Deuteronomy 7:10 But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Aren't we suppose to love those who hate us?
Deuteronomy 32:21-26 They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God;
They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols.
But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation;
I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.
For a fire is kindled in My anger,
And shall burn to the lowest hell;
It shall consume the earth with her increase,
And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
‘I will heap disasters on them;
I will spend My arrows on them.
They shall be wasted with hunger,
Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction;
I will also send against them the teeth of beasts,
With the poison of serpents of the dust.
The sword shall destroy outside;
There shall be terror within
For the young man and virgin,
The nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
I would have said, “I will dash them in pieces,
I will make the memory of them to cease from among men,”
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This applies to the young man, virgins, nursing children and old men.
Exodus 21:17 Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Do you think this is a bit extreme?
1 Corinthians 10:10 And do not complain, as some of them did — and were killed by the destroyer.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
In a previous reading we read that some were "Burnt to death by God for complaining." Is this what Paul was referring to here? If so, is he referring to God as "the destroyer?"
Deuteronomy 2:24-34 "Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you."
From the desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying, "Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot- as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us—until we cross the Jordan into the land the LORD our God is giving us." But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.
The LORD said to me, "See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land."
When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, the LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them — men, women and children. We left no survivors.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
I'm seeing a pattern here. God hardens the heart of someone then proceeds to punish them by killing them. Where is the justice in this?
[ Click here for other genocides ]
Jeremiah 13:12-14 "Say to them: 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.' And if they say to you, 'Don't we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?' then tell them, 'This is what the LORD says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. I will smash them one against the other, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.' "
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
The more I read these types of passages, the more I have to tell myself that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. He so loved the world. He so loved the world.
Genesis 6:17-23 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This story is one of the more popular Bible stories for children. If you really think about it, it's not a very good image to put into the minds of our children.
[Read the story of The Flood in The Brick Testament - An Illustrated Bible]
Numbers 25:1-9 While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the LORD's anger burned against them.
The LORD said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the LORD's fierce anger may turn away from Israel."
So Moses said to Israel's judges, "Each of you must put to death those of your men who have joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor.
Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and into the woman's body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Someone told me recently that we all deserve death. In other words, God was totally justified in all the killings since it's what we all deserve.
Please also see doc's comments on this blog entry.
1 Corinthians 11:3 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
LITERAL INTERPRETATION
1. Head of woman is man
2. Head of every man is Christ
3. Head of Christ is God
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This passage gives a hierarchy to the universe.
1. God
2. Christ
3. Man
4. Woman
I'm sure there are many women who won't appreciate being at the bottom of the totem pole.
Matthew 5:32b ...and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.
(See also Matthew 19:9)
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
If your wife was previously divorced, you're in a perpetual state of adultery.
I'm not sure what to recommend to those in this situation. Please don't attempt to divorce your wife to free yourself from this sin. We'll show later that God hates divorce (which could be also considered a sin). This is truly being between a rock and a hard place.
Joshua 11:19-20 No one in this region made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites of Gibeon. All the others were defeated. For the Lord hardened their hearts and caused them to fight the Israelites. So they were completely destroyed without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
How can the genocide be justified when it was God who "hardened their hearts and caused them to fight the Israelites" in the first place?
2 Chronicles 25:12 Also the children of Judah took captive ten thousand alive, brought them to the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, so that they all were dashed in pieces.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Of course this does not specifically state that God commanded the children of Judah to commit these violent acts. However, earlier in the chapter, it does state that Amaziah, who was leading Judah's efforts here, "did what was right in the sight of the Lord." This is one of the verses from the Old Testament I try not to meditate on.
Matthew 5:29-30 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
1. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out
2. If your hands cause you to sin, cut it off
Of course, if you read this as a principle, it can be applied to any body part. Guys, please be careful.
Judges 9:22-23 After Abimelech had governed Israel three years, God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, who acted treacherously against Abimelech.
See also 1 Samuel 18:10 & story of Job
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Many modern day Christians believe this concept, which has several Old Testament references and even demonstrated through the life of Judas in the New Testament, is not in the character of God.
Joshua 7:19-26 Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me."
Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."
So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the LORD.
Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today."
Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
I continue to be a amazed as to how much God is like a man and subject to the same emotions as man. In this story, Achan took some of the loot that normally goes into the "treasury of the LORD's house" for himself. God gets angry so he allows 36 Israelites to be killed in the next battle. To appease God, the perpetrator and his entire family were stoned and burned.
Numbers 24:8 “God brings him out of Egypt;
He has strength like a wild ox;
He shall consume the nations, his enemies;
He shall break their bones
And pierce them with his arrows.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
KJV says unicorn instead of wild ox. Great image, eh?
Jeremiah 5:6 Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them,
A wolf of the deserts shall destroy them;
A leopard will watch over their cities.
Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces,
Because their transgressions are many;
Their backslidings have increased.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
In case you're wondering, God does use animals to fulfill his plans.
Numbers 21:32-35 After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there. Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei.
The LORD said to Moses, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you, with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon."
So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
There were no such thing as "Prisoners of War" in these days.
1 Samuel 14:13-14 And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them. That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about half an acre of land.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Not bad for a first slaughter.
Exodus 19:12-13 Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. He shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on him. Whether man or animal, he shall not be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.”
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
I have to admit when I stared the blog I did not expect to make it through January without running out of scriptures to post. Boy was I wrong.
2 Kings 1:9-12 Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, "Man of God, the king says, 'Come down!' " Elijah answered the captain, "If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men. At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, "Man of God, this is what the king says, 'Come down at once!' " "If I am a man of God," Elijah replied, "may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Couldn't Elijah use a more humane sign to prove that he's a man of God?
Genesis 38:13-18,24 When Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep," she took off her widow's clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.
When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, "Come now, let me sleep with you."
"And what will you give me to sleep with you?" she asked.
"I'll send you a young goat from my flock," he said.
"Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?" she asked. He said, "What pledge should I give you?"
"Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand," she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.
..About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant."
Judah said, "Bring her out and have her burned to death!"
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Don't you find it interesting that the very man who slept with Tamar thinking she's a prostitute is calling for her to be burnt to death because she was guilty of prostitution? Don't you find that a bit hypocritical?
Deuteronomy 23:3-4 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever, because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
I'm sure they had to have done a lot more than what this verse mentions in order to have an almost lifetime ban from being a part of the congregation.
1 Samuel 19:23-24 So [Saul] went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Earlier we read that God instructed Isaiah to walk naked and barefoot for 3 years. Here we see Saul prophesying naked before Samuel than laying naked all that day and night.
Can you imagine if any of this happened today? We'd be confined to a mental asylum.
Deuteronomy 23:2 One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
In other words, if a child is born illegitimately, they are excluded from being a part of the congregation. Not only that but also all their descendants for 10 generations.
I do wonder who kept track of this data.
Judges 14:19 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. He went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
At least in the New Testament era, when the Spirit of the Lord comes on people in power, they speak in tongues and prophecy. Much better.
Genesis 38:6-10 Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD killed him. And Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother.” But Onan knew that the heir would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother’s wife, that he spilled his semen on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD; therefore He killed him also.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Er was killed for being wicked. Onan was killed for ejaculating on the ground instead of inside his slaughtered brother's wife.
These readings are definitely for mature adults. Please do not read these scriptures to your children tonight.
1 Samuel 27:8-9,11 Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these peoples had lived in the land extending to Shur and Egypt.) Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then he returned to Achish... He did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he thought, "They might inform on us and say, 'This is what David did.' " And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Earlier we read that Saul was instructed by God to totally destroy the Amalekites. However, Saul spared the life of the King and the best of the livestock. This caused God to regret making Saul King of Israel. Samuel had to personally kill the King of the Amalekites to complete the destruction of this people. However, in the above passage, the next King of Israel, David, kills off the Amalekites once again. You would think after being utterly destroyed twice, it would be the end of the Amalekites. However, in 1 Samuel 30 (while David was still King), the Amalekites invaded Israel once again. Resilient bunch, these Amalekites.
RELATED READINGS
- Genocide of the Amalekites
Deuteronomy 23:10 If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This must make for some very interesting conversations "outside the camp."
Genesis 3:16 To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
I wonder what the statement "you desire will be your your husband" means and why it's a curse?
Psalms 137:8-9 O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed,
Happy is the one who repays you as you have served us!
