Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on May 24, 2008
By Captain Michael Ramsay
When I was in my first year of studies at university, a friend of mine – Jared – and I decided that we were going to have the time of our lives that summer or die trying. That is the year I took up SCUBA diving. I went white-water rafting for the first time, did a lot of kayaking (I love Ocean kayaking) and we went parachuting…
You’ll probably hear this story again, just in case you haven’t heard it before by the way. I remember the training for jumping out of the plane. They drew all these diagrams on the board and we had to learn about trajectories and wind currents and the speed of acceleration of a free falling object – It was just like high school Physics – and I didn’t understand when I took high school physics and I didn’t understand it now. Then they had the practical test where they suspend you from the ceiling and you practice pulling the ripcord – well, in the practice, mine didn’t work.
This wasn’t looking so good so Jerry and I signed fake names on our waivers, made each other promise that we would steel the other’s waiver if something went wrong. (It was a long time ago.) Then we went to the washroom before boarding the Cessna aero plane.
Now a Cessna is a little plane. It is a very little plane and we went up a long way in this little plane. We were to jump at 3000 feet. Jerry and I flipped a coin to see who would jump first: I lost so I would have had to jump first but I made him jump first anyway because I when we got up so high that I thought I was at 3000 feet I checked the altitude of the plane and it was only 500 feet. This was the only time that I became a little afraid of heights.
Jerry jumped first: I could see from the plane that the chute opened nicely and he floated down peacefully to earth. Okay, it looked all right. Next it was my turn… I climbed out on the wing of the plane like we were told to. You see you are supposed to climb out on the wing, jump, count to five and then check to make sure the chute is working and we’re on our way.
So I jump, and like Jerry (as I find out later), I jump and try to count to five…but I can’t remember what comes after one: “One… rats!… arrg!”[1] Then I look up and see the full canopy of the parachute above me. Phew. So I reach back for the steering toggles that are on my parachute ropes. I reach back and there is nothing there. There’s nothing there. Sure my parachute opened up … but it wasn’t attached to my back!
Well actually only one side was. So it was attached to my back but it wasn’t catching any air so it wasn’t slowing me down at all. It was just like a flag flapping above my head. So from these classes - I remembered something - I had to unhook the streamer and take off the parachute all the while I am careening towards the ground at terminal velocity, I’m sure.
So I get the parachute off and pull the emergency cord and it comes out … in one big ball. It wasn’t catching any air either. In our classes beforehand they told us that if our chutes did this we were to take them off but when it’s your last parachute…while to make a short story even longer as I am falling towards the ground without a parachute. – I pray of course - I look down and I can see beneath me the highway and trees. My friend is watching me from the field. People who live in the houses nearby get in their cars when they see me fall beneath the tree line and come to help scrape my body up off the field – or whatever they else they can do – I don’t know. I do know that after they have seen me fall beneath the tree line towards the power lines and highway that a gust of wind comes, literally picks me up, opens up my chute and blows me over the field so that I land nicely right where I am supposed too – without even a scratch. It was indeed a miracle and an answer to sincere prayer.
You see, when I was without a parachute, and about to pull the emergency cord, I prayed. Now, I was a smoker back then and when I pulled my emergency cord, I remember praying, “Dear God, if you save me I’ll quit smm…never mind just please save me.” And He did. And I knew that as He did the first thing that I would want after I landed would be a cigarette. And it was, so it was a good thing I didn’t make the vow. (I did eventually quit smoking; but that’s an unrelated story) I know that God takes covenants, oaths, and vows very seriously and I didn’t make one then that I wouldn’t keep.
Jephthah, who we read about today, Jephthah might have been better never to make his vow.[2] Jephthah, from the passage we read in Judges 11, made a vow that he may wish that he could take back but like we learned through examining Judges 2, Joshua 9, and 2 Samuel 21, the Lord holds us accountable to our vows, our covenants, our promises, and in the case of the earlier referred to Israelite-Gibeonite vow (Josh 9), even when we are lied to, even when we are tricked, even when we make a vow that is against the expressed command of YHWH, when we make a vow to God he holds us to it. Through Joshua 9 and 2 Samuel 21 we see that Israel is responsible to fulfill both competing vows it made. One, a covenant that God commanded and another, that He forbade. Jephthah knows this, as he is well aware of the scriptures (cf. Chapter 11:1ff), verse 35, Jephthah knows this and he immediately regrets his vow to the LORD.
His vow to the LORD, verse 30ff: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering." Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands.
Verse 34ff, 'When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break."'
Jephthah made this vow and it may or may not have actually been illicit or illegal even.[3] Human sacrifice after all is forbidden by the Law (cf. Lev. 18:21, 20:1-5; Deut 12:31; Jer. 7:31-32, 19:5-6; Ezek. 16:20-21, 20:31) so some people – atheist, agnostic and even some Christian writers, have argued that Jephthah would not need to fulfill this vow. We, of course, know that he did need to fulfill this vow for a couple of reasons. One, even though God explicitly generally forbids human sacrifice (Lev. 18:21, 20:1-5; Deut 12:31; 2 Ki 23:10; Jer. 7:31-32, 19:5-6; Ezek. 16:20-21, 20:31), there are exceptional circumstances when He has asked for it. Abraham was commanded to offer up his son as a sacrifice (Gen 22:2) and indeed our Heavenly Father offered up His only begotten son. And we remember from the Exodus that God has a claim on every firstborn child in Israel –be it a person or animal- (Exodus 13:2, 22:29) after the Angel of Death collected that same sacrifice from the Egyptians (Exodus 4:22-23, 12:12).[4] In the NT, we are also told that if we lose our life for the Lord we will gain it (Matt 10:39, Lk 17:33). Jephthah made this promise to God and even if this vow was taken against the expressed wishes of God (which it may or may not have been, cf. 11:29-30) he is still obligated to fulfill it and he did.
Like we studied in Judges 2:1-5, Joshua 9 and 2 Samuel 21, the Israelites were lied to when they broke their promise to God by making a competing one with the Canaanites.[5] They were tricked by the Gibeonites and then they broke their promise to YHWH by making a treaty with the Canaanites. They broke this agreement by making this competing treaty with the Gibeonites (who are Canaanites) who lied to them. Israel was tricked into making the second treaty and Israel, when they were doing it, did not realize that they were breaking their first promise to God and yet they were still responsible to both covenants that they made in the presence of God and now Jephthah, in Judges 11, has made a promise to God and now he is responsible to keep it.[6]
Now covenants are good and covenants are important and because of this the Lord himself warns us (Mt 5:34) while discussing the prohibition against divorce: “But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” We should not take our oaths, our promises, our covenants, lightly at all. We are obligated to them (cf. Exodus 20:7; Leviticus 19:12; Numbers 30:2-3, and Deuteronomy 5:11; 6:3; 23:21-23.).[7]
In the OT, Numbers 30:3, it records that, "If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth (Numbers 30:2; see also: Deut. 23:21-23)”. And Jephthah knows this.
Do we know this? How well do we do at keeping our vows? Last week[8] we explored the numbers of divorces in this country and the drastic results that disregarding these covenantal vows have on future generations as well.
What about our other promises? Have you ever made a rash vow? I remember once in grade five promising that if so and so won this or that I would fight someone else and –trust me- my friends held me to that vow. I know that as an adult too a friend of mine promised the Lord that he would quit smoking: this was 10 years or so ago and around the same time another one that she would clean her room – we’re still waiting for them to fulfill their vows but I have faith that their delay is just like the delay of Jephthah’s daughter when she goes to cry with her friends in the mountains (Judges 11:37-40). I have faith that these people of faith (my friends) will fulfill their vows and experience the full covenantal blessing as indeed Jepthath did.
How do we know that Jepthath fulfilled his vow? There are many ways and I assure you that scholars have spared no ink in exploring this topic but one of the most convincing arguments is that Jepthath is mentioned in the Hebrews 11’s Walk of Fame. He is one of only four in the book of Judges mentioned as a Hero of the Faith alongside King David and the prophet Samuel (11:32) and for what is he remembered? He is remembered for his faith (or faithfulness). He, like Abraham, like Hanna, and like God did not even withhold His one and only child.
