Category: Bible Trekking

The Ark is captured and returned

April 10, 2020

The Philistines continue to be in control over Israel in I Samuel 4. They gather for another battle, but once again the Jews are defeated. They try again with the Arc of Jehovah. The Arc is not a talisman, but the symbol of Yahweh’s presence. God was not consulted. No one seemed to take the time to seek His advice.

The presence of the Arc caused joy in the Hebrew camp and fear in the Philistine. The hunkered down and again chased Israel away. Phinehas and Hophni, Eli’s sons, had gone with the Arc. During the fight, they were killed. Upon hearing the news, Eli fell over and broke his neck. Phinehas’ wife gave birth after she heard of her husband’s death. The boy lived and his mother died. Samuel becomes the chief minister at the Tabernacle.

In I Samuel chapter five we hear about the god of the Philistines falling and worshipping Jehovah on two different nights.  Tumors break out in the city where the Arc is taken.  Even though they do not know Him they believe He is the cause of their disease and death.  They send Him away by removing the Arc.

The same thing happens in the next city.  An outbreak of tumors kills many and others just die.  Once again Yahweh is forced from their community.  The city refuses to allow the creator of the universe entry.  They demand all the leaders of the Philistines gathered to determine what to do with the presence of such a powerful being.

Have you decided about who He is and whether you will accept His Son as your Lord and Savior?  The Philistines could have fallen on their faces as their god Dagon had done.  Had they asked for forgiveness and became a friend of Jehovah and His children, they could have been forgiven.  Ruth and many others we have read about and will encounter further in the Bible chose this path.  It was and is available for all.

I Samuel 6 tells us after seven months that a decision is finally made to return the Arc to Israel.  The plan is clever.  It also includes a method to discover if Yahweh is the one causing these circumstances or if it is just bad luck.  The cows should turn toward their calves.  They did not.

Beth-Shemesh is the Hebrew city that receives the presence of the living God.  They rejoice at first and use the two cows and the cart as a burnt offering.  They even had Levites remove the Arc from the cart because only this clan was to carry the symbol of Jehovah.

Later, some in the new hometown of God are struck down because they opened the Arc to investigate it.  Touching the container seems inconsequential.  How can it be worth their lives, just to have touched a box?  God sets standards.  It is our task to simply obey.  We all know that is impossible for us humans.  Once again God is rejected by those who refuse to respect Him.

Aminadab agrees to house the Ark of the Covenant in I Samuel 7 by consecrating his son to be pure in the sight of the Lord.  Someone had to do this to qualify to approach the presence of Jehovah once a year to present the sacrifice.

The Israelites decide to follow Yahweh while Samuel led them as their prophet and judge.  The Philistines attacked them during their worship.  They were defeated and all the Jews had to do was chase them as they fled.  Peace came to Israel and the surrounding countries that had been ruled by the Philistines.

The same problem that afflicted Eli is presented in I Samuel 8.  Samuel’s two sons do not follow his example as a leader or a follower of Jehovah.  A group of the leaders of the twelve tribes ask him to appoint a king.  They do not want to rely on those that will inherit rule.

This seems incongruous.  A monarchy is based on succession by family.  This is the reason our country chose not to create a monarchy.  The only way to remove a king or queen is through a revolution.  Violence is no way to run a civilized country.

Samuel warned them what a monarch would mean for all of them.  They would lose their children, property and civil rights.  The king would do whatever he wants to do to them.  They knew what other kings did to their people, but still wanted their own king.  Tomorrow a king is anointed.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger

Samuel’s Birth

April 10, 2020

Samu

el’s birth and call to ministry

Every minister must start somewhere and I Samuel chapter 1 is his beginning as a baby.  He became more than the last judge of Israel.  He was a prophet and the one who anointed the first two kings.  But first, he had to be born.