Happy is the one who takes and dashes
Your little ones against the rock!
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Some of my favorite verses in the Bible are:
Happy are those who are gentle and humble.
Happy are those who are hungry and thirsty for justice.
Happy are those who are merciful.
Happy are those whose hearts are pure.
Happy are those who work for peace.
These verses are distinctively different than our reading for today.
Genesis 35:5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
There's something unsettling about the phrase "the terror of God."
Numbers 1:51 Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall do it. Anyone else who goes near it shall be put to death.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Other translations say "stranger" or "layman" or "outsider." However, it does seem as if it applies to anyone who is not a Levite.
Judges 16:25-30 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, "Bring out Samson to entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
When they stood him among the pillars, Samson said to the servant who held his hand, "Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them." Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Have you ever stopped to consider that this children story had Samson committing suicide?
Judges 7:20-22a,8:10 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!" While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled. When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.
Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This is a bit confusing but I think I got this right. Let me know if I didn't.
Joshua 15:16-17 And Caleb said, "I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher." Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
It's a good thing marrying your cousin wasn't a big deal back in these times.
Judges 19:22-29 While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him."
The owner of the house went outside and said to them, "No, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this disgraceful thing. Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don't do such a disgraceful thing."
But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.
When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, "Get up; let's go." But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.
When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Wow! This is definitely X-Rated stuff. Doesn't this sound very similar to the Lot story?
Judges 18:27 Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a peaceful and unsuspecting people. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
For what were the people of Laish being judged?
1 Samuel 22:18-19 The king then ordered Doeg, "You turn and strike down the priests." So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down. That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. 19 He also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Thank goodness they had no goats.
1 Samuel 2:5 If a man sins against another man, God may mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?" His sons, however, did not listen to their father's rebuke, for it was the LORD's will to put them to death.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
God "may" mediate. I wonder what criteria God uses to make this decision.
Judges 8:6-7 But the officials of Succoth said, "Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?" Then Gideon replied, "Just for that, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers."
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Nice guy, that Gideon.
Judges 20:40-46 But when the column of smoke began to rise from the city, the Benjamites turned and saw the smoke of the whole city going up into the sky. Then the men of Israel turned on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified, because they realized that disaster had come upon them. So they fled before the Israelites in the direction of the desert, but they could not escape the battle. And the men of Israel who came out of the towns cut them down there. They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them and easily overran them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east. Eighteen thousand Benjamites fell, all of them valiant fighters. As they turned and fled toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon, the Israelites cut down five thousand men along the roads. They kept pressing after the Benjamites as far as Gidom and struck down two thousand more.
On that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This is all within the family. Imagine if this was the real enemy.
Judges 21:1-14 The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: "Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite."
The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. "O LORD, the God of Israel," they cried, "why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?"
Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.
Then the Israelites asked, "Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the LORD ?" For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah should certainly be put to death.
Now the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjamites. "Today one tribe is cut off from Israel," they said. "How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?" Then they asked, "Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah?" They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.
So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children. "This is what you are to do," they said. "Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin." They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.
Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon. So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This breaks down the theory that God kills everyone (including babies) to keep evil from spreading.
Judges 20:27-25 And the Israelites inquired of the LORD. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there, with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, ministering before it.) They asked, "Shall we go up again to battle with Benjamin our brother, or not?"
The LORD responded, "Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands."
Then Israel set an ambush around Gibeah. They went up against the Benjamites on the third day and took up positions against Gibeah as they had done before. The Benjamites came out to meet them and were drawn away from the city. They began to inflict casualties on the Israelites as before, so that about thirty men fell in the open field and on the roads—the one leading to Bethel and the other to Gibeah.
While the Benjamites were saying, "We are defeating them as before," the Israelites were saying, "Let's retreat and draw them away from the city to the roads."
All the men of Israel moved from their places and took up positions at Baal Tamar, and the Israelite ambush charged out of its place on the west of Gibeah. Then ten thousand of Israel's finest men made a frontal attack on Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that the Benjamites did not realize how near disaster was. The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel, and on that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
After allowing 40,000 Israelites to be killed by the Benjamites even though God directed the Israelites to fight, God finally defeats the Benjamites.
1 Samuel 18:6-7 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang:
"Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands."
