Category Archives: Section Three

Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 11

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My bias that—He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked[1]—prophesies Jesus’ return to earth to preach the Gospel effectively (as opposed to executing people for a thousand years) led me to investigate just who the wicked are.  I found a succinct definition of wicked sinners as those who would not Stop trusting in human beings, whose life’s breath is in their nostrils.[2]  Isaiah’s prophecy about the life these wicked sinners lead continued (Isaiah 3:12-15)

NET

 NETS

Tanakh
Oppressors treat my people cruelly, creditors rule over them.  My people’s leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions. O my people, your extractors strip you clean, and your creditors lord it over you. O my people, those who congratulate you mislead you and confuse the path of your feet. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) takes his position to judge; he stands up to pass sentence on his people.   But now the Lord will stand up to judge, and he will make his people stand to judge them. The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.
The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) comes to pronounce judgment on the leaders of his people and their officials.  He says, “It is you who have ruined the vineyard!  You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor.   The Lord himself will enter into judgment with the elders of the people and with their rulers. But you, why have you burned my vineyard, and why is the spoil of the poor in your houses? The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?”  The sovereign (ʼădônây, אדני) Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) who commands armies has spoken. Why do you wrong my people and shame the face of the poor? [In the Septuagint “This is what the Lord says” begins verse 16.] What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

The NET translators explained their word choices in verse 12 in a long note (29).  Perhaps only the leaders (zâqên, זקני) and officials (śar, ושׁריו) were the wicked sinners, but I’m not hearing it that way.  I think the leaders and officials merited special mention because they led and encouraged yehôvâh’s people to become wicked sinners, those who trust in human beings, who rebel (mârâh, למרות) against yehôvâh, both their words (lâshôn, לשונם) and their actions (maʽălâl, ומעלליהם).  This definition of wicked sinners more or less applies to all of us.  As a case in point I’ll quote from a blog I receive regularly.

John Wesley Reid ended a post with advice from his pastor:  “My pastor laid out a pretty solid approach to avoiding sexual temptation, while the model can be used for any form of temptation.”  It was essentially a to-do list: refuse, consider the consequences, focus on God and ignore the lies of the enemy, avoid/run, and accountability.  I asked Mr. Reid if this was presented as an alternative or adjunct to our death to sin and the fruit of the Spirit, but haven’t received a reply.  He may not remember.  It is exactly the kind of list I would have fixated on to the exclusion of everything else.

The list follows in detail with my comments:

Refuse
Just say no. Remember that you’re made for more than this.

“Just say no” from the Nancy Reagan anti-drug campaign reminds me of yehôvâh’s words to Cain (Genesis 4:6, 7 NET):

Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast? [Table] Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door.  It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it [Table].

This is where sin (chaṭṭâʼâh, חטאת) enters the pages of the Bible, pictured as a four-legged beast about to pounce on its prey, Cain.  And this is yehôvâh at his most aloof.  He prophesies what is about to happen to Cain and says simply—rule (mâshal, תמשל).  As I’ve said before I don’t know Hebrew, but you must subdue it looks and sounds to me like a religious mind trying to turn a word into a law long before the law was given.  In fact, knowing what is about to happen and what He is not doing about it, yehôvâh seems to be actively not making a specific commandment for Cain to disobey.

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”  While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.[3]

Though my religious mind wants to argue that Cain was more wicked than itself, Cain was a fair representative of the descendants of Adam.  Seth wasn’t the only one born in Adam’s own likeness, according to his image.  On the contrary, though Adam and Eve were made (ʽâśâh, עשׁה) originally in the likeness of God[4] (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) after he violated God’s command Adam had children in his own likeness, according to his image.  Look, I was guilty of sin (ʽâvôn, בעוון; Septuagint: ἀνομίαις, a form of ἀνομία) from birth, David confessed, a sinner (chêṭʼ, ובחטא; Septuagint: ἁμαρτίαις, a form of ἁμαρτία) the moment my mother conceived me.[5]  Paul explained (Romans 5:12-19 NET Table):

So then, just as sin (ἁμαρτία) entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned – for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law.  Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type of the coming one) transgressed.  But the gracious gift is not like the transgression.  For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!  And the gift is not like the one who sinned.  For judgment (κρίμα), resulting from the one transgression, led to condemnation (κατάκριμα), but the gracious gift from the many failures led to justification.  For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

Consequently, just as condemnation (κατάκριμα) for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people.  For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man many will be made righteous.

Again Paul contrasted the image of Adam and the image of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:20-22, 45-49 NET):

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.  For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living person”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.  However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.  The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.  Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly.  And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.

“I tell you the solemn truth,” Jesus said to Nicodemus, “unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’”[6]

So if I am tempted to sin and the Holy Spirit reminds me—you are more valuable than many sparrows[7]—or— do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own[8]—or any other Scripture, and I hear and believe and turn from that sin, that is walking or living by the Spirit.  But to turn back then and say—I refused to sin; I just said no; I ruled—is to misunderstand what happened, mislead those who hear me and grieve the Holy Spirit.

Consider the consequences
Sin fosters sin and sexual sin carries implications of insecurity and a lack of self-worth.

This is Old Testament law plain and simple.  Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you.  Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live![9]  And, Then Joshua read aloud all the words of the law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the law scroll.[10]  We know how this worked out for Israel: not only did they fail to obey yehôvâh’s law, they rejected Him  when He came to forgive them for it and fulfill (πληρῶσαι, a form of πληρόω) the law and the prophets.

Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God?  Absolutely not!  For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.  But the scripture imprisoned everything and everyone under sin so that the promise could be given – because of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ – to those who believe.[11]  Through the law comes the knowledge of sin.[12]  God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh,[13] born in the likeness of Adam, according to his image.  If I try to fulfill my desire for righteousness by obeying rules I play to sin’s strength; the power of sin is the law.[14]

For I don’t understand what I am doing.  For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate.  But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good.  But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me.  For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.  For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.  For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.[15]

For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.[16]

So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.  For when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.  But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.[17]

For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.  For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.[18]

When Olive (Emma Stone) finally confessed her fake prostitution in the movie “Easy A”, her mother (Patricia Clarkson) shocked her daughter, confessing:

“I had a similar situation when I was your age.”

“What?” Olive asks incredulously.  “Everyone called you a slut?”

“I had a horrible reputation and people said awful things about me.”

“Why?”

“Because I was a slut.  I slept with a whole bunch of people.  A slew, a heap, a peck.  Mostly Guys.”

“Mom!”

“Sorry, I got around.  Before I met Dad, I had incredibly low self-worth.”

I can’t say that I think much about my self-worth.  I am not loved because I am worthy but because God is love (1 John 4:7-19).  I do consider whether He is getting what He is owed out of me.  Jesus said, So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, “We are slaves (δοῦλοι, a form of δοῦλος) undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.” [19] The Greek word translated was our duty is ὠφείλομεν (a form of ὀφείλω), literally “what was owed.”  Why is it owed?

Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies?  Jesus asked.  Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.  In fact, even the hairs on your head are all numbered.  Do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows.[20]  And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus,[21] Paul wrote the Philippians, including the gift of righteousness, the love that is the fulfillment of the law, the fruit of his Spirit.  But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.[22]

I’ll pick this up again next time.

[1] Isaiah 11:4b (NIV)

[2] Isaiah 2:22a (NET)

[3] Genesis 4:8 (NET)

[4] Genesis 5:1 (NET)

[5] Psalm 51:5 (NET) Table

[6] John 3:5-7 (NET) Table

[7] Matthew 10:31b (NET)

[8] 1 Corinthians 6:19 (NET)

[9] Deuteronomy 30:19 (NET)

[10] Joshua 8:34 (NET)

[11] Galatians 3:21, 22 (NET)

[12] Romans 3:20b (NET)

[13] Romans 8:3a (NET)

[14] 1 Corinthians 15:56b (NET)

[15] Romans 7:15-20 (NET)

[16] Romans 8:3, 4 (NET)

[17] Romans 7:4-6 (NET)

[18] Romans 8:5-9a (NET)

[19] Luke 17:10 (NET)

[20] Luke 12:6, 7 (NET)

[21] Philippians 4:19 (NET) Table

[22] Galatians 5:16 (NET)

Romans, Part 71

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This is a continuation of my consideration of Contribute (κοινωνοῦντες, a form of κοινωνέω) to the needs of the saints, pursue hospitality.[1]  I’ll begin with the dark side of contributing (or, sharing in): Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, Paul warned a young preacher, and so identify (κοινώνει, another form of κοινωνέω) with the sins of others.  Keep yourself pure.[2]  John mirrored this admonition to a leader ordaining elders (1 Timothy 5:17-22 NET) with one addressed to followers receiving leaders (2 John 1:9-11 NET):

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God.  The one who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son.  If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him any greeting, because the person who gives him a greeting shares (κοινωνεῖ, another form of κοινωνέω) in his evil deeds.

To begin to understand the teaching (διδαχῇ, a form of διδαχή) of Christ I turn to the Gospel according to Mark.  When asked by one of the experts in the law—Which commandment is the most important of all—Jesus replied with the love (ἀγάπη) [that] is the fulfillment (πλήρωμα) of the law[3] (Mark 12:29-31 NET):

“The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love (ἀγαπήσεις, a form of ἀγαπάω) the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’  The second is: ‘Love (ἀγαπήσεις, a form of ἀγαπάω) your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no other commandment greater than these.”

That is true, Teacher, the expert in the law said, you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him.  And to love (ἀγαπᾶν, another form of ἀγαπάω) him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength and to love (ἀγαπᾶν, another form of ἀγαπάω) your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.[4]  The concept of love as the fulfillment of the law was not foreign to him.  When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far (μακρὰν) from the kingdom of God.”[5]  And in this narrow distance I hope to find how the teaching of Christ differs from the teaching of religious people.

Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, Jesus said to religious people who accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul.  But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.  Make a tree good and its fruit (καρπὸν, a form of καρπός) will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit (καρπὸν, a form of καρπός) will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit (καρπὸν, a form of καρπός).[6]  Though religious people may know this as it pertains to horticulture, in religious culture the religious mind hopes to make the tree good by making the fruit good.  If I do good things I will be good, rather than if I am good I do good.  Why make this reversal?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart[7] (καρδίας, a form of καρδία) is a quotation from Deuteronomy 6:5—Love the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך) with all your heart.  Here is what Jesus said about the heart with which we are to love yehôvâh.

Offspring of vipers, He said, speaking still to religious people.  How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil?  For the mouth speaks from what fills (περισσεύματος, a form of περίσσευμα) the heart (καρδίας, a form of καρδία).[8]  The word translated fills here is not πλήρωμα but carries the idea of filled to overflowing.  At the present time, Paul wrote the Corinthians, your abundance (περίσσευμα) will meet their need, so that one day their abundance (περίσσευμα) may also meet your need…[9]  So I take the mouth speaks from the abundance (or, overflow) of the heart as a psychological truth from the mouth of the Creator of the human psyche.

Now if I disallow that Jesus’ intent was to be as rude and insulting as possible to some of the world’s most accomplished religious people, what can I make of his statement?  I don’t think He expressed literal ignorance of how religious people say anything good.  He knew He had given them his word.  He quoted it, too: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.[10]  That is the key, I think, to recall what Jesus knew.

He knew what was in man.  But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart (καρδίας, a form of καρδία),[11] Jesus reiterated this basic knowledge of the human psyche.  For out of the heart (καρδίας, a form of καρδία) come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.[12]  He knew he had not yet been crucified or resurrected.  He knew that the religious people before Him had not yet been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so [they] too may live a new life.[13]

He knew their old man was [not yet] crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate [them], so that [they] would no longer be enslaved to sin.[14]  He knew He had not yet sent the Holy Spirit to fill them with his love (ἀγάπη), joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.[15]  Do not leave Jerusalem, He told his disciples after his resurrection, but wait there for what my Father promised, which you heard about from me.  For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.[16]  You will receive power, He promised them, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.[17]

Given this knowledge Jesus’ words sound more like wonder and perhaps even a grudging admiration at how near to the kingdom of God these particular religious people had come on their own.  Though I called the distance narrow and recognize that the difference between the teaching of Christ and that of religious people is subtle, the gap is unbridgeable apart from yehovah’s incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection.  Not only is it impossible to love Him with all our evil hearts, our hard hearts love our religious rules more than our fellow human beings (Mark 3:1-6 NET):

Then Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  They watched Jesus closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they could accuse him.  So he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Stand up among all these people.”  Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or evil, to save a life or destroy it?”  But they were silent.  After looking around at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts (καρδίας, a form of καρδία), he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”  He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.  So the Pharisees went out immediately[18] and began plotting with the Herodians, as to how they could assassinate him [Table].

We think our religious works merit special privilege or indulgence relative to those sinners who don’t even try to do good (Ezekiel 18:26-29 NET):

When a righteous person turns back from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing, he will die for it; because of the wrongdoing he has done, he will die.  When a wicked person turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will preserve his life.  Because he considered and turned from all the sins he had done, he will surely live; he will not die.  Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The Lord’s conduct is unjust!’  Is my conduct unjust, O house of Israel?  Is it not your conduct that is unjust?

Actually, our continued rejection of Jesus’ salvation (whether in whole or in part) opens the door of mercy to more sinners (Romans 11:11, 12, 15, 22, 23 NET)

I ask then, [Israel] did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they?  Absolutely not!  But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous.  Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration bring?

For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God – harshness toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.  And even they – if they do not continue in their unbelief – will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

For this reason I tell you, Jesus said to religious people, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit (καρποὺς, another form of καρπός).[19]  But the fruit (καρπὸς) of the Spirit, Paul wrote the Galatians, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.[20]  So religious people, actors at heart, reverse Jesus’ dictum, Make a tree good and its fruit (καρπὸν, a form of καρπός) will be good.  This, in a word, is our unbelief.

