When I was
in college I worked at Arrowhead Lutheran Camp for many summers as a counselor.
Right out of college I was hired to be the program director at the camp. I was
just a young kid but I had quite a bit of experience working with children. As
a counselor I always struggled with finding ways to get my campers to go to
sleep. Some other counselors told ghost stories or scary tales but those
freaked me out too much. Quite by accident one night I began to read stories from
the book of Judges. I started with Gideon. That took about two nights then I
went to Ehud, Samson, Deborah and others. My young boys really enjoyed the
blood and guts stories that weren’t too scary. I liked them because they also
taught that God was in control. Some people have a tough time with the book of
Judges because of its violent nature and that is fine, but if you look at the
stories through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy you might get some understanding.
The key thing to remember is that God has mercy on his people and shows his
love to them by sending a judge. Not a judge that comes to condemn, but one
that comes to save. Sounds kind of like Jesus doesn’t it? On to the study for
this week……
Seth’s
Thoughts
The Old
Testament
As I have alluded to in the opening the book of Judges is all about God’s
mercy. It seems like it is about his wrath with some blood and guts thrown in
for good measure but when you really look at it you see a familiar pattern
emerge with all the judges. We see this same pattern when Jesus is sent as the
final Judge. Why was it necessary for the Judges to come anyway? Didn’t the
people promise that they would be faithful to God? What happened to the
promises they made? In the first part of the book we get the answer. “The
LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but
they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron
chariots.” (Judges 1:19 NIV) The story was the same with the other tribes.
Reading a bit further, “The tribe of Manasseah failed to drive out the
people….” Then the tribe of Ephraim failed, then Zebulen failed, then Asher
failed, then Naphtali. Then Yahweh (LORD in all caps) sent his angel (some
think this may be the pre-incarnate Christ) to talk to the people. Judgment was
to be upon the people. “Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them
out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a
snare to you.” (Judges 2:3 NIV) This sums up the problems that the people
will encounter the rest of the Old Testament. The people living in the land and
their gods will cause major problems for the people. Remember this as we read
the rest of the story this year. But the LORD (Yahweh) in his infinite mercy
shows love to the people and sends help. The account of each Judge has a
similar pattern. It usually begins with, The Israelites did evil in the eyes of
the LORD, He turned them over to their enemies for so many years. Then the LORD
raised up a Judge. The people followed this Judge and were saved. The land had
peace for so many years. The Judge dies and the people return to their old ways
and do evil in the eyes of the LORD. Get familiar with this pattern. This is
some foreshadowing of the New Testament story of Jesus. We don’t have time to discuss
each Judge (we will spend more time with Gideon next week) in detail so let me
give you some highlights. Ehud is my favorite. He is left-handed. Why does the
writer of Judges tell us this? He was able to smuggle his dagger into the
presence of the king because, being left-handed he drew it from his right side.
Most people carry their dagger or sword on the left side because they are right
handed. Ehud was able to get close to the king and kill him because he was
left-handed. You see, God uses all things for his good purposes. I also think
it is funny that Ehud escapes through the outhouse in the kings chambers and
the attendants are so embarrassed to disturb the king when he is in the
bathroom. Some commentators even suggest that the king was actually sitting on
“the throne” (the one in the bathroom) when Ehud stabs him (you see why young
boys like this story?). The account of Deborah is good to show that God works
through women as well. God raised her up as a Judge and she led the people in
battle. In the story it was another woman, Jael, who took care of the evil
Sisera. Talk about girl power (both the boys and some of the girls like this
story). The story of Gideon is a bit longer and has some interesting insights
for us. We will talk about him next week.
The New
Testament
In our
readings for this week we begin the story of the Passion. Luke makes an
interesting comment about all the praise that Jesus is receiving on Palm
Sunday. Some of the Pharisees tried to get Jesus to stop the celebration and Jesus
says, “If they keep quiet, the stones
along the road would burst into cheers!” (Luke 19:40) This is an amazing
statement. We have read in the Psalms that all creation praises the Lord, but
here is proof that it can happen. Can you imagine if no one would praise God
and then the rocks start to cry out? What a sight that would be!
Luke does a
good job keeping the action moving in the story but there are some rather
significant things to see when you dig a bit deeper. When Jesus is before the high priest and is
asked point blank if he is the son of God he says, “I am”. OK you say?
No big deal? But, the words Jesus used are very important. When he says “I
am” not only is he answering in the affirmative, he also is using the name
God used when talking to Moses in the burning bush. Remember that God said his
name was, “I am”. No wonder the High Priest and the others wanted Jesus
dead after he had said this. Jesus goes in there and uses the name of God that
the Jews to this day will not even use! Jesus was saying in no uncertain terms
that he was the Christ, the promised Messiah. When we get to the Gospel of John
we will see seven big “I am” statements from Jesus. Remember them when
you read and pour into them the Old Testament meanings.
Bits
and Pieces
We will finish the Gospel of Luke this week and we will start the Gospel of
John. As a quick note, the first four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are
grouped together and are referred to as the synoptic Gospels. The basically
have the same form and tell the same story. They probably leaned on one another
for source material. John is its own animal all together. John is the only
Gospel that mentions three different Passover celebrations, which is where we
get the three-year ministry of Jesus. John does not have a standard birth
story. John begins with creation, but more on all this next week. John also
makes heavy use of metaphor. We will see Jesus referred to as the door, the
lamb, the good shepherd, the gate, the way the truth the life, and others. Here
are the vital stats for the book of John:
Purpose: To prove conclusively that Jesus is
the Son of God and that all who believe in him will have eternal life.
Author: It is never actually mentioned but
most agree that it is John the apostle, son of Zebedee, brother of James,
called a “Son of Thunder”
To Whom Written: New Christians and searching
Non-Christians
Date
Written: Probably between A.D. 85-90
Setting: Written after the destruction of
Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and before John’s exile to the island of Patmos
Key Verses: “Jesus did many other miraculous
signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30-31
Key People: Jesus, John the Baptist, the
disciples, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Jesus’ mother, Pilate, Mary Magdalene
Law Themes: Darkness; slavery to sin;
condemnation; demand for signs; death; fleshly desire; unbelief; Judas’
example; spiritual blindness; unclean; command to love; the world’s hatred
Gospel Themes: Light; grace; truth; Baptism; Lamb
of God; born or the Spirit; life; resurrection; Jesus’ flesh and blood; the
Shepherd’s care; clean; forgiveness; God’s love; sanctification.
Key Places: Judean countryside, Samaria,
Galilee, Bethany, Jerusalem
Special Features: of the eight miracles recorded, six
are unique (among the Gospels) to John, as is the “Upper Room Discourse” (chs.
14-17). Over 90 percent of John is unique to his Gospel. John does not contain
a genealogy or any record of Jesus’ birth, childhood, temptation,
transfiguration, appointment of the disciples, nor any account of Jesus’
parables, ascension, or Great Commission.
Have a
wonderful week!!!