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Was this a competition? Would you consider these "joyful songs?"
Judges 20:23-25 The Israelites went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and they inquired of the LORD. They said, "Shall we go up again to battle against the Benjamites, our brothers?"
The LORD answered, "Go up against them."
Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day. This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of them armed with swords.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
I'm confused.
Judges 20:17-21 Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fighting men.
The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, "Who of us shall go first to fight against the Benjamites?"
The LORD replied, "Judah shall go first."
The next morning the Israelites got up and pitched camp near Gibeah. The men of Israel went out to fight the Benjamites and took up battle positions against them at Gibeah. The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Who are the good guys here?
Judges 15:4-5 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Anyone else feel sorry for the foxes?
Judges 15:14-17 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
Then Samson said,
"With a donkey's jawbone
I have made donkeys of them.
With a donkey's jawbone
I have killed a thousand men."
When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
What a poet!
1 Samuel 28:8-12 So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. "Consult a spirit for me," he said, "and bring up for me the one I name."
But the woman said to him, "Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?"
Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As surely as the LORD lives, you will not be punished for this."
Then the woman asked, "Whom shall I bring up for you?"
"Bring up Samuel," he said.
When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!"
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This is one of the weirder stories of the Bible
1 Samuel 18:25-27 Saul replied, "Say to David, 'The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.' " Saul's plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king's son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented the full number to the king so that he might become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
David only needed to kill 100 Philistines in order to purchase his wife. I guess he was feeling a bit generous, so he killed 200 instead.
1 Samuel 17:45-51a David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands."
As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine's sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Have you ever considered that one of our children's favorite Bible story includes a guy getting his head chopped off?
Judges 9:5 Abimelech went to his father's home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, escaped by hiding.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
That's a lot of brothers.
Numbers 12:1,9-15 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman).
So the anger of the LORD burned against them and He departed. But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous.
Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. “Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!”
Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!”
But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.”
So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
1. Mariam and Aaron spoke against Moses however only Mariam got leprosy. Why?
2. What did Aaron mean by “do not account this sin to us.” He didn’t receive any punishment.
3. If a father spit on his daughter’s face, does she really bare shame for 7 days?
Deuteronomy 6:13-15 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Is jealousy an attribute we can attribute to God?
1 Corinthians 14:34-35 Let women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
1. Women are to keep silent in church
2. Women are not permitted to speak [in church]
3. Women should instead be submissive
4. If a woman wants to learn something [in church], they should not ask the question there but wait until they get home and ask their husband
5. It is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
When it comes to following verses from the Old Testament, the argument can be made that we are now under the "New Covenant" (even though that would then also make the 10 Commandments null and void). However, this is a scripture located in the New Testament that we totally ignore every Sunday.
1 Samuel 2:31-33 The time is coming when I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your family line and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, in your family line there will never be an old man. Every one of you that I do not cut off from my altar will be spared only to blind your eyes with tears and to grieve your heart, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
No plans to prosper them and not to harm them here.
Judges 21:15-23 The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a gap in the tribes of Israel. And the elders of the assembly said, "With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left? The Benjamite survivors must have heirs," they said, "so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. We can't give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: 'Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.' But look, there is the annual festival of the LORD in Shiloh, to the north of Bethel, and east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and to the south of Lebonah."
So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, "Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, 'Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.' "
So that is what the Benjamites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This is in addition to the 400 virgins spared from a previous conquest and given to the Benjamites as wives. It's a good thing that 50,100 Benjamites men were killed by God in the previous chapter or they would need a lot more women.
Micah 2:1-3 Woe to those who devise iniquity and work out evil on their beds! At morning light they practice it because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and take them by violence, also houses, and seize them. So they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. Therefore thus says the LORD: “ Behold, against this family I am devising evil, from which you cannot save yourselves; Nor shall you walk proudly, for it will be a time of evil.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
We have to remember that God sets the rules and those rules set for man does not necessarily apply to him. This passage proves just this point. It is "woe to those who devise iniquity and work out evil." However, at the same time, God was "devising evil" against them as a response.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
I wonder how many of us would be alive today if our parents obeyed this verse.
Lamentations 2:2 Without pity the Lord has swallowed up
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
the strongholds of the Daughter of Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the ground in dishonor.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Without pity?