Religious people do not believe they need to be baptized by Jesus in the Holy Spirit.  We do not believe that his Father knows our needs before we ask Him—or that He is willing to supply our needs.  We don’t accept that our most pressing need is to sit at Jesus’ feet, to listen and to live by every word that comes from the mouth of God.  True, our unbelief is a continuum from ignorance of Jesus’ salvation to the selfish preference for some other way—“My way.”  But all lead to the same outcome: the vain attempt to make ourselves good by doing good deeds.  You are the ones who justify yourselves in men’s eyes, Jesus said to religious people, but God knows your hearts (καρδίας, a form of καρδία).[21]

But I say, live by the Spirit, Paul wrote the Galatians, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.  For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things.  I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice (πράσσοντες, a form of πράσσω) such things will not inherit the kingdom of God![22]

The good person brings good things out of his good treasury, Jesus concluded, and the evil person brings evil things out of his evil treasury.  I tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak [the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart].  For by your words you will be justified (δικαιωθήσῃ, a form of δικαιόω), and by your words you will be condemned (καταδικασθήσῃ, a form of καταδικάζω).[23]

“Therefore I will judge (shâphaṭ, אשפט; Septuagint: κρινῶ, a form of κρίνω) you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord (ʼădônây, אדני) GOD (yehôvâh, יהוה).  Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.  Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!  Why will you die, O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord (ʼădônây, אדני) GOD (yehôvâh, יהוה); so turn, and live.”[24]

[1] Romans 12:13 (NET)

[2] 1 Timothy 5:22 (NET)

[3] Romans 13:10b (NET)

[4] Mark 12:32, 33 (NET)

[5] Mark 12:34a (NET)

[6] Matthew 12:32, 33 (NET)

[7] Mark 12:30a (NET)

[8] Matthew 12:34 (NET)

[9] 2 Corinthians 8:14a (NET)

[10] Matthew 4:4b (NET)

[11] Matthew 15:18a (NET)

[12] Matthew 15:19 (NET)

[13] Romans 6:4b (NET)

[14] Romans 6:6b (NET)

[15] Galatians 5:22b, 23a (NET)

[16] Acts 1:4, 5 (NET)

[17] Acts 1:8a (NET) Table

[18] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had εὐθὺς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ευθεως (KJV: straightway).

[19] Matthew 21:43 (NET)

[20] Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)

[21] Luke 16:15a (NET)

[22] Galatians 5:16-21 (NET)

[23] Matthew 12:35-37 (NET)

[24] Ezekiel 18:30-32 (ESV)

Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 10

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Too bad for the wicked (râshâʽ, לרשע) sinners (raʽ, רע)!  For they will get exactly what they deserve.[1]  As I begin to discover just who the wicked are one might argue that wicked sinners are worse than the wicked.  I won’t dispute that.

In the Septuagint râshâʽ wasn’t translated ἀσεβῆ (a form of ἀσεβής) here but ἀνόμῳ (a form of ἄνομος); râshâʽ raʽ was ἀνόμῳ πονηρὰ (a form of πονηρός).  I’m starting here all the same because this verse is part of a couplet at the end of a description of what the wicked sinners were about to get.

I’ll consider (Isaiah 3:1-3) from the NET, a contemporary translation of contemporary Hebrew by believers in Jesus, the NETS, a contemporary translation of the Septuagint, and the Tanakh, a contemporary translation of contemporary Hebrew by those who reject Jesus as Messiah (and may or may not accept Him as a prophet).

NET NETS

Tanakh
Look, the sovereign (ʼâdôn, האדון) Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) who commands armies is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah every source of security, including all the food and water, Behold now the Sovereign, the Lord Sabaoth will take away from Judea and from Ierousalem a strong man and a strong woman, strength of bread and strength of water, For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water.
the mighty men and warriors, judges and prophets, omen readers and leaders, a mighty one and strong one and soldier, both judge and prophet, and diviner and elder The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
captains of groups of fifty, the respected citizens, advisers and those skilled in magical arts, and those who know incantations. both officer of fifty and wonderful counselor, both skillful builder and intelligent listener. The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.

In verse 2 the Hebrew word translated omen readers in the NET and prudent in the Tanakh was qâsam (וקסם).  The Greek στοχαστὴν, translated diviner, is undefined in any source I found, but sounds similar to our word stochastic.  The root στοχοσ translates objective in a contemporary Greek news magazine online.  Perhaps that lends some credence to translating the guesswork of the omen reader or diviner prudent.

In verse 3 the Hebrew word translated magical arts and artificer is chărâshı̂ym (חרשים).  A note (7) in the NET reads: “’and the wise with respect to magic.’  On the meaning of חֲרָשִׁים (kharashim, ‘magic’), see HALOT 358 s.v. III חרשׁ.  Some understand here a homonym, meaning ‘craftsmen.’  In this case, one could translate, ‘skilled craftsmen’ (cf. NIV, NASB).”  The Septuagint’s ἀρχιτέκτονα translates architect in contemporary Greek.

The Hebrew word translated incantations and orator is lachash (לחש).  The Greek word translated listener is ἀκροατήν (a form of ἀκροατής) in the Septuagint.  The rabbis it seems were more sensitive to the character of the people carried off into Babylonian captivity or to them who were called the stay and the staff of Jerusalem and Judah.  Many of us would prefer to think that the stay and the staff of our security were comprised of people of better character than our pundits portray their enemies.

Why was yehôvâh about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah every source of security?  I turn to Isaiah’s indictment (Isaiah 2:6-9):

NET NETS

Tanakh
Indeed, O Lord, you have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob.  For diviners from the east are everywhere; they consult omen readers like the Philistines do.  Plenty of foreigners are around. For he has abandoned his people, the house of Israel, because their country, like that of the allophyles, was filled with divinations as it had been at the beginning, and many allophyle children were born to them. Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.
Their land is full of gold and silver; there is no end to their wealth.  Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots. For their country was filled with silver and gold, and there was no number to their treasures, and the land was filled with horses, and there was no number to their chariots. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:
Their land is full of worthless idols; they worship the product of their own hands, what their own fingers have fashioned. And the land was filled with abominations, the works of their hands, and they did obeisance to the things their own fingers had made. Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
Men bow down to them in homage, they lie flat on the ground in worship.  Don’t spare them! And so a person bowed down, and a man was humbled—and I will not forgive them! And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.

A note (17) in the NET acknowledges that the translators added the word diviners in verse 6.  The Hebrew word translated omen readers and soothsayers is ʽânan (ועננים).  The Greek word κληδονισμῶν translated divinations is quite similar in the Septuagint.  The final clause in verse 6 (final sentence in the NET) was yeled (ובילדי) nokrı̂y (נכרים) śâphaq (ישׁפיקו) in Hebrew, translated three different ways above.  The Greek words ἀλλοφύλων and ἀλλόφυλα (both forms of ἀλλόφυλος) in the Septuagint mean “of another tribe, foreign.”  I don’t know why they weren’t translated in the NETS.

The wicked sinners consulted omen readers, foreigners who did not know yehôvâh, or, perhaps, made their own children like foreigners yehôvâh did not know.  They had great wealth and had made provision for war.  They worshiped the work of their own hands.  It sounds all too familiar.  The chapter concludes  (Isaiah 2:22):

NET

 NETS

Tanakh
Stop trusting in human beings, whose life’s breath (neshâmâh, נשמה) is in their nostrils.  For why should they be given special consideration? [No verse 22 in the Septuagint.  Was it omitted or added later?] Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

This, in a nutshell, is the imperative wicked sinners refuse to believe (πιστεύω) or obey (ὑπακούω).  The religious mind trusts religious authorities, human authorities.  What they are about to get from yehôvâh continued (Isaiah 3:4-7):

NET

 NETS

Tanakh
The Lord says, “I will make youths their officials; malicious young men will rule over them. And I will set up youths as their rulers, and mockers shall be lords of them. And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
The people will treat each other harshly; men will oppose each other; neighbors will fight.  Youths will proudly defy the elderly and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected. And the people will fall together, man against man, and a man against his neighbor; the child will stumble against the elder, the dishonored against the honorable. And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.
Indeed, a man will grab his brother right in his father’s house and say, ‘You own a coat – you be our leader!  This heap of ruins will be under your control.’ Because a man will seize his brother or his father’s kinsman, saying, “You have a cloak; you be our leader, and let my food be under you.” When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:
At that time the brother will shout, ‘I am no doctor, I have no food or coat in my house; don’t make me a leader of the people!’” But he will answer and say on that day, “I will not be your leader, for in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; I will not be the leader of this people… In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.

The Hebrew word translated malicious young men or babes is taʽălûl (ותעלולים) in verse 4.  The Greek word translated mockers in the Septuagint is ἐμπαῖκται (a form of ἐμπαίκτης).  Above all, understand this: In the last days blatant scoffers (ἐμπαῖκται, a form of ἐμπαίκτης) will come, being propelled by their own evil urges (ἐπιθυμίας, a form of ἐπιθυμία)…[2]  And, In the end time there will come scoffers (ἐμπαῖκται, a form of ἐμπαίκτης), propelled by their own ungodly (ἀσεβειῶν, a form of ἀσέβεια) desires (ἐπιθυμίας, a form of ἐπιθυμία).[3]

Isaiah continued to clarify why wicked sinners were about to get exactly what they deserve (Isaiah 3:8-11):

NET NETS

Tanakh
Jerusalem certainly stumbles, Judah falls, for their words and their actions offend the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה); they rebel against his royal authority. because Ierousalem has been abandoned and Judea has fallen and their tongues are joined with lawlessness, being disobedient toward the things of the Lord; now therefore their glory has been brought low. For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
The look on their faces testifies to their guilt; like the people of Sodom they openly boast of their sin.  Too bad for them!  For they bring disaster on themselves. And the shame of their face has risen up against them; they have proclaimed their sin like that of Sodoma, and they have made it plain.  Woe to their soul!  Because they have given evil counsel against themselves, The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
Tell the innocent (tsaddı̂yq, צדיק) it will go well with them, for they will be rewarded for what they have done. saying, “Let us bind the just, for he is a nuisance to us.”  Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their works. Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
Too bad for the wicked sinners!  For they will get exactly what they deserve. Woe to the lawless one! Evil things will happen to him according to the works of his hands. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.

In verse 8 the Hebrew word translated certainly and for is kı̂y (כי), stumbles and ruined is kâshal (כשלה).  In the Septuagint in Greek the word translated because is ὅτι and has been abandoned is ἀνεῖται, which is harder to pin down.  It comes up as a form of ἀνίημι (send up) and ἀνέω (definition unavailable).  I don’t think it means “send up,” and guessed that it might be a word negated by ἀ, so I tried νεῖται.  Here νέω3 is most promising, so ἀνέω might be the negation of “heap, pile up.”

The final two clauses (three in the NETS) of verse 8 are intriguing and frustrating.  I don’t know Hebrew but I don’t see two clauses.  The word offend (NET) is definitely not in the text; against (Tanakh) may be a way to translate ʼel (אל).  It looks to me as if it says, “because their words (tongue) and their actions toward yehôvâh” whatever follows next.  Three words, mârâh (למרות) ʽayin (עני) kâbôd (כבודו), “rebellious eyes glory,” follow next in the Hebrew text.  I understand why the rabbis wanted to insert lawless (ἀνομίας, a form of ἀνομία) into the mix in the Septuagint.  But this isn’t Jesse James or the Wild West.  It’s a relatively stable, prosperous and religious nation that yehôvâh is about to turn on its head.  They had laws but not yehôvâh’s laws.

The Septuagint in verse 10 doesn’t have what I called the couplet near the beginning of this essay.  Rather the indictment of the ἀνόμῳ πονηρὰ (lawless one, NETS) continued.  The NET and Tanakh do share the couplet (Isaiah 3:10, 11):

NET
The Innocent

The Wicked Sinners
Tell the innocent (tsaddı̂yq, צדיק) it will go well with them, for they will be rewarded for what they have done. Too bad for the wicked sinners!  For they will get exactly what they deserve.

Tanakh

The Righteous

The Wicked
Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.

Though both the innocent, if there were any, and the wicked sinners live under the same consequences—the sovereign Lord who commands armies is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah every source of security—the innocent will be protected in the midst of it, for they will be rewarded for what they have done, or, they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

This makes perfect sense if we allow that the wicked sinners trusted in human beings, whose life’s breath is in their nostrils.[4]  They worship [and rely on] the product of their own hands, what their own fingers have fashioned.[5]  They are helpless when these things—the stay and the staff—are removed.  The innocent by contrast trust yehôvâh and continue to trust Him through major social upheaval (1 Corinthians 1:4-9 NET).

I always thank my God [e.g., ʼĕlôhı̂ym in Hebrew; translated θεὸς in Greek] for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus.  For you were made rich in every way in him, in all your speech and in every kind of knowledge – just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed among you – so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful (πιστὸς), by whom you were called into fellowship (κοινωνίαν, a form of κοινωνία) with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord [e.g., yehôvâh in Hebrew; translated κύριος in Greek].[6]

Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 11

[1] Isaiah 3:11 (NET)

[2] 2 Peter 3:3 (NET)

[3] Jude 1:18 (NET)

[4] Isaiah 2:22a (NET)

[5] Isaiah 2:8b (NET)

[6] In Genesis 2:4 yehôvâh ʼĕlôhı̂ym (יהוה אלהים) is also translated simply θεὸς in the Septuagint.

