Tag: judges

DEBORAH JUDGES 4-5

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

After Joshua died and his generation (the ones who conquered Canaan) died, there “arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel” (2:10). They did not utterly destroy all the Canaanites and their altars (2:1-3) in their respective 12 land divisions even though they could have b/c the Canaanite fighting forces had been destroyed in the 7 years under Joshua. B/c of their disobedience, God left the Canaanite nations as a thorn in the side of Israel, and their gods as a snare to tempt them to idolatry (2:3; 3:1-6). They also intermarried with them, which was forbidden by the Lord (3:6; Deut 7:3,4).

This led to a cycle repeated several times in Judges as described in 2:11-23:

1. Sin: Israel fell into sin and idolatry;

2. Servitude: God let their enemies oppress them;

3. Sorrow: Israel cried out to God for help;

4. Salvation: God would raise up a judge to defeat their enemies, usually followed by a period of peace.

Here is a summary of the different Canaanite oppressions, the judges whom God raised up, and years of rest each judge provided Israel before the cycle repeated itself. The total period of the Judges probably around 300 years with some of the judges overlapping.

Not much on the first 3 judges. The 1st judge Othniel (Caleb’s younger brother) “killed the Mesopotamian king Cushan-rishathaim. The 2nd judge Ehud killed the Moabite king Eglon after 18 years of Moabite oppression. He went to Eglon, pretending to have a secret message from God. Eglon cleared the room. Ehud was left handed, so picture him putting his right hand up to his mouth as if giving a secret message in the ear of Eglon, while he pulled out an 18″ double edged sword that he had hidden on his right thigh under his clothes. Eglon’s servants had not done a good job searching Ehud for weapons. Eglon was very fat. Ehud stuck the 18” sword so deep into Eglon’s belly that the sword was no longer visible in the fat. Ehud sneaked out. Ehud’s servants delayed entering the room, thinking the king was “relieving himself in the closet of his cool chamber”. The delay allowed Ehud time to escape. He mounted an army and defeated the Moabites. The 3rd judge Shamgar is known for killing 600 Philistines with an oxgoad (a long stick with a pointed end used to prod oxen along). Kinda like Samson killed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.

I want to focus on the story of the 4th judge, Deborah in Judges 4-5.

The Canaanite king Jabin and his commander Sisera had oppressed Israel for 20 long years. Israel was no match for the military strength of Jabin who had 900 chariots of iron (the Israelites probably had no chariots and very few crude weapons as the Philistines would have destroyed all those). Deborah was both a prophetess and a judge (judging Israel under a palm tree). Apparently there were no men willing to stand up to Jabin. Deborah had to challenge Balak to gather an army of 10,000 men and she would draw out Sisera to the river Kishon. 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Deborah went with Barak to the river to meet Sisera’s army and chariots. We learn from Deborah’s victory song in ch 5 that apparently the Lord heavy rains and all the 900 chariots got bogged down and could not move. Sisera’s army and chariots were defeated, “not a man was left”, and Sisera fled on foot. He fled to what he thought was the safety of the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber (there was peace between Jabin and Heber). Sisera must have been exhausted. Jael gave him some milk and told him to sleep. She was to guard the entrance in case Israelite soldiers came. While he was in deep sleep, she took a tent peg and drove it through his temple down into the ground. He must have died immediately without a struggle. We don’t know why Jael did this or what her husband Heber would say when he found out about what Jael had done b/c that would surely break the peace between their nations. When Barak arrived, Jael showed him the body of Sisera in the tent. Just as Deborah had predicted, the glory of victory went to a woman, Jael, and not Barak. Israel went on to destroy Jabin, king of Canaan.

Thus Deborah goes down in history as the only woman judge. Why did God choose a woman judge? B/c there were apparently no men with the courage to stand up to Jabin. Apparently there were not even any men like Gideon who. was very reluctant to fight the Midianites but after several signs given him by God he found the courage to defeat them with 300 men against 135,000 Midianites. Barak did answer the challenge, but only if Deborah would go with him to fight. Not very courageous (but at least he did go fight). The glory of victory would go to Jael, not Barak.

That might bring up a lot of questions. I think the Bible is pretty clear about what God expects. He created Eve to be a “helper” to Adam. Part of the curse put on Eve b/c of her sin was that “her husband would rule over her” (Gen 3:16). That makes sense since the electrician’s apprentice helper is in submission to the electrician. 1 Peter 3:1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

That doesn’t meant that women are inferior to men in any way, mentally or spiritually. Peter does go on to say 7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you[a] of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. In what way is the woman the “weaker vessel”? This is from gotquestions.org. “What does it mean that the wife is a “weaker vessel”? The passage does not specifically say. There are many speculations. The most common proposal is that 1 Peter 3:7 is referring to physical weakness since the vast majority of husbands are significantly physically stronger than their wives. Some interpreters see other ways that women are, generally speaking, weaker than men, such as being less in control of their emotions. Others point to the idea that women are more easily deceived (based on 1 Timothy 2:14). The primary problem with these theories is that this passage, and the Bible as a whole, nowhere specifically identifies ways that women are weaker than men. First Timothy 2:14 simply says that Eve was deceived. It does not say that women are more easily deceived than men.”

