Judges 12:1-13:25
At this point Israel just starts to look gormless and clueless. Ephraim and Manasseh shouldn’t have been fighting each other - they were co-heirs of the covenant for goodness sake! They certainly shouldn’t have been indulging in lisp-based ethnic cleansing. Ibzan shouldn’t have been marrying outside his clan as he would have known if he’d ever bothered with Deuteronomy and, Abdon should have done a little more with his leadership than furnish his children with their own personal donkeys. But, once again we see the Lord sending his representative into a seething mass of lawlessness and destruction. Once again we see the Lord responding to rebellion and neglect with both compassion and justice. Justice dictates that Israel will be subjected to the Philistines but compassion finds a sterile and childless woman and promises her a child who will be the deliverer for Israel. There should be no doubting it; God is willing to lose all dignity just to give his people a chance at redemption. Even Manoah’s innate ability to act like a buffoon couldn’t hold back the Lord’s redemptive efforts. God could have told Manoah to go and read his bible - all the answers he sought were right there in Numbers 6 - but he didn’t, he sent his angel back to interact with this imbecile and assure him and his wife that the Lord’s Spirit was back in town. So here we can see the repeated theme of Judges and the bible; no matter how rebellious you are, no matter how bankrupt or idiotic, you are not beyond the compassionate saving work of God. If you seek him, even if you don’t really know how to seek him, you will find him and he will lead you into a brighter hope than you ever dared imagine.
John 6:60-7:13
As the divine identity of Jesus has been revealed and the required response to him prescribed, the fabric of Israel’s society begins to disintegrate around him. People are streaming away from him. People are severing and making ties because of him. And Jesus seems to have no problems with it. Jesus is not an apologetic people-pleaser. He did not come to give everyone a nice shoulder pat. He came to reign and he came to give life. And he is happier to have a few people really grasping real life than to have great crowds mooching about in life’s pale imitation. Eternal life is such a precious commodity but some don’t want it at all and that others just want to water down. Jesus refused to go that way, and John did too. Jesus is the Holy One of God who is the same yesterday today and forever. He has the words of eternal life. And no-one else does. As I seek to live in this eternal life I find it a constant battle to take it in its unadulterated form. I want to make it easier and less offensive to me and my friends. I don’t like to see them grumbling. I don’t like to see people calling Jesus a deceiver. I don’t like to find myself confused and perplexed with no-one else to go to except for Jesus. But the weird thing is that that is eternal life. That is where joy and peace everlasting are found. It is bizarre but it is true. Jesus loves to give this life, this most precious commodity to his people. And he refuses to undervalue them by watering it down.
Psalm 59:9-17
If I’m honest this one does sound a little vindictive. He does seem to know where his help is found though.