Romans, Part 70

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I’ll continue to consider Contribute (κοινωνοῦντες, a form of κοινωνέω) to the needs (χρείαις, a form of χρεία) of the saints, pursue hospitality.[1]  And as you Philippians know, at the beginning of my gospel ministry, Paul wrote, when I left Macedonia, no church shared (ἐκοινώνησεν, another form of κοινωνέω) with me in this matter (λόγον, a form of λόγος) of giving (δόσεως, a form of δόσις) and receiving (λήμψεως, a form of λῆψις) except you alone.  For even in Thessalonica on more than one occasion you sent something for my need (χρείαν, another form of χρεία).[2]

Here I begin to investigate contribute / shared in and the needs of the saints simultaneously.  Paul began this section of his letter with the words, I have great joy (Ἐχάρην, a form of χαίρω) in the Lord because now at last you have again expressed your concern for me.[3]  He didn’t say, I was really pissed off because you haven’t sent me any money in a long time.  Young’s Literal Translation is clunkier in style but probably carries the tone better:  And I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at length ye flourished again in caring for me, for which also ye were caring, and lacked opportunity…[4]

Was Paul worried about them?  It’s very likely: there is the daily pressure on me of my anxious concern (μέριμνα) for all the churches,[5] He wrote the Corinthians.  The Philippians had shared with him in the past, but then lacked opportunity.  Could it imply something more than lack of opportunity?  Thankfully, no.  Now I know you were concerned (ἐφρονεῖτε, a form of φρονέω) before but had no opportunity to do anything.[6]

Paul (and the NET translators) went out of his (their) way to say that he shared the joy (χαρὰ) of the Holy Spirit greatly (μεγάλως) in the Lord, because the Lord had kept the Philippians in Paul’s absence, and when the opportunity presented itself again the Lord’s own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in and through the Philippians expressed itself in tangible concern (φρονεῖν, another form of φρονέω) for Paul.

Am I adding words here?  Yes, I am, but I believe I have the heart of Paul and the Holy Spirit.  In Greek χαρὰ (joy) comes from χαίρω (rejoice).  But in the fruit of the Holy Spirit our χαίρω comes from his χαρὰ.  I tried (and failed, I think) to express a similar joy to my daughter when she picked me up at the airport.

I’ve known her since she was six-years-old, too small to drive.  I remember helping her learn how to drive.  I shared her anxiety when she failed her first driver’s test, and her elation when she passed the second.  But there is no way her mother or I would have been comfortable asking her to navigate airport traffic then.  I remember taking a taxi from the airport to the hospital where she lay pathetically, helplessly in a hospital bed after a stroke.

I remember what it was like when she and her brother and her mother greeted me at the airport.  And I remember when their greetings became more and more infrequent, until there were none at all.  And I certainly know what it is like now to land at the airport and make my own way home to a dark, empty apartment.

When she pulled up to me, waiting at the curb at the airport, yes, my daughter saved me some taxi fare (though I may have spent as much or more filling her empty gas tank).  But the money had nothing to do with my joy.  I lacked the presence of mind to say to her, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, though it’s clear to me now that’s what I meant.

I am not saying this because I am in need (ὑστέρησιν, a form of ὑστέρησις), Paul continued, for I have learned to be content in any circumstance.[7]  And this is the context of an often misquoted verse (Philippians 4:12, 13 NET Table):

I have experienced times of need (ταπεινοῦσθαι, a form of ταπεινόω) and times of abundance.  In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment, whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing.  I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me.

This last verse came up out of context in the movie Soul Surfer.  There will be spoilers here for those who haven’t seen it.  And please remember I’m not saying anything about the real Bethany Hamilton.  I don’t know Bethany Hamilton.  I’ve never even read her book.  I’m writing about a character in a movie named Bethany.

In the hospital after a shark attack, Bethany (AnnaSophia Robb) asks her father Tom (Dennis Quaid), “When can I surf again?”

“Soon,” Tom answers.

“How do you know?”

“Because [you] can do all things,” Tom prompts her.

“Through Him who gives me strength,” Bethany finishes the quote from Philippians 4:13 (ESV/NIV).

She trains hard with this hope and learns to surf again on a very small board.  But when she tries to compete she discovers, “I can’t do this anymore!…I don’t understand.  What happened to ‘I can do all things’?”  Thus Philippians 4:13 is laid to rest in Soul Surfer.

It’s not a big deal if one knows what Philippians 4:13 actually means.  Earlier in the film she won graciously.  Here she lost; she failed.  It was one of those times of need Paul wrote about.  The Greek word translated times of need was ταπεινοῦσθαι, to depress, to humiliate, to make low, bring low.  And Bethany did learn to be content when she was depressed, humiliated, made low.

She returns to competition and has a tremendous ride that would have assured her win if it were not disqualified for starting past the allotted time of the final heat.  With a peace and joy that surpasses even Tom’s understanding Bethany is as gracious in defeat at the end of the movie as she was in victory near the beginning.

“Are you upset you didn’t win today?” a reporter asks.

“I didn’t come to win.  I came to surf,” Bethany answers.

She can do all this—be content in times of need and times of abundance as it related to losing and winning surfing competitions—through him who gives her strength.[8]  Conversely, if one doesn’t already know what Philippians 4:13 actually means, it probably won’t be gleaned from Soul Surfer.  After the hard-work montage preceding the final competition the message of the film on that count is something like he-who-gives-me-strength is not as good at making one a world class surfer as hard work.  This is a true message by the way.  People become world class surfers by training hard, irrespective of their faith in Jesus Christ.

On the other hand, if your goal is to share in the righteousness of God, the best your hardest work can achieve is hypocrisy.  You will be an actor, play-pretending at righteousness.  AnnaSophia Robb is one of the best young actors in the business, but Bethany Hamilton and Alana Blanchard did the difficult surfing scenes.  Hard working actors don’t become doers (poets) of the law either.  For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”[9]

Nevertheless, you did well to share with (συγκοινωνήσαντες, a form of συγκοινωνέω) me in my trouble,[10] Paul continued.  And again, he emphasized, I do not say this because I am seeking a gift (δόμα).[11]  And, For I have received everything, and I have plenty.  I have all I need because I received from Epaphroditus what you sent – a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, very pleasing to God.[12] Rather, I seek the credit (καρπὸν, a form of καρπός) that abounds to your account (λόγον, a form of λόγος).[13]  I’m not so sure about translating fruit (καρπὸν) credit here.  The account, of course, is the λόγον each of us will give to God.  Who wouldn’t want to be able to say, I shared with Paul in his trouble?

My point, however, is that we trust God to work in us and through us by his Spirit, rather than second-guess Him by trying to establish our own works.  For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.[14]  And my God will supply your every need (χρείαν, another form of χρεία) according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.[15]  There is no quid pro quo here: Send money to Paul and his God will supply your every need.  Paul’s God supplies the desire and wherewithal to contribute as surely as He supplies every other need.  May glory be given to God our Father forever and ever.  Amen.[16]

In Soul Surfer when Bethany is depressed, humiliated and made low, Tom attempts to encourage his daughter.  Cheri (Helen Hunt), Bethany’s mother, effectively shuts him down.  “Listen to her,” she says.  But when Bethany is ready to compete again, she comes to her father, working in his surfboard shed, saying, “Hey, Dad, I need your help.”

Bethany has analyzed her problem.  With only one arm she can’t duck dive under the big waves paddling out to the line.  She gets caught, tumbling under water, in the impact zone.  Her father smiles, reaches up into the rafters and retrieves a surfboard, already prepared for her, with a handle in the center of the board she can grasp with one hand to duck dive.

The first of the needs (χρείαις, a form of χρεία) of the saints listed in the New Testament comes from the mouth of John, baptizing in the Jordan River.  Jesus came to him to be baptized but John protested, “I need (χρείαν, another form of χρεία) to be baptized by you…”[17] He had already described Jesus’ baptism by contrast to his own: I baptize you with (ἐν, or, in) water, for repentance…He will baptize you with (ἐν, or, in) the Holy Spirit and fire.[18]

As an introduction to how we should pray Jesus promised, your Father knows what you need (χρείαν, another form of χρεία) before you ask him.[19]  Are we afraid to approach Him?  When religious people questioned Jesus’ disciples, why he ate with sinners, He answered, “Those who are healthy don’t need (χρείαν, another form of χρεία) a physician, but those who are sick do.  Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”[20]

Jesus vigorously defended his followers from the judgment of the religious: “Look, why are they doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?”[21] they said as his disciples walked through the field plucking grain to eat.  “Have you never read what David did when he was in need (χρείαν, another form of χρεία) and he and his companions were hungry,” Jesus asked them, “how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the sacred bread, which is against the law for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to his companions?”[22] But Jesus didn’t let it drop there.  He took it one massive step further, saying, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.  For this reason the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”[23]

And finally, I come to a tale of two sisters, Martha and Mary.  It is particularly interesting to me because I think I was a Martha who wants to be a Mary (Luke 10:38-42 NET):

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest.  She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened (ἤκουεν, a form of ἀκούω) to what he said.  But Martha was distracted (περιεσπᾶτο, a form of περισπάω) with all the preparations she had to make, so she came up to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work (διακονεῖν, a form of διακονέω) alone?  Tell her to help me.”  But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed (χρεία).  Mary has chosen the best part; it will not be taken away from her.”

[1] Romans 12:13 (NET)

[2] Philippians 4:15, 16 (NET)

[3] Philippians 4:10a (NET)

[4] Philippians 4:10 (YLT)

[5] 2 Corinthians 11:28 (NET)

[6] Philippians 4:10b (NET)

[7] Philippians 4:11 (NET)

[8] Philippians 4:13 (NIV) Table

[9] Romans 1:17 (NET)

[10] Philippians 4:14 (NET)

[11] Philippians 4:17a (NET)

[12] Philippians 4:18 (NET)

[13] Philippians 4:17b (NET)

[14] Ephesians 2:10 (NET)

[15] Philippians 4:19 (NET) Table

[16] Philippians 4:20 (NET)

[17] Matthew 3:14b (NET)

[18] Matthew 3:11 (NET)

[19] Matthew 6:8b (NET)

[20] Matthew 9:12, 13 (NET)

[21] Mark 2:24 (NET)

[22] Mark 2:25, 26 (NET)

[23] Mark 2:27, 28 (NET)

Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 9

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I fell for the September 2015 prophecies on YouTube that Jesus would return or the great tribulation would begin.  So I interrupted my regular study cycle and focused exclusively on my Romans study for a time.  Be that as it may I never thought I would return to continue this study.  But as I read, especially the New York Times article, about the capital of the Islamic State I was reminded of my own thoughts about the thousand years.

About forty years ago I expected the millennial reign of Jesus Christ to look a lot like Raqa, Syria looks today—all over the planet.  I thought justice was punishment.  I thought Jesus would return to earth as a righteous, omniscient Judge who regarded anger and lust as murder and adultery, both capital offenses.  I had heard of Jimmy Carter’s Playboy confession:

“I try not to commit a deliberate sin. I recognize that I’m going to do it anyhow, because I’m human and I’m tempted. And Christ set some almost impossible standards for us. Christ said, ‘I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust has in his heart already committed adultery.’

“I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do–and I have done it–and God forgives me for it.”

And I heard the scandalized reactions of my people to his confession.  It is a major reason I pursued the woman who became my first wife.  I’m better when I can focus my sexual energies on one woman.

President Carter had much more confidence in Jesus’ forgiveness than I did (Hebrews 10:26, 27 NASB):

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.

I reasoned that mass executions would be a daily ritual in the millennium, at least until all of the people like me were exterminated (or raptured?).  Confronted by that memory I looked up “reign of Christ” online and found an article by John F. Walvoord.

John in his vision in Revelation does not occupy himself with the details of the millennial kingdom but only with the fact and duration of it. The character of Christ’s reign on earth is fully described in many Old Testament passages such as Isaiah 2:2-4; 11:4-9; Psalm 72, and many others.

Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalem that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz.  In the future the mountain of the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) temple will endure as the most important of mountains, and will be the most prominent of hills.[1]  The words translated future are ʼachărı̂yth (באחרית) yôm (הימים) in Hebrew or ἐσχάταις (a form of ἔσχατος) ἡμέραις (a form of ἡμέρα) in the Septuagint in Greek.  At present Mount Zion is 2,510 feet high and Mount Everest is 29, 029 feet tall.

Perhaps Zion’s prominence is more spiritual than literal: All the nations will stream to [the mountain of the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) temple], many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the Lord’s (yehôvih, יהוה) mountain, to the temple of the God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי) of Jacob, so he can teach us his requirements, and we can follow his standards.”  For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; the Lord (yehôvih, יהוה) will issue edicts from Jerusalem.[2]  Or perhaps the ʼachărı̂yth yôm or ἐσχάταις  ἡμέραις comes to pass after another prophesied event (Revelation 16:17-20 NET):

Finally the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying: “It is done!”  Then there were flashes of lightning, roaring, and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake – an earthquake unequaled since humanity has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake.  The great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations collapsed…Every island fled away and no mountains could be found.

He [yehôvih] will judge disputes between nations, Isaiah’s prophecy continued, he will settle cases for many peoples.  They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.  Nations will not take up the sword against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.  O descendants of Jacob, come, let us walk in the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) guiding light.[3]

A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s root stock, Isaiah prophesied, a bud will sprout from his roots.  The Lord’s spirit (rûach yehôvâh, רוח יהוה) will rest on him – a spirit (rûach, רוח) that gives extraordinary wisdom, a spirit (rûach, רוח) that provides the ability to execute plans, a spirit (rûach, רוח) that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה).  He will take delight in obeying the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה).  He will not judge by mere appearances, or make decisions on the basis of hearsay.  He will treat the poor fairly, and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth.[4]

I’m being a bit subversive quoting the first three verses of this chapter.  My people believe they apply to Jesus’ first appearance on earth.  Only verses 4-9 apply to the thousand years.  My only point is that it is difficult to make that distinction in this passage alone, except perhaps for the next part of verse 4:  He will strike the earth with the rod (shêbeṭ, בשבט) of his mouth, and order the wicked to be executed.[5]  And that brings me back to Raqa, Syria:

It’s called Heaven Square, but after the Islamic State group started using the roundabout in Raqa for gruesome public executions it earned a new name: Hell Square.
In the year since the jihadist group announced its “caliphate” last June, its de facto Syrian capital of Raqa has been transformed into a macabre metropolis.
Human heads are displayed on spikes at the central roundabout and crucified bodies hang for days to terrorise local residents, said Abu Ibrahim Raqqawi, a Raqa resident and anti-IS activist.

