I started watching clips of the Bible Project when I was teaching Valiants in primary. I never shared the illustrations with the class though I am fascinated by the short videos. The book of Judges (here) is referred to as disturbing – which it is – as we explore in this week’s reading of “Come Follow Me”. As we are limited on time and to spare all the gore (and there is A LOT of it) it has been suggested to study only certain scriptures (which still contain gore, stupidity, arrogance, violence, murders, and so forth)
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| https://meetinggodinthemargin.com/2017/06/02/first- reading-of-judges-11-12-jephthah-his-daughter/ |
Chapter one gives us the account of the land of the twelve tribes – a recap if you will. Where mortal corruption and child sacrifice is acceptable. Chapter two gives the account of the cycle that each generation experiences starting with sin, oppression, repentance, deliverance and peace only to sart the cycle all over again but with a set of different judges (or delvers). Some judges are mentioned by name. Chapter three gives us a small account of a judge named Othniel followed by Ehud. Chapter four gives us an account of Deborah and Barak and Jael.
Chapter 5 sums up the accounts in
poetic form. The English Bible writes in
poetry form which doesn’t seem so gruesome when compared to the rest of judges. But it is not required as part of the
reading. So while all the judges thus
far share chapters, Gideon has four chapters just by himself. We learn of
humility and the ability to follow God’s plan and what miracles may come. Weapons used?
Lanterns and horn blowing. That
was it. It was a scare tactic that
worked like a charm. A somewhat gruesome
charm – but that was on the Midinites.
Gideon and his people shed no blood.
Gideon’s story reminds me so much of
others that we have already read. Called
to serve but with reluctance reminds me of Moses and the Battle with horns –
though not wall crumbling – does remind me of Joshua. And faith almost like Abraham because even
though he seems reluctant still abides. That covers chapters 6-8. That is what we are expected to read or
study. Chapter 9 is not a part of the
reading. Gideon apparently becomes weak
and turns to idolism. That part reminds
me of Aaron – giving in to the weakness of the children of Isreal.
We skipped over the three chapters
that introduce Jephthah and go right into Samson. Hollywood has made countless movies about
Samson. What an idiot. That’s what I thought about him the first
time I heard about him in primary. Every
four years I have found a new reason to dislike the dude. I roll my eyes each time I hear his name. But perhaps we need to learn about him to
remind ourselves that the world is full of imperfect people – even leaders.
I am certain that Hollywood has taken liberties with every Bible story that is portrayed. Though there was still a lot of violence (because let’s face it, an R rating Bible would still not do justice for many parts) I did appreciate how this 2018 version did try to incorporate humaneness into the Samson character who would sin, oppress, repent, become humble . . . well, to a degree.
He started out trying to do the
right thing but would give into temptation when he was bullied. He would lash out and try putting others in
their place . . . just went about it the wrong way.
I told Richard to focus more on Gideon
and less on Samson – and to remember to teach the fourteen year old youth and
not be focused so much on the lesson. Incorporate
a lot of prayer. What do the class
members need to learn – not what wild mistakes do we pick up from reading about
all these clueless people?
So that’s my take on Judges in a
nutshell. Aren’t you glad you read this
post?
