Another Chapter Begins - Who is God? The Creator

Greetings, reader!  I wanted to let you know that we are beginning a new series.  This series is designed to walk us through passages in the Old Testament on a quest to know God.  While we have already journeyed through Matthew to know who is Jesus is and through Acts to know of the Holy Spirit, we are now going to attempt to complete the circle to understand the Trinity.  While the term “trinity” does not show up in the Biblical text, as Christians we do believe in One God who reveals himself in three persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is a difficult idea, but an idea that is represented throughout the Bible as a whole.  That’s why we are wrestling with this mysterious concept through the reading and study of God’s Word.  So, we begin.

Who is God?  The Creator

Do you believe in God?  Is he a benevolent or wrathful God?  Is he involved in the world or distant and uncaring?  How do we know what God thinks? Can we know? Can we really discern and understand the path for our life? Can we know the will of God for ourselves, for our church, for our world?  Is our life just left up to fate? Do things just happen to us without any of our own will or way being involved? Is God just a universe-sized puppet-master pulling his strings this way and that?

When we look at and try to comprehend disasters of biblical proportions, as we have seen on the in tsunamis and the phenomenal amount of human life lost on the coastlines or the massive earthquakes, fires and storms, what does that tell us about the character of God? If God is a loving God, why does he permit these kinds of disasters and things like the Black Plague, HIV/AIDS, Hitler's regime, slavery, etc?  Who tells us what to believe about God? Is what we believe accurate, true or whole? How do we tell other people about God, if we ourselves do not know either him or know anything about him?

Have we had enough questions yet? We are plumbing the depths of the human psyche. When things like personal loss, grave illness and human suffering stare us in the face, these kinds of questions distract our driving, wake us in the middle of the night, sometimes making us angry, depressed or cause us to live with feelings of hopelessness.

I would like to invite you along on a journey. It's a journey to try to discover some of the answers to the questions we have raised.  I would like to point our inquiry to a specific direction before we start this journey.

As a Christian I believe we can know and experience the person of one, true, living God. I believe we can walk in a confident faith in the God of Creation. We can have profound faith not only in God, but also in his will and his character.

I believe this because I believe God has revealed his character and his will in at least four distinct places: 1) nature, 2) experience/reason/intellect, 3) tradition, and 4) revelation. As Christians we can believe that when all four of these elements are found to be in agreement we can discern and know God himself.

Let's look at these aspects of theology to get us ready for our journey.

Nature is made up of many elements: things that we can see and feel and experience, as well as things we cannot. Gravity, for instance, is the physical reality that we experience moment by moment as it sticks us like glue to the surface of this earthy ball. We cannot see it, nor can we touch it, but it works. Trees grow without our assistance all over the world. Volcanoes erupt, earthquakes happen in the ocean, mountains tower, grass tosses a beautiful blanket over dust to keep it in place. All of these are wonderful and terrifying realities that can help us understand that a Being exists who created everything.

Some scientist have posited a theory that the world was created from a "big bang"—celestial bodies colliding in the blank universe and out of that fusion came one cell of life from which all creation sprang. While I wish to respect their research and theories, I am a simple person and come to a simple question. How did a life-giving cell arrive in the midst of the fusion? No good answer has yet arisen.

In another way of trying to comprehend the stuff of life, mythologies have been developed. Every culture has their myths of creation.  We can read of the warring and capricious gods in the Roman and Greek traditions.  We can read the Enuma Elish which relates stories from the ancient Middle East where gods cast magic spells and create heaven and earth from the split cadavers of their enemies. Victor Hamilton has related this: "The study of mythology helps the believer to see how ancient man tried to answer ultimate questions about life and reality when the light of revelation had not dawned upon him. Interestingly, the answers provided to those questions by ancient man are not all that different from the answers provided by modern but unredeemed man."[1] Hamilton makes the very fine point of contrast with the Judeo-Christian view of creation and God as completely counter to many mythical accounts. The Christian understanding of God is that he did not create out of violence or jealousy, but he created out of the goodness and greatness of his nature.  

Read Genesis 1- 2:3

That, my friends, is the way we begin to understand not only our world and its beauty and power, but also God and his goodness.

Read Genesis 2:4-25

In chapter 2 of Genesis we read a second version of the same creation story. And what we learn from both of these is that God is a creative God, seeking to make good things from nothing. This is the general will of God which we can accept by faith. The ancient and modern man who lives without God will tell you plainly that if God exists at all, his character and will are destructive not creative. If not, why then would a good God make bad things happen?

On our journey we want to keep our compass rightly oriented toward knowing and experiencing the personal, Judeo-Christian God. As distressing as this may seem to those of us who are really humanistic—human-centered—the personal and universal God does not always have our personal and physical comfort as his priority. There are matters at stake that weigh far more than our daily comfort levels.

In Genesis chapter 3 we read how Adam and Eve went against the known will of God. They had been instructed very specifically not to eat from one tree—just one—in the Garden of Eden.   That tree was to keep them from knowing good and evil. And guess what? They did it anyway.  From that point forward all of humanity entered into a realm of suffering and hardship that God did not intend for his creation. God has always been straightforward about who we are—creatures not creators, workers not lazy bums, community not individuals—and his design was set up to work well. All of which can be learned from Genesis 1 and 2.

