Day 80. 1 Samuel 11-13

As our reading begins, the men of Israel are faced with the humiliating demand of a certain Nahash the Ammonite that they surrender and allow their right eyes to be gouged out (1 Samuel 11:2). ("Nahash" means "snake," and he does seem to exhibit some very reptilian behavior. The gouging out of eyes is a form of ritual castration, symbolizing the utter humiliation of an enemy.)
Saul is "coming in from the field behind the oxen" (11:5) when he hears this insulting demand, and he immediately shows the leadership ability for which God has selected him to be Israel's king. The "spirit of God [comes] upon [him] with power" and "his anger [is] greatly kindled" (11:6). He slaughters his oxen—apparently, though anointed king, he was still in the farming business—dismembers them and sends the pieces "throughout the territory of Israel" with a challenge—"Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!" (11:7).
So the men of Israel muster and cut down the Ammonites and scatter them "so that no two of them were left together" (11:11). After his glorious victory, Saul, showing mature wisdom, will not let those who had not supported his kingship be punished. All are to rejoice together as a unified people. Strengthened by his victory he is reaffirmed by the people as their king.
Now, following the example set by Moses, Samuel, now "old and gray," delivers a farewell address which occupies all of chapter 12. He recounts the LORD's great acts of power on behalf of his Israel. Then he calls to the people to renew their covenant with God, taking in consideration their changed circumstances. Now both people and king must follow the LORD and obey his commandments, otherwise "the hand of the LORD will be against [them] and [their] king" (12:15).
Samuel reaffirms his earlier judgment, that their act of demanding a king was an act of "wickedness" (12:17). Nevertheless, even though his chosen people may prove rebellious and ungrateful, God remains faithful (12:22). They are still his particular possession among the nations. Only from now on they and their monarch must "fear the LORD and serve him faithfully," remembering "what great things he has done" (12:24). If they do wickedly, they will be swept away, both they and their king (12:25).
An undisclosed period of time passes between the end of chapter 12 and the beginning of chapter 13. Some of the story of Saul's reign may have been lost. When it is picked up, King Saul, who had been a young man at the time of his anointing by Samuel has himself a grown son, Jonathan. Together they face a massed Philistine army at Gilgal.
The Israelites are frightened by the enemy numbers and begin to scatter (13:6). Saul waits for Samuel to offer the sacrifices necessary to insure to the LORD's blessing upon the coming battle, but Samuel is delayed. And Saul, seeing his troops deserting, loses his nerve and makes a terrible mistake. He offers the sacrifice himself, uniting in his own person the offices of priest and king (13:9). This was not an uncommon arrangement in the ancient world, but it was never accepted in Israel.
As soon as Saul has finished his unlawful sacrifice, Samuel appears and declares the LORD's verdict on Israel's first king. The LORD would have "established [Saul's] kingdom over Israel forever, but now [his] kingdom will not continue" (13:13-14). Because of his disobedience his dynasty will end with his own death, and as his successor "the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart" (13:14).
Saul's reign is far from over. Saul and Jonathan will go on to further victories against the Philistines. But the military superiority of these "sea people" will continue to be assured by their mastery of the art and science of fashioning iron tools and weapons (13:19). There is "no smith to be found throughout all the land of Israel." The Israelites have to go down to the Philistines "to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, or sickles" (13:20)—and at exorbitant cost (verse 21). And the shortage of iron weapons will continue to put Israel at a distinct technological disadvantage in its continuing struggle with the Philistines.

Day 79. 1 Samuel 8-10

Samuel is presented to us as the last and greatest of the judges, but like Eli before him, his sons are corrupt—"they took bribes and corrupted justice" (8:3).
The system of the judges was always an ad hoc arrangement, and now it seems clear to nearly everyone that it is not working. The people want a king, so that they may be "like other nations" (8:4). Samuel is displeased and hurt by the demand, which he interprets as a criticism of his own tenure. But the LORD tells Samuel that it is not he who is being rejected, but the LORD himself (8:7). When he bows to their desire for a king, Samuel does not mince words about what this means. He tells the people—"Today you have rejected your God" (10:19). This is the end of Israelite confederacy as a theocracy—God has been dethroned--and the beginning of Israel as a nation-state.
This change has the force of inevitability behind it. Nevertheless, Samuel is instructed by the LORD to "lay it on the line" what kingship will mean. The people are trading freedom for order. They will have to pay a price. Now their sons will be conscripted as soldiers and their daughters as servants to the court. They will be taxed at one-tenth of their produce (8:15). Their slaves and their animals will be subject to the corvee—forced labor exacted by the government (8: 16-17). Samuel warns them that the novelty of having a king will wear out quickly, and when the day of disillusionment comes and they cry to the LORD because of the king they have chosen for themselves, "the LORD will not answer them in that day" (8:18). They will have made their bed.
But the people will not listen. They want a king to govern them and go before them and fight their battles (8:20). Samuel is given the task of appointing the one the LORD chooses.
So now we are introduced to Saul, whose principal recommendation seems to be his height and good looks (9:2). He looks the part of a king. He is a man that men will follow. Saul's search for his father's wayward donkeys brings him to Samuel, who has already been instructed by the LORD to look for "a man from the land of Benjamin" (9:15).
That Saul is a Benjaminite (9:21) is important because the tribe of Bejamin was a smallest and least respected of the tribes. A king chosen from that tribe would be less likely to arouse the animosity of larger and more powerful tribes.
So Samuel anoints Saul with oil. The ritual of anointing is a sign of the pouring of the spirit of God for a particular purpose. The judges had received the spirit of God as the charismatic gift necessary to rescue the people from a particular danger. Saul is selected save the people "from the hand of the Philistines" (6:16). But there is something different in Saul's selection as king. Now charismatic leadership is being institutionalized, and anointing is the sign of the choice God has made of the king to be ruler over his heritage (10:1). The king is designated by anointing as a "messiah," a deliverer, to save his people from their present predicament.
But Saul is not only anointed with oil. In the presence of a band of prophets, he is also possessed by the spirit of the LORD and "turned into a different person" (10:6). He falls into an ecstatic frenzy with the prophets, and, we are told, "God gave him another heart" (10:9). (This prophetic frenzy will on occasion fall upon King David too.) It is a sign of charismatic authority, and a sign of the change that has come upon the young man Saul. He has become a prophet as well as a king (10:11).
So Saul is selected by God and anointed by Samuel. Now the tribes are gathered at Mizpah to ratify that decision. The sacred lots are cast. The handsome Benjaminite is chosen and greeted by the acclamation—"Long live the king!" But from the beginning support for the new king is less than universal. We are told that "some worthless fellows say, 'How can this man save us?'" (10:27). The seeds of future troubles are already sprouting.

Day 78. 1 Samuel 4-7

The Philistines (1 Samuel 4:1) were a war-like people, skillful in the production of iron weapons, who had settled in the area of Gaza and were a constant threat to Israel for some 500 years. They were "sea people" who had come down from the Aegean—from Crete and the islands of modern Greece—and settled on the coast of Palestine after the collapse of civilization we call "Minoan." Their major cities are mentioned in the reading for today. They continued to harass Israel until they were finally destroyed by the Assyrians centuries hence.
So Israel goes into battle against these Philistines and suffers a terrible defeat (4:2). In the absence of a charismatic leader and in desperation, Israel decides to take the ark of covenant into battle as a sign of the presence of the LORD. The evil sons of Eli, the priests Hophni and Phinehas, come with it (4:4). But the LORD has forsaken Israel and the ultimate calamity occurs—the Israelite army is routed, the priests are killed, and the ark is captured by the Philistines.
At the news that the prediction that Samuel had made has been fulfilled, that his sons are dead and the ark captured, the old priest Eli falls backward from his seat by the gate of Shiloh and breaks his neck. At the news the wife of Phinehas, who is pregnant, goes into labor and dies in childbirth, but not before she has named her son Ichabod, which means, "The glory of Israel has departed."
And so it would seem. But the ark in enemy hands proves a dangerous trophy. The LORD will not tolerate the presence of other gods, so the image of the Philistine god Dagon is thrown down and shattered when the ark is lodged in his temple (5:1 and following). It brings fear and the plague to any city of the Philistines into which it is brought.
The plague mentioned in 5:12 may be the first recorded outbreak of the Black Death, the bubonic plague, which devastated Europe in the 14th century. Bubonic plague is carried by fleas which in turn are carried by rodents, and the disease is marked by the appearance of tumors. Note that the guilt offering the Philistines send back with the ark consists of "five gold tumors and five gold mice" (6:4) symbolic of the plague from which they suffer.
So the Philistines send back the ark, together with these symbolic offerings in a cart drawn by two cows, which carry it directly back to Israel. The LORD has not utterly forsaken his people after all, and when they see the ark, they greet its return with rejoicing (6:13).
God has given his people another chance, and Samuel calls them to abandon the idolatry that has caused them to suffer at the hands of Philistines (7:3). Under his leadership there is a ceremony of general contrition at Mizpah (7:5) where the people confess their sins. The drawing and pouring out of water is a penitential symbol, suggestive of weeping (7:6).
The tide has turned. The LORD is with them again. The Philistines prepare to attack, but they are thrown into confusion when "the LORD thundered with a mighty voice" (7:10) and the men of Israel follow up their advantage by pursuing them and striking them down in great numbers.
So in order to call the people to remembrance of their covenant, Samuel sets up a stone called "Ebenezer"—the name means "stone of the helper"—to signify that that "thus far the LORD has helped us" (7:12). The LORD keeps the Philistines at bay. Lost Israelite territory is recovered. There is peace between Israel and the Amorites. And Samuel judges Israel all his life, traveling in a wide circle to hear cases, settle disputes, and administer justice (7:15-16). He is the last of the judges and arguably the greatest, but the good times do not last, as we shall see in tomorrow's reading. . . .