“From the first moment of its control over Raqa, IS adopted a policy of horror and terror, resorting to executions, beheadings, cutting off hands and legs, and crucifixion,” said Raqqawi, who uses a pseudonym…

It touts the implementation of its version of Islam, with life coming to a halt five times every day for prayers and all residents required to declare their assets and pay “zakat”, Islamic alms.
It also revels in meting out punishments for crimes ranging from collaboration with Syria’s regime and theft to “witchcraft” and homosexuality.
The group regularly carries out beheadings, but also stones victims to death or throws them from building tops.

I’m not particularly concerned with cosmetics here.  Whether Jesus orders the wicked to be executed in “gruesome public executions,” or secretly in concentration camps or antiseptic hospitals, is immaterial.  What concerns me is whether this is the Justice [that] will be like a belt around his waist, the integrity [that] will be like a belt around his hips.[6]  Consider by contrast the impact of his presence on animals (Isaiah 11:6-9a NET):

A wolf will reside with a lamb, and a leopard will lie down with a young goat; an ox and a young lion will graze together, as a small child leads them along.  A cow and a bear will graze together, their young will lie down together.  A lion, like an ox, will eat straw.  A baby will play over the hole of a snake; over the nest of a serpent an infant will put his hand.  They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain.

Why?  For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s (yehôvih, יהוה) sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea.[7]  To order the wicked to be executed sounds strangely incongruous to me.  But I’m biased.  I’m not an ancient widow descended from Israel, plagued by an adversary and an unrighteous judge.  I’m an old white American male, one of the most privileged people on the planet.

So, “my persistent prayer for justice is for the mercy on which everything depends, for it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on [You] who shows mercy (ἐλεῶντος, a form of ἐλεέω),[8] and, [You have] consigned all people to disobedience (ἀπείθειαν, a form of ἀπείθεια) so that [You] may show mercy (ἐλεήσῃ, another form of ἐλεέω) to them all.”[9]

I don’t believe I am, or have been, free to disregard his mercy.  I can see how those who believe they are free to disregard it, but have not, could distinguish themselves from those who do not yet rely on his mercy, and approve of their deaths.  I did, too, when I believed in that freedom.  Now when I realize that the words translated order are rûach śâphâh (וברוח שׁפתיו; “wind” or “breath of the lip,” or “spirit of the language” or “speech”) I wonder if Jesus is returning to order the wicked to be executed or to preach the Gospel to them—very effectively.  Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?[10]

The Septuagint reads: καὶ πατάξει γῆν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν πνεύματι διὰ χειλέων ἀνελεῖ ἀσεβῆ; “and he shall strike the earth with the word of his mouth, and with the breath through his lips he shall do away with the impious.”[11]  To realize that the rabbis translated the wicked (râshâʽ, רשע) ἀσεβῆ (a form of ἀσεβής) led me inexorably to, But to the one who does not work, but believes (πιστεύοντι, a form of πιστεύω) in the one who declares the ungodly (ἀσεβῆ) righteous, his faith (πίστις) is credited as righteousness.[12]

I believe in the one who declares the ungodly (ἀσεβῆ) righteous; again, my bias.  I don’t know when to believe He ceases to be the one who declares the ungodly (ἀσεβῆ) righteous.  I don’t know how to stop believing He is the one who declares the ungodly (ἀσεβῆ) righteous, as long as He fills me with the faithfulness (πίστις) of the fruit of his Spirit.  If we live by the Spirit (πνεύματι, a form of πνεῦμα), let us also behave in accordance (στοιχῶμεν, a form of στοιχέω) with the Spirit (πνεύματι, a form of πνεῦμα).[13]

Given my bias I’ll look into the meaning of râshâʽ next, just who the wicked are.

Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 10

Back to Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 11

Back to Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 12

Back to Romans, Part 89

[1] Isaiah 2:1, 2a (NET)

[2] Isaiah 2:2b, 3 (NET)

[3] Isaiah 2:4, 5 (NET)

[4] Isaiah 11:1-4a (NET)

[5] Isaiah 11:4b (NET)

[6] Isaiah 11:5 (NET)

[7] Isaiah 11:9b (NET)

[8] Romans 9:16 (NET) Table

[9] Romans 11:32 (NET)

[10] Romans 6:3 (NET)

[11] http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/33-esaias-nets.pdf

[12] Romans 4:5 (NET)

[13] Galatians 5:25 (NET)

Romans, Part 69

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Contribute to the needs of the saints, pursue hospitality.[1]  I’ll forego the table of Scripture this time.  I’m convinced now that I’m not forcing the situation.  Paul was describing love empowered by the fruit of the Holy Spirit, not offering obedience to his own rules as the true path to living eternal life.  And there was always something arbitrary about what I was trying to do.  Kindness is the most obvious aspect of the fruit of the Spirit to effect contributing, but since I have used it already I would’ve said faithfulness.  And as I consider the needs of the saints I tend to focus on Love is patient.[2]

But the fruit of the Spirit isn’t really divisible into love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control any more than love is divisible into the constituent parts of Paul’s definition in 1 Corinthians.  I can’t spoof the fruit of the Spirit by striving to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled, though I’m not sure I would have understood that if I hadn’t tried to do it on my own.

The Greek word translated contribute above is κοινωνοῦντες (a form of κοινωνέω).  It means to share, or to have in common: All who believed were together and held everything in common (κοινὰ, a form of κοινός).[3]  The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common (κοινά, a form of κοινός).[4]  Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, the author of Hebrews wrote, [Jesus] likewise shared in their humanity.[5]  And this brings up another aspect of the concept common.

The Greek word translated share above is κεκοινώνηκεν, another form of κοινωνέω, or a form of κοινόω.  In the NET online if I click on the English word share I am taken to κοινωνέω, if I click on κεκοινώνηκεν in the parallel Greek I am taken to κοινόω.  Perhaps this is just a mistake.  It happens sometimes.  In Revelation 20:10 for instance if I click on lake I am taken to λίμνη (‘lake’), if I click on the parallel Greek λίμνην I am taken to λιμήν (‘harbor’ or ‘haven’).  But I’ll pursue this as if it is a possible understanding of the Greek rather than a coding mistake because all of these words share κοινός as their common root.

Jews from the province of Asia[6] accused Paul: he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled (κεκοίνωκεν, a form of κοινόω) this holy place![7]  If this is a potential meaning of κεκοινώνηκεν it accentuates how He who became Jesus profaned, defiled or made Himself common as He shared (μετέσχεν, a form of μετέχω) in our humanity.  This isn’t difficult to grasp; a common woman was one shared by many.

I want to take a moment to discuss who He-who-became-Jesus is.  To most of my contemporaries He is the unknown Son of God who declared the known Jehovah as his Father.  I think of Him as the known yehôvâh (יהוה) who became flesh and blood as Ἰησοῦς and revealed his as yet unknown Father.  Admittedly, I would arrive at a stalemate on this issue from Scripture.  I lean the way I do because of personal experience.  That Jehovah killed someone or sent someone to die, even his own son, isn’t really news, certainly not good news.

If yehôvâh became a man  Ἰησοῦς and gave his own human life to satisfy his own righteous vengeance against human sin, if He created human beings knowing full well He would ultimately pay this price for them, that is news, very good news.  And it helps to explain the great pains He took,[8] and continues to take, to demonstrate the failure of any other means of redemption.  And with this understanding I can appreciate how yehôvâh bowed to the higher authority of his Father’s will, authority which supersedes all law or covenant, as He relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people[9] at Sinai.

So what makes a person common, defiled or profane?  What defiles (κοινοῖ, another form of κοινόω) a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles (κοινοῖ, another form of κοινόω) a person.[10]  The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile (κοινοῖ, another form of κοινόω) a person.[11]  Jesus wasn’t talking about disease here.  For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.[12]

This knowledge wasn’t from yehôvâh’s omniscience but from  Ἰησοῦς’ personal experience.   Ἰησοῦς knew (ἐγίνωσκεν, a form of γινώσκω) what was in man (ἀνθρώπῳ, a form of ἄνθρωπος).[13]  God made the one who did not know (γνόντα, another form of γινώσκω) sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.[14]  The things that defile a person are already inside a person.  These are the things that defile (κοινοῦντα, another form of κοινόω, or ‘make common’) a person (ἄνθρωπον, another form of ἄνθρωπος); it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles (κοινοῖ, another form of κοινόω) a person (ἄνθρωπον, another form of ἄνθρωπος).[15]

So are we all common, defiled, profane?  Certainly not, Lord, Peter protested to the voice which commanded him to slaughter and eat in a trance as he prayed, for I have never eaten anything defiled (κοινὸν, a form of κοινός) and ritually unclean![16]  In his trance Peter didn’t believe Jesus’ teaching, There is nothing outside of a person that can defile (κοινῶσαι, another form of κοινόω) him by going into him.[17]  The voice didn’t chide his unbelief but said simply, What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean (κοίνου, another form of κοινόω)![18]  We take this to mean that all foods are clean.[19]  But Peter said, God has shown me that I should call no person defiled (κοινὸν, a form of κοινός) or ritually unclean.[20]

Macedonia and Achaia are pleased to make some contribution (κοινωνίαν, a form of κοινωνία) for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem,[21] Paul wrote the believers in Rome.  I think it’s important to consider the origin of the poor among the saints in Jerusalem:  All who believed were together and held everything in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need (χρείαν, a form of χρεία).[22]  At first this economic system worked amazingly well (Acts 4:32-35 NET):

The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common.  With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on them all.  For there was no one needy (ἐνδεής) among them, because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them and bringing the proceeds from the sales and placing them at the apostles’ feet.  The proceeds were distributed to each, as anyone had need (χρείαν, a form of χρεία). 

They sold land and houses, assets that could be leased or rented, believing, This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven[23] soon, in their lifetimes.  I’m not suggesting they acted contrarily to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but that prompting may have been unique to their time and circumstances.

Jerusalem was destroyed in the lifetimes of many of them, and whatever lands and houses remained went to their Roman conquerors.  Israel had a penchant for arbitrary law (Judges 21:5, Ezra 10:8, Acts 9:1, 2 NET).  Converting lands and houses to cash may have been the only way for believers in Jerusalem to “keep” them.  [Y]ou accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy, because you knew that you certainly had a better and lasting possession,[24] the writer of Hebrews acknowledged.

The deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, probably by design, kept the Jerusalem church from becoming a popular, bandwagon-style movement (Acts 5:11-13 NET):

Great fear gripped the whole church and all who heard about these things.  Now many miraculous signs and wonders came about among the people through the hands of the apostles.  By common consent they were all meeting together in Solomon’s Portico.  None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high honor.

The More and more believers in the Lord [who] were added to their number, crowds of both men and women,[25] were drawn by Jesus, I trust, rather than the glitz and glam of the moment.  But it didn’t keep pace apparently with the conversion and spending of assets: If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food,[26] was James’ concern in the Jerusalem church.  At the Jerusalem Council when James, Cephas, and John, who had a reputation as pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, Paul wrote the Galatians, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.  They requested only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do.[27]

For [Macedonia and Achaia] were pleased to [make some contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem], and indeed they are indebted (ὀφειλέται, a form of ὀφειλέτης) to the Jerusalem saints.[28]  For if the Gentiles have shared (ἐκοινώνησαν, another form of κοινωνέω) in their spiritual things (πνευματικοῖς, a form of πνευματικός), they are obligated (ὀφείλουσιν, a form of ὀφείλω) also to minister (λειτουργῆσαι, a form of λειτουργέω) to them in material things (σαρκικοῖς, a form of σαρκικός).[29]

This debt and obligation stem directly from, To [Israel] belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.  To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever!  Amen.[30]  Still, Paul called this debt and obligation καρπὸν (fruit): Therefore after I have completed this and have safely delivered this bounty (καρπὸν, a form of καρπός) to them…[31]  And so I take it for granted that he intended this debt and obligation to be dispatched by love empowered by the fruit of the Spirit much as I wrote elsewhere on the spiritual gift of contributing[32] (μεταδιδοὺς, a form of μεταδίδωμι).

I’ll write more on that in subsequent essays.  Here, I want to address two different but related issues: 1) I don’t think the communal economy of the Jerusalem church is normative, and 2) I think the debt and obligation to the poor among the saints in Jerusalem was as temporary as that unique situation.  I consider Paul’s own example (Acts 20:33-35 NET):

“I have desired (ἐπεθύμησα, a form of ἐπιθυμέω) no one’s silver or gold or clothing.  You yourselves know that these hands of mine provided for my needs (χρείαις, a form of χρεία) and the needs of those who were with me.  By all these things, I have shown you that by working in this way we must help (ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι, a form of ἀντιλαμβάνομαι) the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive (λαμβάνειν, a form of λαμβάνω).’”

And I consider Paul’s teaching (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12; Ephesians 4:28 NET):

Now on the topic of brotherly love you have no need (χρείαν, another form of χρεία) for anyone to write you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.  And indeed you are practicing it toward all the brothers and sisters in all of Macedonia.  But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, to aspire to lead a quiet life, to attend to your own business, and to work with your hands, as we commanded you.  In this way you will live a decent life before outsiders and not be in need (χρείαν, another form of χρεία).

The one who steals must steal no longer; rather he must labor, doing good (ἀγαθόν, another form of ἀγαθός) with his own hands, so that he may have something to share (μεταδιδόναι, another form of μεταδίδωμι) with the one who has need (χρείαν, another form of χρεία).