Hannah was childless.  This was nothing that was unique to her.  It frustrated her more than anything.  She agreed to give her child to Jehovah if he would only grant her desire.  The priest at the Tabernacle thought she must be drunk because when she prayed her heart was broken to the point, she could not vocalize those feelings.

After Yahweh granted her wish, she did not return to Shiloh until the child was old enough to be left with the priest, Eli.  What could a young boy do for God in the place where all the Jews came to worship and sacrifice?

Hanna prays in I Samuel 2 thanking Jehovah for her son.  She proclaims there is no other God.  He is the one who directs everything.  The justice of Yahweh will prevail.  The boy is left with Eli the priest.

The priest has two sons who are not very good as priests.  They have no concern for the people and are only interested in themselves.  They take what they want whether it is the women outside the tabernacle or the best part of the sacrifice.  Samuel sees all this.

A prophet comes and tells Eli that God will soon pass judgment on him, his sons and his entire family.  There will be a new prophet chosen to lead Israel.  He doesn’t name Samuel, but the description fits the boy when he is grown.

Samuel’s job in the Tabernacle was to assist Eli and his sons.  In I Samuel chapter 3 we read of the first message Jehovah gives to the boy.  He hears someone calling him three times and finally, Eli realizes that God is calling him.  Following the advice of the priest, the next time his name is called, the young judge responds positively to the Lord.

What will happen to the current family of priests is given to the young man? He reluctantly tells his mentor the next morning.  As Samuel grew, he was recognized as a prophet by Israel.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger

A Moabite and her mother-in-law

April 10, 2020

Ruth is a short book that seems at first to be a diversion between the books of Judges and First Samuel. Judges establish the anarchistic form of government that Israel had fallen into. Everyone did what they pleased when there was no Judge from Jehovah in leadership. The books of Samuel introduce the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Ruth shows us that Yahweh is still working for what needs to happen even before we realize. This story was probably recorded in writing during the reign of King David. We will discuss that in the conclusion.

The little book of Ruth is a diversion. It is history, like Joshua and Judges. It is about a woman and she is a Moabite, not a Jew. It takes place during the time of the Judges. Let’s look at Ruth and why she is important in Hebrew history.

In the first chapter, Elimelek and Naomi move from Bethlehem to Moab because of a famine. They had two sons, Mahon and Kilion. After the death of their father, the two boys marry women from the area. Their names are Orpah and Ruth. After about ten years, Naomi’s sons also die, and the women are left alone.

The matriarch determines to return to Bethlehem and the daughters-in-law are preparing to join her. Naomi tells them they are free to stay in their homeland and marry men from there. Orpah stays, but Ruth makes a statement that is used in many wedding ceremonies. “Where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay.  Your God will be my God and your people, my people. Where you are buried, I will be buried.” This sentiment is wonderful for a couple being married.  But it was originally spoken by a woman to her mother-in-law. That tells us about both women.

More things to notice in the story are, Naomi changes her name to one that means bitter.  Naomi means pleasant, which she must have been, or these two women would not have hated to leave her. Often, outward circumstances affect our entire outlook on life. If we recognize that we are in a time of preparation for a great blessing, it can make the depression and sadness easier to manage.

It is also time for the barley harvest. At the beginning, this seems like an irrelevant statement. We will see just how important this is.

Boaz is introduced in verse one of Ruth chapter 2. Ruth goes into the fields to collect the grain that the harvesters leave. This practice is commanded in the book of Leviticus. When she returns to their home, her mother-in-law tells her that the owner of the field is a relative.

The property owner has made concessions to her that were not normally seen. He is impressed by her love for his relative. She does not understand his kindness. How often has this happened to you? Has anyone ever shown a kindness for reasons you did not understand at the time? Has your kindness been shown to a stranger for a reason they do not understand? Christians always have a reason to serve others. It is what He did for us. Stay tuned for the best part.

