Rethinking Samson

In 2016, Sight & Sound Theatre put on a production on the story of Samson. In case you didn’t see, but you still want to buy the DVD and watch it, I won’t spoil anything. (Well, I won’t spoil how they did it. You can spoil the story for yourself by reading Judges 13-16). All I will say is it was awesome, and it was excellent. As I grow older, I find myself appreciating Sight & Sight more and more. When I was a younger boy, I appreciated Sight & Sound because it held true to its motto. It really brought the Bible to life. Now I have gone from a young boy to a young man, who has gone through 4 years of Bible college and 7 years of seminary, I now appreciate Sight and Sound even more because it tells a good story, yet it does not sacrifice the Biblical or theological truths in order to do so.

Yes, I am that guy. I am that guy who sees the Bible portrayed on the big movie screen or the small television, and I’m the one yelling, “That’s not in the Bible! That’s not what the Bible says!” I do so for a few reasons, some more obvious for the others. First of all, when we see movies or television change the Bible story, we know that means that the screenwriter, the director or the produces questions the historical accuracy of the Bible, even possibly believing the Bible is all fiction. Second, to change the Bible story to make it more action-packed is really insulting to the Bible. Remember that back then is not like today, where every child goes to school to learn to read and write. Only the smartest kids (and sometimes the richest kids) got to go to school to learn to read and write. Therefore, reading and writing became a skilled trade. To them, reading and writing was both an art and a science. So when you read in Deuteronomy 6 God commanding the Israelites via Moses to teach their children the stories of the Israel, don’t put in your mind this mental image of the children all sitting around their father, while the father pulls out a scroll and begins the story (for even if the father could read, he probably couldn’t afford a scroll, which were expensive to make). No, the mental image you should put in your head is the children sitting around their father, listening to their father recite the stories from memory. So how do you make a story easy to remember? You make it exciting, you make it fun, you make it interesting. These Bible stories are meant to be exciting, fun and interesting already. To change it to make it even more exciting, fun and interesting is really insulting to the Bible, for you are claiming it isn’t. Third, as I said before, when the Bible story gets changes and rearranged, Biblical and theological truths get lost, or worse, the story teaches a lesson quite the opposite of what the Bible intended.

To be fair, movies and television aren’t the only one guilty of this. I will confess on behalf of preachers and teachers alike (because I will confess that eve I myself, as both a preacher and teacher, am guilty!) that sometimes Bible teachers and preachers can get so caught up in telling a Bible story, they forget to teach the Biblical truth about God, or worse, teach a lesson contrary to what the Bible teaches. I find this happens most often in the book of Judges, especially when it comes to the story of Samson. Today, I invite you to look again at the story of Samson, rethink the Bible intends the reader to learn from his story, and I promise you, you’ll find stronger applications for Samson than you ever have before.

Now if you know me, you know I’m really big into context. After all, my blog is called “The Contextual Literalist.” Historical, geographical and cultural context all play a big part in the book of Judges, but the biggest role goes to literary context. Literary context can be broken into three parts. First, there’s the immediate context, which asks, “How do the sentences/verses come together to form the story of the judge?” Second, there’s the near context, which asks, “How do the stories of the judges come together form the book of Judges?” Third, there’s the far context, which asks, “How does the book of Judges contribute to Bible and our theology about God?”

First, let’s explore that immediate context, or how the sentences/verses come together to form the story about the judge. Fortunately for the reader, the book of Judges comes with an outline for each story of each major judge. (The book of Judges has 12 judges: 6 major and 6 minor. The difference between a major judge and a minor judge is that a major judge has a whole story, whereas the minor judge has only 1 verse.) This outline can be found in Judges 2:11-18. Most Bible commentators refer to this as the “Judges Cycle,” for the outline repeats itself with every judge in a cyclical manner. This paradigm happens in 5 stages. First, Israel does evil in the eyes of the Lord, which is most often falling to the sin of idolatry. Second, the Lord hands punishes Israel for its sin, most often by allowing a foreign nation to invade Israel’s promised land and oppress Israel. Every time this happens, the book of Judges demonstrates how just are God is. Most often, the Lord hands the Israelites over to the foreign people whose idols Israel has begun worshipping. If the Israelites begin worshipping Baal, the god of the Canaanites, the Lord hands Israel over to the Canaanites. If the Israelites start worshipping Dagon, the god of the Philistines, God hands Israel over to the Philistines. It is as if God is saying, “If you worship their gods, then you will become like their people, and thus you will serve them. So if you begin to worship Baal, you will begin to act like the Canaanites, and so you will serve the Canaanites. If you start worshiping Dagon, you will start acting like Philistines, and thus you will serve the Philistines. Once Israel finally realizes how much distress their idol worship has put them under, Israel cries out to the Lord for help, which is the third stage of the cycle. Then, fourth, the Lord sends a שָׁפַט (šāpaṭ). Traditionally, this word has been translated “judge,” but modern-day scholarship believes that “deliverer” or “savior” would be a better translation. It makes if you think about. These people don’t make decisions about the laws of the land, like Judge Judy or Judge Joe Brown. These people save the Israelites by delivering them from the hand of their oppressive enemies. Since most people are more familiar with the tradition translation of “judge,” however, we will stick to that word. That judge would save Israel from its current enemy and deliver it from any future threat. As long as the judge lived, Israel experienced the fifth and final stage, shalom and Shabbat, or peace and rest. This would last all the way to judge’s death, when Israel would fall back into the sin of idolatry, and the cycle repeated.

Now that’s the immediate context, or how the sentences/verses come together to make the story. Next, let’s look at the near context, or how the stories come together to create the book of Judges. I’m going to teach a new way that you can read through the Old Testament history books. First, make a graph (I’m hoping math class didn’t scare you away from making graphs). The horizontal line (in math terms, this is the x-axis) represents the progression of the book. You can make marks for each one of the chapters, or you can just wing it. The vertical line (in math terms, this is the y-axis) represents Israel’s relationship with the Lord. On the top, put a happy smiley face, and on the bottom, put a sad frowny face. If Israel is seeking God’s will and obeying God’s commands (in essence, making God happy), we’ll mark it off at the top of the graph. If Israel is seeking their own will in front of God’s, and/or they are disobeying God’s commands (in essence, making God sad), we’ll mark them at the bottom of graph. We’ll only do this for the 6 major judges that fit the Judges cycle. By the time we get to Samson, you’ll notice a pattern, and you’ll be able to tell where Samson will end up.

 

 

The first judge we run into is Othniel, found in Judges 3:7-11. Othniel’s story is the shortest of the major judges, for his story fits the cycle perfectly. Israel begins worshipping the gods of the Mesopotamia, and so Israel soon finds themselves in bondage to the king of Mesopotamia. Israel cries out for help, and the Lord raises up Othniel to be their first judge. Othniel is supposed to remind you of Joshua, for many reasons. First, Othniel’s story comes first in the book of Judges, right next to the end of the book of Joshua. Second, Judges 3:9 informs the reader that Othniel is the nephew of Caleb. If you remember from the book of Numbers, Joshua and Caleb were the only 2 spies who gave a good report because they trusted God for victory against their enemies in the promised. Therefore, Othniel is very much like Joshua in the way he goes to war with the king of Mesopotamia. He trusts in the Lord, seeks the Lord’s will, gathers an army, faces the king of Mesopotamia and his army face-to-face, and with God’s power and presence, Othniel comes out victorious. Obviously, without a doubt, Othniel goes on the top of the graph, for he does everything right. He seeks God’s will, he obeys God’s commands, and God blesses him with the victory.

