1 Samuel 9 & 10 Kingmaking

1 Samuel 9 +10

The tribe of Benjamin , if you have been following the story so far, was almost wiped out following an event toward the end of the book of Judges So it is quite interesting that God chose a man from this tribe to be Israel's first official king 
Saul, son of Kish enters the story having been sent by his father to track down some missing donkeys. His searchings take him through the hill country of Ephraim, and the land of Benjamin without success.

As they got near Zuph (Don't ask where that is 'cos I don't actually know!) Saul was ready to give up and was thinking that his Dad would stop worrying about the donkeys and wonder what had happened to his handsome son. But his companion mentioned that there is a man of God living in the next town, why not ask him?
They have nothing to offer for this advice in terms of food, or animals but Sauls companion has a quarter of a shekel of silver (approx 3 grammes) which is not really very much, but worth a go! 

The Bible says Saul was very tall (a head taller than most other people) and very handsome.
Reaching the town Saul asks for the seer and is told he has just arrived and is about to conduct the sacrifice and then join the feast.

God had warned Samuel the previous day that tomorrow he would send a man from Benjamin who was the chosen king of Israel. when Samuel caught sight of Saul, God told him that this was the man.

Saul asked Samuel where the seer was to be found and Samuel said "I am the Seer, as for those donkeys, they have been found." Samuel told Saul to wait at the top of the hill as he will be the guest at the feast.

Later Samuel asked for a private word with Saul before sending him on his way, having annotated him with olive oil as the king, with specific instructions - that sound a little like time travel advice 
When you leave me today, near Rachel's tomb (Outside Bethlehem) he will hear that the donkeys are safe and his father is wondering what has happened to Saul.

Going on from there to the big tree at Tabor you will meet three men going up to Bethel to worship, they will be carrying 3 young goats, 3 loaves of bread and a skin of wine. They will offer you 2 loaves of bread which you will accespt
After that you will go on to Gibeah and as you approach the town you will meet a procession of prophets coming the other way with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played - the Spirit of God will come on you with power and you will prophesy  and be changed by this encounter into a different man.

Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever occurs to you to do.

These signs happened and it is a different Saul who is accosted by his Uncle. Saul recounted his tale omitting that Samuel had anointed him king 

To hurry things along - Samuel called an assembly of Israel at Mizpah to present themselves by tribe and family for God to choose by casting lots.

The lot fell to the tribe of Benjamin, the clan of Matri and the family of Kish - but Saul was trying his best to be inconspicuous and elsewhere by hiding in the luggage, from where he had to be dragged out.
Samuel set forth the rules for king and kingdom and laid them in a scroll before God, then he dismissed the people. having acclaimed Saul as king.

Saul went back home, now accompanied by valiant men pledged to his service.
Typically there were some unsavoury people who did not like Saul and refused to bring him gifts.
Perhaps Saul on this occasion was right to stay silent.

So Israel has now got a king 

1 Samuel 8 Government systems

1 Samuel 8

Samuel is now an old man and while he has been faithful in serving God and judging fairly his 2 sons are not following their fathers example.
The Elders of Israel ask Samuel to appoint a king to rule the country. They tell Samuel, in as many words, you are getting on and your sons are not like you, therefore we want a king like the other nations.

Samuel is not impressed by this and turns to God in prayer - I have to admit that far too often this is not my first priority, though I'm sure it would make me a better and more considered person, it is one of the many things I need to practise......

God tells Samuel that Israel has not rejected him, but they have rejected the rule of God, just like they had time after time since God led Israel out of Egypt.

Samuel give Israel of a what having a king will mean to them basically the king will have the right to -

• call up their children to be in his army  
• work his farms and gather his harvests
• work in munitions factories and make weapons
• make their daughters into cooks and perfumers and bakers
• commandeer the best of the land, fields, vineyards and olive groves and give them to his followers
• Impose a tax on the remaining harvest of grain, wine and olive oil and earnings
• take servants from the population for his service and the same with flocks and cattle
• basically turn the Israelites into servants of the state.

On that day they may regret their choice but God will not listen to them.

Israel responded that, thank you very much, but we still want a king.

Samuel dismissed them back to their homes and we will take the appropriate action.

As you probably know I live in the UK where we have a constitutional monarchy - the Queen is our head of state and she is advised and relies on the government and ministers to rule, manage the armed forces and generally run the country led by the "Prime Minister" (Which was originally a term of disdain and mockery) 

A parliamentary democracy with constitutional monarch seems to have similar powers to the king in this chapter - at least they tax double what the king did in this chapter!

Winston Churchill once said "Democracy is the worst form of Government except all the others that have been tried" - I hope one day to live in a theocracy where God is truly king and all people in the kingdom will serve and worship him with all our hearts, minds and souls and loving each other as ourselves.

1 Samuel 7 Philistines

1 Samuel 7

From the last chapter the Ark of the Covenant was taken to Keriath Jearim where it stayed secure for the next 20 years.

Samuel challenged the nation of Israel to worship only God and to get rid of all their idols, ashtoreths and foreign gods. Which they did.

He then called an assembly at Mizpah where he would pray for them.
While they were at Mizpah the leaders of the Philistines take an opportunity to attack and try for a once and for all victory.
Israel hear of this and are alarmed but tell Samuel to not stop crying out to God on their behalf.
God thundered from heaven against the Philistines and threw the attacking army into a panic.
Israel rushed out of Mizpah and chased down the fleeing Philistine soldiers.
On that day Samuel raised a stone between Mizpah and the town of Shen. which he called "Stone of help" or Ebenezer (Famous as the given name of Scroodge in Dickens story A Christmas Carol)

This supernatural defeat proved decisive and the Philistines did not raid Israel again. Captured towns were repatriated to Israel and there was also peace with the Amorites.

Samuel led Israel as Prophet and Judge all his life making an annual circuit between his home of Ramah, Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah.

1 Samuel 6 Returning a gift

1 Samuel 6 

Trying to find a way into this chapter I was reminded of a Bob Newhart sketch called returning a gift, where a customer is trying to return a Christmas present of a toupee given to him by his wife. If you have not heard of this sketch of Bob Newhart - look him up.