Do you remember the story of Hanna (1 Samuel 1)? This actually has some bearing on our text here today (Judges 11) and Jephthah’s vow. I invite you now to turn with me to 1 Samuel 1. Hanna didn’t have any children. She didn’t have any children at all. Her husband wound up taking another wife at the same time and had children with her but Hanna did not have any children and was suffering much because of it so she called upon the Lord, verse 11, "And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life... (2 Samuel 1:11)."
1 Samuel 1:20-28: So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him."
When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, "After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always." [This is reminiscent of Jephthah’s daughter’s time with her friends]
"Do what seems best to you," Elkanah her husband told her. "Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word." So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." And he worshiped the LORD there.”
Notice that Hanna ‘gave Samuel over to the Lord’ (cf. Lev 27.28-29).[9] Now the language in the Hebrew text of the Jephthah’s vow is certainly ambiguous.[10] While Luther argued that Jepthath was committed to executing his daughter. Wesley and others have argued the opposite.[11]
Indeed, there are some words and phrases in Jephthah’s oath that do permit these different renderings of the text. It has been noted, that the phrase in Judges 11 which is usually translated as, "Whatever comes out of the doors of my house ... shall be the Lord's, AND I will offer it up as a burnt offering" in Judges 11:31 can also be read as: "Whatever comes out of the doors of my house ... shall be the Lord's, OR I will offer it up as a burnt offering." [12] So, if this second reading is correct, which it might be – and there are other things that lend itself to this idea as well such as the fact that Jephthah’s daughter and her friends did not mourn her loss of life but rather her loss of opportunity to be a mother – if this reading is correct then Jephthah could keep his vow and not execute his daughter. He would give her up to live a (possibly celibate) life devoted to God: to a life like that of a pre-Roman Catholic nun as it were.
The text is not clear though. Scholars are not in agreement and either way this vow is a serious thing. Even if Jephthath did not execute his daughter, the fact that she was his only child, means that the leadership of his clan which he gained from winning the battle, would not be passed down to his descendents and even more important than that his family’s inheritance in the promised land would actually pass to another. Jephthath sacrificed his descendants’ claim to the promise, to the land, to the promised land. This was very important to ancient Israel. It would represent the ultimate sacrifice (for Jepthath and his daughter who willingly submitted to this commitment that was made on her behalf.) [13] Whether she was committed to celibacy or to death. Either way – whether it was a reckless vow or a pious and an inspired one - Jephthah’s family sacrificed their whole world for God and God accepted that sacrifice and Jephthath is remembered as one of the ‘Heroes of the Faith.’
So we should not take our covenants, our vows, our promises, lightly when they are made to (or before) the LORD because we will be held accountable to them. God is faithful to his promises (Romans 3:3,4). So when we rely on His covenant promises we will be safe but when we ignore them we will be lost.
Our covenants, our oaths, our promises then are like a parachute. When we try to jump out of life’s plane without them or when they aren’t properly applied, the consequences can be frightening and even fatal but when we prayerfully pull on the cord of our covenants, when we pull that cord, when we put our faith in the faithfulness of the Lord and His covenant promises, we will not be disappointed. When we fully rely on the Lord. When we put our faith in Him and His covenant promises, as God is faithful to his covenants, we will look up and see the full parachute canopy of our salvation guiding gently to where we are supposed to be and then we – like Jephthah – through faith(fullness), may also be remembered as one of the ‘Heroes of the Faith.’
Let it be.
---
[1] In all honesty, I did not say, “rats.” I said s… something else….
[2] That this vow was reckless and that he would have been better not to make this vow are common ideas these days. This may not be the case however. As the meaning of the vow may be that he either dedicates what meets him OR sacrifices it (11:31) then this could be an inspired act for sure (cf. 11:29) and is certainly one of obedience on par with Hannah’s (1 Samuel 1) or Abraham’s (Gen 22)
[3] Some contemporary comment seems to lean in this direction (but not the bulk of comment throughout history by any means (Olsen, p. 834.) and some have argued that he may not have even needed to fulfil this vow (cf. Wolf, Expositors, CD Rom Book version 4.0.2.) I think the root of that isogetical claim clearly sprouts from the non-theistic viewpoint that life is not eternal and therefore one’s life is what is most important. Scripture, of course claims otherwise. One who loses one’s life for the Lord will gain it. There will be a resurrection of the dead: those who die for God will enjoy it; those who live for themselves will not.
[4] Denis T. Olsen, ‘Judges’ in NIB II: Deuteronomy-2Samuel. P.834.
[5] Captain Michael Ramsay. Judges 2:1-5: Covenant and the Gibeonite Dilemma (a look at Judges 2:1-5 through the lenses of Joshua 9 and 2 Samuel 21) Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on May 18, 2008. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/05/judges-21-5-covenant-and-gibeonite.html
[6] Herbert Wolf. Expositor's Bible Commentary Pradis CD-ROM: Judges/Exposition of Judges/II. The Rule of the Judges (2:6-16:31)/ Jephthah's vow and victory over Ammon (11:29-33), Book Version: 4.0.2 :Jephthah's desire to defeat the Ammonites was so intense that he made a special "vow to the Lord" (v.30). … Scholars continue to debate whether or not Jephthah had a human sacrifice in mind. The masculine gender could be translated "whatever comes out" (v.31) or "whoever comes out" and "I will sacrifice it," but it is hard to see how a common animal sacrifice would express unusual devotion. …. Although Jephthah did not originally plan to sacrifice his daughter, he would gladly have offered up anyone else if it helped bring victory.
[7] DA Carson. Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:Matthew/Exposition of Matthew/II. The Gospel of the Kingdom (3:1-7:29)/B. First Discourse: The Sermon on the Mount (5:1-7:29)/3. The kingdom of heaven: its demands in relation to the OT (5:17-48)/b. Application: the antitheses (5:21-48)/(4) Oaths and truthfulness (5:33-37), Book Version: 4.0.2 :The Mosaic law forbade irreverent oaths, light use of the Lord's name, broken vows. Once Yahweh's name was invoked, the vow to which it was attached became a debt that had to be paid to the Lord.
[8] Captain Michael Ramsay. Judges 2:1-5: Covenant and the Gibeonite Dilemma (a look at Judges 2:1-5 through the lenses of Joshua 9 and 2 Samuel 21) Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on May 18, 2008. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/05/judges-21-5-covenant-and-gibeonite.html
[9] JP Holding: “such vows did NOT allow the person to be redeemed with money.” On-line: http://www.tektonics.org/gk/jepthah.html
[10] Denis T. Olsen, P.834, argues that this ambiguity is intentional.
[11] John Wesley: "It is really astonishing that the general stream of commentators should take it for granted that Jephthah murdered his daughter! If a dog had met Jephthah, would he have offered up that for a burnt offering? No, because God had expressly forbidden this. And had He also not expressly forbidden murder?" and referring to the authority and responsibility for Jephthath to execute his daughter: “For this is expressly limited to all that a man hath, or which is his, that is, which he hath a power over. But the Jews had no power over the lives of their children or servants, but were directly forbidden to take them away, by that great command, thou shalt do no murder.” (Notes on the Old Testament).
[12] (Clarke's Commentary, vol. 2, p. 151) cited from Al Maxey, available on-line at: http://www.zianet.com/maxey/reflx224.htm
[13] Herbert Wolf, Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Judges/Exposition of Judges/II. The Rule of the Judges (2:6-16:31)/I Jephthah's vow fulfilled (11:34-40), Book Version: 4.0.2: “Jephthah's daughter sensed the implications of her father's vow but made no attempt to get him to break it. Her willingness to yield herself resembled that of another only child, Isaac, who faced almost certain death when he allowed his father to tie him to an altar (Gen 22). Even if victory over Ammon meant her life, it was worth it; and she gently encouraged her father to perform his vow (v.36).”
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Judges 2:1-5: Covenant and the Gibeonite Dilemma (a look at Judges 2:1-5 through the lenses of Joshua 9 and 2 Samuel 21)
Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on May 18, 2008
and Alberni Valley Ministries on 27 January 2019
By Captain Michael Ramsay
This is the original version. To view the 2019 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2019/02/joshua-9-and-gibeonite-dilemma.html
Judges 2:1-5: The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you." When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Bokim (weepers). There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.
This is disappointing; it’s a sad but very important passage from which to launch the stories of the so-called Judges.[1] This pericope (Joshua 2:1-5) explains why the Israelites and their allies suffer hundreds of years of oppression.[2] It informs us that the cycle of sin, enslavement, repentance, deliverance, and sin again… which continues repeatedly until Israel finally descends into civil war and anarchy - this whole downward spiral[3] all stems from one broken promise; a disobeyed covenant.