But when we sin there are consequences for our sins.   A tactile example might be found in nature.  If you run your hand against the grain on a plank of unfinished wood, you are likely to get a splinter. That principle can be translated into how we do life. If a chemical company operates out of greed and selfishness and does not care what happens to the river they dump their toxic waste into, then thousands of people may develop cancers and illnesses formerly unknown to mankind.  Just like Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit.  These are the kinds of things that are consequences for behavior against the order and will of God.

That does not nor should not make God out to be the bad guy. We not only have the privilege and responsibility to work in concert with God's nature, but in concert with his commands as well. To bemoan the fact that you cannot afford rent when you have spent your income on alcohol does not make it God's fault. To wail about how unfair God is when you haven't tried to live for him does not make a miserable life God's fault. To scream about how mean God is when you will not follow his directions doesn't make bad things God's fault.

God has made it very clear through his good creation and consequences of our own sinful behavior that his goodness is available to each one of us as long as we do it his way. The wonder of nature, the joy of birth, the death and restoration of nature as we see each spring, summer, winter and fall, is all evidence of God's character. He is the good God full of grace and truth.

We can experience him through these avenues and learn to follow the laws of nature by applying our intellect and reason to what we can discern. Caring for the earth and the animals properly and making sure our fellow human beings are cared for is all a part of God's will. All of this even most pagan non-believers catch on to. All of this can be learned by experience, can be acquired through the proper use of the good gift of brains and intellect.

One more thing we can learn from experience and applying our intellect is that even in the darkest of human tragedies people can survive. If they cannot survive physically as the giant waves roar over them, they can survive spiritually as they cry out to the one true God of Creation. His Word promises that when we cry out to God he will hear us. Read what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 116:1-2.  I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. In those desperate moments, if we are earnestly seeking him, he will gather us to himself and keep us for eternity. And those of us who are left, will always find a way to survive and recover. It's happened for centuries that the human will, which is a tiny reflection of God's will, seeks to restore the broken, rebuild the rubble and renew the burned out.

Tradition teaches us these things as well. Tradition keeps the reality of truth alive from one generation to the next. As a old carpenter teaches his apprentice that one does not run his hand against the grain of the wood, as a chemical engineer reminds her young staff that the consequences of our human creations are far-reaching, as a grandmother tells her grandchild that attending religious services is a good thing because you can learn about God, tradition is part of how we know God. Traditions—through ritual, repetition, story-telling, preaching, teaching and reading—convey the reality that God's will is to help us and to guide us. It is his character to be truthful and corrective with us and to show us who he is.

And in each one of these elements—nature, experience, intellect and tradition there is the plain fact that God wants us to know him.  So, he gives us nature to see his handy work, he permits us to experience and to learn from our mistakes and discover that his way really is the best, and he helps us establish traditions that bring us to the greater knowledge of his will and character.

God has not left us to just feel around by experience, but he has also revealed his will and character through the written Word, passed down for centuries as the revelation of himself to us. We have used and explored his Word already to know more about him.  In the pages ahead we will be exploring all of this together, using the compass of his written word, to help us to understand who God is.

Are you ready to come on this journey with me? I'm going to ask you to write down some of the deep questions you have about God and his will. Then I want you to pray that as we take on the stories of God with people that we may learn from their experience, our tradition, nature and yes, indeed from God's revelation in Scripture how we can know God himself.

Amen

Copyright M.R. Hyde 2012

---

[1] Handbook on the Pentateuch, Victor P.Hamilton, Baker, 1982, p. 35.

The Little Branch

Jesus told people many stories.  It was one of his many ways of trying to reach into the hearts of the people and give them word-pictures to lead them to great truths.  Trying to be like my Master, I wrote a little story some years ago. If you think it's silly, well, just forgive me and bear with me. We'll get to the meatier part of this study soon enough.

The Little Branch

Once upon a time there was a small branch. This branch was growing out day by day, feeling stronger and stronger. One early morning in the spring the Little Branch noticed something kind of funny. There at the end of his branch was growing a little tiny green leaf.  He wondered where it came from, it didn't look as if someone had glued it on and it looked like it was growing. He quickly glanced around and to his surprise all the other branches, old and young, had little green leaves sprouting on them as well.  He was delighted that his first leaf had sprouted along with the others.

One of the older and much larger branches encouraged the Little Branch. "You keep on growing little one and one day your branch will have fruit on it!"

"Fruit?" the Little Branch asked, "What is fruit?"

"Fruit, my little friend, is something wonderful. It always looks quite different than anything else that grows on a tree. Sometimes it's quite round with brilliant colors. Fruit can come in all shapes and sizes and . . ."

The Little Branch, interrupted. "What does fruit do?"

"Well, Little Branch, if you are patient and permit the Vine to feed you, a piece of fruit can bring pleasure to the sight of those who pass by.  The very color is a delight to those who behold it. And greater still, it can be given to those who need food."

"Food!" exclaimed the Little Branch. "That would be a very helpful thing to give, wouldn't it?!"

"Oh my, yes" said the Old Branch.  "To help someone else is one of the greatest gifts we can give.  As you grow you will see that we branches provide shady places in the hot sun for animals and people. They can relax beneath us. On top of that, birds will find shelter and rest in us. Little Branch, you've got a very good life ahead of you. "

Struck with awe and a new sense of self-confidence, the Little Branch suddenly became sure that he was a very necessary part of the world.

