Some of this of this Blog Post, while drawn from the Holy Bible, may be disturbing to some readers due to violent and graphic and exploitative content. Yes, in the Bible. There are reaons why it made the 'cut' when libraries were censoring their collections.
So, how do we use the Bible as the basis of how we think about God? Because the Bible is the Special Witness to our God. We have creation, and we can see the beauty of God in creation, a more General Witness, but the Bible is the handbook.
Now we know that the Bible was not written in a day, or a year, or even a generation. It's history extends over a thousand years (at least) writing process. And there is progress in the Bible. Progress? Yes, there is the first and the second covenant, what we divide the bible into as the Old and New Testaments, and Jesus emerged from the First and gave us the Second. So, if we want a rule of thumb in thinking about God and the use of the Bible, it is that Jesus is the pivotal authority on all things 'old' and all things 'new'.
But I could be abstract to the point of putting my readers to sleep, so, HOW ABOUT AN EXAMPLE OF THE COMMAND OF JESUS AND WHY IT IS SUPERIOR TO WHAT COMES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT? That is a vain attempt to attract interest if the introduction to this post is losing folks.
So, Bible part 1, the Sermon on the Mount, a rather significant sermon collected by Matthew in chapters 5 and following in his gospel. Here are verses 33-37:
33“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
Now why would Jesus say this? Because the people in the time of the First Testament considered breaking an oath to God as a capital offense. Or, to use some outdated language from several "Westerns", a hangin' offense-but the law of Moses usually mandated rocks.
In the last three chapters of the book of Judges, the people of Israel mount a war of what is almost extermination against one of their own tribes. There is a rape and murder that is so heinous that the victim's body is hacked to pieces and sent throughout the land to rally support to punish the tribe of Benjamin, from whose midst the murderers exist and who are NOT being handed over for trial and punishment.
Oaths are made to the Lord in this War. The first is that EVERYONE is going to show up, because everyone promised to and anyone who does not (to fight against the Benjamites) is subject to death.
The second is that the tribe has done such evil in the land that EVERYONE has vowed not to allow their daughters to marry into that tribe anymore, ever. They are cut off.
The War is then carried out until every man, woman, and child in that tribe is slaughtered (with great losses on the side of Israel as well) except for 600 men making a last stand (out of a fighting force that the Bible says began at 26,000).
At this last stand, the people of Israel realize what they are about to do. Israel was about to wipe out one of their own, one of the Tribes of God's people.
So what do we do? Exterminating 26,000 down to 600, not counting women and children, how do they come back from that?
The people of Israel could offer their daughters in marriage except they promised that they would not. So the Benjamites are out of luck on that score.
HOWEVER, another promise was made that EVERYBODY was to come out and fight. Did they? A census is taken and it is found out that the people of Jabesh-Gilead were not there for the War. They broke their oath so they must be punished. This solves the bigger Oath problem. No one can give their daughters to the Benjamites, BUT the whole army can march up, destroy Jabesh-Gilead and slaughter everyone except the virgin daughers. These are the daughters of oath-breakers, and, even better, there is no one left to protest. This nets them 400 wives for the Benjamites.
But there are 200 men who need wives. And I should note, when I say "wives", I mean "breeding stock". Women hold no status in these negotiations and decisions.
So what do we do? Well, the people of Shiloh have a festival where their virgin daughters do this festival thing out of the city. Let's put the Benjamite men in hiding to come running out during this festival and kidnap the women as their 'wives'. And when their fathers and brothers come to complain, we will tell them that Israel made a promise that no 'wives' would be given to this sinful tribe, and we do not break our promises made to God, so forced abduction, kidnapping, and human trafficking will provide the answer.
Yah, that's really in there, Judges 19-21. Which is why we turn to Jesus when it comes to using the Bible to provide a foundation for thinking about God, for our theology. Jesus said love God and love neighbor. That begins to mitigate against this HUGE abuse that was committed in the name of keeping promises made to the Lord.
Then he said, "Let your word be 'yes, yes' or 'no, no'; anything more than this comes from the evil one." We tend to gloss over that last part, that promises in the Lord's name come from the evil one, but Judges makes it pretty clear why.
That's a biblical example. But Gaza, Ukraine, human trafficking in this country and around the world, the deterioration of the women's reproductive rights, unwanted children, How many more women (a preferred target) and men and everyone have been abused, vicitimized, injured, ostracized, and outright killed because of how someone believes that they are keeping their promise to God? The promise to God has become an idol more important than loving God and loving neighbor.
That is why it is so important that we are actively, passionately, deeply, Biblically thinking about God and God's love. Because others are also thinking about God and people are dying as a result.
Peace,
Pastor Peter
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