Naomi becomes a matchmaker in Ruth chapter three. She explains the kinsman redeemer as written in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Ruth goes to the threshing floor and lies at Boaz’s feet. When he wakes in the night, he enquires who is there. They discussed the possibility of marriage. He assures her that he will take care of her. His first step is to prevent the scandal that would be caused if she is found there with him. He also gave her grain as a gift for Naomi. What are your feelings about this conversation?

Ruth 4 completes the story and at the end we learn why this is part of the historical record of the Israelites. Boaz finds the other relative of Naomi’s husband. He tells him that the land is available for purchase. A wealthy man as well, he instantly agrees. The agreement includes producing an heir for Mahlon, the husband of Ruth. Any heir produced for a dead man, would also have a right to his own property. Boaz has no other children and does not see a problem with raising Ruth’s first son as an heir to his and Mahlon’s estates.

Ruth does become pregnant after the marriage. Her son, Obed, is the connection that puts this account in the Old Testament. He is the grandfather of King David. That makes Ruth the Moabite the great-grandmother of the greatest king to ever rule in Israel. She is also an ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the Jews. Tomorrow the birth of the final judge of the Jews.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger

A shocking sexual assault

April 10, 2020

Dan Benjamin Ephraim

Judges 19 starts with the statement that Israel did not have a king.  The king was the one that would enforce the law given by Jehovah.  The people are the ones that should keep the statutes without a leader forcing them.

A Levite from the hill country of Ephraim took a woman from Bethlehem to be his wife or concubine.  For some reason, she leaves him and returns home.  As with ministers today, their lives were not perfect.  He goes after her and the actions of her father are interesting.  He delays their departure as much as he can.

When they finally leave, it is late, and they stop for the night in Jerusalem.  During the night some of the citizens want the Levite to have sex with them.  He finally pushes his wife out to them.  She is raped and eventually dies.  He dissects her and sends the twelve pieces to the leaders of each of the twelve tribes.

Four hundred and fifty thousand troops come to see the Levite after they receive the packages.  In Judges 20 they inquire about what this means, and the story of the rape and murder is shared.  The decision is made to attack the city.  The Benjamites are given an opportunity to turn the offenders over to the other Israelites, but they refuse.

It takes three tries and the Israelis seek Yahweh’s will and are assured that they are following what He wants.  Ultimately the village and most of Benjamin was destroyed.  This leaves a situation of one of the twelve tribes facing extinction.

The solution to this delima is in Judges 21.  All that remains of Benjamin are some men that had hidden during the massacre.  The other tribes had pledged not to give their daughters to them for wives.  One group of Israelites had not participated in the destruction of Benjamin.  The others decided to destroy all the men, married women, and children.  That left four hundred young girls which they sent to the Benjamites.

That was not enough.  A decision was made to allow them to kidnap some young women during a festival.  Time after time they seem to ignore common sensibilities in favor of honoring promises they made to Yahweh that never should have been made.  Judges ends with the statement once again that there was no King in Israel and everyone did what they thought was right. We call this form of government anarchy.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger

 

The end of Samson and Micah’s priest

April 8, 2020

Samson and Delilah meet in Judges 16.  She will be his demise.  She just wants to use him as he wants to use her.  The constant tricks that he plays on her make the Philistines hate both.  Time and again they believe they can kill him and each time he escapes.

As we stupid men sometimes do, he finally confesses the true source of his strength.  Delilah allows someone to remove his braids while he is asleep.  When he tries to shake them off, he cannot, and they gouge out his eyes and take him captive.

Samson becomes a laughingstock to the Philistines, and they neglect to notice that his hair and strength are returning.  The finale is one you do not want to miss.  He gets revenge in a creative way.  Samson may be the most famous of the judges even though he is one of the vilest and immoral.

Judges 17 tells the story of Micah’s idol.  It is repeated that everyone did what they thought was right during the period of the judges.  Today that is a similar philosophy.  Micah stole silver from his mother, and she gave some of it to him to create an idol after he returned it.

