士师记

Meditative Reflection
The Futility of Being Like the World

“Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines…” (Jdg. 10:6)

Of course, there are numerous reasons for the Israelites to turn away from the Lord to worship the gods of their neighbors, and their “prostitution” seemed to reach a climax after the death of Tola and Jair as the Bible took the time to list all the gods they now turned to—the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammonites and Philistines. In other words, they worshipped every and any god they could. This was a very sad picture of how they “prostituted” themselves as the Chosen People of the Lord. What shame have they brought to the name of the Lord who was once feared and revered by the people and the kings of the land because of all the miraculous deeds He performed for His people.

Of the many obvious reasons for their turning away from the Lord and worshipping the gods of their neighbors, one can understand at least one of the most possible or likely motives, and that was to befriend or appease these hostile neighbors by becoming like them so as to gain their acceptance. The marrying of their sons and daughters to their neighbors, in particular, would secure a stronger tie that, in their estimation, would lessen the likelihood of hostility. And to worship their gods, would certainly make them feel their total integration into their society. But none of these produced any of the desired effects. The stronger of these neighbors—the Philistines and the Ammonites— paid no attention to their effort of assimilation, they “shattered and crushed them” (10:8), and oppressed them for eighteen years. This is a lesson that we, as Christians, need to take to heart today.

Any attempt to compromise biblical standards in an effort to appease the world, to become more like them, or to gain their friendship will only be a futile exercise. The result will only be, as Clark Pinnock points out, “a secularizing of the Christian Church rather than a Christianizing of the society”.

It is always our difference from the world that shines the gospel light into their darkness.

Meditative Reflection
A Breath of Fresh Air

“What do you have against us that you have attacked our country?” (Jdg 11:12)

As we have been told over and over again, the judges in this period of Israel’s history were no more than warriors who led their people with their warring zeal, though invariably empowered by the Spirit of the Lord. As a result, as we read the early part of Jephthah’ s life, we would assume that he would be bent on violence and revenge, especially given the fact that he was driven out by his brothers because of his “illegitimate” sonship and the fact that he rallied a bunch of bandits around him. And yet, he demonstrated himself to be a most reasonable leader with the waging of war being a last resort. He was indeed a breath of fresh air.

Irrespective of the legitimacy of the reply of the Ammonites, it was not Israel who waged war against them, it was the opposite. In other words, Jephthah was not seeking a just cause for war; he was defending his country. He was trying to avoid an armed confrontation and sought a compromise of sorts. As much as his later foolishness in making a vow that cost the life of his own daughter, he stood out as the only judge in this period of Jewish history who seemed to wage war only as a last resort.

Meditative Reflection
The Controversy of the Land of the Palestine

“Since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before His people Israel, what right have you to take it over?” (Jdg. 11:23)

I know I am treading into one of the most controversial political issues of the world—the right to the land of Palestine.

From both secular and biblical historical documents, we know that before the occupation by the Israelites after their Exodus, the “Promised Land” was already occupied by various groups of people which the Bible calls them the Canaanites which in fact is comprised of the Hittites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, Jebusites and even the Philistines. The last group of people, the Philistines, appeared to be the latest of them all, having moved from Greek Peloponnesus as a sea people to the coastal region of modern Syria and Lebanon in 1175 B.C. Later on, they also captured the cities of Ashkelon, Ekron, Ashdod, Gath and Gaza and “turned the five cities into a confederacy that became known as Philistia (from which the Greeks later derived the word, ‘Palestine’ to denote all of Canaan)” (Jean-Pierre Isbouts, p. 163-4). In other words, these sea people appeared to have arrived in the land of Canaan very close to the time of the people of Israel.

In their journey into the Promised Land, the Israelites took a rather indirect route, entering it from the east of Jordan and that necessitated them passing through the territories of Edom, Moab and Ammon. Deuteronomy 2 tells us that God had forbidden the people from attacking these three groups of people as their ancestors were related to their own forefathers. The Israelites also extended the same courtesy to the Amorites, asking only for a safe passage, but was not only refused, they were attacked. The result was the defeat of the Amorites and the occupation of their land, part of which was previously taken by them from the Moabites and the Ammonites, and which Joshua allotted to the tribe of Gad subsequently (Jos.13:25-28).