So it probably does refer to the fact that most men (not all) are stronger then women. Maybe also that, since God made women to be able to nurse and raise children, they might be less in control of their emotions than men. Men think with their head, women think with their hearts. That’s no necessarily a bad thing b/c they need more emotion than men to unselfishly raise children from birth and to put up with their husbands! If true, that might make women more susceptible (not gullible) to false teachers as 2 Timothy 3 says, 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Remember, as Paul points out in 1 Tim 2:14, Eve was deceived by Satan’s lies but the man was not deceived. It is controversial that the new pick for defense secretary says that women should not serve in combat roles. They were not allowed to do that until 2016 when restrictions were lifted, allowing women to serve in all combat roles. We’ll see how that one turns out! You can just hear the claim that Republicans are misogynists if the new secretary of defense gets his way!

We are embroiled in so many accusations in politics that it is hard to know the truth. From MSNBC: “Trump ran a campaign that included denying women their free will (i.e. the right to control their own bodies and have abortions legally). He vowed to be women’s protector “whether the women like it or not,” and he repeatedly praised the chaos that has ensued after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn women’s federal right to abortion as “beautiful.” His victory has some in the MAGA movement eager to subjugate women, and their remarks all but affirm some people’s fears that a Trump win would unleash misogyny akin to that in “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Look up “The Handmaid’s Tale” if that statement make you curious about what that is. It is about a futuristic men led New England state where men totally suppress women’s rights and the women try to gain independence.

I am not defending Trump’s statements, but it is interesting that today a man is accused of misogyny (misogyny is the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It can also refer to social systems or environments where women face hostility and hatred because they’re women in a world created by and for men — a historical patriarchy) if he believes that abortion is killing life in the womb and that women’s rights to control their own bodies does not include killing babies in their wombs. That is not misogyny. That is standing up for what God says. A key passage is in Exod 21:22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. Apparently God considers life in the womb to be a living being during the entire pregnancy.

The other issue that brings the accusation of misogyny is what Paul said about wives being in submission to their husbands (Ephesians 5:25-33). Also in 1 Corinthians 11 Paul said 2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. That is a mandate of God from the very beginning in Genesis. To teach that is not misogyny. Of course, the husband is to love and cherish his wife and take care of her needs, so he should not be a cruel dictator. But the fact remains that the Bible teaches that the husband is the head of the wife. Many today think Paul was not inspired and that we don’t have to follow his teaching. They say he is just homophobic and misogynistic and giving his opinions. But Paul was an apostle inspired by the Holy Spirit. His teachings are from the Holy Spirit.

That brings up the role of women in the church. One of my students asked if a woman could be the President, or a Princpal, or a CEO of a business, etc. I told him that I personally thought that was ok. Paul said in 1 Timothy 2: 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. I think that restriction on women only applies to the church positions. For example, the qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy 3 is “husband of one wife”, so women could not be elders. Why not? Elders might have to refute false teaching and rebuke heretics., which would involve taking authority over the men. Some churches have women elders in spite of Paul’s teaching.

