Judges 2:11-19
#419 Weekday Year I Context (Monday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
The children of Israel offended the Lord by serving the Baals.
Abandoning the LORD, the God of their fathers,
who led them out of the land of Egypt,
they followed the other gods of the various nations around them,
and by their worship of these gods provoked the LORD.
Because they had thus abandoned him and served Baal and the Ashtaroth,
the anger of the LORD flared up against Israel,
and he delivered them over to plunderers who despoiled them.
He allowed them to fall into the power of their enemies round about
whom they were no longer able to withstand.
Whatever they undertook, the LORD turned into disaster for them,
as in his warning he had sworn he would do,
till they were in great distress.
Even when the LORD raised up judges to deliver them
from the power of their despoilers,
they did not listen to their judges,
but abandoned themselves to the worship of other gods.
They were quick to stray from the way their fathers had taken,
and did not follow their example of obedience
to the commandments of the LORD.
Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, he would be with the judge
and save them from the power of their enemies
as long as the judge lived;
it was thus the LORD took pity on their distressful cries
of affliction under their oppressors.
But when the judge died,
they would relapse and do worse than their ancestors,
following other gods in service and worship,
relinquishing none of their evil practices or stubborn conduct.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jgs 2:11-19
In this passage from the Book of Judges, the chronicler recounts how the children of Israel fell away from God and began to follow the secular worship of Baal and Ashtaroth. This led them to destruction; all they attempted turned to disaster. Even when judges (leaders of the faith) were appointed who were faithful to God and the Law, the people ignored them. Even those who followed the judges who were steadfast would fall away once that particular judge died. That nothing was possible without God’s help and support is the clear teaching point of the selection.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Judges 6:11-24a
#420 Weekday Year I Context (Tuesday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
The angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth in Ophrah
that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite.
While his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press
to save it from the Midianites,
the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said,
“The LORD is with you, O champion!”
Gideon said to him, “My Lord, if the LORD is with us,
why has all this happened to us?
Where are his wondrous deeds of which our fathers
told us when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’
For now the LORD has abandoned us
and has delivered us into the power of Midian.”
The LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have
and save Israel from the power of Midian.
It is I who send you.”
But Gideon answered him, “Please, my lord, how can I save Israel?
My family is the lowliest in Manasseh,
and I am the most insignificant in my father’s house.”
“I shall be with you,” the LORD said to him,
“and you will cut down Midian to the last man.”
Gideon answered him, “If I find favor with you,
give me a sign that you are speaking with me.
Do not depart from here, I pray you, until I come back to you
and bring out my offering and set it before you.”
He answered, “I will await your return.”
So Gideon went off and prepared a kid and a measure of flour
in the form of unleavened cakes.
Putting the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot,
he brought them out to him under the terebinth
and presented them.
The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and unleavened cakes
and lay them on this rock; then pour out the broth.”
When he had done so,
the angel of the LORD stretched out the tip of the staff he held,
and touched the meat and unleavened cakes.
Thereupon a fire came up from the rock
that consumed the meat and unleavened cakes,
and the angel of the LORD disappeared from sight.
Gideon, now aware that it had been the angel of the LORD,
said, “Alas, Lord GOD,
that I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!”
The LORD answered him,
“Be calm, do not fear. You shall not die.”
So Gideon built there an altar to the LORD
and called it Yahweh-shalom.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jgs 6:11-24a
This passage introduces Gideon, judge and military leader from the tribe of Manasseh from Ephra. [3] This selection recounts the story of Gideon’s encounter with the angel of God. As in many of the stories from this period, the hero, Gideon, does not know that it is Yahweh who commands him and calls him to be a champion of his people. His disbelief stems in part from his humble station in life (“My family is the lowliest in Manasseh, and I am the most insignificant in my father’s house”). He needs proof.
Gideon sees the sign that is given. The sacrifice he offers is made into a holocaust, meaning it is consumed completely in the fire (by Yahweh). Gideon realizes it is God, and he accepts and believes. His immediate fear is that he will die, since seeing God face to face is considered to happen only in death. As with Moses, the Lord reassures Gideon and, as is customary, he marks that place where he encountered God by building an altar of sacrifice.