"Little Branch," called out the Old Branch, "I need to warn you of something."

"Oh! " said the Little Branch.

"Yes, you see, we have a great Gardner. He loves us and takes care of us. In fact, I'm quite sure He will be delighted to see your new leaf.  Sometimes He comes through and cuts off some branches that are not growing."

"Oh my!" cried the Little Branch, "That seems awful! Am I in danger of being cut off?"

"Only, my dear Little Branch, if you stop being fruitful.  If you stop sprouting leaves, you get gray and brittle. And if you don't produce any fruit at all then He will cut you off. The good Gardner also knows that He will need to prune you."

"Is a prune a fruit?"

"Yes, yes," laughed the Old Branch, "but when the Gardner uses that word it means to cut off. Sometimes we get extra growth that takes away from the rest of the leaves and fruit. Then our fruit is small and shriveled.  He will cut back the unnecessary parts."

"Oh, I think I understand."

The Old Branch spoke gently and firmly to the Little Branch.  "Your goal in life is to stay in the Vine and be as fruitful as you can be as long as you can. Can you do that, Little Branch?"

"I can sure try!" And with that he turned all of his energy and focus on to that one little leaf.

Weeks and months passed by and the Little Branch grew to maturity. By this time he was full of leaves tossing in the breeze. He was so proud of how he looked   Then he began to see tiny pieces of fruit beginning to grow.  He was thrilled.  Fruit! Fruit!

"Won't the Gardner be so happy to see all the fruit growing on me?" thought the Little Branch.

Many happy days followed as the Gardner came by and inspected the vine and the fruit as they grew. Tenderly handling the leaves, he examined them carefully and looked to see if there were any problems with the Little Branch. The Gardner was always delighted with all of the fruitful branches on His Vine.

One day after a long hot spell, the young, strong branch got a funny idea in his hot little head. He bent over and began to pull at the base of his branch. He pulled and pulled and pulled. He twisted, yanked, spun around and tried leaping off of the Vine. The Little Branch had entertained the idea of loosening its ties to the Vine for some time.  But this day he started to take action.

The older branch had not noticed what was happening until he looked down and saw that the Little Branch was trying to tear itself free.

"What are you doing?!" cried the Old Branch.

"Oh, I'm quite strong enough now to make it on my own, Old Branch. Can't you see how much fruit I have produced in such a short season? My goodness, don't you think that I should go and start a whole new orchard? I could provide so much for so many!"

The Old Branch shook his head, "No, no, young one. You must understand that the only way you can produce fruit is to stay attached to the Vine. Have you not noticed the branches just below you?!"

At this the Little Branch looked down and gasped. There he saw two branches, all brittle and gray. They had no leaves and no fruit. In fact one of the branches was almost completely broken off of the Vine.

In the next moment he could hear the Gardner coming. He quickly straightened up and watched as the Gardner approached. The Gardner noticed the two dead branches. To the Little Branch's horror, the Gardner swiftly cut off the two dead branches. They fell to the ground and the Little Branch was shaken.

As the Gardner walked away, the Old Branch breathed a heavy sigh. "It's always so sad when that happens," he said. "Always so sad."

"Did—did they try to leave the Vine?" the young branch stuttered.

"Yes, one probably thought she could make it on her own, Maybe the other one just didn't want to do anything anymore. We may never know. "

"How long have you been on this Vine?" the young one asked.

"Ah, seventy or seventy-five years I think."

"Did you ever try to leave the Vine?"

"Once, when I was about your age, I was seriously thinking about it. Then I saw a scene very similar to the one you just witnessed. I resolved to stay on the Vine because the alternative was so sad and distressing.  I can't survive without the Vine. The Vine gives me everything I need—for life and fruitfulness, for support and sustenance—everything I need. I have never wanted to leave since. And I hope that you will come to this same resolve, Little Branch. There is much joy ahead if you do."

The Little Branch looked down again at the dead branches on the ground, so lifeless and still. A new determination welled up within him. Now, because of all that the Vine and the Gardner had done for him, he resolved in his heart to always stay rooted in that wonderful Vine.

The End.

Thank you for indulging me in the telling of that little story.  It's really a story born out of wanting to understand the 15th chapter of the Gospel of John.  John was the disciple of Jesus Christ who lived the longest. Some scholars think he lived to be around eighty years old. He was most likely somewhere between sixty to eighty years old when he wrote his account of Jesus Christ. He had a very clear purpose in writing his book. In his own words found in John 20:31, he said, "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

There is a large passage of Scripture in John's book that is completely dedicated to Jesus' own words. Chapters 14-17 seem to be a compilation of things that Jesus said to his disciples not long before he was taken to be crucified. Some have called these chapters the "Farewell Discourse".[i]  In these passages Jesus speaks words of comfort, prophecy of the end times, the reality that the disciples will face great opposition and do great works, he explains the way to powerful prayer lives, and points to the promise of the Holy Spirit.