What about women praying out loud among a group of men? I have never thought that was wrong. Why not? 1 Corinthians 11 goes on to say that a woman could use her miraculous gift of prophecy or probably praying in tongues if she would wear a veil to show that she was not “usurping authority” over the men and trying to take over. So women could pray out loud in the presence of men (praying silently would not be in context here b/c that could not possibly be taken as usurping authority). Then in 1 Cointhians 14 Paul says 26 What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. That could be gifted men or women using their gift in assemblies or meetings of Christians. So women could us that gift of prophecy to give a revelation in such a meeting as long as they word a veil to show subjection. I assume that women can give a teaching or lead in prayer in a mixed group of men and women today. Why not? I don’t think they would even need to wear a veil since that was a cultural way of showing subjection back then. Today, I think it would just be obvious if the woman was just humbly using her gift or knowledge or if she was trying to take over. The church I was raised in was so inconsistent on this issue. They would allow women to share a teaching in a classroom before going into the auditorium for the main service, but then they would not allow a woman to share a teaching in the main service. Why would going into the auditorium make it any different than in the classroom? It should either be wrong in both or right in both. I think the Bible teaches that it is ok in both! My church squelched the gifts of our women by keeping them from using their gifts in the assembly. But doesn’t Paul say in 1 Corinthians 14:33 “As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent (sigaó: To be silent, to keep silence, to hold one’s peace) in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak (laleó: To speak, to talk, to utter) but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.” My church used that verse to say that women could not share a teaching or speak in the assembly, total silence. Of course, they allowed women to sing out loud but that was it (inconsistent again if they demand total silence). But requiring total silence of women in the assembly would be a contradiction of 1 Cor 11 where Paul said the women could speak in prayer or prophecy in any meeting of men and women. So how do we explain this verse in 1 Cor 14:34-35? Paul must have specifically been rebuking women who are usurping authority over the men in the assembly, butting in when the men are speaking, just blatantly taking over (maybe they think the men are not doing a good job leading the church). Paul tells those specific women to not speak at all but ask their husbands any questions when they get home. Paul is not making some general rule for all women to be totally silent in assemblies which would contradict 1 Cor 11. So I don’t think it is wrong for a woman in the assembly to share a teaching, to lead a song, to lead the group in prayer, etc. I do believe in the men taking the lead but often that does not happen. I guess women do have to step up at times.

But often the question is raised, “Is it wrong to have women preachers?” I say yes and here is why. Usually the preacher is considered the senior pastor of the church and will have the authority to rebuke false teachers or the immoral and rebellious in the church. A woman preacher might thus have to rebuke male members of the church and that would violate Paul saying women could not usurp authority over the men. Of course, a more relevant question might be, “why do we have paid preacher positions in the church today at all?” There was no such position in the early church. Churches were led by elders and deacons. The elders did the shepherding and they had gifted teachers. But no paid preachers. I think the addition of the paid preacher position is similar to the request to have king so they could be like the other nations (1 Samuel 8). The church leaves the house church model and starts to build buildings and hire preachers, youth ministers, and secretaries. It becomes a business instead of a simple house church where you would never hire a preacher for a house church. The “evangelists” mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 traveled to different churches to ground churches or rebuke heresy. They had miraculous gifts enabling them to do that. The church they went to might give them food and a place to stay, but they were not permanent paid preachers like today. Two other gifts in Eph 4:11 were pastors and teachers, both miraculously gifted positions. You might think that he is talking about preachers of churches who are called pastors today, but he is not. The word for pastor is poimén: Shepherd. It refers to elders, not preachers. In Acts 20 Paul is talking to the elders of Ephesus. 20:17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders (presbuteros: elder, older, presbyter) of the church to come to him. He said 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers (episkopos: Overseer, Bishop), to care for (poimainó: To shepherd, to tend, to feed, to guide) the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. All 3 words, shepherd (poimen, the same word in Eph 4:11 for pastors), overseers (episkopos, the word some churches use to have bishops), and elders (presbuteros, the same word some churches use to have presbyters) refer to one position in the church, that of elders. Local church assemblies had these elders and deacons, and that was it. It was the Catholic church that started making different positions of bishops and presbyters, but they were one and the same in the NT.

Many churches have different views on the role of women in their churches and in their assemblies. Each church must study and define these roles for their church. They just need to remember that we might end up agreeing to disagree. Each Christian must decide if he is comfortable with the role of women as defined by his church.

I know this article has gone off into several issues with a lot of my opinion. I don’t make my opinions on these issues to be heaven/hell issues that might diivide churches. I hope you enjoyed the study of Deborah, the only woman judge.

GIDEON AND ABIMELECH JUDGES 6-9

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

God had commanded the Israelites to completely wipe out the many Canannite kingdoms in the Promised Land. They did not finish the job and left many of the kingdoms intack. God said that he would let those Canaanite kingdoms become a snare to punish Israel and oppress them. The people would start to intermingle with the Canaanites and worship their gods. A kingdom like the Midianites or Philistines would oppress them and make life miserable for them. Under oppression, they would cry out to God for help. He would feel sorry for them and raise up a judge to deliver them. The land would have rest for several years after that until the people again began to worship the gods of the Canaanites, and God would send another Canaanite nation to oppress them. They would cry out… and the cycle would repeat itself.

Here is a great chart showing this cycle repeated throughout the period of the Judges (about 200 years).

The first. 4 were Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, and Deborah (Barak working under Deborah). The land had rest for 40 years after Deborah, but then the Midianites oppressed the people after they sinned again. Judges 3-6 tells the story of the 5th judge, Gideon.

Here is a great chart giving the main events in Gideon’s life.