CCC: Jgs 6:11-24 332
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Judges 9:6-15
#421 Weekday Year I Context (Wednesday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
All the citizens of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together
and proceeded to make Abimelech king
by the terebinth at the memorial pillar in Shechem.
When this was reported to him,
Jotham went to the top of Mount Gerizim and, standing there,
cried out to them in a loud voice:
“Hear me, citizens of Shechem, that God may then hear you!
Once the trees went to anoint a king over themselves.
So they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’
But the olive tree answered them, ‘Must I give up my rich oil,
whereby men and gods are honored,
and go to wave over the trees?’
Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come; you reign over us!’
But the fig tree answered them,
‘Must I give up my sweetness and my good fruit,
and go to wave over the trees?’
Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come you, and reign over us.’
But the vine answered them,
‘Must I give up my wine that cheers gods and men,
and go to wave over the trees?’
Then all the trees said to the buckthorn, ‘Come; you reign over us!’
But the buckthorn replied to the trees,
‘If you wish to anoint me king over you in good faith,
come and take refuge in my shadow.
Otherwise, let fire come from the buckthorn
and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jgs 9:6-15
In this passage from Judges, Jotham uses the poem/song analogy of trees for selecting a leader. He does this to reflect upon the process used by the citizens of Shechem in choosing Abimelech as their king and ignoring the line of the sons of Gideon who were faithful to God. The selection of Abimelech is made under the sacred tree (see also Genesis 12:6 and Deuteronomy 11:30).
The poem itself probably predates Jotham and expresses the nomadic disrespect for monarchy. The trees of value, the olive tree, the fig tree, and the grape vine do not have time for the kingship. It is only the buckthorn, considered a liability (it is a low shrub not even providing shade and catching fire easily) that is willing. By selecting him (King Abimelech) they will destroy “the cedars of Lebanon,” a metaphor for the Hebrew nation. The warning at the end of his analogy is explained in subsequent verses.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Judges 11:29-39a
#422 Weekday Year I Context (Thursday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah.
He passed through Gilead and Manasseh,
and through Mizpah-Gilead as well,
and from there he went on to the Ammonites.
Jephthah made a vow to the LORD.
“If you deliver the Ammonites into my power,” he said,
“whoever comes out of the doors of my house
to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites
shall belong to the LORD.
I shall offer him up as a burnt offering.”
Jephthah then went on to the Ammonites to fight against them,
and the LORD delivered them into his power,
so that he inflicted a severe defeat on them,
from Aroer to the approach of Minnith (twenty cities in all)
and as far as Abel-keramim.
Thus were the Ammonites brought into subjection
by the children of Israel.
When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah,
it was his daughter who came forth,
playing the tambourines and dancing.
She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her.
When he saw her, he rent his garments and said,
“Alas, daughter, you have struck me down
and brought calamity upon me.
For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract.”
She replied, “Father, you have made a vow to the LORD.
Do with me as you have vowed,
because the LORD has wrought vengeance for you
on your enemies the Ammonites.”
Then she said to her father, “Let me have this favor.
Spare me for two months, that I may go off down the mountains
to mourn my virginity with my companions.”
“Go,” he replied, and sent her away for two months.
So she departed with her companions
and mourned her virginity on the mountains.
At the end of the two months she returned to her father,
who did to her as he had vowed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jgs 11:29-39a
This selection takes up the story of Jephthah who was a chieftain with a sullied past. Brought back from self-imposed exile where he formed a gang and raided neighboring communities, he was put in charge of the Israelite’s defense against the Ammonites. We join him at the outset where he clearly believes he has vowed to perform human sacrifice, a tradition of his pagan neighbors (see also 2 Kings 3:27).
Perhaps because of this pagan vow, we see him punished as his only child, a young daughter, becomes the object of this sacrifice. Because bearing children is seen as the “greatest pride; to be childless was regarded as a great misfortune. Hence Jephthah's daughter asks permission to mourn the fact that she will be put to death before she can bear children.”[1] At her death the entire line of Jephthah ends.
