2025 Bible Study Group

[Tippy]

Judges 16


To "possess the gates of your enemies" means to conquer them. Samson literally possesses the gates of his enemies in this story. His tearing up of the gates, including the bars, also invokes his ultimate act at the end of his story. Also, everytime Samson comes into conflict with his enemies, a woman is involved. Thanks to his super strength, this is not a problem, until the final time it happens.


Here is the second time in Judges that treachery is linked to pieces of silver. It is a Hebraism, one that most notoriously reoccurs in the New Testament. Delilah takes up the Philistines on their offer. These hoes ain't loyal.


After three times of trying to get Samson to reveal his kryptonite, Delilah nags him enough to get him to tell her the truth. I think every man can relate at some point to being weak to a woman when you ought not be. Never show them your soft side, an evil woman will always take advantage.


Finally, the Philistines capture Samson and imprison him but not before gouging out his eyes. Pick up on the irony. Samson chose women who were "right in his own eyes" and lost them as a result. Needless to say, it was not Samson's hair that magically granted him his strength (though it would've appeared that way to the heathen) but God Himself who was Samson's strength. After flagrantly disregarding God's covenant, Law, and Nazirite vows, God leaves Samson. Then the Philistines and their lords throw a party for their god, Dagon, and set up Samson to be their party clown.


God answers Samson's prayer and grants him strength again. Samson submits to the divine will, walking by faith not by sight. Samson then takes out everybody with him. God left Samson, but not forever. He let him stumble, but not to fall. Why? Because the will of man does not change the decree of God. Not then, not now, not ever. In fact, God providentially used Samson's sinfulness to bring him close to the Philistines, and then to destroy them, just as the Angel foretold. Even when we're faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. Samson is then buried with his father, who almost certainly saw the pre-incarnate Christ.

The modern state of Israel (not the biblical one) has an open-secret nuclear deterrence policy called the Samson Option. If someone were to nuke them, they would nuke their immediate enemies. They would bring the house down with them.

Judges 16

Infamous hair being his weakness makes an appearance here and there's some eye gouging as well

A captured Samson gets forced to go out to do an impromptu stand up comedy routine I guess

Eventually Samson takes himself out as well as all the Philistine rulers and then it ends

My thoughts on Samson: Intense, impulsive and aggressive. Yeah, the Homelander comparison is apt. But somehow sympathetic in a way as well. Maybe partly becuase of his lack of emotional regulation (as we might say in modern terms). I guess a modern Samson would probably end up in a therapist's chair.

 

[Tippy]

Judges 17


This man, Micah, recovered his mother's stolen silver. The mother then consecrates the silver to be made into an image. Two themes intersect here: the theme of covenant breaking, as signified by the making of the image, and the theme of betrayal, as signified by the pieces of silver. To make this image was an act of betrayal against God.


Micah not only had images, but he made a shrine, a priestly garment, and ordained one of his sons to be his priest. This was a grave sin. God had already established the Hebrew religion in the Law. The Law clearly states that the priesthood resided with the Levites. Micah, not being a Levite, essentially establishes his own cult. Unlike in the New Covenant, not everyone in Israel was a priest unto God. They could not do this without breaking the covenant. By the time of the Maccabbees, the priesthood had become so broken and corrupted that the Jews were making themselves priests and having foreign nations appoint them as priests.


The text adds a new flair to the central theme: everyone was doing what was right in his own eyes, there was no king in Israel to unify and bring order to the people. None of the judges had successfully unified the people, and things started to really fall apart at the seams. If only there was a king to end the anarchy. A traveling Levite then comes into contact with Micah and Micah entices him to stay, in the hope that he would give legitimacy to his cult.


Micah had an idolatrous, magical view of God. He figured that as long as he had a Levite in his cult, God would be obligated to his cult. You see how idolatrous man always thinks he can control God? He thinks he can place God into a box and make Him do his will. Instead, Micah should have known the Law. Then he would've not went down this foolish path.

Ok Micah tells the truth despite threat of punishment and then makes an idol...aren't you supposed to avoid making idols? BUt there does not seem to be a punishment here.

The idea of Micah doing something in good faith (trying to do what's right) and then not getting the expected punishment reminds me a bit of Isaac/Abraham and the sacrifice. Though in this case there is no divine intervention. It's most just personal curioisty.

Then Micah gets his own personal priest living at his house. Not a bad deal. But still seems a litle weird.

Key quote: In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

Sounds a lot like today!

 

[Tippy]

James 4
Favorite chapter in James


Whenever I hear people present the Church as a monolith with absolute unity, I know they are ignorant and have been misled. Why? One, the history of the Church is rife with contentions. Two, that goes all the way back to the Apostles as clearly seen in the Scriptures, which is why the Apostles went to great lengths to promote unity. Nothing on earth will match the perfections of heaven as long as sin is still in the world.


Love this flip of the classic "Ask and ye shall receive." You ask and do not receive because your hearts are still seeking to satisfy the passions. You must ask in faith, with a clear conscience, doubting nothing.


In New Testament terminology, fornicators, whores, sexually immoral, adulterous people, while retaining their literal meanings, are also used in a spiritual sense to refer to idolatry. This is also true in the Old Testament. By turning to idols instead of God, you have become whores. Since God will not share His Glory with any other, He will be our enemy if we turn to all the idols of the world. One of the more prominent idols of the day is the sexually degenerate, LGBT ideology. If you want to be friends with that, God will be your enemy. I would rather be a friend of God and an enemy to all the world than be a friend to all the world and an enemy of God.