And I consider Paul’s understanding of the one new man (Ephesians 2:11-22 NET):

Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body by human hands – that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees.  He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.  And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

And so I find it extremely difficult to believe that the Holy Spirit intended to re-divide this one new man into a permanent working-class of Gentiles supporting a permanent leisure-class of descendants of Israel because Paul wrote the saints of Macedonia and Achaia that they are indebted to the Jerusalem saints.  For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are obligated also to minister to them in material things.[33]  I believe that debt and obligation were superseded, once the Jerusalem church was scattered (along with its unique economy), by: Owe (ὀφείλετε, another form of ὀφείλω) no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.[34]

[1] Romans 12:13 (NET)

[2] 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NET)

[3] Acts 2:44 (NET)

[4] Acts 4:32 (NET)

[5] Hebrews 2:14a (NET)

[6] Acts 21:27 (NET)

[7] Acts 21:28b (NKJV)

[8] Genesis 4:7, 8; Genesis 6:5-8; Genesis 9:24-27; Exodus 20:4-6; Exodus 32:1-4; Matthew 5:17-20 NET

[9] Exodus 32:14 (NET)

[10] Matthew 15:11 (NET)

[11] Matthew 15:18 (NET)

[12] Matthew 15:19 (NET)

[13] John 2:25b (NET)

[14] 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NET)

[15] Matthew 15:20 (NET)

[16] Acts 10:14 (NET) Table

[17] Mark 7:15a (NET)

[18] Acts 10:15 (NET)

[19] Mark 7:19b (NET)

[20] Acts 10:28b (NET) Table

[21] Romans 15:26 (NET)

[22] Acts 2:44, 45 (NET)

[23] Acts 1:11b (NET)

[24] Hebrews 10:34b (NET)

[25] Acts 5:14 (NET)

[26] James 2:15 (NET) Table

[27] Galatians 2:9, 10 (NET)

[28] One might argue that they (we) were (are) more indebted to those in Israel who rejected Jesus.

[29] Romans 15:27 (NET)

[30] Romans 9:4, 5 (NET)

[31] Romans 15:28 (NET)

[32] Romans 12:6-8 (NET)

[33] Romans 15:27b (NET)

[34] Romans 13:8 (NET)

Romans, Part 68

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This will conclude my consideration of Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer[1] as a description of love rather than as rules to obey.  I’ll continue with the aftermath of the war between Israel and Benjamin.

So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, האלהים) until evening, weeping loudly and uncontrollably.[2]  They had a foretaste of eternal life, not pie in the sky by and by nor tears without end but an amazing opportunity to know yehôvâh intimately.  The brotherhood had joined together to purge evil from Israel.  The Benjaminites joined together to withstand them.  The brotherhood prevailed, then they mourned the loss of so many of their brother Benjaminites.

They said, “Why, O Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי) of Israel, has this happened in Israel?”[3]  They regretted (nâcham, וינחמו) what had happened to their brother Benjamin. They acknowledged their part in it, saying, Today we cut off an entire tribe from Israel![4]  The text acknowledged yehôvâh’s complicity: And the people grieved (nâcham, נחם) for Benjamin, because the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) had made a void in the tribes of Israel.[5]  But they missed their moment to know Him.  I know this because Phinehas didn’t preach on the text: Then the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) relented (nâcham, וינחם) over the evil (raʽ, הרעה [H7451]) that he had said he would do to his people.[6]

Israel missed this eternal moment (as I’ve missed my own so often) because they treated it, not as a glorious insight and revelation to be savored but, as a problem to be solved.  How can we find wives for those who are left?[7]  Why was that a problem?  The Israelites had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite.”[8]   “After all, we took an oath in the Lord’s name,” the victorious brotherhood admitted, “not to give them our daughters as wives.”  So they asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?”[9]

The victorious brotherhood’s focus was not on eternal life, knowing yehôvâh, but on justifying themselves before yehôvâh: This is what the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) has commanded [Table]: If a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath of binding obligation on himself, he must not break his word, but must do whatever he has promised [Table].[10]  They had made two thoughtless oaths at Mizpah: They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah must certainly be executed.[11]  So from the beginning there was no real hope that the incident at Gibeah would be settled as a police matter: The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah,[12] but apparently did not attend.

And I, before I realized that I had the timing of events reversed, would have laid all that happened next on Jephthah.  I thought he was the brotherhood’s inspiration, a kind of butterfly effect, rather than someone overwhelmed by a massive wave of popular precedent.  That popular precedent might have become, if not the image of knowing yehôvâh, the image and meaning of obeying Him, if not for the precious words appended to its retelling: Each man did what he considered to be right.[13]   

Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering.  When they took roll call, they noticed none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were there.[14]  Jabesh Gilead was east of the Jordan River in the land that Phineas had insinuated might be tainted.  I’ve written elsewhere about the cost of acknowledging a thoughtless oath.  But the victorious brotherhood had “good” reason not to confess the thoughtless oath that “justified” exterminating the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, namely, their other thoughtless oath not to give their daughters as wives to the surviving Benjaminites (Judges 21:10, 11a NET):

So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors against Jabesh Gilead.  They commanded them, “Go and kill with your swords the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children (ṭaph, והטף; Septuagint: the translators seem to have edited out the part about killing children).  Do this: exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has had sexual relations with a male.  But spare the lives of any virgins.”

They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young girls (naʽărâh, נערה; Septuagint: νεάνιδας) who were virgins (bethûlâh, בתולה; Septuagint: παρθένους)…[15]  The Benjaminites returned at that time, and the Israelites gave to them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead.  But there were not enough to go around.[16]

So, they commanded the Benjaminites, “Go hide in the vineyards, and keep your eyes open.  When you see the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, jump out from the vineyards.  Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin.[17]  The Benjaminites did as instructed.  They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives.[18]  Then the brotherhood disbanded, after having become as great a menace (to more women) as the children of Belial they exterminated.

“There is no one righteous, not even one, Paul gathered the judgments of yehôvâh on the wicked and unbelieving scattered primarily throughout the Psalms of David (also Isaiah) and applied them to all, “there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.”

“Their throats are open graves, they deceive with their tongues (See Septuagint comparison below), the poison of asps is under their lips.”

“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood, ruin and misery are in their paths, and the way of peace they have not known (See Septuagint comparison below).”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”[19]

How can I rejoice (χαίροντες, a form of χαίρω) in hope here?  And I don’t mean simply in the face of ancient history.  For all our laws, all our police and all our courts, our “justice” is ultimately as puerile as theirs was.  It seems more like a time to endure (ὑπομένοντες, a form of ὑπομένω) in suffering than to rejoice in hope, but that is my point.

The same love which endures (ὑπομένει, another form of ὑπομένω) all things,[20] does not rejoice (χαίρει, another form of χαίρω) in iniquity (ἀδικίᾳ, a form of ἀδικία), but rejoices (συγχαίρει, a form of συγχαίρω) in the truth (ἀληθείᾳ, a form of ἀλήθεια);[21] love is the true justice which does no wrong to a neighbor in the first place; it is the fulfillment of the law,[22] rather than some vain effort to stuff the toothpaste back in the tube after injustice (ἀδικίᾳ, a form of ἀδικία) has prevailed.  And this love without hypocrisy, The love unfeigned, is what I think Paul continued to describe: Rejoice in hope (ἐλπίδι, a form of ἐλπίς), endure (ὑπομένοντες, a form of ὑπομένω) in suffering (θλίψει, a form of θλίψις), persist in prayer.[23]

Now may the God of hope (ἐλπίδος, another form of ἐλπίς) fill (πληρώσαι, a form of πληρόω) you with all joy (χαρᾶς, a form of χαρά) and peace (εἰρήνης, a form of εἰρήνη) as you believe in him, Paul wrote his benediction to the Romans, so that you may abound in hope (ἐλπίδι, a form of ἐλπίς) by the power (δυνάμει, a form of δύναμις) of the Holy Spirit.[24]  And by his power and the continuous infusion of his joy (χαρὰ) and his peace (εἰρήνη) [not to mention the other aspects of the fruit of the Spirit[25]], the apostles, after they had been beaten, left the council rejoicing (χαίροντες, a form of χαίρω) because they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name[26] (e.g., Ἰησοῦ, a form of Ἰησοῦς, understood as yehôvâh).

So is this χαρὰ from the Holy Spirit like some kind of drug that overcomes reality?  On the contrary, it is an aspect of the truth (ἀλήθεια) that overcomes the injustice (ἀδικίᾳ, a form of ἀδικία) that masquerades as reality.  Set them apart in the truth (ἀληθείᾳ, a form of ἀλήθεια), Jesus prayed to his Father, your word is truth (ἀλήθεια).[27]  We understand in some sense that we are not to focus on the manmade muck we see around us.  We are keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith instead.  For the joy (χαρᾶς, a form of χαρά) set out for him he endured (ὑπέμεινεν, another form of ὑπομένω) the cross…[28]  And the one who endures (ὑπομείνας, another form of ὑπομένω) to the end (τέλος) will be saved.[29]

As I considered all this I read an article in MSN News online:[30]

An Islamic State Jihadist killed his mother in a public square in the Syrian city of Raqa who begged him to leave the organization, a monitor said Friday.  Ali Saqr, 20, had reported his mother, Lina, to IS authorities in Raqa because “she tried to persuade him to leave IS and flee the city,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.  Authorities subsequently arrested the woman and accused her of apostasy, the monitoring group said.  On Wednesday, she was shot to death by her son “in front of hundreds of people close to the mail service building in Raqa city,” the Observatory added.

Ali Saqr is a comtemporary example of Jephthah or any of the brotherhood who judged and condemned the Benjaminites in Gibeah.  He cannot go home to consider what he has done.  He has been judged and condemned by Superpowers who care nothing for him.  If the entry to hell is marked by the words—Abandon all hope, ye who enter here—then the entry to our synagogues and churches should read—yehôvâh relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people—and the churches can add his most profound words—Follow Me!

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice (καυχώμεθα, a form of καυχάομαι) in the hope (ἐλπίδι, a form of ἐλπίς) of God’s glory.  Not only this, but we also rejoice (καυχώμεθα, a form of καυχάομαι) in sufferings (θλίψεσιν, another form of θλίψις), knowing that suffering (θλῖψις, another form of θλίψις) produces endurance (ὑπομονὴν, a form of ὑπομονή), and endurance (ὑπομονὴ), character, and character, hope (ἐλπίδα, another form of ἐλπίς) .  And hope (ἐλπὶς) does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.[31]

“Repent,” Peter said, “and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”  With many other words he testified and exhorted them saying, “Save yourselves from this perverse generation!”  So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added.  They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.[32]

It seems fitting to end this essay with Paul’s instruction to Timothy on prayer (1 Timothy 2:1-6 NET):

First of all, then, I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people, even for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.  Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God and one intermediary between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as a ransom for all, revealing God’s purpose at his appointed time.

Below are two tables comparing Old Testament quotations in Paul’s letter to the Romans to the Septuagint.

Romans 3:13 (NET)

 Romans 3:13 (Greek Text)

Psalms 5:9b; 140:3b (Septuagint)
Their throats are open graves,

they deceive with their tongues,

 τάφος ἀνεῳγμένος ὁ λάρυγξ αὐτῶν, ταῖς γλώσσαις αὐτῶν ἐδολιοῦσαν, τάφος ἀνεῳγμένος ὁ λάρυγξ αὐτῶν ταῖς γλώσσαις αὐτῶν ἐδολιοῦσαν
the poison of asps is under their lips. ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν διάψαλμα
Romans 3:15-17 (NET) Romans 3:15-17 (Greek Text)

Isaiah 59:7a, 7c, 8a  (Septuagint)
Their feet are swift to shed blood, ὀξεῖς οἱ πόδες αὐτῶν ἐκχέαι αἷμα, οἱ δὲ πόδες αὐτῶν ἐπὶ πονηρίαν τρέχουσιν ταχινοὶ ἐκχέαι αἷμα
ruin and misery are in their paths, σύντριμμα καὶ ταλαιπωρία ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν, σύντριμμα καὶ ταλαιπωρία ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν
and the way of peace they have not known. καὶ ὁδὸν εἰρήνης οὐκ ἔγνωσαν (a form of γινώσκω). καὶ ὁδὸν εἰρήνης οὐκ οἴδασιν (a form of εἴδω).

[1] Romans 12:12 (NET)

[2] Judges 21:2 (NET)

[3] Judges 21:3a (NET)

[4] Judges 21:6 (NET)

[5] Judges 21:15 (NKJV)

[6] Exodus 32:14 (NET)

[7] Judges 21:7a (NET)

[8] Judges 21:1 (NET)

[9] Judges 21:7b, 8a (NET)

[10] Numbers 30:1b, 2 (NET)

[11] Judges 21:5b (NET)

[12] Judges 20:3a (NET)

[13] Judges 21:25b (NET)

[14] Judges 21:8b, 9 (NET)

[15] Judges 21:12a (NET)

[16] Judges 21:14 (NET)

[17] Judges 21:20, 21 (NET)

[18] Judges 21:23a (NET)

[19] Romans 3:10b-18 (NET)

[20] 1 Corinthians 13:7d (NET)

[21] 1 Corinthians 13:6 (NKJV)

[22] Romans 13:10 (NET)

[23] Romans 12:12 (NET)

[24] Romans 15:13 (NET)

[25] Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)

[26] Acts 5:41 (NET) Table

[27] John 17:17 (NET)

[28] Hebrews 12:2a (NET)

[29] Mark 13:13b (NET)  I assume that this endurance is achieved by the patience (μακροθυμία) that is another aspect of the fruit of the Spirit not some act of will or human effort.

[30] “Syria jihadist ‘kills mother’ after she asked him to leave IS”

[31] Romans 5:1-5 (NET)

[32] Acts 2:38-42 (NET) Table1; Table2

Romans, Part 67

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I’m still considering, Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer[1] as a description of love rather than as rules to obey.  This essay picks up where I left off in the previous essay considering Phinehas’ background and role in events at Gibeah.