Now, the king of the Ammonites waged war against Israel under the appearance of justice, claiming that the portion from Arnon to Jabbok belonged to them before the time of Exodus. Among the reasons cited by Jephthah in his reply, he pointed out that it was the Lord, the God of Israel who gave them the land and that their former ownership had lapsed for a good 300 years.

On the latter point, the theologian Clericus opined that, “if no prescriptive right is to be admitted on account of length of time, and if long possession gives no title, nothing would ever be held in safety by any people, and there would be no end to wars and dissension” (K&D, 277).

While there is some truth to his statement, the one that is hard to dispute is the first reason given by Jephthah, “Now since the Lord, the God of Israel has driven the Amorites out before His people Israel, what right have you to take it over?” (Jdg. 11:23)

The present claim by the Palestinians who do not even have their own state is to be sympathized. The fact that many of the Palestinians are Christians while Israel as a nation still rejects the one they have pierced (Zech. 12:10) also makes us inclined to side with them. However, what Jephthah said to the Ammonites still holds true today. Since the Promised Land has been clearly given to Israel by God, what right does anyone have to take it back? Even Clericus’ point is irrelevant, because God and His word do not change over time.

However, ownership and sovereignty of the land should not preclude the co-existence of two peoples in peace and equality.

Meditative Reflection
Abounding Love in Knowledge

“(W)hatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” (Jdg. 11:31)

As much as the sacrifice of the daughter of Jephthah was a great tragedy, it was avoidable.

In making a vow to the Lord before his campaign against the Ammonites, Jephthah was obviously trying to express his total dependence on the Lord. His intention to negotiate a settlement with the Ammonites had demonstrated that he was a person of peace. And, his recitation of the history of Exodus also showed that he was not totally ignorant of the Law of Moses. However, the long history of assimilation with the people of Canaan and the worship of their gods had greatly secularized the minds of the Israelites. Like the Canaanites, Jephthah regarded the sacrifice of a human person as the highest form of sacrifice that befits the Divine. Furthermore, he must have heard or read about the story of the sacrifice by Abraham of his son on Mount Moriah in Genesis 22. However, he completely overlooked the explicit prohibition of human sacrifice by God in Deuteronomy 12:31.

One also wonders where the High Priest was. He should stop him from making a sacrifice away from the appointed place (i.e. the tabernacle) and definitely his sacrifice of his daughter. There was a two month period for the High Priest to learn of the incident and to stop Jephthah.

This tragedy, therefore, is a reflection of a lack of teaching by the priests (and especially the High Priest), and a general lack of knowledge of the Word of God by the people which resulted in everyone doing as he saw fit (Jdg. 21:25). Had the priests done their duty, this tragedy could have been avoided.

The intention of honoring the Lord with the best was admirable, but the lack of knowledge of the Word of God and of God Himself was tragic. Unfortunately to these days, many Christians continue to neglect the proper study and understanding of the Word of God (and thus of God Himself), and have resulted in “sacrificing” the unity and harmony of the church. It was for this reason that the Apostle Paul prayed this prayer for the church of Philippi: “And this is my prayer: that your love many abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ…” (Phil. 1:9-10).

Meditative Reflection
The People of God?

“We are going to burn down your house over your head.” (Jdg. 12:1)

The period of the Judges was marked by constant oppression by the different peoples of Canaan and that was bad enough, but just as they were blessed with a period of relative peace from outside oppression, internal strife ensued. After the defeat of the Ammonites, we read that the Ephraimites, again, complained about not being invited to join in the defeat of the enemy.

The last time they made a similar complaint was after the defeat of the Midianites by Gideon who was able to appease them with words of wisdom, showering them with greater honor that they really did not deserve (Jdg. 8:2). But Jephthah could not have appeased them with similar words of flattery, because the Ephraimites were not angry about their lack of honor, but obviously because they did not have the chance of sharing in the booty. They were able to, at least, participate at the tail end of the war with the Midianites and presumably were able to reap the material rewards of the victors. But this battle was quite unlike the last one geographically as it took place basically in the eastern part of Jordan, and Jephthah had no need to call upon any other tribe for help.

Instead of rejoicing with their brothers, the Ephraimites were hurt by both a loss of face and leadership, and in addition, the fact that they did not share in any of the booty. But to complain was one thing, to threaten to burn down the house of Jephthah was quite another. Presumably, the insulting words they uttered towards the Gileadites were the last straw that led to the actual conflict. Their insulting words basically referred to the Gileadites as not part of Ephraim and Manasseh and thus not really part of the people of God. And in return, the escaping Ephraimites were also slain based on their accent being different from that of the Gileadites.