James is not directly citing any Bible passage in particular. Rather, he is drawing out the truth that the Scriptures as a whole teach: that God both wants to see us in the Spirit, and that He uses the Spirit to change our will and work for His purpose.


Let the Spirit do His work. Like the bully he is, the devil is a coward and will flee if you resist him. But you can only resist him if you have the Spirit. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.


The story of the Tragedy is of self-important people who have all their works crumble despite their best efforts, they go from laughing to crying. The story of the Comedy is of ill-deserved dummies who receive a happy ending despite not earning it, their tears turn to laughter. If you want to experience God's comedy, then you must pass through the tragedy. You must give up your self-exaltation and place yourself in a state of humiliation. From your place of humiliation, God will raise you up and be the one to exalt you.


When James says do not judge your neighbor, he is not saying to not warn people to turn away from their dead works. He is saying to not place yourself in God's position and declare someone's judgement. God will do that, has done it, will continue to do it.


People arrogantly presume that they will live forever, that they can do anything, that all opportunities are in their hands. All such boasting is evil. Only if the Lord wills does anyone do anything. You could die in your sleep tonight, so why will you not thank the Lord for your life first thing in the morning? You complain about your work, God gave it to you and He can take it away in an instant, why not thank Him instead?

"You want only what will give you pleasure'

'If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God' - I agree with this in PRINCIPLE but do also think part of us need to live in the world. But perhaps we don't need anywhere near as much wealth as we think if we are rich in our faith.

'What right do you have to judge your neighbour?' - I see a lot of this I guess even in Christian discussion groups of perhaps a pride in being Holy.

This part is key 'it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it'

I feel this part could be used in different contexts. Even in the Shakespeare type sense of 'to thine own self be true' or Jordan Peterson talking about it being a moral responsibility to find work that is meaningful to you. With some sins, it's easy to know what's wrong as it feels bad after. But there are many things which are murky and which it's difficult to attain God's guidance on. But deep down I still think we know what we ought to do and can feel it physically at times. So then we must act accordingly. But sometmes we might be given gifts from the world for doing what we felt was wrong for us. We then say hey, my bank account is full, I took 3 vacations this year, I have a great Instagram profile. But there is a worm still gnawing at the soul that tells us otherwise. We can always change and course correct. That's the good news. But we must stay alert.

 

[Tippy]

James 5


It seems that in this world, to become rich you have to be willing to take advantage of someone else. Many rich people even boast about this, calling it a killer instinct. This is why Jesus said that is exceedingly difficult for a rich man to enter heaven. If you are successful, then remember you have a duty to those beneath you.


On the flip side, you who have been victimized and long for retribution and justice, you are called to wait on the Lord with long-suffering and patience. You saw in Job that God will come through for His saints, but it will be according to His time and His timing is perfect.



Let your yeses be yeses and your noes be noes. Stop being wishy washy. Give a straight answer. Be an honest man. Commit to your word. When people know you to be an honest man then you will not have to swear on anything at all, your word will be good enough.


16 is taken out of context by some to refer to the sacrament of confession. But James is not referring to those of the priestcraft. He is not limiting the power of confession to the Elders of your church. There is mutual confession and mutual intercessory prayer in his address to the congregation as a whole.

In his epistle James gives much practical advice, it is Wisdom literature. Live according to the Word that you've read and studied and may the Holy Spirit write it on the tablets of our hearts.

Not sure if all ways of wealth building are exploitation. There are also individuals who leech off the wealth of others in way or another.

'Take courage for the coming of the Lord is near' is a little hard to take when it's been thousands of years at this point.

"Just a simple yes or so, so that you will not sin and be condemned.' - I guess I've had to deal a few times with agreeing to things and backing out and I'm not proud of that. Sometimes it's hard to say yes or no when internally I am in knots.

Power of prayer - I struggle with prayer cos i just feel like I'm listening to myself and can't discern what's me and what isn't.

'Confess your sins to each other' is interesting right cos while this is a big part of Catholic church it seems less practiced in Anglican church.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

'If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God' - I agree with this in PRINCIPLE but do also think part of us need to live in the world. But perhaps we don't need anywhere near as much wealth as we think if we are rich in our faith.

James does not mean the world in an ontological sense. He is not saying you need to become an ascetic and live on a mountain to try and escape the world. He is talking about your moral character. God will cultivate a godly character in you through communion with Christ, following His Word, and trusting the Holy Spirit. We are in the world, but not of the world.

Take courage for the coming of the Lord is near' is a little hard to take when it's been thousands of years at this point.

'The coming of the Lord' does not always refer to the end of time. In the Old Testament, it usually refers to God bringing judgment to a nation. In the New Testament, it often refers to God bringing judgment to the Jewish nation, which He did in 70AD.

 

[Tippy]

1 John 5


God's commandments are not burdensome and Jesus' burden is light. If following Christ is burdensome to you, then you either have not been perfected in God's love or you are following some works-based system that builds man-made hedges around the Law, making it harder than it needs to be. The Pharisees were such people. The unspoken part is always that they are holier than you because they are able to "tough it out" better than you can. But if you have the Holy Spirit loving God in you, following God's Word comes easy. Not because you are so righteous, you're not, but because the one dwelling in you is righteousness itself, and He "causes you to will and to work according to His good pleasure."


