Bible Reading Challenge Blog

We continue along with the acts of Saul and his victories. But even from the very beginning we see that he doesn’t fully understand the role of Samuel and his role as king in carrying out the commands of the Lord. The first thing he does is that he makes a rash vow that anyone who eats before the battle will be killed. Of course it turns out to be Jonathan who dips his spear an eats honey because he didn’t hear Saul say that no one should eat. Jonathan, Saul’s son, also criticizes Saul because what a terrible strategy that is. Don’t eat until after the battle. How weak the warriors would be.

Then Saul is about to go into battle but he is waiting for old Samuel to come along when he promised he was coming. He became impatient and decided to do the sacrifices to the Lord by himself, which again was strictly forbidden. Samuel does come when he says, just later in the day, and is angry with Saul. In fact, he tells him that the Lord has take the kingdom away from him. This sets the stage for young David to come into the picture. That is going to be the next chapter in this saga. Notice again, people obey until they don’t. Then God finds someone who will obey better.

Israel has request, no demanded, a king, and now they have one. Saul is annointed King by Samuel and he is not quite ready to rule. If there ever were a story of one who never wanted to be king but was made king by God, this would be the story. Even though he is filled with the Spirit of God, there is never a desire on his part to become king. Even to the point when they are having a celebration for him, even the coronation itself, he is hiding by the luggage so that they would not notice him. Saul was someone who absolutely wanted to be kept out of the spotlight, and tried his hardest to stay out of it.

Would this not be one of the most important aspects of a ruler, someone who had no hubris, or at least who didn’t want the spotlight. Someone who believed they actually didn’t deserve to rule and that only by the Spirit of the Lord would they be able to rule. That is something that we look for in church officers, people who are not wanting the position, but rather who get the position because the congregation asks them to take it. We don’t want people who think they deserve to be an officer, but rather people who feel as if they don’t deserve it.

Psalm 150 is a classic. Praise the Lord in as many different ways as possible. Once again, my old Christian Rock preferences are coming out.

O Lord, our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth. That is a song that I used to loved to sing as I was growing up. Here is a link to it, and it is a direct use of Psalm 8.

The story of Samuel is one that we would do well to remember. We are still in the judges and Eli is still judging. In fact, we read that he judged Israel for 40 years. His sons were evil and did was what evil in the sight of the Lord. It used to be that Judges would say that the people of Israel would do evil in the sight of the Lord, but here it was just two of them. They would steal from the sacrifices and they would sleep with the women who were helping in the temple. It was an all around display of sin in every capacity possible. God has Samuel in mind to take over once Eli dies. Eli dies by breaking his neck from falling over once he hears about the ark of God being captured. He is more upset about that than he is about his sons being killed. That should say a lot. But Samuel is now equipped to do God’s bidding. You also see that the nation of Israel is ready to accept Samuel as the heir to the religious throne for Israel.

There is a repeating line in Song of Solomon that we would do well to listen. “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready.” That is a great line, because love can absolutely take us and sweep us away. When love is mixed with passion, as this book of the Bible clearly has no problem in blurring those lines, then it takes us to a place where we would have a hard time controlling our emotions and the ardour of our love for each other.

But this book of the Bible also clearly gives us a reading that the love that God has placed within us for each other, for husband and wife, is one that ought to be celebrated and not considered sinful or bad. Many couples have a hard time transitioning from a life of being told to hold back to now where there are no rules or regulations. That is what marriage ought to be, a time of exploring and a time of joy in sexual fulfillment. I pray that couples all across the Christian globe would be willing to love each other and respect each other in love in the way that this book of the Bible demonstrates.

Colossians contains words that are a guide to us in order to understand what we believe and what we think about Jesus. In other words, it is great theology. We find in Colossians we find the supremacy of Christ in 1:15-19. Read it again to understand why Jesus had to die on the cross. We are able to be presented before God on judgment day holy and blameless as a result of Jesus’ sacrifice. We find in 2:12 that in our baptism we were buried with him in his death, only to be resurrected once we have come out of the waters as new person. Jesus gives us life in his life, death on a cross, and resurrection so that we can, in our baptism, be transformed and renewed in Him.

We find in 3:12 a call to live a certain way. This is a great directive and a great check every morning and evening to remind ourselves of how we ought to live and then a check in the evening to see if we were able to live in this way. Finally Colossians 4:6 tell us to season our speech with salt so that we may know how to answer everyone.

The Psalms give us insight into how the people of God were able to escape in the day of trouble. God has always come to the rescue of the people of Israel, and all of His people. That will never change.

The story of Naomi, and it is much more about Naomi than it is about Ruth, is one of my favorites. Keep in mind that Ruth becomes someone who is mentioned in the line of Jesus as his ancestor. That is a big deal. Jesus has a lot of people, specifically women, who are foreigners and who are not Israelites in his blood. Some of them were prostitutes, Rahab, and others simply were women who did not follow the God of Israel growing up. We know that for the most part the faith of the child is passed down through the mother, so this could raise some intersting thoughts about Jesus. He and his family were definitely influenced by foreign thougths. King David was also someone who would have known his grandmother was from Moab, and not an Israelite.

