gory story
Someone wrote "obscure" but it's not obscure at all, stories in Judges about heroes and villains, including what's coming up next Sunday, a snippet from Judges 4 about Deborah. It's annoying when the Lectionary framers have us read and hear bits and pieces that leave us hanging about the story itself, that will not be finished later. This was something that teaching my adult Sunday school classes those years enabled me to complete. These days I try that with blogposts, which are no where near as much fun as discussion in a group of fellow Bible enthusiasts.
Which, before I go there, leads me offtrack down a primrose path of "life's topmost enjoyable Times" - -
Somewhat sequential but in no particular priority, and all outside of family, more or less vocational instead of personal ->
- playing in the Bay High band
- working as supervisor in the Food Service Division at the University of Florida
- my first sea duty, a wardroom officer in the Navy destroyer USS Corry
- studying at theological seminaries Lutheran Gettysburg PA and Episcopal Alexandria VA
- serving as parish priest at Trinity, Apalachicola
- serving as chaplain & teacher at Holy Nativity Episcopal School
- being an EfM mentor in Apalachicola, Panama City, and Panama City Beach
- leading Sunday school and midweek Bible classes at Holy Nativity Episcopal Church.
It isn't that everything else was down from there, but those are my highest high points. I could add - being retired here at 7H, but that wanders farther off into my briar patch.
Anyway, Judges, the Book of Judges. It covers Time & space between Joshua's conquests and Samuel and the kingdom. Students of Judges discover the ongoing theological cycle of creation, sin, judgment, repentance, redemption: Israel has a judge for some good years, Israel does what is evil, the Lord punishes Israel by sending an enemy to oppress them, Israel repents, the Lord delivers them from the oppressor.
One thing Judges makes clear is that Israel was never successful in conquering the Promised Land, a situation that seems to be going on to this day. Judges chapter 1 is below (scroll WAY down). The Palestinians were there first and will always be fighting to keep Israel from taking the land that the Israelites believe their God promised them. The Palestinians, of course, do not feel bound to honor the promises of another nation's god. Unfortunately for the Palestinians, the WW2 victors who forcibly gave Palestine to the Jews were under the sway of the God of Israel. A more just and honorable solution might have been to carve out part of the former Third Reich to be the Jewish homeland. But that's not the way of White nations dealing with Brown people..
All of which leads to the conclusion that problems in the Middle East are of our own creation.
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What's interesting about next Sunday's reading, Judges 4:1-7, is the story itself, which the reading ridiculously cuts short. The story's heroes are the women, one of whom, Jael, drives a tent peg through the head of Sisera while, being tricked into trusting her, he sleeps. If you like these good old Sunday school Bible stories, this is a really great one. Any number of artists have tried to portray the dark murder scene.
Below:
Judges 4:1-7 our snippet for next Sunday.
Judges chapter 4, telling the whole story.
Judges chapter 1, chronicling Israel's failure to conquer the Promised Land.
RSF&PTL
T88&c
Judges 4:1-7
The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.
At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’”
Judges chapter 4
4;1 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. 3 Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.
4 At that time Deborah, a prophet, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. 6 She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Position yourself at Mount Tabor, taking ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. 7 I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand.’ ” 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand warriors went up behind him, and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites, that is, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had encamped as far away as Elon-bezaanannim, which is near Kedesh.
12 When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera called out all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the troops who were with him, from Harosheth-ha-goiim to the Wadi Kishon. 14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day on which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand warriors following him. 15 And the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into a panic before Barak; Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot, 16 while Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-ha-goiim. All the army of Sisera fell by the sword; not one was left.
17 Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 20 He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’ ” 21 But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died. 22 Then, as Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went into her tent, and there was Sisera lying dead, with the tent peg in his temple.
23 So on that day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. 24 Then the hand of the Israelites bore harder and harder on King Jabin of Canaan, until they destroyed King Jabin of Canaan.
Judges Chapter 1. Israel’s Failure to Complete the Conquest of Canaan
1 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the Lord, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 2 The Lord said, “Judah shall go up. I hereby give the land into his hand.” 3 Judah said to his brother Simeon, “Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites; then I, too, will go with you into the territory allotted to you.” So Simeon went with him. 4 Then Judah went up, and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated ten thousand of them at Bezek. 5 They came upon Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. 7 Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has paid me back.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8 Then the people of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it. They put it to the sword and set the city on fire. 9 Afterward the people of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negeb, and in the lowland. 10 Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba), and they defeated Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.
11 From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir (the name of Debir was formerly Kiriath-sepher). 12 Then Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and takes it, I will give him my daughter Achsah as wife.” 13 And Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it, and he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife. 14 When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. As she dismounted from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What do you wish?” 15 She said to him, “Give me a blessing; since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me also Gulloth-mayim.”[a] So Caleb gave her Upper Gulloth and Lower Gulloth.
16 The descendants of Hobab[b] the Kenite, Moses’s father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the Negeb near Arad. Then they went and settled with the Amalekites.[c] 17 Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and devoted it to destruction. So the city was called Hormah. 18 Judah took Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. 19 The Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country but could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain, because they had chariots of iron. 20 Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had said, and he drove out from it the three sons of Anak. 21 But the Benjaminites did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived in Jerusalem among the Benjaminites to this day.
22 The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them. 23 The house of Joseph sent out spies to Bethel (the name of the city was formerly Luz). 24 When the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Show us the way into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.” 25 So he showed them the way into the city, and they put the city to the sword, but they let the man and all his family go. 26 So the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city and named it Luz; that is its name to this day.
27 Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of[d] Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, but the Canaanites continued to live in that land. 28 When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor but did not in fact drive them out.
29 And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, but the Canaanites lived among them in Gezer.
30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalol, but the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.
31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Mahalab,[e] or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob, 32 but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.
33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth-anath but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.
34 The Amorites pressed the Danites back into the hill country; they did not allow them to come down to the plain. 35 The Amorites continued to live in Har-heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labor. 36 The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.
Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences. -Robert Louis Stevenson, novelist, essayist, and poet (13 Nov 1850-1894)