Day 77. 1 Samuel 1-3

Samuel is a transitional figure, standing between the period of the judges and the Israelite monarchy. He is born in the chaotic last days in the Israelite confederacy, he anoints Saul as king and watches his reign spiral into tragedy, and lives to anoint the young David as king. He is both a priest like Aaron and a prophet in the later tradition of Elijah and Elisha. He is one of the most remarkable characters in the Old Testament.
And he is born to remarkable parents; Hannah and Elkanah are devout people of the Israelite middle class. But at the time of Samuel's birth, their home life, as described in 1 Samuel 1:3-8 demonstrates the problems and pitfalls of polygamy. Elkanah's other wife, of whom he is less fond, has children, and she is making Hannah's life miserable because the LORD has "closed her womb" (1:6).
So she goes to the Tent of Meeting, which is then located at Shiloh, and prays so fervently that the old high priest, Eli, who sees her there, thinks she is drunk. But she makes a vow in his presence that if God gives her a son and takes away her shame and dishonor, she will dedicate the child to the LORD as a nazarite. "He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head" (1:11). (We remember the parallel example of Samson, whose mother also made a similar nazarite vow for him before his birth.)
So the LORD, moved by her plea, gives Hannah and Elkanah a son and they name him Samuel. As soon as he is weaned they bring him to Eli at Shiloh in obedience to the vow that Hannah has made. There is such pathos in that little sentence—"She left him there for the LORD" (1:28). It must have been wrenchingly painful to leave her child like that, but by her obedience Hannah becomes one of those examples of what faith is all about. And her song, found in chapter 2, is a model of the song of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, whom she so closely resembles. Both songs celebrate the LORD, who brings low the mighty and exalts the lowly (2:7) and who is ever faithful to the promises he makes.
The piety and obedience of Hannah and Elkanah are placed in stark contrast to perfidy of the sons of Eli, who brazenly and cynically use their priestly position to steal from the Lord, "treating the offerings of the LORD with contempt" (2:17). The elderly Eli tries to talk sense to his wayward sons, warning that that "if someone sins against the LORD who can make intercession" (2:25). But it was too late for admonitions, because it is already "the will of the LORD to kill them."
Through an unnamed "man of God"—a prophet--the LORD warns Eli that he is about to destroy his family and raise up for himself "a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind" (2:35). That priest is, of course, Samuel, who at this point is still a boy. But the junior-sized linen ephod Samuel wears is sign that he already possesses a call to priestly ministry (2:18).
The favor of God rests upon him. He is a chosen one. We can compare 2:26—"the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and favor with the LORD and with the people"—with similar words spoken about Jesus in Luke 2:40.
The call of Samuel to the prophetic ministry, recorded in chapter 3, is one of the most beautiful and familiar passages in all the scriptures. Samuel is taught by Eli to recognize the voice of the LORD and to say—"Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening" (3:9). Already called to be a priest, he is now given the credentials and charisma of a prophet, together with a painful message to speak. But his words have the authority of truth. When Samuel reports the LORD's decision about his own wayward sons, a heartbroken Eli can only say, "It is the LORD; let him do what seems good to him" (3:18).
And as our reading ends, the writer gives us this description of the young prophet at the dawn of a long career—"As Samuel grew up, the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground" (3:19). The Books of 1 and 2 Samuel confirm this judgment.

Day 76. Ruth

At the end of the Book of Deuteronomy Moses admonishes the People of Israel to "choose life so that you and your descendents may live" (30:20). The Book of Ruth is the story of a foreign woman, a Gentile, who nevertheless chooses life and by her strength of character turns the disaster of being left husbandless and childless into a blessing for herself and for her adopted people.
The situation of widows in Bible times was a desperate one. When the texts tells us that Naomi is "left without her two sons and her husband" (1:5), it is summing up her hopeless circumstances. Childless widows were without protector or provider. Naomi had no choice but to return to her own family.
In many ways the Book of Ruth is a search for security (1:9 and 3:1). Naomi returns to her family for security. Orpah returned to her own home in search of security. What is remarkable about Ruth is that her love and loyalty to her mother-in-law is greater than her need for safety and she chooses love over security.
So she goes with Naomi back to Israel, to the town of Bethlehem. The women arrive there "at the beginning of the barley harvest" (1:22). Harvest is a sign of new life, and a new life begins for Ruth when she encounters "a prominent rich man" named Boaz, who also happens to be a near relative of Naomi's deceased husband Elimelech (2:1).
Note that the first words we hear from Boaz are the familiar "The Lord be with you" greeting he exchanges with the reapers (2:4). We use that greeting and response in church in much the same way it is used in the text—as an encouraging way of saying--"Go on and do your best. We are in this thing together."
In the midst of the brutalities with which the Book of Judges is filled, it is refreshing to encounter ordinary kindness and humanity found in the Book of Ruth. If Ruth shows courage and loyalty, Boaz comes across as a person of gentleness and generosity (2:8), sharing his plenty with the widow, as the Law of Moses commands. (By the way, an "ephah" (2:17) is two-thirds of a bushel.)
The incident at the threshing floor—chapter 3--is highly charged with sexuality. On one level it is scene of seduction. (In the Bible to "undercover his feet" is a euphemism for uncovering his genitals—see 3:4.) On another level, Ruth's bold approach is a way to remind Boaz of his legal obligation as next of kin under the law of "levirate marriage" (Deuteronomy 25:5-10) to take the widow of his near kinsman as wife, and provide her with children.
Boaz, being a righteous man—and also because he is obviously attracted to Ruth--takes his obligation seriously (3:13). After the obstacle of the actual "next of kin" is dealt with, Ruth becomes the wife of Boaz and a child is born to them. The story ends with an affirmation of life. The women of the neighborhood say—"A son has been born to Naomi" (4:17). Out of hopeless disaster has come the promise of a future.
The child of Ruth and Boaz is Obed, the grandfather of King David, and thus an ancestor of our Lord. The story of the remarkable Moabite woman named Ruth affirms the truth that the LORD is not only the God of the Jews, but of all those who live in obedience to God. There is always a place in His plan and among His people for those who show loyalty and love, wherever they may found.

Day 75. Judges 19-21

Our reading for today begins and ends with that statement that "there was no king in Israel" (19:1 and 21:25). The Book of Judges as a whole is intended to explain why Israel, which had been a theocracy--a confederacy of tribes ruled by God through his representatives--needed an earthly king. The judges are, at best, a stop-gap arrangement; in the end the Israelite confederacy breaks down in outright civil war, which begins with the rape and murder of the Levite's concubine.
In Old Testament times men were allowed to have as many wives as they wished and could support. A concubine (19:2) would have had legal status under the Law, but not on a par with the primary wife. The word "concubine" in this context means something like "secondary wife."
The treatment of the concubine is brutal and heartless, but failure of the moral requirement to show hospitality to strangers is an equally grave offense. The reluctance of the people of Gibeah to take in the Levite and his party and provide for them is the first sign of trouble (19:15).
The attack upon the old man's house and the demand of the men of Gibeah that he give up his guest so that they may have "intercourse with him" (19:22), recalls the story of Lot in Sodom found in Genesis 19:1-11. The outrage against the customs of hospitality is as much the crime here as the rape of concubine. The depravity of that act—shocking even by ancient standards--is a demonstration of the level to which the people of Israel have sunk. Where people ignore law and custom and do what is good in their own sight, this sort of thing will happen. Vengeance on the part of the community is necessary to restore balance and order to society.
So the Levite summons the whole people of Israel "from Dan to Beer-sheba" to take part in a vendetta against the tribe of Benjamin. (The phrase "from Dan to Beer-sheba" means the whole of Israel, from north to south. Mizpah is a central location near Jerusalem where the Israelite confederacy met in solemn assembly to decide matters touching on the life of the whole nation.) Only a comparative few members of the tribe of Benjamin took part in the actual crime—but this is another case of the whole group suffering for a part of it.
But the rape and murder of the Levite's concubine becomes the spark that ignites a blood feud that eventually widens into a civil war. All of Israel is summoned to the cause of justice. But the men of Benjamin initially hold their own against the host arrayed against them. (We noted earlier that as a group descendents of Benjamin were disposed toward being left-handed. The seven hundred left-handed Benjaminites with their slings who could throw a stone at a hair and not miss (20:16) would indeed have been a formidable foe in battle.
And there is crisis of leadership in Israel, as there was after the death of Joshua. There is no commander to lead them, the war goes against the superior forces of the confederacy for a time. But at last the city of Gibeah is taken my stealth, its women and children are "devoted"—slaughtered without survivor—and the remaining Benjaminites are routed into the wilderness, where they remain for some time, landless outlaws.
But now there is a change of heart among the Israelite leadership. The tribe of Benjamin faces extinction and the nation faces a symbolic problem. There had been twelve tribes and the number had historical and magical importance for the people. Being twelve in number, representing the sons of Jacob, was part of their identity.
So war is proclaimed against a town that had not joined in the campaign against the Benjaminites, and the "four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man" (21:12) were taken for as wives for the remaining Benjaminites. When the number proves insufficient, the abduction of more young women from a festival at Shiloh is arranged so that there "may be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, in order that a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel" (21:17).
So with this unhallowed solution the Book of Judges ends. The situation is dismal. The writer offers the observation that "all the people did right in their own eyes" (21:25). The Law of Moses, which should guide the lives of the People of the Promise, is disregarded. Individualism has triumphed over community. The scene is set for the selection of king. But before we go on with the history of the confederacy, we hear the story of Ruth, a romantic interlude that again demonstrates the openness of Israel in this period to those foreigners who want to become a part of it.