Our promises, our covenants are important to God and as such how we operate within a covenant relationship has significant implications for our lives. The Lord said to His people that He will never break His covenant with them (Judges 2:1) – they, we are not released from our covenants simply for disobedience to them; there are serious consequences for taking our covenants too lightly.
I think this is an important thing for us as Salvationists to remember as we have the opportunity to enter into rich and strong covenant relationships with the Lord in the form of our Officers’ and Soldiers’ covenants. It is important too for all of us living in the new covenant era of the post-resurrection world and especially for those of us living in the so-called ‘First World’ as litigation, broken contracts, and divorces[4]-breaches of these covenats- occur here on a daily basis both inside and outside the churches. As Christians we should all be aware of exactly what we are getting into when we enter in a covenant; be it a soldiers’ covenant, an officers’ covenant, a marriage contract or what have you? .... When we make a promise either to or before YHWH we need to know what we are getting into.
Now a covenant is a good thing. It is not a punishment. The Lord made a promise to Abraham, as recorded in Chapter 12 of Genesis, that all the nations of the earth with be blessed through him and this promise is ultimately fulfilled through Jesus Christ. The Lord made a covenant with Abraham, Genesis 15, that his descendents would occupy the land promised to him. The Lord is faithful to his word. He does not break his covenants.[5] He is bound to us through His covenants.
This is good news, and as we have discussed here before, the most common word for covenant in the Hebrew Bible is berit[h], (mentioned 286 times).[6] Berit[h] probably actually comes from the Akkadian word for ‘to shackle.’[7] So the image of a covenant with (or in the presence of) the LORD then is of one actually being bound, shackled to him with a tie that will not be broken, a chain that cannot be severed.[8]
Still, even with the strength of our covenantal ties, there are results, consequences for not living up to the terms of our covenants. Judges 2:2: “…you have disobeyed me…. Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them [the Canaanites] out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.” It is important for us to remember that there are consequences for disobeying the covenant and even more than that.
Do you remember the episode around the covenant that is in question here in Judges 2? It relates back to the covenant of Genesis 15 and it refers too to the covenant experience relayed to us in Joshua Chapter 9. (You may wish to turn to that now actually) Remember that God commanded Israel not to make a covenant with the Canaanites; remember that God told the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites.[9] (This was after the people of Canaan had graciously been given 400 years and still did not repent of their own sins, cf. Gen 15:16.) Remember how God told Israel to destroy them? [10] Remember how He told them not to make a covenant with the people of the land? (Cf. Deut 7:1-6; 20:16-18)
Well, remember too this story from Joshua 9:3ff: “…when the people of Gibeon [who lived in Canaan] heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they resorted to a ruse [they tricked them]: they went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended. The men put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and mouldy. Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.’”
They lied to them; Joshua and the Israelite leaders were tricked and then made a treaty with them (Joshua 9:15) - without first discussing the matter with God - and in so doing they disobeyed their covenant, they broke their promise to God.
Breaking a promise to God is not a trivial matter. In the book of Judges alone (and the breach of this particular covenant will come up again in other books) generations of people suffer as a result of their forefathers broken promise to God. For hundreds of years, their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and even more than that experience the consequences of this broken promise.
Now this should be easily understandable for us because, really, as we think about it we realise that this same thing happens in our world today. Think about the children who are raised in broken homes. Think about many of the children whose parents broke their marriage contracts with each other and with God.[11] There are consequences.
Some of the consequences are immediate and some of the immediate consequences are the struggles of how to raise a child in two separate homes with two separate sets of rules. Some of the immediate consequences are the challenges involved in that fact that whatever the problem was that split up the marriage in the first place was obviously never resolved: mom or dad still moved out. Some of the immediate consequences of divorce are that children from broken homes are more likely to be ‘latch-key kids’ and less likely to have all the material support that their peers do. Some of the immediate consequences include the fact that, at best, one will only ever get a good night kiss from one, single parent. (Praise the Lord, in light of this, for His grace that is available to all)
But there is more than that in our world today; there are consequences for future generations as well. Many people who get divorced once wind up getting divorced twice or even thrice.[12] Children of divorce are more likely to be divorced themselves[13] and perpetuate the devastating cycle that contributes to generations and generations and generations going without the emotional, spiritual, and other support that only comes from a strong marriage covenant.
While recognising the power of the Lord's grace, this is still very sad because there is so much benefit from continuing in a strong covenant relationship but when we stray from it there are often devastating results. And as we continue to read through Judges, we will see that much misery comes as a direct result of the Israelites and their parents’ disobedience to their covenant with the Lord. There are consequences for not walking in proper covenants.
You will notice, in Joshua 9, that the Israelites were tricked into making this agreement with the Gibeonites. They didn’t realise they had broken their promise to God. They entered into this agreement under false pretences. The Gibeonites lied to them but that doesn’t change the fact that Israel is bound through the covenant her leaders made with the Gibeonites before God. (Joshua 9:18; Judges 2:2) And they know this, Joshua 9:18, when the Israelites find out that they have been tricked, they don’t nullify the agreement: it is not within their authority (power) to do so; Israel still does not attack the Gibeonites. They don’t attack the Gibeonites because –even though they have been lied to, even though they have been tricked, even though they have been deceived – they are still bound to God and the Gibeonites via this treaty. Simply disobeying a covenant does not render it void. There are consequences for disregarding a promise but because we disobey a promise made before God does not simply render the covenant void (Romans 3:3,4).[14]
So this is interesting isn’t it? In society at large, in many courtrooms, in many countries today, this agreement, this contract with the Gibeonites would be thrown out on the spot. In our country if a person who is still legally married to one spouse, takes another, when the first marriage is discovered the Judge will declare the second one void.
If a landlord has already collected rent on an apartment from one tenant she can’t turn around and rent that same apartment to another. Our pluralistic society says that simply transgressing an agreement may in some circumstances render it void. God, however, in our stories before us today, disagrees. God says, through His angel, Judges 2:1: “I will NEVER break my covenant with you.” The covenant is not nullified; the ties are not severed, just because they disobey God.
Now there is another interesting point about the agreement that Israel enters into here that sets the stage for the book of Judges. Israel enters into this covenant with God first and this agreement says that He will give them the land and that they will not make a covenant with the Canaanites, they will instead destroy the present inhabitants of the land. Then the Israelites –without consulting God- enter into the second covenant with the Gibeonites promising that they will not destroy them and in the process Joshua and the Israelites disobey the first covenantal agreement that God entered into with them.
Israel is understandably held to its original agreement with YHWH. It is understandable that Israel suffers the consequences (Judge 2:2-3) for disobeying God by making this competing covenant. But what is interesting is that the Israelites are also held accountable to this new covenant with the Gibeonites (which they made before God) even though they made it contrary to the expressed command of God. The Israelites disobeyed God in making this second covenant but they are still held accountable to it. God holds them accountable to both covenants: the one that He initiated and the one that He forbade.[15]
In Judges chapter 2, we read today of the consequences for breaking the first covenant with God and as you turn with me to 2 Samuel 21, you will see that there are consequences that the Israelites suffer for breaking this second, competing covenant with the Gibeonites. God holds us to our promises. Whether we are lied to, tricked, or even enter into a covenant that is against the Lord’s commands, God holds us to our covenants (that are with -or before- Him.)
2 Samuel 21: 1ff. - During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years[people die]; so David sought the face of the LORD. The LORD said, "It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death." The king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites [Canaanites]; the Israelites had sworn to spare them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them.) David asked the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? How shall I make amends so that you will bless the LORD's inheritance?"
The Gibeonites answered him, "We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul or his family, nor do we have the right to put anyone in Israel to death."
"What do you want me to do for you?" David asked.
They answered the king, "As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we have been decimated and have no place anywhere in Israel, let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and exposed before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul—the Lord 's chosen one."
So the king said, "I will give them to you."
Verse13: David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from there, and the bones of those who had been killed and exposed were gathered up. They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the tomb of Saul's father Kish, at Zela in Benjamin, and did everything the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land.
Even though the Israelites disobeyed God by entering into this covenant with the Gibeonites - and suffered their due consequences for disobeying the terms of the covenant with God- when they transgressed this new covenant they made with the Gibeonites - even though it was against the will of God - God would not even answer their prayers until they made it right.