 

 

The second judge, Ehud, appears in the same chapter, Judges 3:11-20, and let me tell you, this story is meant to be funny!. This is the second shortest judge story because it follows the judges cycle for the most part, but not exactly the way one would expect, or hope. Israel starts worshipping the idols of Moabites, and the Lord allows Eglon, king of Moab, to oppress the Israelites. Not only does Eglon enslave the Israelites, he forces them to pay a tribute, or a tax. And guess who is responsible for delivering this tribute? It’s Ehud, the guy the Lord raises up to be the next judge! On a certain day, as Ehud wraps delivering the tribute, he speaks up, “Oh by the way, I have a דְּבַר־סֵתֶר  (seter devar) for you.” This phrase is a double entendre. The Hebrew word seter can mean “secret” or “hidden” (after all, a secret is hidden from public knowledge). The Hebrew word devar can mean “thing” or “word” (as in a saying, as in, “May I have a word with you?” or “I have a few words for him.”). So what’s Ehud saying? He’s saying, “I have hidden thing for you,” referring to the 18-inch blade strapped to his thigh. But that’s not what King Eglon hears! He hears, “I have a secret message.” Eglon gets so excited about this secret message, he sends all his armed guards out of the building! When finally alone, Ehud says further, “This seter devar is from God.” Funny thing about this double entendre is that it works both ways. Ehud gets so excited, he stands up for it. He might have been like, “Oooh, please give it to me, give to me now!” “Ok,” Ehud says as he slides the 18-inch blade into Eglon’s stomach. Previously in the story, Eglon is described as fat man, symbolizing his power and strength. The text now informs the reader that Eglon was so fat, the fat consumed the blade, and it smelled, so bad that the armed guards outside thought that he was pooping. (Because the armed guards think this, some scholars believe that the toilet is somewhere in the second-story room, and therefore it is quite possible that Ehud escaped through the toilet hole.) When the armed guards finally realize Eglon is taking too long to relieve himself on the toilet, they walk in to find their king dead! Now put yourself in the mind of Moabites. Here they are living in a strange land. They have been depending on their big, strong, powerful king for defense and support. Now, all of a sudden, their king is dead, and the murderer and terrorist is on the loose, nowhere to be seen. Their first thought must have been, “These people are crazy! Let’s get out of here!” So they began retreating for the border to head back into Moab. What’s Ehud and his buddies doing? They are killing all the Moabites as they retreat!

At the end of Ehud’s story, the reader learns that Ehud is an assassin and a sniper. Now I play a lot of video games, including multiplayer. In the world of multiplayer, especially online multiplayer, taking the role of an assassin or a sniper is a cheap move. Some even consider it a form of cheating. Why? Because it’s not fair. A fair fight is when two men take on each other head-on, face-to-face, in their full strength, to prove who is the strongest. When someone takes on the role of an assassin or sniper, the fight becomes unfair because the assassin or sniper is taking advantage of an opponent’s disadvantage, or he’s gaining a strength off of the opponent’s weakness. Othniel offers a fair fight to the king of Mesopotamia, but Ehud gives the king of Moab an unfair fight by taking on the role of an assassin and a sniper. This nontraditional and unconventional method of fighting leaves the questioning, “Where is Ehud’s faith?” Othniel had faith in the Lord, and so have a fair, face-to-face battle with the king of Mesopotamia was no problem for him. Since Ehud chose to became an assassin and sniper, it hints that Ehud did not have the faith Othniel had. Perhaps Ehud doubted God would provide him with a large enough army or that God would protect him from danger. Therefore, he resulted in sneaky tactics instead of a fair, face-to-face fight. On our graph, Ehud still ends up near the top of the graph, but he also ends up lower than Othniel. Yes, he gets the job done. King Eglon is dead, and the Moabites retreat back to Moab lesser in number. At the same time, Ehud does not have the faith to engage Eglon in a fair and honorable battle. He has to resort to nontraditional, unconventional methods.

 

 

If you’re still unsure about my interpretation of Ehud, pause right here and check out Shamgar, the first minor judge of the book. Shamgar’s story appears right after the story of Ehud, and it closes out Judges 3. It’s only 1 verse long, in Judges 3:31. The verse reads, “After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.” It’s only 1 compound sentence, but that sentence says a lot. You can almost imagine it. The Philistines have taken control of the Promised Land, probably due to Isarel worshipping Dagon, the Philistine god. From the 1 verse, the reader can assume Shamgar is some kind of herder, for he has an oxgoad, which is a long, pointy stick used to prod animals. One day, while Shamgar is herding his animals in the fields, he looks around, and he sees the Philistines standing all around, everywhere he looks. He starts to get mad, for he knows the Lord did not intend for the Philistines to have the land, but Israel to own the land. Out of his anger, he starts stabbing Philistines with his oxgoad! As a result, he kills 600 Philistines. The Philistines must have saw this terrorist on a murderous rampage and said, “These people are crazy! Let’s get out of here!” With that, the leave. See the similarities with Ehud’s stories? Once again, Shamgar does not raise up an army to face the Philistines head-on, but rather he chooses a nontraditional, unconventional way. Again, that nontraditional, unconventional way gets the job done. And again, it leaves the reader to question, “Where is Shamgar’s faith?” Why couldn’t Shamgar lead an army into a head-on battle? Did he not trust God to provide for him or protect him?

The third major judge we come across is Deborah & Barak. I pair the two names together, and there’s a reason for that. At the beginning of Judges 4, the reader learns that Deborah is a prophetess and a judge. This time, Deborah is a legit judge, making rulings about civil and criminal court cases. Up to this point, the Lord has been “raising up” judges. This phrase “raising up” could simply mean that the Holy Spirit provoked the person’s conscious that he needed to lead and save Israel. After Ehud and Shamgar’s nontraditional, unconventional and unfair ways, the Lord wants more of an audible voice to commission the judge. God chooses the godly prophetess Deborah to do the job. Deborah delivers the news to Barak, “Congratulations! God has chosen you to save Israel! Now go save Israel!” What’s Barak’s response? Judges 4:8 records it as, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” I wonder if this caught Deborah off guard, hearing a “no” the Lord’s calling. Deborah responds by prophesying in Judges 4:9 that Barack will not get the glory for the victory, but rather, a woman would receive the glory. I need you to step out of your 21^st American mindset and step back into the mindset of an Israelite before the time of Christ. In the 21^st American mindset, Barak is no longer the judge, but instead, Deborah takes the role of the deliverer. Therefore, to the 21^st century American, this story is about a strong woman in a leadership role. The 21^st century American wants to cheer, “Girl power! You go girl!” Sorry, but that’s not how the original audience, Israelites before the time of Christ, would have read the story. In their mind, Barak is still the judge, but he is a weak judge because he needs a woman to hold his hand and help him through everything. I know this can be hard for a 21^st century American audience to hear, so let me put in terms you might be able to better relate to. Deborah is an early example of the overworked church worker…well, the B.C. Israelite version, but you get my point. The Lord had a plan. Deborah, as prophetess, was to listen for God’s Word, and she would then communicate it to Barak. Barak, as judge, would execute God’s plan, and thus deliver Israel. Barak, however, refused the plan, desiring for Deborah to come with him. Now Deborah has two roles: as prophetess, listening for and communicating God’s Word, and as judge: executing God’s plan. Actually, Deborah now has a third role, too, which is babysitting Barak. Deborah and Barak engage Jabin, the king of Hazor, and Sisera, Jabin’s general, in a face-to-face battle (at least they got that going for them). Because Barak will not listen to God’s plan fully, the best they can do is get the opposing army to retreat. It is Jael, a Gentile woman, who kills Sisera, thus ending the war, and bringing ultimate fulfillment to Deborah’s prophecy. While Deborah & Barak still fall on the top half of our graph, it’s more like the top of the middle. Once again, they do get the job done, but at what cost? Deborah is overworked, Barak is weak and does not trust God, and because Barak’s reluctance to listen to God, the best they can do is get the army to retreat. All in all, the judge Barak does not listen to God’s plan, dropping him lower than Othniel and Ehud.

