Gud, Bibelen og politiske Justice: Kapittel 16
Del tre: Politiske Lærdommer fra jødisk historie
Kapittel 16
Samuel og The Wandering Priests
"I disse dager Israel hadde ingen konge; alle gjorde som han så passer. "Dommere 17:6
Så, hvor er prester? In the history of the Judges they are almost entirely absent. Are they not important to the history of the country? Surely they are, men hvorfor så stille?
Ledetråder til svaret kan være i veien Dommerne konkluderer og jeg Samuel begynner. Vi avslutter Dommernes bok med to ganske bisarre historier som, først, seem out of place. The subjects in these two stories are priests of the Levitical tribe.
Micah og vandrende prest
I den første historien vi blir fortalt av en mann ved navn Mika i Efraims stamme som har stjålet en stor mengde sølv fra sin mor, [1] om 28 pounds eller 13 kilos to be exact. He confesses because his mother has put a curse on the thief. She in turn gives it back to her son, innvie det til Herre og oppmuntre ham til å gjøre "idoler" fra det. Micah already has a shrine and uses the silver to add new “idols” and an “ephod”. He then installs his son as priest.
Vi må lure på dette punktet, "Hva Herre de vie disse tingene til?” Everything they are doing breaks the Laws of Moses. They are not to have idols. They are not to “curse” in God’s name and they are not to build shrines. Ephod’s are to be worn only by the priest and the priests are to be Levites.
The picture God is painting for us is one of total disregard for what God has taught them about worship. The people are in rebellion, tilbe gudene til folkene rundt dem. All den stund, fremdeles bruker Herrens Navn som om de tilber Ham.
A priest of the Levitical tribe enters the scene. He is from Bethlehem and has wandered off looking for another home. We don’t know why he does this but we do know the clans of the priests have all been assigned homelands. He comes across Micah in Ephraim and Micah makes him an offer. Live with his family, bli hans prest, bære sin nye livkjortelen og representere dem i helligdommen sin med idolene. Micah vil betale ham en årlig sum og gi ham mat og klær. Micah installerer ham som prest å merke seg at nå vet han "Herren vil være bra for meg, siden dette levitt har blitt min prest. "Dommere 17:13 Hva Herre?
If we do not read the Bible with the Laws of Moses in mind we will miss the point here. The Law lays down the template by which we understand everything else that happens in the history of Israel including the prophets, the coming of Christ and the expansion of the gospel to the Gentile nations. God is not starting His thinking over in each book of the Bible. They build progressively and the one before helps us understand the ones that follow. Everything everyone does in all of Scripture is to be measured by what God has already told them in the Law. Without this measurement we will distort the meaning of the history of Israel and distort God’s message.
Gud viser oss i livet til denne presten og Mikas ansettelse av ham at på dette tidspunktet israelittene har ingen respekt for Guds lov. Everything the priest and Micah do here is in direct violation of God’s instructions. Men, de fortsatt ønsker Gud lov til å velsigne dem! Forverringen er fra innenfor det jødiske samfunnet.
Historien fortsetter og blir verre! Gud, Moses og Josva har alle tildelt stammene til bestemte stammeland med detaljerte grenser og likevel har vi en vandrende stamme. Danittenes leter etter et sted å flytte. We don’t know the exact story but the Danites have not been able to take their assigned land. Faktisk, they have been run out. It appears that none of the tribes have come to their rescue.[2]
They come across Micah and his young Levitical priest. They ask this priest to inquire of the Lord whether their mission to find a new home territory will be successful. De finner en vakker, velstående land, der de angriper, en "Fredelig og intetanende mennesker" Judges18:27 ødelegge dem og brenne deres by (Lajisj) ned.
Hæren av Dan returnerer til Ephraim stjeler avguder og livkjortelen og gjør presten et bedre tilbud. Hvorfor være prest for en familie når han kan være en prest for en hel stamme? They rebuild the city of Laish and rename it Dan. "Det danittenes satt opp for seg avgudene, og Jonatan, sønn av Gersom, sønn av Moses, og hans sønner var prester for Dans stamme ... "Dommere 18:30-31 Stammen som nettopp har søkt Gud setter opp idoler. Den vandrende prest er barnebarn av Moses![3]
Den avgudsdyrkelse satt opp i byen Dan vil plage Israel for resten av sin historie.
Vel det er vi! Avgudsdyrkelse, unlawful priesthood and lost tribes weaken Israel. Not only is there political corruption but it would seem the priesthood is in a very bad state as well.
Nå er vi kommet til den andre historien om en prest og den siste av Dommernes bok.