Day 74. Judges 16-18

Samson appears throughout his career to have suffered from a testosterone overdose. In our reading for today he is again having woman trouble; this time it is with the famous "femme fatale" Delilah.
We, who have heard Samson's early history, know what Delilah with all her wiles labors so hard to find out—that a nazarite vow had been taken on Samson's behalf even before his birth. That vow would not allow him to cut his hair, and his unshorn locks were the source of his great strength (16:17). So when she at last nags the secret out of him, and his Philistine enemies barber him, the LORD left him (16:20) and Samson was left at their mercy. Gouging out his eyes (16:20) was a symbolic castration, a sign of the loss of his manhood.
Samson loses his strength—but not his cunning. The last act of his life is the greatest of all his practical jokes. Reading this story, we can readily understand why the death of Samson has been a staple of "sandal epics" ever since the invention of motion pictures. His final heroic act of self-sacrifice (16:30) sums up Samson's whole life. It was not a virtuous life by any means, but the charismatic gifts Samson possessed were the very things the People of God needed at a crude and violent moment in their history. That sentence--"Those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life" (16:30)--would serves as a fitting epitaph for Samson, who employed random violence and cruel trickery more than wisdom during his career as a judge. But his actions, though hardly admirable by modern standards, did succeed for a time in delivering Israel from its enemies.
But the real enemies of the People of the Promise—and this is the theme of the Book of Judges—are those Israelites who forsake the LORD for idols. In chapter 17 we are told the story of a rich man from the tribe of Ephraim named Micah. Not only did Micah cast an idol out of silver—probably an image of Baal—but he also had a priestly vestment—an ephod—and teraphim—small images of other domestic gods—made to accessorize his household temple (17:4-5).
But not satisfied with this, he did the unthinkable. Micah suborned a passing destitute Levite to serve as the priest of this homegrown cult (17:10). 'Then Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, because the Levite has become my priest" (17:13).' He had, it seems, acquired a "lucky Levite."
The sentence which begins chapter 18—"In those days there was no king in Israel"—becomes an "iterative" phrase in this last portion of the Book of Judges. Whenever it occurs, it points to the growing religious, moral and political disorder and decay taking place in the Israelite confederacy. To demonstrate this we are told how passing Danites steal Micah's silver idol and kidnap his pet Levite. They carry them away as stolen goods and install them in their newly captured city of Dan (18:17-18) in the far north of Israel. There "they maintained as their own Micah's idol that he had made" (16:31), and this situation continued "as long as the house of God was at Shiloh." In other words, there were now two sanctuaries—the orthodox one at Shiloh and another uncertified one at Dan.
And the chaos and disintegration of the Israelite confederacy will continue throughout the next generation, and will end only when the loose, charismatic rule of the judges is replaced by a strong, centralized Israelite monarchy.

Day 73. Judges 12-15

One of the benefits of reading through the Bible is that along the way we will discover unexpected bits of knowledge. For example, he word "shibboleth" in English means a password or a distinctive phrase or custom belonging to a certain group of people.
In the midst of a routine narrative about fighting within the Israelite confederacy we are told after the battle the men of Gilead used a test to recognize escaping Ephraimites. Apparently the Ephraimites could not pronounce the "sh" sound, and as a result when questioned said "sibboleth" instead of "Shibboleth"—much to their sorrow (Judges 12:4-6).
Now having learned that bit of information, we can pass on to the cycle of stories about Samson, who is certainly one of the more interesting heroes of the Book of Judges. His feats of strength and trickery made him a legend in ancient Israel and fodder for countless Sunday school lessons.
Like other great men in the Bible—John the Baptist and Jesus--Samson's birth is announced by the appearance of an angel. There are parallels in our reading both to the annunciation to Joseph in Matthew and to Mary in Luke.
The angel is described by Samson's mother as "awe-inspiring" (13:6)—though we are not told exactly why. Angel messengers in the Bible do not have wings, but usually come as travelers, who were the source of news of all kinds in ancient times. The angel is a commanding presence in any case, and immediately puts Samson's mother on a special diet—she is not to eat anything from the vine or drink any wine or strong drink and contaminate herself with any "unclean thing" during her pregnancy (13:7). The child she will bear will be a nazarite even before his birth, set apart by a special vow, and his charisma, his gift—in the case of Samson, his great strength—will derive from the keeping of that vow—absolutely. Under no circumstance is his hair to be cut—uncut locks are the outward sign of the nazarite vow.
The angel returns to speak with the woman and her husband Manoah together. But when they venture to ask his name, the angel refuses to answer. "Why do you ask my name?" he answers testily. "It is too wonderful" (13:18). They begin to suspect that they are in the presence of the one whose Name cannot be pronounced.
Then when he will not eat the food they set before him, but instead commands them to sacrifice it "as a burnt offering" (13:16), and when he is borne on the flames of the altar into heaven (13:14), it occurs to the man and his wife that they have met the LORD himself. But they do not die, as they fear they might; instead they conceive and bear a son, who turns out to be a problem child in every sense.
From boyhood "the spirit of the LORD began to stir" (13:24) in Samson, and that spirit was manifested in strength no other human being could match (14:6). Samson's only real weakness was for women, especially women who are no better than they had to be. First he fell in love with a Philistine girl (14:7) and demanded to marry her. The LORD had frequently forbidden intermarriage between Israel and its pagan neighbors. But this time the LORD promotes the match, because "he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines" (14:4).
We cannot be delayed over the moral inconsistency of a God who contrives to break his own commandment, and the author of Judges is not troubled by it. We are called instead to delight in the character of Samson himself, the child-like superman who delights in telling riddles. The riddle of the lion and the bees is a particularly clever and elegant one that works on all kinds of levels. The phrase "out of the strong comes the sweet" refers ironically to Samson himself; the deliverance of Israel comes through the animal strength of one who can slay lions with his bare hands and his strength.
He also delights in telling an off color joke. The phrase—"If you had not plowed with my heifer you would not have found out my riddle" (14:18)—strongly infers that those who have guessed his riddle have slept with his wife-to-be. In a fit of childish anger, Samson leaves the woman he had demanded to marry, and she is given to his companion, his best man. (14:20). (This was in fact the original function of a best man at wedding—to take step in and marry the bride and thus save her honor, should the groom get cold feet.)
Early on Samson comes off as a clown and punk, and later as a tragic fool. But his charisma—his divine gift--is trickery and great strength—not wisdom or good judgment—certainly not about women. It is his physical strength that he will use to deliver Israel. Crude—and we might say cruel—jokes are his forte. He ties torches to the tails of foxes to burn the fields of his Philistine enemies.
That the spirit of the LORD rushed in on him (15:14) and gave Samson the strength to kill a thousand men with the raw jawbone of a donkey, may seem to us a little absurd, but we need to remind ourselves of the point of all these stories in Judges--that God uses whatever is in us to do whatever needs to be done.

Day 72. Judges 9-11

It is always a mistake to rely too much upon first impressions, but when it comes to the person of Abimelech in our reading for today, we are pretty sure from the beginning that he is not leadership material, especially when he launches his career as king of Israel by hiring a gang (9:40) and then killing his brothers "the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone" (9:5). (It is worth noting that people in the Bible often have several names; Jerubbaal and Gideon are one and the same man—see Judges 6:32. It's confusing in our text.)
However, Jothan, the youngest of Gideon's sons, escapes his brothers' mass murder to condemn Abimelech publicly, using the parable of the trees (9:7-15). (This is actually a fable rather than a true parable. A fable is a fanciful story with a message. Parables, such as the ones Jesus used, also convey a message or teaching, but they are realistic stories—like modern short stories--incidents that might indeed happen in the course of human life.)
Abimelech's reign, Israel's first experience with monarchy, lasts three chaotic years (9:22). But there is justice built into the universe (9:24); in the end he is killed in a siege when a "certain woman threw the upper millstone on Abimelech's head, and crushed his skull" (9:53). (It's yet another instance of one of those redoubtable, bloodthirsty Bible women taking matters into her own hands.) The curse of Jothan, Gideon's son, is at last fulfilled--"God repaid Abimelech for the crime he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers" (9:56).
After the death of Abimelech, the all too familiar pattern of the Book of Judges continues. There is general wickedness in Israel (verse 6). The LORD's anger is kindled and he turns the people over to their enemies (verse 7). They are "greatly distressed" (verse 9), and cry out to the LORD (verse 10). But this time God loses his temper; "Go and cry to the gods whom you have chosen," he says (10:14). Nevertheless, there is a general reformation of religion and morals (10:16), and God sends another judge, this one named Jephthah.
It is tribute to the author of Judges that he stubbornly resists the temptation of idealize his characters. Jephthah is conceived on the wrong side of the blanket, but that does not detract that from the fact that he grows up to be "a mighty warrior" (11:1). When his family throws him out, he gathers a band of outlaws and goes raiding with them" (11:3).
The trajectory of his life changes, however, at the point where the leaders of Israel, hard pressed by the Ammonites, come to offer Jephthah the commandership of their army. Clearly they need "a dog that will eat a dog," and Jephthah is nothing if not that. He has courage, however, and some diplomatic skill, as his dialogue with the King of the Ammonites demonstrates (11:12 and following).
Jephthah takes on the role of "messiah"—deliverer—and his leadership is validated when "the spirit of the LORD" comes upon him (11:29). But at this very moment, our hero makes a terrible mistake. The story is a cautionary one. It demonstrates both the danger of making a careless vow and the sacredness with which vows made to the LORD must be regarded. Jethphah vows that whoever first comes out the doors of his house to meet him after he is victorious over the Ammonites he will offer up to the LORD as a burnt offering (11:31).
Tragically, it is his beloved daughter, his only child, who comes to meet him. Now he has to make a frightful choice. We wonder how God could be party to such a terrible act as that which follows, but the writer of Judges is not troubled by that problem.
To him and to his audience it is the sacredness of the vow is all that matters (11:35)—"I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow," Jephthah laments. The girl is given two months so that she can "wander on the mountains, and bewail [her] virginity" with her companions (11:37). After that time has passed she returns to her father, who does "with her according to the vow he had made" (11:39).
The story presents moral questions to which it gives no answers. Why does a rash promise have to cost the life of an innocent human being? we wonder--especially when we remember how the LORD stepped in to stop the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22. The best we can say is that the times were evil, as the writer of Judges constantly reminds us, and in this fallen world tragic mistakes are made.