Now I would like to emphasise a couple of things here: 1) as I have already stated, God does not sever the ties of covenant that binds us to (or before) Him. He is faithful to His promises, even if we are faithless (Romans 3:3,4).
This is important for us to remember. We should not enter into our covenants lightly. I don’t believe that God says we can simply declare (through the courts or otherwise) that our partner did not live up to the marriage covenant and so we are no longer married. I don’t think that God says that simply because we had a drink we can throw out our Soldiership agreement. I don’t think the shackle is cut. I don’t think that God says that just because we decide not to be Officers anymore that we are released from our vow to ‘make soul-saving a primary purpose of our lives.’ I think that this covenant referred to in Genesis 15, Joshua 9, Judges 2, and Samuel 21 points to the fact that God doesn’t break His covenants with us and as a natural result, there are consequences for us if we are trying to break that chain.[16]
This brings me to my second point of emphasis: covenants are not punishments; the consequences for rebelling against covenants are not punishments: the consequences of rebellion are the natural and logical results of our own actions.
Now, as I have pointed out before, the origin of the Hebrew word for ‘covenant’ comes from a root word meaning, to be shackled together. The image of a covenant then is one of being shackled to God through a promise.
I often compare a covenant with God (be it through marriage, Soldiership, Officership …) to being shackled to a locomotive, with God being the locomotive. When we are chained to the train and ride comfortably on it – following the Lord’s leading - we wind up where He is going a lot faster and a lot easier than if we travel the road on our own strength (under our own steam). This is the benefit of a strong covenant with the Lord.
But, if once we are bound to the Locomotive of the Lord by a covenant, if we try to go our own way or try to shackle ourselves to something going in a different direction, it is not going to be a pleasant experience. The tie doesn’t break. Disobedience to our covenants is like jumping off the train and trying to run in the opposite direction while we are still chained to it.
It’s going to hurt but it is not God’s fault; He doesn’t throw us from the train and because God is faithful (cf. Rom 3:3,4), this covenantal chain is so strong that won’t break – and what we suffer are the natural results of our own actions. This is what happened in our story today (Judges 2). God, wanting the Israelites to experience the full rest of the promise land entered into a covenant with them. They willing shackled themselves to His train but then, however, at the same time they shackled themselves to the Gibeonite train that was going in a different direction and suffered the natural and logical consequences of their actions. And this is exactly what happens to us when we don’t respect our covenants.
However, there was good news for the Gibeonites. There was good news for Israel and there is good news for us in this as well. The Gibeonites, even though they didn't deserve it, even though they acted deceitfully, the Gibeonites gained access to the promise. The Gibeonites -as they aligned their covenant with the Lord's - the Gibeonites -Joshua 9 records- the Gibeonites were saved. And truely I tell you that God was faithful to His promise that the whole world would be blessed through Abraham and this was fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
And there is still more good news in this for us for no matter how many times we are faithless and jump off that train. No matter how many times we try to break that covenant; no matter how many times we throw ourselves on the tracks, under the wheels of the ‘God Train,’ the Lord is faithful: the covenantal chain will not be broken as long as we live; God will not give up on us. God is faithful, and Jesus himself is standing there as the new chain that binds us in our relationship to God; Jesus is the new covenant through whom whosoever may be pulled back up onto the train. As this is the case, instead of rebelling against God, instead of pulling against the tie that binds, let us all give our lives over fully to the Lord, buckle up, lean back and enjoy the fully sanctified ride on this train because this train is bound for glory.
Let us pray.
---
[1] The ‘Judges’, with the notable exception of Deborah, were actually more like military rulers and ‘strong men’ than judges as we would think of them today.
[2] Exactly how many hundreds of years has been debated. If one adds up the total time of enslavement as if they were served consecutively, one would arrive at a total of 480 years. There is a distinct possibility that some of these times of enslavement could be served concurrently. It is also likely that no one tribe suffered the entire length of subjugation. Cf. Denis T. Olsen, NIB II: Judges, (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon,, 1998) 724. Cf. also Robert G. Boiling, Judges, AB 6A (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975) 9-29.
[3] The extent of the periods of peace generally decline as the story progresses.
[4] Divorce Magazine.com has world statistics for divorce: Aus 46%, USA 45.8%, UK 42.6%, Can 37%; more statistics are available on-line at: http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsWorld.shtml
[5] Michael Ramsay. Covenant: When God is Bound...a look at Genesis 15:7-21. Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 52, December 2007 – January 2008, pp 5-10. Available on-line at http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_052.pdf
[6] G.E. Mendenhall. "Covenant." In The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, edited by George Arthur Buttrick. (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1962), 715.
[7] Ibid. Cf. also M. Weinfeld. "berith." In Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, edited by G. Johannes Botterweck. (Stuttgart, W.Germany: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1975), 253.
[8] Michael Ramsay, "Berit[h]" Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 40, December 2005 – January 2006 pp 16-17.
[9] Or Amorites, same people. Cf. Gen 15:16.
[10] Cf. David H. Madvig. Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Joshua/Exposition of Joshua. The ruse discovered (9:16-27), Book Version: 4.0.2.
[11] Child and Family Canada: Divorce, Facts, Figures, and Consequences. Available on-line: http://www.cfc-efc.ca/docs/vanif/00005_en.htm: Overall, about one third of all marriages in Canada end in divorce and the rate is somewhat higher for remarriages. Dissolution rates are even higher among cohabiting couples. Currently, there are no solid predictions of either a sharp decline or a sharp rise in divorce rates in the near future.
[12] Statistics Canada: The Daily: Wednesday March 9, 2005: Divorce. Available on-line at: http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050309/d050309b.htm: In 1973, only 5.4% of divorces involved husbands who had previously been divorced. Some 30 years later, this proportion has tripled to 16.2% of all divorces. Similarly, the proportion of divorces involving wives who had previously been divorced rose from 5.4% to 15.7% during this three-decade period.
[13] Divorce and Children: An Interview with Robert Hughes, Jr, PhD. Available on-line at: http://www.athealth.com/consumer/disorders/childrendivorce.html Cf. also from the Associated Press: Divorce Gap Narrows over time. Available on-line at: http://www.divorcereform.org/mel/rchildrenofdivor.html
[14] God is faithful even when we are unfaithful (Romans 3:3,4). Cf. Cf. N.T. Wright, "Romans and the Theology of Paul," p. 37. See also N.T. Wright, "The Law in Romans 2."
[15] There were natural and logical consequences for the Gibeonites after their deception as well. They were saved but, as per the earlier instructions of Moses (Deut 20:10-15; cf. Josh 16:10; 17:13; Judg 1:28, 30, 33, 35), they became forced labour for Israel (Joshua 9:21).
[16] For a discussion on this as it relates to Genesis 15 and Abraham’s covent with God, see Michael Ramsay, 'Covenant: When God is Bound...a look at Genesis 15:7-21'. Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 52, December 2007 – January 2008, p 5. On-line at http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_052.pdf
and Alberni Valley Ministries on 27 January 2019
By Captain Michael Ramsay
This is the original version. To view the 2019 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2019/02/joshua-9-and-gibeonite-dilemma.html
Judges 2:1-5: The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you." When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Bokim (weepers). There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.
This is disappointing; it’s a sad but very important passage from which to launch the stories of the so-called Judges.[1] This pericope (Joshua 2:1-5) explains why the Israelites and their allies suffer hundreds of years of oppression.[2] It informs us that the cycle of sin, enslavement, repentance, deliverance, and sin again… which continues repeatedly until Israel finally descends into civil war and anarchy - this whole downward spiral[3] all stems from one broken promise; a disobeyed covenant.
Our promises, our covenants are important to God and as such how we operate within a covenant relationship has significant implications for our lives. The Lord said to His people that He will never break His covenant with them (Judges 2:1) – they, we are not released from our covenants simply for disobedience to them; there are serious consequences for taking our covenants too lightly.
I think this is an important thing for us as Salvationists to remember as we have the opportunity to enter into rich and strong covenant relationships with the Lord in the form of our Officers’ and Soldiers’ covenants. It is important too for all of us living in the new covenant era of the post-resurrection world and especially for those of us living in the so-called ‘First World’ as litigation, broken contracts, and divorces[4]-breaches of these covenats- occur here on a daily basis both inside and outside the churches. As Christians we should all be aware of exactly what we are getting into when we enter in a covenant; be it a soldiers’ covenant, an officers’ covenant, a marriage contract or what have you? .... When we make a promise either to or before YHWH we need to know what we are getting into.
