Judges

Now we are to Judges. Judges ran by pretty quickly because it is a book basically of a compilation of stories about Israel in their new land. My overall feeling after reading it was just sadness. I actually started to see God fulfill some of the curses He promised in Deuteronomy 28. Basically what happens is that Israel forsakes God, they do what they want, then God, because of His jealousy for their love and loyalty, gives them over to the nations around them. Then, when they cry out for help, God provides someone to save them from their enemies. They have short memories though and immediately forget what God did for them, and the process repeats itself.

This is where that remembering God's greatness thing comes back in. There is a new step in the process- the people forget. God has given them all these reminders of His glory. So when the people forget, they turn from God, and He punishes them. It flows right in with His jealousy for them and His passion for His own name to be glorified.

The power of the Holy Spirit shows up in a bold way in this book. Men do some amazing things when the Spirit of God comes upon them. Othneil defeated the Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia in battle (3:10); weak, scared Gideon led an army of 300 to victory over one of 135,000; Jephthah made his awful vow right when the Spirit of the Lord came on him (11:29-40); Samson tears a lion apart with his bare hands, kills 30 men and steals their clothes, tears ropes of that bound him and makes bonds melt off his hands. Jephthah brings up something interesting because obviously it is not a good thing that he kills his own daughter. But the Spirit of the Lord was on him when he made the vow. The way it's worded makes it look like the Spirit of the Lord was the cause for him making this vow. Very interesting.

Two times in this book people see God (the angel of the Lord) and their first reaction if fear that they are about to die. Gideon in 6:22-23 and Manoah and his wife (Samson's parents) in 13:21-22. The glory of God produces extreme fear in the people who see it.

Just another note, six times in Judges God or one of the people reminds the Israelites of God's greatness and faithfulness by saving them in Egypt and going before them in the conquest.

Now to Ruth...

P.S. If anyone has any knowledge of this would you enlighten me and anyone else reading? I don't know what the deal is with "the angel of the Lord." When he is mentioned people say they have seen God. Are they interchangeable? Are the people just confused and thought the angel was God? Is the angel of the Lord Jesus? What is the deal here, because I can't figure it out from the English text.