"The episode certainly is disconcerting, but it may be that the author (writing at a time when no one was in any doubt about human sacrifice being an abomination) chose to respect the traditions that had come down, cruel and harsh though they were, in order to convey a lesson about the sacredness of vows and promises. Vows are such holy things that they should always be kept. But, for that very reason, they should not be made rashly."[2]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a
#195 Weekday I & II Context (December 19 in Advent)
There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites,
whose name was Manoah.
His wife was barren and had borne no children.
An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her,
“Though you are barren and have had no children,
yet you will conceive and bear a son.
Now, then, be careful to take no wine or strong drink
and to eat nothing unclean.
As for the son you will conceive and bear,
no razor shall touch his head,
for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb.
It is he who will begin the deliverance of Israel
from the power of the Philistines.”
The woman went and told her husband,
“A man of God came to me;
he had the appearance of an angel of God, terrible indeed.
I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name.
But he said to me,
‘You will be with child and will bear a son.
So take neither wine nor strong drink, and eat nothing unclean.
For the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb,
until the day of his death.’”
The woman bore a son and named him Samson.
The boy grew up and the LORD blessed him;
the Spirit of the LORD stirred him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jgs 13:2-7, 24-25a
This story from Judges appears to parallel the Christ story in a number of ways. First the Israelites are under the rule of a foreign power at this time in history; the Philistines have conquered them. Next, there is divine intervention in the conception of a person who could be called a savior of the people, although the one conceived is not the Messiah. Samson, in a more conventional way, was dedicated from the womb to be God’s servant and under the ancient rite was placed under the Nazirite vow. This vow obliged him to abstain from drinking wine or having his hair cut: cf. Numbers 6:2-8.
CCC: Jgs 13 332
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fin
[1] See NAB footnote on Judges 11:37.
[2] The Navarre Bible: “Joshua-Kings”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, pp. 155-56.
#419 Weekday Year I Context (Monday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
The children of Israel offended the Lord by serving the Baals.
Abandoning the LORD, the God of their fathers,
who led them out of the land of Egypt,
they followed the other gods of the various nations around them,
and by their worship of these gods provoked the LORD.
Because they had thus abandoned him and served Baal and the Ashtaroth,
the anger of the LORD flared up against Israel,
and he delivered them over to plunderers who despoiled them.
He allowed them to fall into the power of their enemies round about
whom they were no longer able to withstand.
Whatever they undertook, the LORD turned into disaster for them,
as in his warning he had sworn he would do,
till they were in great distress.
Even when the LORD raised up judges to deliver them
from the power of their despoilers,
they did not listen to their judges,
but abandoned themselves to the worship of other gods.
They were quick to stray from the way their fathers had taken,
and did not follow their example of obedience
to the commandments of the LORD.
Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, he would be with the judge
and save them from the power of their enemies
as long as the judge lived;
it was thus the LORD took pity on their distressful cries
of affliction under their oppressors.
But when the judge died,
they would relapse and do worse than their ancestors,
following other gods in service and worship,
relinquishing none of their evil practices or stubborn conduct.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jgs 2:11-19
In this passage from the Book of Judges, the chronicler recounts how the children of Israel fell away from God and began to follow the secular worship of Baal and Ashtaroth. This led them to destruction; all they attempted turned to disaster. Even when judges (leaders of the faith) were appointed who were faithful to God and the Law, the people ignored them. Even those who followed the judges who were steadfast would fall away once that particular judge died. That nothing was possible without God’s help and support is the clear teaching point of the selection.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Judges 6:11-24a
#420 Weekday Year I Context (Tuesday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
The angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth in Ophrah
that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite.
While his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press
to save it from the Midianites,
the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said,
“The LORD is with you, O champion!”
Gideon said to him, “My Lord, if the LORD is with us,
why has all this happened to us?
Where are his wondrous deeds of which our fathers
told us when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’
For now the LORD has abandoned us
and has delivered us into the power of Midian.”
The LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have
and save Israel from the power of Midian.
It is I who send you.”
But Gideon answered him, “Please, my lord, how can I save Israel?
My family is the lowliest in Manasseh,
and I am the most insignificant in my father’s house.”
“I shall be with you,” the LORD said to him,
“and you will cut down Midian to the last man.”
Gideon answered him, “If I find favor with you,
give me a sign that you are speaking with me.
Do not depart from here, I pray you, until I come back to you
and bring out my offering and set it before you.”
He answered, “I will await your return.”
So Gideon went off and prepared a kid and a measure of flour
in the form of unleavened cakes.
Putting the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot,
he brought them out to him under the terebinth
and presented them.
The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and unleavened cakes
and lay them on this rock; then pour out the broth.”
When he had done so,
the angel of the LORD stretched out the tip of the staff he held,
and touched the meat and unleavened cakes.
Thereupon a fire came up from the rock
that consumed the meat and unleavened cakes,
and the angel of the LORD disappeared from sight.
Gideon, now aware that it had been the angel of the LORD,
said, “Alas, Lord GOD,
that I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!”
The LORD answered him,
“Be calm, do not fear. You shall not die.”
So Gideon built there an altar to the LORD
and called it Yahweh-shalom.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jgs 6:11-24a
This passage introduces Gideon, judge and military leader from the tribe of Manasseh from Ephra. [3] This selection recounts the story of Gideon’s encounter with the angel of God. As in many of the stories from this period, the hero, Gideon, does not know that it is Yahweh who commands him and calls him to be a champion of his people. His disbelief stems in part from his humble station in life (“My family is the lowliest in Manasseh, and I am the most insignificant in my father’s house”). He needs proof.
Gideon sees the sign that is given. The sacrifice he offers is made into a holocaust, meaning it is consumed completely in the fire (by Yahweh). Gideon realizes it is God, and he accepts and believes. His immediate fear is that he will die, since seeing God face to face is considered to happen only in death. As with Moses, the Lord reassures Gideon and, as is customary, he marks that place where he encountered God by building an altar of sacrifice.
CCC: Jgs 6:11-24 332
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Judges 9:6-15
#421 Weekday Year I Context (Wednesday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
All the citizens of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together
and proceeded to make Abimelech king
by the terebinth at the memorial pillar in Shechem.
When this was reported to him,
Jotham went to the top of Mount Gerizim and, standing there,
cried out to them in a loud voice:
“Hear me, citizens of Shechem, that God may then hear you!
Once the trees went to anoint a king over themselves.
So they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’
But the olive tree answered them, ‘Must I give up my rich oil,
whereby men and gods are honored,
and go to wave over the trees?’
Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come; you reign over us!’
But the fig tree answered them,
‘Must I give up my sweetness and my good fruit,
and go to wave over the trees?’
Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come you, and reign over us.’
But the vine answered them,
‘Must I give up my wine that cheers gods and men,
and go to wave over the trees?’
Then all the trees said to the buckthorn, ‘Come; you reign over us!’
But the buckthorn replied to the trees,
‘If you wish to anoint me king over you in good faith,
come and take refuge in my shadow.
Otherwise, let fire come from the buckthorn
and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jgs 9:6-15
In this passage from Judges, Jotham uses the poem/song analogy of trees for selecting a leader. He does this to reflect upon the process used by the citizens of Shechem in choosing Abimelech as their king and ignoring the line of the sons of Gideon who were faithful to God. The selection of Abimelech is made under the sacred tree (see also Genesis 12:6 and Deuteronomy 11:30).
The poem itself probably predates Jotham and expresses the nomadic disrespect for monarchy. The trees of value, the olive tree, the fig tree, and the grape vine do not have time for the kingship. It is only the buckthorn, considered a liability (it is a low shrub not even providing shade and catching fire easily) that is willing. By selecting him (King Abimelech) they will destroy “the cedars of Lebanon,” a metaphor for the Hebrew nation. The warning at the end of his analogy is explained in subsequent verses.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Judges 11:29-39a
#422 Weekday Year I Context (Thursday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah.