Now a covenant is a good thing. It is not a punishment. The Lord made a promise to Abraham, as recorded in Chapter 12 of Genesis, that all the nations of the earth with be blessed through him and this promise is ultimately fulfilled through Jesus Christ. The Lord made a covenant with Abraham, Genesis 15, that his descendents would occupy the land promised to him. The Lord is faithful to his word. He does not break his covenants.[5] He is bound to us through His covenants.
This is good news, and as we have discussed here before, the most common word for covenant in the Hebrew Bible is berit[h], (mentioned 286 times).[6] Berit[h] probably actually comes from the Akkadian word for ‘to shackle.’[7] So the image of a covenant with (or in the presence of) the LORD then is of one actually being bound, shackled to him with a tie that will not be broken, a chain that cannot be severed.[8]
Still, even with the strength of our covenantal ties, there are results, consequences for not living up to the terms of our covenants. Judges 2:2: “…you have disobeyed me…. Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them [the Canaanites] out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.” It is important for us to remember that there are consequences for disobeying the covenant and even more than that.
Do you remember the episode around the covenant that is in question here in Judges 2? It relates back to the covenant of Genesis 15 and it refers too to the covenant experience relayed to us in Joshua Chapter 9. (You may wish to turn to that now actually) Remember that God commanded Israel not to make a covenant with the Canaanites; remember that God told the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites.[9] (This was after the people of Canaan had graciously been given 400 years and still did not repent of their own sins, cf. Gen 15:16.) Remember how God told Israel to destroy them? [10] Remember how He told them not to make a covenant with the people of the land? (Cf. Deut 7:1-6; 20:16-18)
Well, remember too this story from Joshua 9:3ff: “…when the people of Gibeon [who lived in Canaan] heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they resorted to a ruse [they tricked them]: they went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended. The men put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and mouldy. Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.’”
They lied to them; Joshua and the Israelite leaders were tricked and then made a treaty with them (Joshua 9:15) - without first discussing the matter with God - and in so doing they disobeyed their covenant, they broke their promise to God.
Breaking a promise to God is not a trivial matter. In the book of Judges alone (and the breach of this particular covenant will come up again in other books) generations of people suffer as a result of their forefathers broken promise to God. For hundreds of years, their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and even more than that experience the consequences of this broken promise.
Now this should be easily understandable for us because, really, as we think about it we realise that this same thing happens in our world today. Think about the children who are raised in broken homes. Think about many of the children whose parents broke their marriage contracts with each other and with God.[11] There are consequences.
Some of the consequences are immediate and some of the immediate consequences are the struggles of how to raise a child in two separate homes with two separate sets of rules. Some of the immediate consequences are the challenges involved in that fact that whatever the problem was that split up the marriage in the first place was obviously never resolved: mom or dad still moved out. Some of the immediate consequences of divorce are that children from broken homes are more likely to be ‘latch-key kids’ and less likely to have all the material support that their peers do. Some of the immediate consequences include the fact that, at best, one will only ever get a good night kiss from one, single parent. (Praise the Lord, in light of this, for His grace that is available to all)
But there is more than that in our world today; there are consequences for future generations as well. Many people who get divorced once wind up getting divorced twice or even thrice.[12] Children of divorce are more likely to be divorced themselves[13] and perpetuate the devastating cycle that contributes to generations and generations and generations going without the emotional, spiritual, and other support that only comes from a strong marriage covenant.
While recognising the power of the Lord's grace, this is still very sad because there is so much benefit from continuing in a strong covenant relationship but when we stray from it there are often devastating results. And as we continue to read through Judges, we will see that much misery comes as a direct result of the Israelites and their parents’ disobedience to their covenant with the Lord. There are consequences for not walking in proper covenants.
You will notice, in Joshua 9, that the Israelites were tricked into making this agreement with the Gibeonites. They didn’t realise they had broken their promise to God. They entered into this agreement under false pretences. The Gibeonites lied to them but that doesn’t change the fact that Israel is bound through the covenant her leaders made with the Gibeonites before God. (Joshua 9:18; Judges 2:2) And they know this, Joshua 9:18, when the Israelites find out that they have been tricked, they don’t nullify the agreement: it is not within their authority (power) to do so; Israel still does not attack the Gibeonites. They don’t attack the Gibeonites because –even though they have been lied to, even though they have been tricked, even though they have been deceived – they are still bound to God and the Gibeonites via this treaty. Simply disobeying a covenant does not render it void. There are consequences for disregarding a promise but because we disobey a promise made before God does not simply render the covenant void (Romans 3:3,4).[14]
So this is interesting isn’t it? In society at large, in many courtrooms, in many countries today, this agreement, this contract with the Gibeonites would be thrown out on the spot. In our country if a person who is still legally married to one spouse, takes another, when the first marriage is discovered the Judge will declare the second one void.
If a landlord has already collected rent on an apartment from one tenant she can’t turn around and rent that same apartment to another. Our pluralistic society says that simply transgressing an agreement may in some circumstances render it void. God, however, in our stories before us today, disagrees. God says, through His angel, Judges 2:1: “I will NEVER break my covenant with you.” The covenant is not nullified; the ties are not severed, just because they disobey God.
Now there is another interesting point about the agreement that Israel enters into here that sets the stage for the book of Judges. Israel enters into this covenant with God first and this agreement says that He will give them the land and that they will not make a covenant with the Canaanites, they will instead destroy the present inhabitants of the land. Then the Israelites –without consulting God- enter into the second covenant with the Gibeonites promising that they will not destroy them and in the process Joshua and the Israelites disobey the first covenantal agreement that God entered into with them.
Israel is understandably held to its original agreement with YHWH. It is understandable that Israel suffers the consequences (Judge 2:2-3) for disobeying God by making this competing covenant. But what is interesting is that the Israelites are also held accountable to this new covenant with the Gibeonites (which they made before God) even though they made it contrary to the expressed command of God. The Israelites disobeyed God in making this second covenant but they are still held accountable to it. God holds them accountable to both covenants: the one that He initiated and the one that He forbade.[15]
In Judges chapter 2, we read today of the consequences for breaking the first covenant with God and as you turn with me to 2 Samuel 21, you will see that there are consequences that the Israelites suffer for breaking this second, competing covenant with the Gibeonites. God holds us to our promises. Whether we are lied to, tricked, or even enter into a covenant that is against the Lord’s commands, God holds us to our covenants (that are with -or before- Him.)
2 Samuel 21: 1ff. - During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years[people die]; so David sought the face of the LORD. The LORD said, "It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death." The king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites [Canaanites]; the Israelites had sworn to spare them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them.) David asked the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? How shall I make amends so that you will bless the LORD's inheritance?"
The Gibeonites answered him, "We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul or his family, nor do we have the right to put anyone in Israel to death."
"What do you want me to do for you?" David asked.
They answered the king, "As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we have been decimated and have no place anywhere in Israel, let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and exposed before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul—the Lord 's chosen one."
So the king said, "I will give them to you."
Verse13: David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from there, and the bones of those who had been killed and exposed were gathered up. They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the tomb of Saul's father Kish, at Zela in Benjamin, and did everything the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land.
Even though the Israelites disobeyed God by entering into this covenant with the Gibeonites - and suffered their due consequences for disobeying the terms of the covenant with God- when they transgressed this new covenant they made with the Gibeonites - even though it was against the will of God - God would not even answer their prayers until they made it right.
Now I would like to emphasise a couple of things here: 1) as I have already stated, God does not sever the ties of covenant that binds us to (or before) Him. He is faithful to His promises, even if we are faithless (Romans 3:3,4).
This is important for us to remember. We should not enter into our covenants lightly. I don’t believe that God says we can simply declare (through the courts or otherwise) that our partner did not live up to the marriage covenant and so we are no longer married. I don’t think that God says that simply because we had a drink we can throw out our Soldiership agreement. I don’t think the shackle is cut. I don’t think that God says that just because we decide not to be Officers anymore that we are released from our vow to ‘make soul-saving a primary purpose of our lives.’ I think that this covenant referred to in Genesis 15, Joshua 9, Judges 2, and Samuel 21 points to the fact that God doesn’t break His covenants with us and as a natural result, there are consequences for us if we are trying to break that chain.[16]
This brings me to my second point of emphasis: covenants are not punishments; the consequences for rebelling against covenants are not punishments: the consequences of rebellion are the natural and logical results of our own actions.