In the middle of all of these great words there is this beautiful imagery of Jesus as the Vine and our Heavenly Father as the Gardner. The image of a vineyard is one very familiar to John's Jewish readers God as the Gardner and Israel as the vineyard are prevailing images throughout the Old Testament.  And these images would also be accessible to anyone, Jew and Gentile alike, in the agriculturally oriented culture in which he lived and ministered. Everywhere you went people would see fields of crops. Many of those would be grape vineyards where tons of grapes were produced. In ancient days wine was used as a purifier for water. They did not have vast mechanical plants where millions of gallons of water could be purified and distributed to the community. They would draw water from public wells and carry it home. Then they would take one part wine and put it to ten parts water, thereby killing any harmful bacteria. So, you can imagine how valuable the grape crops would be. And you can see how dominant the image of a vineyard, a field of crops, a vine, a branch and fruit would be.

So Jesus uses this dominant image to try to help the disciples understand how important their relationship with God is to their life and spiritual health. 

Read John 15:1-8.

The group of dedicated disciples sat around Jesus, absorbing every word their good Teacher spoke. In the middle of this discourse he moved them to understand who he is, what he expects of them and how they can achieve what he expects of them.  Just as a branch is attached to a vine, so also the disciple's lives are attached to him. There is no other vine that will sustain them as he will—he is the true Vine.

There is a dynamic principle here. The vine provides the life-giving substance for the branch.  The vine is connected to a source of power and growth that the branch cannot get to without it. How long does a rose last that when it is cut from its base? A couple of hours, a couple of days? So, too, any of us who desire to be like Christ cannot do it unless we stayed connected with him.

Jesus makes it very dear that those who have been attracted to Christ and who accept his his salvation and teachings by faith are washed clean. What a great gift that is! In some respects it is like a marriage. How can you have a bountiful married life unless you live together and stay connected and communicating? Or how can you have a successful career if you do not stay connected to the work place? How can you pass a class if you do not attend? How can the car keep running unless you fill it with gas and get the oil changed? How can the vacuum cleaner work unless you plug it into the electrical outlet? The vine and the branch are the same principle of "being there"—you have to be there to be connected.

It's like the silly Little Branch trying to tear itself off of the vine. It just doesn't happen that way. A branch is just a branch. Fearsome independence does not yield growth. You have to stay in the Vine to receive the substance of your life.  Staying in the Vine means things as simple as daily devotions, Bible reading and prayer, singing and praise to God, attending services where Jesus Christ is glorified and God is worshipped, receiving the sacrament of communion, enjoying fellowship with the whole body of believers. If you aren't enjoying all of the benefits of the Vine you may just shrivel up! Perhaps you are wondering why your spiritual life is so vacant and stiff. Are you attached to the Vine? Are you drinking up everything you can from the Vine? This will be the only way you can thrive.

Getting your spiritual experience by proxy, through just coming and watching as others enjoy the benefits of a vital relationship with God, is just a flat, gray shadow of what it could be! And the outcome is really quite disturbing.  Jesus is very clear in his statements regarding what happens to dry, brittle branches. They get thrown into the fire. They become refuse, ashes, dust. There is really no use for them. They are the opposite of the beautiful picture that Jesus painted in Mark 4:30-33 where he talks about the tiniest mustard seed growing into a great tree where birds can find shelter.

What is the substance that the vine provides? Is it just a list of duties to perform? Go to church. Check. Read your Bible. Check. Take Communion. Check. No, it's so much more than that. The substance that the Vine gives to the branch is described in next verses in John.

Read John 15:9-17

Love is the substance by which we live and breathe as Little Branches When we first receive the love of God through the forgiveness of our sins and the renewing of our minds, then those things the God expects us to do—remaining in the Vine—come as a response to his great love. It's not all about duty. It's about remembering where we came from, remembering what God in Christ Jesus has done for us, recognizing that we get great big bushels of love poured out all over us even though we don't deserve it.

When that kind of thing begins to course through your veins, we can't wait to open the Word again. We look forward to going to church. We long for communion. Every other word out of our mouth is a word of thanksgiving for all that God has given us and done for us!

Jesus described a most incredible kind of love, one where he lays down his life for his friends. In one breath Jesus elevated the disciples from mere students, mere servants to friends. The key and the joy of remaining in the love of God, is the key that kept him on his mission   He took common folk like you and me and pulled them into an intimacy that would astonish them. He no longer regarded them as his students, nor did he regard them as servants. No, he looked them in the eye and said, "You are my friends. Now I'm going to tell you about the key to live a fulfilling life on earth."

He lived with us as our example—constantly remaining connected to the Father's love. He did not give way to the misunderstandings of God that floated all around him. He didn't have time to give way to them—he was busy receiving directly from Heaven. He didn't have time to get angry and bitter at God, precisely because he spent all of his time rejoicing in the reality of Heaven and the realities of the love of the Father.  He didn't get stuck in a rut of despair or hopelessness because he was constantly moving toward the source of all joy. He didn't become self-absorbed, because he was so busy being other-absorbed. This is love and Vine living!

But love is never an end unto itself.  There is something else that Jesus described—fruit.   The fruit of a godly life is evidence, hard evidence, of the core of love in a branch.   In verse 16 Jesus said," You did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last."   In Galatians 5:22-23 we read what the fruit looks like for one who is stuck to the vine.  This fruit consists of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  

There’s a funny thing about fruit, each variety looks so different, doesn't it? It's not always exactly the same, but we still know it is fruit.  There is evidence that it is fruit—chemically it is classified as fruit.  There is a particular smell, taste and touch to let us know that these are pieces of fruit. Each piece of fruit came off of a branch which was attached to a vine. Not one piece of fruit grew by itself.  Not a one.

