Bible Reading Reflection from Judges 8-14

[Originally posted in a WhatsApp group (SSEU), a reading update (reflection) from one chapter of the Bible a day] 

𝕁𝕌𝔻𝔾𝔼𝕊 𝟠:𝟛𝟜-𝟛𝟝

"Thus the sons of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side;  𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕕𝕚𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕁𝕖𝕣𝕦𝕓𝕓𝕒𝕒𝕝 (𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕤, 𝔾𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕠𝕟) 𝕚𝕟 𝕒𝕔𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 all the good that he had done to Israel."

Honor to whom honor is due! David showed kindness to a son of Jonathan!  Jesus showed kindness to His [earthly] mother, Mary entrusting John to take care of her!

Let's practice to honor our leaders, mentors, parents, even their children and family members! Hmmm!

 

𝕁𝕌𝔻𝔾𝔼𝕊 𝟡:𝟚

"Speak, now, in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem, 'Which is better for you, that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or that one man rule over you?' Also, remember that I am your bone and your flesh."

Power grab. Followed by Jotham's parable. Followed by Chaos in the lands. Followed by deaths!

I strongly see Public Health as a power grab. Jotham's parable will unfold.

Chaos is in the lands. Deaths are skyrocketing (not from covid, but other causes). Maybe it will last for a generation and will be gone.

I wish to live long enough to see the death of nations, but don't want to endure the stupidity of people as well! So whatever life, short or long, I will be contented!

 

𝕁𝕌𝔻𝔾𝔼𝕊 𝟙𝟘:𝟞

"The people of Israel 𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟 did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the LORD and did not serve him."

The centuries of Israel's history compressed into a few pages of Judges actually resembles our life!

A generation sinned. B generation suffered. C generation repented. D generation victorious. E generation sinned. F generation suffered and the cycle went on.

“Again” is the watchword. 7 cycles of "again" in the book of Judges are selectively recorded to show the completeness of the pattern of life. Totally depraved!

Falling again and again here and there in the journey of life. Christian in the Pilgrim's Progress reached the river with bruises and numerous falls!

Judges is not a year event, it's an account of generation after generation. I think it's still happening and we will confirm it if we study history...

 

𝕁𝕌𝔻𝔾𝔼𝕊 𝟙𝟙:𝟛

"Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him."

Another painful chapter. It contains positive and negative contents to reflect upon. Israel was so weak that it had no leader. They had to choose an outcast guy for their leader, Jephthah, a son of a prostitute, a leader of worthless fellows. It was a desperate situation. Shame, shame, shame on Israel to think of him to lead them! Stupidity begets stupid leadership!

However, this particular episode was the doing of God. It was God who raised him up to be one of the judges of Israel. If God can make anything useful out of outcast and worthless Jephthah, He sure can [make use] of you and me!

Even Jephthah was a bizarre guy. He sacrificed his daughter, again proving Jephthah is not the hero of the story. It's the covenant-keeping God who chooses to accomplish great things through fallen man for rebellious people because of His faithfulness even when everyone is unfaithful!

 

𝕁𝕌𝔻𝔾𝔼𝕊 𝟙𝟚:𝟞

"They said to him, "Then say Shibboleth," and he said, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell."

How many enemies (Ammonites) have they killed? And how many of their own people (Israelites) have they killed? Who posed a greater threat? The enemies or their own people?

When did the threat and the slaughter of their own people happen? After the victory against the enemies. Scripture has recorded incident after incident portraying threat and wickedness from inside often happening (and even to a greater extent) after a victory against outside. If you win an outside battle, be careful of your inside.

Or what about this? If you are able to modify your public behaviour, be careful of your private behaviour? Some people are saints outside their home, devils inside their home. Some people love to pray outside and hardly pray in their own room. That's a long stretch of reflection, of course!

But again, our own people can be more dangerous than the enemies. Britishers left India and the bloodbath of India-Pakistan.

Coronavirus a global health threat? Let's see what Vaccination will do. Unvaccinated people are beginning to be segregated. Now, for common people, the government is a bigger threat than the coronavirus!

PS1:  For Jephthah, Ephraimites were a bigger threat than the Ammonites. And interestingly, the Ephraimites thought Gidealites were a bigger threat than the Ammonites.

The government (at least Israel has announced) thinks unvaccinated people are a threat to society. And the common normal people think the government is a threat to them as the mandates are carried out!

And Christians are not even coming together to worship God. Let's see, whether unvaccinated people can go to church or not. Perhaps they may as well be denied heaven!

PS2: Vaccination or Vaccinated may soon be the Shibboleth of our time!  Or the new colour of our time, new apartheid. Like the White people and Black People.

Sorry for the extensive thought.

But no sorry as well. Since this group [WhatsApp group] is almost always silent. So! 🙂

 

𝕁𝕌𝔻𝔾𝔼𝕊 𝟙𝟛:𝟚

"There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children."

Hmmm! As much as my memory recalls, every barren woman in the Bible bare child again by the goodwill of God. Indeed, each child of a barren woman is a child conceived of prayer, and so, no surprise grew up to be a man of God.

However, there's no promise that every barren woman will bear a child someday! But we are permitted to be importunate in our prayers. I am not a woman, not even a married man, but I have seen the incomplete joy of many couples.

David Brainerd a missionary to Native Indians wrote in his journals, many times about his depression concerning the barrenness of his ministry. He was just 26-27 years old then. God in His goodness made him successful. He was one of the most fruitful missionaries that other generations of missionaries like Carey, Henry took inspiration from. However, his ministry was short, 2-4 years of ministry and he died at the age of 29.

Barrenness in married life, in ministry, in career, exam, or in whatever we are, may we look up to heaven until the angel of the Lord opens the door of heaven to bless us to be fruitful!

 

𝕁𝕌𝔻𝔾𝔼𝕊 𝟙𝟜:𝟙𝟜

"So he said to them, ‘Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet.’ But they could not tell the riddle in three days."

I have been reading this verse every single year of my Christian life, but I still haven't understood the sensibility of this riddle. It's a bad riddle, actually not a riddle to my family's standard. I and my family love riddle. We had spent asking riddles all our childhood days, and we continue to ask when we come together for Christmas.

What do you think of this riddle??? 😬

We would call this "la-tu-me" [in Rongmei language] meaning it's unqualified to be called a riddle! 😂