Jesus has overcome the world. If your faith is in Him, you may share in His victory. I hear people complain about everything, about their work, about their victimizers, about God, etc. They are under a heavy burden of sin's enslavement and of Lawful obligations they can never live up to. The world has defeated them. But in Christ, all things are given to you freely and for your good. You can defeat the world through faith in Him.


This passage has puzzled theologians down throughout the ages. What is the water and the blood referring to? Many have been quick to say Christ's baptism and death, and while that is possible I am not convinced of it. If you compare this section, verses 6-9, with John 19:34-37, you will see there is a beat for beat thematic consistency between them.


Remember that throughout John's Gospel, Jesus says much about giving living water to anyone who comes to Him. Then at the end of John's Gospel, the water is literally flowing out from Jesus' side on the cross. For John to say that Jesus came by water is to say that Jesus came with eternal life flowing out of Him (He is the very source of eternal life), both the Christians and the pre-Gnostics (who understood the spiritual import) believed this. But for John to emphasize that Jesus came by blood and "not by water only" is to confirm that Christ was indeed human with a real human body, ruling out the pre-Gnostic, Docetic view.

The Docetic view was built on much Greek philosophical baggage, namely the dualistic idea that the material world was absolutely evil and that the spirit world was good. As such, they could not believe that Christ was truly human since it would upend their metaphysical presuppositions. So their Christ was a spirit who seemed to have a body but did not really, and did not really die on the cross (which the Muslims would adopt).

Despite claims to the contrary, John is not leaning on Greek philosophy. Certainly not here and not even in John 1:1 when he calls Jesus the Logos. John's background is the Old Testament Scriptures and He is presenting Jesus as the fulfillment of them. The emphasis on the blood has to do with the ratification of the covenant. If there is no blood, no sacrifice, then there is no covenant, and thus no unity with God. So the logic flows like this: Jesus really bled and died => propitiation was made => the New Covenant is ratified and those in the New Covenant have peace and communion with God. Just as the Old Covenant was ratified and renewed by the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, and the goats and bulls and the other offerings. There is much I can say about this, but it will be better saved for a study of Hebrews.


With this in mind, perhaps the 'he' in John 19:35 is not referring to John the Apostle, which is what is commonly believed, but to the Holy Spirit:

There is a famous textual variant in verse 7 called the Johannine Comma, or the Comma Johanneum. The text will say: 7For there are three that beare record [in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.] 8[And there are three that beare witnesse in earth], the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood, and these three agree in one.

Petty much only non-updated King James Bibles will have it. It's an incredibly late variant in the manuscript history. As tempting as it is, you should not use it as a proof text for the Trinity. Use other portions of Scripture to prove the Trinity.

'Whoever does not have God's son does not have life' - interesting quote because sometimes I think God is working through people even though they are unaware of it. For example, through some artist who maybe think it's all their skill and talent but where does that come from? Or perhaps achieving worldly success through such works is in fact a sign of Satan's control/influence.

Interesting part about sins which lead to death. Is the Bible clearer about exactly which sins lead to death beyond murdering obviously?

Makes a bold claim that the world around is under control of the evil one.

'Keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts' - I guess this can be many thngs, including hobbies!

You say people are complaining about work and so on and are beaten down by life. I sometimes think the Bible can be used to justify misery like this with Peteron quotes like 'it's your cross to bear!' Maybe the real challenge in life is to find some type of way to live with joy. Can you really defeat anything with faith in Christ? I would say you also need to pick your battles!

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Interesting part about sins which lead to death. Is the Bible clearer about exactly which sins lead to death beyond murdering obviously?

The Bible doesnt give a list of these sins. What it does say is that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is unforgivable, that it's impossible to restore someone to repentance if they've heard the Gospel and fallen away, and to not even pray for such people. Christ is able to forgive all your sins, including murder, but blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.

You say people are complaining about work and so on and are beaten down by life. I sometimes think the Bible can be used to justify misery like this with Peteron quotes like 'it's your cross to bear!' Maybe the real challenge in life is to find some type of way to live with joy. Can you really defeat anything with faith in Christ? I would say you also need to pick your battles!

The works-based gospel is no Gospel at all. All it can say to people is "tough it out." "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps." "Try harder." The result is pride, anxiety, self-righteousness, etc. People who believe this are always miserable, and misery loves company.

The only way to defeat anything is through faith in Christ. Faith in Christ overcomes the world. Faith results in love, peace, joy, contentment, etc. I consider everything I do (except for sin) to be done in faith to Christ. I fight some real battles regularly; physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally. If not for faith in Christ, I couldn't win a single one, and even then, it's not I but Christ winning them in me.

 

[Tippy]

Jonah 1


You see that it was not by Jonah's free will but by God's providence that he became a prophet. If Jonah had his way, he would've escaped the Lord. If Moses had his, he would not have gone to Egypt. If Paul had his, the Church would've been destroyed. Yet it was God's will to convert all these men, some more violently than others, to do His will.


Interesting thematic contrast between Jonah being asleep in the boat, then being "asleep" in the whale.


While God would've been in His right to destroy the entire ship and it's crew for being idolaters, it was on account of Jonah that He sent the storm. Keep this in mind for the rest of the book. There is a reversal of the standard story, that God is graceful to His people but severe to those who aren't His people. In Jonah, the roles are almost reversed.


Keep in mind that Jonah is the only Hebrew and that these men are Gentiles. Yet they show some grace to him by not wanting to throw him overboard, perhaps more grace than a Hebrew would expect from Gentiles. They became afraid that God would hold them accountable for throwing Jonah off and they even believe in God's sovereignty: as You have pleased, so You have done.