Without going into detail on each of the major events in his life, I want to focus on “Gideon, the reluctant, doubting judge”. The people do evil, the Midianites oppress them for 7 years, taking or destroying their crops, taking or killing their animals, laying their land “waste”. The people cry out to God. God feels sorry for them and sends an angel to appoint Gideon as the next judge to deliver Israel from the Midianites. Gideon is beating out his wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. He started off doubting God, saying that he had not seen God doing any miracles lately and questioning why God had forsaken them. He tried to use the excuse, “who am I that I should be a judge, I am the least in my clan”. He then asked for a sign, brought an offering, and the angel of the Lord burnt up the offering on a stone in front of Gideon. The angel vanished, and Gideon was afraid that he would be killed b/c he perceived that he had just seen the angel of the Lord. God told him he would not die. Gideon built an altar and named it “The Lord is Peace” (YHWH shalom: Peace, completeness, welfare, well-being, safety, prosperity). Surely that is all the proof that Gideon would need, right? Nope.

He was told to tear down his father’s altar of Baal and Asherah and to build an altar to God and offer a burnt offering to God on the new altar. He did so, but he did it an night b/c he was afraid of his family and the men of the town. The men of the town came the next day, found out it was Gideon who tore down the altar to Baal, and told Gideon’s father, Joash, to bring him out to die. Joash at least defended his son and challenged them, “If Baal is god, is he not able to defend himself”?

A large army of Midianites, Amalekites (Saul was supposed to wipe out the Amalekites but apparently didn’t, 1 Samuel 15), and others crossed the Jordan to attack Israel. The Spirit of the Lord comes on Gideon (supernatural strength and wisdom?) and he gathered an army of 32,000 men. So he is ready to deliver Israel now, right? Nope.

He asked God for the sign with the wet fleece and dry ground. So now his is ready, right? Nope. He then asked God to not be angry with him, but do dry fleece and wet ground, as if God can’t do it the other way around! I am shocked that God grants him this 2nd sign. You would think God is getting pretty angry with Gideon by now, but God is a patient God.

So he starts off with an army of 32,000 to fight against a Midianite army of 135,000. God tells him that he has too many men! Imagine how a fearful Gideon felt when God told him that. God told him to allow those who were fearful and trembling to go home, and 22,000 men leave. Gideon now has 10,000 men to fight 135,000 of the enemy. He then tells Gideon that he still has too many men. Gideon must be terrified by now. The men are tested by how they drink water, either bringing the water up in their hands to drink (so they can watch out for the enemy) or kneeling down on both knees with their face down drinking the water (not able to see the enemy). God told him to keep the first group (300) and send the rest home. God now has 300 men to fight 135,000 of the enemy. Gideon must be freaking out with fear!!!!!!

God is so patient with Gideon. He knows that his a so afraid, and a fearful leader will not be effective. Obviously Gideon is not totally convinced that God can win this battle with just 300 men. God tells him that if he is afraid, which he was, he should sneak into the Midianite/Amalekite camp with Purah where they heard a soldier telling of his dream in which the Midianites were defeated by “the sword of Gideon”, and Gideon’s fear was relieved and he worshipped God. That finally gave him the courage to attack Midian with his 300 men. Judges 7: 15And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.” 16 And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. Did the Spirit that was on Gideon devise this plan or did Gideon think of it on his own? They blew their trumpets, smashed their jars and cried out “a sword for the Lord and Gideon”. The enemy panicked and in their panic began killing each other. The fled the camp. Gideon called on other Israelites to chase them down and kill them.

The Ephraimites were angry b/c Gideon had not called on them to chase and kill the fleeing Midianites. Gideon told them he had reserved 3 of the Midianie princes for them to kill, and they were appeased. Gideon’s 300 men were exhausted as they chased the Midianites, and Gideon asked the men of Succoth for bread for his men, but they refused b/c the 2 commanders of the Midianites had not been captured and killed yet. To them, Gideon might not win this battle and the Midianites might attack Succoth for helping Gideon. The men of Penuel said the same thing. Gideon told them that he would punish them for this when he returned from killing Midianites. By now, 120,000 of the enemy were killed. The 2 commanders had 15,000 men left, and they were fleeing in panic. Gideon returned to Succoth and got the names of 77 of their leaders and tortured them with thorns and briars, and killed the men of Penuel. He then killed the 2 commanders. We assume that the last 15,000 Midianites were killed also.

What a great ending, right? Nope. The people wanted Gideon and his sons to rule over them (as a king? perhaps a sign that they would later ask Samuel to give them a king instead of judges), but Gideon declines, saying “The Lord will rule over you”. Being a ruler over this divided, sinful group of Israelites would not be easy for fun. Instead, he asked them to bring 1700 shekels of gold Midianite earrings taken as spoil, and he made an ephod and put it in his hometown. Maybe his intentions were good, but the people ended up worshipping the ephod (no surprise). The land had rest for 40 years with Gideon as judge.