Day 71. Judges 6-8

The story of Gideon begins with a formula which should by now be familiar to us: the Israelites do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gives them into the hand of the Midianites, a nomadic people descended from Ishmael (6:1). So these Bedouin plunderers would be the ancestors of the Arab peoples of today.
In response to Israel's need, however, the LORD sends them a deliverer, this time in the person of a young man named Gideon (6:11). An "angel" appears to Gideon as he is "beating out wheat in the wine press" (6:11), and greets him with the words, "The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior." The greeting reminds us of the one given to Mary in Luke (1:28). To have the LORD "with you" like this means to be especially noticed by God and singled out for a great task. And the angel—who is the LORD himself—gives Gideon his orders in a single sentence—"Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you" (6:14).
Thus ordained, Gideon performed the duties of hospitality for his supernatural guest, but when he set the food before him, the angel of the LORD "reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cake; and fire sprung up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight" (6:21). The gift has become a burnt offering.
Gideon now fully realizes the danger he is in, having seen this supernatural being face to face and prays that he will not die. But the voice of the LORD says, "Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die" (6:23). This is the essential good news, the gospel--God is with us and we need not be afraid.
So Gideon obeys the command of the LORD and does the primary work of a judge—he clears away the paraphernalia of the Baal cult from his own father's land (6:25-27). Then "filled with the spirit of the Lord" (6:34), he begins to gather an army.
But this time numbers will not do. This victory must belong to the LORD alone. So at God's instruction Gideon "sifts" the troops. He watches them drink from a brook and takes only those who lap the water out of cupped hand, eyes peeled for the approach of any enemy. It is stealth and craftiness that must win this victory, not brute force.
We have noted before the seriousness with which ancient people regarded dreams. The dream that is overheard by the spies in the Midianite camp (7: 13-14), steels Gideon for his purpose. Using the element of surprise--the sound of horns and the sudden light of torches hidden in jars--he puts the Midianites to flight and defeats them.
The people of Israel want to make Gideon a king and establish a dynasty upon him (8:22), but he declines, knowing that in the Israelite confederacy the LORD alone is king. (But the offer of kingship to Gideon's family will cause trouble after the old man's death.)
So Gideon acts righteously declining the crown, but he does take some of the Midianite plunder and make an "ephod" of it and erect it in his home town of Ophrah (8:27). What exactly this "ephod" was is unclear. The ephod was the elaborate outer garment the high priests of Israel wore. Perhaps this was some sort of memorial banner that celebrated Gideon's victory. In any case "all Israel prostrated themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family" (8:27). In other words the memorial banner became an idol.
But in spite of this mistake, Gideon succeeded in giving Israel forty years of rest (8:28), but during which time they "relapsed and prostituted themselves with the Baals" (8:33). We are told that they made "Baal-berith their god" (8:33)—the names means "lord of the covenant." But they forgot the LORD their God and the result of that is always disaster.

Day 70. Judges 4-5

In our reading for today we see the pattern we alluded to yesterday, a pattern that continues throughout the Book of Judges. First the Israelites do "what is evil in the sight of the LORD" (4:1). As a result, the LORD allows the Canaanites to get the upper hand over them (4:2). The Israelites cry out to the LORD (4:3), who remembers his covenant and sends a judge to deliver them—this time a "prophetess" named Deborah (4:4).
At the beginning of our narrative, she is literally a judge, an arbitrator of disputes. "The Israelites came to her for judgment" (4:4) we are told. But the crisis calls her to a more active military role, and she summons Barak, who is a commander of the army of Israel, and calls him to action. Barak is from the tribe of Naphtali. (Some tribes seem to be engaged more actively than others in this effort—this time Israel does not present a united front—see 5:14-18.) Barak, recognizing her charismatic authority, refuses to go to war without Deborah (4:8), and she does indeed come with the army—a remarkable thing in itself for a woman in this period and place.
The LORD, the Divine Champion, does goes before the army of Israel, and, as Deborah has promised, the enemy army is defeated. Its general, Sisera, flees before a victorious Israel. But the glory of victory, as Deborah has predicted, goes not to the army or its captain Barak, but to a woman—a certain Jael "wife of Heber the Kenite." (These nomadic people were related to Israel by marriage—Moses' second wife belonged to the Kenite clan.)
Jael welcomes the fleeing and exhausted Sisera into her tent, and offers him traditional Bedouin hospitality (4:18-19). But when he falls asleep she murders him by driving a tent peg through his head (4:21).
We do not meet a lot of them, but the women of the Old Testament we do encounter have very little need of female empowerment—they are redoubtable in the own right. It is Jael who is the true hero of the song that Deborah sings in chapter 5, a song in which natural forces and cosmic powers fight on the side of Israel and its God to give them victory—"The stars fought from heaven, from their courses they fought against Sisera" (5:20-21). But it is the courage of women—Jael and Deborah herself—that the song celebrates. The drama of Sisera's assassination is celebrated in dramatic verse—"He sank, he fell, he lay still at her feet; at her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell dead" (5:27).
The song ends with an affecting human picture of the mother of Sisera waiting in vain for her son's return and comforting herself with false hope (5:28-30). It is very remarkable literary work in itself, which we can readily imagine being sung or chanted for the evening's entertainment around a campfire.
We need to remember that the traditional material found in the books of Joshua and Judges was transmitted orally, as stories and songs, sometimes set to music, for a very long time—hundreds of years—before it was written down. Travelers carried these songs and stories with them from place to place and recited them from memory. We get a little picture of how this happened in chapter 5, where the song says—"Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets and you who walk on the way. To the sound of musicians at the watering places, there they repeat the triumphs of the LORD, the triumphs of his peasantry in Israel" (verses 10-11).
Having recued Israel, Deborah disappears from the stage, but her triumph secures the peace of Israel for forty years (5:31)—a generation's span. This peace, however, is not so long as the one won by Ehud (3:30). Things in the Israelite confederacy are not getting any better.

Day 69. Judges 1-3

The death of Joshua created a leadership vacuum which tribal leaders tried to fill, but with mixed success. They were either unwilling or unable to drive out the Canaanites, and as a result the people of Israel found were weakened both militarily and spiritually by their association with these pagan folk.
Chapter 1 of Judges ends with a melancholy list of places where the Canaanites continued to live. Israel had been repeatedly commanded not to make any covenant with the natives of the Land, but instead to tear down their altars. (The LORD, who is a "jealous God," opposes all other gods and will not tolerate those who worship them.) But Israel chose to tolerate evil, and the LORD in jealous anger left a "fifth column" of Canaanites among them as a test and a "snare" (2:3).
It was a test they failed to pass. We are told that the Israelites began to join enthusiastically in the worship the Baal and Astarte. The word "baal" means 'lord.' Baal was the Canaanite god of thunder, war, and virility, often personified as a bull. Astarte was a female fertility goddess, often worshipped as the consort to Baal, whose orgiastic cult promised fertility to the land and the livestock and healthy children to her devotees—together was good fun. The high-minded and austere law code of the covenant with its God who refused to be pictured in any way had to struggle at a considerable disadvantage with these popular cults.
The people of Israel were willingly seduced by these cults, and as a result they were given over to "plunderers who plundered them" (2:14) and found themselves "in distress" (2:15). But the LORD, ever mindful of his covenant, had mercy and sent them a series of "judges." These homegrown "messiahs" were a colorful, warlike bunch. (The word "messiah" means deliverer and throughout biblical history had a strongly military connotation.)
They came equipped with the "spirit of the LORD" (3:10) and each in his or her own way was able to liberate Israel from its current dilemma. But at the death of the judge, the people would always relapse into their evil ways and the cycle—apostasy, oppression, deliverance and relapse-would recur with dreary regularity (2:18-19). During the period of the judges—from about 1200 to 1020 B.C.—the story of Israel is mixed record of limited military gains and larger setbacks.
Chapter 3 begins with a list of the nations that "the LORD left to test all those in Israel who had no experience of any war in Canaan" (verse 1), and these neighboring peoples proved a ready source of temptation and corruption.
It is against a background of intermarriage and religious syncretism (3:6), we are told the stories of the first two charismatic judges—Othniel and Ehud. The story of the left-handed Ehud—it appears that the little tribe of Benjamin produced more than its share of sinister folk--is typical of the stories of the judges. His assassination of the fat king of Moab is filled with grotesque detail, ribald humor, and ancient bathroom language—e.g. "covering his feet" (3:24). But God strengthened Ehud's strong left arm, and by a combination of craftiness and military leadership he succeeds in quelling the Moabite threat. As a result we are told that "the land had rest eighty years" (3:30).
It was during this period that a new menace appeared on the scene—the Philistines (3:31). These "sea people" migrated to Palestine from the Greek isles and settled on Mediterranean plain. In spite of Shamgar, the judge who killed six hundred of them with an oxgoad, the Philistines were an aggressive foe, numerous and technologically advanced. They will prove a redoubtable threat to Israel for a long time to come.