The language of "lifting up" in Scripture usually carries salvific undertones. Noah's Ark was "lifted up." Moses "lifted up" the bronze serpent. The Son of Man was "lifted up." Here, Jonah is lifted up and thrown into the abyss, which stopped the raging sea. It is a sacrificial picture that points forward to Christ, the one true sacrifice.


After he is "sacrificed," Jonah remained in the abyss, in the belly of the beast for three days and three nights.

When Christ ministered to the unbelieving generation of His day, He told them He would give them no sign but the sign of Jonah, the Son of Man would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. And just as Jonah's sacrifice led to the belief of the Gentiles on the boat. Even more does Christ's sacrifice make believers out of us. The sea was stilled and God's Justice was satisfied.

Jonah 1 - starts almost like a classic 'heroes journey' arc with a call from God - 'Go up to the great city...announce how wicked the people are!'

Then we have another Joseph Campbell beat - 'Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction' aka refusing the call!

Sailing in the opposie direction didn't work out as the Lord creates a violent storm

They draw lots?? Jonah gets found out (don't really get this part).

He fesses up and gets thrown into the sea and swallowed by a huge fish

What I take from this is the idea that you cannot run away from God's plan for you. In modern times, we might feel a sense within us that something is 'wrong'

One way or another God will get us back on course. But sometimes we want to will our way out of our God given destinies.

 

[Tippy]

The Bible doesnt give a list of these sins. What it does say is that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is unforgivable, that it's impossible to restore someone to repentance if they've heard the Gospel and fallen away, and to not even pray for such people. Christ is able to forgive all your sins, including murder, but blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.


The works-based gospel is no Gospel at all. All it can say to people is "tough it out." "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps." "Try harder." The result is pride, anxiety, self-righteousness, etc. People who believe this are always miserable, and misery loves company.

The only way to defeat anything is through faith in Christ. Faith in Christ overcomes the world. Faith results in love, peace, joy, contentment, etc. I consider everything I do (except for sin) to be done in faith to Christ. I fight some real battles regularly; physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally. If not for faith in Christ, I couldn't win a single one, and even then, it's not I but Christ winning them in me.

Can you explain a bit more how faith in Christ is part of your daily life? Just saying 'I have faith in Christ' doesn't really help me when I'm totall overwhelmed by life...decisions/uncertainties and so on. Perhaps that's a sign my faith isn't strong enough?

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Can you explain a bit more how faith in Christ is part of your daily life? Just saying 'I have faith in Christ' doesn't really help me when I'm totall overwhelmed by life...decisions/uncertainties and so on. Perhaps that's a sign my faith isn't strong enough?

It's like a mindset, but it goes deeper than a mindset. Faith in Christ can renew your character, you will see the world differently. If you live life as if everything depended on you, then it will be a hard life indeed. But through faith, you come to understand that nothing really depends on you and you're only a steward of what God has given. You're going to die one day and the world will move on without you. Through faith, you can have peace with that.

Ask God for more faith, and turn to the Word and believe it. The Bible is not something on the side. It's not just a manual to teach you doctrine for doctrine's sake. It should be integrated and interfaced into your daily experience. How you understand the world, and your life, should be colored and informed by the Bible, a Biblical worldview. So yes, rotely saying "I have faith in Christ" won't suddenly renew your mind. It is a relationship between you and God that must be cultivated and developed. Do everything for His glory and out of thanks, even as He does everything for your salvation and out of grace.

 

[Blade Runner]

But through faith, you come to understand that nothing really depends on you and you're only a steward of what God has given. You're going to die one day and the world will move on without you. Through faith, you can have peace with that.

This is good advice.

 

[Tippy]

Jonah 2

Interesting bit of trivia: if you look into the history of Davy Jones, the folk character, there is good reason to believe that he is a rendition of Jonah.

In the Bible, guilt and death are interwoven concepts. If you are guilty, you will be given the death penalty, you are as good as dead. In this sense, a Christian confession is like dying. But as John says, Christ will not leave us there. He will resurrect us, He will make us innocent. Like Adam, Jonah ran from God. But when he volunteers himself to be thrown into the sea, he comes clean.


Jonah certainly undergoes a figurative death and resurrection, perhaps even a literal one. He has passed through the hellmouth. The genre switches here. The rest of the book being a narrative but this chapter is poetry.


Jonah has resurrection hope even in the midst of his death. When Christ quoted Psalm 22 on the cross, He wanted us to see that He also had resurrection hope even as he bled and died.


Couldn't help but notice that Jonah has a crowning image as well, not of thorns but of seaweed.


Jonah anticipates his resurrection life. Notice how sacrifice and thanksgiving are coupled together. This is acceptable worship in the sight of God. He not only wants service, but service with a smile. Many people sacrifice to God, but they do not do it from a place of thanks, and so God does not regard their sacrifice. It's a tale as old as time. If you want your worship of God to be acceptable, do it from a spirit of thanks. How? By first looking at what Christ has done for you. When you see the pains He bore, the Hell He saved you from, and the sins He's forgiven you for, what else can you do but give thanks?


God loves to do the impossible for those who are in Christ. Jonah still has his role to play in God's plan.

Basically through the power of prayer Jonah is eventually released from the fish....

I look at this as essential the need for reflective moments before we take on our grand actions in the world.