He passed through Gilead and Manasseh,
and through Mizpah-Gilead as well,
and from there he went on to the Ammonites.
Jephthah made a vow to the LORD.
“If you deliver the Ammonites into my power,” he said,
“whoever comes out of the doors of my house
to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites
shall belong to the LORD.
I shall offer him up as a burnt offering.”
Jephthah then went on to the Ammonites to fight against them,
and the LORD delivered them into his power,
so that he inflicted a severe defeat on them,
from Aroer to the approach of Minnith (twenty cities in all)
and as far as Abel-keramim.
Thus were the Ammonites brought into subjection
by the children of Israel.
When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah,
it was his daughter who came forth,
playing the tambourines and dancing.
She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her.
When he saw her, he rent his garments and said,
“Alas, daughter, you have struck me down
and brought calamity upon me.
For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract.”
She replied, “Father, you have made a vow to the LORD.
Do with me as you have vowed,
because the LORD has wrought vengeance for you
on your enemies the Ammonites.”
Then she said to her father, “Let me have this favor.
Spare me for two months, that I may go off down the mountains
to mourn my virginity with my companions.”
“Go,” he replied, and sent her away for two months.
So she departed with her companions
and mourned her virginity on the mountains.
At the end of the two months she returned to her father,
who did to her as he had vowed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jgs 11:29-39a
This selection takes up the story of Jephthah who was a chieftain with a sullied past. Brought back from self-imposed exile where he formed a gang and raided neighboring communities, he was put in charge of the Israelite’s defense against the Ammonites. We join him at the outset where he clearly believes he has vowed to perform human sacrifice, a tradition of his pagan neighbors (see also 2 Kings 3:27).
Perhaps because of this pagan vow, we see him punished as his only child, a young daughter, becomes the object of this sacrifice. Because bearing children is seen as the “greatest pride; to be childless was regarded as a great misfortune. Hence Jephthah's daughter asks permission to mourn the fact that she will be put to death before she can bear children.”[1] At her death the entire line of Jephthah ends.
"The episode certainly is disconcerting, but it may be that the author (writing at a time when no one was in any doubt about human sacrifice being an abomination) chose to respect the traditions that had come down, cruel and harsh though they were, in order to convey a lesson about the sacredness of vows and promises. Vows are such holy things that they should always be kept. But, for that very reason, they should not be made rashly."[2]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a
#195 Weekday I & II Context (December 19 in Advent)
There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites,
whose name was Manoah.
His wife was barren and had borne no children.
An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her,
“Though you are barren and have had no children,
yet you will conceive and bear a son.
Now, then, be careful to take no wine or strong drink
and to eat nothing unclean.
As for the son you will conceive and bear,
no razor shall touch his head,
for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb.
It is he who will begin the deliverance of Israel
from the power of the Philistines.”
The woman went and told her husband,
“A man of God came to me;
he had the appearance of an angel of God, terrible indeed.
I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name.
But he said to me,
‘You will be with child and will bear a son.
So take neither wine nor strong drink, and eat nothing unclean.
For the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb,
until the day of his death.’”
The woman bore a son and named him Samson.
The boy grew up and the LORD blessed him;
the Spirit of the LORD stirred him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jgs 13:2-7, 24-25a
This story from Judges appears to parallel the Christ story in a number of ways. First the Israelites are under the rule of a foreign power at this time in history; the Philistines have conquered them. Next, there is divine intervention in the conception of a person who could be called a savior of the people, although the one conceived is not the Messiah. Samson, in a more conventional way, was dedicated from the womb to be God’s servant and under the ancient rite was placed under the Nazirite vow. This vow obliged him to abstain from drinking wine or having his hair cut: cf. Numbers 6:2-8.
CCC: Jgs 13 332
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fin
[1] See NAB footnote on Judges 11:37.
[2] The Navarre Bible: “Joshua-Kings”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, pp. 155-56.
[3] Catholic
Bible Dictionary, © by Scott Hann, 2009, p. 312.
No comments:
Post a Comment