365 Reflections

Judges 21:1–5 (ESV) Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, “No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.” 2 And the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. 3 And they said, “O Lord , the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel?” 4 And the next day the people rose early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5 And the people of Israel said, “Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the Lord ?” For they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” The book of Judges ends in infamy. The tribe of Benjamin is utterly decimated by the civil war fought against them by the other tribes for the horrific events of Judges 19. On top of that, the people have sworn an oath to no longer intermarr...

It is no secret that  Israel is a mess by the end of Judges. They have a civil war brewing in the wake of the events of Judges 19. The man whose concubine was killed shares edited details of the story to garner support for a retributive attack on the Benjaminites. Judges 20:4–5 (ESV) And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I came to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. 5 And the leaders of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house against me by night. They meant to kill me, and they violated my concubine, and she is dead. Note the lack of informing them HE offered her to them so he could save his own skin. His statements betray the root problem of Israel - "pride." God is going to her bring low. The tribe of Benjamin, we find out is strong and skilled with slings. They are also fortified in the highland. As the battle commences, we see Israel slowly be humbled by God through a series o...

Ancient Israel is a case study in the reality that laws, promises and blessings from God do not secure a righteous nation. They do not change the heart. Judges 19 is perhaps the Bible's darkest chapter filled with unthinkable human evil and wanton disregard for the dignity of woman. The narrator of Judges has brought us through the judges cycles one after the other and now paints the picture for the terrible realities met by a nation who left God behind and forged their own future. This chapter is a solemn reminder of how bad it can get for a country when the Lord God of Creation is disregarded. The story is about a Levite and his concubine who cheated on him and left him. That first detail is all you need to know about the spiritual life of Israel. First, a Levite was set apart for God's service. Second, marriage was between a man and woman in Israel. Third, adultery was counter to the law and punishable by death. The Levite goes to fetch her after four months away in her...

Judges 18:1–2 (ESV) In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them. 2 So the people of Dan sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, “Go and explore the land.” And they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. The tribe of Dan is on the hunt for land. They were the one tribe unable to secure an inheritance after the conquest. Now, they are looking for a piece of the pie. And where do they arrive but at Micah's house? Micah, who from the last chapter was organizing his own little spiritual conclave in his home with a priest and idol cast from part of the silver he stole and returned to his mother. The scouts from Dan arrive and meet the acting priest. They find out ab...

Judges 17 turns the page on righteous although flawed judges raised up by God to deliver His people from bondage. Now the narrative will describe through tragic stories the corruption of Israel's heart as a result of them turning from God over the previous century. Note the first of four phrases to be repeated until the end of Judges six verses in: Judges 17:6 (ESV) In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The story begins with a man who stole money from his mother and then confesses upon hearing her curse over it. Judges 17:2 (ESV) And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD.” The mother then proceeds to hire a silversmith with part of the money to fashion an idol and put it in a makeshift shrine in the house. This she does, claiming...

The end of Samson's life looks like a terrible subscript written at the end of a movie which already seemed to end with tragedy. He is blinded bound and forced to work, grinding grain for the very people God called him to defeat. He has become physically what Israel is nationally - blind, bound and ground by their enemies. Now if you remember, the sequence of the famous Judges' cycle it is that Israel would sin, get enslaved and then cry out to God. God would respond with a judge and deliver them for a time until the cycle repeated once more. In the Samson cycle, there all the elements minus the people crying out to God for deliverance. Yet God raises up Samson and it seems clear Samson is not just a historical story but a picture of Israel's descent into the morbid slave-state vassal of Philistines. So I consider God is using this story not only to instigate the nation's deliverance but to awaken them to pray for His help EVEN when they seem to least deserve it! ...

Delilah is the personification of dangerous love. For all my life I've heard about her danger but Tim Keller really brought out for me what the main issue was for Samson concerning this woman who would become his undoing. The whole narrative is bracketed by terms rooted in the concept of infatuated love. Even from the beginning, it says: Judges 16:4 (ESV) After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. Samson just got away with a sexual episode with a prostitute in the capital city of Gaza. But that was just casual sex, Delilah is what Samson considers a loving relationship. You get the feeling that her entrance into his was life primed by the casual encounter in the first place.  Samson needs the love of Delilah.  Judges 16:5 (ESV)   And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we wi...

Judges 16:1–3 (ESV)   Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. 2 The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” 3 But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron. Samson's biggest problem was he never failed to get out of the terrible situations his own inhibitions got him into. The constant stream of successes he experienced as he played the fool with lust and women ultimately led him to a tragic false sense of security. It's not good to always win. Winning can mess with our pride and pride is never a good thing. Scripture says: Proverbs 16:1...

I wish Samson's story got better at some point but it keeps descending into a morose.  Judges 15:16–20 (ESV)   And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” 17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi. 18 And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. This passage is perhaps the most revealing of Samson's character than any other. He has just finished killing 1000 Philist...

By Judges 14 we see that Samson is surrounded by Philistines. He goes in and out among them peacefully and comfortably. The details of these chapters is meant to give us a picture of just how accustomed to the nations around them Israel had become. In fact, the comfortability with the pagan nation is such that Israel will intermarry and even celebrate together with the Israelites as it happens. When he found a pretty girl among them the text tells us they gave him 30 companions . Judges 14:10–11 (ESV)  His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. 11 As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. YET Judges 15 makes it clear that Israel is in fact being RULED by the Philistines. Judges 15:11 (ESV) Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us ? What then is this that you have done to us?...