As well as perhaps being symbolic for incubation periods in life. That could mean university or even just times of rebuilding after a set back.

 

[Tippy]

Jonah 4


Jonah is displeased that God relents of doing evil to Nineveh. He feels like the older son in the parable of the prodigal son. For God to relent would make Jonah to seem like a false prophet since he proclaimed God's wrath. The truth is God's grace is not fair. His wrath is always fair but His grace is not. We do not want God to give us what we deserve but what we need. Jonah's response to this is understandable, but improper. He is being judgemental when God is being graceful, which we should never do. Likewise, we shouldn't be graceful when God is being judgemental.


God gives an illustration of His grace to Jonah. God grew the plant and gave shade to Jonah out of His own grace. Then he took the plant away, and Jonah started to complain. God is right and Jonah is wrong, we are never entitled to God's grace. God alone is sovereign and He is free to have mercy on whom He will have mercy and compassion on whom He will have compassion. Every false religion inverts this concept by making the creature, not the Creator, in charge of God's grace.

There is a shadow of prophecy here as well. In those days, God's grace was primarily centered on the people of Israel but the Gentiles, as Paul says, were aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and were without God in the world. Though from time to time, God would have mercy on some of the Gentiles here and there, such as He had here with the Ninevites. But now that we are on the other side of the cross, this has been flipped. God's grace has gone out to the Gentiles in large measure with the Jews lagging behind, being jealous for it. This is a great evil in their sight because they still don't understand that God will have mercy on whom He wills.

Jesus told the unbelieving Jews of His day that the repentant people of Ninevah would stand up at the judgement and condemn the unbelieving generation of His day. The Ninevites repented at the word of the minor prophet Jonah, but the Jews did not repent even when they were given one greater than Jonah, the Christ.

Jonah 3 and 4

That's an interesting analysis to see Jonah as a sort of earlier version of Christ who actually achieved God's intentions so to speak whereas the later story appears tragic in a way at least in its immediate conclusion.

In this case, the people of Nineveh do indeed repent and turn from their evil ways and God responds.

I guess from a modern lens the critique would be that stopping evil ways often leads to very little gain and often even direct punishments. I think people would be able to act like citizens of Nineveh if they saw direct consequences.

I guess this takes us back to the faith in Christ thing you mentioned previously.

Jonah 4 is kinda weird when he has that absolute when the city is not actually destroyed....

Even God is puzzled by that.

It almost seems like Jonah had some kind of destruction lust that was motivating him and he's butt hurt when he does not see it play out that way.

God elucidates his behaviour by first giving Jonah a plant and then have it eaten by worm. The idea I think was to show God can have feelings towards his creations and change if they are to live or die.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

It almost seems like Jonah had some kind of destruction lust that was motivating him and he's butt hurt when he does not see it play out that way.

There is a tension between grace and justice, heaven and hell, mercy and wrath. They cannot be the same thing, they are the opposite, yet it is one God who has both.

In our modern day, the spirit of the age emphasizes grace over justice; everybody gets saved, God doesn't send anybody to hell, everybody's a victim, sin isn't real, the cross isn't necessary, you aren't guilty, Jesus didn't die in your place for your sins, etc. Without God's Justice, you cannot speak of Grace. This is not grace they're preaching, but licentiousness, the devil's version of grace, pure chaos. Everybody is free to drug themselves to death.

Jonah has the opposite mindset of this, he's pure lawfare. He emphasizes God's Justice but forgets His Grace. He has become so legalistic that he doesn't even want to see God forgive anybody. The dangerous part of this mindset is that it can always turn back to bite us too, that is also where the devil excels as our prosecuting attorney. Jonah, having been swallowed up by a fish for fleeing from God and being spit back out, should've known better than most the depths of God's mercy. If God was only Just, then He would destroy the whole world.

So God is not either pure grace or pure justice, but both/and. There is no better place to see that than in the cross. He will harden whom He will harden and He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Judges 18

1 In those days there was no king of Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day the land among the tribes of Israel had not fallen to them as an inheritance.

The tribe of Dan sends out 5 spies to find a land to carve out for themselves. The spies then come to the house of Micah and meet the Levite priest he hired. The priest then gives them a blessing for their journey. This shows the depth of the spiritual blindness of the Israelites at this time. They will listen to anybody who scratches their ear and tickles their fancy. The Danites then spied out a city and land that they wanted to conquer.

14 And the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their relatives, “Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod and household idols and a graven image and a molten image? So now, know what you should do.”

The Danites geared up and set out to conquer the city Laish. The spies then reported Micah's house to their tribe. The Danites then came and stole all of Micah's holy hardware and convinced his Levite priest to abandon Micah and be their priest, which he did happily. On one hand, God's Justice being brought down on Micah's house for his idolatry. On the other, the Danites also become guilty for coveting and stealing the idols. False religion has always been man's greatest temptation, he loves to ascribe worth to the worthless.

22They had gone some distance from the house of Micah, and the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were summoned and then overtook the sons of Dan. 23And they called out to the sons of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you were summoned together?” 24And he said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away, and what do I have besides? So how can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’ ” 25Then the sons of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest men, bitter of soul, fall upon you and you lose your life, with the lives of your household.” 26So the sons of Dan went on their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

Here is an interesting connection to Jacob. As you remember from Genesis, Jacob's uncle Laban pursued him and Rachel, and the first thing he asked was why they stole his gods. But whereas there was a redemptive beat in that story, Jacob being ignorant of Rachel's theft, there is nothing redemptive here. The Danites, being self-condemned, warn Micah and his neighbors that they will kill them all if they press the issue. Micah let it be because he knew the Danites would beat him. In the magical, upside-down world of Satan, might makes right. The Danites then wiped out the city of Laish and took it over.

29And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born in Israel; however, the name of the city formerly was Laish. 30Then the sons of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the exile of the land. 31So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image which he had made, all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh.

This Levite priest, Jonathan, was a direct descendant of Moses. Though, he was perhaps not Moses' direct grandson, but further down the genealogy than a cursory view of the text would seem to indicate. The Hebrew genealogies are not exhaustive, they do what's called "telescoping the genealogy." You also see this in Matthew's genealogy for Christ. While this may seem dishonest to us in our modern context, their desire was to stress and emphasize theological and narrative points. In Matthew's case, he wished to emphasize Jesus as the Jewish Messiah by using Abraham and particularly David as his highlights. I believe the intention here in Judges is to stress that though Jonathan was a Levite (he seemed to be a legitimate priest), he was a descendant of Moses and not a descendant of Aaron (and therefore could not be a legitimate priest according to the Law). So you had two religions, two priesthoods that seemed to be the same, but were not in those days, up until the time of the Babylonian Exile. Similar things have happened in the history of the Church, when Marcionism was a counterfeit church that was comparable in size to the catholic church, and when most of the catholic church, save primarily Athanasius, abandoned the Trinity and embraced Arianism even after the Council of Nicea (despite fantastical claims of Apostolic Succession).

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Judges 19

1 Now it happened in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning in the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah. 2But his concubine played the harlot against him, and she went away from him to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah and was there for a period of four months. 3Then her husband arose and went after her to speak to her heart in order to bring her back, and his young man was with him as well as a pair of donkeys. So she brought him into her father’s house, and the girl’s father saw him and was glad to meet him.

See how the text keeps stressing the point that there was no king in Israel in those days, the lawless behavior of the people had continued to spiral.

This Levite's concubine leaves him and he goes to get her back. He then spends time with her and her father, who keeps pressing on him to stay. Perhaps the father wanted them to have a kid to solidify their relationship. A story that starts off this happy can only have a tragic ending.

10 But the man was not willing to spend the night, so he arose and went and came to a place before Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). And there were with him a pair of saddled donkeys; his concubine also was with him.

The Levite's servant wants to stay the night in Jerusalem, but the master rejects this, opting to press on to a Benjamite city, Gibeah, instead. Jerusalem at this time was not a Hebrew city, so the Levite wanted to stay in a Hebrew city. They arrived in Gibeah but no one was offering to take them in for the night. Finally, an old man offers to take them in.

21 So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys fodder, and they washed their feet and ate and drank. 22 They were making their hearts merry, and behold, the men of the city, certain vile fellows, surrounded the house, pounding the door; and they spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house that we may know him.”

Ironically, the Benjamites who the Levite wanted to stay with would turn out to be antagonists. The way they pound on the door is invocative of the Sodomites pounding on Lot's door. The point is that the Hebrews, in their behavior, have become very much like the foreigners that they hated and avoided.

There is a false claim that Satan is a Christian invention and was not part of the Old Testament. Having read Genesis and Job, you can see how ridiculous that is, but Judges gives us another example of the devil here. The text says: "certain vile fellows" or "wicked fellows." But in the original Hebrew, it literally says "sons of Belial." The Hebrew idea is that if you are the son of somebody, then you will be like the father. Sons of Adam (all humans) act like their covenant-breaking father. Sons of Abraham act like their God-loving father. Sons of Belial act like their wicked father. Sons of God act like their holy and Son-loving Father. Refer back to John 8, when Jesus argues with the Pharisees over who are truly the sons of Abraham:

39 They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, you would do the deeds of Abraham. 40But now you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do.

41 You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of sexual immorality; we have one Father: God.” 42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come of Myself, but He sent Me.

"We were not born of sexual immorality" is likely a reference to Judah and Tamar.

44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

23 Then the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, please do not do evil. Since this man has come into my house, do not commit this disgraceful act. 24Behold, my daughter who is a virgin, and his concubine—please let me bring them out that you may violate them and do to them whatever is good in your eyes. But do not commit such a disgraceful act against this man.” 25But the men were not willing to listen to him. So the man took hold of his concubine and brought her out to them; and they knew her and abused her all night until morning, and they let her go at the abreaking of dawn. 26As the day began to dawn, the woman came and fell down at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was, until full daylight.

Like Lot, the old man offers his own daughter and the Levite's concubine to appease the mob. Finally, the Levite takes his concubine and throws her out to the mob and they abused her all night. He is just like Adam, willing to sacrifice his wife to save his own skin.

27 Then her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, and behold, the woman, his concubine, was lying at the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. 28And he said to her, “Get up and let us go,” but there was no answer. Then he took her on the donkey; and the man arose and went to his home. 29Then he entered his house and took a knife and took hold of his concubine and cut her in twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel. 30And all who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it; take counsel and speak up!”

The concubine was dead by the morning, arms outstretched on the porch towards the door. When the Levite returned home, he cut her corpse into 12 pieces, corresponding to the 12 tribes, and sent them to all Israel, who were horrified by what happened, as a message and sort of rallying cry. Symbolically, the concubine serves as a stand in for Israel. Instead of one body, she has been cut up into 12 pieces. The Hebrews no longer had their unity, and due to their lawlessness, were being fragmented into 12 tribes who were in constant civil wars. The book began with them waging war against the goyim, having a common purpose, but now they have devolved into 12 fragmented tribes ever at internecine war.

