nd though they are strong, you can drive them out.” (NIV) This was: 1. Spoken by Joshua so it occurred during his lifetime (see Joshua 1:1-6), 2) Spoken to the tribe of Joseph not Judah in Judges 1:19, and c) Not exempt from the conditions in verses like Deuteronomy 7:25-26, 11:22-32. In conclusion, the defeat of Judah in Judges 1:19 does not violate any promise God made in the Pentateuch or Joshua, but it occurred for some reason we do not know, and its certainly not the case that God wasnt strong enough to destroy the Canaanite iron-chariot army (Deut. 7:18-22). Judges 1:21 • When was Jerusalem captured? See Judges 1:8. Judges 4 Judges 4:11 • Who was Moses father-in-law? See Exodus 2:18, 20-21. Judges 6 Judges 6:36-40 • Did Gideon tempt God and get away with it? We know from the Bible that tempting God is a sin (Matthew 4:7, Deuteronomy 6:16). But is this what Gideon did here? Gideon was merely asking for a sign due to the need of assurance that his actions were with God. He is not tempting God or testing Him in the sinful way Israel did at Massah. At Massah (Exodus 17:1-7, Numbers 20:1-13), the Israelites insulted God by maintaining that it was better for them to have been left in Egypt where they had everything (except freedom from oppression that is!), whereas here they were on the verge of dying from thirst, or so they thought (Numbers 20:2-5). As a result of this, they tested God in the sense that they questioned Him through rebellious and sinful actions (i.e. quarreling about water and provisions). They werent inquiring, as Gideon was, about Gods decisions. With this in mind, we can only see that the modern notion of testing is not what was meant in Deuteronomy 6:16 and the sinful testing of Massah is not what Gideon did. Judges 11 • How could Jephthah sacrifice his own daughter and does this mean that God condones human sacrifice? Jephthah made a vow to God which in Israelite religion was unbreakable. He promised to sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house (thinking of an animal) to meet him, and it happened to be his only child - his 12 year old daughter. Both Jephthah and his daughter were grieved but both knew that obedience to God is what he wanted (1 Samuel 15:22), and they both knew that Gods will with respect to the way He ordained things was more important than mans desire. This is therefore neither unfair, nor cruel, nor does it make God condoning or endorsing human sacrifice (as if He wants and enjoys this; oaths to God today do not obligate the Christian the way they did the ancient Israelite - see Galatians 3:2,22). Some might think that Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter literally but the burnt offering of his daughter was dedicating her in the service to God - i.e. a girl that served the priesthood for life, and the sadness was that she was his only child who would thus remain unmarried and a virgin and end his line. This doesnt really explain why the girl was so grieved - was she really that grieved for 2 months with her friends in the hills just because she had to become an unmarried servant to the priesthood for life (Judges 11:37-38)? Was it really that great of a tragedy for all Israelite women to go out each year to commemorate it for four days (Judges 11:39b-40)? Neither does this explain why her father would be so grieved (whereas see John the Baptists or Samuels parents - even though he had kids, his parents visited him and werent totally sad but happy they at least had the child), nor why the author of Judges 11 would not explain this deviation of a burnt offering. Overall, this thesis should be rejected. Judges 13 Judges 13:22 • Can God be seen without dying and has anyone seen Him? Since Manoah and his wife, Samsons parents, did not die, this is cited as a contradiction, as contradicting the verses of the Old and New Testament that say that if anyone sees God he will die, and that no one has seen God. The fact is, however, that whereas it is true that no one has seen God, seeing God in the Old Testament does not denote actually seeing God, but is usually a metaphor for seeing, usually, an angel, or some other message God directly sent (for example the burning bush Moses saw, he said later on, he saw God, yet is a burning bush God?). This is most likely a visit by an angel, although its not impossible that a projection of God was seen, as in the case of Moses and Adam and Eve. As far as those who saw God dying, there certainly were exceptions as the case of Moses shows where it is clearly noted he saw God face to face and did not die, but this exception is not problematic if God is seen through an angel or some other message of clearly divine origin. In this case, the text may reflect a common Hebrew misunderstanding, but certainly reinforces the fact that seeing God was an expression for seeing a messenger/image of God. Judges 14 Judges 14:15-17 • Samsons wife cried the whole seven days of the feast? How could Samsons wife have cried all of the seven days of the feast in Judges 14:17 when she asked him to tell her the answer only on the fourth day (Judges 14:15 - some manuscripts have instead of fourth, the seventh day that she asked him! But