Gideon had 70 sons and many wives. He had a son, Abimelech, by his concubine. He died at a good old age. After he died, the people turned to idolatry again and forgot all the good Gideon had done for them.

So, other than an interesting story about another judge, what do we come away with from the story of Gideon? My take is how God can patiently mold and assure someone whom he calls into leadership of his people. He can take a fearful, doubting man tolerate his constant doubting and even asking for signs, and use him to do HIs will. He gives him all he needs to assure him of victory and the Spirit to overcome his fears. He helps him find courage in spite of unbelievable odds. That’s my take from Gideon.

I can relate to Gideon. Perhaps you can also. I struggle with doubt about God. How can there be an eternal, an all powerful, all knowing, ever present God spirit that fills the universe, who created all things with amazing design and diversity out of nothing (I believe He did it in six 24 hour days, but even if he did it over a long period of time, the point is the same)? That’s almost unbelievable to me. The main reason I accept the idea of God is that there are no reasonable alternatives. Science says that you can’t get something from nothing (1st Law of Thermodynamics). If there ever was nothing, there would still be nothing. Science says that if matter was eternal, it would be constantly deteriorating and becoming disorderly (2nd Law of Thermodynamics). So even if matter was eternal by some random chance, it would have deteriorated into chaotic disorder instead of the order and design that we see. There is no way that random chance evolution could produce the 30+ physical constants (laws of math and physics) on earth essential for life to exist on earth, all from nothing. Add to that, there is the resurrection of Jesus. Acts 17:31 God gave proof by raising Jesus from the dead, the ultimate miracle. An open investigation of the historical accuracy of the resurrection will lead one to faith in Jesus and the God Yahweh who sent him. Sadly, I still have days when my doubts arise again. I might even die having doubts about eternal life. I hope not. I hope that God will give me the signs and assurance that He exists and that He is with me, just as He did with Gideon. I believe that He will. I really relate to the man who told Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief”. I don’t think we have to have 100% doubt free faith. Just the faith of a mustard seed. I hope I have that at least. I hear people say, “How can a Christian be afraid of dying”? Some of us are probably afraid of dying. Will death really just be a moment in time and immediately after that brief moment we wake up in eternity? I think so. I hope so. If you are a doubter, I hope the story of Gideon will help you.

I can relate to Gideon’s fearfulness. Over and over it mentions that he is afraid throughout the whole story. I struggle with fear and being afraid. I always blame it on my mother. My dad was not afraid of anything, but my mom was always worried about what bad things might happen. I could have a sore on my toe and she would tell me about somebody who died of a toe infection. She kept me away from snakes. She kept me away from dangerous situations, like high places, which made me acrophobic (fear of heights). That fear carried over into all my life. A fear of trying new things, of getting in trouble with the government, of being sued (I was a school principal for 12 years), a fear of travel (I made everyone who traveled with me miserable with my fears), etc. I always think of the “what if” something bad happens. I worry a lot. I almost had a nervous breakdown worrying about one incident in the past. Gideon was always afraid and I’m sure he worried and thought up all the “what ifs” that might go wrong. To his credit, he let God use him to defeat the Midianites against great odds. He overcame his fears enough to lead Israel into battle and victory. He gave God the glory for his victory. Not bragging at all, but thankfully I overcame my fears enough to go to a school of preaching after I got my engineering degree, spend 5 years in the mission fields of Trinidad, West Indies and Colombia, South America. I think God used my wife and I to train church leaders in Trinidad who are still, 50 years later, leading the churches there. I never wanted the stress of being a principal, but twice it seemed like God was calling me to be a principal (12 years total) and perhaps used me to advance Christian education. I still worry too much, but I am working on it. I look back at whatever I have accomplished for God and give Him the glory. I think He used me to do His work in spite of my fears. I pray that the Spirit of God will help me overcome my fears in the future as there are surely many bad things that will happen as my wife and I age (I will be 75 soon). God will help you find the courage to overcome your fears, just he did with Gideon.

But what about Abimelech, his son by a concubine Judges 9 tells his story. Here is a summary. Basically Abimelech was a usurper who killed 69 of the 70 sons of Gideon by his wives (only Jotham escaped) and coerced the men of Shechem to make him king. After 3 years the Shechemites rebelled against him and he captured Shechem, raised the city and sowed it with salt. He killed 1,000 Shechemites trapped in a tower by burning it down. Abimelech was killed when a woman dropped a millstone on his head while he was attacking a tower in Thebez.