Levitten og hans konkubine
En annen prest fra Efra'im tok en konkubine, mindre kone, from Judah to live with him. We are not told why, but she runs away from him and returns to her father’s house. The priest comes looking for her and is hosted by the father for days. Den konkubine kommer ut med en prest med et løfte om ikke å stoppe i ikke-jødiske byer langs veien der de ikke vil være beskyttet.
On their way home they stop for the night at Gibeah in the Bengamite territory. They wait at the town square as customary if you were a traveler looking for lodging for the night. No one helps them until evening comes, en gammel mann fra Efraim som bor i Gibea allernådigst tar dem inn og sørger for deres behov.
Vi hører ekko av Sodoma og Gomorra når mens du spiser, wicked men from the town come demanding the old man give up the priest for them to sodomize. He pleads with them attempting to shame them by offering his own virgin daughters or his guests concubine. The men decline the daughters but accept the concubine. They rape her all night long and in the morning she lies dead on the threshold of the house. The priest cuts her body into 12 pieces and sends one to each tribe of Israel as a message. How can such a thing happen in Israel?
Den tribal responsen er enstemmig; "Noe slikt har aldri blitt sett eller gjort, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Tenk på det! Consider it! Tell us what to do!"Dommere 19:30
The Jews seem to be astounded by their own wickedness. And when one priest finally calls them to accountability they respond. Eleven tribes come together with 400,000 soldater. They hear the priest’s testimony and determine to bring judgment on the Benjamites. They ask for the surrender of the guilty men. The Benjamites refuse and amass more than 26,000 soldater av sine egne og gå til krig med sine brødre. Verken tribal ansvarlighet eller ansvarlighet til loven synes å eksistere i Benjamins sinn.
I den første dagen av kampene Benjamins drepe en forbløffende 22,000 soldater fra de andre stammene. 18,000 are killed the next day. Weeping and inquiring of the Lord they fight another day. På den tredje dagen av borgerkrig de elleve stammene drepe 25,100 av 26,000 Benjamins tropper og ødelegge deres byer og husdyr.
The lose to the Benjamites was so great that if the tribes had not helped them they would have become extinct. And the book of Judges closes out: "I disse dager Israel hadde ingen konge; alle gjorde som han så passer. " 21:25
There is no victory here. There is some level of justice and retribution. There is some course correction in the moral decline of the Jewish people. With all that God has done and given to this chosen people, de er fremdeles like ille, om ikke til tider, worse than the pagan nations that surround them. Their religious leaders are full of idolatry and their political leaders are morally spent.
Den røde tråden for vold fortsetter den destruktive flyt nå gjennom Guds utvalgte folk. Han har ønsket å bruke Israel til å avsløre hans verdier for nasjonsbygging for alle nasjoner. Men Israel kommer bakover.
Dommere 2:20 Da blev Herren såre vred på Israel og sa, “Fordi denne nasjonen har brutt den pakt som jeg la ned for deres forfedre, og har ikke hørt på meg, 21 Jeg vil ikke lenger drive ut foran dem noen av nasjonene Joshua forlot da han døde. 22 Jeg vil bruke dem til å teste Israel og se om de vil holde Herrens vei og gå i det som deres forfedre gjorde.” 23 Herren hadde tillatt disse folkene å forbli; han ikke drive dem ut på en gang ved å gi dem i hendene på Josva. "
Israel has enemies because God is using the conflict to get their attention. In the ???? hundred years since the times of Joshua the character and fiber of Jewish justice has deteriorated dramatically. It is time for change.
Samuel 1060-1020 B.C.
Som vi inn i bok 1 Samuel the writer’s inspiration begins with the condition of the priesthood again. We are told that Eli the Priest and his sons are wicked. His sons steal from the Lord and use temple prostitutes. God says He is going to destroy the family and raise up a new leader.
In God’s search throughout all of Israel He can find no one able to lead the nation. They have reached the cultural bottom. Både politisk ledelse og presteskap er i alvorlig trøbbel. Likevel er det trofasthet i Israel utover institusjonene. Vi blir fortalt av en trofast kvinner og hennes ektemann som, mens hele Israel går hodestups inn i hedenskap, stand firm in their commitment to God. The husband, Elkana er en efra'imitt med to koner, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah has children but Hannah is barren.
