Folk and Faith
First off: Saw Seth Lakeman in concert last night (along with most of the North West Kent Folk Scene I think), no air conditioning so the place was absolutly boiling, but all the same people were dancing in the aisles (including me *guilty face*). Say what you like about Folk Music but that boy has talent. The opening act (The Keston Cobblers Club) weren't bad either.
Now back to the Bible Study.
When we left off at the end of Chapter Four, Barak (with the help of Deborah and Jael) had just managed to throw the Cannanites out of Israel. Chapter 5 is titled as the "Victory Song of Deborah" charting Israels history up to that point from their exodus from Egypt, their time in the Desert and their movement away from God. This shows how important the history of the nation was to the people as later in the Book Jephath does a similar thing in letter form. Following Barak's victory peace reigns in Israel for another fourty years.
The next several chapters (Chapters Six to Nine) are to my mind some of the most important in the book, detaling both the rise of God's "Perfect Judge" Gideon and the rise and fall of the "Anti-Judge" Gideon's son Abimilech.
Chapter Six verses 1 - 10 states that once again Israel does evil in the sight of the Lord (seriously these guys have a terrible track record) and in response are oppressed by the Midianites for seven years. When they cry to the Lord for aid however he first sends them a Prophet who reminds them of the covenant that they made with God when they left Egypt and informs them of the reasons for God's actions.
Verses 11 - 24 introduce us to Gideon and shows us his main character flaw. DOUBT. Several times through out the narrative Gideon asks God for a sign that he is who he says he is and that everything will turn out alright (giving rise to the phrase "laying a fleece). However his doubt is understandable. Gideon is in his own estimation the least important person in Israel being "the youngest in his family, his family being the smallest in the tribe and the tribe being the smallest of the twelve tribes of Israel." Certainly not the type of person God needs. But this is where God shows the point I made in my last post. To God it doesn't matter how big or small you are, how important you are in the overall scheme of things. If you are willing, God will use you.
The next two chapters (Seven and Eight) tell the story of Gideon's victory of the Midianites with a mere three hundred men (God deciding that a big army might take the glory for themselves). The most important point comes at the end. The people of Israel offer to make Gideon king, but he refuses on the grounds that the Lord God is King placing Theocracy as the main form of Goverment with Israel. But even Gideon (who leads Israel for fourty years) is not perfect, choosing to worship an Ephod.
Chapter Nine is in major contrast to the previous few chapters. Gideons son (by his concubine rather than his wife) Abimilech takes kingship of his tribe by force, hiring soliders to murder his brothers. However he rules for only three years before the people rise up against him, forcing him to go to war against his own people. In the end Abimilech dies not in battle but is killed by having a mill stone, a simple house hold object dropped on his head by a woman. The chapter acts as a a warning to anyone seeking to usurp God's authority.
Once again I have three points to make though I intended to make one of them in my last post.
1: God does not believe in sterotypes. When looking for someone to free his people from opression, he does not go to the biggest strongest warrior in the land. Instead he choses the smallest most insignificant person he can find and rises them up to do something spectacular. In the end it does not matter what you think of yourself or your situation. If you are willing God will use you in ways that you can't even imagine regardless of what othes may say or think of you.
2: It is unwise to usurp God's authority as Abimilech learned to his cost. God rules over everything and no one, not a single politician or musical superstar is bigger than him. In the end God has control over everything and while you can lead a life ignoring him and making your own decisions, you cannot escape him or his influnce. It is all consuming.
3: The Book of Judges seems to me a reflection of the modern Christian lifestyle. Too often (and I know I am guilty of this) we use God as some kind of supernatural secruity blanket, clinging on to him when things are dark and we need help. But when things are going well and everything is happy we ignore him and believe that we can do things for ourselves. This is a mistake. To lead a full and fullfilled life we need to let God take the reins at all times, not just when we think we need him.
That's your lot for today folks. Enjoy.