Anyway the Philistines are in the position of being rather unhappy that they captured the Ark of the Covenant from Israel - things have not gone at all well, gods are falling over, people are getting tumours and rats are ruining everything.
After 7 months - hardly quick of the mark these Philistines - they decide that they have had enough and ask their priests for advice in giving the Ark back to Israel.

They are advised to not just send back the Ark but to include some kind of offering to appease the God of Israel and hopefully stop the plagues. I'm not a medical person, but I read about tumours and rats and wonder if they are connected in any way?
Perhaps is somebody medically or biblically traines can comment - I'd for one be interested in the theories.

Anyway the Philistines make representative tumours and rats out of gold to symbolise their offering. They put the Ark onto a wagon hitched to 2 cows that have given birth but have never been used to pull a wagon or anything in the past along with a small chest containing the tumours and the rats.
The take the calves away and pen them up and see what the cows do pulling the cart - if it went straight back to Israelite land it was a sign that the difficulties had come from God, but if not then it was just bad luck.

The cows make an immediate bee line for Israel and does not stop until they reach the field of Joshua at Beth Shemesh. The Philistine rulers follow the cart to the border.
The locals are in the fields harvesting grain and see the return of the Ark. They immediately chopped up the cart and sacrificed the cows.

However some locals were too inquisitive and they  died for looking inside the Ark, and they asked Kiriath Jearim to come and take responsibility for the Ark.
It seems a bit harsh for God to kill 70 people for looking inside the Ark - but according to Moses law nobody could even see the Ark under normal circumstances and it was only to be carried by Levites, so looking into the Ark of the Covenant was showing a profound disrespect for God.

1 Samuel 5 Biting off more than you can chew!

1 Samuel 5

In the last chapter the Philistines have captured the ark of the covenant - now they have to decide what to do with it.

They took the Ark to Ashdod and placed it in the temple of Dagon. 
To say I don't know much about the god Dagon would be kind of understating the situation, but I'm pretty sure that the God statue in the Temple does not regularly fall over.

When the Ark of the covenant was placed in the temple of Dagon the statue fell over during the night.
Next morning they put the statue back but the next night if falls over again and this time the hands and the head fall off and land up on the doorstep - which led to a tradition in that town, the priests refused to step on the threshold of the door.

After this the people in Ashdod started to develop tumours - at which point they decide that the ark of the covenant should not stay there so they move it to Gath.

Once it gets to Gath the people there start getting tumours as well which caused rather a panic amongst the population.

They then move the ark of the covenant Ekron where there is very strong opposition,one can almost hear the cry of "Don't bring it here!". While the Ark is there the town is infected with rats and the people are getting tumours which seem to be fatal in many cases

Eventually the Philistines come to the decision that the Ark must be returned to Israel, before they all die.

1 Samuel 4 Disaster!

1 Samuel 4

Do you ever get those days where you wonder if it was worth getting up? 
Israel and the Philistines never seem to have got on all that well and in this chapter Israel and the Philistines have gone to war again, this time the Philistines get the upper hand and gain victory inflicting about 4000 Israelite casualties.

The army commanders request that the Ark of the Covenant be bought forward to the Israelite camp and boost morale in the army.
The Philistines hear the uproar in the Israelite camp and when they ascertain that the Israelites have bought their god to the battle are quite worried, they have not had to face this before.

The Philistines, in spite of their misgivings, put on a brave front and, guess what, beat the Israelites who lost all discipline and the whole army ran for cover. The Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant - the gold overlaid chest that represented the most holy item in Israel - the place that God spoke from to Moses and Joshua.

Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who we have seen were not model priests, are both killed in the battle 
When a messenger from the battle arrived at Shiloh where the Ark had come from, Eli had been sitting by the road as he was uneasy about the Ark of the Covenant being at risk and heard the news that his sons were dead, the Ark of the Covenant had been captured he fell off his chair and broke his neck 

The tragedy does not end there - Phinehas it appears was about to become a father, but hearing the news of his death his wife goes into premature labour.
AS she gave birth to her son, she too died and they called the young boy Ichabod which means "No glory".

In one day the Glory of God had left Israel in the form of the Ark of the Covenant. The high priest had died along with both his sons and his daughter in law.

If you have ever seen the movie Indiana Jones - Raiders of the lost ark they show a picture of Israel carrying the Ark of the covenant into battle and fire and lightening coming out and destroying their enemies.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is an excellent film, but biblically it is extremely inaccurate, as we have seen.

1 Samuel 3 What does God sound like?

1 Samuel 3

I've been a practising Christian since I made a decision to follow Jesus Christ at the age of 9. I am now nearly 42,. Over the last 33 years God has undoubtedly spoken to me through a variety of methods and people, however somehow this is the exception rather than the rule.
I rarely receive guidance  on what to wear, how to do my job, which route to take if i visit somewhere etc.

In this chapter it seems that God is being not very communicative, few people have messages or visions.

Eli, the priest is now very old and nearly blind, and the young boy Samuel is still staying in the Tabernacle close to the ark of the covenant, when God spoke directly to Samuel calling him by name. Apparently to Samuel God sounds like the old man Eli, as he went and asked Eli what he wanted.

After telling Samuel to go back to bed twice, Eli figures that it is actually God speaking to Samuel and tells Samuel to listen to God.

God told Samuel that he was going to do something shocking and bring down judgement on the house of Eli for his refusal to stop the unacceptable actions of his sons.

In the morning Eli demanded that Samuel tell him what God had said to which Eli says "He is the Lord, let him do what is good in his eyes" 

As Samuel grew into manhood, God was with him, and spoke to Samuel. He ensured that Samuels words had power and did not fall to the ground 
The people from the South (Beersheba) to the North (Dan) recognised that Samuel was a prophet who had the message of God.

1 Samuel 2 Bad priests

1 Samuel 2

Hannah gives thanks to god in this chapter, the prayer is quite eloquent and worth a read.

Samuel had been left in the charge of the priests, high priest Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas..
Eli's sons were not what could be termed model priests - one would think that as a priest the first duty is to God to whom the animal is being sacrificed.
But oh no,  the sons of Eli demand their portion of meat before the fat is burned on the alter to the extent of threatening force against the Israelites who they are pledged to serve as priests.