I close this long blog with the “parable of the bramble” given by Jotham the only surviving son of Gideon. He told this parable to the leaders of Shechem when they make Abimelech king. I will always remember this parable b/c it was my mother’s favorite parable for some reason (I can’t imagine why). She was a great student of the word, both OT and NT, and she knew all the parables of Jesus, but Jotham’s parable was her favorite. Here is what he told the Shechemites. 7 When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. 8 The trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ 9 But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’ 10 And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 11 But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’ 12 And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 13 But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’ 14 Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 15 And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’ The meaning is easy to understand. The only reason they had chosen Abimelech to be their king was that no worthy person wanted the position. That kinda relates to the U.S. now, doesn’t it.

Without getting too political, fiscal and moral conservatives were forced into a touch decision in the recent presidential election. A lot of Christians did not want to vote Republican for various reasons. But then the Democratic left leadership supports abortion and LGBQT, which are in total violation of the word of God so most Christians would not vote Democratic. Many Christians ended up voting Republican. But the sad thing is that the main issues were cost of living, inflation, and immigration- not restoring the U.S. to its Judeo-Christian values. Currently, 63% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 36% say it should be illegal in all or most cases. according to a 2022 Gallup poll, 71% of Americans believe that gay and lesbian relations are morally acceptable, while 25% believe they are morally wrong. This is a significant increase from 2002, when only 38% of Americans held this view. Support for same-sex marriage has also increased dramatically over time. In 2022, 71% of Americans supported same-sex marriage in a Gallup poll, and 61% supported it in a Pew Research poll. According to recent Gallup polls, around 43-46% of Americans consider being transgender morally acceptable, while a slight majority (around 51-55%) view it as morally wrong. These are the issues that we should be voting on.

Maybe a majority of Americans did vote on those moral issues when they elected the Republicans who were more conservative. Mostly they voted on the economy in hopes that a new president can make things better financially, and I hope that he can. I just pray that God is working providentially to restore the U.S. to Christian morals based on the Bible no matter who is elected to the Presidency and Congress. 1 Tim 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior. I’m afraid that most voted based on the economy. But what will get Americans to accepting God’s definition of what sin is? What will get this liberal majority to change their opinions? America has had a grass roots revival every 50 years or so to get us back to Bible morals. There was the 1st Great Awakening, the Great Prayer Revival, the 2nd Great Awakening. These revivals were possible and successful b/c the vast majority of Americans still believed that the Bible was the word of God. If the Bible said drunkenness was a sin, then to repent meant to stop drinking. But now, according to recent Gallup data, around 49% of Americans believe the Bible is “inspired by God, but not everything in it is to be taken literally,” while only 20% say it is the literal word of God, meaning the majority view the Bible as inspired but not necessarily completely literal. In other words, now the majority don’t believe that abortion and LGBQT are sinful even if the Bible appears to condemn it. They believe that the Bible is full of human opinions that are not binding on us today. The apostle Paul who condemned homosexuality (Romans 1:26-27; 1 Cor 6:9-10) was just homophobic and his writings are not inspired by God, they are just his opinions. So according to the majority, we don’t have to follow Paul’s opinions and writings. How can we have a grass roots revival if that is the case? What will convince pro abortion and pro LGBQT to change their minds on those issues if they don’t believe that God even condemns them in His Word? Where are we headed- Sodom and Gomorrah? I hope not. This addendum is not about Republican or. Democrat or how you voted. Each person should vote based on his conscience and respect how others vote. This is about praying that God will do whatever it takes to humble us and get us back to our Judao-Christian values based on the inspired word of God (2 Tim 3:16-17 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Pray for our country. Remember the parable of the bramble.

Thanks for reading. Pray.

SAMSON

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

One of the most interesting characters in the OT is Samson.

Here is a good summary of Samson’s life: from thequickviewbible.com

The chart does such a good job, and you can read Judges 13-16 for detials. Let’s focus on lessons we can learn from the life of Samson.

  1. Good parents can raise troublesome children.” (Taken from the slide below). Samson’s parents wanted to raise the child they were promised for the Lord. Judges 13:8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” Would that every parent asks God how to raise his/her children. 13:12 12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?” As a parent do you envision the mission that God might be planning to use your child on when he/she grows up? They were told by the angel that their son was to take the Nazarite vow and never cut his hear or drink wine. They humbly accepted that and raised Samson to never break that vow. It seems as if his parents did everything right in raising their son to be godly, and yet he turned out to be “troublesome” as an adult. I can think of many parents who do all the right things to raise their children in the discipline of the Lord and yet one or more of their children turn out “bad”. I know Proverbs 22:6 promises “train up a child in the way he should go and he will never depart from it”, but that is a general rule and there are exceptions. Often a child raised properly will “sow his/her wild oats” but then return to a good foundation that was given them by their parents. Sometimes they never return. How can this happen? Sometimes parents take their children to church but never really spend quality time with their children. In Deut 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” That is quality time with a child, not just taking them to church and leaving their training to a youth minister. That’s passing your faith to a child on a day by day basis. He/she is constantly talking to his/her child about God. He/she reassures the child that God is with them to deal with problems. He is constantly giving godly wisdom to the child. Of course the parent must have a genuine faith before he/she can pass that faith on to his/her child. Timothy had a mother and grandmother with sincere faith that they passed on to Timothy. 2 Tim 1:5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. They also taught him the OT Scriptures from childhood. 2 Tim 3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Even if a parent does all this, sometimes a child’s peer pressure overcomes the parental training. Especially today with the influence of social media and peers at school. Pornography, sexting, bullying, you name it.