Day 68. Joshua 22-24

As we come to the end of the Book of Joshua, we return to the familiar themes of faithfulness and memory. When he sends them back to their lands on the eastern side of the Jordan, the aged Joshua reminds the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh to "take good care to observe the commandment and instruction that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded [them], to love the LORD [their] God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, and to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all [their] heart and with all [their] soul" (2:5).
No sooner did those eastern tribes return to their places across the Jordan but an alarming development took place. They built an altar "of great size" on their side of the river (22:10). For early Israel the centralization of worship represented faithfulness to the covenant, whereas decentralization and localization of worship signaled rebellion and apostasy. The western tribes interpreted this altar as a sign of secession, and they sent a delegation to threaten war.
This act of rebellion against the LORD represented a danger to the whole community, they said in what amounted to an ultimatum. The sin of apostasy the altar represented will have disastrous consequences for the entire people (22:20); sin is a corporate matter and not a purely individual one. The eastern tribes must return to worship in the tabernacle or face the threat of civil war (22:19).
But the eastern tribes protest that they have built their altar not as a place of sacrifice to undermine tabernacle worship, but an affirmation of the covenant. The altar is intended to remind future generations living on the far side of the Jordan of their oneness with the Chosen People (22:26). It is not an act of separation; it is a "witness" (22:28) to Israel's history and a testimony to the great acts God has done on their behalf. So the altar is called by those tribes "Witness," because "it is a witness between [the people] that the LORD is God" (22:34).
(That is the function of these heaps of stones that we often find Israel erecting in places significant to its history—they serve as a reminder of the past and a visible connection to what happened there, much in the way that a monument or a statue on a Civil War battlefield would to us. This, incidentally, is the source of the later Jewish practice of leaving small rocks in heaps in cemeteries and at other significant spots to honor to the dead and to represent the endurance of memory.)
The western tribes accept this explanation and crisis is avoided. The Israelite confederacy is preserved without civil war.
Now the aged Joshua, aware that he is about to die, follows the example of Moses in delivering a good-bye sermon, exhorting the people about the greatest danger arising from Israel's establishment in the Promised Land—intermarriage with the surviving Canaanite people who live there (23:12). Joshua warns that intermarriage with pagan folk will certainly lead to moral weakness and ultimate destruction, and, echoing the words of Moses, he condemns any accommodation to pagan culture and mixing of any kind (23:6).
Now in the final act of his leadership, Joshua gathers the tribes at Shechem to renew that covenant. The covenant renewal ceremony begins with a rehearsal of the history of Israel from the time of Abraham to the present moment (24:2 and following), with a special emphasis upon what God has done for them. Then the people are called act faithfully in response to the LORD's faithfulness (24:14 and following). The recitation ends with the call to make a decision—"Choose this day whom you will serve" (24:15).
There is a strong suggestion in verses 14 and 23 of chapter 24 that at least some of the people have divided their allegiance and are worshipping the pagan gods of Canaanites as well as the LORD.
Joshua challenges them to make a final choice—"You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God" (24:19). They are not holy; how can they approach a holy God? "He is a jealous God," Joshua warns them. "He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins." He questions their seriousness and their commitment to reform themselves. But the people signify their willingness to start over. "We will serve the LORD" (24:21), they say. So Joshua calls them to witness against themselves; if they fail in their promise they will be called to account (24:22). And a stone of witness is erected as a silent reminder to the covenant remade (24:27).
Finally, the book ends with the death of Joshua and of Eleazar, the high priest. They are the last representatives of the generation that remembered the exodus from Egypt and wilderness wandering. Joshua is a transitional figure. Now at his death the scene changes and different actors take the main parts. The era of judges is about to begin.

Day 67. Joshua 19-21

In our reading for today from Joshua 19 we get further information about the allotment of tribal lands in Canaan. Apparently these allotments overlapped some, and we wonder what dramas took place when the Israelites appropriated these lands. But we are not told much about any of that—just the names of villages--and we have to imagine these early Israelite settlers were pioneers in a largely empty world.
From our readings in Deuteronomy (19:15-21) we know quite a lot about the revenge culture of the ancient middle east—a mentality that is alive and well today in that region. In Chapter 20 we are told that now, as Moses directed, cities are set aside as places of refuge for anyone to kills a neighbor unintentionally. We know from Numbers 35:16-19 that a male relative of the deceased might be dispatched to get revenge for the family without reference to the justice of the case. These provisions are intended to protect the innocent from "the avenger of blood" (20:3).
Forgiveness in the sublime New Testament sense (see Matthew 5:38-42) is not what is being counseled here. But these provision of the "cities of refuge" does control the revenge mentality with justice and promises a hearing for the accused "before the congregation" (20:6).
Since the Levites were not given an allotment of land in Canaan, they were instead granted towns in the territories of the other tribes to provide them with homes and pastures for their flocks. The Law of Moses provided a portion of sacrifices offered in the sanctuary for the maintenance of the Levites. But there is reason to believe that that portion was never sufficient for their support and they were often reduced to destitution.
The summary in 21:43-44 emphasizes the fulfillment of the promise the LORD made to Israel's ancestors so long ago. Now at last the People of the Promise received the land, and God has resoundingly proved his faithfulness and love. But the sense of peace and rest we get from these verses is belied by what comes next. Matters are not settled and accomplished—not by a long shot. The struggle for the Land against foes both political and spiritual continues in the Book of Judges.

Day 66. Joshua 15-18

Good news! The elderly Caleb takes possession of the city of Hebron he was granted by Joshua in yesterday's reading. He had promised his daughter Achsah to the city's conqueror, and she is given to Othniel, one of her kinsmen, who will figure largely in the Book of Judges. But Achsah herself seems to be a person of character and independence—she asks her father for land of her own—with water rights (Joshua 15:19). And she gets both!
We are made aware throughout our reading for today that although Israel is in control of the hill country of Canaan, much of the land is still unconquered. The Jebusites still hold Jerusalem (15:63). Its conquest will have to wait until the time of David. The Canaanites are not driven out of Gezer; they remain there, though reduced to forced labor (16:10). This is acknowledged to be the case elsewhere as well (17:13)--pagan Canaanite influence will continue to trouble Israel for centuries afterwards. The conquest under Joshua was at best a partial one.
This is further demonstrated when the tribe of Joseph protests that its allotment of land is too small (17:14-18). They tell Joshua that "the hill country is not enough for us; yet all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots of iron..." (17:16). This probably represents the real situation. Israel controls the hill country, where chariots are less effective, but on the plain these ironclad war machines, which were the latest military technology of the time, make the Canaanites a much more formidable foe.
Israel has symbolically taken possession of the land by dividing it among the tribes using the sacred lots (18:8), but it will be generations before the tribes will be able to take complete control of it. And even then pockets of Canaanite culture will remain, and from those enclaves all kinds of mischief will come—as we shall see as we read together.

Day 65. Joshua 11-14

The apportionment of the Promised Land and was undoubtedly good news—gospel—to the hitherto landless people of Israel. For them the Land represented the fulfillment of God's promises. Some of our text strikes us as tedious—lists of cities conquered and long-vanished petty kingdoms destroyed—but to the people who first heard the Book of Joshua the account of the conquest of Canaan was filled with immediacy and excitement.
In yesterday's reading we were told how the sun stood still and time slowed to a stop when Joshua fought the five kings at Gibeon. In today's reading, time is speeded up and the events of decades are condensed into a short span. And in fact the text acknowledges that "Joshua made war for a long time with all those kings" (11:18).
In that war the Israelites fought on foot, often relying on stealth and guerilla tactics for victory. When they encounter horse-drawn chariots—which were the cutting edge of military technology in that period--Joshua is told by the LORD to "hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire" (11:6). This is probably done because the Israelites didn't know how to use them themselves and didn't want these powerful weapons to fall into the hands of the enemy.
And as always Joshua obeyed this command like a good soldier, which is what he is. Indeed, his obedience is a constant theme in the book that bears his name—"As the LORD had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses" (11:15).
We know from archeological evidence that the people of Bible times were small in stature. People of modern height would have seemed like giants to them. We don't know exactly who these tall people are, but again in our text we encounter "Anakim," giants, and we are informed that Joshua wiped then out—exterminated them from the hill country (11:21). But they remained in the Philistine territories of Gaza, Gath and Ashod (11:22). We will encounter one of these Anakim named Goliath as the champion of the Philistine army in the later adventures of the young David.
Auspicious numbers were very important to ancient people, and again and again in our readings together we will encounter certain numbers used as symbols of holiness and completeness. In the allotment of the land of Canaan it was felt to be important that it be divided among the tribes in twelve parts exactly—a holy and auspicious number. The tribe of Levi did not receive an allotment of land because they were provided a portion of the burnt offerings in the tabernacle (13:14). So the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, are counted in our text as "half-tribes," thus making up the sacred number twelve (14:2).
We are told that the land was divided by casting the holy lots—Urim and Thummin—which were the possession of the high priest Eleazar, the successor to Aaron (14:2). The casting of lots is practiced in the New and well as in the Old Testament to discern the will of the LORD (see Acts 1:24-26).
And as our reading ends, some old business is taken care of when Caleb, now eighty-five years old, is given his long-delayed grant of land. Among the spies that Moses sent into the Promised Land only he and Joshua counseled the people to go forward according to the LORD's command. As a reward only Caleb and Joshua among their generation were granted the privilege of entering the Promised Land. In Chapter 14 Joshua gives Caleb and his descendents the yet unconquered city of Hebron.
Joshua is now old and his campaigning days are reaching an end. By the end of chapter 14, an equilibrium has been reached. Some parts of the Promised Land remain to be conquered, but the Israelite war machine is running out of steam. From now on, the conquest will go more slowly, and as a result, we are told the land "had rest from war" (14:15).