Now, as I have pointed out before, the origin of the Hebrew word for ‘covenant’ comes from a root word meaning, to be shackled together. The image of a covenant then is one of being shackled to God through a promise.
I often compare a covenant with God (be it through marriage, Soldiership, Officership …) to being shackled to a locomotive, with God being the locomotive. When we are chained to the train and ride comfortably on it – following the Lord’s leading - we wind up where He is going a lot faster and a lot easier than if we travel the road on our own strength (under our own steam). This is the benefit of a strong covenant with the Lord.
But, if once we are bound to the Locomotive of the Lord by a covenant, if we try to go our own way or try to shackle ourselves to something going in a different direction, it is not going to be a pleasant experience. The tie doesn’t break. Disobedience to our covenants is like jumping off the train and trying to run in the opposite direction while we are still chained to it.
It’s going to hurt but it is not God’s fault; He doesn’t throw us from the train and because God is faithful (cf. Rom 3:3,4), this covenantal chain is so strong that won’t break – and what we suffer are the natural results of our own actions. This is what happened in our story today (Judges 2). God, wanting the Israelites to experience the full rest of the promise land entered into a covenant with them. They willing shackled themselves to His train but then, however, at the same time they shackled themselves to the Gibeonite train that was going in a different direction and suffered the natural and logical consequences of their actions. And this is exactly what happens to us when we don’t respect our covenants.
However, there was good news for the Gibeonites. There was good news for Israel and there is good news for us in this as well. The Gibeonites, even though they didn't deserve it, even though they acted deceitfully, the Gibeonites gained access to the promise. The Gibeonites -as they aligned their covenant with the Lord's - the Gibeonites -Joshua 9 records- the Gibeonites were saved. And truely I tell you that God was faithful to His promise that the whole world would be blessed through Abraham and this was fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
And there is still more good news in this for us for no matter how many times we are faithless and jump off that train. No matter how many times we try to break that covenant; no matter how many times we throw ourselves on the tracks, under the wheels of the ‘God Train,’ the Lord is faithful: the covenantal chain will not be broken as long as we live; God will not give up on us. God is faithful, and Jesus himself is standing there as the new chain that binds us in our relationship to God; Jesus is the new covenant through whom whosoever may be pulled back up onto the train. As this is the case, instead of rebelling against God, instead of pulling against the tie that binds, let us all give our lives over fully to the Lord, buckle up, lean back and enjoy the fully sanctified ride on this train because this train is bound for glory.
Let us pray.
---
[1] The ‘Judges’, with the notable exception of Deborah, were actually more like military rulers and ‘strong men’ than judges as we would think of them today.
[2] Exactly how many hundreds of years has been debated. If one adds up the total time of enslavement as if they were served consecutively, one would arrive at a total of 480 years. There is a distinct possibility that some of these times of enslavement could be served concurrently. It is also likely that no one tribe suffered the entire length of subjugation. Cf. Denis T. Olsen, NIB II: Judges, (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon,, 1998) 724. Cf. also Robert G. Boiling, Judges, AB 6A (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975) 9-29.
[3] The extent of the periods of peace generally decline as the story progresses.
[4] Divorce Magazine.com has world statistics for divorce: Aus 46%, USA 45.8%, UK 42.6%, Can 37%; more statistics are available on-line at: http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsWorld.shtml
[5] Michael Ramsay. Covenant: When God is Bound...a look at Genesis 15:7-21. Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 52, December 2007 – January 2008, pp 5-10. Available on-line at http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_052.pdf
[6] G.E. Mendenhall. "Covenant." In The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, edited by George Arthur Buttrick. (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1962), 715.
[7] Ibid. Cf. also M. Weinfeld. "berith." In Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, edited by G. Johannes Botterweck. (Stuttgart, W.Germany: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1975), 253.
[8] Michael Ramsay, "Berit[h]" Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 40, December 2005 – January 2006 pp 16-17.
[9] Or Amorites, same people. Cf. Gen 15:16.
[10] Cf. David H. Madvig. Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Joshua/Exposition of Joshua. The ruse discovered (9:16-27), Book Version: 4.0.2.
[11] Child and Family Canada: Divorce, Facts, Figures, and Consequences. Available on-line: http://www.cfc-efc.ca/docs/vanif/00005_en.htm: Overall, about one third of all marriages in Canada end in divorce and the rate is somewhat higher for remarriages. Dissolution rates are even higher among cohabiting couples. Currently, there are no solid predictions of either a sharp decline or a sharp rise in divorce rates in the near future.
[12] Statistics Canada: The Daily: Wednesday March 9, 2005: Divorce. Available on-line at: http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050309/d050309b.htm: In 1973, only 5.4% of divorces involved husbands who had previously been divorced. Some 30 years later, this proportion has tripled to 16.2% of all divorces. Similarly, the proportion of divorces involving wives who had previously been divorced rose from 5.4% to 15.7% during this three-decade period.
[13] Divorce and Children: An Interview with Robert Hughes, Jr, PhD. Available on-line at: http://www.athealth.com/consumer/disorders/childrendivorce.html Cf. also from the Associated Press: Divorce Gap Narrows over time. Available on-line at: http://www.divorcereform.org/mel/rchildrenofdivor.html
[14] God is faithful even when we are unfaithful (Romans 3:3,4). Cf. Cf. N.T. Wright, "Romans and the Theology of Paul," p. 37. See also N.T. Wright, "The Law in Romans 2."
[15] There were natural and logical consequences for the Gibeonites after their deception as well. They were saved but, as per the earlier instructions of Moses (Deut 20:10-15; cf. Josh 16:10; 17:13; Judg 1:28, 30, 33, 35), they became forced labour for Israel (Joshua 9:21).
[16] For a discussion on this as it relates to Genesis 15 and Abraham’s covent with God, see Michael Ramsay, 'Covenant: When God is Bound...a look at Genesis 15:7-21'. Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 52, December 2007 – January 2008, p 5. On-line at http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_052.pdf
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Romans 9:30 –10:4: The Law through the Looking Glass.
Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on May 04, 2008
and Swift Current Corps on August 02, 2009
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Have you ever noticed that there are times when it doesn’t matter how hard you want something or how much you think you deserve something that it just is not to be? Have you ever worked really hard for that trophy or job only to see it go to someone else? Or there’s the other side of that as well: have you ever really attempted to avoid a responsibility or attention for something but no matter how hard you try and avoid it, there it is?
-
Once upon a time I was a teacher and, well, I was actually involved in many aspects of education for a long time. I remember there was this high school student, Alan, in the last months before his graduation: the school is getting ready like all schools do and all the boys are preparing to rent their tux’s and the girls are preparing to get their dresses made and the million and one other things it seems they have to do – which seems like quite a lot more than the boys actually. The atmosphere around the schools at this time of year is always really charged with excitement. The students have to vote on everything from what to do on grad night to what song they will play as they march into the auditorium.
-
Most of the kids are all getting really excited to find out who is going to do this and who is going to do that at grad and some of the students are even campaigning to represent their class on Grad Night. Being Class Rep is a really big deal for some people - but not for Alan. Alan is really not into the whole school scene. He is graduating and he isn’t even sure if he wants to go to the graduation ceremonies led alone to bother to vote for a favourite song or who should represent his class on grad day. He doesn’t want anything to do with it.
-
So when the big day comes where the school is supposed to vote for who will represent the class, Alan, along with some of his closest friends decide not to participate. They sneak out the back door and down the stairs and almost get away but the vice principal spots them and marches them unceremoniously into the gym - where they are just finishing the nomination process and all those who have been campaigning are sitting on stage and - now just when everyone is about to vote, someone notices Alan and the others being dragged in and yells out as loud as she can. “I nominate Alan!” Soon the whole student body is cheering – except for those who actually running and except for Alan. Alan is overwhelmingly elected.
-
Now when Alan tells me the story, he tells me too, that not only didn’t he want the position, but he would have refused it if the Vice Principal didn’t come up to him after the vote and try to convince him to step down. So now he has this responsibility. He has won this prize but it’s a prize that he didn’t even want.