Look at these statistics. According to various sources, between 50% and 80% of Christian students lose their faith or stop attending church while in college: Southern Baptist ConventionData from the Southern Baptist Convention indicates that they are currently losing 70-88% of their youth after their freshman year in college.  Lifeway ResearchA 2017 Lifeway Research study found that 66% of young people who were raised in the church stopped attending church regularly between the ages of 18 and 22.  BarnaBarna estimates that 70% of high school students who enter college as professing Christians will leave with little to no faith. Barna also projects that 80% of those reared in the church will be “disengaged” by the time they are 29.  Now I don’t necessarily think that a child who quits going to church has lost his faith. Many churches today are “big businesses” that turn young people off. They see most of the money collected being spent on buildings and salaries instead of helping the poor, drilling wells for people to get clean water in foreign countries, printing Bibles to preach the gospel in major languages, etc. But churches still have man good things for worship, fellowship, Bible study, etc. and all Christians should be a part of some small group or big group. But children are often exposed to atheistic, evolutionary teaching in college that destroys their faith. Maybe parents did not ground them in Christian evidences like they should.

2. Choose a godly mate. Look at Solomon’s unwise choice of a wife. It all started with his desire to marry a Philistine woman (14:1Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.” His parents tried to talk him out of it. He did what many young adults do: he married out of physical attraction regardless of the spirituality of the prospective mate. Who our children marry is a major concern of Christian parents. My wife prayed every night with each of our 3 children as they were growing up: God, help _______________ (their names) grow up to be a Christian and marry a Christian (before they knew what “marry” or “Christian” even meant). Thank you Father, all 3 married a godly mate who is helping them raise our 10 grandchildren in the Lord. Too often young adults confuse love with lust. David’s son Amnon wanted his half sister so bad that he tricked her to get her alone and then raped her. After he raped her, it says “his hate he had for her was greater than the love he had for her before he raped her”. He never had an agape love for her; he simply lusted for her. We have a major epidemic of lust and sexual immorality (fornication) among young people today. In America today, around 70% of people cohabit before marriage, and almost 90% have sex before they marry. Moreover, around 40% of kids are born to unmarried moms. Data from the 2002 survey indicate that by age 20, 77% of respondents had had sex, 75% had had premarital sex, and 12% had married. Even among those who abstained until at least age 20, 81% had had premarital sex by age 44. Bar hopping and “hooking up” (sex) with people they meet in the bars is common. The sanctity of marriage has been defiled. According to the American Psychological Association, approximately 40-50% of first marriages end in divorce. The divorce rate for second marriages is even higher, with approximately 60-67% of second marriages ending in divorce. The grass is not always greener on the other side. Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 

Samson insited on marrying the Philistine woman. This led to a marriage feast surrounded by pagan Philistine men. Samson for some reason challenged the 30 Philistine men at his bachelor party with a riddle (the lion and the honey). The men forced his fiance to get Samson to tell her the riddle (nagging him, “if you loved me you would tell me”) and she told the men the riddle and they won the bet. Samson went out and killed 30 Philistines to get the 30 garments to pay off the debt. In the meantime, his fiance’s father gave her to his best man as a wife (no doubt a Philistine man). I see movies where stuff like that happens! Apparently Samson was technically married to the woman after a 7 day wedding feast, so he goes to her house to have sex but her father won’t let him. So he tied the tails of 300 foxes with a torch between them and sent them to burn the Philistine fields. As revenge, the Philistines burned his wife and her father to death. He then killed more Philistines in revenge. Samson unwise choice of a wife led him into many bad things. Many young adults have made unwise choice of a mate that has led to divorce and miserable marriages that have led to many other sorrows and difficulties for their children.

