Judges vs. Kings

As I reflect on this year's election season, I don't like my choices. The criteria normally use to pick has been flipped on its head. I have picked though, and I picked according to my conscience, and I hope God guides you the same.

On days when I get confused in this type of way, I look into the bible to see how God had it planned out. The bible records several government methods, judges, kings, conquerors, dictators, and more. But then I started digging deeper into about how some of these came to be.

Looking at Genesis, God's plan involved raising up folks who feared him (judges) to lead the people. He found these people when they were needed. For example, when God heard the people cry out for help in Exodus, He empowered someone to fit the need, Moses, and then Joshua. Before these two, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, could be defined as judges as well.

Most of the explicit judges are found in the book of Judges. As you know Samuel was the last official judge, whom God empowered to anoint the kings that the people had requested.

The Israelites began asking for a king years before, back when Gideon was judge. Gideon wisely turned them down. But the Israelites kept asking God for kings. Again, I dug a little deeper to figure out what was going on here.

With God's chosen judges:

• You never knew where the judges would come from. They had different qualities.
• They came from different tribes and regions. For example:
  • Levi
  • Judah
  • Benjamin
  • Ephraim
  • Naphtali
  • Manasseh
  • Issachar
  • Gilead (Manasseh)
  • Zebulun
• They had different backgrounds
  • The mantle was passed based on the needs of the situation
  • God was able to showcase underrepresented members of society
    • Left handed
    • Women
    • Illegitimate children
• Because the power was local, I think there is some evidence that each individual felt more personal responsibility for their actions
• With the judge model, when someone sees a need, they are empowered to respond to God's prompting to rise up and act

Alas, after a while with this uncertain method, the people wanted a king and a known succession plan. I guess they felt insecure with God's choices. They didn't like not knowing where the next leader would come from. They wanted to be like everybody else.

With the Kings:

• God chose the first one (seed)
• First, God chose the person who the people thought looked like a king (Saul was really tall, and handsome)
• Saul's conversion didn’t stick, and God decided to choose someone else, this time based on what God values. He chose a lonely, artsy teenager who was ridiculed by his older brothers and knew suffering.
• With the king succession, the responsibility for raising up the next set of leaders is on the king's shoulders, so the people know what to expect (or so they think)
• The kings exploited the people, because they are guaranteed power
• The people felt they could off load some of their self-responsibility to these new empowered royal family
• The people expect someone else to do whatever needs to be done. The can say "Save us!" and "It's all your fault!" instead of taking personal responsibility.
• There was a planned succession… ish... Not all of the kings followed the rules, and sometimes they were killed inconveniently
• The people had a false sense of security with this, they thought they could see the future, or at least who will be in charge.

Obviously, there were great kings. But there were some really rotten ones too. I have a spreadsheet that I will put up in a future post regarding them.

But who are the Judges? Most of this was pulled / interpreted from Judges, but also Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, and 1 Samuel.

Judge	Clarification	Qualities	Spirit of the Lord	From	Reign
Abraham		Faithful. Made lots of mistakes
Isaac		Meditated
Jacob		Wrestled with God
Moses		Educated, not a good speaker		Levi
Joshua		Brave, dedicated		Judah
Othniel		Spirit of the Lord came on him. POWERFUL	Came on him in power	Judah	40 years
Ehud		Left handed, trumpet player		Benjamin	80 years
Shamgar		Killed with an oxgoad, may be contemporary with Deborah? See Judges 5:6			Reign
Deborah		Woman, prophet, song writer		Ephraim	40 years
Barak	Sub-Judge	Took guidance / inspiration from a woman		Naphtali	Reign
Gideon		Sneaky. Good at hiding things. Least. Trumpet player, fleece tester, scout. Grudge holder, punisher, high expectations of kids, declined kingship. Polygamist	Came on him	Manasseh	40 years
Abimelek	Anti-Judge	Mass Murderer		Manasseh	3 years
Tola		Qualities		Issachar	23 years
Jair		Qualities		Gilead / Manasseh	22 years
Jephthah		Bastard child, warrior, historian, rash commitment maker, child sacrificer, Shibboleth/Sibboleth	Came on him	Gilead / Manasseh	6 years
Ibzan		60 kids?!?! Sent his daughters away?		Benjamin	7 years
Elon		Qualities		Zebulun	10 years
Abdon		40 sons, 30 grandsons		Ephraim	8 years
Samson		Strong, riddler, womanizer, cruel to animals, guerilla warfare, berzerker	Came on him powerfully	Dan	20 years
Samuel	Last Judge	Never let God's word fall		Ephraim