Samuel is living in the tent of God and wears linen Ephod and every year his mother brings him a new robe, and appears to act far more appropriately to God than Eli's Sons.

Eli tries to correct his sons behaviour, but his correction is far too little and far, far too late.
Eventually God sends a man to give his judgement on the house of Eli.

God promised Aaron that he and his sons are going to serve as his honoured priests, but since Eli's sons do not honour God he will not show honour to the Sons of Eli and his family.

None of Eli#s family will die of old age, and as a sign Hophni and Phinehas will die on the same day, and God will raise up a priest who is devoted to him.

1 Samuel 1 - Family

1 Samuel 1

Samuel is an important figure in the Bible - he marks the end of the period of the Judges and is the first of the prophets and kingmaker.

Samuel's family seem to be religiously observant in that they went to the tabernacle every year to offer sacrifices. His father Elkanah had 2 wives Peninnah and the other was called Hannah (Hannah was Samuel's mother). When the story starts Hannah has not been able to concieve but Peninnah had a number of children, which she used to provoke Hannah (who appeared to be Elkanah's favourite.

Every year Peninnah would wind Hanna up until she could not eat or bear to be in company.
This year Hannah took herself off to the tabernacle and in her distress she prayed to God  for a son, and if he givers her a son she will dedicate him to Gods service.

Eli the priest was keeping an eye on things and saw Hannah praying but could not hear any words and moves to prevent a drunk woman from making a scene. Hannah explained that she was pouring her heart out in distress and Eli the priest sends her off with a blessing that may God grant her request.

Back home, Hannah becomes pregnant and had a son, Samuel.

Next year the rest of the family went to the Tabernacle to worship and Hannah stayed behind until Samuel was weaned. The following year she went with the family along with a bull, flour and a skin of wine as an offering along with young Samuel.

She reminded Eli of the woman he thought was drunk and presented Samuel to the service of God.

The character of Hannah - she disappears from the story very quickly is quite remarkable. After giving Samuel to God she has 5 other children. 
That Hannah was able to give up the one thing that rescued her from taunting within the house, somebody she had been desperate for years to give birth to, and give him to the service of God, and a priest she probably did not know well. Not from desperation, but from gratitude to God is remarkable.

Ruth 4 A dynasty starts

Ruth 4

Naomi's prediction that Boaz would see the matter through following the events of Ruth 3.

Boaz greets his relative at the town gates and offers him the option of redeeming the land of their common relative, Elimalek. The catch is that in taking the land, the redeemer is required to take Ruth as his wife and the land would stay connected with the line of Elimalek.

The closer relation is not willing to take on Ruth as it would make the inheritance of his existing estate far more complicated.

In Leviticus, where the laws regarding relatives and the obligation to redeem family land can be found, if a relative refuses to to redeem the land, the wronged person is supposed to take off his sandal and spit in his face! (as I mentioned when the blog passed the chapter).

In this case the shock seems to have been turned into a ritual as the refusing party takes off his sandal as a sign that he does not want to redeem the land and marry Ruth.

At this Boaz declares that Ruth is to be his wife, the land would be rescued. The town elders offer best wishes - May God make Ruth like Rachel and Leah who birthed the tribes of Israel, and like Perez who Tamar bore Judah - though hopefully without the jealousy of Rachel and Leah, and without the subterfuge that Tamar resorted to with Judah! Perez was Boaz' great, great, great, great gramdsfather (Add 1 more great to get to Judah and 1 more to get to Jacob/Israel!)

Ruth became pregnant and had a son, who gave comfort to Naomi his grandmother, 

Ruth's son is called Obed, his son was called Jesse, and among Jesse's sons was the future king of Israel, the original from David and Goliath - David.

It is to be hoped that Ruth, Naomi and Boaz had a happy life, the Bible does not say. 
But the descendants of Ruth - a convert to Judaism - include some of the major characters in the rest of the Bible

The book of Ruth is the shortest book we have yet got to - yet there is great compassion and kindness to be found here. Far more so than we found in Judges.
It is also nice to get a story with a strong female lead. 

Ruth 3 The threshing floor

Ruth 3

Naomi realises that without help, she and Ruth would lead a difficult and uncertain future, so she recommends that Ruth re-marries somebody to carry on the family line.
As it happens Boaz, who has already shown kindness to Ruth, is a relation and could marry Ruth and redeem the lands lost by Naomi and Elimalek.

Naomi suggests that Ruth pursue matters and she should dress up in her best clothes, wear some perfume and go to the threshing floor where Boaz would be winnowing his barley harvest.
When everybody has gone to sleep Ruth uncovered Boaz's feet and lay down keeping his feet warm.
Boaz woke up in the middle of the night and is rather surprised when he finds a woman there. In the dark he asks "Who are you?"
"Ruth, please lend me your cloak, as you are a guardian redeemer of my family"
The Guardian redeemer is a legal term and originates in Leviticus 25. He has an obligation to redeem a relative who is in trouble.

Boaz is very impressed with Ruth's fidelity to her mother in law and has not run off after younger or richer men.
However Boaz is not the only guardian redeemer of Ruth and Naomi , and the other possible person actually has more responsibility, and so he should be first in line.

Ruth got up early next morning as it would be kind of hard if the men had seen her. 
Before she left, Boaz gave Ruth a generous portion of barley as he cannot send her away empty handed.

Naomi now has to wait patiently, but Boaz will act quickly to settle matters that very day

Ruth 2 In the fields

Ruth 2

Ruth and Naomi have returned to Bethlehem but are destitute and it does not seem that any of the family have yet come to their aid.

Ruth decided to go out into the fields and glean some grain from the harvest, which appears to be an option for the destitute at the time. Don't try running behind a combine harvester these days by the way!

The field that Ruth has chosen to glean in belongs to Boaz, who is a relative of Elimalek, Ruth's father in law and husband. When Boaz paid a visit to the harvest, he spotted Ruth gleaning and did nt recognise her, so he asked the field supervisor who she was. "She is the Moabite woman who returned with Naomi." she asked for permission to glean and has been at it since morning with a short break in the shelter. (Presumably the heat of the day was proving a bit too much).