 

[Tippy]

Titus 1


The salutations at the beginning of the epistles are packed with more content than they are often given credit for. Each word being more concrete and having a strong referent than a passing hearing would catch. Here, Paul states that God cannot lie. There are interesting implications that come from this. I've heard convincing, logical arguments that God's inability to lie is a proof that only He has the logical qualifications to be the true God. I don't want to go to deep into that here, but it is worth looking into if you are so inclined. But God's inability to lie, for our immediate purposes, is important for our salvation through the Gospel.

From all eternity, before the world was created, God so decreed that He would give a people to the Son and that the Son would redeem a people for Himself. If you want to read about it from the Bible, read from Psalm 2:

This is what theologians have called the Covenant of Redemption. The world we live in was expressly created by God for this purpose, to save a people for Himself. Secularists have fooled many into believing in an impersonal, mechanistic universe. On the other side, many have made the error of overmystifying the universe, seeking to reenchant it, presenting it as something magical. These are both false. The universe is covenantal, God created it and it belongs to Him. It's very identity is defined by it's covenantal relation to Him. It's very name, the creation, signifies Him as the Creator.


The preaching of the Gospel is what sets the universe right again. God revealing Himself and His purposes to us came by the preaching of the Word. It is a covenantal act. Man did not reason his way up to God, but God revealed Himself to man.


Paul writing to Titus, outlines the work that he should do in the Church, namely the appointing of Elders, the Presbyters.


Here are the qualifications for the Presbyters. They must be beyond reproach, having a good and faithful moral character. The husband of one wife, as opposed to multiple wives or mistresses on the side, following the Lord's model for marriage. Faithful children, demonstrating the Elder's ability to lead his family in the faith. This is not referring to children who have matured, gone their own way and abandoned the faith, but children who are still being raised by their father. Not accused of dissipation, being reckless, frivolous, or irresponsible. Not rebellious, obeying the authority that is above them.


When speaking about the qualifications of the Presbyter, Paul seamlessly speaks about the qualifications of the Overseer, the Bishop, for these were one and the same office in the Apostolic Church. The Elder is God's steward, responsible for what God has entrusted to him. Not self-willed, but God-ordained. Not easily irritated, but patient. Not pugnacious, not quick to argue, but deliberative. Not fond of dishonest gain, but responsible and content.


And above all, the Elder must be loyal, knowledgeable, and faithful to the Word so that he can execute his office well, being able to build up in the faith and counter those who would oppose it.

This one I basically call words of wisdom like,

"Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt'

and 'there are many rebellious people who engage in useless talk and deceive others.'

'people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live.'

 

[Tippy]

Titus 3


Paul hasn't switched topics yet, this is still a pastoral epistle. "Them" are the men and women, young and old, in the Church. They are to be innocent, kindly, peaceable, and gentle towards their neighbors. Old Testament Law told the Israelites to be kind to the strangers, for the Israelites were strangers in Egypt. Paul invokes the same principle here. This world is not your home. You belong to a better, heavenly home. So while you are sojourning here, be kind to the stranger to God. Just as you were a stranger to God until He saved you by His grace.


Not even our righteous, faithful works have saved us, but God's mercy did. "Washing of regeneration" can refer to Baptism so long as one is looking at the spiritual side of Baptism, the renewing by the Holy Ghost, and not restricting the Spirit's power to the water. 1 Peter 3:21 makes it clear that the water does not save, but the Spirit does. The water itself being the symbol that signifies the seal of the Holy Spirit's act of regeneration.


Know that the Spirit does not regenerate anyone whom the Son does not intercede for, and the Son does not intercede for anyone whom the Father has not given Him. Notice how it says "whom He poured on us." Not "what He poured on us."


We are justified by grace through faith, unto good works.


If we are justified by grace through faith, then why all this bickering over the Law? I still hear people get into long debates over Sabbath observance. None of this is necessary. Such talk only seeks to plunge Christians under the Law and snatch them from Grace again.


Paul's final point. We must learn to lead in good works and charitable deeds. These good works will produce much fruit. If there are no good works, then we will not produce fruit. So take responsibility over what God has given you, be a help to those who need help, go out of your way for them, even as Christ went out of His way for you.

Titus 2

More about the right teachers not being drunkards and so on...

Some might be troubled by the slaves obeying masters part...

Titus 3

Submit to government hmmm...what about when government makes us do insane things like digital ID and wearing masks?

Talk about how divison are 'useless and a waste of time' but look at the divisions now!

 

[Tippy]

Judges 18


The tribe of Dan sends out 5 spies to find a land to carve out for themselves. The spies then come to the house of Micah and meet the Levite priest he hired. The priest then gives them a blessing for their journey. This shows the depth of the spiritual blindness of the Israelites at this time. They will listen to anybody who scratches their ear and tickles their fancy. The Danites then spied out a city and land that they wanted to conquer.


The Danites geared up and set out to conquer the city Laish. The spies then reported Micah's house to their tribe. The Danites then came and stole all of Micah's holy hardware and convinced his Levite priest to abandon Micah and be their priest, which he did happily. On one hand, God's Justice being brought down on Micah's house for his idolatry. On the other, the Danites also become guilty for coveting and stealing the idols. False religion has always been man's greatest temptation, he loves to ascribe worth to the worthless.


