Judge Not the Bible a Children's Book

Judge Not the Bible a Children’s Book 

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatau katoa 

Picture this – five great houses. And yes, they were called houses. But let’s change their names to colours that we all recognise – red, green, orange, yellow and blue. Each of these houses wanted dominance in the world and they would do anything to get it. They wanted their leader to be a king of a global empire.  

Over the course of history, each house would try to dominate through a trade of their children and contracts written up through marriage and the guarantee of a son. This often meant that children were not seen as gifts but as commodities to be traded for global dominance. Within each house, corruption was widespread. 

Affairs, acts of sexual depravity, underhanded trading and indulgence to excess were everyday occurrences. 

But as history rode the course of time, impatience settled into each house and each started to plan for a war that would throw the world into a deep and dark winter. The House of Red played the first card for dominance by creating a Treaty of alliance with the House of Green. But the real card was played by the House of Orange. A loyal group set out on behalf of Orange and killed the leader of the House of Green in a brutal slaying on a public street. It didn’t take long for the House of Red to come to Green’s protection. And the House of Blue saw an opportunity to destroy the House of Yellow in the chaos that ensued.  

And this chaos would last for more than one winter. And only one House would survive – the House of Blue but the empire of that house would no longer look to it as a monarch ruling a global world. Instead, the monarch became a touring piece and a thing for gossip and mystery. But the House of Blue had a deep and dark secret. Its cousins were the House of Red – the bad guys in the story. So, the House of Blue had to find a way to hide that secret away. 

This story is not one of a popular television series. This story is our history. This is the story of a war that people thought would end all wars. This is the story of the first world war. The House of Blue. The House that would win, was the House of Saxon-Coberg and Gotha. But after the war, they changed their name to the House of Windsor because it sounds more English than the German Saxon-Coberg and Gotha. 

In the history of the Christianity, the First World War serves as a very valuable lesson. It shows us, humanity, in a brutal reality when we forget our true King God and we put ourselves in his place. War settles in. Not the war of children’s books, not the war of movies and television series. But the brutal reality of blood, broken bodies and the tears of grieving families. This hit my family earlier this year when we found a set of postcards kept by my grandfather. Four sons, one sister not pictured, a father and a mother waiting in Aussie for them to come home. Only one returned. And each card sent to a friend of my family tells of another never to be seen again. War settles in; chaos settles in when we try to take God out of the picture. 

What grieves me is this. As a Christian and as an academic, I am often asked, well to be honest, it is often demanded of me to give a response, to how our God, a God of love could allow the horrors of last century.  I get reminded that many wars, are wars of faith and religion. And I feel that if I don’t have a response then I am letting my God down. Now the easy response to last Century was that God was not in those wars. It is true that many Christians fought, many even objected, but the wars of last Century were not holy wars. They were wars of nations who wanted dominance, manmade technologies and scientific advancement.  

And it is no surprise, a famous philosopher Fredrich Nietzche declared in the late 1800s that God was dead. While we all agree here that God is very much alive, humanity with all its brains (or lack of them) and technology was set on a course of self-destruction. That is the story of our history and it remains the story of today. 

Our world is so broken, much of this I have spoken into before, we have the highest youth suicide rate in the world, which, within our country, is topped per capita by the suicide rate of our elderly people. We have horror statistics in sexual violence, child abuse and domestic violence. In our world, the space of Syria, where the first world war started, conflict continues. To be honest, the first world war for that nation never ended and its beginning stems back centuries. I can understand why the people are so broken. 

So when people come to me and ask – where is God in all this? You tell me, he is a God of love, but where is he? What does your Bible tell us about conflict, hate, violence, abuse, rape, suicide? Your holy book says nothing, they tell me. Your holy book is full of holes when it comes to understanding God and humanity. Maybe they are right, especially if I treat the stories of my Bible as Sunday School lessons for little children. Golden Books, like this, David and Goliath, where little David, a very Pakeha/European looking kid takes on Goliath who looks a little more mid-eastern, perhaps even more Jewish than David in the story.  David, whose clothes are perfectly clean and skin free from dust and dirt, kills Goliath without even drawing blood. There is no violence in this story. 