I believe God prefers to work through people. Even when there were Kings, God would raise up people who were faithful to him as prophets, but He allowed the Israelites to tie his hands and gave them what they asked for.

Translated to our system, we get to choose between a couple of folks who think they are judges, and the people get to elect one to the kingship for a few years. Because our hearts are hard, we get into all sorts of trouble, as has been happening since the garden.

I hope God won't give us what we deserve in this next election, but that God will set our hearts to choose wisely, and grant the chosen person the grace needed to overcome their own personal demons. I wouldn't want to see the spirit of Hitler in control of our country, that won't work out well for anyone.

Tough Bible Verses

I recently saw a post about 11 Bible Verses that turn Christians into Atheists. Interesting reading. I have some thoughts myself on the matter (surprise, surprise).

When I read these scriptures, I think back to one of my favorite scriptures. Isaiah 1:18 - "Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord". (One of the few instances I prefer the King James version because of the words the translators chose, it resonates more deeply with me.)

Galileo Galilei said it best. "I do not believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."

I believe that God wants us to look at this topic, logically. After all, God put his law in our minds and wrote it on our hearts according to Jeremiah 31:33. Note: Psalm 37:29-31 also mentions this. Hebrews quotes it too. Hebrews 8:10 and Hebrews 10:16. Even Paul spoke about it in Romans 2:15. Gentiles have the law written on their hearts, it's not just Jews.

With this mindset, let's look at some of these hard scriptures.

Genesis 19:8 - ZOIKS. Really, Lot?

Do you feel in your heart that this is a good idea? Regardless of the hospitality customs. Be honest.

I say, "NO". Lot is a bad dad. Don't be like him. I'm grateful that the angels stepped in and stopped him from doing something so awful.

I believe scriptures like this are in the bible to show what happened, or to highlight our need for God's grace. Here, it's obvious that Lot had fallen so far from God, he began to embrace the attitudes of the people around him. Do not be misled: "bad company affects good character". We see that sentiment in several proverbs, as well.

I believe this scripture about Lot is a blatant example of how our hearts can be corrupted when we hang out with people we know we should not be with.

(Aside: I'm surprised that the daughters conspiring to get pregnant from their father isn't talked about more... Those people were weird. With strange priorities. Even his daughters had fallen far from a godly mindset. But with this kind of role model, are you really surprised?)

After that, most of the difficult scriptures are from the law that Moses gave.