Now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) judgment,[2] Phinehas told the descendents of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh after hearing their defense.  It may not be obvious in the NET but it was a very poor choice of words: Now you have delivered (nâtsal, הצלתם) the children of Israel out of the hand (yâd, מיד) of the Lord (yehôvâh).[3]  It is not possible according to yehôvâh, Nor is there any who (ʼayin, ואין; literally, nothing) can deliver (nâtsal, מציל) from My hand (yâd).[4]  Beyond that, it was yehôvâh who delivered Israel from the hand of their enemies. 

O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord (yehôvâh),[5] Jacob prayed.  Rescue (nâtsal, הצילני) me, I pray, from the hand (yâd, מיד) of my brother Esau…[6]  The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) said [to Moses], “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt.  I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.  I have come down to deliver (nâtsal, להצילו) them from the hand (yâd, מיד) of the Egyptians…”[7]  Jethro rejoiced because of all the good that the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) had done for Israel, whom he had delivered (nâtsal, הצילו) from the hand (yâd, מיד) of Egypt.[8]

I’m particularly sensitive to this because I believed that Jesus delivered me from the hand of Jehovah (though I probably didn’t think about it in exactly those words).  My situation became more acute when I was too old to pray to Jesus but told to pray to “our Father in heaven” instead.  I was fairly compliant as a child with things over which I had control.  So I prayed to “our Father in heaven.”  But I couldn’t draw near to Him, not to Jehovah, the one who wanted to condemn me to hell for failing to keep his law.

Was deliverance from the hand of yehôvâh simply a slip of Phinehas’ tongue?  After all even in the New Testament the author of the letter to the Hebrews believed that it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.[9]  Or did Phinehas’ word choice accurately reflect his attitude?  David’s attitude by contrast, even regarding punishment, was, Please let us fall into the hand (yâd, ביד) of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand (yâd, וביד) of man.[10]  Had futility crept into Phinehas’ thoughts, a darkening of his senseless heart (Romans 1:21 NET Table)?

For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened.

These words were penned by a Benjaminite[11] who was extremely zealous for the traditions of [his] ancestors[12] until Jesus showed him a fresh and living way that [Jesus] inaugurated for us,[13] not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.[14]  I don’t fully understand how the Holy Spirit empowered people in the Old Testament (which is not to say that I fully understand Him in the New).

Samson is perhaps the most confusing example: Samson…grew and the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) empowered him.  The Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) spirit began to control him in Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.  Samson went down to Timnah, where a Philistine girl caught his eye.[15]  Though his parents protested his choice, the text is clear that his father and mother did not realize this was the Lord’s (yehôvâh, מיהוה) doing, because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines.[16]  Samson’s choice and great strength are not the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control[17] with which I am more familiar.

I turn to David again: Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.[18]  Perhaps Phinehas’ statement—Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not disobeyed the Lord in this[19]—is a similar recognition that yehôvâh’s presence, his Holy Spirit, creates the clean heart and steadfast spirit that effected righteousness among the descendants of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh.  Still, Moses wished for more for the descendants of Israel: I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them![20]

So I’m not sure whether Phinehas made a poor word choice or was becoming futile in his thoughts (e.g., actually intending to thank or praise the descendants of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh for delivering him from the hand of yehôvâh), whether he was fearing yehôvâh or afraid of yehôvâh, drawing near or fleeing in his heart and mind.  But I want to keep it as an open question as I move from the failure to resolve matters at Gibeah as a police function to war: The Benjaminites came from their cities and assembled at Gibeah to make war against the Israelites.[21]  

Vengeance War in Gibeah Divided Kingdom
The Lord spoke to Moses: “Exact vengeance for the Israelites on the Midianites…

Numbers 31:1, 2a (NET)

 The Israelites went up to Bethel and asked God, “Who should lead the charge against the Benjaminites?”  The Lord said, “Judah should lead.”

Judges 20:18 (NET)

 God told Shemaiah the prophet, “Say this to King Rehoboam son of Solomon of Judah, and to all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the rest of the people, ‘The Lord says this: “Do not attack and make war with your brothers, the Israelites.  Each of you go home, for I have caused this [Israel’s rebellion against Judah and Benjamin] to happen”’” [Table].

1 Kings 12:22-24a (NET)

I’ve placed the war in Gibeah between yehôvâh’s vengeance on the Midianites and his prohibition of Judah declaring war on the northern kingdom of Israel.  The Israelites assumed they were called to war against Benjamin and asked yehôvâh which tribe should lead.  The war was neither initiated nor forbidden by yehôvâh.  Judah should lead, He said.

Vengeance War in Gibeah Divided Kingdom
So Moses sent them to the war… They fought against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed every male.  They killed the kings of Midian in addition to those slain – Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba – five Midianite kings.  They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

Numbers 31:6-8 (NET)

 The Israelites got up the next morning and moved against Gibeah.  The men of Israel marched out to fight Benjamin; they arranged their battle lines against Gibeah.

Judges 20:19, 20 (NET)

 They obeyed the Lord and went home as the Lord had ordered them to do [Table].

1 Kings 12:24b (NET)

Assuming that Judah actually did lead Israel at Gibeah, yehôvâh was obeyed in all three examples.  Since neither Judah nor the northern kingdom of Israel suffered any casualties in a war that didn’t happen I switched to Ai for purposes of comparison below. 

Vengeance War in Gibeah Ai
Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders over thousands and the commanders over hundreds, approached Moses and said to him, “Your servants have taken a count of the men who were in the battle, who were under our authority, and not one is missing.

Numbers 31:48, 49 (NET)

 The Benjaminites attacked from Gibeah and struck down twenty-two thousand Israelites that day.

Judges 20:21 (NET)

 The Lord was furious with the Israelites.  Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai… So about three thousand men went up, but they fled from the men of Ai.  The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them…

Joshua 7:1b, 2a, 4, 5a (NET)

Was yehôvâh over 600 times more furious with Israel at Gibeah than at Ai?  Okay, proportionally speaking, was He four and one half times more furious?  According to the Zohar, “God was unwilling that other sinners of Israel should be the instruments for punishing them [the descendants of Benjamin], and therefore numbers of them fell time after time until all the sinners in the attacking army had perished, and there were left only those more righteous ones who could more appropriately execute the work.”[22] If I had only the story of the battle at Ai to go on, I might agree with this assessment.  But I have more Scripture that the writer(s) of the Zohar rejected (Luke 13:1-5 NET):

Now there were some present on that occasion who told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.  He answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things?  No, I tell you!  But unless you repent, you will all perish as well!  Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem?  No, I tell you!  But unless you repent you will all perish as well!” 

So apart from an explicit statement of Scripture (as in the case of Achan[23]) I assume that the opinion in the Zohar is unwarranted.  The reason given in the text has nothing to do with yehôvâh, rather there were seven hundred specially-trained left-handed soldiers among the Benjaminites.  Each one could sling a stone and hit even the smallest target.[24]

War in Gibeah Ai
The Israelite army took heart (châzaq, ויתחזק) and once more arranged their battle lines, in the same place where they had taken their positions the day before.

Judges 20:22 (NET)

 … and chased them from in front of the city gate all the way to the fissures and defeated them on the steep slope.  The people’s courage melted away like water.

Joshua 7:5b (NET)
The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening.

Judges 20:23a (NET)

 Joshua tore his clothes; he and the leaders of Israel lay face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening and threw dirt on their heads.

Joshua 7:6 (NET)

At Gibeah the Israelites suffered 22,000 casualties, grabbed or persuaded themselves and reformed their battle lines while the Israelites at Ai suffered 36 casualties and were routed.  The reason is given in the text: The men of Israel (not counting Benjamin) had mustered four hundred thousand sword-wielding soldiers, every one an experienced warrior.[25]

At Ai Joshua prayed, O, Master (ʼădônây, אדני), Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה)!  Why did you bring these people across the Jordan to hand us over to the Amorites…[26]  What will you do to protect your great reputation?[27]  Israel has sinned,[28] yehôvâh responded.  The Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they retreat because they have become subject to annihilation.[29]  The “trial” and execution of Achan[30] (along with his family) followed this.  In Gibeah (Judges 20:23b-25 NET):

They asked the Lord, “Should we again march out to fight the Benjaminites, our brothers?”  The Lord said, “Attack them!”  So the Israelites marched toward the Benjaminites the next day.  The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers.

Israel was no longer yehôvâh’s weapon of judgment: The Lord was furious with Israel.  He said, “This nation has violated the terms of the agreement I made with their ancestors by disobeying me.  So I will no longer remove before them any of the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died.[31]  Then I consider the trajectory from weapon of judgment to objects of mercy[32] (Matthew 5:38-42 NET):

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’  But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer.  But whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well [Table].  And if someone wants to sue you and to take your tunic, give him your coat also.  And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two.  Give to the one who asks you, and do not reject the one who wants to borrow from you [Table].”

Jesus spoke to objects (KJV: vessels) of mercy under occupation of a very effective Roman government.  In those days Israel had no king,[33] the story of the Levite and his concubine began, addressing not merely the lack of a hereditary monarchy but the fact that Israel had rejected[34] yehôvâh as their king.  I think what is witnessed at the battle of Gibeah is two well-trained armies fighting in their own strength, without yehôvâh’s aid or interference.[35]  The outcome is a foregone conclusion as long as the larger army continues to fight.  But at first the Israelites fought for principle while the Benjaminites fought for their lives.[36]  Apart from miraculous intervention Phinehas’ role was reduced to providing encouragement and officiating at sacrifices.[37]  He is virtually nonexistent in the text.

Admittedly, I’m threading the eye of a subtle needle here.  I recognize that the Israelites intended to go to war by the throw of the dice.  But I accept yehôvâh’s acquiescence (at a minimum) because the Scripture reads: The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) said, “Judah should lead”[38] and, The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) said, “Attack them!”[39]  At the same time I’m hearing, The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) said, “Attack, for tomorrow I will hand (yâd, בידך) them over to you”[40] and, The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) annihilated Benjamin before Israel,[41] as Phinehas’ manner of speaking, expressing yehôvâh’s foreknowledge and it’s fulfillment, and not necessarily yehôvâh’s direct involvement as when Israel was his weapon of judgment.

If I were able to interview all the survivors, I take it for granted that I’d hear many battlefield stories of individual and small group salvations credited to yehôvâh’s intercession.  I don’t doubt that many of those stories would be true examples of yehôvâh’s intercession.  Nor do I doubt that I would hear true salvation stories from both opposing armies.  But I doubt that Israel was yehôvâh’s weapon of judgment against Benjamin as they were against Midian.

The next day Israel followed the same tactic[42] against Benjamin that Joshua commanded at Ai.[43]  I don’t know if this came from Joshua’s writing, Phinehas’ memory or is evidence of the development of a professional military command structure with an institutional memory.  The Benjaminites apparently did not read Joshua, did not have Phinehas as an advisor or did not have a professional military command structure with an institutional memory and fell for the ruse.  The Israelites struck down that day 25,100 sword-wielding Benjaminites.[44]  Counting the 600 survivors they had only killed 1,000 in the previous two days of fighting while they suffered 40,000 casualties.

Israel apparently left the survivors alone for four months.  The Israelites regretted what had happened to their brother Benjamin.[45]  Why, O Lord God of Israel, has this happened in Israel? they prayed.  An entire tribe has disappeared from Israel today![46]

[1] Romans 12:12 (NET)

[2] Joshua 22:31b (NET)

[3] Joshua 22:31b (NKJV)

[4] Deuteronomy 32:39b (NKJV)

[5] Genesis 32:9a (NET)

[6] Genesis 32:11a (NET)

[7] Exodus 3:7, 8a (NET)

[8] Exodus 18:9 (NET)

[9] Hebrews 10:31 (NET)

[10] 2 Samuel 24:14 (NKJV)

[11] Romans 11:1, Philippians 3:5 (NET)

[12] Galatians 1:14b (NET)

[13] Hebrews 10:20a (NET)

[14] 2 Corinthians 3:6b (NET)

[15] Judges 13:24b-14:1 (NET)

[16] Judges 14:4a (NET)

[17] Galatians 5:22, 23a (NET)

[18] Psalm 51:10, 11 (NKJV) Table1 Table2

[19] Joshua 22:31a (NET)

[20] Numbers 11:29b (NET)

[21] Judges 20:14 (NET)

[22] http://jbq.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/412/jbq_41_2_idolofmicah.pdf

[23] In fact, no one would say that the 36 who died at Ai were worse sinners than the other 2,964 soldiers because as yehôvâh’s weapon of judgment all Israel was guilty and subject to annihilation because one man sinned.

[24] Judges 20:16 (NET)

[25] Judges 20:17 (NET)

[26] Joshua 7:7 (NET)

[27] Joshua 7:9b (NET)

[28] Joshua 7:11a (NET) Table

[29] Joshua 7:12a (NET) Table

[30] Joshua 7:16-26 (NET)

[31] Judges 2:20, 21 (NET)

[32] Romans 9:21-24  Darby related this directly to Romans 11:30-32 in his translation: For as indeed *ye* [also] once have not believed in God, but now have been objects of mercy through the unbelief of *these*; so these also have now not believed in your mercy, in order that *they* also may be objects of mercy.  For God hath shut up together all in unbelief, in order that he might shew mercy to all.

[33] Judges 19:1a (NET)

[34] 1 Samuel 8:6-9 (NET)

[35] Judges 7:9-14 (NET)

[36] Deuteronomy 13:12-18 (NET)

[37] Judges 20:26-28 (NET)

[38] Judges 20:18b (NET)

[39] Judges 20:23b (NET)

[40] Judges 20:28b (NET)

[41] Judges 20:35a (NET)

[42] Judges 20:29-48 (NET)

[43] Joshua 8:3-8 (NET)

[44] Judges 20:35b (NET)

[45] Judges 21:6a (NET)

[46] Judges 21:3 (NET)

Romans, Part 66

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I am still considering, by a very long way around, Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer[1] as a description of love rather than as rules to obey.  In this particular essay I’m attempting to add some detail if not some clarity to the questions asked at the end of the previous essay: Were the Benjaminites wholehearted supporters of the children of Belial’s right to know any strange man who wandered into town or to gang-rape young women?  Or did they decide that it was better to die fighting than to acknowledge the children of Belial among them and give their brothers legal cause to slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate with the sword everyone in it[2]?