This faithful man goes up to Shiloh every year to worship and offer sacrifices. Eli, Hophni and Phinehas are priests. Elkanah, som Job før ham, ofrer for alle hans barn og begge koner. Hannah er utrøstelig fordi hun er barnløs, and she cries out for God. She is so fervent in her prayer that Eli thinks she is drunk. Benektes det, she puts her petition for a child before Eli. He blesses her and asks God to grant her request. The next morning, før de reiser hjem, Elkanah lies with Hannah and she conceives. She names the child Samuel because "Jeg har bedt Herren om ham." 1 Samuel 1:20
Så snart gutten er avvent, Hannah tar ham opp til Silo. Etter tilbedelse og offer er gjort, she offers him to the service of the Lord for the rest of his lifetime. Hannah then leaves this precious gift child under the supervision of these awful priests. Her trust is in the Lord, ikke systemets.
Gud sier, "Jeg vil oppreise for meg en trofast prest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his house, og han skal gjøre tjeneste før min salvede alltid. "1 Samuel 2:35
Når Gud taler for å heve opp en trofast prest er han snakker om Samuel? Many times in Scripture thus far God speaks of raising up a faithful leader who will establish His house. But who is He talking about? Gjerne Samuel vil gi trofaste lederskap for en generasjon og vil forbedre Israels stat. Men, it will decline again. What is God saying?
Begynner med et barn, Gud vender oppmerksomheten mot en ny generasjon, as He did in the wilderness with Moses. He is willing to use every generation. His desire is to use every generation (repeterende av forrige setning) men det kommer en tid da det kan være for sent for den generasjonen til å endre, og han må starte på nytt med den yngre generasjonen.
"I de dager det Herrens ord var sjelden; det var ikke mange visjoner. "1 Samuel 3:1
God begins to prepare Samuel. He hears God speak from an early age and Eli is righteous enough to understand that it is the Lord. Samuel grows in maturity and does not forget anything God has said. He is recognized throughout Israel as a prophet of God.
Israels nemeses, filisterne, er like sprelsk som noensinne. De raid Israel, defeat the army and steal the ark. The Israelites have been smart enough to know that the ark had power so they brought it to the battlefield. But they are too far from the truth to understand that God will not bless such decadence even in the Temple. The Philistines are smart enough to be afraid of the presence of the ark because they know the God of Israel is powerful. But they win anyway and become the owners of the “magical artifact.” Hophni and Phinehas are killed in battle along with 30,000 others. Eli drops dead on hearing of the death of his sons and the capture of the ark.
Samuel er en prest om ikke en levitt, prophet and political leader though not a traditional Judge. He is a transitional leader that God uses in untraditional ways. Like Moses, som var en levitt, men gir Aaron prestedømmet mens han beholder politisk lederskap, Han passer ikke Guds norm for institusjonell myndighet. Samuel er viktig å få nasjonen tilbake på sporet, men han er ikke malen for lederskap.
The Philistines are having a terrible time with the ark. They place it in the temple of Dagon, their god. The people begin experiencing a pandemic of tumors and the statue of Dagon keeps falling over. They finally decide to return the ark to Israel.
Twenty years have passed since the ark was taken. Og "Hele folket i Israel sørget og ettertraktet Herren." 1 Samuel 7:2 Samuel leads the people in giving up their pagan worship of gods and coming back to the God of Israel. He then, som dommerne i gamle, fører dem inn i en krig med filisterne ved Mispa, the same battle field as the devastating civil war between the tribes and the Benjamites. Is that a coincidence?
Filisterne er beseiret, Israels land er restaurert og det er fred. Samuel går tilbake til hans hjem i Rama og dommere Israel derfra ridning som en sorenskriver fra stamme til stamme. Det virker som han har opphørt å fungere som prest.
Som Samuel blir gamle vi leser, "Han utnevnt sine sønner som dommere for Israel." 1 Samuel 8:1 But his sons do not walk in integrity before God as Samuel has. They accept bribes and they pervert justice. Og "Folket" avvise dem. (8:3-5). Israel vil ha en konge til å lede dem. (8:6)
God has said he will establish the house of Samuel in leadership over Israel. But as with Eli and his sons, this promise is conditional. The character of the sons is unacceptable to God and the people. Samuel is a messenger that brings this word of the Lord to Eli in I Samuel 3:11-14 So why does Samuel now think that God will use his sons regardless? We are not told why. God does not elaborate for us. But this disregard of the father for the character of their sons will plague Israel throughout its history, fra David til det siste av kongene.
Now we begin the history of Israel’s kings. Den neste (453ish mellom Saul og Israels fangenskap) years will bring us to the greatest highs and devastating lows of Jewish History. God requires us to read through tragedy after tragedy for hundreds of pages with only a few points of historical encouragement. Hvorfor? What are we to learn from all of this? What are we missing in the message of Jesus if we do not understand this history? Jesus mastered these events. He understood them and He knew what the Father was saying in them. So must we.