Boaz went and spoke to Ruth, saying stay in this field and follow the women - I've given the men instructions that they are not to harm you, and if you are thirsty help yourself from the water jars that are there for the harvesters.

Ruth asks why Boaz is showing such care for a foreign woman he does not know - "I've heard about how you are looking after your mother in law since your husband died and have left your family and home to care for Naomi" Replied Boaz.

At the mealtime Boaz invited Ruth to share in the food, and instructed the harvesters to deliberately leave stalks and grain for Ruth to glean

By the end of the day Ruth had gleaned about 12-13 kg of barley wheat - which is enough for them both for the day and with some left over in all probabilitty.

Naomi, once she finds out where Ruth had been, advised Ruth to stick with Boaz and glean in his fields for the whole season.

Now in the UK at the moment there is a constant background, I'm going to call it "whinge" when it comes to the subject of immegration. Just this year there were fears that a flood of Bulgarian and eastern European immigrants would flock to the UK and immediately demand treatment on the National Health service, claim benefits and take all our jobs for much less money that we would work for.(The fact that these 3 are not really mutually compatible seems to escape journalists and politicians)
I was actually disgusted to hear of the treatment of non-EU immigrants and asylum seekers who are detained and one asylum seeker with dementia was retrained in his bed as he died.

When I compare this with the care and compassion of Boaz I cannot help feeling that we, in the UK, are extremely likely to undervalue immigrants both to the economic detriment and the cultural detriment of this country, after all as we shall see Ruth is pivotal in the story of Israel but also of Christianity.

What is more to the point in the UK - my own family name indicates that we came to the UK as Saxons in about 580 a.d. Is being accepted simply a matter of time. (Which physics tells us is entwined with space to form a single entity space-time continuum (sorry I had to get the phrase space-time continuum in here somehow, and now I have done it twice!)
I moved to God's own county of Yorkshire some 2 decades ago and only need to wait another 3 of 4 more generations before I can be considered a "true" Yorkshireman!
So - as we are instructed in the Bible law, and following the example of Boaz let us welcome strangers, foreigners and yes even asylum seekers and immigrants into our land and culture.

I'd personally be prepared to welcome the occasional "bad egg" into this country than to stop somebody who genuinely needs help or protection from getting it.

Sorry I rather went political here for a moment, but I felt I wanted to share a point that is kind of missing in the media these days. 
Normal service will resume next post.

Ruth 1

Ruth 1

The story of Ruth starts not with Ruth but with a family of a man from Bethlehem called Elimalek, his wife Naomi, and his two grown sons Mahlon and Kilion. There is a famine in Israel and Elimalek and family leave Israel and move to Moab, where Elimalek died. Naomi found wives for her sons, after about 10 yeasr her sons died leaving Naomi and her daughters in law, Ruth and Orpah alone.

Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem where she had relatives who could help her and her two daughters in law go with her.
Naomi tried to persuade Orpah and Ruth to let her go and to find second husbands and make a life in Moab, since Naomi is not going to have more children whom they could marry. 
Orpah respectfully takes Naomi's advice but Ruth has made the decision to stick with Naomi.
"Don't ask me to leave you or turn back,where you go, I will go,  where you stay, I will stay, your people will be my people and your God will be my God. Where you die, so will I and there will I be buried."

When they got back to Bethlehem, people recognised Naomi. Naomi (whose name means pleasant) asks her old friends to call her Mara (which means bitter), as she left Bethlehem with a husband and sons with belongings but has returned a widow with nothing.

They move back to Bethlehem at the start of the barley harvest - this is useful to them as they will need to get food for themselves.

Judges 19-21 A shocking story

Judges 19

This story really should not have a place in a family friendly book. 
It has reminiscences of Sodom, so if you are of a sensitive disposition you might want to skip this post.

A Levite had a concubine (they were not married officially) from Bethlehem, and she ran away to her parents house.
The Levite tracked her down and persuaded her to return with him, which in the end she does, though it took him 4 days to get away from the in-laws who kept plying him with food and drink!
They decide to stay in an Israelite controlled town rather than Jerusalem, and they wind up at a place called Gibeah where there does not appear to be an inn. Nobody offers accommodation, so they are staying in the town square when an old chap invites them into his house.

The Levite is having a perfectly nice evening enjoying hospitality and a meal when, during the evening the men of the town surround the house demanding to "know" the man staying there.
His host offers the crowd his unmarried daughter and the Levite's concubine to "do with as you please" rather than "do this terrible act" 
As the mob are in danger of breaking down the door, the Levite showing a total lack of bravery and concern shoved his concubine out of the door for the crowd to do with as they would.

After a night of being abused she crawled to the door of the house and died just as day broke.
Having probably slept through the night, the Levite saw his concubine on the doorstep and enquires of her well being with the warm and gentle greeting of "GET UP!"

Getting no reply he tied the poor unfortunate woman to his donkey and then when he got home he cut her into 12 pieces and sent them to each tribe in Israel (presumably with a report of what had happened).

The sheer lack of sympathy, respect, and chivalry shown by the Levite in this story is absolutely disgraceful. 

Judges 20

Israel is mobilised and meet at Mizpah and hear the Levite's story,
They demand that the Benjaminites hand over the men of Gibeah. But the tribe of Banjamin refused and went to war against Israel.

The Benjaminites defeated Israel on the first day of the battle, killing about 22,000, the second day they killed 18,000 and Israel was getting a bit panicky and enquired again if they should do this, and God tells them that the third day he will give victory.

When battle started, they attacked and lost about 30 Israelite soldiers, but then counter attacked and killed all the town of Gibeah and only 600 warriors escaped from the whole tribe of Benjamin - so the tribe is in very real danger of being lost as there would be no future generations.

Judges 21

Israel made a vow that nobody would let their daughter marry into the tribe of Benjamin, but they mourn for the loss of the tribe.

In the end the reach an agreement that at harvest they would have a big party and the Benjamin men could rush in an carry off women while they partied - this would save the tribe without breaking the oath

Again there is a terrible lack of chivalry  in this story too. I mean who would encourage or condone kidnapping of innocent women like this.