Judges 3:15-22 Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.
He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way the men who had carried it. At the idols near Gilgal he himself turned back and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king." The king said, "Quiet!" And all his attendants left him.
Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his summer palace and said, "I have a message from God for you." As the king rose from his seat, Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Skip this one if you read the Bible to your children.
Judges 4:17-23 Sisera, however, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there were friendly relations between Jabin king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite.
Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, "Come, my Lord , come right in. Don't be afraid." So he entered her tent, and she put a covering over him. "I'm thirsty," he said. "Please give me some water." She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.
"Stand in the doorway of the tent," he told her. "If someone comes by and asks you, 'Is anyone here?' say 'No.' "
But Jael, Heber's wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. "Come," she said, "I will show you the man you're looking for." So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple-dead.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Judges is quite the graphically violent book so far.
Deuteronomy 4:25-26 After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God and provoking him to anger, I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
God can be provoked to anger and you will "quickly perish" and "certainly be destroyed."
Judges 7:25 They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
I think I would have preferred to take their word that these leaders were dead
Judges 4:14-16 Then Deborah said to Barak, "Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?" So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by ten thousand men. 15 At Barak's advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot. 16 But Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. All the troops of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Interesting how the Lord = Barak and his 10,000 men.
Judges 3:31 After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Wikipedia says that an oxgoad is "a formidable weapon sometimes ten feet long."
Judges 3:28-30 "Follow me," he ordered, "for the LORD has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands." So they followed him down and, taking possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab, they allowed no one to cross over. At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not a man escaped. That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This is in addition to the 10,000 killed in Chapter 1.
1 Samuel 2:6 “The LORD kills and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and brings up.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
At least God's a balanced God.
1 Kings 2:24-25 Now therefore, as the LORD lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established a house[a] for me, as He promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today!” So King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he struck him down, and he died.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Solomon is famous for being a wise man.
Judges 1:19 The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Why were the men of Judah not able to drive out the people from the plains with iron chariots if the Lord was with them?
Judges 1:6 Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
A bit violent don't you think?
Judges 1:4-5 When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek. It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
At least there were no women and children killed here.
Joshua 24:19-20 Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you."
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Sometimes it gets confusing if God is good and holy or jealous, unforgiving, and a terrorist.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death."
You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD ?" If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Care to start compiling the list of preachers that should be put to death?
Deuteronomy 17:12 The man who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the LORD your God must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This helps those pastors who are also control freaks!
Joshua 6:20-21 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
I still can't comprehend God directing the killing of babies. BTW, Rehab and her family were spared.
Deuteronomy 9:3 But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a consuming fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD has promised you.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
God is a consuming fire is a much quoted attribute of God. However, do we think of it in terms of destruction and annihilation of people?
Numbers 19:1-10 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: "This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.
While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and offal. The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.
After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.
"A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They shall be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the aliens living among them.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
The Bible has many of these strange rituals. Why does an omnipotent, omniscient, infinite God need these types of rituals to interact with his creation?
Numbers 21:4-9 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"
Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
If this story was in any other religious book than the Bible, we would think it very cultic.
Numbers 14:36-37 So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it- these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
The bad report:
Number 13:26-29,31-33 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan."
But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."
1 Timothy 5:14 Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach;
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Younger widows: Get married, bear children, and keep house!
John 6:53-60,66 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
..From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Put yourself in the shoes of these disciples. Would you leave also?
Happy Easter!
Leviticus 24:10-16,23 Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) They put him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.
Then the LORD said to Moses: "Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites: 'If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.
Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the LORD commanded Moses.
Leviticus 24:19-20 If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This is one of the laws Jesus modified. Can you imagine being in charge of enforcing this law?
Leviticus 25:44-46 Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may acquire slaves. You may also acquire some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Why was God ever pro-slavery?
Exodus 35:1-3 Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, "These are the things the LORD has commanded you to do: For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death. Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day."
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Why does it seem like "death" is always the punishment from a loving God?
Exodus:12:29-30 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Previously we read that God hardened Pharaoh's heart then threatens to kill his firstborn son. Here we see God carrying out the threat. However, he not only killed Pharaoh's firstborn son, he killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt. To add to it, he also killed the firstborn of all the livestock.