But our holy book is filled with stories of conflict. They are not there to teach us how to fight but to teach us about ourselves and our relationship with our God. They are there to show us in our brokenness. They are then to show us what happens when we shut God out of the picture and replace him with a superior belief in ourselves. 

So, when people come to me and ask – where is God in all this? I give them an answer rooted in a story of compassion and brokenness. I give them a response that shows how all of our brokenness points only to the need for the cross. I give them a response that acknowledges the power of our holy book to be used as mirror to our brokenness and a reflection of who we can become when we are in step with our creator.  

Like many of you, I love the Bible. But I must admit that I am a real nerd for the books we find in the Hebrew books. The part of the Bible that we call the Old Testament. I love it, because when we stop using it as a series of Sunday School stories we can begin to struggle with the stories of war, violence and the zealous God who remains the same today as he was yesterday and will be tomorrow. 

And one book that does this best is Judges. Judges has it all. It is full of war and violence of all kinds. If I want to know about the complexity of our relationship with our God in times of uncertainty; Judges is the place to go. It is probably the book that most of us would prefer to ignore – we see enough violence on the news at night so why choose to read about it in the Bible. Especially if it brings confusion into our understanding of who God is when God is ultimate and pure love. 

According to the commentary by Clinton McCann. Judges allows us to explore the following issues in a Biblical context: 

• Tension between rival groups 
• Land disputes 
• Uncertainty of gender roles 
• Power-crazy politicians/leaders 
• Abuse (domestic and child) 
• Senseless violence 
• Excessive self-interest 
• Moral confusion 
• Social chaos 

When I look at that list, I see society today. And I feel like we downplay the power of the Bible if we use Judges only for Sunday School stories or we ignore it and put it into the too hard-basket. In fact, Judges is my favourite book because it gives me four central lessons: 

1. Without a relationship with God we are broken 

2. We do not hold the solution to our brokenness no matter how good we are with our brains and with technology 

3. God is the solution 

4. God will hold on and wait for us to return even when we spiral more and more out of control 

The book of Judges is a deep and meaningful challenge to all of us. Believe it or not but Clinton McCann describes the challenge of Judges as a gospel challenge. The promise of the gospel for each of us is life – true beautiful ultimate life in a relationship with our creator. But, as in the garden, this relationship comes with an invitation, we must choose to accept life. The gospel truth is not imposed on us. It is given with open hands. We must take the gift of the gospel. When we don’t our actions of denial choose something else. This leads to death and destruction. You can choose life and you can choose death. Choose life or death – you can’t have both. 

The lesson of Judges for Israel and for the nations that Israel fought against in the promised land is painful one. In Chapter 2 verse 18-19 (DATA leave on until next highlight) 

Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. (Jdg 2:18-19) 

We can see this concept of a God of love amongst a broken people in these verses. We can also see the challenge of the people – are they prepared to walk in the life that God has determined for them. And if we were to look at the Hebrew translation all through these verses we would see that a concept of oppression is evident within words such as compassion, groaning, oppression and affliction. God desired to deliver them from their oppression. But then they turned back to it – in worse and worse ways. 

And this spiral of return is like a tornado, it is small at the bottom, but as it spirals round, the rings get wider and wider and wider. It is harder and harder for people to turn back to God. It is harder for people to trust God. In the end, God needs something else. But by the end of the book, the relationship between God and his people is so broken that only the bridge of the cross would ultimately allow for healing and that would start with David. 