3. Some people never learn from their mistakes. 16:1Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. The Philistines surrounded the city but Samson arose at midnight, pulled up the doors and posts of the gate and escaped. If that wasn’t enough, he “loved” a Philistine woman named Delilah (apparently cohabited with her but did not marry her). What is this attraction with Philistine women? You know the story. The 5 Philistine lords paid her 1,100 pieces of silver each (5,500 total) to find out the source of Samson’s strength. This was worth thousands of dollars in our money. Jesus was betrayed for just 30 pieces of silver, so that tells you how badly the Phlistines hated Samson. She constantly nagged at him day after day and “his soul was vexed to death” (16:16). He told her 3 false ways to sap his strength until he finally gave him and told her that the source of his strength was his long hair. She then cut his hair while he slept. The Philistines came and captured him, put out his eyes, and put him grinding grain in a mil in the prison for several years. Much later, the Philistine lords had Samson brought to the temple where they were sacrificing to their god Dagon to mock and laugh at him. Unfortunately for them, they had forgotten to keep his hair cut while in. prison. He asked to be tied to the pillars. He asked God for one last chance to avenge himself against the Philistines and then he pushed the pillars apart bringing down the whole temple, killing 3,000 Philistines (more than he had killed in his whole life). He judged Israel 20 years before he died. Why did Samson not learn from his mistake of marrying the first Philistine woman? He follows that up with going to a Philistine prostitute and then shacking up with Philistine Delilah. Some people just never learn from their mistakes. They go from one bad relationship to another. They hang out with the wrong kind of people that leads to trouble and compromising of their morals. 1 Cor 15:33 Be not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals. I have been around so many teens who regret getting in a bad group of kids, leading them to do things they know are wrong due to peer pressure. But some never learn from those mistakes. Their desire for acceptance overpowers their good sense.

4. God can use even the worst people to do His will. To me, the most astonishing thing about the story of Samson is that God used him to kill Philistines, the enemies of Israel, in spite of his “womannizing” and vengeful anger. Hebrews 11 still put Samson in the “hall of faith” (Heb 11:32). While uncertain which of the accomplishments in 11:34 apply to which hero of faith in 11:32, “made strong out of weakness” probably refers to Samson. He was so weak sexually, mentally, spiritually, and yet the Spirit of God would “move him” often to be super strong and kill Philistines. Surely Samson made it to heaven since he was in the hall of faith! In spite of his weaknesses and sinful desires and lust. That gives hope to a lot of Christian men. These statistics are hard to believe.

The statistics for Christian men between 18 and 30 years old are particularly striking: 77 percent look at pornography at least monthly.

  • 36 percent view pornography on a daily basis
  • 32 percent admit being addicted to pornography (and another 12 percent think they may be).

The statistics for middle-aged Christian men (ages 31 to 49) are no less disturbing:

  • 77 percent looked at pornography while at work in the past three months.
  • 64 percent view pornography at least monthly.
  • 18 percent admit being addicted to pornography (and another 8 percent think they may be).

Even married Christian men are falling prey to pornography and extramarital sexual affairs at alarming rates:

35 percent had an extramarital affair.

55 percent look at pornography at least monthly.

Hesch adds: “It’s abundantly clear that pornography is one of the biggest unaddressed problems in the church.”

Another well-known pastor has dared to address the problem. The following excerpt is from an open letter Chuck Swindoll posted on his Insight for Living Website not long ago:

“The most recent studies available suggest that one out of every two people-that’s 50 percent of the people sitting in our pews, are looking at and/or could be addicted to Internet pornography… Truth be told, that statistic could be even higher… Stop and imagine the ugly but very real possibility of some of your own elders and deacons leaving your meetings and going home to surf porn. Think about youth leaders viewing it one minute, and leading a small group with your kids thirty minutes later. It’s ruining marriages, destroying relationships, harming youth, and hurting the body of Christ. You hardly need to be reminded that fallen pastors and priests did not “suddenly” fall. More often than not, pornography played a role in their downward spiral. My friend, it’s time to do something about it. In fact, we need to start today. Making a difference requires action…  Our churches are in trouble. This is no time to simply wait and pray.”

I am not saying that God will save us if we continue to willfully sin by looking at pornography. There will come a time when we will fall from grace if we don’t repent and try to stop. But for many men, it is a lifelong uphill battle of the mind, and they lose most of the battles. They could easily get discouraged and just give up, thinking there is no way God would save them with this porn problem that they just can’t seem to shake. So what I am saying is, that if God saved Samson with his lust, that there is hope that God will save us in spite of us not being able to completely stop our lust problem. That might make us so grateful that we will try harder. But aren’t we leaving out something here? What about the work of the Holy Spirit? The Spirit can give you the power to do things totally against your sinful nature. That’ why we need to be constantly in the words of the Spirit in the Bible. The Spirit can providentially help us by giving us a close friend or mentor who will hold us accountable for our lust, someone we can openly discuss our lusts and trust to help us.

I hope this study of Samson is beneficial to you. It helps me just to write this blog article.