1. Judges 11:34-39. Does the text say that Jephthah killed his daughter?

Perhaps this one will be debated until Jesus comes. A literalist who stands for the integrity of the text, I have always maintained that this is indeed what he did. “He did to her his vow.” His vow was to offer up as a burnt offering whatever came out of his house when he returned in victory.

So he returned in victory. The first creature that came out of his house to meet him was his daughter.

What was this man thinking? Were animals regularly coming out of his house to meet him when he came home each day? Was he assuming God would not allow a family member to come out? Was he aware of the rules about murder? Did he not know that Israel was forbidden to offer their little ones in sacrifice, as the heathen of his day did?

Verse 39 does give a little breathing room in the story, for those who cannot bear the thought of a man killing his own daughter. After it says that Jephthah did to her his vow, immediately it adds “she had no relations with a man.”

Fathers were in charge of daughters in those days. Fathers decided the who and the when of their little girl’s marriage. To “offer” his daughter up to perpetual virginity would indeed have been a tragedy all around.

Or was the even worse tragedy the fact that she could not marry, because she did not live?

Read it for yourself. Remember, the text, not our feelings about it, must rule. Remember also never to be careful about the promises you make.

2. Judges 12:6. What does Shibboleth mean in our own day?

It has come to mean any restriction placed on one party by another one, specifically in the church. The restrictions may sound spiritual, but are never Biblical. They would fall under the category of tradition, but are very real to those who hold them. And if the other party cannot keep that tradition, trouble ensues.

Forms of music, methods of communion, ways of prayer, can all be “shibboleth’s”.

3. Judges 12:17-23. Again the angel of the Lord. Though I have argued previously that no angel can be the Lord, what does it mean that this angel’s name is “beyond understanding” ? Also, when the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame, the astounded couple claimed to have seen God, and God does not deny it. What to make of this?

I always want to be true to the text. Inflexibility breeds all sorts of bad fruit. I would still caution that calling God an angel, which is nearly always a created thing in Scripture, is always dangerous, too.

Why would an angel say that his name was beyond understanding unless there is Divinity connected in some way? Michael and Gabriel had no problem telling their names to earthlings. Does God become angelic in the same way He becomes human?

Join me in examining this concept, but be careful to draw the line at the right place. Angel worship is forbidden, and those who tried worshiping angelic manifestations in Scripture were rebuked.

4. Judges 16:20. Did Samson really know that Delilah was trying to deceive him? If so, why give her an honest answer and risk his life?

Looking on the outside of a situation like this disgusts us, doesn’t it? We want to shower Samson with all sorts of uncomplimentary names, which I will not enumerate here. Then we stop short and realize our own cravings and yieldings and failures and bondages.

We think of foods that we have agreed will kill us. But we eat them. Drinks that are made for fools. But we drink them. We remember our own encounters with the opposite gender. We knew. But we desired. And desire trumped knowledge.

In other words, every human being knows the answer to this question.

5. Judges 20:28. Why did the Lord allow two ventures to be thoroughly unsuccessful before he sent Israel to victory over Benjamin?

In 20:18 the Israelites assumed they were to go to battle and simply wanted to know who would lead. It matters what we pray for, and with what attitude. In verse 23 we see the humbled armies asking whether they should go against their brother again? But in the final request, there was a seriousness that included offerings and fasting. And God gave them the victory.

6. Judges 20:28. How was the Lord involved in all this if indeed every man was doing what was right in his own eyes?

Generally speaking, it was an era of chaos. But when crises arose, the people were willing to fight, to humble themselves, and to fast if needed. It is a pattern we can see in our own lives. If my own decisions and my own strength carry the day, I tend not to consider offerings of praise and giving up meals. And you?

RUTH

1. 1:20-21. Is Naomi’s theology correct here?

She gives all credit to God for lowering her, humiliating her, bringing her to poverty and loss. She blames herself for having failed the Lord, and assumes the Lord is judging her.

I think she is not fully understanding her circumstances. And who can, really? But it seems to me that the pattern we see in Scripture is that God, wanting to purge his righteous ones, accepts challenges and invitations from the evil one, who is permitted to bring devastating situations into their lives. Elizabeth’s end was quite good and indirectly was responsible for Messiah coming into the world.