Let us see this spiral in action. Here is the first judge – Othniel in Judges 3 verses 9 to 11. His story is told in a mere five verses and if you take the verses out on the corruption of Israel itself; you will find his story is really only two verses long. It is not enough to preach a sermon from and Bibles which give you character profiles will not cover lessons from his life. After all, aside from being the nephew of Caleb, what can we learn? Well there is a lesson, God called him and he acted. It is as simple as that. He did not need to test God, he did not doubt God, he did not need a woman doing what God called him to do. God called him, came upon him and Othniel acted. And then we see God’s desire, we do not serve a God of war. We do not serve a God that calls us to war. We serve a God of peace, because when God’s spirit is in relationship with his people, violence and depravity disappear: 

But when they cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, who saved them. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, so that he became Israel's judge and went to war. The LORD gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died. (Jdg 3:9-11) 

Then the next Judge Ehud use the gift of being left-handed to deceive and plunge a double-edged sword into the obese stomach of Eglon king of Moab. The story is graphic, and it is hard to garner spiritual truths, but the message is the same of Othniel, when the nation cries out from their oppression, God will act. But most of all the judges of this period, knew their God. They didn’t need persuading – they acted. The same story is evident for Shamgar, the third judge. 

And then in Chapter 4, we get to Deborah. Here we can begin to see that God is challenging gender stereotypes. Israel was a patriarchal world. Men were meant to lead it. In fact, if you read the story closely, Barak was meant to be doing the work of a judge. But he was too busy debating with Deborah as to the facts and even wanted her to accompany him.  There is no quick – Israel cries out for help, God calls a judge and He acts. We do have Israel crying out for help, but there is a domestic dispute going on between Barak and Deborah. In the end, Barak does act but another woman finishes the job with a tent peg. 

So here you can start to see the spiral of a close relationship between Israel and with each judge and God becomes more and more distant. Even when God sends his own angel to Gideon in Chapter 6, Gideon expresses doubt and asks for physical proof. The story is longer, yes. And, as such, many of us know the story of Gideon testing God with a fleece. But just because the story is longer doesn’t mean that Gideon had a better relationship with God than Othneil, Ehud and Shamgar. Rather what it demonstrates is how deeply broken the relationship between God and his people is getting. And this is not because of the choice of God, but the decision of his own people to not believe in the gospel message of life, peace and relationship. 

By the end of the story of Gideon, people are wanting a King. And we need to be clear here, they are not after a leader in a person. They want a King to worship. At this period of time, Kings were more than just an ambassador to a ruling god, they were the embodiment of the god of their nation. To call for a king is to call for a person to worship. It is no surprise, at the end of the story of Gideon and the beginning of the story of his tryant son Abimelech in chapter 9 that we learn that Gideon had another name – Jerub-Baal. This name means ‘Baal will contend’, even Gideon had lost his faith and Abimelech seized the moment to claim kingship, calling on the name of his father Jerub-Baal and murdering his 70 brothers so that he would have no competition.  

Abimelech would rule through terror. He was the Hitler of his time and God would come through, he would speak through people and, again, empower a woman to do the actions that others would be afraid to do at the end of Chapter 9.  

And all through Judges this cyclic theme continues. God desires his people to choose life, but they choose other gods. God allows his people to experience the results of their decision. After some time, they cry out, he delivers them out of love and compassion. After a while, they change their mind, and things get even worse. If this cycle started in Judges, no let’s get this earlier, if this is the cycle that started in the garden when Adam and Eve choose to be as a god rather than walk with God, and if this cycle gets wider and wider every time we as a people journey around it, then no wonder the world is so broken.  

And then we get to the last Judge, Samson. Samson is no Sunday school story. He starts dedicated to God. Again, thanks to a woman listening to God directly and a loving husband believing. It is a story of hope. In fact, all of Judges is a story of hope if you think about it. Any way, they give birth to a son – Samson. In Hebrew, his name means sunlight. In the darkness of this period of history, God would bring a new day. But Samson is a man driven by his hormones – physically and sexually. It is like you are reading a story of a teenager out of control. He is not like Gideon, a man who doubts God, but he is also not like the early judges, a man who trusts God. If anything he appears to manipulate God to get what he wants. But God twists the plot and Samson ends up doing God’s business and in response tells God – you owe me one now dude.  