D-10ay 64. Joshua 8-10

More of the same—you might say, and you might well ask--Why am I reading this?
Well, beloved, you and I are engaged in a discipline. In a way, we are like the people of Israel, going forward to conquer the Promised Land. It isn't easy to read these chapters with all these bloody details of war and massacre, but they are taking us somewhere we want to go—to a more mature understanding of the faith we profess.
And as we go, on the way we might well consider two men with the same Hebrew name--"Yeshua." One we call Joshua, the other Jesus. Their shared name means "the Lord saves." They are both undoubtedly "saviors"—yet very different kinds of saviors. Yet they represent two very different faces of the God of Israel which are both revealed in the Bible--two aspects of God we are called upon to reconcile into One as we read and mediate together.
In the meantime we are called upon to accept the text as it is.
And from the text it is clear is that pagan Canaanites—they are sometimes also called Amonites in our text (20:6)—are not regarded as fully human by the writer of the Book of Joshua or his original readers. They are dangerous wild animals or venomous insects that must be exterminated (see Joshua 8:25). Modern, enlightened people are not supposed to regard human beings in that way, and yet in our lifetimes whole populations have been massacred as savagely as any in our text. The conquest of Canaan is total war, a campaign of terror launched against not only armies but against civilians as well. Reading these stories opens a window upon the history that lies behind the violent struggle between religions in the Middle East today and the worldwide threat of terrorism that has sprung from it.
In chapter 8 of Joshua the city of Ai is assaulted for a second time and—this time with the LORD's help—taken (8:7). The population is again "devoted"—treated as a sacrifice to the LORD. But there is a difference in the way the plunder of the city is disposed. At Jericho the LORD, the Divine Champion, alone takes the city and the plunder belongs to him solely. At Ai the people take the city—albeit with the LORD's assistance—and the livestock and plunder are divided among them (8:27). The king of Ai is "hanged . . . on a tree until evening" (8:29). Was he crucified? All we can say is for certain is that this was an especially cursed way to die, according to the Law of Moses, and we are told that his body is taken down before evening to prevent uncleanness from being visited on the whole community. (The five kings are treated in the same way (10:26). Remember that Jesus is also hanged on the tree, becoming as accursed, as St. Paul
says, for our sake, and his body, according to the Gospels, is taken down hurriedly before sunset to prevent it for polluting the community on the eve of Passover.)
In Deuteronomy 27:2-8 Moses had commanded the building on Mount Ebal of the altar. And Joshua obeys this command, making it "of unhewn stones, on which no iron tool has been used" (8:31). On that altar a communal sacrifice is made, as Moses directed. And this was followed by a reading of the Law of Moses (8:34-35), which is intended to recall for the people on what terms they were taking possession of the Land of Promise.
And as they conquered that land, the LORD had instructed them not to make any covenant with the people who lived there. But in chapter 9 we are told the story of how the leaders of Israel were tricked by Gibeonites into doing just that. The Gibeonites pretend to be from a far country, and the Israelite leadership, without asking direction from the LORD (8:14-15), makes a covenant with them.
Such covenants, made in the name of the LORD, are sacred and once made cannot be broken, and therefore the crafty Gibeonites are grudgingly spared from the general destruction. But they become a slave caste within Israel. We are told that "on that day Joshua made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to continue to this day, in the place where [the LORD] should choose" for his sanctuary (9:27).
No such fate awaits the alliance of the five kings who unite against the invading Israelites in chapter 10. Joshua's battle with them is adorned with fabulous details, like a miraculous hailstorm (10:11). The LORD, the Divine Champion, even stops the sun "in mid-heaven" (10:13) until the Israelite victory is assured. We are not invited to consider how God does it—we are only called upon to praise the LORD who can even stop time in its shoes in order to work his will.
The chapter 10 ends with a dreary list of cities destroyed and kings defeated. But the war of conquest goes forward, and we are carried along with it. . . .

Day 63. Joshua 5-7

As we said yesterday, the Book of Joshua represents a new act in the story of the People of the Promise. The conquest begins with a ceremony of dedication. Apparently, none of the males of Israel had been circumcised during the years of wilderness wandering (Joshua 5:5). So now, at the beginning of the conquest of Canaan, this rite is performed on the second generation, the first generation with exception of Joshua and Caleb having now died because of their disobedience and cowardice.
In chapter 5, verse 3 we are told that "flint knives" were fashioned for the operation. Remember that we read in Exodus that iron tools were not used in the construction of the tabernacle, now flint, not iron, is used for this mass circumcision not only because it keeps a sharper edge, but because iron—a relatively new metal in that period--was regarded as a source of ritual pollution.
The celebration of Passover began Israel's exodus from Egypt; now the celebration of Passover launches the conquest of the Promised Land (5:10-12). We are told that the day after that Passover, the manna the people had eaten in the wilderness ceased and the people began to eat "the produce of the land" (5:11). Now they were residents and no longer nomads.
The conquest begins with a vision that appears to Joshua, a heavenly being who identifies himself as "the commander of the army of the LORD" (5:14). Later sources would identify this as the archangel Michael, always protecting the chosen people and defeating the powers of evil. He is the patron saint of Israel. The clear implication is that the visible host of Israel is accompanied in the conquest of the Promised Land by the invisible army of the LORD.
The story of the siege and conquest of Jericho in chapter 6 is probably familiar to many of us from childhood. The rams' horns mentioned in verse 4 are the "shofars," used ever since in Jewish ceremonies, symbolic of the power of God. The Ark of the Covenant that goes before the army of Israel is the visible sign of the presence of the Divine Champion who goes before them. It is carried a distance ahead to show that it is the LORD alone who assaults the city. There is no actual siege. The power of the LORD causes the walls of the city to collapse. And because it is the LORD alone who gives the victory, all that is in the city is devoted to him for destruction. The population, apart from Rahab the prostitute and her household, is massacred—even their livestock. (The author notes that Rahab's "family has lived in Israel ever since" (6:25) becoming the ancestors of Israel's royal house.
Joshua curses the spot where the city had stood and speaks a malediction upon "anyone who tries to build this city—this Jericho!" (6:26) (The city was in fact rebuilt in later times—see I Kings 16:34—but with terrible consequences for the one who did so.)
The plunder of Jericho belongs entirely to the LORD, who alone has given the victory. But God is cheated by Achan, who steals some rich plunder which had been devoted to the LORD for the treasury of the tabernacle (7:12). As a result of this outrage, the army of Israel is defeated in its first assault of the town called Ai. Joshua and the people are cast into despair. But the culprit is discovered (7:1-15). Achan confesses and is condemned to share the fate of the city. Burning with fire is an unusual punishment in Israel. But Achan, the stolen goods, his sons and daughters, his oxen, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he has are destroyed --stoned and burned with fire and buried under a heap of stones. This heap "remains to this day" to remind future generations of the terrible consequences of trying to cheat the LORD of what belongs to him.
The sacrifice is made. The LORD is appeased, and the conquest continues. . . . .

Day 62. Joshua 1-4

In our journey together we have at last reached the historical books, and these should be an easier read, as a novel makes lighter reading than a book of philosophy or theology. The narrative carries you forward. But these books are not novels or works of history in the modern sense. They are "holy history"—history put to a special purpose. They are devoted to revealing what kind of God is who works through history to save his people.
The name "Joshua" or "Yeshua" in Hebrew means "the Lord saves." According to the Gospel of Matthew, that is the name the angel instructs Joseph to give to the miracle child whom Mary is about to bear (1:21). We know the name in its Greek form as "Jesus." Both Joshuas are indeed "saviors"-but of quite different kinds. Both are filled with the spirit—the charisma that comes from God. But their differences are worth contemplating as we read the story of the first Joshua's leadership and anticipate the coming of the second Joshua.
In chapter 1 the LORD tells Joshua three separate times to be "strong and courageous" (1:6, 7, and 18). Courage will be his special gift—courage combined with absolute obedience. The Book of Deuteronomy said that the ideal ruler will have the Law of Moses always beside him, and here Joshua is called upon to meditate constantly upon the Law (1:8) so that his conquest of the Promised Land will be in line with the commands of the LORD and successful.
In chapter 2 we hear the adventure of the Israelite spies in Jericho and meet the plucky prostitute named Rahab who saved them from discovery by hiding them under the flax on her roof. Rahab is a good example of the openness of early Israelite religion. She obviously did not have a very respectable start in life, but she was a woman of character and resourcefulness. After the fall of Jericho she will marry an Israelite husband and become one of the ancestors of King David, and through him of our Lord.
(By the way, the "crimson cord" Rahab ties in her window (2:21), the sign that will save herself and her household from destruction, is the source of the "red light" symbol that marks houses of prostitution in later times.)
In chapter 3 the invasion begins. This is a true "holy war"--the host of Israel is led into battle by the Ark of the Covenant, the visible symbol of the presence of the LORD, the Divine Champion who fights with and for his people. As the waters of the Red Sea parted for Moses (Exodus 14), so here, in an echo of that earlier story, the waters of the Jordan stand still," rising up in a single heap" (3:16). Again the people of Israel cross over with unmoistened feet. (The dividing of the waters harkens back to the Creation story in Genesis 1:6ff. where on the second day of creation the Lord divides the waters to create dry land. Here again a new creation is taking place. God is creating a new people for himself.)
In our reading, the miracle of the divided Jordan serves to validate the leadership of Joshua, who has received from the Lord the charisma, the spirit or courage and strength he needs to do the work of conquest with which he has been entrusted. Again the divine stagehands are moving the sets. A new generation is taking charge and new act is beginning with Joshua in the title role. As our text says-- "On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him, as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life" (4:14).