As we make our way through the Psalms and also Proverbs 31 we find in this Proverb a favorite of many. It describes a good wife. Notice that almost entirely the good wife is at the service of the family and the husband. I’m guessing that a 21st century Proverb would probably look different.

Remember that this book of the Bible is a portrayal of those whom God had chosen to rule over Israel as judges. Samsom is on that list and we read about his marriage to Delilah and his ensuing death. It does seem interesting that Delilah received 1,100 coins of silver for her betrayal of Samson, and then we pick up in chapter 17 with a woman who had the same amount taken from her by her son Micah. Micah turns out to hire a priest and make a place of worship which then becomes central to the worship of the Israelites as they begin their fledgling nation. But notice that this is an idol, it is not something the Lord would ever want, but they continue along and do what was not pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

From there we get the story of the concubine who is given to the citizens of Gibeah to be raped, and she is and dies. Notice the story rings very familiar. It sounds a lot like the story of Soddom and Gomorrah and the angels who visit Lot and the citizens who want to have their way with these angels. As a result of the death of the concubine of Levite we see war break out within Israel. The Benjaminites, who were from Gibeah, are killed and their city is destroyed. No one is allowe to marry a Benjaminite going forward because of what they did. That is unless they are kidnapped and forced to marry a Benjaminite. It is hard to justify how this all fits into God’s plan. But we only see the tip of the iceberg and don’t understand how God works in the world. It can be confusing, but we must trust that God is at work.

We begin with Jepthah and this starts a Game or Thrones type sequence where he is cast out and then he wins battles and is brought back in. A lot of intrigue and drama which ends up with Jepthah eventually judging Israel. We have to assume that the judges are placed there by God, even if they arrive at their “throne” by slaughter. Or should I say especially if they arrive at their rule by slaughter. His reign begins ignominously with him giving his daughter over as a human sacrifice. Don’t ask, it’s a long tragic story. Her acceptance of it seems to tell a story as well. What a mess. Notice she isn’t even mentioned by name.

From there we begin the great story of the great Samsom. Even here his life as judge begins in a less than ideal fashion. His father in law and his estranged wife are burned by his enemies as an act of revenge. That act of revenge really comes as a result of his actions so at the root of it Samson is pretty much to be blamed. But we do read consistently that the presence of the Lord, the power of the Holy Spirit resides upon him. That much we know.

Psalm 43 really encapsulates the readings that we have in Judges. The Psalm is a cry for help in the time of trouble and we see trouble, and I don’t mean good trouble, it is simply bad trouble, that is besetting the Israelites. Judges takes us on a journey that repeates itself time and time again. After a good judge rises up then the people of the Lord get restless and begin to worship other gods. Gideon is a man of God and the people want to make him king but he says no, there is only one king and that is the Lord. The same cannot be said of his son Abimelech.

By the way, what is up with Gideon, that is Zerubbaal, having 70 sons? The man was busy, but to no avail because it only took one of them to wipe all of them out. Abimelech does take over Israel then but he never is portrayed as a faithful judge. That is a bit different because all of the other judges seem to follow along in God’s desires and have direct communication with Him. But Abimelech, although he is powerful, does not ever serve the Lord. As a result his fate is one that is met by a rock to the head. This is some pretty messy Scripture that has a man of God trample his enemy with thorns, which is suspect at best.

We begin the book of Judges which is one of my favorites simply because one of my favorite characters in the Bible is in Judges. You find Deborah in chapter 4 and 5 and you read how her general, Barak, did not trust her and did not believe in her unless she was willing to lead the troops herself. She did and they conquered and Barak became her greatest soldier and confidant. They even sing a song together in chapter 5. We cannot underestimate the impact that Deborah, a full judge in full standing, as well as a prophet, has on Scripture as a woman of faith that God uses in a completely similar way as God would use any other man. Deborah is not defined as the wife of Lapidoth first and foremost, she is defined as a judge, a prophet, as one who did the will of God. There is nothing more important than that for her and for us as well. We are not defined by our spouses, or by our work, or by our interests. We are defined as stewards of God’s gifts which He has given us and equipped us for His kingdom.

But notice the refrain that begins in Judges and repeats itself over and over again. Look at Judges 2:11 where we read: “Then Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” That refrain repeats itself consistently in Judges. Every time a judge would die then the people would forget who God was and do what was evil in his sight. Is there any other stronger testimony for the need of godly leaders than this refrain. When godly people who are leading us no longer are in our midst, then we will do evil in the sight of the Lord.

Psalm 3 is pretty raw and pretty stark. There is a prayer for protection which is highlighted by a prayer to break the teeth of our enemies. That’s pretty vivid, but things get even more vivid in Judges as we go along.