Samson is the ultimate story of tragedy. And even in his death, he doesn’t see his true purpose as one chosen by God. He doesn’t ask God for vengeance on the Philistines for the oppression of God’s people or for the worship of false Gods. No, in Chapter 16, we still see the self-indulgence of Samson 

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." (Jdg 16:28) 

And the beauty of this story, is the one of love that is present. Samson was a broken man, just as many of us are broken here today, but even in his brokenness God loved him and was with him. No matter how far this world spirals out of control, God has not given up. God will not give up. 

The final chapters of Judges are sickening. We learn of a nation becoming more and more self-interested and less and less compassionate. We read of whole tribes turning away from God to follow the gods of the land. Just as we might come to church each Sunday just to feel better, feel accepted, relieve feelings of guilt, make some business contacts, or connect with friends. We see a people of God, using their chosen position to get want they want. It is no longer about a relationship with God. It is about God’s people taking what they want out of the relationship.  

We learn of one tribe, Dan, taking land that was not included in the promised land. They took it because they wanted it. The conquest for Dan was no longer about a limited and very small piece of land being set aside for the people of Israel. The conquest for Dan was about empire building, it was colonisation in contemporary sense. Nations taking land because they want it, killing indigenous peoples and making excuses – like this is God’s own gift for us. It is no surprise that in the book of Revelation, Dan is written out of the list of 12 tribes in Revelation 7:4-8. 

And then we finish the story of Judges in complete brokenness. We read of a Levite, a concubine, rape, murder and disembodiment. It is a case of domestic violence at its worse, God’s chosen one, a levite abusing his station, allowing for the abuse of a woman and killing her in response then cutting her up and sending her body parts throughout Israel. This leads to all out civil war. The tribe of Benjamin is reduced to 600 men. Regret settles in, but Benjamin no longer has enough women to procreate and other hapu, the other subtribes of Israel swore an oath that prohibited them to give their daughters in marriage to Benjamin. No longer are the people turning to God, they did as they saw fit, and to fix the problem that had a big party and invited some girls. 

This is the story of Judges; I don’t know if you see it now, but it is the story of our time. And the lessons are simple, if we as a people, only come to God when we need him, we will see the cycle of grief in our life. The things that are slightly broken will be replaced with destroyed and decimated realities. You see Judges is a reflection. God gives us a choice. We only tend to come to him when we need him. He responds because he doesn’t want us in the broken place we have created for ourselves. You can see it here in Judges 10:14-16 

Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!" But the Israelites said to the LORD, "We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now." Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel's misery no longer. (Jdg 10:14-16) 

So what does this mean. Well it means this, if you want to look at the reason for the brokenness today in this world – look to Judges. It tells you the simple answer – choose God, choose life or choose something else. But like many of the Hebrew books it is also a book that points to something. The only reason why Judges stops abruptly in verse 25 of Chapter 21… 

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit. (Jdg 21:25) 

… is because it wants to tell us something. There is hope. The circle can be broken. It will start with David. But it finishes on the cross. It finishes with God bearing our misery literally on his back. It finishes not in the sunlight of Samson, but in the light of his true son. And this is it, in order to understand our need for God and the actions of love beared strongly on the cross, we have to understand that first we are a broken people. I personally can only understand the events of the world today, through the story of Judges. I can only understand events that break people like colonisation, war, abuse and hate crimes, by seeing our brokenness. And I am so grateful that such books exist in the Bible. But most of all, like all good stories, I love how these books finish by leaving us hanging and, in that way, they point to the hope in the hanging Jesus on the cross who represents, through his resurrection, the opportunity for restoration. We don’t have to continue this cliff-hanger of a story, we can make the choice for life, and the choice for a relationship with God.  

No rei ra 

Tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa