Some Final Thoughts on Judges

Things often start a lot better than they end. If there was ever a time when the promise of the future seemed brightest, when hope was the most alive, it would be the beginning of Judges.  When I started reading it, I was rooting for Israel. Come on people! You can do it! You have everything …

Judges 21: This is How it Ends

I’m finished with Judges. And I feel like I need a shower. It’s gross, wrong, sickening, infuriating, confusing and a host of other things unpleasant. I guess the Bible isn’t really afraid of stuff like that. A quick recap for you: Men from the tribe of Benjamin gang-rape and kill the wife of a Levite. …

Judges 20: Civil War

The time of the Judges was not a good time for Israel. By the end of the book, things get about as bad as things can get: Civil War. The tribes of Israel have decided that it is better to take up swords against one another than it is to repent of their awful behavior. …

Judges 19: The Levite’s Concubine

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What do you say about a story like this? A woman, given by her husband to an angry mob, raped all night, left for dead on the front porch, cut into pieces and sent to the tribes as a message. What do you do? Do you try to figure out what the point of the …

Judges 18: If Israel Has No King . . .

If Israel has no king then people can do whatever is right in their own eyes. If they can do whatever is right in their own eyes, the tribe of Dan won’t have anywhere to live. If they have nowhere to live, they will send out spies to find somewhere to live. While they are …

Judges 17 in Memes.

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Here is Judges 17 as told by Internet Memes. I’m pretty sure I hit all the main points.

Judges 16: Hey There Delilah

I’ve seriously been waiting two years for this chapter. Here’s why. Hey there Delilah what’s it like in Sorek City The women of the Philistines to me are oh so pretty, just like you Even if they just want me subdued How much they payin’ you? Hey there Delilah while we slept inside our bed …

Judges 15: Scapegoats and Sociopaths

A guy I work with has never heard of Samson.

We work in full-time ministry.

Ordinarily, that would seem weird to me. Samson is one of those “big-name” man’s men of the Bible. He’s the 1980’s Arnold Schwartzenegger of the Old Testament. “Samson and Delilah” are a premodern power couple.

But after reading a few chapters of Samson’s story, I’m not surprised my friend hasn’t heard of him.

I mean, how on earth would you preach this? What lesson would you take if you studied it in your weekly BSF gathering? How do you “apply what you have learned?”

I like to think I can pull some nuggets out of obscure Bible passages, but this is testing my abilities.

Samson the Sociopath

Samson’s father-in-law thought he was gone for good after that whole “kill 30 people and bring their cloaks as wedding gifts” incident. I can’t blame him. I also can’t blame him for denying Samson sexual rights to his daughter when he comes back.

This would make any red-blooded man upset. But would it make them upset enough to . . .

caught three hundred foxes, and took some torches; and he turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. When he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines.

Um, this is the kind of guy I don’t want my kids to play with. The dude is a sociopath. If you want to burn the fields because you can’t have sex, fine! But do you have to terrorize an entire community of foxes to do it?

Binding the Strong Man

No less than five times do we hear about Samson being bound or the bonds that bound him. The Philistines want to do it. Then the Judahites want to do it so the Philistines don’t kill them.

Apparently, tying this man up is crucial to the Philistine (and Israelite) survival.

That’s pretty much all I have to say about that.

Scapegoats and Sacrificial Lambs

Samson went to visit his wife, bringing along a kid.

This may be an inconsequential detail or a cultural custom I don’t understand. Or it may be a little bit of foreshadowing. Hear me out.

• After the incident with the foxes and the burning and such, the Philistines discover why Samson did it: His wife was given to his best man by her father. The Philistine response? Kill the girl and her dad.
• When a Philistine army comes to Judah looking for him, the Judahites, rather than fight for a fellow Israelite, hand Samson over as a way of appeasing their Philistine oppressors.

Did Samson’s wife and father-in-law do anything wrong? Not really. But they were punished because of Samson’s response. They were blamed for his “crime.”

They were the scapegoats. The sins of the Philistines were put on their heads.

Samson’s own people choose to hand him over to the enemy to save their own heads. Samson is a sacrificial lamb (the metaphor breaks down. Homeboy isn’t innocent and the Philistines have every right to want him dead) that will let Israel live another day.

Is this why God gave them the law? So they would never have to actually do this to other human beings? Do the goats, lambs, bulls and rams exist to satisfy some human urge to blame someone else?

What do you think?

Ok, maybe you can preach on this chapter after all.

Judges 14: Riddles in the Park

Warning: Before attempting to make sense of Judges 14 you must first remind yourself of the basic story of Judges up to this point! A few things you need to remember: When Israel is oppressed, God raises up spiritual and military leaders to rescue them. The rescuing, though it varies in the details, has always …

Judges 13: Samson’s Mom the Theologian

Samson’s mom has got it goin’ on.  Seriously. She does. Let me give you a few reasons: Reason #1: The Angel of the LORD appears to her This doesn’t happen to just anyone. Hagar, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Gideon . . . I might be missing a few. These are special people. Or maybe the Angel …