Please read through my study questions on the Book of Judges and then through the book of Judges itself. Of the approximately twelve judges, which one do you find most interesting? What is heroic about this character? What (if any) are his/her "warts"? What do you think is the most important lesson to be learned from the story of that judge?
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Judges
Please read through my study questions on the Book of Judges and then through the book of Judges itself. Of the approximately twelve judges, which one do you find most interesting? What is heroic about this character? What (if any) are his/her "warts"? What do you think is the most important lesson to be learned from the story of that judge?
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Gideon is by far the most interesting and heroic Judge. He is asked to save Israel from the Midianites. He does doubt and make excuses to God about saving Israel but finally says he will do it. He went up against a much larger army. The Lord tells him he will not die. “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.” The Hebrews saw that Gideon had done this for them and wanted him to rule over them. He rejected their request and said God will rule over you. It seemed that the Hebrews had forgotten about God and angered him. This seems to be a reoccurring subject in the book of Judges.
BLOG QUESTION FOR THE MASSES: Does Jephthah send his virgin daughter up to the top of the hill because of the promise he made with God? This does not seem very fatherly. Happy Blogging!!!
This is a difficult one because most of these judges have very little written about them. I was going to comment on Gideon, but somebody beat me to it.So I'll go with Samson.This guy seems to have had a bad childish temper.From burning crops to killing and stealing the clothes of people to pay the people who conned his wife into giving them the answer to the riddle. There has to be message in there somewhere, but I'm too much of a dullard to see it. It would seem when the Spirit of The Lord was upon him was when he had true strength. Samson's problems always involved women. Maybe the lesson is never truly trust a woman. That was a joke, in poor taste, but still a joke.
Jephthah's daughter asks to go to the mountain. Jephtah made the covenant with God and he kept it. I find that admirable.
Jephthah was a very interesting character in Judges. He was cast out of his home town by his brothers because he was born of a harlot. Many years later when war came upon them, members of Gilead came to him asking for his leadership. I think this was admirable of him because he was able to forgive and think of helping his people instead of staying mad at them.
Even though he had admirable characteristics, there was a weakness to Jephthah. He got caught up in the war and made a mistake when he makes the vow that if he is victorious in war he would sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house. This just happened to be his only daughter. His daughter was very accepting and agreed to any vow that her father had made to God.
Jephthah’s story teaches us not to make such rash decisions. We need to think situations through more thoroughly before we react hastily. I also think that Jephthah’s story shows a different Israel than portrayed in the previous books. People seemed to proclaimed they loved the Lord but their actions didn’t quite fit. This is a problem that many people see today.
Oh and 1 final comment on Jephthah's story. It is explained a little better in our Survey of the Old Testament Intro book starting on page 255. It explains his daughter's sacrifice more in depth for anyone who wants to know!
I really found that Deborah was the most interesting. She was a woman Judge. And even though women were respected in the Hebrew culture it was also very rare to find a women leader. When asked to go into battle she knew that the Lord was with her so she didn't fear and willing went into battle. I find this quite heroic seeing that it was not a 'womans' place to be in battle. Because of her and Barak there was peace in the land for 40 years for defeating Sisera.
Even though she was willing to go into battle, she did it knowing that a woman would recieve credit for the battle deeds. But she actually just instructed Barak in what to do, not actually acting on it herself.
I found it very interesting that God would send an angel to tell Sampson’s mother of her pregnancy with him. She had been barren up until this moment and was a shocked by this news. It seems to be a bit of a precursor of what is to come with the angel of the LORD appearing to Mary to tell of her miraculous pregnancy. This, along with the frequent mention of the spirit of the LORD being upon Sampson, made me believe that God had a deep purpose and a huge plan for Sampson’s life.
Now, Sampson most definitely wasn’t perfect. He lusted after women and used his power to his own advantage; however, God uses Sampson to fulfill His purpose. It is comforting to know that God can work miracles even through a flawed hero such as Sampson. It gives the rest of us hope that we too may be a ‘hero’ in our day even though we are sinners.
Though Samson had an interesting life, I really liked the story of Jephthah and I found it most interesting. I think he has a heroic character because he endured through hardship and kept his promises. He was not born into the most promising of situations, and he was looked down upon by this half-brothers until they needed a favor.
Then, in order to ensure victory in battle, he made a promise that he would offer to God whatever first greeted him out of his front door when he returned home. He must have known this would be something dear to him--a wife, a child, a dear friend, etc. Sure enough, he ended up having to sacrifice his only daughter, but he did so because he was true to his word. This quality makes him a hero--he doesnt run from his promises and he endured hardship from his brothers and from the loss of his daughter.
One other reason I picked Jephthah is because I couldnt find any "warts" in his character. He was forgiving, a good leader, etc.
One important lesson from Jephtheh? Trust in the Lord no matter how hard or painful or confusing his ways may seem.
The judge the I found most interesting was Gideon. He felt his tribe was the weakest and also he felt the least in his family. Moses acted thought the same way as Gideon,not good enough. Gideon tore down the alter of Baal at night. Then God gleaned the men who go into battle against the Midianites; Whoever was scared did have to go (22,000), 10,000 stayed, the men were taken to the water and the Lord would tell Gideon who would go or stay by by whover laps the water with his tongue or gets down on his knees to drink, the 300 who lapped with their tongue would go with Gideon. What a difference in the numbers of men who would fight.
The lesson learned here is that we can lay our fleece out and confirm what God has called us to do.
Of the judges in the book, I find Gideon to be one of the most interesting. Gideon destroys the altar of Baal and the men of the city want to punish Gideon for destroying the altar of Baal. Joash his father refuses to give Gideon to the men and says to them if Baal is really such a great God let him do something about the destruction of his altar. Gideon defeats the Midianites after the Lord reduces his force to 300 men. He kills two Midianite princes Oreb and Zeeb, also destroys the tower of Penuel and kills the men of that city. When asked if he will rule over the city he says God will rule over the people. He sounds humble but is not, Gideon makes an ephod which he controls and Israel worships that ephod.
Gideon would be considered heroic in that he fights in battles and is courageous. But he has some warts as well, he seems to not resist the temptation of power and control when he creates the ephod. A lesson to be learned from this story could be the temptation of power and control itself, in most cases it is somewhat intoxicating and a hard thing to resist for mankind. Human kinds propensity for power and control is something to be on guard against.
I think the story of Gideon is very interesting. I have to say that he definitely has more 'warts' than good qualities about him. He fought and conquered land for the Israelites but I don't really see how he did it. It comes off as a very cowardly individual with little faith. When God talks to him he asks for sign after sign to prove that it is God talking to him. Then when God does send him a sign He screams and hides like a little girl because he thinks he is going to die. After his battles that Israelites want him to be their king but he humbly replies that God is their king. However, Gideon is not being that humble because he builds a type of temple and tells the Israelites what 'God' is telling them. From the story of Gideon, I believe the most important lesson is one of trusting in God without question. Gideon was chosen by God but still doubted and feared for his life. An example of this is when he tore down the alter of Baal at night so as not to be seen. He was much too worried about the reprecussions on earth to put all his faith in God. Furthermore when he did beat the enemy the power went to his head as he thought he could use God to get what he wanted from the people.
Abimelech is the most interesting to me because of how many "wart" he has. He has killed his brothers (nearly seventy), and eventually destroys the town of Shemech. In fact, I didn't find a single good thing to write down that was good about him.
Abimelech is still important because he serves as an example of what not to be like. The Judges are very dark and bleak days for the Hebrews, and he serves as one example as to why these days were so hard and bleak.
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