I assumed since the story of the Levite and his concubine came late in the book of Judges that it happened late in the time period that the Judges led Israel.  But the high priest at the time was none other than Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron.[3]

The Priest Lists
1 Chronicles 6:3b-15 (NET) 1 Chronicles 6:50-53 (NET) Ezra 7:1-5 (NET)
Aaron Aaron Aaron
Eleazar Eleazar Eleazar
Phinehas Phinehas Phinehas
Abishua Abishua Abishua
Bukki Bukki Bukki
Uzzi Uzzi Uzzi
Zerahiah Zerahiah Zerahiah
Meraioth Meraioth Meraioth
Amariah Amariah
Ahitub Ahitub
Zadok Zadok
Ahimaaz Ahimaaz
Azariah
Johanan
Azariah[4] Azariah
Amariah Amariah
Ahitub Ahitub
Zadok Zadok
Shallum Shallum
Hilkiah Hilkiah
Azariah Azariah
Seraiah[5] Seraiah
Jehozadak[6] Ezra

Phinehas was introduced apparently as a boy who took a javelin in his hand.[7]  And now I see what I never saw before in these events (Numbers 25:1-5 NET).

When Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality (zânâh, לזנות; Septuagint: ἐκπορνεῦσαι, a form of ἐκπορνεύω) with the daughters of Moab.  These women invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיהן); then the people ate and bowed down to their gods (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, לאלהיהן).  When Israel joined themselves to Baal-peor (baʽal peʽôr, פעור), the anger of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) flared up against Israel.  The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) said to Moses, “Arrest all the leaders (rôʼsh, ראשי) of the people, and hang them up before the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה) in broad daylight, so that the fierce anger of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) may be turned away from Israel.”  So Moses said to the judges (shâphaṭ, שפטי) of Israel, “Each of you must execute (hârag, הרגו) those of his men who were joined to Baal-peor (baʽal peʽôr, פעור).”

Moses and the whole community of the Israelites, were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting.[8]  I don’t know if they wept because of the sorrow believers feel when those who profess faith are found in sin or because their leaders[9] were about to be executed or because of an unspecified[10] plague that ravaged them.   But as the people wept Zimri,[11] a man of Israel, paraded Cozbi,[12] a Midianite woman, before them.

When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he got up from among the assembly, took a javelin in his hand, and went after the Israelite man into the tent and thrust through the Israelite man and into the woman’s abdomen.[13]  Every other time I’ve read this I assumed that Phinehas was also a priest, acting with yehôvâh’s authority, prompted by his Holy Spirit.  But suspecting now that he was an upstart boy as liable to judgment and condemnation for his action as not, I hear yehôvâh’s words differently (Numbers 25:10-13 NET): 

The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) spoke to Moses: “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites, when he manifested such zeal for my sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in my zeal.  Therefore, announce: ‘I am going to give to him my covenant of peace.  So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, לאלהיו), and has made atonement for the Israelites.’”

So the plague was stopped from the Israelites.  Those that died in the plague were 24,000.[14]  And Phinehas lived to become the high priest advising the brotherhood assembled  at Gibeah demanding the lives of the children of Belial.  Unless he lived three hundred[15] or more years (and that remarkable feat wasn’t mentioned) this was not at the end of the rule of the Judges.  So I consider again the preamble of the book of Judges (Judges 2:18, 19 NET):

When the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) raised up leaders (shâphaṭ, שפטים) for them, the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) was with each leader (shâphaṭ, השפט) and delivered the people from their enemies while the leader (shâphaṭ, השופט) remained alive.  The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) felt sorry for them when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them.  When a leader (shâphaṭ, השופט) died, the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one.  They would follow after other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them.  They did not give up their practices or their stubborn ways [Table].

It is disheartening and a bit disconcerting (though not entirely implausible) to place the events at Gibeah at or near the top of this downward spiral rather than at its bottom.  But dating it nearer Israel’s conquest of annihilation against the prior inhabitants of Canaan may go a long way toward explaining the vindictiveness of the brotherhood toward their brothers.  Consider Phinehas’ formative education (Numbers 31:1-3 NET).

The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) spoke to Moses:  “Exact (nâqam, נקם; Septuagint: ἐκδίκει, a form of ἐκδικέω) vengeance (neqâmâh, נקמת; Septuagint: ἐκδίκησιν, a form of ἐκδίκησις) for the Israelites on the Midianites – after that you will be gathered to your people.”

So Moses spoke to the people: “Arm men from among you for the war, to attack the Midianites and to execute the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) vengeance (neqâmâh, נקמת; Septuagint: ἐκδίκησιν, a form of ἐκδίκησις) on Midian.

So Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge of the holy articles and the signal trumpets.[16]  They killed all the men, including Balaam son of Beor.[17]  But Moses was furious[18] (Numbers 31:15-18 NET):

Moses said to them, “Have you allowed all the women to live?  Look, these people through the counsel of Balaam caused the Israelites to act treacherously against the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה) in the matter of Peor – which resulted in the plague among the community of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה)!  Now therefore kill every boy, and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse (mishkâb, למשכב) with a man.  But all the young women who have not had sexual intercourse (mishkâb, משכב) with a man will be yours.

I want to pause a moment to consider Balaam, to challenge and enlighten my own parochialism.  The Israelites killed Balaam son of Beor, the omen (qâsam, הקוסם) reader, along with the others.[19]  When you enter the land the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך) is giving you, Moses said to Israel, you must not learn the abhorrent practices of those nations.  There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, anyone who practices divination (qesem, קסם), an omen (qâsam, קסמים) reader, a soothsayer (nâchash, ומנחש), a sorcerer, one who casts spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner of the occult, or a necromancer.  Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) and because of these detestable things the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך) is about to drive them out from before you.[20]  Balaam was not a son of Israel but was of Pethor in Aram Naharaim.[21]  He was certainly no follower of Jesus.

Yet while not denying the truth of any of this I must accept that yehôvâh used Balaam as his prophet to Balak.  But the angel of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you may only speak the word that I will speak to you.”  So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.[22]  Then the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.”[23] Then the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) met Balaam and put a message in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.”[24]

Balaam was affected by his association with yehôvâh.   He uttered his oracle[25] (mâshâl, משלו; also translated discourse and speech).  How can I curse one whom God (ʼêl, אל) has not cursed, or how can I denounce one whom the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) has not denounced?[26] Must I not be careful to speak what the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) has put in my mouth?[27]  Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) speaks, I must do’?[28]  When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) to bless Israel, he did not go as at the other times to seek for omens (nachash, נחשים), but he set his face toward the wilderness.[29] 

This is not to say that Israel was wrong to kill Balaam when they found him in Midian.  If yehôvâh wanted to spare him, He could have warned Moses or Balaam himself.  If Balaam was warned but refused or was too fearful to flee, that is another story I won’t know for the time being.  And Balaam was not made perfect.  He still tried to accommodate his employers’ desire to destroy Israel by counseling them [in the name of Baal-peor(?)] how to use women to trip them up.  The Children of God called it “Flirty Fishing.”  Balaam was not fit to be a prophet of Israel (Deuteronomy 18:13-15 NET): 

You must be blameless before the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך), Moses continued.  Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen (qâsam, קסמים) readers and diviners, but the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך) has not given you permission to do such things. The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך) will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you – from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him [Table].

To pick up again with Phinehas’ formative education: The Israelites sent Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh[30] to investigate why they had built an impressive altar[31] near the west bank of the Jordan River.  Tensions were running high, as high if not higher, then when the descendants of Reuben and Gad petitioned[32] Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the community[33] for possession of the conquered land east of the Jordan.  Moses, forbidden to enter the promised land and near death, assumed that the descendants of Reuben and Gad plotted to discourage Israel from entering that land.  He said (Numbers 32:14, 15 NET):

Now look, you are standing in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinners, to increase still further the fierce wrath of the Lord (yehôvih, יהוה) against the Israelites.  For if you turn away from following him, he will once again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will be the reason for their destruction.

This is the end of a fearful diatribe that twice mentions yehôvâh’s anger: So the anger of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) was kindled that day,[34] and, So the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) anger was kindled against the Israelites.[35]  Whatever the fear of the Lord meant to yehôvâh, to Moses at that moment it meant fearing what yehôvâh could do to the whole of Israel if any disobeyed Him.

The descendants of Reuben and Gad joined their brothers in the conquest of Canaan west of the Jordan, but after they were blessed by Joshua and released to return home they built a strange altar.  When the Israelites heard this, the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to launch an attack against them.[36]  They sent Phinehas and ten leaders with this message instead: “The entire community of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) says, ‘Why have you disobeyed the God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, באלהי) of Israel by turning back today from following the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה)?  You built an altar for yourselves and have rebelled today against the Lord (yehôvâh).’”[37] The same fear, what yehôvâh might do to the whole community, is evident (Joshua 22:17, 18, 22a NET):

The sin we committed at Peor was bad enough.  To this very day we have not purified[38] ourselves; it even brought a plague on the community of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה).  Now today you dare to turn back from following the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה)!  You are rebelling today against the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה); tomorrow he may break out in anger against the entire community of Israel….When Achan son of Zerah disobeyed the command about the city’s riches, the entire Israelite community was judged…

The descendants of Reuben and Gad replied (Joshua 22:24-27 NET):

We swear we have done this because we were worried that in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord (yehôvâh, וליהוה) God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי) of Israel?  The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites.  You have no right to worship the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה).’  In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying (yârêʼ, ירא) the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה).  So we decided to build this altar, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a reminder to us and you, and to our descendants who follow us, that we will honor the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) in his very presence with burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace.  Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, ‘You have no right to worship the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה).’

It is remarkable that soldiers on their way home to wives and families would even consider such a thing.  But in such tense times the descendants of Reuben and Gad had faced heightened suspicion from Moses and apparently the rest of Israel ever since they expressed a desire for land east of the Jordan that was ideal for cattle: Now the Reubenites and the Gadites possessed a very large number of cattle.[39]  Phinehas had even insinuated that there might be something wrong with the land: But if your own land is impure, cross over to the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) own land, where the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) himself lives, and settle down among us.[40]  (Gibeah, by the way, was west of the Jordan in the Lord’s own land, where the Lord himself lives.)

I will sharpen my lightning-like sword, and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment (Septuagint: κρίματος, a form of κρίμα); yehôvâh said, I will execute vengeance (Septuagint: δίκην, a form of δίκη) on my foes, and repay those who hate me![41]  He chose the soldiers of Israel as his weapon against the inhabitants of Canaan.  But his work is perfect (Septuagint: ἀληθινὰ, a form of ἀληθινός), for all his ways are just (Septuagint: κρίσεις, a form of κρίσις).  He is a reliable (Septuagint: πιστός) God (ʼêl, אל) who is never unjust (Septuagint: ἀδικία), he is fair (Septuagint: δίκαιος) and upright.[42]

To be that weapon those soldiers and all Israel must be that perfect in his sight.  Jesus knew what He was talking about when He taught: Do not judge (κρίνετε, a form of κρίνω) so that you will not be judged (κριθῆτε, another form of κρίνω).  For by the standard (κρίματι, another form of κρίμα) you judge (κρίνετε, another form of κρίνω) you will be judged (κριθήσεσθε, another form of κρίνω), and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.[43]

To achieve that perfection through a kind of “natural selection” (e.g., the death of those who did not achieve it) and the fear of that death, or the fear of whatever else yehôvâh’s anger might do to the living, puts the flesh, the Belial if you will, under tremendous pressure.  Perfection achieved in this manner exists only as long as the pressure that created it.  Relax that pressure ever so slightly and the flesh, the Belial, erupts as it did among the sons of Belial at Gibeah.  And so we find Phinehas, who lived his entire life under that kind of pressure, attempting to put the toothpaste back in the tube by the only means he knows.

Granted, the descendents of Benjamin didn’t respond to the situation like innocent men.  As a case in point hear the response of the descendents of Reuben and Gad (Joshua 22:22, 23 NET): 

El (אל), God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים), the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה)!  El (אל), God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים), the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה)!  He knows the truth!  Israel must also know!  If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה), don’t spare us today!  If we have built an altar for ourselves to turn back from following the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) by making burnt sacrifices and grain offerings on it, or by offering tokens of peace on it, the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) himself will punish (bâqash, יבקש; Septuagint: ἐκζητήσει, a form of ἐκζητέω) us. 

Reach agreement quickly with your accuser while on the way to court, Jesus taught, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the warden, and you will be thrown into prison.[44]  When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders and clan leaders who accompanied him heard the defense of the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, they were satisfied.  Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, “Today we know that the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) is among us, because you have not disobeyed the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה) in this.  Now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) judgment (yâd, מיד; Septuagint: χειρὸς, a form of χείρ).”[45]

I’ll pick this up in the next essay.

Romans, Part 67

Back to Romans, Part 68

Back to Romans, Part 72

Back to Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 3

[1] Romans 12:12 (NET)

[2] Deuteronomy 13:15 (NET)

[3] Judges 20:28a (NET)

[4] Johanan was the father of Azariah, who served as a priest in the temple Solomon built in Jerusalem. (1 Chronicles 6:10 NET)

[5] 2 Kings 25:18, Jeremiah 52:24 (NET)

[6] Jehozadak went into exile when the Lord sent the people of Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. (1 Chronicles 6:15 NET)

[7] Numbers 25:7 (NET)

[8] Numbers 25:6b (NET)

[9] The leaders of the people were rôʼsh, not  baʽal, and not belı̂yaʽal.

[10] Frankly, I don’t know if this plague was a deadly disease, the execution of the leaders of the people, the rampant ἐκπορνεῦσαι (Hebrew: zânâh, לזנות) of the people (and the word is people not men) with the daughters of Moab, or both of the latter.

