forty days on the mountain, and more).  Forty, clearly, is a significant number that will resound throughout Israel’s history.  With that in mind, we can venture forth to see what can be learned from the example of Israel that has been set before us.

After the initial information about the then-current situation that is provided in the first verse of the thirteenth chapter, we quickly come to learn about “a man named Manoah from Zorah, from the Danite tribe” (13:2a).  Sadly, we are informed that “His wife was infertile and childless” (13:2b).  Now, since we must always endeavor to keep in mind that one of the overarching and underlying and dominant themes of the story of Scripture is the faithfulness of Israel’s God, and that this faithfulness is demonstrated within the controlling narrative of that God’s covenants, our learning about the condition of Manoah’s wife, together with the fact of Israel’s return to evil (idolatry, violation of the Sabbaths, non-reverence of the Lord’s sanctuary), should cause our thoughts to turn to the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy (or at least the then-prevailing oral tradition that would eventually come to be codified in those works) and to the promises of their God (the blessings and the curses) that are associated with His covenant with Israel. 

If we were to look through the list of curses that are associated with the people of the covenant God doing evil (failing to respond to the grace of their God in the prescribed manner, and thereby bringing dishonor and shame to their God), though the whole of which would be brought to mind by mention of subjection to another people, we would also see that such subjection could be considered the pinnacle of the experience of cursing.  Ironically, if the covenant was kept, God intended Israel to be blessed by and be a blessing to all peoples.  Failure would lead to the exact opposite situation. 

In line with mention of a childless woman, even though infertility and a dearth of children are not specifically named in the list of curses that Israel’s God promised to bring upon His covenant people if they failed in their covenant responsibilities, we do find God promising the blessing of greatly multiplying children (Deuteronomy 28:11) for their faithfulness to the covenant and its concurrent responsibilities.  So by a natural and logical extension, failure and evil would lead to the opposite of the multiplying of children, which would be barrenness and childlessness. 

Faithfully Turned Over & Overwhelmed (part 2 of 2)

How do the implications of Leviticus and Deuteronomy relate to the text with which we began?  Israel is said to have done evil, and is subsequently subjected to Midian.  This is to be understood and being in accordance with the covenant of their Creator God.  So having done evil, it can be said that the Lord faithfully turned Israel over to Midian.  Faithfully?  Yes, for Israel’s God is understood to be faithful to His promises.  If He was not, and if the Scriptural record could not be looked to as the record of that faithfulness, then Israel would not be recognize Him as a God that was worthy of trust. 

The Scriptural narrative informs Israel that through Moses, God had warned His people, saying “if you ignore the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force” (Deuteronomy 28:15).  Moses begins outlining curses and comes to the point where he says, “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies” (28:25a), which sounds suspiciously like being turned over to and overwhelmed by Midian. 

With our return here to Judges then, we read that “Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites… would attack them.  They invaded the land and devoured its crops…  They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, and they took away the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.  When they invaded… they were as thick as locusts… They came to devour the land” (6:3-5).  Looking again to the curse tradition as recorded in Deuteronomy, in an effort to make sense of the plight of Israel, what do we find?  “You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it.  Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it.  Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you.  Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you” (28:30b-31).  In Judges we can read that their invaders were as thick as locusts that devour the land, and in Deuteronomy, we find that “You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it” (28:38).  Clearly, the author of Judges well understood the terms of God’s covenant, along with His blessings and curses---his worldview shaped by the Levitical and Deuteronomic traditions.   

Yes, and that tradition includes the sense that their God will fulfill His promises.  The faithfulness of Israel’s God is not limited to doing only what His covenant people will view and agree upon as good (blessings), though all things to which God subjects His people (even His curses) are ultimately for the working of His good.  The words of this message are not offered as a warning, but rather, as a reminder of the steadfast, promise giving and promise fulfilling nature of that God.  Though we can read about His people suffering for their failure to perform as God would have had them perform in accordance with His covenant with them, and though we can read about the curses that could and would come upon His people as a result of those failures, and though we can certainly accept them as warnings about the wrath of that God in response to sin (word and deed not in keeping with His covenant, failure to bear the divine image), we are best served by letting these things remind us of the steadfast love and faithfulness of the God that reached out and chose a people for Himself---a renewed Israel---by and through which to bring the blessings of that God into the world. 

Faithfully Turned Over & Overwhelmed (part 1 of 2)

The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord turned them over to Midian for several years.  The Midianites overwhelmed Israel. – Judges 6:1-2a  (NET)

Along with many other things, including being something of a story or script that the people of the covenant are expected to understand and use to guide their actions in and for this world, the Bible can certainly be understood as the record of the covenant faithfulness of the Creator God of Israel.  The Hebrew Scriptures reflect the way that Israel understood and came to understand their God.  With the composition and collection of these writings, Israel would possess something that served as a constant reminder and evidence of His faithfulness to His covenant, of His faithfulness to His covenant people, and of His faithfulness to His covenant promises.  The idea of a covenant-making-and-keeping-God would be top of mind for a member of the Israelite people, so that even though a modern reader may miss it at first glance, what is to be found in this verse points back to the covenant and faithfulness of Israel’s God. 

What is to be understood when we read that “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight”?  As we comb through the book of Judges, we find a highly representative example that “The Israelites did evil before the Lord by worshiping the Baals.  They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors Who brought them out of the land of Egypt.  They followed other gods…  They worshiped them and made the Lord angry.  They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.” (2:11-13).  This made the Lord “furious with Israel” (2:14a).  We also find that “they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them” (2:17b).  We read this while remembering that this narrative will be compiled after the fact, as part of the story by which later generations would define themselves.  

It is said that “When a leader died, the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one.  They would follow after other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them” (2:19a).  To drive the point home further, the writer repeats himself, saying “The Lord was furious with Israel” (2:20a).  What was the basis for the fury?  Naturally, it can be presumed that it was the idolatry, but more specifically, it is said that it was because “This nation has violated the terms of the agreement I made with their ancestors by disobeying Me” (2:20b).  This is covenant language.  We can take these words from the second chapter, safely apply them to the sixth chapter, surmise that Israel’s doing of evil was something along these lines, and rightly understand the coming execution of the Lord’s fury. 

Now, when we read about terms of agreement with ancestors in conjunction with references to being brought out of the land of Egypt, we should be mindful of what it was that their God was said to have demanded of His people following the exodus, which was the ultimate defining event for the nation.  In the twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus (26:1-2), which may very well have been composed after the time period of the stories of the book of Judges (the Israelites of that period may not have had a written Leviticus as a guide, but written accounts of both, all understood together and instrumental in the self-definition of the covenant people and their relationship with their God, would certainly have been available to Israel at the time of Jesus, along with the earliest members of renewed Israel that is the people of the covenant through belief in Jesus as Lord,), we find Israel’s God insisting that His people refrain from idolatry, that they keep His Sabbaths, and that they reverence His sanctuary (the place of His presence).  Thus, even if there was not a composed Leviticus at the time of the Judges, the author of the Judges assesses the behavior of the people according to the basic principles of honoring their God that are offered therein, thereby suggesting at least a strong oral tradition. 

If they were to have success in these areas, then they would experience the blessings that are to be found outlined in the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, which is another text, possibly composed later than Judges, but which offers thoughts of which the author of Judges seems to be aware.  On the other hand, failure in these areas would bring the curses that are to be found in the same chapter.  Regardless of the time of composition, it seems obvious that Israel’s actions in the Judges time period are to be judged against the ideals of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  Additionally, their experience is explained as the response of their God, with that response understood in accordance with those same ideals.