There is a recurring theme in the book of Judges "In those days Israel had no king, everyone did as they saw fit" 

Now we are at the end of the book of Judges - I don't know if it is deliberately ending on such a sour note - it does seem that the chosen people of God did not, by and large, choose God back and really degenerated to the level of depravity found in these chapters.

The odd selection of the judges from all walks of life including women, illegitimate, left handed, in need of persuasion,  or just with long wavy hair, shows me that God can, and does, use unexpected people.

Judges 17 & 18 The adventures of a silver idol

Judges 17

The story starts with a guy called Micah (or actually his mum) - Micah nicked about 30 kg of silver from his mother, who cursed whoever took it.
Micah then confessed to his mother that he took the silver, and here it is back.

I'm pretty sure that my parents would probably react with more anger and recrimination than "God bless you my son"! 
Micah's mum then takes about 20% of the silver to a silversmith who made it into an idol.

Micah had a family shrine in his house with an Ephod (Priestly chest plate)   and household gods and his son was a family priest.

There is a repeating phrase in the book of Judges - "In those days Israel had no king and everyone did as they saw fit". It is odd, really considering that the second commandment is Do not make any images or other gods beside me - it is interesting to see how much of the law has gone by the board.

One day a Levite (licensed to conduct worship and care for the tabernacle of God) was passing by from Bethlehem looking for some kind of job.
Micah invites him to become his family priest - he will give board and lodging, all the clothes he can eat (sorry couldn't resist) and pay.

The levite is more than happy with the job offer and moves in.
Micah is pleased, "God will be good to me, I even have a Levite as my priest"

Judges 18

The tribe of Dan has failed miserably to claim the land they were given by Joshua and Moses - and at this stage are looking for an easier conquest.
At this stage, the Danites had sent out 5 leaders to find a place for them to settle.
They were passing Micah's house when one of them recognised the voice of the Levite amd asked him, what he was doing in this place.
The Levite explained about his job.
`
The Danites enquire of God if they will be successful in their mission, and get the answer, go ahead you will succeed.
They find the area of Lachish in the North of Israel and it is little defended, and the people have no local allies who will help them.
When the Danite army came past Micah's house one of the spies remembered Micah and his idol and priest so they go in an steal Micah's idol, ephod and household gods. They persuade the Levite to come with them and serve a tribe rather than a family 

When Micah realises what has happened he gathered his friends, anc confronted the Danites. after a couple of not very well veiled threats, Micah concludes he does not stand a chance in a fight and lets the Danites go.

The Danites set up home in the city and rename it Dan right in the north of Israel at the top of the sea of Galilee.
They set up the idol in the city and it was a place of worship until the land was conquered and the people deported.

Judges 13 - 16 Samson

Judges 13

Samson is one of the more colourful characters in the Bible, he is famous for his long hair,being a bit of an idiot, falling for the wrong woman, and was the inspiration for the motto of Lyons golden syrup.

Israel has fallen into sin again and have been suffering oppression from the Philistines for 40 years.

Samson's parents had trouble having children, until they  get a visit from an angel, who tell them that they will have a child, but the child would be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He is never allowed to drink alcohol or shave or cut his hair.
In fact the angel appeared to Samson's mother first and when she told her husband about it, he asked to meet the angel too, which he does.

Judges 14

Samson fell in either love (or possibly lust) with a Philistine woman from Timnah. He went to his parents to arrange teh marriage.
It is fair to say that his parents were not totally in favour of the match and tried to persuade him out of it, but God was using it to get an excuse to confront the Philistines.

As he was going to Timnah a lion came out and Samson killed it. 
When he was going to get married he came across the lion carcass again and he found bees had made a nest inside the lion carcas.
At the party Samson makes a riddle that if they can solve he will give them 30 linen suits.

The riddle was "Out of the eater, something to eat. Out of the strong somtehing sweet" 
The King James version of the Bible is the motto for Lyons Syrup - Out of the strong, came forth sweetness.

They could not solve the riddle for 3 days and on the fourth day they got Samson's wife to nag Samson into getting the secret. To be fair, they threaten to kill her and her entire family.

She went to Samson "You hate me, you don't love me, if you did you would tell me the meaning of the riddle".

Samson said that since he has not told his parents, why should he tell her?
After 3  days of this Samson has had enough and he tells his wife the riddle.
He went from Timnah to Askelon, killed 30 men and took their clothes to meet his bet. and then returned to his parents home.
His wife married his best man in the end.

Judges 15
At harvest time Samson decided to pay his wife a visit - only to find that she had married his best man 
Samson does not take the fact that his wife (after all they spent about 1 week together of which 3 days were her nagging him) has not remained pining after him, Samsons vows revenge.

He captured a lot of foxes, tied their tails together with a lit torch and released them into the fields ready for harvest. 
This was the inspiration for the Rudyard Kipling poem "Fox Hunting"
When the Philistines find out who caused the damage, they killed his wife and father in law for having caused the trouble.
Samson vows revenge (again) kills a lot of Philistines and holes out in a cave.

The Philistines invade Israel trying to get Samson.
The men of Judah tie Samson up (with his consent) and deliver him to the Philistines.
When they hand over Samson, he breaks the ropes, grabs the jawbone of an ass and kills 1000 men.

Samson seems to be somewhere between Conan the Barbarian and the crossword king!

Judges 16
Samson paid a visit to a brothel in Gaza - the men of the town hear about it and plan to arrest Samson at dawn. Samson gets up at midnight rips the town gates out of the wall, and then carries them to the top of the nearest hill and makes his escape.

He then meets another woman named Delilah - another name to conjure with!
The town leaders decide that Delilah can sort out the secret of Samson's remarkable strength.

So Delilah went and nagged Samson until he gave her a plausible explanation- tie him up with 7 new bowstrings and he will become weak.
Delilah tied up Samson - and then called out the Philistines.
Samson broke the strings, and killed the men
Delilah said that Samson had made a fool of her.
Samson told her that if she tied his hair into a loom and pinned it he would be helpless.

Delilah then pulls the same trick again, puts his hair in a loom and then calls out the men.
Samson kills the men again and again Delilah nags Samson until he told the truth. Shave his head and he will become weak.