[11] Numbers 25:14 (NET)

[12] Numbers 25:15 (NET)

[13] Numbers 25:7, 8a (NET)

[14] Numbers 25:8b, 9 (NET)

[15] Judges 11:26 (NET)

[16] Numbers 31:6 (NET)

[17] Numbers 31:7, 8 (NET)

[18] Numbers 31:14a (NET)

[19] Joshua 13:22 (NET)

[20] Deuteronomy 18:9-12 (NET)

[21] Deuteronomy 23:4b (NET)

[22] Numbers 22:35 (NET)

[23] Numbers 23:5 (NET)

[24] Numbers 23:16 (NET)

[25] Numbers 23:7a (NET)

[26] Numbers 23:8 (NET)

[27] Numbers 23:12 (NET)

[28] Numbers 23:26b (NET)

[29] Numbers 24:1 (NET)

[30] Joshua 22:13 (NET)

[31] Joshua 22:10 (NET)

[32] Numbers 32:5 (NET)

[33] Numbers 32:2 (NET)

[34] Numbers 32:10 (NET)

[35] Numbers 32:13 (NET)

[36] Joshua 22:12 (NET)

[37] Joshua 22:16 (NET)

[38] Did Phinehas’ zeal bring a “premature” halt to the execution of those who were joined to Baal-peor?  The Lord spoke to Moses: “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites, when he manifested such zeal for my sake among them…”

[39] Numbers 32:1 (NET)

[40] Joshua 22:19a (NET)

[41] Deuteronomy 32:41 (NET)

[42] Deuteronomy 32:4 (NET)

[43] Matthew 7:1, 2 (NET) Table

[44] Matthew 5:25 (NET)

[45] Joshua 22:30, 31 (NET)

Romans, Part 65

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I’m still considering Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer[1] as a description of love rather than as rules to obey.  I’m focusing now on the aftermath of the death of the Levite’s concubine.  The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “How could such a wicked thing take place?  Now, hand over the good-for-nothings (belı̂yaʽal, בליעל) in Gibeah so we can execute them and purge Israel of wickedness.”[2]

On the surface of it this sounds like a thoughtful and lawful way to proceed.  But I note that the Levite had not called the perpetrators of the crime in Gibeah good-for-nothings (KJV: children of Belial) but baʽal.[3]  Perhaps baʽal in this context communicated children of belı̂yaʽal to the Levite’s contemporaries, but I suspect that it carried a more technical legal weight in this particular accusation (Deuteronomy 13:12-18 NET).

Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that some evil (belı̂yaʽal, בליעל; KJV: children of Belial) people have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before).  You must investigate thoroughly and inquire carefully.  If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done among you, you must by all means slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock.  You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin forever – it must never be rebuilt again.  You must not take for yourself anything that has been placed under judgment.  Then the Lord will relent from his intense anger, show you compassion, have mercy on you, and multiply you as he promised your ancestors.  Thus you must obey the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am giving you today and doing what is right before him.

Not only that, but purge Israel of wickedness was a familiar theme from the law.

Reference NET Hebrew Septuagint
Deuteronomy 13:5 purge out evil from within ובערת הרע מקרבך ἀφανιεῖς τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν
Deuteronomy 17:7 purge evil from among you ובערת הרע מקרבך ף ἐξαρεῖς τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν
Deuteronomy 17:12 purge evil from Israel ובערת הרע מישׁראל ἐξαρεῖς τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ Ισραηλ
Deuteronomy 19:13 purge out the blood of the innocent from Israel ובערת דם הנקי מישׁראל καθαριεῖς τὸ αἷμα τὸ ἀναίτιον ἐξ Ισραηλ
Deuteronomy 19:19 purge[4] evil from among you ובערת הרע מקרבך ἐξαρεῖς τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν
Deuteronomy 21:9 purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you תבער הדם הנקי מקרבך כי ἐξαρεῖς τὸ αἷμα τὸ ἀναίτιον ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν
Deuteronomy 21:21 purge out wickedness from among you ובערת הרע מקרבך ἐξαρεῖς τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν
Deuteronomy 22:21 purge evil from among you ובערת הרע מקרבך ס ἐξαρεῖς τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν
Deuteronomy 22:22 purge evil from Israel ובערת הרע מישׁראל ס ἐξαρεῖς τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ Ισραηλ
Deuteronomy 22:24 purge evil from among you ובערת הרע מקרבך ס ἐξαρεῖς τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν
Deuteronomy 24:7 purge evil from among you ובערת הרע מקרבך ἐξαρεῖς τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν
Judges 20:13 purge Israel of wickedness ונבערה [5]רעה מישׁראל ἐκκαθαριοῦμεν πονηρίαν ἀπὸ Ισραηλ

I went to bed meditating on these details with a line from Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill, Volume 1” flitting around in my memory: “When fortune smiles on something as violent and ugly as revenge, it seems proof like no other that not only does God exist, you’re doing his will.”[6]  I awoke the next morning with the fresh insight that yehôvâh had this law (Deuteronomy 13:12-18) at his disposal throughout the period covered by the book of Judges.

The Israelites did evil (raʽ, הרע) in the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) sight.  They forgot the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) their God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיהם) and worshiped the Baals (baʽal, הבעלים) and the Asherahs.[7]  They had become the children of Belial by definition.  The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) was furious with Israel,[8] but he did not invoke this law.  He turned them over to King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram-Naharaim[9] instead.  They were Cushan-Rishathaim’s subjects for eight years.[10]  And I was reminded of Moses’ intercession with yehôvâh.

When the first forty day covenant ended yehôvâh had Israel dead to rights.  They had despised that covenant,[11] but yehôvâh intended to honor it: Whoever sacrifices to a god other than the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה) alone must be utterly destroyed.[12] 

So now, leave me alone, He said to Moses, so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them, and I will make from you a great nation.[13]

Turn from your burning anger, Moses interceded, and relent (nâcham, והנחם) of this evil (raʽ, הרעה) against your people.[14] 

Then the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) relented (nâcham, וינחם) over the evil (raʽ, הרעה) that he had said he would do to his people,[15] though they had made themselves children of Belial.  The prophet Samuel, the last of the judges, defined children of Belial as those who knew not yehôvâh: Now the sons of Eli [the priest] were sons of Belial (belı̂yaʽal,בליעל ); they knew (yâdaʽ ידעו) not the LORD (yehôvâh).[16]

Do not become partners with those who do not believe, Paul wrote the Corinthians, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness?  And what agreement does Christ have with Beliar (Βελιάρ, a form of Βελίαλ)?  Or what does a believer share in common with an unbeliever?  And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols?  For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, “I will live in them and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”  Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the All-Powerful Lord.[17] 

When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), the passage in Judges continued, he (yehôvâh, יהוה) raised up a deliverer for the Israelites who rescued them.  His name was Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother [Table].  The Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) spirit empowered him and he led (shâphaṭ, וישפט) Israel.[18]

I feel more than a little awkward about it, but I’ll quote from a website on Satanism, not to establish some identity for Belial.  The witch I worked for in school told me with a straight face that he worshiped Celtic Baal but did not believe that Celtic Baal existed in any other sense than as a personification of natural forces.  Though he would cringe at being compared to a Satanist (he perceived Satanism as a Christian heresy), I think one would find the same range from true believers to those who only believe in personifications of natural forces among Satanists.  I quote the following merely to hear Belial as what Paul called the flesh, speaking honestly, audaciously and uncensored by law or religion.

Belial is the carnal side of man, the lust, sex, pleasure and therefore the principal drives that make living worthwhile. People derive all the principal emotions of the higher ego from Belial: Pride comes from self control and suppression of the Belial, strength, pleasure and independence come from embracing it. Belial is the Master of the Earth, the force that holds Humankind by its balls, any security or stability are results of lessons learnt from dealing with this Crown Prince.

Belial is the champion of simply being human, for the flesh, the material and the carnal. In essence, a reverence for Belial affirms how “good” the flesh/humanity is. Unrestrained by law or morality; lawless; immoral; dissolute; lewd; lascivious, Unrestrained; uncurbed; uncontrolled; unruly; riotous; ungovernable; wanton; profligate; dissolute; lax; loose; sensual; impure; unchaste; lascivious; immoral, dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure.[19]

We salt this flesh with law and spread religious jelly on it to alter its flavor somewhat, but can’t change its essence.  Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above,’[20] yehôvâh in human flesh as Jesus said.  And Paul wrote to believers in Rome (Romans 6:3-7 NET): 

Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.

For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection.  We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)

And again, Paul wrote to believers in Galatia (Galatians 2:20, 21 NET):

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!

The essence of Wiccan morality (as well as many American teenagers, among others) is stated, “as long as you aren’t harming anyone, do as you wish.”  But when we do as we wish in our flesh, we children of Belial, we inevitably and without fail do harm to someone.  And that brought me back to the Kill Bill quotation: “When fortune smiles on something as violent and ugly as revenge, it seems proof like no other that not only does God exist, you’re doing his will.”

These lines, spoken by a character known as the Bride in Volume 1 (aka Black Mamba), was played and partially created by Uma Thurman.  The Bride was a former member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, a kind of Manson family with style, not political revolutionaries but contract killers.  We’re deep in Belial territory here, and the god to which the Bride referred (and personified for two films) was δίκη—Vengeance.  Here is an exchange between Black Mamba (the Bride) and Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox) from Kill Bill, Volume 1:

Black Mamba: I’m not gonna murder you in front of your [four-year-old] child, okay?

Copperhead: That’s being more rational than Bill led me to believe you were capable of.

Black Mamba: It’s mercy, compassion and forgiveness I lack—not rationality.

Copperhead: Look, I know I fucked you over.  I fucked you over bad.  I wish to God I hadn’t, but I did.  You have every right to want to get even.

Black Mamba (chuckling): No, to get even, even Stephen, I would have to kill you, go up to Nikki’s room, kill her, then wait for your husband to come home and kill him.  That’d be even, Vernita.  That’d be about square.

Copperhead: Look, if I could go back in a machine, I would.  But I can’t.  All I can tell you is that I’m a different person now.

Black Mamba: Oh, great.  I don’t care.

Copperhead: Be that as it may, I know I don’t deserve your mercy or your forgiveness.  However, I beseech you for both on behalf of my daughter.

Black Mamba: Bitch, you can stop right there.  Just because I have no wish to murder you before the eyes of your daughter does not mean parading her around in front of me is gonna inspire sympathy.  You and I have unfinished business.  And not a goddam fucking thing you’ve done in the subsequent four years, including getting knocked up, is gonna change that.

It hit home hard since I had thought that yehôvâh/Jesus was δίκη, and had mistaken his patience and mercy for proof of his nonexistence when I turned to atheism.  The word of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) came to[21] Ezekiel (Ezekiel 18:21-29 NET):

“But if the wicked person turns from all the sin he has committed and observes all my statutes and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.  None of the sins he has committed will be held against him; because of the righteousness he has done, he will live.  Do I actually delight in the death of the wicked, declares the sovereign (ʼădônây, אדני) Lord (yehôvih, יהוה)?  Do I not prefer that he turn from his wicked conduct and live?

“But if a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing according to all the abominable practices the wicked carry out, will he live?  All his righteous acts will not be remembered; because of the unfaithful acts he has done and the sin he has committed, he will die.

“Yet you say, ‘The Lord’s (ʼădônây, אדני) conduct is unjust!’  Hear, O house of Israel: Is my conduct unjust?  Is it not your conduct that is unjust?  When a righteous person turns back from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing, he will die for it; because of the wrongdoing he has done, he will die.  When a wicked person turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will preserve his life.  Because he considered and turned from all the sins he had done, he will surely live; he will not die.  Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The Lord’s (ʼădônây, אדני) conduct is unjust!’  Is my conduct unjust, O house of Israel?  Is it not your conduct that is unjust?

This exercise altered my superficial observation that the brotherhood acted thoughtfully and lawfully.  I began to see four hundred thousand armed men, as likely as not to be sons of Belial themselves, rushing in where yehôvâh had not tread.

But the Benjaminites refused to listen to their Israelite brothers.  The Benjaminites came from their cities and assembled at Gibeah to make war against the Israelites.[22]

Why?  Was it because the Benjaminites wholeheartedly supported the children of Belial’s right to know any strange man who wandered into town or to gang-rape young women?  Or was it because their Israelite brothers came at them in battle array, four hundred thousand strong, armed with an implacable law that condemned them already?

[1] Romans 12:12 (NET)

[2] Judges 20:12, 13a (NET)

[3] Judges 20:5 (NET)

[4] NET note 37: “Heb ‘you will burn out’ (בִּעַרְתָּ, bi’arta). Like a cancer, unavenged sin would infect the whole community. It must, therefore, be excised by the purging out of its perpetrators who, presumably, remained unrepentant (cf. Deut 13:6; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21-22, 24; 24:7).”

[5] I thought this was a typo since רעה has he ה at the end rather than at the beginning (הרע) like the other occurrences, but the letters are in the same order in the Hebrew OT online at ericlevy.com

[6] “Kill Bill, Volume 1”

[7] Judges 3:7 (NET)

[8] Judges 3:8a (NET)

[9] Judges 3:8b (NET) Also: Judges 3:12; 4:1-2; 6:1; 10:6-7; 13:1 (NET)

[10] Judges 3:8c (NET)

[11] Exodus 32:1-6 (NET)

[12] Exodus 22:20 (NET)

[13] Exodus 32:10 (NET) Table

[14] Exodus 32:12b (NET) Table

[15] Exodus 32:14 (NET)

[16] 1 Samuel 2:12 (KJV)

[17] 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (NET)

[18] Judges 3:9, 10a (NET)

[19] “Belial, the Northern Crown Prince of Satanism”

[20] John 3:7 (NET)

[21] Ezekiel 18:1 (NET)

[22] Judges 20:13b, 14 (NET)