It is the same with our spiritual lives. God will know if we are attached to the Vine by the evidence he sees in our lives. Are we demonstrating love? Is there a sense of joy that resides within us no matter what comes our way? Are we hungry for peace and pursuing it? Are we patient? Are we kind? Are the things that we do done out of kindness? Are we genuine in our care and affection for one another? Does God find us faithful when faced with temptations of all kinds—temptations to old and new sins, temptations to give up, temptations to hate and not forgive. When we find that we need to correct or rebuke a brother, sister or our children are we gentle, not getting out of hand in harshness or severity? Are we able to live lives controlled by the Spirit of God, not by our own evil desires?

We're asking a lot of questions. As we ask them let's make sure we understand that the fruit is an outcome of staying in the Vine. We don't produce fruit and then hope the Vine is pleased. The Vine is pleased and then produces fruit through us.

Jesus concludes this great section of Scripture by saying that if we remain in the Vine we will be given everything we ask for.  Wow!   Did he really say that?  Yes.  Because Jesus knew that when the substance of his love is coursing through our veins, when the little leaves start popping out and those tiny buds of fruit start to grow, even our requests will be as if he had asked them.

The love of the Father was coursing through Jesus’ veins.  And his promise is that if we remain attached to him, that same love will course through our veins.  That great substance of love will no longer have to be a command from a teacher, rabbi or master.  Rather, it will be the compelling force, the breath we breathe, the substance of our lives.  Then, just like the Little Branch and the Old Branch, we will be resolved to stay in the Vine because we know what fruit is coming and we are grateful for all that has been done for us and through us.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:14-21

Copyright M.R. Hyde 2012

---

[i] NIV Study Bible, Zondervan, 1995, p. 1589.

A Mother in Israel - Deborah

Read Judges 4-5

Mothers can amaze us.  Good mother’s make us stand in awe.  From Eve as the “mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20) and Sarah as “the mother of nations” (Gen 17:16) to Eunice, the faith-filled mother of Timothy (2 Timothy 1:5) remarkable mothers are represented throughout the Biblical text. While not all mothers represent God’s best, the greatest mothers of the Bible are lauded and praised.  The Ten Commandments explicitly require respect and protection for mothers and fathers. Proverbs repeatedly warns young people to pay heed to, respect, care for and protect their mothers and fathers (Proverbs 1:8, 20:30, 23:22, 28:24).  Created mothers reflect particular maternal aspects of our divine Parent.  Isaiah 66:13 quotes God saying, “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.”  The Apostle Paul likens his missionary presence reflecting the presence of Christ as “gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children” (1Thessalonians 2:7). 

Mothers do and provide many things.  They conceive, bear, protect, nurture, feed, raise, confront, guide, discipline and comfort their children. Proverbs 31 celebrates such women who provide constant attention to their children, run households and are wives.  There should be wonder and amazement for what mothers can do.  From the marvelous gift of being able to conceive a child, grow that child within her and bear that child in such pain and suffering, a mother should be lauded and praised all of her life.  A good mother’s defensive measures are extraordinary and have been compared to a lioness defending her offspring.  From the story of the mother in Solomon’s court who was willing to give up her child rather than have him sliced in two to the mother of Jesus accepting the weighty and marvelous task of bearing the Savior of the world, outstanding mother’s in Biblical history are models of humanity, virtue, grace, determination and fantastic strength in the Lord.

While in some regions women bearing and raising ten or more children is unusual, it can be incredible to think of women with multiple children. What resources they must have! Perhaps that is why I stop and gasp when my fingers run over the phrase “a mother in Israel” in Judges 5:7.  Here indeed was a mother of extraordinary measure whose children were many thousands, whose wisdom was relied upon, whose guidance was demanded and whose faith in God was undaunted.  Deborah, a mother in Israel, stands as one of the great women in the Bible.

Not only is Deborah a woman of incredible character and strength, she is also an anomaly. While we have reviewed the positive characteristics of mothers, women in many times and places have been considered weaker than men.  Indeed, many women of the Bible, like Hagar, were at the will of their societies and not having the protective covering of a husband or adult sons would have lead to destitution or even death (Genesis 16 and 25, 2 Kings 4, Ruth). But God will show himself strong and faithful to the weak of any gender.  The Apostle Paul wrote, “But he [Jesus Christ] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” Alex Varughese wrote that in the story of Deborah and Barak “emphasis is upon God’s victory through the weak and powerless in the world.”[1]

To have a woman as a judge in Israel is something entirely anomalous.  Indeed, Deborah is the only woman recorded in Israelite history with such a role. She was a deviation or departure from the normal or common order, form, or rule.  Why in all the patriarchal history of God’s people does this woman find such a place in the canon of Scripture?  Why was she not struck from the record?  Why was she not ignored or erased?  We may never have solid answers to these questions.  One fact remains:  Deborah was judge over the house of Israel.  Women who allow themselves to be embraced by the Lord, lean into God’s great counsel and draw strength from his strength are written into the great history of God because they did just those things. 