 

 

The fourth major judge is Gideon. Gideon’s story is the 2^nd most understood story, right next to Samson. This time the Midianites and the Amalekites have teamed up with other, smaller eastern people groups to take Israel’s land. Apparently, the judges do no better listening to a prophetess’s voice than the stirring of the Holy Spirit in the conscience, so this time the Lord goes a step further and sends a divine messenger, an angel, to give the new judge, Gideon, the message. The angel find Gideon threshing wheat in a winepress. Back then, they would thresh wheat by winnowing, or throwing the grain and chaff in the air, to let the wind blow away the chaff and let the grain fall to the ground. As you can imagine, this is easiest to do where there’s a lot of wind, like a mountain or a hill. Gideon is not threshing wheat on a mountain or a hill. Instead, he’s threshing in an enclosed winepress. This guy is so afraid of being spotted by the Midianites and causing him trouble that he rather cause himself more work than cause trouble with the Midianites. The angel must have took one look at this and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Nevertheless, the angel approaches Gideon and says, “Congratulations! The Lord is with you, for he has chosen you to save Israel. Now go, and save Israel!” Gideon speak back in doubt, “No, the Lord is not with us. He is with our enemies, for he has given them victory over us.” The angel reassures Gideon God is with him, and Gideon doubts again, “I think you must be have me confused with someone else. I’m the least in my family, and I am from the weakest clan.” The angel again reassures God is with him. Then Gideon says, “Prove it. Prove that you are really sent from the Lord.” The angel instructs Gideon to prepare a sacrifice, and Gideon does so. After preparing the sacrifice, all the angel has to do is touch the sacrifice with the tip of his spear, and it bursts it flames. I can imagine the angel saying, “As you can see, I am really from the Lord. Now go, and save Israel!” “Wait a minute…” Gideon speaks up. The angel wonders, “What do you mean, ‘Wait a minute.’? Did I not prove I was sent from God?” “Well yeah,” Gideon says, “but how do I really know the Lord is with me and will use me to deliver Israel? Here, I got a plan. I will put out a wool fleece outside. If the fleece is wet from the dew but the ground is dry, then I will believe that God has chosen me.” The Lord agrees, Gideon lays the fleece out overnight, and by morning, the fleece is wet and the grass is dry. The angel speaks up again, “As you can see, the fleece is wet, the grass is dry, so therefore you are chosen by God, so now go and save Israel!” “Wait a minute…” Gideon begins. “WHAT NOW?” the angel yells impatiently. “Well,” Gideon says, “it would make sense for fleece to be wet and the grass to be dry since the fleece is thicker than the grass. So tonight, I will lay out the fleece again, but let’s see the opposite results. “FINE!” the angel quickly says. Sure enough, the next day, the fleece is dry and the grass. The angel must have been like, “Now will you go save Israel?” “I guess,” Gideon mutters. I hope you don’t think I fabricated the story too much, but I’m trying to illustrate how reluctant Gideon is to take the honored role as God’s chosen judge. Israel could have been saved days ago, but due to Gideon’s doubt and reluctant, Israel’s salvation was delayed. Already, the reader can tell this will not end well.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about the actual battle, for I image many of you are familiar with it. For example, we all know how the Lord brings Gideon’s army to about 1.5% of its original size. I will point one detail, though. Note how they begin the battle. Gideon’s army surrounds the Midianite camp. They blow their trumpets and uncover their torches, which causes the army to fear and flee. Then Gideon’s men chase after them. The best way I can describe this warfare is as an ambush. Just like Ehud and Shamgar, Gideon’s reluctance to face the opposing army head-one might reflect his lack of faith that God would protect and provide.

Then the reader reaches the end of Gideon’s story in Judges 8. At the beginning of Judges 8, Gideon must have thought himself, “While I have an army under my control, might as well put good use to it.” He then uses his army to chase after the Israelite men who killed his brothers and kill them. Not all of the rest of the nation approves, and they fight back. The nation is divided, and Israel plunges into civil. Gideon’s army of 300, still high off of the defeat of the Midianites and Amalekites, win yet again. You can imagine Gideon’s winning streak has made him famous and popular. I can imagine a crowd surrounding him, chanting, “GIDEON! GIDEON!” Then someone in the crowd yells, “Let’s make him king!” The crowd cheers and begins chanting, “KING GIDEON! KING GIDEON!” The reader holds his/her breath, thinking “Oh no…Come on, Gideon, do the right thing.” Gideon speaks up, “No, do not make me king, for God is your king.” The reader sighs a breath of relief, “Whew! Good! Because I thought…” “However,” Gideon speaks again, and the reader again goes, “Uh-oh.” “However,” Gideon says, “if you want to reward me, you can make me an ephod.” Ladies and gentlemen, an ephod is a crown for a priest. So Gideon pretty much said, “Don’t make a king, but make me a crown.” The people don’t question it. They go along with it. In fact, the Bible says they start whoring after it. In other words, they treat it like an idol. As for Gideon, the ephod must have gone to Gideon’s head, both literally and figuratively, for Gideon names his son Abimelech! Ladies and gentlemen, the name Abimelech means, “My father is king.” So once again, Gideon said, “Don’t make me king,” but he went and named his son, “My father is king.”

If all this fame didn’t go to Gideon’s head, it went to his son Abimelech’s head.  Abimelech takes his name very seriously. He concludes, “If my name means ‘my father is king,’ that must mean my father is a king, and if he’s king, once he dies, I become king!” Once Gideon does die, Abimelech sets himself up as the king of Israel. In reality, he’s more like an anti-king, for he’s the exact opposite of what God looks for in the king of Israel. Abimelech further promotes the idolatry in the land. He also sends the nation into civil war for his own persona vendetta. In the end, Abimelech becomes a worse oppressor than any of the foreign nations ever had! Things get so bad that God himself has to save Israel…from itself!

In conclusion, Gideon falls in the middle of our graph, but towards the bottom half. Once again, I agree the job gets done, but do the ends justify the means? Gideon can be seen as a bad judge from the start. Gideon is reluctant to take the honorable role as judge. Gideon doubts God, even questioning God’s holiness due to Israel’s oppression (which is really a result of Israel’s sin). Gideon puts God to test, which Deuteronomy specifically says is a sin (remember, Jesus quoted that to Satan during the temptations). Gideon is just as bad at the end of the story as he is in the beginning. He uses his power for his own personal vendetta, plunging the country into civil war. Although he credits God, he rewards himself selfishly, like a king. He does nothing to stop the idolatry to come back. In fact, he adds to it. Then he does nothing to stop his son, who will amplify all these problems in his “kingship.” After this hefty list of negatives, Gideon should find himself luck he’s closer to the middle than the bottom.

At this point, we’ve gone through two-thirds of our major judges. I pause here because we are going to notice a very important shift. The first half of our major judges were good, godly influences upon the people they led. The second half of our major judges begins with Gideon, and he starts the shift. In the beginning of the story, Gideon seems to be influencing the people positively. He destroys the Baal altars and cuts down the Asherah poles. By the end, however, the people seem to be influencing him more, so whatever influence Gideon gives, it come out negative. Thus, Gideon only further feeds into Israel’s idolatry. Our last third of the major judges are the opposite of the first half. These judges will represent the moral decline of the people. There’s good application here. At the end of the 2016 presidential election, a lot of people scratched their head and wondered, “How could we let him become president?” To prove I’m not showing partiality towards or against a certain political party, I also noticed at the end of the primaries, a common concern was “There are 300 million Americans living in the United States, and we really got it down to these two?” How could we get it down to those two, and then get it down to that one? Just look no further than the people. A lot of times, especially in a democracy, the leader represents the citizens he leads. So we can say that the leader is sick, but just as true (if not more true), we can say they the nation is sick. We’ll see that here in the book of Judges. As sick as these judges, they reflect an even sicker nation.