Samson's story takes off like a jet plane. Right away he heads to the Philistines and spies out a girl to his liking. Judges 14:3 (ESV) 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 .”  Notice that Samson is reflecting the attitude of his day. He will do what is "right in his own eyes"  just as his countrymen. Here it begins with a woman from the very people he is meant to overcome on behalf of Israel. But the next verse is not what you expect: Judges 14:4 (ESV)  His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord , for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.  Samson's desire for a foreign woman is from the Lord? Yes. God is going to use the very thing Israel was doi...

"Finding your purpose" is a buzz phrase in Christianity. We like to know what our "purpose" in life is so that we can fulfill it and "live the dream" God gave us. Sometimes we fall into purpose idolatry . That is, we only serve God as long as the purpose we are assigned fits our liking. This is not Christianity. It is self-interested spirituality. You can find that anywhere. But it doesn't come from God. Satan wanted a very spiritual place in heaven. He wanted God's place. He was cast down forever because of it. Religious pretension may be the most horrible of all. Judges 13 introduces us to Samson's father Manoah. The deeper you read about his weird interaction with the Angel you get the idea that some of Samson's failings may have stemmed from his father's attitude about God and purpose. Judges 13:2 (ESV) There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no chil...

Judges 13:1 (ESV) And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord , so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. This is the last time God will raise up a judge in Israel during the period known as the "Judges." Here we have a few striking components of what has become a sort of rhythm for Israel during this dark period. First we should be aware that this length of subjugation is twice as long as any other in the Judges period (before Deborah/Barak was 2nd longest at only 20 years!). Now forty years Israel is subjected to the Philistines. But the more stunning aspect of this passage is the lack of prayer from Israel to God for deliverance from their oppressors. Unlike any of the other times in Judges, Israel is handed over to their enemies and they do not cry out to God. This is intended to shock the reader of the book to pay attention. What is going on? Israel has become desensitized to their slavery which is a conse...

Judges 12:8–10 (ESV) After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9 He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan, and thirty daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. 10 Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem. On the surface, the judge who comes to power after Jephtath in Judges 12 seems harmless and liberal in his spirit of unity toward Israel. He brings in 30 daughters from outside his clan for his sons and gives his 30 daughters to men outside his clan in marriage. This is no gesture of goodwill. In the ancient world, an aspiring Monarch would have formed intermarriages with other people groups to expand his power and influence. Ibzan is a wannabe king seeking to expand his rule. This small passage is a clear illustration that the judges have started to lead the people away from God's agenda and toward their own. Samson is on the horizon. The cultural corruption of Israel has a full head of st...

The biggest problem with the church is that we fight each other constantly. We are supposed to be on the same side. But yet it seems we can't find a way to come together to fight a common enemy who steals the truth from people's lives every day. Sadly, this was true of Israel in the time of the Judges. Just after Jephthah finished defeating the Ammonites, the Ephraimites are upset they weren't included in the military victory. Judges 12:1–3 (ESV)  The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.” 2 And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. 3 And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then ...

There's a danger to not understanding the grace of God. Jephthah is exhibit "A". His fear of an unsuccessful war led him to bargain with God for victory. Judges 11:30–31 (ESV) And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” It was a needless bargain for Jephthah. He already had something from God far more valuable than any military success. Note how his military campaign begins: Judges 11:29 (ESV)  Then the Spirit of the LORD was upon Jephthah ,... Jephthah was anointed but sadly it wasn't enough for him. He wanted a self-centered guarantee that God would give him victory. He feigned good religious practice to garner divine intervention. Many Americans do the same exact thing every day.  His story reveals the danger of a relationsh...

Don't assume things about people. Take Jephthah for instance. This is a man who was born to a prostitute and driven from his family. He was disregarded until the nation needed his strength for battle against the insurgent Ammonites. But what we learn is Jephthah brings more to the battle than just his ability to fight. When Jephthah is installed as military leader over Israel, he diplomatically interacts with the Ammonite king before simply venturing into battle. He sends a message, he discerns the response and proves he knows history and what God has been doing. Judges 11:14–17 (ESV) Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites 15 and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites, 16 but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. 17 Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of...

Judges 11:1–4 (ESV) Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. 2 And Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. And when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him. 4 After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel. Jephthah is a flawed man. He is also infamous for a terrible decision in life that he really should not be defined by. But it happened and we'll get to it, but not today. For right now I want you to look at who Jephthah was from birth to adulthood. The definition of his reality during that phrase could be described as one thing: A raw deal in life.  Consider that he is the son of a prostitute. His father's one night stand before se...

Things are getting worse for Israel in the book of Judges. We have these stories preserved for us so that we do not follow the ways they took. Consider: 1 Corinthians 10:6 (ESV) Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. The people of Israel once again serve the baals and ashtorehs of Canaan. These gods represented a plentiful harvest and fruitfulness in sex. It's amazing how we serve money and sex the same exact way thousands of years later just as they did!  When Israel feels the sting of the nations pressing in around them, they again cry out to God: Judges 10:10 (ESV) And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.” What's interesting is how God perceives insincerity in their cry for help. Because He turns up the heat in His response. Before Gideon was called, a prophet was sent to remind the people of Israe...

Sometimes the best kind of leaders are the ones who don't make the "headlines" of the Biblical narrative. Tola and Jair are two of that kind of leaders. After the long stories of Gideon and Abimelech which cover four chapters between them, we have exactly 5 verses dedicated to two longstanding judges mentioned in Judges 10. Judges 10:1–5 (ESV) After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. 2 And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir. 3 After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. 4 And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. 5 And Jair died and was buried in Kamon. We would be tempted to overlook these men. In my former daily readings when I read through the Bible in a year, I would have rushed rig...