This makes no sense.  Give someone the money they stole from you.  The law of Jehovah states not to make any images to be worshipped.  Despite this, Micah creates a shrine and appoints his own priest.  That is the type of behavior that causes Yahweh to bring bondage on Israel.

A Levite takes the job and Micah believes he is blessed by God for doing the correct things.  Tomorrow we will see just how wrong he was.

The story of the Danites taking their land in Canaan is told in Judges chapter 18.  Five spies are looking for a likely place to conquer.  They have been wandering for many years and have decided to find their own land.  They come across Micah’s priest and he sends them on their journey with a blessing.

Laish is the name of the city that they discover that is unprotected and they return to the main camp to bring the clan.  Six hundred fighting men approach Micah’s home and steal his silver and priest.  In the end, Micah escapes with his life, but not his treasure.

The people of Laish are also destroyed and after the Danites are done with them the city is rebuilt and renamed.  The question is often asked, “Why did God allow the Israelites to be so cruel to innocent people.  In this case, I do not believe you can blame God.  This is not the area that was given to Dan.  You will notice that at no point does the priest enquire of Jehovah and the god he serves is an idol or statue.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger

Samson the Nazarite

April 7, 2020

Judges 13 through 16 tells the history of the most famous of the judges.  Samson was born to a family from Dan.  Chapter thirteen explains that he was to be a Nazarite from birth.  That is why his hair was never cut.  God ties his obedience to the strength he is known for.

A messenger from Yahweh announces the coming pregnancy.  Samson’s father did not believe his wife, but the messenger returned and proved who he was by rising into the sky in the flame from a burnt offering.  When the baby is born, his mother and father follow the instructions they were given.

Samson’s problems with the Philistines that are ruling over Israel begins in Judges 14 with his wife.  God allows him to marry a Philistine to cause discord that will develop into an open war.  During the wedding feast, his thirty philistine groomsmen force his bride to trick the answer to a riddle from him.  The joke is on them because he kills thirty Philistines to give them their prize.

Afterward, he leaves and his wife is given to another man.  This begins the war between Samson and the Philistines.

The story continues in Judges 15 when Samson returns to his wife.  After finding she has married another man, he burns their fields.  When they find out why it happened, they burn the woman and her father.  After killing many of them, he hides in a cave.  The Israelites come to turn him over to the Philistines.

Three thousand soldiers came to kill him. He broke the ropes holding him and slaughtered one-third of them with a donkey’s jawbone.  For twenty years he led the Jews against Philistia.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger

Jephthah of Gilead

April 7, 2020

Tola, Jair, and Jephthah are listed in Judges 10.  We only start the story of Jephthah.  The people of Gilead are looking for a leader because the Ammonites and preparing to attack them.

Judges 11 tells more of the story of Jephthah and Gilead.  His father had other sons by his wife, but Jephthah’s mother was not married to his father.  Another fine family in the Israelite lines.  These half-brothers ran him out of town.

Later the town fathers decided to override the sibling rivalry.  They offer Jephthah the leadership of Gilead, if he will lead the attack on their enemies.  He leads the Jews to victory over the Ammonites.  He has made a vow to offer a human sacrifice of the first person to welcome him home after his return.  That person is his daughter.  He is going to go back on his vow to Jehovah.  She convinces her father to give her time to mourn her early death and then return to die at his hand.  Not exactly what we would think of as Godly behavior.

The story of Jephthah ends in Judges 12.  Ephraim and Gilead fight each other over the failure of Jephthah to allow Ephraim’s descendants to fight with them.  Gilead defeated Ephraim.

Ibzon, Elan, and Abdon are three more judges that ruled during the time before Israel had a king.  The cycle continues with Israel rejecting God, being overtaken by others and crying to Jehovah for a leader.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger

Beyond Gideon

April 1, 2020

Judges 8 23

Judges 8 completes the tale of Gideon and the Midianites.  Two rulers fled after the battle.  They were pursued, but other Israelites would not help Gideon and his men capture them.  He made promises of how he would reward them once his job was finished.  He followed through on those promises.