You would think that Samson had a bit of a brain but eventually he relents and tells Delilah the truth - you would think after the last 2 incidents that Samson would be a bit more careful, but there you go 

This time the men capture Samson and put out his eyes. and make him a slave grinding corn.

Several years later the Philistines bring out the mighty Samson in chains for entertainment at a festival to Dagon their god.
Samson literally bought the house down - in revenge for his eyes. In his death Samson killed more Philistines than the rest of his life.

Samson led Israel for 20 years.
Though he does come across as a bit of a moody teenager with no moral compass but tremendous strength.

Judges 12 Whose that? Part two

Judges 12

Jephthah, somehow managed to really upset the Ephraimites when he defeated the Ammonites - he went without asking them.
Jephthah argued that he did ask for help but they did not turn up on time!
Ephraim and Manesseh decide that Gilead are renegades and march out against Gilead.
The Gilead people capture the ford across the River Jordan leading to the Ephraim lands. and when anybody tried to cross they made them say Shibboleth - apparently the Ephraim accent rendered the word "Sibboleth" and they killed about 42000 Ephraimites with this trick.

Jephthah died after leading Israel for 6 years.

Ibzan from Bethlehem then ruled Israel for 7 years, all we know is that he had 30 sons and 30 daughters and he arranged for husbands and wives for his children from outside his tribe

Elon led Israel for 10 years 

Abdon, son of Hillel had 40 sons and 30 grandsons who rode on 70 donkeys led Israel for 8 years.

Judges 10 & 11 A veritable who's that?

Judges 9

Some of the Judges of Israel are really well known, and children hear the stories. Like Gideon, Samson etc, but others are a lot less famous, and unfortunately I doubt that this humble blog post is going to change that (though it would be good if it did!)

Tola - Son of Dodo, says it all really. But he led for 23 years after Abinalek

Jair - all we know about Jair is that he had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys (I assume that is one donkey per son, and not each son riding a pile of acrobat donkeys in a pyramid), Jair governed for 22 years.

Next comes Jephthah, once again Israel had been back sliding and this time they are oppressed by the Philistines and the Amorites for 18 years before Israel asks God for help. God seems to be losing patience here and tells Israel "Look, every time you have been suffering oppression and called to me I have saved you, but time and again you go off and worship the Baals and other gods, I will not rescue you any more, You chose other gods, let them rescue you."

At this Israel got rid of the foreign gods and accept that God should do as he thinks best, until God cannot bear to see them suffering any more.

A guy called Jephthah comes forward to oppose the Amorites and rescue Gilead - he is offered command of the region if he succseeds.

Judges 11 
We hear about Jephthah's background here Jephthah is a very talented soldier and his father, Gilead,  is very wealthy but his mother is a prostitute Gilead's wife seems to have fogiven her husband for going to prostitutes, and she has other sons, who turn around to their half brother one day and tell him to get lost as he will not get any inheritance.

Some time later, the situation is got serious and his brothers ask Jephthah to come back and lead them,  he takes a bit of persuading.

Jephthah then sends a message to the leader of the Amorites and Moabites who are invading asking what their quarrel is.
They say Israel stole the land, give it back or else.
Jephthah's response is a bit of a history lesson - When Israel left Egypt we asked permission to cross the land in peace and you refused and came out to meet us in battle..
Our God gave us this land, you take what land your god Chemosh gives you and after all we have held this land for 300 years, why wait until now, your claim is without merit.

Jephthah then went out to battle with the Ammonites, and he makes a vow that if God gives him victory he will sacrifice the first thing that he sees coming from his house as a burned offering.

Having won the battle, Jephthah got home but the first thing he saw coming from his house is his daughter, his only child.
Jephthah is devastated  at this but his daughter tells him that he has promised and should fulfil his promise, but can she spend 2 months with her friends in the hills to weep and mourn that she would never marry.
She then went back to her father and was sacrificed.

This is a terrible story really - Did God really demand that Jephthah sacrifice his daughter? Could he legitimately have said God does not desire human sacrifice, can I redeem my daughter? I don't know.

Judges 9 Abimalek

Judges 9

Abimalek is one of Gideon's 70 sons. His mother apparently came from Shechem and Abimalek persuades them to make him their king rather than him and his 69 brothers.

Abimalek then murdered all of his brothers, apart from Jotham, who was Gideon's youngest son.

When Jotham heard that Shechem was going to make the murderous Abimalek king he climbed up Mount Gerazim and shouted a story more or less as follows.

The trees decided to elect a king .
They asked the olive tree who responded "Should I give up my oil to become ruler of the trees? I don't think so"
Next they asked the fig tree who responded "Should I give up my fruit to become ruler of the trees? I don't think so"
Next they asked the vine who was not willing to give up wine.
Finally they asked the thornbush - who accepted "If you want to make me king and take refuge in my shade, but if not let fire come out and destroy the cedars"

The moral was that if they had treated the family of Gideon fairly and remembered the actions of his father who had rescued Israel from Midian. Since they had connived in the murder of his brothers Abimalek would cause a fire to surge between himself and the people of Shechem.

After three years, Abimalek and Shechem had a major falling out - a guy called Gaal came along and persuaded the citizens to break faith with Abimalek.
Abinmalek set an ambush in the fields surrounding the city and when the inhabitants of Shechem came out next day they were attacked.
All that day Abimalek attacked until he was fighting at the walls and gates of the city.
He cut wood and burned the stronghold where the people were taking refuge with them inside.
He then went to Thebez where he attacked and captured the city - apart from a strong tower.
A woman had the presence of mind to drop an upper millstone from the top of the wall and it mortally injured Abimalek when it landed on his head

Abimalek got his armour bearer to run him though "So that people will not say that a woman killed me".

Guess what Abimalek - it did not work, you were killed by a woman dropping a heavy stone onto your head - I can't say "live with it" but frankly it was a suitable end for a rotten fellow. I know I shouldn't judge, but there are some people that just act rotten, and Abimalek is one.

