Medicine Hat Joe

Week 14  1 Samuel

The backstory to this on-the-run psalm makes it a bit different from the others. After escaping from Saul David had stopped at the home of a priest who he knew – Ahimelech – who helped him with provisions. Unfortunately for Ahimelech a man named Doeg witnessed the exchange and reported it to Saul. David was an enemy-of-the-state. So that made Ahimelech a traitor.
Saul’s own soldiers wouldn’t kill a priest. But Doeg didn’t hesitate. The subtitle to Psalm 52 says: ‘regarding the time Doeg the Edomite told Saul that Ahimelech had given refuge to David’.
The psalm really doesn’t say much of anything about David-in-exile. Nothing about how he  managing as a refugee / vagabond.
But Psalm 52 does have something to say about the future of Doeg the murderer: you love to destroy others…But God will strike you down once and for all. He will pull you from your home and uproot you from the land of the living.
In every bible book I’ve read so far this year (except Ruth) I’ve seen a lot of murder going on. I keep reading about murder after murder after murder and the unfairness is revolting and upsetting.
But David – even if he is on-the-lam – takes the time to remind readers one thing about a murderer’s future (something that’s consoling – even if it’s not completely adequate in the moment). Eventually God will strike a murderer down once and for all.

Note: quote from Psalm 52:4-5; story 1 Samuel 22:9-19 (NLT)

Week 14  1 Samuel

Because David had saved Israel by killing Goliath in chapter 17 almost everybody was happy. The one not-happy exception was the king: from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. And since David could read the signs he ran.
It seems like a weird destination but David went to the Philistines looking for help.
What doesn’t seem weird was that the Philistines weren’t happy seeing him. The subtitle of Psalm 56 is describing that exact situation: ‘the time the Philistines seized (David) in Gath’ (this is helpful info since the 1 Samuel story doesn’t say David was arrested).
Anyway Psalm 56 was David’s reaction and response to his going from-Saul’s-frying-pan-into-the-Philistine’s-fire predicament. And three of the things he said were pretty interesting:
The (understandable) first thing David did was to ask for help: O God, have mercy on me, for people are hounding me.
Second thing was the (intriguing) comment about his reaction to fear: when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. There were other options. But he moved from Fear toward Trust.
Third thing was that David followed up his from-Fear-to-Trust comment with a (logical) question: I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me? (he asked the same question twice). And it’s a good reminder about how David figured things stood. How much of a threat is a Weak Guy if I know a Strong Guy?

Note: quotes from 1 Samuel 18:9 & Psalm 56: 1 3 4 11 (NLT)

 

Week 14  1 Samuel

The subtitle of Psalm 59 says that it’s “a psalm of David, regarding the time Saul sent soldiers to watch David’s house in order to kill him”.
Saul’s murderous hatred of David developed pretty much overnight. Chapter 17 is the great David-and-Goliath story where David becomes a national hero. The chapter ends with Saul wondering about David. But he doesn’t hate him – yet. By the end of the very next chapter everything has changed. A lot. Saul sent troops to watch David’s house. They were told to kill David when he came out the next morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t escape tonight, you will be dead by morning.” So she helped him climb out through a window, and he fled and escaped.
And so now David is on-the-run.
Mostly I’m wondering about David’s Psalm 59 reaction to the attempt on his life. To suddenly being almost literally under-the-gun. I notice two things he says:
First: you are my strength; I wait for you to rescue me, for you, O God, are my fortress.
Second (near the end): as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when & I am in distress.
David’s confidence & assurance are what stand out as being the most impressive & unexpected responses.
So I’m wondering what-all else will show up in the other on-the-run psalms.

Note: quotes from 1 Samuel 19:11-12 & Psalm 59:1 9 16 (NLT)

Week 14  1 Samuel

A couple of years ago I started tracking the subtitles of the psalms.
Quite a few of the psalms have no subtitle at all. But the ones that do give some extra information about the psalm. Details like:
• who wrote the psalm (“a psalm of David” or “a psalm of Asaph”)
• a specific person addressed (“for Jeduthun, the choir director”)
• recommended instruments (flutes or stringed-instruments)
• recommended tune (“Death of the Son” or “Doe of the Dawn”)
• the psalm’s purpose (“a love song” or “a meditation” or “for teaching” or “a prayer” or “a song for the ascent to Jerusalem”).
All that’s okay but my one reason for looking at psalm subtitles this year is because some psalms were written by David when he was on-the-run from Saul. And last year I wrote myself a note (that I just found): “in 2024 try matching-up the ‘flight-psalm’ subtitles with the actual events in 1 Samuel”.
I found six on-the-run psalms with a pretty definite 1 Samuel connection:
1 Samuel 19:1 11-18 (Psalm 59 David escapes from Saul)
1 Samuel 21:10-15 (Psalm 56 David & Achish of Gath)
1 Samuel 22:9-19 (Psalm 52 Doeg rats on the priest)
1 Samuel 23:19-24 (Psalm 54 the Ziphites betray David)
1 Samuel 23:29-24:7 (Psalm 57 hiding in-the-cave )
1 Samuel 23:29-24:7 (Psalm 142 again hiding in-the-cave).
So my plan is to look at each event in 1 Samuel and check to see what David was thinking about during that event.