-
This is a little bit like the story Paul is relaying to us in Romans Chapters 9-11 and if you have your Bibles with you, I encourage you to keep a finger in Chapter 9 verse 30 through to 10:4.
-
I’ll read some of it again for you now (9:30-33) Verse 30: “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
-
The Gentiles (and by Gentiles here, Paul simply means non-Jewish people) the Gentiles, weren’t campaigning to be class representative or anything (they weren’t seeking Salvation) and as far as many of the Jews[1] were concerned, the Gentiles were outside the promise when the election occurred but Paul here is letting the Romans know that indeed they snuck in at just the right time[2] and they were elected and whether they previously wanted it or not and even more than that…
-
Paul has some not very good news for those who were actually trying to obtain their position. He says, paraphrasing Isaiah (Isa 8:14, 28:16), in verse 33, “…See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock [Jesus Christ] that will make them fall…(Cf. also Psalm 118:22-23)” Paul says, verse 31, that the Jews, that the chosen people, that Israel, – though striving for righteousness they did not obtain it. They did not get it. They now find themselves on the outside looking in.
-
Jesus even, in Matthew 21:42-44, says very bluntly, “… the kingdom of God will be taken away from you [Israel] and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” ‘The kingdom will be taken away from you,’ Jesus says.
-
So this isn’t really good news for some who are reading or listening to this letter in the first century and maybe it isn’t such good news for some today either. After all, now like then, some mistakenly thought that Israel was exclusively elected for salvation by God. They didn’t realise, as we know, that the purpose of the their election was (for God) to bring salvation to the world[3]. They didn’t understand and through of this ignorance of God some actually rejected the promise. Some rejected their election. They are crushed. The kingdom is taken away from them.
Now Paul loves his countrymen (Israel) and knowing this problem, 10:1&2, Paul cries out "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness." The nation of Israel, in Paul’s time (and in our time too, actually) the nation of Israel, verse 33, strove for righteousness and did not obtain it.
-
Now this raises a series of serious questions for us: why did they not obtain it?[4] And can we strive for God’s righteousness and not obtain it? Can we seek ye first the Kingdom of God and not find it (cf. Matt 7:7ff)?[5] Can we strive for righteousness and not obtain it? Can we try to get to heaven and be turned away at the gates? Can we? Maybe the answer is ‘yes’ (but cf. Matt 6-7)...
-
Romans 10:2-3: “For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.”
-
These people then, though they are zealous for God, try to develop their own righteousness and in the process reject Jesus as God and therefore cannot know God and, as a result, they do not win the prize. They reject Christ, they reject God, and they reject His righteousness.
-
It seems like (if anyone remembers) the classic story, ‘Alice through the Looking Glass.’ At a point in that story there are two groups of people: those who are determined to reach a goal (like Israel here in our story) and those who are not. Now those who are most determined to reach the goal walk towards the mirror where it is reflected but – of course – the never reach it because its not there – only the reflection is there. The ones, however, who turn (repent) and walk in the opposite direction are the one’s who in the end actually did find it.[6]
-
It’s like us as we are looking a mirror. We can never grab a reflection in the mirror no matter how hard we try because it is not a real item: it is just a reflection. This is like the Law was to Israel – you see, the Law is a reflection of God. It is not God and as long as one is just reaching for His reflection (The Law), one can never grasp God. As long as one is just reaching for His reflection rather than for Jesus himself - even though He is standing right beside you – as long as you are just reaching for his reflection you will never reach him.
-
Now are there anyways that we can be tempted to do this? Are there ways in our own lives when we are tempted to ignore God and try to grasp an image, a rule maybe, or a ritual instead? Are there times when we, like first century Israel, might rely on our own righteousness and in the process actually turn our backs on God?
-
I think that sometimes in our very churches we make this mistake. I think sometimes some of us might be tempted to believe that if we come to church once a week (or even less in some people’s cases) and sing songs we’ll be saved. Do we sometimes think that the fact that we don’t swear or drink or smoke or gamble or whatever else we don’t do that we’ll be okay? Are we fooled to believe that if we are nice and don’t hurt anyone else then we deserve to go to heaven…I have heard that very sentiment at funerals - and it’s tragic. I have even heard alleged clergy suggest that anyone will be in heaven as long as they were just liked by someone.
-
Well if any of us are hoping to get to God by being liked, by being nice, or on our own righteousness, then we will be disappointed because good personality, good works, or our own righteousness are nothing more than grasping towards a shadow, an image in the mirror.
-
But lest we get too depressed here, there is some very good news for us all. 10:4 : Christ is an end to the Law. We no longer need to be deceived by that particular reflection (and indeed many people are not) anymore: that mirror is finished and there is more good news even: 9:33, those who do actually trust in Jesus, we will never be put to shame. We don’t need to look at anything else; we don’t need to be deceived by any other mirror or pale reflection. We don’t need to. Jesus is standing with us and he will never leave us nor forsake us.
-
So this is it – this is the gospel – this is the real thing –so listen up: Jesus died, rose from the dead, and He’s coming back. Jesus died, rose from the grave, and he’s coming back and whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). This is good news, this is the real deal and this is what we will see when we stop looking in mirrors of self-righteousness, rules, regulations, and traditions (as good as they may be at best they are only reflections of God). The real good news is what we see when we just turn to talk to Him, when we just (repent) turn to Him through praying and reading our Bibles.
-
It is this very simple truth that Paul tells us (Romans 1:16) that the Gospel has the power to transform us. Even before we knew Him, he knew us. Even before we sought Him, He called us. He is standing with us right now. He just wants us to turn and - through prayer and Bible study - enjoy His open embrace.
-
This is good news. He offers salvation to all of us. He is the whole of Alan’s Grade 12 class from our opening story. Remember our opening story? He’s the whole of the Grade 12 class chanting your name. He wants you to be His representative, so don’t turn your back on Him. Don’t reject your election. Instead turn around from the mirror of our other analogy, turn around and experience the Lord’s loving embrace.
-
Let us pray.
-
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
[1] Not all by any means. Certainly some of the Pharisees were certainly evangelistic and probably the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8) whom Phillip baptised and possibly even the Centurion Cornelius (Acts 10) whom Peter met, to name a couple were already Jewish Proselytes at the time they ‘came to faith.’ Cf. Robert W. Wall, Acts. (TNIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 2002),162 and William Neil, The Acts of the Apostles. (TNBC: Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1981), 138 and Michael Ramsay “Acts 10:1-16 Interpretation: The Intentional bringing of the Gospel to the Gentiles,” available on-line at: http://www.sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Acts%2010:1-16.
[2] Of course the Gentiles were never outside of the promise. God promised Abraham that “...all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Gen 12:3)”
[3] rather than for them to be saved at the expense of the Gentile world
[4] There is, of course, ambiguity in this sentence as well. Some such would argue that Paul is meaning here that the Jews were seeking righteousness: EP Saunders Paul the Law and the Jewish People. (Philladelphia: Fortress, 1983), p. 43. Others would argue that this is not necessarily the case: NT Wright. NIB X: Romans (Nashville: Abingdon, 2002), p.648.
[5] The answers are not all ‘yes’ to these questions. They are food for thought though. We cannot seek first the Kingdom of God and not find it (cf. Matt 7:7ff). We can however strive for righteousness and not secure it.
[6] Cf. NT Wright, p. 649.
and Swift Current Corps on August 02, 2009
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Have you ever noticed that there are times when it doesn’t matter how hard you want something or how much you think you deserve something that it just is not to be? Have you ever worked really hard for that trophy or job only to see it go to someone else? Or there’s the other side of that as well: have you ever really attempted to avoid a responsibility or attention for something but no matter how hard you try and avoid it, there it is?
-
Once upon a time I was a teacher and, well, I was actually involved in many aspects of education for a long time. I remember there was this high school student, Alan, in the last months before his graduation: the school is getting ready like all schools do and all the boys are preparing to rent their tux’s and the girls are preparing to get their dresses made and the million and one other things it seems they have to do – which seems like quite a lot more than the boys actually. The atmosphere around the schools at this time of year is always really charged with excitement. The students have to vote on everything from what to do on grad night to what song they will play as they march into the auditorium.