Judges 6-8 Gideon

Judges 6

Israel, once again, fell into sin and ignoring God and the law. This time God gives them over to the Moabites and Amelekites, who invaded the land in huge numbers.
Israel had the chance to plant crops, but the raiders came along and stole them along with all the livestock. The description is they were like a plague of locusts devouring every living thing in the land.

Israel eventually called upon God for help.
God sent a prophet to Israel to say basically we had an agreement, and you have not kept your side.

An angel from God pays a visit to Gideon who is currently trying to thresh and winnow grain while hiding in a winepress. Threshing wheat is a process of separating the heavy grain from the light chaff (or rest of the plant). Ideally this needs plenty of room and a good breeze to allow the wind to carry the chaff away.

The greeting from the Angel is rather superb "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior".
Given that Gideon is currently trying to farm while hiding in a confined space makes me think that Gideon's first reaction would be to look around and say "Who, me?".

Gideon asks a question that I think most of us would ask, "If the LORD is with us, why is this stuff happening?" 

Gideon is basically told to man up - "Go in the strength you have and save Israel, I, the LORD, am sending you.
Gideon takes quite a lot of persuading that God really is calling him. First of all he asks the Angel to wait while he fetched an offering.
the angel burned it with a touch of his staff and Gideon has a panic attack "I'm going to die!"
The Angel replied "Peace, you are not going to die, don't be afraid"

Next thing Gideon is told to smash the alter to Baal and the pole to Asherah, build an alter to God and sacrifice his fathers second best bull.
Being full of courage, Gideon did this at night so that nobody would stop him.

In the morning basically Baal and Asherah are told that if they want to take revenge on Gideon, they will have to take it themselves as there is new godly competition on the scene.

Next time the Midianites came back Gideon gathers an army from Manesseh (His tribe) Zebulun and Naphtali.
Gideon then does his famous fleece trick (This is the origin of the saying laying a fleece) - he puts out a fleece and tells God that if the ground is wet with dew in the morning and the fleece is bone dry then God has sent him. So it occurs.
Next day Gideon asks for the reverse trick - the fleece is wet but the ground dry.
He really takes some convincing - but now he is convinced he is ready to lead the army.

Judges 7

Gideon gathers the army to attack the huge Midianite army, but God says - hold on a minute, the army is too big - if you win you will not credit me with the victory, you will think it was by your strength. Tell the army "Anybody who really does not want to be here for whatever reason, you can go." 22,000 men march off and 10,000 were left. I can imagine Gideon at this point thinking that the odds of him winning had just been reduced from being outnumbers something like 3 to 1 to being outnumbered 10 to 1.

God still thinks that the army of 10000 is far too big, so he tells Gideon to take the army to a stream and get them to drink - 300 of them cup the water in their hands and drank, while 9,700 of them kneel down to drink. God tells Gideon to get rid of the 9700 spare soldiers and with just 300 men, he would defeat the army of Moab - probably outnumbered 300 to 1.
he did keep the provisions and the trumpets from the departed army.
What happens next is remarkable - Gideon splits his 300 men into 3 groups armed with trumpets, torches hidden in jars, and probably with as many sharp edged weapons as they could carry, surrounding the camp.
Just after the midnight watch change the men smashed the jars to reveal the torchlight, blew the trumpets and shouted for all they were worth. The Midianites panicked and started attacking each other and ran away in total disarray.

The soldiers of Ephraim were called out to carry on the attack.

Interestingly the story of Gideon and this particular action was the inspiration for the British Special forces unit the Chindits - and during world war 2 the tactic was used in the attack on a German/Italian air base located in Africa.

Judges 8

Ephraim were a bit upset that Gideon had not called them before the battle, but Gideon salved their pride by telling them that they had done the majority of the victory.
Meanwhile 2 leaders had escaped, Zebah and Zalmunnaa, and Gideon was in hot pursuit when he reached Succoth and Peniel he asked them to provide some food for his soldiers to help them keep going. Both said "do you have their heads with you? we are not helping until you do, at which Gideon vows to flog Succoth with thorns and destroy the tower of Peniel when he comes back with the heads.

The mighty army of Midian has been reduced to 15,000 (from 130000) but Gideon attacks them and captures the 2 kings.

Gideon asks "what kind of men did you kill?", 
"Men like you. " came the reply.
Gideon ordered his son to kill them, but he is young and hesitated, so the kings ask Gideon to do it himself, which he did.
He also destroyed the tower of Peniel and flogged the elders of Succoth with thorns to make his point.

Israel asks Gideon and his sons to rule and start a dynasty - Gideon denied this saying God will lead you., but he asked for any gold earrings (which apparently were fashionable in Midian) and he made an Ephod which people in his home town worshipped and it lured his family away from following God.
Gideon had 70 sons who rode on 70 donkey (I guess 1 each, rather than 70 each!) 
Gideon died at an old age, but the moment he was dead Israel deserted God and forgot all that Gideon and his family had done.

Joshua 4 & 5 Deborah

Judges 4

Deborah is one of the more interesting women in the Bible, she totally outshines her husband (who gets one mention while Deborah gets 2 whole chapters), she is strong but unlike some of the more notorious women in the Bible she is on the side of God and good.

After Ehud had died, Israel fell back into their habit of ignoring God, who let a Canaanite king and his military commander Sisera, with the help of 900 chariots, Sisera was able to oppress Israel for 20 years until eventually Israel cried out to God for help (Not exactly quick learners, are they?).

Deborah was leading Israel at the at the time from a place in the hill country of Ephraim. She sent for Barak from the tribe of Naphtali and commanded him to take his army of 10000 foot soldiers and take a position on the top of mount Tabor. God would lead Sisera to a vulnerable position where Barak could attack.
It is interesting that Deborah summoned Barak and the army 

Barak basically says that if Deborah will go with the army he will go, but otherwise he would rather not.
Deborah basically calls him a wimp and because of this a woman would deal with Sisera  and he would not get the full credit for the victory.

A guy called Heber the Kenite (Distant ancestor of the Ken of "Ken and Barbie" fame?) passed work to Sisera that troops were moving.

