No Sense of God

This is the Bible study page for the Thursday Night Bible Study Group meeting December 28 to study Judges 17 and possibly 18.  There are two separate accounts in these final chapters of Judges. I always put them together, and while they do seem to work together, they are not the same characters.  This first account is the migration of the tribe of Dan.

Read through the two chapters together, 17 and 18.  There are plenty of distractions along the way, with funky things people say and do.  My recommendation is to make lots of notes, because you'll get bogged down in the surprises if you don't.

You should have lots of questions.  Make sure you write them down.  Then, with your notes and questions, go to commentaries.  You can revise your notes accordingly, but be sure to look at more than one commentary.  They do not all agree on these chapters.  This is confusing for everyone.

After you have gone through your own study and commentaries, go back through with the questions below:

• The events of chapter 17 happen in the "hill country of Ephraim".  They happen around a man who has a righteous name based on Yahweh.  Why do you think these details might be important, keeping in mind how often they are repeated?
• Micah (Mikayehu in the Hebrew of the first part of the chapter) has stolen silver from his mother, silver which she then cursed in his hearing.  Why do you think Micah stole the money but didn't spend any?
• He confesses to his mother, and she "blesses him to Yahweh". When he returns the money she "consecrates" it (makes it holy) to Yahweh, but, holy to make an idol and a "cast image".  How does something holy to Yahweh then be used to make something He has forbidden?  Why do you think these children of Israel didn't know that was wrong?
• So, of the 1,100 silver, she gives him 200 to make the idol and cast image.  Perhaps a "tithe" of it was for the image (110 silver), and the other 90 for the smithy?  So, do these sound like two images, or one image made of two processes?  Look at several translations, why do you think they have so much trouble understanding what Micah did?
• Micah then makes a "house of God", ephod, teraphim (household gods), and sets one of his sons as a priest.  Sin is "missing", iniquity is "twisting", and transgression is "rebelling".  In your opinion, which one has Micah and his family done here?
• In verse 6, we have the author's explanation of how things got this bad, "In those days, there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes."  But there was worship happening in Shiloh (see 18:31).  So, why do you think a king is such an important detail here for this author?
• Enter the young itinerant Levite from Bethlehem.  He wanders to the hill country of Ephraim and happens upon Micah and his house of God.  What you would you expect the young Levite to think of Micah's setup there in his house?
• Micah offers him room, board, a stipend, and clothes to be his priest in his idolatrous "house of God".  Why do you think the Levite would consent to such an arrangement?
• Micah consecrates the Levite in verse 12.  Then in verse 13, he says he now knows he has found favor with Yahweh.  So, what have Micah (and, most likely, everyone living around him) believed about Yahweh at this point in Israel's history?
• The first verse of chapter 18 probably belongs to chapter 17 as the final say, "In those days, there was no king in Israel..."  That verse also sets us up for the events of chapter 18.  Read both chapters together.  Why do you think they've been separated?

What should be most disturbing about this chapter is the way Micah and his people/family consider themselves devoted to Yahweh, yet worship Him in a Canaanite way.  They have set aside His rules for how to relate to Him for the culture of the displaced people of the land.  In what ways do we endanger ourselves in the same way in this culture?  What steps can we take to make sure we don't fall into the same trap?

Poetic Encouragement

This is the Bible study page for the Thursday Night Bible Study Group meeting January 9 to study Isaiah 40.  This is probably one of my favorite passages in Scripture.  It forms the opening of the second section of Isaiah, directed toward the Israelites in exile in Babylon/Persia. 

Some believe this section of Isaiah was written late, during the time of Daniel, others that it was written early, foreshadowing their eventual return.  I think it was written by a remnant of a 'school' of prophets first started/run by Isaiah during the exile.  I'm not sure if they would have been located in Jerusalem or in exile, but the romantic in me likes the thought of Jerusalem (the least likely option).  That would mean the writers wrote from the rubble of Jerusalem words of hope to the exiles in a pagan land. 

Anyway, read the chapter through several times.  This is poetry, not the usual narrative texts we have studied so far, so you can expect to find a LOT more peculiarities and variety in translations.  Translating poetry from one language to another is the most difficult sort of translation (that and humor probably tie).  The problem is the poetic 'license' and 'imagery' used are not to be understood literally.  This is usually handled well in most translations; but read it in several translations, and consider the differences and what they might mean.

After reading it through a few times, go back over it considering these questions:

• Consider the audience in the opening lines.  'Comfort' is an imperative (command), and it's plural.  Consider who is to be comforted.  What is the goal, at the outset, of the writer, and of God through the writer?
• In verse 3 through 5, do you think the audience has remained the exiles?
• Who winds up being the 'voice' referred to in verse 3?
• Who is the highway for?  So, 'who's coming to dinner' so to speak?  So, why do you think it would be difficult for modern Jews to deny so vehemently that the Messiah could be deity?
• Verses 6 through 8 (possibly through 11) there is a dialogue.  The content of the 'crying out' is two fold (if the dialog extends through verse 11), so how do you think the two pieces relate?  Why do you think they were combined here?
• There are at least two elements of God's character described between verse 12 and 17.  His holiness and his glory seem to be the main things in these verses.  Why do you think the audience needs to hear that?  How do these elements of God's character affect you hearing/reading them like this?
• In verses 18 through 26, the worship involving idols is really addressed well.  Why do you think this needs to be addressed, either with the exiles or with the people left in Judah?
• What do you see as the major contrast between idol worship and worship of God?
• Considering the 'resume' of God in verses 21 through 26, what problem do you think this addressing with the audience?  What are they supposed to have known 'from the foundations of the earth', and why do you think they might have forgotten it?
• Verses 27 through 31 are the most famous of this chapter, especially 31.  It begins with a 'quote' either from the exiles or the people in Jerusalem/Judah.  Considering that the way the poetry is structured the focus of the quote is on the 'justice' and 'pathway' of the one speaking, what is the danger of such a focus on our justice and our way of life?
• How do you think knowing that God is never tired and His understanding is unsearchable helps people in bad circumstances?
• The things the audience wants, power and strength, find their source somewhere other than youth.  Why do you think the people needed to know this?  Why might you?
• What does it mean to you or what would it look like for you to 'wait expectantly' for God?  Why would do that renew your strength?  How do you think that 'works' or is that even the right question to ask?

That should keep us busy for quite some time.  Be sure to bring notes and questions of your own.