Note: I didn’t include Psalms 34 or 63. They seem like possible maybes. But at the same time they might be maybe nots.

Week 14  the day after Easter

Yesterday was Easter Sunday – March 31 2024. Millions of people all around the world affirmed: Jesus Is Risen Indeed! I don’t know most of them but it’s pretty nice to be part of that big a company of believers.
So that was yesterday. Today is the first day of April and that means the beginning of the second quarter of the year. 2024 is 25% gone.
I checked my reading progress for January-March. I‘ve read the 236 chapters from Genesis – Ruth + 89 psalms. 325 chapters. That means I’m 27.3% through the bible in 25% of the year. I’m just a small step ahead of schedule but I feel satisfied with that.

Note: I got bogged down again in Judges this year. I think one big problem with being a 21st-century bible reader reading through the OT is that I’m a 21st-century bible reader. What that means is that I’m left trying to dope-out the point of 3,000 year-old stories that seem to feature cutthroat violence & ruthless lawlessness & anarchic malevolence & dog-eat-dog vendetta murder theft torture and degradation.
It’s very hard to do but one of the basic challenges for a bible reader – under these circumstances – is to ferret out the Main Things:
> I try to sift out the dreadful & non-fundamental things (leave them in the Residual Pile)
> I try to focus on lastingly important things (the Fundamentals)
> Finally…I hope and pray for some assistance (at some point the Lord has to start turning on some lights for readers. Otherwise the bible stays a Dark Book).

Week 13  Judges

The stories of Gideon & Jephthah & Samson are all fairly long (Gideon 100-verses. Jephthah 47-verses. Samson 96-verses).
When it comes to grading them by their successful military victories I’d probably rank them: #1 Samson. #2 Gideon. #3 Jephthah.
The real point though – the glitch – is that the stories of Gideon & Jephthah & Samson don’t end with their spectacular wins.
Gideon vs. Midianites. Victory for Gideon! But then with some of the captured loot Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family. What-in-the-world possessed him to do that is anybody’s guess. But it was an evil and negative turn in what had been a good-looking career.
Jephthah vs. Ammonites. Victory for Jephthah! But…prior to the fight Jephthah (idiotically) promised the Lord that if he beat the Ammonites he’d sacrifice whoever-or-whatever he first saw when he came home. And who did he see? His daughter! For gruesome asininity it’s hard to find a match for Jephthah. An astute-guy who goes evilly-stupid.
Samson vs. Philistines. Multiple victories for Samson! But along with his big successes Samson was a textbook example of Self-Destructive & Irrational & Intemperate Lunacy and a Total Lack of Self-Controls.
The First Three judges consistently navigated their way forward.
The two-step pattern with the Second Three was a) one good step forward and then b) a decision to head back toward square-one.

Note: quote from Judges 8:27 (NLT)

Week 13  Judges

Yesterday I thought that my idea about ranking the Six Majors was pretty good. I figured I’d rank them like I did with the fifteen kings last year.
Today when I thought about it more-and-more it started to look less-and-less like a workable plan.
Anyway one thing I did notice was that the Six Majors seemed to divide into two groups. The First Three & the Second Three.
The First Three – Othniel & Ehud & Deborah/Barak – were successful. Their stories are Success Stories.
The Second Three – Gideon & Jephthah & Samson – were successful. So their stories were Success Stories too. But not just success. Something more like Success with a taste of Failure added-in.
I checked out the First Three:
Othniel’s story is very short (not much longer than the Snippet Lives of the Six Minors). But the Lord promoted/elevated Othniel and gave Othniel victory. Then there was peace.
Ehud’s situation was a bit different but the Lord raised him up too. Ehud organized a successful rebellion against the Moabite overlords. Then there was peace.
The Deborah-Barak story is longer & more complicated. Barak is the warrior-chieftain – the boots-on-the-ground guy. Deborah is something more like a General / Executive Director (the brains-and-heart behind the operation). The result was the same…then there was peace.
I looked for any problems & errors & infractions that clouded the stories of the First Three:
Othniel? No.
Ehud? No.
Deborah/Barak? No.
But I know things are going to be a bit different with the Second Three.