Day 61. Deuteronomy 32-34

Our readings for today from Deuteronomy are principally occupied with the two final songs of Moses. The first and longer of these might well be called The Hymn of the Rock. It recalls and celebrates the absolute dependability of God, using the image of the Rock to extol the protection his strength gives to those to trust in him. "The Rock, his work is perfect," the voice of Moses sings, "and all his ways are just" (Deuteronomy 32:4). God is the "Rock of [Israel's] salvation" (32:15); all other "rocks" are false and deceptive.
Israel is the sole possession of its God. Just as the land of Canaan has been allotted to Israel, so Israel itself has been apportioned to the LORD as his personal possession (32:9).
The images of rocks and stone recur throughout the hymn. Moses recalls how, during the wilderness sojourn, the people drew sustenance out of rocks—the LORD "nursed [Israel] with honey from the crags, with oil from the flinty rock" (32:13), referring to the mirages of feeding that took place in the desert.
But in spite of the LORD's nurturing care, the people have repeatedly proved to be "children in whom there is no faithfulness" (32:20). The LORD is portrayed as a loving and patient mother; but in spite of the care shone the children of Israel, they "were unmindful of the Rock that bore [them]," they "forgot the God who gave [them] birth" (32:18).
As a result of their forgetfulness, they have been "sold" by "their Rock"—the LORD has abandoned them (32:30). Israel has been defeated by its own fears and left to face the consequences of its rebellion.
Yet Israel's God remains sovereign over all other gods--all other "rocks"—he will not abandon his people forever. The LORD says, "See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god besides me. I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and no one can deliver from my hand" (32:39). Against the strength of the LORD human beings are helpless, and that strength will ultimately save his personal possession if they remember the covenant he made with them and are mindful of him."This is no trifling matter for you," Moses warns (32:47), "but your very life." God is always a power to be reckoned with and to be ignored only with terrible consequences.
In the second of Moses' songs, he blesses the tribes of Israel individually, just as Jacob had blesses them one by one at the end of the Book of Genesis (chapter 49). And having done so, we are told that Moses "went up . . . to Mount Nebo," which is at the northeast corner of the Dead Sea, and there he was granted a panoramic vision of the Promised Land, which for reasons never made fully clear in the Book of Deuteronomy God would not allow him to enter.
There on Mount Nebo he died. We are told that "no one knows his burial place to this day" (34:6). There was no place of pilgrimage associated with him. This gave rise to a later belief that he did not die at all, but that like Elijah in later times God's friend, "whom the LORD knew face to face" (34:10) had not died, but had in fact been "translated"—taken up bodily into heaven.
It is for this reason that when Jesus is transfigured on the mountain (see Luke 9:30) Moses and Elijah are there to meet with him "in glory." Both are representatives of the prophetic tradition of Israel, of which Jesus is both the heir and the fulfillment.
But Moses is unique among the prophets of Israel because he not only spoke God's message to the people, he also pleaded repeatedly for the people and saved them from God's wrath. He was a true intermediary, a conduit of divine power and authority, the greatest of prophets.
And at Moses death his charisma, his divine power and authority, passed by the laying on of hands (34:9) to Joshua. Charismatic gifts are always given for a particular purpose. Moses' charisma was particularly in his God-given ability to do "mighty deeds" and "terrifying displays of power" (34:12) in freeing Israel from bondage in Egypt. Joshua's charisma will be in the area of generalship, because military leadership is what the people of Israel now need as they begin the conquest of Canaan. It is the story of Joshua in tomorrow's reading from the book that bears his name. . . . .

Day 60. Deuteronomy 30-31

As we near the end of Deuteronomy, we hear the voice of Moses returning to what are certainly the two principle themes of the book—the faithfulness of God and the unfaithfulness of the chosen people. Both are accepted facts, proved again and again by experience.
But even though the people have and will again prove unfaithful, even though, as a result of that unfaithfulness, they may be "exiled to the ends of the world," still "from there the LORD [their] God will gather [them], and from there he will bring [them] back" (30:3-4). It is a promise--If the people return to him and obey his commandments, God will always forgive them.
Just as the unfaithfulness of the people is a foregone conclusion in Deuteronomy, so God's fidelity and mercy are absolutely dependable. They are at the very heart of his nature—he cannot be otherwise.
And the prophet anticipates a future when the people will be like their God. He looks forward to a time when the exterior sign—circumcision—will become an interior reality, when obedience will be second nature to them and they will "love the LORD [their] God with all [their] heart and with all [their] soul, in order that [they] may live" (30:6).
Life or death—Moses presents the people with two possible choices. It is not easy to obey God's commandments—that is obvious—but they can do it. Knowing the will of God and obeying is not impossible. "The commandment that I am commanding you is not too hard for you, nor is it far away" the voice of Moses says (30:11). In fact "the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe" (31:14).
The climax of the Deuteronomy comes when Moses calls all of creation to witness that he has done everything possible to make the consequences of both obedience and rebellion clear. "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and earth, blessings and curses," he says. "Choose life so that you and your descendents may live. . . ." (30:19).
In this choice, Moses thus sums up his whole career. The Law he communicates from God offers to each individual and to the nation as a whole the opportunity to live in that obedience that brings men and women into friendship with God. But the Law also makes those who neglect to keep it into God's enemies.
God is faithful. The people are unfaithful. But the LORD's mercy offers them the opportunity to remember his love and faithfulness in the past, repent, and live.
Chapter 31 is devoted to that other great theme in Deuteronomy—remembering. It stipulates that the Law shall be read to the assembly of all the people every seven years so that "they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God and to observe diligently all the words of the law" (31:13). And it provides that a copy of the law shall be deposited in the ark (31:26), which represented a sort of "memory box" for Israel, to remind them of the covenant they have made.
Finally Moses composes and recites a "song" which is intended to recall for the people who the LORD their God is and what he has done. That song will begin our reading for tomorrow. . . . .

Day 59. Deuteronomy 28-29

The covenant-making that began in yesterday's reading is sealed is today's with a series of curses and blessings. Ancient people had a different attitude toward words than we do. For us words are merely sound-symbols for things; for the people in Bible times words were things themselves. They were "objective." For them words were living and "real" in way they aren't for us. Words in the mouth of one having authority—a prophet, for instance--had a powerful magic in them that would accomplish what they proposed. Blessing could conjure up the good things they named. And curses were a powerful "automatic weapon" that could be used against enemies with deadly force.
So the curses and blessings delivered in these chapters from Deuteronomy could bring agricultural prosperity and political power to the nation if the LORD's commands were obeyed. And they could equally bring disaster if his laws were ignored. Blessings promise general good luck and happiness, which is part and parcel with being blessed. In a passage that sounds a bit like the lyrics to a Cole Porter song, the voice of Moses promises that "the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be only at the top, and not at the bottom—if you obey. . . ." (28:13). But working on the same principle, curses bring terrible disaster to those who rebel.
In those curses the awful of responsibility that comes with being chosen is again revealed. The consequences of disobedience are truly horrendous and involve undoing and canceling of the blessings formerly promised. They promise that every effort will end in frustration (28:30 and following.) Every imaginable catastrophe will overwhelm those who fail to discharge their obligations to the covenant. In a long passage that looks forward to Israel's later tragic history, the horrors of siege and captivity are chillingly portrayed (28:55 following).
So properly warned of the consequences of breaking the covenant, the Israelite nation is called to a ceremony of renewal. The first generation made the covenant with the LORD at Mount Sinai. Now the second generation is called to remake "in the land of Moab, . . . .the covenant [the LORD] had made with [their ancestors] at Horeb" (29:1). And all the readers and hearers of the Book of Deuteronomy are called upon to see themselves as making it as well. So Moses says to the people: "I am making this covenant, sworn by an oath, not only with you who stand here with us today before the LORD our God, but also with those who are not here with us today" (29:14-15). So all subsequent generations are present for the covenant making and are included in the blessings and curses that attend it.
Now Israel has been told all it needs to know about how to live righteously before God. The Law is sufficient. The revelation is complete. They do not need to worry about things they do not understand about the LORD and his will or speculate needlessly about them. They are simply to obey the covenant--that is enough. "The secret things that belong to the LORD our God," Moses tells them, "but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, to observe all the words of this law" (29:29).
Be mindful of the LORD, take seriously what God has revealed as his will for us, and don't concern yourself needlessly about all the rest—good advice for us all.

Day 58. Deuteronomy 24-27

Under the Law of Moses divorce was a relatively easy matter. If he was unhappy with his wife, all that a man had to do was to "write her a certificate of divorce, [put] it in her hand, and [send] her out of the house" (Deuteronomy 24: 1). A woman was given no such privilege, but at least she was able, armed with a written document to protect her from an accusation of unfaithfulness, to go and freely marry another—possibly with a better outcome. Many—and this included Jesus--found the ease of this transaction objectionable. But its original intention was to protect both parties in a marriage and to make the ending of an unhappy union as easy and painless as possible.
In chapter 25, verses 5-10 we get our fullest exposition yet of levirate marriage, an arrangement we have encountered earlier. This law provided that if a man died without issue, his brother shall "go in to" his widow and provide offspring and an heir for the deceased so that "his name may not be blotted out of Israel" (25:6). This arrangement not only served to perpetuate the name of the deceased, it also provided for his widow by giving her children and a secure place in society. The duty of levirate marriage was apparently taken seriously in ancient Israel--in Luke 20:28-33 we find Jesus being challenged about this law in his conflict with the Sadducees over the resurrection of the dead--and a heavy weight of shame was attached to any man who refused for any reason to do what the law commanded of him (25:8-10).
Besides dwelling on the subject of marriage, our reading for today again demonstrates the concern the Law of Moses had for those at the margins of the community. We find laws that offer practical assistance to resident aliens--who would be landless and therefore destitute—as well as to widows and orphans who are made the particular responsibility of the whole community. With no adult male to protect them, it is the LORD who steps in to act as husband and father on their behalf.
In this and in many other many matters of the Law of Moses is common decency and practical kindness codified, providing protection for the most vulnerable members of society (24:10-14) and ensuring that even domestic animals are humanely treated (25:4). In the compassion shown by his laws and statutes the LORD strives to deserve the name of Merciful.
Chapter 26 is an important one in Deuteronomy because contains what is essentially the creed of ancient Israel, a formula associated with the offering of first fruits and it begins with the words—"A wandering Aramean was my ancestor. . . . (26:5-10). The statement of Israel's faith then goes on to tell the salvation history of the people, beginning with the call of Abraham and the promise made to him and ending with the fulfillment of that promise in Israel's establishment in the land. Like our familiar Christian creeds, it is not only a statement of historical faith, but also an expression of thanksgiving to the one who works through history to keep his promises to his people.
Then in the conclusion to this first great good-bye sermon Moses renews the covenant made between Israel and the LORD in formal legal terms binding both parties to each other. He says to the people: "Today you have obtained the LORD's agreement: to be your God and for you to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and to obey him. Today the LORD has obtained your agreement: to be his treasured people, as he promised you, and to keep his commandments; for him to set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honor; and for you to be a people holy to the LORD you God, as he promised" (26:18-19).
All the great themes of Deuteronomy are right here. This is more than a legal agreement, it is a hymn to the God who enters his creation and chooses a people for his own, giving the Law as a sign of their election and a call to a life of obedience and holiness. There is nothing more for Moses to do but say, "Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of the LORD your God!" (27:9).
But the covenant-making continues in tomorrow's reading with curses for those who break the covenant and blessings for those who keep it.