Scripture reference	My Synopsis	My Commentary
Exodus 21:20-21	It's ok to beat your servants if they survive the beating for a few days.	Beatings were started by Cain. That didn't work out for him very well. The Israelites had just left their own slavery in Egypt, they probably wanted to order some people around for a while. Lack of compassion!
Leviticus 25:44-45 (1 Peter 2:18)	Yep. Slavery is fine.	But slaves weren't made until Genesis 9. Not an original plan. Again, this shows the nation had a lack of compassion. Jesus had lots of compassion.
Deuteronomy 22:20-21	Be sure to stone any non-virgins.	We all make mistakes. This only happens when the guy hates the girl? No fair. Sexist generation. Jesus didn't condemn these girls like this. Jesus did not condemn the woman caught in adultery.
Deuteronomy 22:20-21	Anyone you rape, you get to marry.	I think Moses meant this as a deterrent. Basically, "guys, don't overpower girls, you won't like the consequences, and we'll try to make sure the girl is with you for the rest of your lives. You don't get off scott free". I wish Moses had chatted with some of these girls.
Deuteronomy 23:1	Eunuchs need not apply, you make us feel icky	Um... Anyone remember Daniel and his friends? How about the first non-Jewish convert? God had a significant place for eunuchs in his kingdom.
Deuteronomy 25:11-12	It's ok for men to fight, even injure a pregnant woman, but not for a woman to grab male privates?	The guys were definitely owning this political party. I think the US Congress would agree with this policy. Doesn't make it right.
Leviticus 21:18-19	God doesn't love the handicapped?	That's a good study. Look up how many handicapped people Jesus healed. Jesus loved them, just as he loves healthy and whole folks.
Leviticus 20:9	Don't disrespect your parents, teenagers, if you want to see 20.	There is a rebellious stage, but let's not think about that. Jesus was even a little snippy when Mary exasperated him, but he didn't sin. He understands what it feels like.

And I would argue that Jesus himself addressed all of these. I find his comments on divorce in Matthew 19:8 and Mark 10:5 are most instructive.

In these scriptures, Jesus points out that Moses allowed these things because the people had hard hearts. And Jesus points us back to how it was recorded in the beginning. Men and women were created equal in Genesis 1:27. There was no slavery here. There was no rape. There was no abuse. There was no maiming each other.

And then, I was STUNNED by this ode to happily smashing babies scripture. But when I look at the whole psalm, I see that these people were REALLY bitter about what they had just gone through. I don't think it means that God agrees, the people were bitter and angry. They wrote a song about it. That painful and bitter and angry emotion was recorded.

When we see Elisha called down the wrath of God, that was very harsh.

As I reflect on this one, I would argue that even the best of us can misuse the power we have, especially when tempted under pressure, in the moment. I don't think this reflects on God, as much as it points out that Elisha had been given lots of power when Elijah left, and yet he still had the power to make bad choices. Just like Lot made bad choices. Moses made bad choices too. And Abraham... the father of faith, he made some real dooseys of poor choices.

I'm in good company, you should see some of the choices I've made.

We all need God's grace to make it thru this life into the next. I think we should give the bible grace for recording things as they were, and not covering it up. This honesty allowed Christ to shine with God's grace more vividly, not only to the generation he visited, but ours as well.

Jobs in the Bible

No, I'm not claiming Steve Jobs was mentioned in the bible. But that would be an interesting find.

In America and several cultures, I think we have an unhealthy focus on heroes and leaders. We focus on these few so intensely that some of us believe we can have impact. If we think that the only value to society is because we are leading (or being a celebrity) we tend to sit back on our heels and watch the world, instead of getting involved.

Yet, that's not how God made us. And we often don't like how God made us, because we look at others and think, "Hey, that should be me!" See Isaiah 45:9.

But I believe God has formed each of us in a unique way, and given each of us talents in various measure because we are valuable to our society with that mix.

And so, here are some other professions I have found listed in the bible. It's not an exhaustive list, but it shows that we have more than ministry to occupy our time. 