Wait a minute! Exodus 9:6 states "And the next day the LORD did it: All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died." If God already killed all the livestock, how were there firstborn livestock?
Genesis 22:1-3 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.
Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Countless sermons have been preached on this story demonstrating Abraham's "faith" in God. However, think about the reality of this story and its implications. I've read stories about parents killing their children because they claim God told them to do so. It would have been nice to say "God would NEVER say such a thing" but this story negates that.
Exodus 4:21-23 The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, "Let my son go, so he may worship me." But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.' "
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Should Pharaoh be held accountable for something God is forcing him to do?
Deuteronomy 22:28-29 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Ok. Put yourself in this girls shoes. She's raped. Now her father gets 50 shekels of silver and she has to marry her rapist. Does this sound like a good deal for this victim?
Deuteronomy 22:23-24 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man's wife. You must purge the evil from among you.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Isn't this a classic case of further victimizing a victim?
Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Everything? Honey.......
Acts 12:21-23 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This sounds very "Old Testament."
Deuteronomy 32:39-42 "See now that I myself am He!
There is no god besides me.
I kill and I bring to life,
I wound and I heal,
and no one can deliver out of my hand.
I lift my hand to heaven and declare:
As surely as I live forever,
when I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand grasps it in judgment,
I will take vengeance on my enemies
and repay those who hate me.
I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
while my sword devours flesh,
the blood of the slain and the captives,
and the heads of the enemy leaders."
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
I have to keep telling myself - God is a loving God.
Psalm 9:1-7 I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
My enemies turn back;
they stumble and perish before you.
For you have upheld my right and my cause;
you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.
You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy,
you have uprooted their cities;
even the memory of them has perished.
The LORD reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Can you imagine singing this song?
Psalms 2:8-9 Ask of me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
You will rule them with an iron scepter;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery."
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
What do you think it meant to the original readers that they would receive the nations as their inheritance? Slavery?
Why would we want to rule the nations with an iron scepter and why would we want to dash them to pieces?
Judges 12:4-6 Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, "You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh." The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead asked him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he replied, "No," they said, "All right, say 'Shibboleth.' " He said, "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Not a very scientific test, was it?
Deuteronomy 7:1-4 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you- and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
"... then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy."
Numbers 16:41-50 The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the LORD’s people,” they said. But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared. Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and the LORD said to Moses, “Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” And they fell facedown.
Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has started.” So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, for the plague had stopped.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Our last reading, God kills 250+ with an earthquake and fire, God killed Korah and a little over 250 others. The Israelite community, a bit appalled by this action, grumbled to Moses and Aaron. Well, to judge them for this, God killed 14,700 of them and would have killed more had Aaron not “offered incense and made atonement for them.”
Numbers 16:1-3,16-21, Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD's assembly?"
... Moses said to Korah, "You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it—250 censers in all—and present it before the LORD. You and Aaron are to present your censers also." So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the entire assembly. The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once."
...As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, "The earth is going to swallow us too!"
And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
More on this tomorrow.Exodus 34:19-20 “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
1. Why does a firstborn donkey need redeeming with a lamb?
Exodus 12: 12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.”
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
I’ve always wondered who these “other gods” were that were consistently referenced in the Old Testament. The references seem to affirm the existence of the these gods (as real) but God is greater.
Were the gods of Egypt real so that God will have to bring judgment against them?
I know the argument can be made here that Pharaoh was the one referred to as god but this doesn't explain all the other references throughout the O.T. referencing these gods.
Leviticus 26:27-39 ” ‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.
” ‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their fathers’ sins they will waste away.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This is the third and final installment on Leviticus 26 where God lists out judgments for those who “fail to carry out all [his] commands.” (Here’s a list of some of God’s commands). “
Here are the previous installments:
In other words, so far we have 16 judgments.
Let’s pick up with these verses:
Then comes my favorite line: ” ‘As for those of you who are left…”
Here’s the final list:
In total there are 32 of these. I should mention that there are a few blessings for those who obey.
Number 3:1-4 Now these are the records of the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. These then are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests.
But Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered strange fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Can someone help me understand what “strange fire” is? The NIV uses “unauthorized fire.”