Sisera and his army is routed by the army of Barak, and Israel chase them beyond their stronghold and wipes out the army to the last man (but one)

Sisera, like a military hero and leader or armies, manages to get away on foot when he comes across the tent of Heber the Kenite, or more precisely Jael, Heber's wife.
Jael invited Heber into the tent to hide.
Sisera asked for some water, Jael gave him milk to drink and hid him until he fell asleep.
Jael then used a mallet and tent peg to secure Sisera by driving a tent peg through his brain - I guess that solved his headache.

Shortly afterwards Barak comes along and Jael shows where she left Sisera still with a tent peg sticking from his head.

Judges 5

This chapter is a song of Deborah - she is quite scathing about the people in Israel who did not lift a finger to help, and indeed did not lift a finger until Deborah came along and took charge of matters.

Judges 3 Othniel

Judges 3

God apparently left some of the unfriendly nations hanging around to stop Israel from forgetting how to go to war and try to keep them on the straight and narrow.
However Israelite families intermarried with these people and wound up chasing after the local gods.

Basically the cycle seems to be - Israel fall away from God and following his decrees - Israel is oppressed by raiders and invaders - Israel cry out to God in their troubles - God raises up a leader - Israel behave while this leader is alive.

The first judge God raised up was Othniel, son of Caleb's younger brother to rescue Israel from the appression of the king of Aram Naharaim. who had been oppressing Israel for 8 years. 
Israel had been worshipping the Baal and Ashteroth gods and goddesses of the Canaanite nations.

The land then had peace for 40 years 

Next comes Ehud - the only guy in the Bible who is recorded as being left handed.
The king of Moab, Eglon, has been ruling at least some of the Jews for 18 years.

Ehud, a left handed Benjaminite (son of my right hand) arranges to deliver the Israelite tribute to king Eglon, tells the king that he has an important private message for the king.
Ehud had made a double edged sword that he had strapped to his right leg under his clothers.
Ehud pulls the sword and stabbed the king, who was a bit on the portly side and the sword sank in the whole length including the handle.

Ehud locked the doors as he left. The servants thought the king was on the toilet and waited a long time before finding a key. During the wait Ehud escaped, gathered an army and attacked the Moabites.

Shamgar, all the Bible tells us is that he killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad 

Judges 1 and 2 Unfinished business

Judges 1

Taking place at the end of the book of Joshua, the tribes of Israel take full possession of the land allocated to them.

Judah was not able to conquer the plains area of their land as the defenders had heavy duty chariots.
Joseph's tribes (Ephraim and Manesseh) join forces but are unable to conquer some of the cities in their region, though they managed to persuade a man from Bethel to show them how to conquer the city in exchange for his life and the life of his family.

The other tribes did not manage to conquer all the cities in their territories, however as they took possession of most of their lands, they were able to subjugate the Canaanites to serve the Israelite economy but did not wipe them out.

Judges 2

An angel from God appears to the Israelites to challenge them on not having completed the task that God gave them to do - clear the land of the Canaanites, otherwise they will lure Israel away from the worship of God and following the law.

Joshua died at the age of 110 and while him and his generation lived, Israel did ok in following the law of God, however once the old generation died, their children did not follow in the faith.
Shortly after this, raiders started to attack Israel and Israel was defenceless to defend themselves because they had started worshipping other gods.

When things got too hard for Israel they called again on God and he raised up various judges to restore Israel and rescue them from their enemies.

The rest of the book covers the various judges that God raised up - both men and women.

We will meet them over the next few posts. 

Joshua 22-24 Endgame? Or the beginning of the end game?

Joshua 22

Having helped their relatives during the take over of the land as they promised Moses, the armies of Reuben, Gad and half of Manesseh are given leave to return to their lands east of the river Jordan.

As the got to the river Jordan, the tribes built a very large alter by the side of the river, which really shocked the rest of the Israelites. So soon have these people left Joshua but they have started building alters- next thing they will be sacrificing their children and worshipping other gods.
The entire army of the rest of Israel join forces to confront their relatives.
They sent the son of the high priest, Phinehas, along with elders from each tribe to confront this act, so quick to abandon the law of God these people are going to defile the land. It would be much better for these people to live with the rest of the tribes - where they can be kept an eye on.

The tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manesseh then explain what they were actually saying - which basically is "in the future, your descendants may stop our descendants from worshipping God as they live on the wrong side of the river Jordan. This alter is a replica and is purely symbolic and will never be used for sacrifices. It is there to act as a witness - look we have a replica of your true alter, this is to show that we are of your faith".

War is then avoided and the crises is over.

Joshua 23

Joshua is now a very old man, and he makes one final speech to the people - basically saying carry on and claim the land that God has given you. Follow the Law of God and do not be seduced by the existing people in the land, to worship their gods. 

Joshua 24

Joshua's final address recaps the history of Israel from Abraham to the present day.

For me the crunch point is found in verse 14 -15 "Get rid of any other gods that you may have carried with you and serve only God. If this does not work for you or you find it inconvenient, choose today who you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD"

The Israelites then enter into a kind of "Oh no you won't serve God"  - "Oh yes we will" exchange.
Eventually Joshua accepts their word and dismisses the assembly.

Joshua was buried when he died in the area of Israel that was his inheritance. Joseph, whose bones were bought through the exodus, was buried in Shechem in the land that Jacob bought 400 years before.
Eleazer the high priest after Aaron was buried in his family land (one of the Levite towns) 

While the old people lived, Israel remained faithful to God and followed his law. 

Joshua seems to have passed by fairly quickly there is quite a lot of violence but I think for me the things I like in the book are that there is enough honour that, for the most part, Israel kept their promises, even when that was not very convenient (Shuch as Rahab and Gibeon).
Along with the challenge "Choose today who you will serve" one way or another pretty much everybody serves something or somebody - for instance one day a week, the government take my salary in taxes, so I serve the government, I try to do my best for my employer at work, so I serve my employer, but I hope that my primary service is to God and the others follow my service of him. I try not to serve money, addiction, technology and so many other tempting masters. It is a choice I make - I don't think it does anybody any harm, and if there is no God, well frankly this life is it and when I am gone that is it, all I will have wasted are some minor comforts and time and I'll never know.

For me faith works, though it is work to follow God,  I hope the rewards are worth it both here and now and in the future,