Here comes Jephthah, and with Jephthah, our first hiccup in the Judges cycle. The cycle starts as normal. Israel decides to worship the gods of Ammonites, and so the Ammonites take the Promised Land away from Israel. At this part of the cycle, the reader usually sees a cry for help. Israel’s cry, however, is questionable. Israel pretty much says to the Lord, “Alright, you know the drill. Come save us.” The Lord replies, “No! Despite that I saved you time after time from the foreign nations, you still worship their gods! So go cry to their gods, and let’s see if they save you!” Israel pretty much replies to God, “Listen, Yahweh, can we call you Yah for short? Yah, you know what’s the right thing to do. You just worry about doing what’s right on your end, and we’ll do what’s right on our end. Okay? Okay.” How rude! How disrespectful!

Yet God’s reaction is very interesting. See, I believe God is omniscient, meaning his knowledge and wisdom far surpasses any human knowledge and wisdom. I also believe that God loves us so much, and he desires to be in relationship with us so much, that he also desires to reveal himself to us. Put that together, and what do you get? Sometimes God will explain things in the best way humanly possible, and sometimes it can even blasphemous or heretical (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-31). This is one of those instances. When I read Judges 10:16b, I see God in conflict with himself. Sounds heretical, right? But for parents, I think it makes sense. Parents, ever tell your children not to do something because they will get hurt? Then the child does it, and sure enough, the child is hurt, bawling his eyes out. Half of you is saying to yourself, “I told him/her not to do, and look what happened! Go cry your eyes out, I’m not comforting you for your disobedience.” The other half of you is saying, “My poor baby is hurt! I must go love him and hug and kiss him and rock him in my arms!” That’s what God is feeling. God is not stupid. God know the cycle. God knows they will revert back to their idolatry. At the same time, he sees his beloved people hurting from their oppression. He loves them so much, he just wants to save them from their hurt and pain. God’s inner conflict is a conflict of justice vs. compassion and grace.

Well, Israel doesn’t wait for God. If they had, from what we know with the previous judge and the next judge, God would appointed another judge by divine messenger. This time, Israel decides to go out and find the judge they like. They put up all kinds of rewards, like leadership over Gilead. From their search arises Jephthah. Jephthah is introduced in Judges 11:1, “Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.” Notice the emphasis on the conjunction “but.” The author seems to discard Jephthah’s warrior skills because he is the son of a prostitute. Just like Deborah and Barak, I need to ask you kindly to remove yourself from your 21^st century worldview and think with the mindset of an Israelite before the time of Christ. In the 21^st century way of thinking, we want to cheer on Jephthah as an underdog story, overcoming cultural expectations to contribute to society. This is not how the original audience, the B.C. Israelite would have seen it. For them, this is an omen that the story will not end well.

The key word is “end,” so let’s jump ahead to the end of the story. During battle, Jephthah promises the Lord that first thing that comes out of his home he will sacrifice the Lord. With the Holy Spirit on Jephthah’s side, Jephthah is indeed victorious. On his way home, the door springs open, and his daughter come out to greet him with tambourine and dance. Now Jephthah is in quite the pickle. Jephthah knows from Leviticus 20:2 that God finds child sacrifice (his daughter was probably a young child, for Judges 11:34-40 emphasizes her virginity) as detestable and an abomination. Jephthah also knows that vows to the Lord need to be taken seriously. What does he decide? He decides he can’t break his promise to God! He sacrifices his daughter, which God finds detestable and an abomination, in the name of the Lord! That’s like someone claiming that God told them to get an abortion, or someone having an abortion in the name of the Lord! Jephthah’s sacrifice is just as disrespectful as the Israelites’ request in the beginning of the story. Because of Jephthah’s sin, while Jephthah rules over Israel for six years, he never receives the rest or peace stage of the cycle. He will have to fight off his enemies (both internally and externally) until the day he dies. Therefore, the story of Jephthah definitely ends up in the bottom half of our graph.

 

 

Finally, we’ve reached Samson. Looking at our chart, you can understand why I went through all that before getting to Samson. If we were to “connect the dots” of our graph, you’d notice a line, a straight line plummeting downward. As you can see, Israel is morally declining with each judge. Sadly, the pattern will not end with Samson. Therefore, even before we dive into Samson, we know the story of Samson will not turn out well.

The cycle for Samson starts out just like any cycle for any judge. Israel does evil the eyes of Lord, most likely worshipping the idol of Dagon, the god of the Philistines. Shortly after, the Philistine take control of the land. This is where the wheel of the Judges cycle goes flat. Typically, here, the reader sees a cry for help. While the story of Jephthah had a questionable cry, it had a cry nonetheless. In the story of Samson, there is no cry for help. In fact, later on the story, the Israelites are more than willing to acknowledge the Philistines as the power in control, so much so they will even give up Samson to the Philistines willingly (see Judges 15:11-13)! What exactly happened? Scholars and commentators debate. Did the Israelites believe they could not fight off the Philistines, so they just gave up and left? Did the economy get so bad that they welcome the Philistines, hoping they could boost their economy?  Was it a slow and gradual change over time that the Israelites did not recognize what had happened? Had the Israelites become so engulfed in the Philistine culture (including their religion) that they were happy living alongside the Philistines? Either way, it would seem that Israel didn’t want to be delivered. Only God wanted Israel delivered. To me, this reflects God’s compassion, grace and mercy. When God sees his people hurting, he helps them, even if they don’t want help, or they are unaware they need help.

Just like in the story of Gideon (and possibly in the story of Jephthah if the Israelites had waited), the Lord uses the divine means of an angel to call a judge. This story stands unique, however, in the fact that God calls the judge even before the judge’s mother births him into the word. That fact alone proves that this judge has the potential to be great. Furthemore, we read in Judges 13:2,3 that Manoah and his wife are old, married and barren. From what you’ve read in the Pentateuch (the first 5 book of the Bible), what other couples do they sound like? They sound like Abraham and Sarah before they had Isaac, Isaac and Rebekah before they had Jacob and Esau, Jacob and Rachel before they had Joseph and Benjamin. These are the great patriarchs of the faith. Manoah and his wife would have been familiar with these stories about the heroes of their faith. They themselves also would also realize their son could be the next hero of the faith.

The child comes with stipulations, though. These stipulations are important. They are repeated three times in Judges 13:4-14 alone. These stipulations are better known as the Nazarite vow, a vow used to set apart someone as special to the Lord. Other famous Bible people who have taken up the Nazarite vow are Samuel, Elijah and John the Baptist. If you want to learn more about the Nazarite vow, check out Numbers 6, where God establishes it. Judges 13:4-14 highlights three important conditions of the Nazarite vow.  First, the Nazarite cannot drink wine or any other alcoholic drink. Second, the Nazarite cannot eat any unclean food. Third, the Nazarite cannot use a razor on his head. While in most Nazarite vows, the person choose the date and time to start and stop, the reader learns from Manoah’s wife in Judges 13:7 that the son will be Nazarite from the day of birth to the day of death. Therefore, when Manoah’s wife is pregnant with their son, she too must not partake of fermented drink or unclean food. Once again, I draw your attention to those 3 stipulations of the Nazarite vow repeated 3 times in the Judges 13:4-14 alone. The author does this with good reasons, for these stipulations will roughly outline the story of Samson’s adult life.