Job Type	Description	Reference	Accredited
Creation	Make new things	Gen 1	God
Gardening	Care for the garden	Gen 2:15	Adam
Taxonomy	Name animals	Gen 2:19-20	Adam
Subterfuge	Deception perhaps, this was the invention of spies?	Gen 3:8	Adam & Eve
Farming	Plowing, cultivating plants	Gen 3:17-19	Adam
Tanning	Clothing from animal skin	Gen 3:21	God
Security	Protection. Law enforcement	Gen 3:24	Angel
Parenting		Gen 4:1	Eve & Adam
Obgyn	Help deliver the baby	Gen 4:1	God
Shepherding	Husbandry, shepherd, cattleman, rancher, cowboy	Gen 4:2	Abel
Butchery	Fat portions had to be cut off, I think	Gen 4:2	Abel
Execution	Premeditated scheming and plotting to kill for jealousy, also known as murder. Birth of executioners?	Gen 4:8	Cain
Traveler	Hobo, wanderer, homeless	Gen 4:12	Cain
City Planning	Perhaps this is carpentry, and architecture, crafting	Gen 4:17	Cain
Migrant herders	Sheep herders, bedouin	Gen 4:20	Jabal
Musician	Orchestra and marching band	Gen 4:21	Jubal
Smithing	Tools from metal - Blacksmithing	Gen 4:22	Tubal-Cain
Counseling	Maybe a healer, or a psychologist?	Gen 5:29	Noah
Construction	Carpentry here, if not from Cain	Gen 6:14	Noah
Navy roles	Piloting, cleaning	Gen 7:1	Noah
Celebrity	Heroes. So many other professions before celebrity gets involved	Gen 6:4	Nephilim
Zoo keeping	Veterinarian too?	Gen 6:19	Noah
Demolitions	God is best suited for this	Gen 7:6	God
Wine Making		Gen 9:20-21	Noah
Slavery & Slavers	Forced labor. Overlords. Anything no one else wants to do? Not recommended by me.	Gen 9:25	Canaan

Some folks had more than one job. God created room for midlife career changes, too!

Parables updated - Parable of the Faithful Servant

Why? I recently took part in a small group, and one of the exercises was to take a couple parables and update them to examples Jesus might have used today.

Luke 12:35-40

Always be prepared: have a go bag set aside with what you need stocked at all times, including water, food, medications, clothing, flashlights and extra batteries, and have a plan for how to get to safety and contact your loved ones, just as the first responders who know disaster can strike at any time and take cover until the immediate activity is done. Those first responders will be ready and able to help make all the difference in the recovery and triage and getting back to the new normal.

They will be invaluable to their community and many will be saved because of them, and possibly they will be praised by the media for their quick action and ability to serve.

Always keep your bag in a safe place and keep your hard soled shoes and jacket close, because the disaster may happen in the middle of the night. Even if you are not a first responder, these tools are invaluable when disaster strikes.

But woe to those who are not prepared, they will be thrown into the night without slippers or jacket or bag with food and water and light. If they had known what time the disaster was coming, they could have flown out of state and escaped the trial. But you all should be ready, with what you know you will need in advance, because you don't know when disasters will strike.

Parables updated - Parable of the Talents

Why? I recently took part in a small group, and one of the exercises was to take a couple parables and update them to examples Jesus might have used today.

Luke 19:12-27

The owner of a company flew off on a business trip to open a new branch and then return. Before flying out, he called his employees into his office and gave them budgets. "Keep building the business until I return" he said.

But several employees hated him and sent an email message after him saying "HA-HA! You're fired".

Regardless, he set up the new branch and came home. The employees hadn't fired him with Board approval, so he was still the owner despite their email. He then called a meeting to find out what they had been up to.

The first one showed a great presentation with charts and graphs about how she'd taken the budget and using her own idea, she hired software engineers and created a phone app which showed a return on the investment 10 times over the budget she'd been given!

"Great work!" the owner said, "Why don't you see what you can do with these other 10 ideas and matching budget?"

The second one showed an excel spreadsheet and accounts showing his idea of opening a burger franchise had a return of 5 time over the budget he'd been given.

The owner asked him to try opening another 5 franchises.

Then another employee stood up and said "I have all the budget still here, you know there was a market crash and it seemed like a bad time to take any risks because I know you have the Midas touch, but I don't." (His insecurity was bleeding all over the room.)

The owner replied "You are right, you don't have the Midas touch because you won't even try and take a single risk, you are paralyzed with fear, even though you saw me step out on faith for this latest venture. You should have transferred the funds into utilities which consistently return well."