Note: quote from Judges 3:10 (NLT)

Week 13  Judges

Of the Twelve Judges in the book of Judges six were in the Minor Category: Shamgar Tola Jair Ibzan Elon & Abdon.
So the others are the Six Majors: Othniel Ehud Deborah-Barak Gideon Jephthah & Samson.
One reason the Minors were minor was because their stories only averaged ~38-words. It’s like they were just entries in an Encyclopedia of Biography (Okay. I admit that length is not definitive – the Othniel story is very short too.)
Another reason Minors were minor was because their foreign opponents were not even named (but I admit that not having a Named Opponent isn’t definitive – I know Shamgar fought the Philistine group).
But one of the key – and definitive – differences is that each of the Six Majors has some kind of (stated) help from the Lord:
Othniel: the Lord raised up a man to rescue Israel…Othniel
Ehud: the Lord raised up a man to rescue Israel…Ehud
Deborah-Barak: Deborah the prophet gave Barak a message: this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, commands you…
Gideon: the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “Mighty warrior, the Lord is with you!”
Jephthah: at that time the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah
Samson: the Lord blessed Samson as he grew… The Spirit of the Lord began to take hold of him.
I was thinking that a good Exercise Idea would be to rank the Six Majors (like I did with the 15 kings-of-Judah last year).

Note: quotes from Judges 3:9 3:15 4:6 5:12 11:29 13:24-25 (NLT)

Week 13  Judges

I decided to look at the Six Minor Judges.
Shamgar appeared first (chapter-three). The others don’t come until later – clustered in Judges 10:1-5 (Tola & Jair) and then in Judges 12:8-15 (Ibzan Elon & Abdon).
I listed them and  filled-in whatever details I could find.
First: five of them had a geographic or tribal link (Issachar Gilead Bethlehem Zebulun Ephraim). Shamgar’s connection was uncertain.
Second: I can see how long five of them judged Israel (23 22 7 10 8 years). Shamgar is the odd-man-out.
Third: where were they buried? (Shamir Kamon Bethlehem Zebulun Pirathon). Where Shamgar was buried is anyone’s guess.
Fourth: the only official action that Tola Jair Ibzan Elon & Abdon took was to “judge” (whatever that involved). The exception is Shamgar who took the definite military action of killing 600 enemies.
Fifth: there’s no record of the opponents of Tola Jair Ibzan Elon & Abdon. Shamgar? It was the Philistines.
Sixth: one thing about all of them (Shamgar as well) is that none of them got any kind of specific direction or impetus from the Lord – at least none that was spelled out. (I took a quick look at Othniel Ehud Deborah-Barak Gideon & Samson. In one way or other each of them gets a definite prompt or boost or assist from the Lord.) Not getting a signal from the Lord  doesn’t mean that the Six Minors didn’t. But it doesn’t say so.
I end up being not much father ahead. But I wonder why Shamgar is such a Mystery Man.

Week 13  Judges

The person who wrote the book of the Judges left a couple of questions unanswered.
For one he identified Twelve Judges. Which means I tend to think that there were twelve judges – just twelve. But I guess there could have been more. Judges might be a selective history.
For two it’s pretty normal to think that the Twelve appeared one-after-the-other in the order I’m reading. But it’s possible that some of them could have overlapped. They look more like local-&-tribal judges dealing with local-&-tribal problems – not necessarily helping all of Israel.
Anyway the main thing I was thinking about was that there are two main groups of judges. There are Six Major Judges. And Six Minor Judges.
The Six Minor Judges are Shamgar Tola Jair Ibzan Elon & Abdon and the main reason they are Minor is because none of them gets more than three verses of text – maximum. (The average number of words that each of the Six Minors get is 38.3-words (Ibzan gets the most with 55-words)). I don’t think number-of-words is a hard-and-fast rule about importance. I don’t think the rule is: More Words = More Importance. For instance I was thinking about Enoch in Genesis. He only gets ~57-words of text…but he’s pretty important.
Anyway I think I’ll take some extra time to look at the Six Minors a bit more carefully.

Note: the Six Minors are Shamgar 3:31 Tola 10:1-2 Jair 10:3-5 Ibzan 12:8-10 Elon 12:11-12 Abdon 12:13-15. Enoch is in Genesis 5:21-24.