The story of Samson can be split into 2 “acts.” What divides the acts is which woman is with Samson. The first act, found in Judges 14-15, Samson is with his Philistine wife. The second act, found in Judges 16, Samson is with Delilah. The first act, beginning in Judges 14, starts off with Samson requesting from his parents a wife from among the Philistines. Samson’s parents are appalled by the request. The know from Exodus 34:16 and Deuteronomy 7:9 that God forbid the Israelites from marrying a Gentile. They try to word it nicely, asking Samson, “Isn’t there a nice Israelite girl you rather marry?” Samson insists she is right for him. Although the reader would want to side with Samson’s parents, the text assures the reader in Judges 14:4 that the Lord used this as an opportunity to confront the Philistines. On his way to meet up with his future wife, Samson encounter a lion. With his bare hands, Samson kills the lion, and he continues on his way to meet his future wife. On the return trip, Samson sees the lion carcass still on the road, but something peculiar has happened to it. Instead of flies and maggots feasting on the rotten flesh, honey bees have built a hive in it. Seeing the honey dripping from the hive, Samson scrapes the honey out and eats it. Honey made in a dead animal is unclean. Therefore, Samson has eaten uncleaned food and has broken part of his Nazarite. Still, the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. Perhaps the Lord reasoned, “OK, Samson, you’re weren’t supposed to do that. It was important that you don’t do that. But hey, two-thirds rule, right? You still are following a majority of the Nazarite vow. I’ll let that one fly, as long as you keep a majority of the vow.”

Judges 14:10-20 describes the wedding of Samson and his Philistine wife. The verses that draws the most attention to me is verse 10. Verse 10 reads, “His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do.” Most Bible translations translate מִשְׁתֶּ֔ה (mishteh) as “feast,” but a more literal translation is “drinking party.” The typical Philistine wedding consisted of seven days straight of drinking. Without a doubt, Samson took part of this binge drinking, violating his Nazarite vow again. That’s strike 2. Still, as the story continues, we found out the Spirit of the Lord is still upon Samson. Maybe God reasoned, “Alright, so we’re down 2 conditions of the Nazarite. Samson, you really got to work harder on trying to keep these stipulations. It’s important to me that you keep them. But hey, you haven’t thrown them all away, so I know you haven’t given up on being a Nazarite yet. Let’s just hold on and stay strong to keeping a razor away from you head.”

Samson has already broken two-thirds of the Nazarite vow, and we haven’t even left Judges chapter 14! There’s still 2 chapters to go! Remember that Judges 14 has to do Samson’s Philistine wife during their 7-day wedding. Not only will the wedding last 7 days, so does the marriage. During the wedding, Samson makes a high wager on a riddle he created. The Philistine become quite irked they cannot solve the riddle, for they are about to lose a big wager. So the Philistines gang up on Samson’s wife, threatening to burn her and her father’s house if she does not get the solution for them. Afraid, Samson’s wife begs and begs until she gets the riddle’s answer. When the Philistines give Samson the correct answer, Samson kills 30 Philistines to pay off his wager. In hot anger, he leaves, and Samson’s wife is given to Samson’s best man.

I’m going to fast forward to Judges 16 for time’s sake (as if this isn’t already long enough). In Judges 16:4, Samson has a new girlfriend, who goes by the name Delilah. Delilah has chosen a bad time to date Samson. Samson’s antics against the Philistine had made Samson public enemy number 1 in their sight. When the Philistines find out Delilah is in an intimate relationship with Samson, they pressure Delilah into finding out the secret to Samson’s strength by bribing her with silver. At first, Samson makes up stories on how he will lose his strength, but they all get proven wrong. I can imagine the Philistine leaders are getting more and more upset with Delilah with every false tale she tells them. Delilah, upset herself that Samson will not tell her his secret, accusing him of not loving her and keeping secrets from her.

Samson’s Wife (Judges 14)	Delilah (Judges 16)
Samson falls in love with a Philistine woman (14:1-4)	Samson falls in love with Delilah (16:4)
Tension with the Philistines (14:10-14)	Tension with the Philistines (16:2-14)
Samson’s wife pressured with threats (14:15)	Delilah pressured with bribe (16:5)
Samson’s wife accuses Samson of not loving her (14:16)	Delilah accuses Samson of not loving her (16:15,16)
Samson confides in his wife the secret of the riddle (14:17a)	Samson confides in Delilah the secret of his strength (16:17)
Samson’s wife betrays Samson (14:17b,18)	Delilah betrays Samson (16:18,19)
Result: The Spirit of the Lord comes upon Samson (14:19)	Result: The Lord leaves Samson (16:20)

I’ve made a chart here to give you a visual, and I hope you are all seeing a pattern. Yes, literally the same thing that happened with Samson’s wife is happening with Delilah. The reader is just hoping that Samson too will see the pattern, too. Perhaps Samson did see the pattern. The big difference to me is that, with his wife, Samson just holds back the truth, but with Delilah, Samson lies to her to keep his secret safe. I’m leaning to believe, however, Samson did not see the pattern. He eventually gives in. Strike 3. Of course, the Lord leaves him! The Lord was probably like, “That’s it! I give up! I gave you every chance, forgiving you of every time you broke the vow! But now there’s nothing left. You disregard my requests for you, and once again, it’s for a woman you have some kind of infatuation for. Well, if you rather be with her, I’ll leave you two alone!” Samson may not have worshipped graven images, but may I suggest that the Philistine women had become his idol. Because he worshipped the Philistine women, he became like the Philistine, and as the reader sees in Judges 16:21-25, Samson would spend some time serving the Philistines.

On such occasion, the Philistines, celebrating their victory over Samson, decide to celebrate by sacrificing to their god Dagon. They bring in Samson to entertain them at this celebration. Samson asks the boy guiding him to lean him against the supporting pillars. Samson then prays in Judges 16:28, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” When I read this, I want to say to Samson, “Seriously?! Are you kidding me?! Shouldn’t your prayer be along the lines of, ‘O God, I’m sorry I disregarded my vow to you and your plan for my life. Please forgive me and give me one last chance to fulfill my purpose.’ And your biggest concern is your eyes?!” As selfish as Samson’s request may be, I don’t think God was pleased that the Philistines celebrated their victory over Samson to Dagan, for it suggested Dagan, the Philistine god, was victorious over Yahweh, Samson’s God. God must have been like, “Close enough!” The Lord grants his request. With the last of his strength, Samson literally brings the house down. The story of Samson concludes, “He had judged Israel for 20 years.” In short, Samson still served the role of judge, defeating the Philistines.

 

 

Let’s go back to our graph. Samson belongs at the bottom. Clearly, Samson is not the hero. He disregards God’s commands and the vow he has with God. He idolizes women, putting his relationship with them before God. He becomes engulfed with the sinful Philistine culture instead of resisting the temptation. He is selfish, only acting when the Philistines directly offend him. He does not care about the welfare of his people. Who then is the hero? The hero is God! God helps his people, even when they don’t want or call for help. God shows patience with Samson, providing grace and mercy for every time Samson messes up his vow. God uses Samson to save his people, even when Samson will only act selfishly, for God uses that, too.

So what do we learn about God from the story of Samson? For starters, God cannot be thwarted by any mere man. Most born again Christians don’t intend to thwart God’s plan, but sometimes, we act like we do. When we don’t do exactly as God asked us to do, we feel like we hindered God’s plan. As we learned from Samson, nothing can get in the way of God’s plan. Even when Samson conformed to the  Philistine, disregarded God’s vow to him and only acted when personally offended, God still used him to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines, and God still got the glory. Even when we mess up, God can still get the glory. God always wins. On a similar note, God will never give up on you. God had every right to give up on Samson whenever he broke the first condition of the vow. So God definitely had the right to give up on Samson we he broke every condition of the vow. Yet God did not. God still used him to bring salvation to the Israelites. We may feel like we’ve messed up so many times that God will never use us again. Let me tell you that God does not expect you to be perfect until the new heaven and new earth. He knows that you will trip and you will fall, but he will be there to pick you. A good parent doesn’t punish his or her child when the child falls learning to walk or riding a bike, nor does a good parent give up on the child. They work together until the skill is mastered. God will continue working with you, until you are mastered into that perfect creation that God intended you to be.

