Can you believe it, we are in book 7 of the Bible already! Yeah!!! :) Ok, so first off the background of Judges, as given in the "Invitation" of the NIV Serendipity Bible...
The Author of Judges is no designated in the book. Some have viewed Samuel as the author, but this is uncertain.
Date: The exact date of authorship is unknown, but Judges may have been written during the early period of the reign of David (c 1000-980 BC). The action recorded here spans the period between the conquest and the monarchy of Isreal.
Theme: God is merciful adn long suffering despite the sin of His people.
Historical Background: Two or three hundred years lapse between the conquest of Canaan (after Joshua's death) and the rise of Saul (c 1050 BC). During this time Israel was a loose confederation of tribes spread throughout the Promised Land. This area was heavily influenced by Canaanite culture and religion. Hence, Israel is repeatedly drawn away from worshipping the Lord in their desire to have a king like their neighbors. [Isn't that always the way... instead of letting God be enough, we try to fill ourselves with the world... instead of being content with what God's given us, we want what we don't have]
Characteristics: Once in Canaan, all the Israelites needed to do was obey God; instead, they followed the sinful example of the Canaanites. Their disobedience resulted in a cycle observed throughout the book... (1) There is apostasy or rebellion by God's people; (2) God raises up foreign oppressors to chasten His people; (3) A cry of distress goes up from the Isrealites; (4) God raises up a 'deliverer' or 'judge' who takes up arms to defend the homeland and rescue the repentant people. The Book of Judges shows that even in dark, chaotic times, God is in control. [Sounds like a repeat of the whole Egypt/Moses/desert/promised land thing, except it all happens in the promised land instead of having to trek there?]
The Study Notes make a point of asking: where are you in the 'cycle' that is so common in the Book of Judges- (a) ignoring God? (b) being oppressed? (c) asking for help? (d) being delivered? (e) celebrating deliverance?... something good for us to look at, and maybe see how we can break the cycle to stay more on course with God's direction for moving ahead.
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Read it... will comment on Chapter 1 and 2 more later.
ReplyDeletesandJ
Read it.
ReplyDeleteSandj
Chapter 1: verse 3... I wonder why Judah chose Simeon to go with them
ReplyDeleteverse 4-7... who is Adoni-Bezek? why is he important enough to mention? because he was a tyrant of some sort (see verse 7)?
verse 6... what is up with the big toes and thumbs again?! (like when they annointed the priests and did cleansings - see Exodus 29, and Leviticus 8 and 14) I get that it would be pretty much impossible to walk or do anything... like in verse 7... that is just mean, since the people couldn't pick stuff up without using both hands, and wouldn't be able to walk because they would have a hard time balancing... talk about humbling your enemies... but still, really weird, too.
verse 8-36... seems to be a repeat of things we learned in Joshua, but we do have some additional details, like in 13, we get Caleb's daughter's name (Acsah); in verse 19, I think we learn that the enemies had iron chariots... I don't remember this before, but still, Pharoah had chariots, so sounds to me like they forget to trust in God for help, again; in verse 23-25, we learn they had some help from within to overtake the city... sounds like it was mostly the Canaanites and Amorites that were the problem... I wonder why? also, it still seems to me that if they can force them into labor, they could have killed them off like they were told to, so sounds like disobedience, not lack of ability... besides, if God was with them, they could have overtaken the people like they had all the others, so sounds like they also forget to involve God in the whole thing... just speculation, though.
Oh, here are some study note commentaries that help shed light on some of these things in Chapter 1...verse 2... Judah was allowed to go first into conquest because of Jacobs blessing in Genesis 49:8-12 apparently
ReplyDeletealso, Caleb gives his daughter the springs of water (verse 12-15) becuase of the 'bride price'
The reason behind driving the Canaanites from the land can be found in Deuteronomy 7:1-6, and Genesis 15:13-21 (which also pretells how the Isrealites will go into slavery in Egypt and then after 400 years come out in grand procession and then come back to the land they are now just finishing conquering... didn't catch all that when we read through Genesis the first time... boy is hind-sight 20/20...even in Bible reading, I think)
Chapter 2: verse 1-2... ah-ha! they were being disobedient!
verse 3... when we disobey God, there are natural consequences to that disobedience... God doesn't always have to open the ground to swallow us up or strike us with lightening as a punishment... sometimes the natural consequences are punishment enough to turn us back to Him and remind us of obedience
vers 4-5... too little, too late?
verse 6-9... repeat of end of Joshua again
verse 10... they were not very good at passing down God's laws and stuff, huh... there is a reason they were told to do it, and I think we'll see why soon enough... same lesson is true for us... if we don't tell our kids about God, who will? certainly not the world
verse 11... are the baals a generic name for the gods? I had thought it was a specific god, but maybe not... maybe it means all the idols or something?
verse 12... bad, bad thing to provoke the Lord to anger... also, I really like the word 'forsook'... not the meaning of it or the reason behind it, but just the word... ok, now onto real Biblically important stuff (other than vocab favorites)...
verse 13... what is the Ashtoreths? other gods/idols?...
veres 14-15... so you think you can do it without God? go ahead and give it a try why don't ya... not so easy anymore, huh... only sounding sacrcastic because we can say, been there/done that, not a pretty sight and never want to do it again!
verse 16, 18... here's God still trying to get the people to turn back to Him again
verse 17, 19... but they are gluttons for punishment
verse 22... ever wonder why things don't seem to be going so well anymore? whose side are we on, maybe it is worth taking a step back to see... not always the answer, but might just be worth a look
sandJ