Deborah comes without much personal context.  We know she was the wife of a man named Lappidoth. We do not know if they had children together.  We know where she lived and worked.  We do not know how she came to live and work in that region.  There is little or no information as to how she became a judge—outside of God drawing her into this role by his own hand as he had done with all the other judges.

But Deborah does come with much national context.  We know that she, and all of Israel, lived in a land that was in great upheaval.  This upheaval came from several different movements in history.  First, Joshua had lead the Israelites faithfully into the Land of Promise—a land peopled with nations that either knew nothing of the One, True, Living God or wanted to have little or nothing to do with him.  Despite the command of the Lord to push out and destroy all pagan nations and to tear down every idol, Israel had not done so. (Judges 2:10-15)  Indeed, some had tried and half-tried to fulfill this command, but an ugly root was left in many parts of the Promised Land.  This root was watered and nurtured by accommodation and assimilation of pagan religions.  This root was the worship of other gods, lesser gods and false gods and many of these practices had infiltrated Israelite religion.  Some of these religions included temple prostitution and idol worship.  And the worst of them included sacrificing children in fire to the gods.  Unless we are honest with ourselves, we can be utterly disgusted with this kind of syncretism.  But we must be careful to search out our own lives to see where we have accommodated and assimilated beliefs and practices that are contrary to the ways of God.  Then, and only then, can we shake our heads at such behavior. 

The second movement in history of this time was the violent movement of secular nations against Israel.  Leaving the old, black root in this region not only brought on religious strife, it also brought on military strife.  Judges 2:20-3:3 describes very clearly why the Lord permitted this kind of military strife.  God intended to use these warring, pagan nations to test Israel and see if Israel would keep the covenant.  In addition to this, God used these nations to train a large band of former slaves to be warriors.  These are some examples of how God redeems our rebellious ways for his future.  God does not waste time or energy in preparing his people, nor does he give up on them. 

After the death of Joshua civic leadership was a bit choppy.  Yes, the priests and Levites functioned as Moses had established them.  But a more sedentary lifestyle (since they no longer wandered in the desert) brought about strife of all kinds known to those who dwell together in one place for any amount of time. It takes no stretch of the imagination to see struggles over boundary lines, long-running family disputes, inequalities in pay and all the things that come into play in community and therefore requiring some civic structure and guidance. While the priests and Levites provided much of this service, here also is where some of the judges of Israel came in to play.  Overall judges in Israel at this time were not like the judges of today handling issues case by case—although Deborah was a judge of such actions (see Judges 4:5).[2]  Primarily God’s judges in Israel were individuals filled with his courage to rise up and defend Israel after the nation had cried out to the Lord for help.  The ways that the various judges displayed their courage ranged from assassinations to raising up armies and going to battle.  The judges of Israel were more God’s chosen military leaders than they were presiding officials.[3] And as such, they were chosen by God for a specific times and events, not by heredity or succession over time. (Judges 2:16-19)  They were individuals solely dedicated to God and his purposes in the midst of military, civil and religious unrest.

  

In addition to Deborah being a judge, she was a prophetess in Israel. Like Samuel, the only other judge who was also a prophet[4], she was a spokesperson for God who broke out of the normal boundaries of society and history to declare God’s truth for a dire situation.[5]  She had one source for her wisdom and strength and that was Jehovah God.  Israel was hanging between the time of slavery and wandering in the desert and the time of monarchy when its civic and legal systems would be more fully in place.  Israel was a developing nation full of disparate tribes held together by God’s covenant.  They had been chosen and drawn out to become a blessing to all other nations on earth.  But, they were not yet quite the blessing they were to become. Deborah was a woman—the judge who was simultaneously leader, judge and prophetess—called out by God to lead an entire nation to a victory sorely needed.  She was called out by God to be part of his movement to train them as warriors and to see if they would be faithful to him again.  John Sawyer also identifies her role as one to “raise the victory to a theological plane.” (See Judges 5:31)[6]

To grasp as much as possible from Judges 4-5 it is important to recognize that the story is told in two different ways.   The first way is through narrative—retelling the story in a typical way (Chapter 4).  The second way is through poetry (Chapter 5).  These two versions complement one another and provide an usually deep view of the events in Israel and in relation to three mothers:  Deborah, identified as the “mother in Israel” in the poetic version; Jael, whose biological motherhood is not substantiated, but one who provides a kind of maternal comfort and safety, albeit with ulterior motives; and the mother of the Canaanite commander Sisera, portrayed as longing and looking for her son while longing and looking for material wealth.  These three women are an integral part of understanding God’s victory for Israel.  All three of these women, in one way or another, reflect attributes of motherhood and womanhood—one being the superlative example for all.

Sisera’s Mother 

 

Starting at the last woman first, we see that Sisera’s mother is portrayed in Judges 5:28-30 in this way.

“Through the window peered Sisera’s mother;

behind the lattice she cried out,

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?

Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’

The wisest of her ladies answer her;

indeed, she keeps saying to herself,

‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:

a girl or two for each man,

colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,

colorful garments embroidered,

highly embroidered garments for my neck—

all this as plunder?’”  (5:28-30)

The Israelites had crossed over to take the Promised Land.  However, they had not completed the work of eradicating the peoples whom God knew would divert them from his perfect plan.  Robert Alter describes their situation graphically.  “Biblical Israel was compelled to win a purchase on life in the harshest historical circumstances, first wresting its inheritance by conquest, then surrounded by hostile peoples, at the geographical crossroads of great and often ruthless empires.”[7]  Of those hostile peoples, the Canaanites were as ruthless and deeply pagan as any.  With iron chariots as well they were the dominant military and cultural force in that region. 