How should we, as Christians, respond to what we learn about God in the story of Samson? First, Christians should never become comfortable with sinful culture. Samson becomes too comfortable with sinful culture, and look what happened to him. It separated him from God, which led to his downfall. In the same way, when a Christian becomes too comfortable with sinful culture, it can be the Christian’s downfall, too, for it separates them further and further to God. Stay true to your relationship with God, seeking his will, following his commands and pursuing holiness. Second, never let your lusts replace the love of God meant for you. Let’s face it, what got Samson in trouble was that he chased after the Philistine women. If he chased after God with the same attitude, he would have been a good judge. Instead, he chased after his own selfish lusts, which lead to his downfall. Don’t let that happen to you. If you are single, remember that you are a part of the church, and as a part of church, you are the bride of the bridegroom, Jesus Christ. That means you, as part of the church, are the wife of your husband Jesus. Seek Jesus as your husband, and all other relationships, from friendships to romantic relationships, will fall in place. For my married folk, don’t think that means put your relationship with Christ ahead of your relationship with your spouse. When you love your spouse as God commanded you to, you’re showing love to God.

In closing, let’s look at the far context of the story of Samson, how it contributes to the Bible and our theology. I bet some of you are wondering, “Graham, how can you speak so lowly of Samson? He’s in the Hall of Faith, the hall of fame for God’s faithful people, found in Hebrews 11!” Indeed, Samson is in the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11:32 to be exact. But look how the Hall of Faith ends in Hebrews 11:39-12:2. It reads, “³⁹ And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. ¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” When we read the story of Samson, may it also cause us to look forward to Jesus, the ultimate deliver, who will never sin, and who not deliver us through a war of flesh and blood, but by giving up his own flesh and blood to win our souls.

Cairn (Joshua 4:1-7)

I posted a few pictures above, and you can see there’s one commonality among all of them. In each one, you can see that the trophy is the center of attention. Now, hold on. No, this is not me treating to toot my own horn. I’m going somewhere with this. This trophy is not just about a win, a victory or a championship. This trophy reminds me of an important spiritual discipline that the Bible commands all Christians to follow.

I invite you to open your Bibles to the book of Joshua. The book of Joshua is the sixth book of the Bible, right after the book of Deuteronomy. In fact, the story in the book of Joshua picks off right after the story in Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy closes with the death of Moses, and the book of Joshua opens with Joshua taking the reigns as leader. Joshua’s leadership role, however, differs from the leadership role Moses has. Whereas Moses was the lawgiver, Joshua is a general, although the book of Joshua will constantly remind its reader that God is ultimately the commander-in-chief. You might be familiar with the military strategy of “divide and conquer,” utilized by Philip II of Macedonia (Alexander the Great’s father), Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte. Joshua’s military strategy was the complete opposite. Joshua conquered, then he divided. The reader can clearly see Joshua’s military strategy by the arrangement of the book. The first half of the book, chapters 1-12, focus on the conquest part, and the second half, chapters 13-24, focus on the dividing part. Since this passage comes from Joshua chapter 4, this passage comes the “conquering” half and will deal with that aspect.

Before we dive into chapter 4, let me quickly summarize the previous chapter, chapter 3, to set the context for chapter 4. At the start of chapter 3, we find Joshua and the Israelites camped at the Jordan River, near Shittim (pronounced “Sheetim”). This specific location of Jordan is key. Just like any major river, at some points you talk about its width in terms of feet, at other points, you talk about its width in terms of yards, and still yet at other points you talk about its width in terms of miles. This is one of the points you talk about it in terms of miles. Furthermore, Joshua chapter 3 informs the reader the setting takes place in the middle of the Jordan River’s flood season. Tack on another mile or two to the Jordan River’s width. If the distance alone wasn’t already a factor, the depth of the water would be. In non-flood stages, the Jordan River’s depth at this certain location is at least 3 feet deep, but now that Jordan River is in its peak flood stage, we’re talking closer to 12 feet. Joshua and Israelites truly have a problem on their hands. Here the Israelites stand at the door of the land that God has promised them, but they cannot enter, for the flood waters stand in the way.

Knowing the dire problem of the situation, Joshua commands the Israelites to consecrate themselves, or make themselves both physically and spiritually clean, so the people may petition the Lord. After the people of Israel consecrate themselves, the Lord instructs Joshua (my paraphrase), “Have the priests take up the ark of the covenant. Next, have the priests, bearing the ark of the covenant, march toward the Jordan. Then I will perform a miracle that will make it clear that I am the true living God on all the earth.” The priests take up the ark, they march towards the Jordan, and sure enough, once the first priest puts his foot in the Jordan – WHOOSH! – the waters of the Jordan River split and they heap up into a wall of water. One wall of water stands by the town of Adam, and the other wall of water stands at the mouth of the Jordan River, where the Jordan dumps its water in to the Dead Sea. Furthermore, Joshua 3 emphasizes that the Israelites crossed over a dry ground. Not a molecule of H₂0 remained on the Jordan’s riverbed. Once again, God has provided a solution to Israel’s problems.

Now if you’re just here looking for a good story, this is where the story ends. We’ve hit the climax, the exciting part of the story, with the Lord using his supernatural power to perform a miracle. We have a solution to our problem. The problem was the Israelites could not enter the Promised Land, and the solution was God parting the Jordan, allowing Israel to cross over into the Promised Land. But I believe that Joshua 4 serves an epilogue that gives us that timeless truth than everyone can apply to their lives, no matter where you live on this earth. So without further ado, let’s look at Joshua 4:1-7.

¹When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, ² “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, ³ and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.” ⁴ Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. ⁵ And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, ⁶ that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ ⁷ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

I’m going to stop at verse 7, for time’s sake. The rest of the chapter goes on to say that the Israelites did as Joshua commanded, and then it finishes by summarizing chapters 3 and 4. But don’t let my summarization of the rest of the chapter undermine what’s going on in the rest of chapter. A continuous theme that runs throughout the whole book of Joshua is that when Israel obeys, God blesses Israel with victory. When Israel doesn’t obey, whether that means doing the complete opposite or slightly veering off of their instruction, then they find themselves cursed and defeated. The repetition demonstrates that Israel is obedient, which will bring about much needed blessing for the first battle in chapter 6, the famous battle against Jericho.

Now let’s break down the Joshua 4:1-7. The paragraph opens, “When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan…” As I explained, this repetition reminds the reader that Israel obeyed completely, therefore God blessed them with safe voyage into the Promised Land. It also reminds us that the events of chapter 4 will pick up right after chapter 3 left off. After every person crosses over the Lord instructs Joshua to call together the twelve men, one from each tribe, who were specially consecrated in chapter 3. Since the twelve men were one from each tribe, you can tell these men were meant to be representatives of their respective tribe. Once Joshua calls these 12 representatives over, the Lord tells Joshua to pass on the message to them that they are to go back in the Jordan River, to the middle part where the priests stood with the ark of the covenant, each one is to bring back a stone, and they together are to bring those stones back to their new campground on the other bank of the Jordan River.

Now let’s pause here. Let’s put ourselves in the Israel’s shoes. How do you think they crossed the Jordan River? You don’t have to imagine too hard, for if we would have read on, Joshua 4:10b tells us the people crossed over “in haste.” They hurried over as fast as possible. While researching this passage, it didn’t take me long to find some modern-day skeptics, who had their doubts that something supernatural happened, who explain it away as natural science (I’m not saying God couldn’t use science. He could have very well used science. It’s doubting it was a miracle that I’m not OK with). I don’t think only modern-day skeptics struggle with what they hear about in Joshua 4. I bet right then and there, some of the people witnessing might have been skeptics, having doubts. How do we know this is from God? How do we know this isn’t some freak act of nature? Do we even know how long it’s going to last? For if you believed it was of God, you’d expect God to make sure everyone would get across, but if you don’t believe it’s from God, you don’t know how long it will last. Not knowing how long it will last, but at the same time, wanting to take advantage of it, you dart over to the other side. Now that everyone is safely to the other side, Joshua calls these 12 representatives of the tribes, and he tells them to go back! All the thoughts that must have gone through their mind. I even wonder if one of them really wanted object out loud. Yet, all these men go back. They lay down all their fears, and instead, they pick up faith. What great faith these men had! This faith allowed those men to put their fears aside and march back into the dried up Jordan River to pick up a stone, just as the Lord commanded. (The humorous side of me imagines one of representatives looking over the stones in the middle of the Jordan River, thinking to himself, “I could pick that one… no, that one will break my back even trying to pick it up. I could pick that one, but if I do, Joshua just going to send me right back in for another…”) If the men’s faith or God’s power wasn’t enough to encourage the men to go back in the Jordan River, the importance of the stone should be.