that is clearly a copyist error and the fourth day is most likely the original reading)? The phrase, she cried the whole seven days of the feast... is clearly an expression denoting the rest of the seven days of the feast. Certainly if the author of Judges was educated enough to write, he would have been educated enough to count, and hardly would he forget 2 verses later that he said that Samsons wife asked him on the fourth day of the feast, so he was clearly using an expression not meant to be taken literally. We can see the same situation in Joshua 6:12-15 where the text says, Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding. So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. (NIV) The expression in Joshua 6:14 is the same as Judges 14:17 and clearly the rest of the seven days of the feast are meant in Judges 14:17 the same way the rest of the six days are meant in Joshua 6:14. Judges 19 Judges 19:11-12 • When was Jerusalem captured? See Judges 1:8. Judges 20 Judges 20:18-25 • Did God lie to the men of Judah and Israel here? In Judges 20:18-25 11 of the 12 tribes of Israel have gathered together to fight and bring justice to the rebellious tribe of Benjamin for not giving up criminals that raped and killed a certain Levites wife (Judges 19). When they ask God who should go first, God tells them in Judges 20:18 Judah. However, the Benjamites kill 22,000 of Judah and the Israelites do not win! Then again, in Judges 20:23 the Israelites ask if they should go up against Benjamin another time and God says yes. And another 18,000 are killed! Did God lie here? The answer is No! God told the men of Judah and Israel to go twice and be defeated which resulted in the Benjamites to become overconfident leading to their eventual defeat (Judges 20:26-48). Usually when God pronounces these kinds of defeats, he deals death on the unrighteous. So of the 22,000 Judahites and 18,000 other Israelites who died, most if not all were probably sinful and worthy of justice in their own time. This is supported by the fact that in Judges 20:26 the Israelites fast and so perhaps they realized that many of them had sinned, bringing judgment upon them. Furthermore, God did not lie: he only said for Judah to come up and then for the Israelites to come up one more time before He finally told them, on the third time (Judges 20:28) that they will defeat the Benjamites. The lesson: do not think you can be sinful and safe just because youre on the side that has the righteous and just cause. 1 Samuel 1 Samuel 2 1 Samuel 2:35 • Was Samuels house sure and did his sons walk before Gods anointed one forever? The word house here can denote the priestly office which is how it was written by the NIV translators. It might refer to the fact that Samuel did not die and his descendants flourished, despite not being right with the Lord. And the word forever means from the literal translation in Hebrew all days or to the end of Samuels days; indeed Samuel was faithful to the Lord until the day of his death. Alternatively, its possible that forever here means the office of the priesthood, which certainly will serve God forever as Christ became the last High Priest (Hebrews 4:14, 5:10). 1 Samuel 7 1 Samuel 7:2 • How long was the Ark at Kiriath-Jearim? The Ark was brought to Kiriath-Jearim before Saul was made king and taken from there shortly after David was crowned. Saul reigned 42 years. How then could the Ark have been at Kiriath-Jearim 20 years? There are two simple answers: either Sauls reign was not 42 years but 2 years as many manuscripts have. Also, the Ark could have been moved at various times without acknowledgement of this in Scripture (e.g. 1 Samuel 14:18 Saul takes the Ark with him to battle. Possibly at other times it was taken and it may have stayed somewhere else, or perhaps Saul did not return it to Kiriath-Jearim; also 2 Samuel 6:10-11). In summary, we can trust the biblical record especially since 1-2 Samuel (like 1-2 Kings and 1-2 Chronicles) had access to ancient, reliable, and authentic historical documents. 1 Samuel 10 1 Samuel 10:2 • Was Rachel buried on the road to Bethlehem (Genesis 35:19-20) or at Zelzah? On the road to Bethlehem is clearly not in Bethlehem. The place where she was buried may very well have been at Zelzah (whether this is a village or some kind of place archaeology does not yet know). This is also possible if Zelzah was a minor village/place and the more general location of Bethlehems vicinity, in other words on the road to Bethlehem, is how Genesis 35:19 chose to describe the location of the tomb, or if Zelzah didnt exist yet and on the road to Bethlehem is the best way the location could have been described in the time of Genesis composition. There is another possibility. The text says ...by Rachels tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. The word for by or near in Hebrew is im and the text is certainly talking about the location of Zelzah with respect to Rachels tomb, or else the fact that it was in Benjamin near its border (which is not where Bethlehem is) would n
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:37:41 +0000
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