Viewing the situation from a Canaanite perspective might be helpful.  Powerful countries and people groups can believe after a time that they are invincible.  And thus did the Canaanites.  They had been established in the Syria-Palestine area since 2000 B.C. and the family was the core function of society. Polytheism was the mode of religion with separate gods over geographical regions as well as the foci of detestable practices that emphasized “the bestial and material in human nature” including fertility cults and child sacrifice.[8] Imagine then a mother whose son has risen in the military ranks in such a nation.  The cruelty, resolve and power of the Canaanite military surely required men of exceptional political and military might to rise to such a position.  Sisera’s mother could have been held in high regard for bearing and raising such a son.  The imposing Israelites, fueled by God’s mission to take this land, must have been troubling to the Canaanites, if not maddening.  A mother of such a warrior might take delight in the downfall, rape and spoils of an intruding nation.

The poet of Judges 5 steps into the mind of such a mother.  We see her concern.  She is hovering at a window sill anxious to see her son again.  This is no different than any mother in Israel would have done.  But she takes delight that her son’s army would maul these immigrants.  She daydreams about the new cloth in which she can revel and the future victories of her powerful son.  The ancient poet interprets the mother of a heartless enemy as heartless for all except her own son, his soldiers and herself.  But this heartlessness is countered by the poet’s unwritten and projected moaning grief she has felt after hearing of her son’s death.  Sisera’s mother was not a mother in Israel and her suffering must have been greater because she lost not only her son, but her prized position and wealth.

Then with jubilant voice, the poet rejoices in the victory over God’s enemies.

“So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!

But may they who love you be like the sun

when it rises in its strength.” (v. 31)

Jael

 

 "Most blessed of women be Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

He asked for water, and she gave him milk;

in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.

Her hand reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workman’s hammer.

She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,

she shattered and pierced his temple.

At her feet he sank,

he fell; there he lay.

At her feet he sank, he fell;

where he sank, there he fell—dead."

(5:24-27)

Jael, heroine of this archetypal story, is a fascinating person standing in the middle.  Like Deborah, we do not know if Jael had any children.  We do know she was a wife to Heber the Kenite.  The Kenites were a tribe from the Midianites who had befriended Moses upon his escape from Egypt and from whom the wife of Moses came as well as her influential father, Jethro—also in Numbers 10:29 called Reuel. (See Exodus 2:16-22, 18, Number 24:21-22 and Judges 1:16.)  There was a long-standing relationship between the Kenites and Israel because of this and Israel’s dominance over the Midianites.  In the time of Deborah they dwelled together in the same region.[9] At the same time the Kenites had “friendly relations" with Jabin, the Canaanite king (Judges 4:17). Jael stood at a crossroads because of these tribal relations.  It is only through her actions that Jael betrayed the same view of the Canaanite commander as did Deborah—an enemy to be defeated.

Nomadic hospitality, still in existence today, requires the acceptance of anyone as a guest.  So, it is not alarming that Jael would invite a cruel military leader into her home. Outside of this basic act of hospitality, we can see something maternal in Jael’s actions.  Comparing the narrative and poetic version of this part of the story brings incredible power and detail to this scene. Judges 4:18 quotes Jael saying, “Come, my lord, come right in.  Don’t be afraid.”  There is a level of maternal comfort that Jael provides in her reassuring him that everything would be alright.  The battle had been fierce and final and it could be easily imagined that news of God’s victory through flooding and obedient Israelite soldiers (see 4:15-16 and 5:4-22) would have traveled quickly up and down the region. Jael took advantage of the fact that her tribe held hands with the Canaanites and the Israelites.  This kind of advantage is one that a mother defending her children might take.  Stories of the actions of mothers during the Holocaust come to mind.

Presuming upon the principle of hospitality, the broken and beaten Sisera asked for water.  And yet Jael extended to him other measures of comfort. Robert Alter states that Jael “at once assumes a maternal role toward her battle-weary guest, tucking him in like a child, giving him milk rather than the water he requested.  In addition to this the poetic version provides “the implicit ironic contrast between the lethal Jael and the anxiously waiting mother of Sisera . . . she prudently knows how to soothe, how to minister, how to kill.”[10] 

After a few moments of kindness Jael drops her defensive charade and seizes her opportunity.  In a swift blow, using tools with which she was greatly familiar, she smashed the skull of their oppressor.  Beware the mother defending her children!  Like a lioness laying in wait, she will get her prey.  

Deborah

 

"In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,

in the days of Jael, the roads were abandoned;

travelers took to winding paths.

Village life in Israel ceased,

ceased until I, Deborah, arose,

arose a mother in Israel.

When they chose new gods,

war came to the city gates,

and not a shield or spear was seen

among forty thousand in Israel.

My heart is with Israel’s princes,

with the willing volunteers among the people.

Praise the Lord!"