-
Most of the kids are all getting really excited to find out who is going to do this and who is going to do that at grad and some of the students are even campaigning to represent their class on Grad Night. Being Class Rep is a really big deal for some people - but not for Alan. Alan is really not into the whole school scene. He is graduating and he isn’t even sure if he wants to go to the graduation ceremonies led alone to bother to vote for a favourite song or who should represent his class on grad day. He doesn’t want anything to do with it.
-
So when the big day comes where the school is supposed to vote for who will represent the class, Alan, along with some of his closest friends decide not to participate. They sneak out the back door and down the stairs and almost get away but the vice principal spots them and marches them unceremoniously into the gym - where they are just finishing the nomination process and all those who have been campaigning are sitting on stage and - now just when everyone is about to vote, someone notices Alan and the others being dragged in and yells out as loud as she can. “I nominate Alan!” Soon the whole student body is cheering – except for those who actually running and except for Alan. Alan is overwhelmingly elected.
-
Now when Alan tells me the story, he tells me too, that not only didn’t he want the position, but he would have refused it if the Vice Principal didn’t come up to him after the vote and try to convince him to step down. So now he has this responsibility. He has won this prize but it’s a prize that he didn’t even want.
-
This is a little bit like the story Paul is relaying to us in Romans Chapters 9-11 and if you have your Bibles with you, I encourage you to keep a finger in Chapter 9 verse 30 through to 10:4.
-
I’ll read some of it again for you now (9:30-33) Verse 30: “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
-
The Gentiles (and by Gentiles here, Paul simply means non-Jewish people) the Gentiles, weren’t campaigning to be class representative or anything (they weren’t seeking Salvation) and as far as many of the Jews[1] were concerned, the Gentiles were outside the promise when the election occurred but Paul here is letting the Romans know that indeed they snuck in at just the right time[2] and they were elected and whether they previously wanted it or not and even more than that…
-
Paul has some not very good news for those who were actually trying to obtain their position. He says, paraphrasing Isaiah (Isa 8:14, 28:16), in verse 33, “…See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock [Jesus Christ] that will make them fall…(Cf. also Psalm 118:22-23)” Paul says, verse 31, that the Jews, that the chosen people, that Israel, – though striving for righteousness they did not obtain it. They did not get it. They now find themselves on the outside looking in.
-
Jesus even, in Matthew 21:42-44, says very bluntly, “… the kingdom of God will be taken away from you [Israel] and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” ‘The kingdom will be taken away from you,’ Jesus says.
-
So this isn’t really good news for some who are reading or listening to this letter in the first century and maybe it isn’t such good news for some today either. After all, now like then, some mistakenly thought that Israel was exclusively elected for salvation by God. They didn’t realise, as we know, that the purpose of the their election was (for God) to bring salvation to the world[3]. They didn’t understand and through of this ignorance of God some actually rejected the promise. Some rejected their election. They are crushed. The kingdom is taken away from them.
Now Paul loves his countrymen (Israel) and knowing this problem, 10:1&2, Paul cries out "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness." The nation of Israel, in Paul’s time (and in our time too, actually) the nation of Israel, verse 33, strove for righteousness and did not obtain it.
-
Now this raises a series of serious questions for us: why did they not obtain it?[4] And can we strive for God’s righteousness and not obtain it? Can we seek ye first the Kingdom of God and not find it (cf. Matt 7:7ff)?[5] Can we strive for righteousness and not obtain it? Can we try to get to heaven and be turned away at the gates? Can we? Maybe the answer is ‘yes’ (but cf. Matt 6-7)...
-
Romans 10:2-3: “For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.”
-
These people then, though they are zealous for God, try to develop their own righteousness and in the process reject Jesus as God and therefore cannot know God and, as a result, they do not win the prize. They reject Christ, they reject God, and they reject His righteousness.
-
It seems like (if anyone remembers) the classic story, ‘Alice through the Looking Glass.’ At a point in that story there are two groups of people: those who are determined to reach a goal (like Israel here in our story) and those who are not. Now those who are most determined to reach the goal walk towards the mirror where it is reflected but – of course – the never reach it because its not there – only the reflection is there. The ones, however, who turn (repent) and walk in the opposite direction are the one’s who in the end actually did find it.[6]
-
It’s like us as we are looking a mirror. We can never grab a reflection in the mirror no matter how hard we try because it is not a real item: it is just a reflection. This is like the Law was to Israel – you see, the Law is a reflection of God. It is not God and as long as one is just reaching for His reflection (The Law), one can never grasp God. As long as one is just reaching for His reflection rather than for Jesus himself - even though He is standing right beside you – as long as you are just reaching for his reflection you will never reach him.
-
Now are there anyways that we can be tempted to do this? Are there ways in our own lives when we are tempted to ignore God and try to grasp an image, a rule maybe, or a ritual instead? Are there times when we, like first century Israel, might rely on our own righteousness and in the process actually turn our backs on God?
-
I think that sometimes in our very churches we make this mistake. I think sometimes some of us might be tempted to believe that if we come to church once a week (or even less in some people’s cases) and sing songs we’ll be saved. Do we sometimes think that the fact that we don’t swear or drink or smoke or gamble or whatever else we don’t do that we’ll be okay? Are we fooled to believe that if we are nice and don’t hurt anyone else then we deserve to go to heaven…I have heard that very sentiment at funerals - and it’s tragic. I have even heard alleged clergy suggest that anyone will be in heaven as long as they were just liked by someone.
-
Well if any of us are hoping to get to God by being liked, by being nice, or on our own righteousness, then we will be disappointed because good personality, good works, or our own righteousness are nothing more than grasping towards a shadow, an image in the mirror.
-
But lest we get too depressed here, there is some very good news for us all. 10:4 : Christ is an end to the Law. We no longer need to be deceived by that particular reflection (and indeed many people are not) anymore: that mirror is finished and there is more good news even: 9:33, those who do actually trust in Jesus, we will never be put to shame. We don’t need to look at anything else; we don’t need to be deceived by any other mirror or pale reflection. We don’t need to. Jesus is standing with us and he will never leave us nor forsake us.
-
So this is it – this is the gospel – this is the real thing –so listen up: Jesus died, rose from the dead, and He’s coming back. Jesus died, rose from the grave, and he’s coming back and whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). This is good news, this is the real deal and this is what we will see when we stop looking in mirrors of self-righteousness, rules, regulations, and traditions (as good as they may be at best they are only reflections of God). The real good news is what we see when we just turn to talk to Him, when we just (repent) turn to Him through praying and reading our Bibles.
-
It is this very simple truth that Paul tells us (Romans 1:16) that the Gospel has the power to transform us. Even before we knew Him, he knew us. Even before we sought Him, He called us. He is standing with us right now. He just wants us to turn and - through prayer and Bible study - enjoy His open embrace.
-
This is good news. He offers salvation to all of us. He is the whole of Alan’s Grade 12 class from our opening story. Remember our opening story? He’s the whole of the Grade 12 class chanting your name. He wants you to be His representative, so don’t turn your back on Him. Don’t reject your election. Instead turn around from the mirror of our other analogy, turn around and experience the Lord’s loving embrace.
-
Let us pray.
-
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
[1] Not all by any means. Certainly some of the Pharisees were certainly evangelistic and probably the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8) whom Phillip baptised and possibly even the Centurion Cornelius (Acts 10) whom Peter met, to name a couple were already Jewish Proselytes at the time they ‘came to faith.’ Cf. Robert W. Wall, Acts. (TNIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 2002),162 and William Neil, The Acts of the Apostles. (TNBC: Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1981), 138 and Michael Ramsay “Acts 10:1-16 Interpretation: The Intentional bringing of the Gospel to the Gentiles,” available on-line at: http://www.sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Acts%2010:1-16.
[2] Of course the Gentiles were never outside of the promise. God promised Abraham that “...all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Gen 12:3)”
[3] rather than for them to be saved at the expense of the Gentile world
[4] There is, of course, ambiguity in this sentence as well. Some such would argue that Paul is meaning here that the Jews were seeking righteousness: EP Saunders Paul the Law and the Jewish People. (Philladelphia: Fortress, 1983), p. 43. Others would argue that this is not necessarily the case: NT Wright. NIB X: Romans (Nashville: Abingdon, 2002), p.648.
[5] The answers are not all ‘yes’ to these questions. They are food for thought though. We cannot seek first the Kingdom of God and not find it (cf. Matt 7:7ff). We can however strive for righteousness and not secure it.
[6] Cf. NT Wright, p. 649.
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