Here is an interesting connection to Jacob. As you remember from Genesis, Jacob's uncle Laban pursued him and Rachel, and the first thing he asked was why they stole his gods. But whereas there was a redemptive beat in that story, Jacob being ignorant of Rachel's theft, there is nothing redemptive here. The Danites, being self-condemned, warn Micah and his neighbors that they will kill them all if they press the issue. Micah let it be because he knew the Danites would beat him. In the magical, upside-down world of Satan, might makes right. The Danites then wiped out the city of Laish and took it over.


This Levite priest, Jonathan, was a direct descendant of Moses. Though, he was perhaps not Moses' direct grandson, but further down the genealogy than a cursory view of the text would seem to indicate. The Hebrew genealogies are not exhaustive, they do what's called "telescoping the genealogy." You also see this in Matthew's genealogy for Christ. While this may seem dishonest to us in our modern context, their desire was to stress and emphasize theological and narrative points. In Matthew's case, he wished to emphasize Jesus as the Jewish Messiah by using Abraham and particularly David as his highlights. I believe the intention here in Judges is to stress that though Jonathan was a Levite (he seemed to be a legitimate priest), he was a descendant of Moses and not a descendant of Aaron (and therefore could not be a legitimate priest according to the Law). So you had two religions, two priesthoods that seemed to be the same, but were not in those days, up until the time of the Babylonian Exile. Similar things have happened in the history of the Church, when Marcionism was a counterfeit church that was comparable in size to the catholic church, and when most of the catholic church, save primarily Athanasius, abandoned the Trinity and embraced Arianism even after the Council of Nicea (despite fantastical claims of Apostolic Succession).

Don't really get judges 18 on a first reading. My first takeaway is that they took the priest from Micah and kinda screwed him over. Let me check it again.

Ok first part...Israel had no king...tribe of Dan trying to find a place to settle...they get to Michae's house.

They approach the priest...then they see oh this land is good and attack ...and they basically go there with 600 men and take everything to a dead pan response from the priest...no wtf don't threaten me just uh...ok I'll come with you guys I guess....

They get chased but there's an even more deadpan response from Dan who is like 'what's the big deal? We just took your priest and a load of idols...get with the program!'

Next they do a bit of cheeky burning to the ground of a peaceful and secure place, as you do.

Problem here is they set up the idol and are still worshipping IDOLS! This can't go on!

 

[Tippy]

Judges 19


See how the text keeps stressing the point that there was no king in Israel in those days, the lawless behavior of the people had continued to spiral.

This Levite's concubine leaves him and he goes to get her back. He then spends time with her and her father, who keeps pressing on him to stay. Perhaps the father wanted them to have a kid to solidify their relationship. A story that starts off this happy can only have a tragic ending.


The Levite's servant wants to stay the night in Jerusalem, but the master rejects this, opting to press on to a Benjamite city, Gibeah, instead. Jerusalem at this time was not a Hebrew city, so the Levite wanted to stay in a Hebrew city. They arrived in Gibeah but no one was offering to take them in for the night. Finally, an old man offers to take them in.


Ironically, the Benjamites who the Levite wanted to stay with would turn out to be antagonists. The way they pound on the door is invocative of the Sodomites pounding on Lot's door. The point is that the Hebrews, in their behavior, have become very much like the foreigners that they hated and avoided.

There is a false claim that Satan is a Christian invention and was not part of the Old Testament. Having read Genesis and Job, you can see how ridiculous that is, but Judges gives us another example of the devil here. The text says: "certain vile fellows" or "wicked fellows." But in the original Hebrew, it literally says "sons of Belial." The Hebrew idea is that if you are the son of somebody, then you will be like the father. Sons of Adam (all humans) act like their covenant-breaking father. Sons of Abraham act like their God-loving father. Sons of Belial act like their wicked father. Sons of God act like their holy and Son-loving Father. Refer back to John 8, when Jesus argues with the Pharisees over who are truly the sons of Abraham:


"We were not born of sexual immorality" is likely a reference to Judah and Tamar.



Like Lot, the old man offers his own daughter and the Levite's concubine to appease the mob. Finally, the Levite takes his concubine and throws her out to the mob and they abused her all night. He is just like Adam, willing to sacrifice his wife to save his own skin.


The concubine was dead by the morning, arms outstretched on the porch towards the door. When the Levite returned home, he cut her corpse into 12 pieces, corresponding to the 12 tribes, and sent them to all Israel, who were horrified by what happened, as a message and sort of rallying cry. Symbolically, the concubine serves as a stand in for Israel. Instead of one body, she has been cut up into 12 pieces. The Hebrews no longer had their unity, and due to their lawlessness, were being fragmented into 12 tribes who were in constant civil wars. The book began with them waging war against the goyim, having a common purpose, but now they have devolved into 12 fragmented tribes ever at internecine war.

Judges 19

Concubines used to be a thing...and one time one is taken and uhhh...her husband isn't too pleased...now I'm confused is he the husband or the concubine lover? I thought a concubine was NOT the wife?

The guy staying in the house over and over...

So they stay with an old man and some people bang on the door and say 'bring out the man who is staying with you so we can have sex with him!'

Sounds like a regular Saturday night in modern day Berlin.

The men refuses such follies and instead takes the sane action of telling them to leave? No. He gives away his virgin daughter and the concubine instead...hmm..

And the man does some sort of Jigsaw style punishment to his wife by cutting her up...

Dark chapter indeed