(5:6-9)

The Canaanites had been oppressing Israel for twenty years and finally pressed them to such a degree that the Israelites again recognized the need for their God to rescue them. Despite their return to wickedness, the God of Israel heard their cry.  And because of that plea for help and relief God did many things.  He set nature in motion to bring a flood onto a flood plain, he put an urgency into the hearts of Israelite soldiers, and in the center of Israel he had already planted a judge and a prophetess for such a time as this. Deborah arose a mother in Israel—a mother who protected, nurtured, fed, confronted, guided, disciplined and comforted God’s people.

We have already discovered that this mother in Israel provided sound and prudent judgment for the people.  Many from Israel would travel to the place of the Palm to seek her guidance. They trusted her help.  They recognized her wisdom.  Even their military leaders submitted to God’s command through her.

Deborah called for Barak and he came.  He traveled fifty miles south of his dwelling to listen to what the Lord had to say through a woman.  She spoke the Lord’s word to him.  “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’” (4:6-7) That was the word of the Lord, not Deborah’s.  The God of all creation elected to speak through the mouth of a woman, to work through the integrity and character of a woman, to empower others through the work of a woman to such a degree that she has been lauded and praised for centuries as a mother in God’s nation, the nation that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were promised would bring blessing to the rest of the world.

Barak submitted to her, not because she was a woman, but because she was the Lord’s woman—an anomaly, a blip on the map, a righteous person who faithfully delivered the word of the Lord and guided God’s nation in times of great duress, great turmoil, great self-imposed suffering.  But unlike Sisera’s mother in her greed or Jael’s maternal deceit, Deborah arose as a premiere mother in Israel.  She rebuked Barak—no matter that he was the commander of thousands.  She corrected Barak—God would have given him the victory, but now another way had to be taken.  She comforted Barak—yes, she would accompany him.  A mother in Israel spoke the truth however painful it might be. 

I imagine Deborah walking out toward the soldiers, shoulder-to-shoulder with Barak.  I imagine his head lifted high because a mother in Israel was willing to lead her people.  I imagine every beating heart of every one of the ten thousand soldiers beating stronger and as one because a mother in Israel believed in their God and in them.  Her presence, the presence of a mother called by God, was representative of God’s presence with them.

Because of Deborah’s love for God, because of her obedience and submission to the Most High, because of her ability to discern and provide leadership when a nation’s food supplies and homes were threatened, a mother in Israel raised up an army in the Lord’s Name.

Sisera’s chariots had thundered onto the dry flood plain as ten thousand of God’s soldiers massed on the lip of Mount Tabor.  They looked out over that valley teeming with iron chariots and swords flashing in the sun.  Their hearts were alive with the words of the Lord that the prophetess has spoken.  The Lord would give that vast and terrible army into their hands this day.  With horses stamping and muscles tensed and white knuckles clenched around swords, with sweat covering their faces and jugular veins popping, they heard these words:  “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?”  (4:14) What a glorious battle cry!

I imagine Barak repeating those words like thunder down that mountainside and across the plain.  I imagine ten thousand soldiers running beside raging rivers in the thunder and lightning toward the enemy that had so oppressed them.  I imagine Deborah standing on the lip of Mount Tabor watching God’s work with her heart beating with theirs.  She could see and feel the mighty power of God through the storm, she could see the rushing waters, she could see the chariots mired in the mud and hear the Canaanite horses screaming and the soldiers crying out as they clawed their way out only to meet the Israelites at their best because they fought with the Lord.

Like any mother who had prepared her children, raised them, confronted them, guided them Deborah knew that the Lord was their Protector and she sent them out with the assurance of God’s victory, having every advantage that the Lord would provide.

Can you see the iron chariots sinking into the mud?  Can you hear the cries of Israelite warriors gaining the advantage? Can you smell the water rushing into that valley from every stream, every rivulet, every river? 

“So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!

But may they who love you be like the sun

when it rises in its strength.” (5:31)

This is the conclusion to the song that Deborah and Barak wrote together.  This is the song that Israel sang for another forty years. Even in this song, a mother in Israel continued her maternal work—confronting those who refused to fight, comforting those who had sacrificed their lives, rejoicing with those who had gained the victory, pointing to the God of all comfort who again provided for them as she knew he would.

Deborah, an anomaly, a woman of incredible character and strength, a mother in Israel still stands as one of the great women in the Bible.  Her maternal instincts, her character and integrity shaped by God’s voice working through her life, stands indeed as an example of what women of the Lord can do when he calls.

Copyright M.R. Hyde 2012

---

[1] Discovering the Old Testament, Alex Varughese, Editor, Beacon Hill Press, 2003, p. 151.

[2] IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, Craig Keener, IVP Press, 2000, p.250.

[3] Beacon Bible Commentary, p. 105 and A History of Israel, 3^rd Edition, Westminster Press, 1981, p. 178.

[4] Ibid. p.

[5] Prophecy and the Prophets of the Old Testament, John F. Sawyer, Oxford University Press, 1987, p. 62

[6] Ibid. p. 66.

[7] The Art of Biblical Poetry, Robert Alter, Basic Books, 1985.

[8] The New Bible Dictionary, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1962, p. 115, 184, 187.

[9] A History of Israel, 3^rd Edition, John Bright, Westminster Press, 1981, p. 127-128.

[10] Alter, p. 48, 49.