Then he said to the security guards, "Take his budget and add it to the phone app creator's budget."

The folks in the meeting said "Whoa, she has plenty of budget already!"

The owner replied "She was willing to take a risk, act on faith. She built her faith by exercising it. So her faith will grow, even when she fails, and she will get more and more opportunities because she actively opens her eyes to them, but the one who risks nothing, even the hope he had will melt away from him because of his inaction.

"But those other employees who wanted to fire me, they are all fired. Escort them from the building this instant, lock them out of all their accounts immediately, and do not take them back to their desks so they can steal their contacts or other company assets."

The tablets that were broken - found?

I picked up a copy of the Biblical Archaeology magazine for a recent trip. In there, I stumbled upon this in an editorial. You will need a subscription to get the link to work.

In the article discussing who owns artifacts, the culture that produced them, or the country which currently owns the land the artifacts were discovered on, the editor says that the broken pieces of the original tablets with the 10 commandments were found back in 1969!

<tangent>Why is this not well known? Holy hidden treasure, this is big.</tangent>

I just happened to stumble upon that little bit of information. I searched online, but either my search skills are sub-par (probably) or there is nothing about this find on the internet.

Humility: It's underrated part 2 (David)

When we first meet David, he's a teenager. We know that he's spent a lot of time on his own, because no one (but God) helped him kill the lion and the bear. I love how David's example shows us how to go in the strength we have.

God didn't transform David. David was David, grown the hard way. He was despised by his brothers, minimized by his family, and alone a lot. We know he used that time to pursue his passions because he was an accomplished musician and poet in addition to beast slayer. He could dance too.

David reacted very differently to peer pressure than Saul did! He went with his conscience instead of the urgings of those around him. He set his heart on a course, and would not allow others to deviate for him. Look at I Samuel 24. Instead of consulting the fellows around him, he would routinely consult God on matters.

We don't read much of David's early life in the books of Samuel, so in order to learn how he got to be like this, we need to look at the Psalms he wrote. (I know, there's not much about Saul either, and that didn't stop me from forming all sorts of ideas. But I digress.) We see him pouring out his anguish, insecurity, and joy before God. It was his habit. Usually. Most of the time. And when he digressed, he recognized his failings and repented!

We see David's humility when the king seeks to make him his son. He says this AFTER he's become a great warrior. He is not taking what the people around him think of him to heart, unlike Saul.

Saul had a chance to change, but he didn't take it.

Of course, David was afraid at times. He was afraid of the Philistines, and acted like a crazy man. I don't think this was a lack of faith in David, but God used his acting ability to him. I believe God gives us tools and expects us to use them. David didn't care what these folks thought of him, he just wanted to escape.

Perhaps God wanted proof (He knows everything, but sometimes the proof is for our sakes) that David didn't care about other's opinions, because twice God delivered Saul into his hands (1 Samuel 24:3-7 and 1 Samuel 26:7-12) and each time, people encouraged David to kill Saul. But David kept God's will firmly in his mind.

But when David sins, he doesn't bother with the petty stuff, he goes full board with adultery and then murder. When he is confronted, he looks to God, not the person confronting him.

Wow, how did David get so far away from his previous righteous stances? I have a couple theories.
1) David was not Jesus
2) We all can get a little lax when we're on vacation

Alas, David was not done sinning after this tragedy. I think it shows that no matter how many times we repent, we need to keep watch because we will probably sin again. We are never on vacation when we seek to follow God.

Regardless of all his sin events (there are more, maybe I'll blog about his sins of omission someday) he always had an internal compass pointing him back to God. And although God took away his sin, the consequences of his sin still remained.

In conclusion, we saw Saul begin with humility and it slipped away from him as he made bad choices. David also began with humility, and managed to keep a hold of it through out the bad choices he made. What was truly the difference? I think even before he was anointed, David had already set his heart on following God.