Monday, August 24, 2009
Hiatus
I may blog some on this spot, but because of the Through the Bible in Ninety Days I am more liklely to post something at EFCHBBiblein90Days.blogspot.com through the end of November.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
There Arose Another Generation After Them...
I'm still working my way through the Bible. This morning I arrived at Judges. Judges is that book with stories like the king who was so fat that his stomach closed around the hilt of the sword used to kill him, the woman who drove a tent peg through a man's temple while he slept, and the man who hacked his concubine into twelve pieces after she was raped.
But before all those stories there is a statement in chapter 2 that bothers me each time I read it. The passage begins by recounting, "And the people served YHWH all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that YHWH had done for Israel." You can almost see what comes next by the way the author makes a point that the people served YHWH all the days of Joshua and the elders who outlived Joshua. What the author says next concerns me every time.
"And all that generation [who had seen all the great work that YHWH had done for Israel] also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know YHWH or the work that he had done for Israel."
The generation referred to are the children of those who had experienced 40 years of God's faithfulness. Honestly, I can understand those children not knowing YHWH. We can never have a relationship with God for someone else. Everyone has to make their own decision about what they will do or not do with God. They could have decided, collectively, that they didn't want to know YHWH. But the verse goes on to say "...[they] did not know YHWH or the work that he had done for Israel."
How can they not know what he had done for Israel? Only because they were never told. I know that's an "all-ness", but isn't that what the text says? They did not know the work God had done for Israel. They were not there when it happened or they were too young when it happened. So how could they have known? Only because their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors told the story. But they didn't. As a result an entire generation did not know YHWH or the work he had done for Israel.
Before we come down too hard on the generation who didn't tell the story, who are you telling?
But before all those stories there is a statement in chapter 2 that bothers me each time I read it. The passage begins by recounting, "And the people served YHWH all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that YHWH had done for Israel." You can almost see what comes next by the way the author makes a point that the people served YHWH all the days of Joshua and the elders who outlived Joshua. What the author says next concerns me every time.
"And all that generation [who had seen all the great work that YHWH had done for Israel] also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know YHWH or the work that he had done for Israel."
The generation referred to are the children of those who had experienced 40 years of God's faithfulness. Honestly, I can understand those children not knowing YHWH. We can never have a relationship with God for someone else. Everyone has to make their own decision about what they will do or not do with God. They could have decided, collectively, that they didn't want to know YHWH. But the verse goes on to say "...[they] did not know YHWH or the work that he had done for Israel."
How can they not know what he had done for Israel? Only because they were never told. I know that's an "all-ness", but isn't that what the text says? They did not know the work God had done for Israel. They were not there when it happened or they were too young when it happened. So how could they have known? Only because their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors told the story. But they didn't. As a result an entire generation did not know YHWH or the work he had done for Israel.
Before we come down too hard on the generation who didn't tell the story, who are you telling?
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