Even without outside oppression, Israel proved to be a defeated people — a people not worthy to be called a People of God.

I have had the misfortune of witnessing quite a few bitter church fights in my life, and the picture was not pretty — actions taken and words spoken by otherwise fine-looking Christians during these fights often did not “occur even among pagans” (1 Co. 5:1). We are really no better than the Israelites!

Meditative Reflection
The Primacy of Teaching with Our Lives

“So Manoah asked him, ‘When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy’s life and works?’.” (Jdg. 13:12)

The raising of Samson as the next Judge was prefaced by these words in the Bible, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years” (Jdg. 13:1).

After forty years of idol worship and occupation by the Philistines, one can imagine the lifestyle and spiritual conditions of the average Israelites. From the repeated instructions given by the Angel of the Lord, it appears that Manoah and his wife must have been given to the drinking of wine and other customs of the Philistines.

However, one has to appreciate Manoah’s response to the appearance and promise of the Angel of the Lord. Never did he once express any sign of unbelief. In fact, he even believed that his son would be the deliverer of his people, and the questions he asked of the Lord indicated this belief:

“O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” (Jdg. 13:8)

“When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule of the boy’s life and work?” (Jdg. 13:12)

In other words, his focus was rightly on how he and his wife might bring up this son to be ready and worthy to be used by the Lord.

Interestingly, the Angel of the Lord never answered his questions; both times He only focused on what Manoah’s wife ought to do, especially during her pregnancy, and that was not eat or drink anything that came from the grapevine, or any fermented drink (13:4, 14). His focus was not only what they should teach, but how they should live themselves.

From the subsequent behavior of Samson, one can surmise the kind of lifestyle the people of Israel lived, of which Samson and his family were part, and it is not unreasonable to assume that his parents failed miserably in the bringing up of their son. Therefore it was not a surprise that the Angel of the Lord steered their focus on how they lived their lives more so than what they should teach their son.

Meditative Reflection
Spiritual Maturity

“But his wife answered, ‘If the Lord had meant to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands…’.” (Jdg. 13:23)

J.I. Packer says that it is often a person’s response to a crisis or a shock that tells much more about his or her spiritual stature, and he uses the response of Samson’s parents to the appearance of the Angel of the Lord to illustrate his point (and allow me to quote below):

“Thus it was (to take just one example) with the unnamed lady whom we call Mrs. Manoah, whose story we read in Judges 13. The Angel of the Lord (God acting as His own messenger: a pre-incarnate manifestation, apparently, of God the Son) had told her she was to have a special child (Samson), who would become Israel’s deliverer. The angel messenger gave her special instructions on how to prepare for the birth. When she told Manoah, he (a pompously pious male chauvinist, as it seems) prayed that the messenger might return and give them both further instructions. Clearly he was very conscious of his spiritual leadership role. Equally clearly he did not trust his wife to have gotten the message right. The messenger graciously reappeared and repeated the instructions. Then came the traumatic moment when Manoah realized that their visitor has been the Lord Himself. Pomposity gave way to panic. The man who had hitherto assumed his own spiritual superiority totally lost his head. ‘We are doomed to die!’ he gibbered to his wife. ‘We have seen God!’ (v. 22). He knew, in a general way, that no one is fit for God’s fellowship, and hence he nose-dived in despair.

“Happily, his wife, who thus far in the story seems a very low-key person, now emerged as a woman of wisdom, faithfully ministering to her husband with some straight thinking about God’s faithfulness to His own purposes. ‘If the Lord had meant to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this’ (Jdg. 13:23). ‘If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs and blaming it on you…you’ll be a Man, my son!’ wrote Kipling. Humanly and spiritually, Mrs. Manoah appears here as a ‘Man’ in Kipling’s sense, while her husband behaved like his own idea of an irrational woman—in fact, like a frightened child. Thus Mrs. Manoah’s reaction to the shock revealed her as a woman who had been growing spiritually, in a way that her spouse, for all his careful and laborious religiosity, had not. God’s children are not born with stature, but gain stature through growth. The lady has the stature in this story.”
(J.I. Packer, Growing into Christ-likeness)