When the men come back with the stone representing their tribe, Joshua’s commands in Joshua 4:3 say “lay them down.” The Hebrew is הִנַּחְתֶּ֣ם (hinnahtem). The root of the word simply means “rest,” but in the case of this specific verb tense in Joshua 4:3, it means “cause them to rest.” This has a lot of significance. For starters, these stones would represent the Israelites. No longer would the Israelites wander from land to land; rather, God would cause the Israelites to rest in the Promised Land. More importantly, the verse explains that these stones the 12 representatives gathered were not simply thrown together in a heap. They were placed by design for a purpose

What was this purpose? It was not to be worshipped. That’s why God kept it simply to a heap of rocks, not some artistic form, like a statue. It was not to build an altar on which the people of Israelites sacrificed animals to God. Rather, these stones formed a memorial. The memorial was to remind the Israelites how good the Lord was them. When they were in a tough bind, the Lord provided a way. The memorial was intended to attest to a specific event. It wasn’t just “The Lord provided,” but moreso “When the Israelites were unable to enter the promised land because of the flooded Jordan River, God outstretched his almighty hand to defy the powers of nature and he divided the waters of the Jordan ensuring Israel had safe voyage into the promise land.” It was supposed to create a good story! The memorial was supposed to also spark up conversation about the Lord. In verse 6, the ESV reads the question the children might ask as, “What do these stones mean to you?” but a more literal translation of the Hebrew says, “What is it to you?” When the younger generations would ask such a question in the future, the old generation should take the responsibility to emphasize the importance of the memorial, almost to the point of stopping everything they were doing to do so.

Once again, I invite you think back to the Old Testament times, but not during the times of the events in Joshua. Think back to years, decades or even centuries after the events happened. An Israelite farmer now owns the land on which this memorial sits. One day, the farmer tells his son, “Son, I’ve been prayer extra hard during the past winter that God would give us a bountiful harvest this upcoming year. I believe that the Lord will answer that prayer, but we got to do our part as well. So on this first day of spring, first thing is first. We have to clear the land of all the debris the winter storms brought in over the winter. So you start at one end, I’ll start at the other, and we’ll meet each other in the middle.” The son sighs, for one can only get so excited about doing lawn work, but he listens to his father’s instructs and begins doing his work, picking up sticks, stones and leaves, and moving them off the land. Going from one end to another, the farmer’s son eventually comes across this memorial, but to him, it’s just a heap of rocks. The farmer’s son lets out a loud groan, thinking to himself, “Great! Now I got to pick up large rocks! They look so heavy!” So he begins. He picks up the first rock, and with much struggling - SPLOOSH! – the first rock goes back into the Jordan River. While trying to get a grip on the second rock, the son all of a sudden hears a loud yell. It’s from his father, running toward him, franticly waving his arms. The boy rolls his eyes his and groans again, thinking to himself, “Great, what I have done wrong this time? Am I using the wrong lifting technique?” When the farmer finally gets there, he yells to his son, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” The son replies, “I’m clearing the land, just like you asked me to do.” All the father can franticly say is, “Not those!” “Why Dad?” the son asks. “What are these rocks to you, that they are so important, that you run down and freak out when you see one move?” The father replies with his own question, “Son, have I ever told you about the time Lord helped our people here?” The son shakes his head no. “Well, son,” the father says, “have a seat. Let me tell you about what the Lord did here.”

That’s exactly what the heap of rocks was supposed to do. It was supposed to remind people when they saw it. In a time when writing was scarce, people needed images to remind them of significant events that happened in history. It was supposed spur on a good story, making the event even harder to forget. It was supposed to have importance. This wasn’t something the father would say to the son, “Long story. I’ll tell you at dinner after work.” It was so important, the people would stop whatever they were doing, sit down and discuss it

This heap of rocks has a proper term. It’s cairn, coming from the Scottish language. Cairns can found in many cultural throughout several different time periods. The debate rages on it origins. Some claim Yahweh founded this idea, and as other cultures encountered God-fearing cultures they adopted this practice, even if they didn’t worship the one true God. Others claim that God saw his creation practicing this idea of cairns, and wanting to relate his creation and speak their language, he joined in on creating cairns. No matter what its origins or what cultured practiced it, the meaning still stayed the same. Cairn were stone landmarks, meant to serve as memorial to remind people of something special that happened. They were to invite people remember, share stories and celebrate. And I might I add one more thing to that list. Cairns, in the Biblical sense, were to encourage Yahweh worshippers to put their faith in Yahweh and have hope that he would act the same way again when his people needed him.

So how do we, living in 21^st century America, practice what we learned in Joshua 4:1-7? I guess we could set up a heap of stones either inside or outside our homes, but that would be very much so against popular trends of interior decorating or landscaping alike. Rather, I propose 3 more realistic ways to practice this spiritual discipline.

First, while I would not suggest building a heap of rocks inside or outside your home, I would suggest decorating your home with keepsakes that will remind you of what the Lord has done for you. If you were to walk upstairs into my wife and my apartment (we have a 2^nd story apartment), the first thing you would see is a photo canvas of one of our wedding pictures. In fact, we have 2 of them (and I will admit, my laziness has not allowed me to hang the second one up). We also have many other photos hanging up from our engagement and our first anniversary. When I see these photos, it reminds me to praise God for how he has helped our marriage nurture. They also remind me the commitment I made to be faithful to my wife. This goes beyond just not committing adultery. When my boss calls me at home, asking me either to fill in for a co-worker who has called off on Sunday, or to go paintballing with my co-workers on a Saturday, I look upon those pictures, remember my vows, and say back, “At the wedding, I made a commitment: my wife comes first. Last weekend, I made a commitment that the upcoming weekend would be all for her. So I’m going to have to say no.” In the same way, I invite you hang up things that will remind you about how God has worked in your life. You’ll find out that not only will it remind you of how God faithfully acted in the past, but you’ll find yourselves looking for God in the same way in the future.

Second, celebrate holidays! God merely did not use cairns to help the people remember significant event. God also used holidays. In Leviticus 23, God commanded the Israelites to celebrate 6 holidays (I’m not including the Sabbath on that list, just annual holidays). Let me emphasize the word again: commanded. Celebrating the 6 holidays in Leviticus 23 were not optional; they were mandatory. Now let me be clear that some things did change with the New Covenant. In Colossians 2:16, Paul says that no one should judge you in regards to which festival you celebrate, so Christians are not required to celebrate those 6 festivals in Leviticus 23 (although I think the churches that do celebrate them are cool). But I don’t believe that means that the command to celebrate is null and void. Quaker pastor and writer Richard J. Foster has well convinced me in his book, The Celebration of Discipline, that celebration is a spiritual discipline all Christians need to celebrate. So we need to celebrate Christian holidays. Yeah, I know it can be difficult to celebrate the religious holidays with the commercialism that surrounds them. Besides, shouldn’t we be living out the meaning of the holiday every day? For example, when it comes to Easter, shouldn’t we be living out the hope of the resurrection every day? True, but I believe that holidays serve as a reminder (there’s that word again) to get us back on track. Going back to our example, when Easter rolls around every year, it should make us think, “Have I been living out the hope of the resurrection recently?” If the answer is no, Easter should be the day that you will start thinking about the resurrection and putting your hope in it.