Leviticus 26:18-26 ” ‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit.
” ‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.
” ‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. And I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This reading is the second installment of a previous reading “God will bring sudden terror and diseases on you.”
God continues to list out judgments for not obeying his commands including:
more to come….
Exodus 30:30-38 “Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. Say to the Israelites, ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come. Do not pour it on men’s bodies and do not make any oil with the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred. Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from his people.’ “
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha and galbanum—and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts, and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted and pure and sacred. Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to the LORD. Whoever makes any like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from his people.”
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This is one of those issues that you say “surely, God is bigger than this.” Why the constant threat of exile?
Leviticus 26:14-17 " 'But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
If you do not obey God's commands, here's what will happen to you:
Exodus 30:17-21 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base of bronze, for washing; and you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.
Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it; When they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they will not die; or when they approach the altar to minister, by offering up in smoke a fire sacrifice to the LORD. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they will not die; and it shall be a perpetual statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations."
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
.... so that they will not die.
2 Samuel 24:1-17 Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go and take a census of Israel and Judah."
So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, "Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are." But Joab replied to the king, "May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?"
The king's word, however, overruled Joab and the army commanders; so they left the presence of the king to enroll the fighting men of Israel.
After crossing the Jordan, they camped near Aroer, south of the town in the gorge, and then went through Gad and on to Jazer. They went to Gilead and the region of Tahtim Hodshi, and on to Dan Jaan and around toward Sidon. Then they went toward the fortress of Tyre and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to Beersheba in the Negev of Judah.
After they had gone through the entire land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. Joab reported the number of the fighting men to the king: In Israel there were eight hundred thousand able-bodied men who could handle a sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand.
David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing."
Before David got up the next morning, the word of the LORD had come to Gad the prophet, David's seer: "Go and tell David, 'This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.' "
So Gad went to David and said to him, "Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me."
David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men."
So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD, "I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family."
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
1. God was angry at Israel so he incited David to take a census
2. David decides to take a census of the fighting men
3. God punishes David by sending a plague on Israel killing 70,000 of the people
4. This was accomplished by an "angel who was afflicting the people"
5. When this angel was about to destroy Jerusalem, God decides to cease the killing
I need some help in grasping this one. Was God just looking for an excuse to kill the people because he was angry with them so he incited David to take a census? What was so wrong with taking a census? Did David disobey God by only counting the "fighting men."? Why are there angels killing people?
2 Chronicles 7:1-5 Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying,
"He is good;
his love endures forever."
Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Can you imagine the scene here with the killing of 142,000 head of cattle, sheep, and goats? The screams, the pain, and the blood would be overwhelming.
As I said in a previous blog, if I was God and had the ability to make the rules, I would not make a rule that required this much pain and suffering to animals. I would have been happy with Cain's sacrifice of the fruits of the soil.
Exodus 21:7-11 And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
If you're this young lady, here's your fate:
1) You are sold by your father as a slave
2) If you do not please your master, you must be redeemed
3) You cannot be sold to foreigners
4) If you're selected to marry your master's son, you become a daughter
5) If your husband then marries another you cannot be deprived of your marital rights
6) However, if you are deprived of these, you must go free
Two opportunies for freedom. Not bad.
Genesis 11:1-9 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
I have to be honest with you, this scripture does not sound any different that the many stories about the gods written over time. We refer to those stories as myths but this as reality.
Here are my questions?
1) Do you really believe that man could have built a tower into the heavens? This isn't even possible today with our advanced technologies.
2) Do you really believe that there nothing that would be impossible for man to accomplish if we were as one? Aren't we finite beings with limitations?
3) Do you really believe that the infinite, omnipotent, omniscient creator of the universe was threatened by humans so he had to come down and intervene?
This account does sound like a mythical story to explain why we have different languages and cultures. If this was written in any other book than the Bible, we would laugh at it as absurd.
Exodus 15:26 He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
This is a favorite verse of the Pentecostal/Charismatic community. It's used to preach the value of listening to the word, paying attention to the word and obeying the word as it pertains to receiving one's healing. "I am the Lord who heals you" is a much used quote.
However, did you notice the threat? In other words, if you do not do as God wants, he will send diseases on you as he brought on the Egyptians. Is it God who sends diseases on people?