Day 57. Deuteronomy 20-23

The Book of Deuteronomy is very literal about this--when Israel goes into battle her armies are accompanied in person by the LORD, the Divine Champion. He goes before them to fight against their enemies and give them the victory (Deuteronomy 20:4). Therefore, obedience, purity, and unswerving bravery are expected of those who go to war with the LORD at the front of their army. They are to go with a complete single-mindedness (20:5ff). Those who have reservations or regrets should turn back and go home.
And while they are in camp the troops are to be mindful the presence of the Divine Champion among them and maintain ritual purity (23:10-14), providing for ways to dispose of their waste "so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you (verse 14).
Furthermore, all captives and all the spoil plundered from the enemy belonged by rights to the Divine Champion who alone gave victory. He could dispose of it according to his wishes or order it to be to be destroyed. In chapter 20, verses 16-18 the Divine Champion commands than when any of the inhabitants of Canaan are captured in battle, they must be annihilated so that that will not teach the people of Israel to do all the abhorrent thing that they do for their gods. The mixing of any kind is forbidden on principle (see 22:9-11).
Yet in spite of the ruthlessness of these commands, almost in the same breath God tells the people that in their conquest of the land they are not to destroy fruit trees or make ruthless war upon the natural world (20:19-20). This concern for plants and animals is a theme in the Law of Moses. Notice the concern shown that the bird and her nestlings not be destroyed together in Chapter 22:6-8. It serves to remind us the Divine Champion is also the God who loves and protects his creation, and his Law is a mixture of strange mercy and fierce justice.
Although some of its laws seem rigid to us, the Book of Deuteronomy does actually make some allowance for individual rights and feelings. The treatment of female captives in chapter 21, verses 10-14 allows a woman captured in war a month's time to mourn for her dead before she becomes the wife of her captor. Then she becomes his responsibility. In the Bible a sexual relationship creates a bond which cannot be lightly cast aside. If the husband of the captured wife is not satisfied with her, such a woman captive cannot be turned into a slave and sold. Since she has been dishonored, she should have her freedom as compensation (verse 14). But her wishes in the matter are not consulted.
And this is the rule in such cases. If a man wrongs a woman by making false accusations about her, when it is discovered that he has slandered her he is not allowed to divorce her ( 22:13-19). The woman' desires are not considered, but she is protected from destitution and shame.
Marriage in the Bible is not governed by our romantic ideas; it is a property transaction between men. The woman's security is considered in these cases, but not her happiness. Even in the case of rape, the perpetrator is fined and forced to marry the victim. And furthermore he is not "permitted to divorce her as long as he lives" (22:29). The right of free choice is certainly not being extended to women here. But by prohibiting a man from divorcing a woman he has seriously wronged, he is at least being forced to provide for her support and insure that she will not fall into destitution. She is given a place in society and the rights that belong to that place.
Again, the treatment of a disobedient son seems cruel by modern standards (21:18-21), but it is worth reminding ourselves that this is a society based upon authority. The absolute authority of God flows down through rulers to fathers and mothers, who have life and death power over their children. The authority of the family is the foundation of order in the community, and what is best for the community always comes before individual rights and personal feelings. This is a world in which our sentimentality would be utterly out of place.
And yet in this unsentimental world there is room for mercy. Loaning money to another Israelite is encouraged as a act of kindness to someone who has fallen on hard times. But charging interest to another member of the community is strictly forbidden (23:17). So the Father of All protects the poor from usury and exploitation.
Again, it is forbidden by the Law to steal the crops belonging of others, but in Deuteronomy chapter 23, verse 25 the poor are given leave to satisfy their hunger by plucking the ears of wheat and threshing them in their hands. (This is what the disciples of Jesus were doing in Matthew 12:1-2 when the Pharisees rebuked them.)
Before we leave the reading for today, note the law regarding the body of anyone hanged on a tree (21:22-23). It comes up rather unexpectedly, but it is important for later Christian thinking. One who is hanged on the tree—possibly as a pagan sacrifice--was under the special curse of God. Leaving a hanged body exposed was source of impurity to the entire community unless it was taken down and buried on the same day (verse 23). This is the reason why in the Gospels the followers of Jesus are at such pains to get his body buried before sunset.
St. Paul in Galatians 3:13-14 is referring to this text when he makes the point that the Jesus Christ who was crucified "on the tree" became cursed by the Law for sake of us all, saving us from our sentence of death the Law demands and bringing us to new life through the resurrection.

Day 56. Deuteronomy 16-19

The Book of Deuteronomy comes from the period when the worship of Israel was being centralized in order to combat local pagan cultic centers left over from pre-conquest times. And old laws and customs are being reinterpreted to fit this situation.
For instance, the feast of Passover was originally a domestic feast, celebrated at home by a gathering of family or neighbors (Exodus 23: 14-17). Deuteronomy reverses this practice (16: 5) and commands that it shall instead be celebrated at the "place that the LORD. . . will choose as a dwelling for his name" (16:6). This centralized celebration of Passover was still the practice in New Testament times. At the time of Jesus' arrest and execution, he and his disciples were in Jerusalem as observant Jews keeping Passover. But when the Roman armies destroyed the Jerusalem temple in A.D. 70, Passover went back to being celebrated at home, and that is still the Jewish practice.
Passover and the other feasts were so important to Israel because they gave the people the opportunity to sanctify time, to make the seasons of the year holy by setting them in the context of God's work of salvation. Most of the feasts began as agricultural festivals, but as the years passed and the Jewish people became less wedded to the land and its rhythm of planting and harvesting, the feasts became more and more historical in nature. They were opportunities to remember and relive the past. For instance, the Festival of Weeks (16:9-12), which began as a harvest festival, later became identified with the giving of the Law on Mount. We celebrate the Festival of Weeks as Pentecost, our Christian feast that remembers the giving of the Holy Spirit to the infant church, as God gave the Law to Israel at Mount Sinai.
The three great feasts of the Israelite holy years also served to gather and unify the people—all adult males were commanded to attend (16:16)—as well as to give them the opportunity to contribute to the sanctuary. "You shall not appear before the LORD empty –handed," the voice of Moses says. God demands his tip as the rightful acknowledgement of his love and faithfulness.
And the LORD's love and faithfulness take the form of establishing justice, which is necessary if the people are to take possession of the Promise Land and hold onto it. Judges are forbidden to take bribes or show partiality: "justice and only justice you shall pursue," the voice of Moses says (16:20).
Worshipping other gods is a capital offense, punishable by stoning (17:5). But the death sentence cannot be exacted without the evidence of at least two witnesses (17:6), and the witnesses must take responsibility for the truth of allegations by being the first to throw stones at the condemned, thus taking ultimate responsibility for the truth of their accusations. (In the story of the woman taken in adultery, remember Jesus' saying, "Let him anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her"--John 8:7.) Harsh as the punishments are, they are clearly regarded as a deterrent to crime: "all the people will hear and be afraid," Moses declares, "and will not act presumptuously again" (17:13).
But even in this discussion of crime and punishment, there is concern with the establishment of the central sanctuary and its authority. Ultimate judicial power is given the priests who serve there. They are the court of final resort for those accused of a crime, and their decisions are to be regarded as final. "Carry out exactly the decision that they announce to you from the place that the LORD will choose," Moses tells the people, "diligently observing everything they instruct you" (17:9-10).
In Deuteronomy the voice of Moses looks forward to a time when Israel will have a king. When a king is appointed, he must belong to community (17:15). He must not acquire a large harem from the pagan nations around about for fear he will be corrupted by them, and he must not amass silver and gold for himself lest wealth and luxury become the motive for his rule (17:17). Instead his overriding concern must be justice. He must have a copy of the Law written down for himself and make it his study "all the days of his life" (17:19)
Creating a just community is the constant concern of the LORD of the covenant, because only a community based upon justice can survive. So Moses is at pains to give laws that control vendettas and curb the law of revenge (19:1-13). He makes rules to protect property lines (19:14), and he provides for harsh penalties for perjury (19:16-18).
He also promises on the LORD's behalf that the community will be provided with life-giving prophesy--"the LORD will raise up for you a prophet like [himself] from among [their] own people; you shall heed such a prophet" (18:15). Israel looked forward to the appearance of a prophet "like Moses" as a fulfillment of prophecy, and in the Gospel of Matthew, for instance, when Jesus teaches as the Great Rabbi he is clearly presented by evangelist as the "new Moses," the promised one, who renews and fulfills the Law.