And the spiritual disciple of celebration does not need to be confined to holidays established on the calendar. You can make up your own holidays. A few years ago, if you were to ask me what significance October 4 had, I would say none because it really didn’t have significance. Now it does have a lot of significance, for October 4 is my wife and my anniversary, and we do something to commemorate it. Of course, that’s an anniversary, it’s a big event in life, you should commemorate it. But it can be smaller things, too. On a day that the Lord did something for you in the past, commemorate that day. Do something to celebrate what happened, even if it just means lifting up a prayer of thanks. By celebrating days as special, we keep alive the memories of what the Lord has done for us.

Third, share a testimony. As I said earlier, seeing cairns should lead to telling stories. I consider myself a Mennonite, and I attend a Mennonite church. The Mennonites have a rich history of sharing testimonies. Previously in Mennonite history, most Mennonite church pastors were not seminary trained and ordained. A lot of Mennonite pastors were selected merely by prayer and lots. The few Mennonite pastors who were seminary trained and ordained were traveling pastors, traveling from town to town, church to church, spreading the gospel message. In either case, the question would arise, “How do we know what the pastor preaches is Biblical truth?” How do we know that the pastor selected from prayer and lots is speaking Biblical truth? He has not received seminary training, nor has anyone made sure he’s doing his daily devotions. How do we know the traveling pastor is speaking Biblical truth? We do not know him. For all we know he’s a conman, and this is elaborate hoax to collect the offering plate money. So the Mennonite denomination formulated a plan of testimony sharing. After the pastor would preach, the church service would have a time for the elders to get up a share a testimony of how the sermon applied to something that happened to them in the past or how they could use the sermon in the present or future. If an elder did not get up and share a testimony, it meant the pastor’s sermon did not speak Biblical truth. If an elder did get up and share a testimony, it validated the spiritual truth behind the sermon. And of course, the more elders that got up the better. I can imagine that this time following the sermon was a nerve-racking one for the pastor!

So take the time to share your testimonies. It doesn’t have to be constrained to just church, small group, prayer group or Bible study. Share testimonies at school and work. Share testimonies at the dinner table. Share testimonies when you visit someone. Share testimonies when you’re just hanging out. Tell everyone what the Lord has done for you. Not only will you give God the glory for doing so, but if someone else was in a situation you were in, it will encourage that person to seek the Lord for the answer, knowing that the Lord helped you.

In closing, let me practice what I preach. Let me explain to you why that ACC Tournament Championship trophy is my cairn. Going into that ACC Tournament, this Spring City team had just finished the 8-week season in 6^th place in League. While that might sound good, our final point average was 82, two quiz outs and a little more. So with that unimpressive point average, we were, well, to parody a Judy Blume book title, a “tale of a sixth place nobody.” Going into that tournament, our 7-quizzer quiz team had 2 quizzers out of state, and out of the 5 quizzers remaining, 1 quizzer only got 4 questions right all year and 1 quizzer just got back from baseball camp, so one could only guess how much studying he had. It looked like we were right in line to continue our average of 82 points, which would get a few wins in the round robin portion of the tournament, but that would be about it.

Our first match of the tournament was against Neffsville 1. We had a lot of errors, but since Neffsville 1 was, nicely put, a below average team, we easily won 120-45. Our second match was against Reading 1. In that match, we got over 5 errors, causing us to lose points. Somehow, it was still close, but Reading 1 beat us by a matter of 5 points. The close loss left us devastated. It really knocked off our game. Our next match, we got a bunch of errors, and yet we somehow won. Then came our next match, and once again, we got a lot of errors, but somehow, we won.

Then it came down to the last round in the round robin. In our round robin ground, only 3 teams had a winning record: 1^st place Petra 2, who was 4-0, 2^nd place Reading 1, who was 3-1, and 3^rd place Spring City, who was 3-1 (Reading 1 had the tiebreaker due to head-to-head results). The last 2 matches were Spring City vs. Petra 2, and Reading 1 vs. Neffsville 1, who was the below average season team who was still winless at the time. The only way we could make the playoffs is if Spring City won against undefeated Petra 2, and Reading 1 loss to winless Neffsville 1. It was not looking good.

That match against Petra 2 didn’t look good either. Our top quizzer of the year errored out during it. Somehow, we managed to stay afloat. It came down to the last question, question 15. We were down by 10. The quizmaster asked the question, and Petra 2’s top quizzer buzzed in. I thought it was over at that point. She answers, “Eljiah…No! Elisha!” The quizmaster responds, “No, I’m sorry, I have to take your first answer.” Who does the bonus go to? Of course it’s that quizzer who only got 4 questions right the whole year! But after thinking about it, she realized what the Petra 2 quizzer did wrong. She quietly answered, “Elisha?” She was right, sending the match into overtime, where we won with a team bonus.

After our win, the whole team rushed toward the standings board to see the results of the match between Reading 1 and Neffsville 1. They were still in the match. All we could do was pace and pray. I even remember vowing to my teammates, “If Neffsville 1 wins this match, I will hug them all.” Then the record keeper out. He walked to our group’s board. He drew the tally mark. I was the first one to see. When I saw the results, I yelled them out loud. I yelled...."NEFFSVILLE WON!!" The boys (including me) went wild. We jumped up and down, we high-fived, we fist bumped, we chest bumped, we screamed, we yelled, "WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WE’RE NUMBER ONE!” Our friends from other teams joined in our madness. Meanwhile, our coaches still walking their way back to the standings boards kept bumping into other coaches congratulating them. They kept wondering why they were getting congratulated. They figured it out once they saw the commotion their quiz team was causing.

But it doesn’t end there. Due to tiebreakers, we actually went from 3^rd to 1^st in our group. Because we finished 1^st in our group, our first playoff match was against a team that finished 2^nd in their group, and from what I heard, they barely finished 2^nd. In that match, we got 5 errors, but we got 5 errors, but we won with team bonus. Since the playoffs are a simple single elimination playoff tree, you know your next match ins against 1 of 2 teams. During the whole playoffs, it seemed like every time the underdog won, meaning we were playing the underdog next, giving us the advantage, all the way to the final match against Goods 1. Now rumor had it that this team had the perfect match during the season: 5 quiz outs and a team bonus. We had the best match we had all night. We got the first 6 questions right, limited ourselves to 2 errors (the least amount of errors we had all day), got team bonuses and 2 quiz out, giving us the win, and earning us that championship trophy.

But this is where it becomes more than just a win, a victory or a championship. See, our coaches, the Deitricks would always do more than just coach us how to win matches. They mentored us so we could spiritually grow. This year, Dave would always talk about favor, as in “seeking God’s favor.” I didn’t fully grasp what it meant, so I didn’t fully know what to do with it. So I could do is I took it to heart and began putting my quizzing fate in God’s hands. Whatever happened was God’s will, so I prayed hard that the Lord would help me do my best. Now, after this tournament, I understood. There was no way with so many errors (36, to be exact) we should have won so many matches. There is no way that we should have beaten the undefeated and always formidable Petra 2. There is no way a winless Neffsville 1 should have won over Reading 1. There is no way we should have gotten such an easy path to the final match. But there is a way. It’s called God’s favor. On that I learned, just like the Israelites would learn in the book of Joshua, that God favors the one who surrenders their will to God’s will and who obeys what God has commanded them. So every time I look upon that trophy I remember how God has shown me favor in the past, and it encourages me to seek God’s favor in the future.

We didn’t just take home a trophy that night. We were allowed to take home the giant playoff bracket. Just like the trophy, that is at the Spring City church, but it is wrapped in the corner of the youth Sunday school room. There’s some good theology there. Just like the trophy, it is made of earthly materials and will go to the big bonfire in the end when Jesus returns. But this trophy reminds that I don’t have to wait until Jesus returns to see him in action. This trophy reminds me Jesus is active in the present, and I can expect him to continually act all the way to his return.