Gideon is one of those Jewish judges that show what happens when men try to follow God’s will.  He declined a leadership role but accepted payment from the people.  That payment became a stumbling block for the Hebrews.

After his death, forty years later, the Israelites turned away from Jehovah again and followed a foreign god.  The cycle continues.

Abimelech is the son of Gideon.  Judges 9 tells of his treachery to claim kingship over Shechem.  His father had declined this offer.  Sixty-nine other sons are murdered to prevent their claiming a right to the crown.  The surviving son tries to challenge his brother to no avail.

Abimelech is not a good leader.  Read the story of how he eventually destroyed the city and murdered more innocent people.  God avenged the city as well as the children of Gideon with a millstone that is dropped from a tower.  These stories of inhumanity are common in our country as well as the Bible.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger

Laying out a fleece

March 31, 2020

The Midianites are the oppressors in Judges 6 and Gideon becomes the Judge hero.  The story is one of real reliance on Jehovah.  Let’s revue how this took place.  The judge who preceded him is not named.  The sin of Israel is pointed out.  Gideon is not a warrior or an important leader.  He hesitates and asks for proof that he is being called.

The first sign is the burning of an offering that he presents to Yahweh’s messenger.  The fire appears from the rock he placed it on.  He responds with another sacrifice and destroying the Baal altar and cuts down the Asherah pole that is used for idol worship.  His life is threatened by the people and he shows the first signs of leadership by threatening those who threaten him.

The fleece or sheepskin that he uses is very well known.  At first, it seems that the dew on the skin and not on the ground should be enough.  Then the judge asks for it to be reversed.  When this happens, God is ready to show His true power.  Tomorrow the battle.

Gideon has thirty-two thousand men according to Judges chapter seven.  Jehovah says that is too many.  The victory would be accredited to them.  God wants the victory to be only coming from Him.  Gideon announced that any who were afraid or wanted to go home, could.  Twenty-two thousand left.

These were still more than Yahweh needed.  They go to the water and as they drink, those who bend down to the water are disqualified.  Those who remain had used their hands to scoop up the water to bring it to their mouths while remaining alert.

The battle strategy is very odd.  Each soldier is equipped with a trumpet, lamp, and pot.  The lamps are lit and placed in the pots.  The procedure is to break the jars and blow the trumpets to cause confusion in the enemy camp.  It works and the Israelites are victorious.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger

Deborah and Barak

March 30, 2020

The first of the judges mentioned in Judges 3 is Othniel, the younger brother of Caleb.  He comes on the scene to destroy the King of the Arameans who had ruled over God’s people for eight years.  Forty years of peace come until his death.

The next to oppress the Israelites is the Moabites.  This lasted for eighteen years before they called out to Jehovah for deliverance.  This is an interesting story and we are even told that Ehud the judge, is left-handed.  This time Israel rules over Moab for eighty years.

Chapter three ends with Shamgar killing six hundred Philistines and rescuing the Israelites.

The story of the judge Deborah is given in Judges chapter four.  She is a prophetess who is already leading Israel.  Deborah asks Barak to gather men to fight for Israel.  He agrees, but only if she will go with them.  Her reply is that she will.  However, the glory and fame will belong to her, not to him.  He agrees and they go to battle.  The death of the King of Canaan at the hands of another woman is very interesting.  Do not miss these verses.  Tomorrow we will read the song of Deborah.

Judges 5 gives us the song that Deborah wrote and sang after the defeat of the Canaanites.  The plight of Israel for the twenty years that they were oppressed by their enemies is given in the early part.  The poetical story of the battles is easy to listen to unlike some of the other verses in the Bible.  Jael is extolled for the execution of the Canaanite king.  The song also evokes the emotions of the enemy as they are defeated.  Forty years of peace follow Deborah and Barak’s victory.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger