Comments for June 12

10 v.4 - The picture here is of delegated judgement. It was the judges that 'rode on white asses' (ch.5:10), so here and in 12:14, we are being told about the activities of the sons of the judges, and their involvement in the service. We hold the same position with regard to the great judge of all. We too will be delegated judges, in our role as kings and priests at the time of the end, just as the disciples were promised this pleasure (Matt.19:28, Luke 22:30) so will we be.1Cor.6:2-3, Rev.2:26-27.

10 v.1-2 - So Tola's 23 years as a judge gets a mere mention. One hopes that our remembrance is not so fleeting.
10 v.9 That Israel were troubled 'greatly distressed' is presented twice in the book of Judges. Whilst the A V is different on these two occasions the Hebrew is the same and the gap in time between the two events shows a long standing judgement from God. [Judges 2:15 here]

11 v.24 The irony here is obvious. If Chemosh was such a powerful God how was it that he had not saved them from the hand of Israel? [Numbers 21:29 here]
11 v.26 So we are three hundred years into the time of the Judges, that is two thirds of the way through if we accept Paul's comment that the period of the Judges was 450 years. [Acts 13:20] This is the only indication in the book of Judges of a time that we can use to work out how far we are on in the period of the Judges. Interestingly the Ammonites were expected to remember things which had happened over three hundred years ago.

11 v 11 - Despite being the son of an incorrect liaison (v.1), Jephthah's heart was obviously right. All through scripture we see this. It is not our earthly pedigree that wins us God's approval, it is our faith and the state of our heart.

10:10-16 Israel's response that they had sinned produced a response that required Israel to review their history and then to call to their false God's for deliverance. This is an indication that God seeks true repentance. Simply saying the words is not good enough.

The issue of Jephthah's daughter has strong echoes of the offering of Isaac.

IN THE EYES OF THE LORD

"Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD" (verse 6) Reading this phrase over and over through the book of Judges, we can tend to almost become immune to it. So now, halfway through the book of Judges is probably a good time to refresh our minds and consider the implications of this statement.

It is a shame that "Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD" is preceded by the word "Again." Didn't Israel learn after the first time, or the second? The sad thing is that Israel shares the same human nature that we share. If this statement was written about us it would probably say the same thing: "Again..." We fall into the same sin time and time again. Over and over we reject God and have to turn back to him repentant and pleading for forgiveness. Maybe we do not pray hard enough when it comes to "Lead us not into temptation," or maybe we just refuse to learn from our past mistakes.

There is also another point to note in the evil that Israel did. It was not in their own eyes - it was "evil in the eyes of the LORD" Without comparing ourselves to the Word of God and his standards we will always think we are doing OK. But the standards of God are often much higher than our own and we need to constantly refresh our memories as to what is good and what is evil in his sight.

Let's give ourselves to the LORD and find out what he wants us to do, so that it may be said of us, "Again God's servants did good in the eyes of the LORD."

10:6 And so Baal is being served again - so short a time after the work of Gideon.

ch 11 - Developing the parallels between Isaac and Jephthah's daughter. Isaac was a 'burnt offering' - whilst we conclude that he was willing the record in Genesis does not say so. However with respect to Jephthah's daughter we know that she was willing because she says so (11:36). Isaac represented Christ. Jephthah's daughter represents the ecclesia - the bride. We should state our willingness to give our selves - and then do it (Romans 12:1)

REJECTION

It is a very encouraging fact that God often chooses society's outcasts to be his great leaders. It has been the same right from the beginning. Abel was despised by his brother Cain; Joseph was rejected by his brothers; Moses had to flee from Egypt for fear of his life; and here, Jephthah, the son of a prostitute, was rejected by his brothers and family and banished from receiving his inheritance. Yet God has taken all those great men because he saw qualities in them that the people around them could not see. Even Jesus was in the same position. Until he was raised from the dead he was rejected by his brothers, his nation and even his disciples, and yet he was the Son of God, the one man through the whole of history that all the people of the world should have been looking up to.

God looks for different things in people than we do. He did not chose any of Jephthah's pure blooded brothers with their precious inheritance to lead Israel, he chose Jephthah, the reject. When we find ourselves rejected by men for whatever reason, let's make sure that we have our hearts right with God and are accepted by him. Being accepted by God has great rewards.

10:6 What a contrast from the call to Israel 'Hear o Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord'Deut 6:4. Seven different  gods are mentioned. They could not even be faithful to one false god.

11:8 In saying to Jephthah that he could be head over 'Gilead' we have an indication that the Judges had only a local influence. So the land was fragmented and the influence of each Judge was only over a small part of the land

 10:10 The first step of repentance is confession of sin. Psa 32:5, and the best proof of its sincerity is given by the transgressor, when he mourns not only over his offences, but over the evil he has committed against God.

Who our parents are is neither a help nor a hindrance, when we are about the Lord's work. Of a truth God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34).  God worked through Jephthah (Judg 11:29), despite the fact that he was the son of a harlot.

11:30,31 Jephthah vowed that whatever (Heb. asher  is a pronoun inclusive of all gender and number, human or not) would come to greet him would be sacrificed for (= as or like) a burnt offering.  It is important to realize that Jephthah is using a simile here.  He could not have entertained actual human sacrifice as a burnt offering because this would be abhorrent to Yahweh, and would make the vow of non-effect. 

The national god of the Ammonites was Molech to which human sacrifice was made.  It was this people and their deity that Yahweh, through Jephthah, sought to destroy. 

11:34 Under the Law of Moses, the burnt offering was the only sacrifice that was completely consumed on the altar.  This signified total surrender to God.  And so, it was with Jephthah's daughter who came out to greet him (which, of course, saddened him (11:35). 

11:36 His daughter, however, was compliant to the vow, which she obviously understood.  She was prepared, like the symbol of the burnt offering, to totally surrender her life to God.  In effect, she would become a Nazarite for life like Samuel would later become (1Sam 1:11).  She would never be able to marry.  She asked for, and received, some time to mourn this fact with her friends before beginning the vow (11:37-39). 

10:16 On their abandonment of idolatry and return to worship, God graciously abridged the term of national affliction and restored times of peace.

All of this was a matter of trust.

When Israel came into the land, it was by faith (trust in God) that they entered in, simply because they could not have overcome the enemy forces on their own. Without faith (trust in God) the analysis of the 10 spies would have been exactly right: "we are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we!" (Num 13:31-33).

When they gradually grew and took a greater hold on the land, they were to rid the land of every foreigner that dwelled therein (Deut 7:21-23). They would do this by faith (trust) in God who would fight for them because they simply would not have enough strength to do it themselves. God's destruction of the Midianites through the 300 men of Gideon is the best example of this [compare Deut 28:7, Judg 7:20-21 and then Lev 26:7-8, Judg 7:12).  But now because they had not trusted in God, they had not slain the foreigners, and were not in a very good situation. Their trust (faith) had come to be in idols of wood and stone.

When they cried out to God, He said this to them: "Go and cry out to the Gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress!" (Judg 10:13-14). It's only fair, isn't it, that God said this? After all, the people had put their trust (faith) in those Gods in times of tranquillity and plenty, so why shouldn't they put their trust in those Gods when times really became tough?

In times of plenty, where do we put our trust (faith)? A deity, as described in Judges, is merely an object, idea, or group of people we put our trust (faith) in. In times of plenty there is nothing to test that deity, and therefore it is possible for the incompetence of that deity to remain hidden. So it is with those things in which we trust (put faith in, believe in, worship). In times of plenty we spend money on insurance, medical cover, building a nest egg of savings, car breakdown cover, life assurance, household contents insurance, we go for more training so that we can obtain a better job, or promotion. We trust in these things. Oh yes we do! I can prove it. Here's some logic for you.... if we didn't believe (have faith) that there would be some benefit in these things, we wouldn't have spent the money would we? A salesman has to point out a benefit before he can hope for a sale!

So in times of trouble, what do we get? We can't get hold of the insurance provider. When we do there's always some loophole which gets them out of paying. We find that our pension funds have been embezzled. We listen to the doctor as he tells us there's nothing he can do to help. We lose our job despite our training and best efforts to better ourselves. But we didn't realise this when we paid out the money during our times of plenty.

God relented after He had rebuked Israel, and He saved them anyway. They found by bitter experience that the deities they had been serving were worthless. They should have known that God was the only one who had proved Himself worth putting trust (faith) in. "Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians... and you cried out to Me, and I delivered you out of their hand?" (Judg 10:11-12). He is the only one worth putting our trust in too. We need to start doing this in the little things during the times of tranquillity and plenty, so that when the difficult times come, He will not say to us "Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress!".

10:16 In putting away the strange gods the people were, at last, doing what Joshua  had called them to do – Josh 24:14 This is the end of the repeated use of ‘served’. Israel have now gone full circle from serving other gods to serving Yahweh.  This encapsulates the recurring cycle in the book of Judges.

11:4-27 The way in which Jephthah recounted the way that God had dealt with the land east of Jordan when Israel came out of Egypt is an example of the faith of the judge. He relies on what God had done and said as the basis for his claim rather than on his military strength. This is one evidence that demonstrates that Jephthah was a man of faith – Heb 11:32.

Judg 10:1-2 - "Tola" (8439) means "worm, grub, maggot, crimson, scarlet" - Is this an echo of Christ? Psa 22:6 refers to Christ as a "worm" (8438). Jesus, though despised as a worm, was a means of salvation, overcame death, cleansed sinners and manifested the glory of God. The word "scarlet" (8144, 8438) is instrumental in the process of cleansing leprosy (Lev 14:6,52), is instrumental in removing the defilement of contact with death (Num 19:6), is used as part of the tabernacle covering and door (Exo 26:1,36), is used as a thread that brought salvation to Rahab and her household (Josh 2:21). Tola rose to "defend" [Heb. "yasha" (3467) means "defend, saviour, deliver, deliverer, save, salvation, rescue, to be open, free", etc.]. Tola was a man of  "Issachar" (3485) which means "he will bring a reward, reward" and was buried in "Shamir" (8069) which means "a point or thorn, pricking, thorn, brier" and perhaps echoes the cruel piercing of the crucifixion. Tola's father was named "Puah" (6312) which can have various meanings such as "scattered, splendid, utterance" and perhaps suggests the disciples will be scattered and proclaim the gospel throughout the world (John 16:27,32;Luke 10:1-2). Tola's grandfather was named "Dodo" (1734) which means his "beloved, beloved, lover, friend" and perhaps suggests Jesus as the bridegroom (Rev 19:7-9;Rev 21:9-10).

Judg 10:3-5 - "Jair" (2971) means "enlightener, or my light" - Is this an echo of Christ? John 1:9 refers to the true light which lighteth. Jair was from "Gilead" (1568) which means "a rocky region, or a heap of witnesses" (Eph 2:20-22;1Pet 2:4-8;Mark 6:39-44;1Cor 15:3-8) and the New Testament equivalent of Gilead was Decapolis and the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew "Jair" was "Jairus" who had a daughter Jesus raised from the dead (Mark 5:20-43). We have 3 mentions of 30 (many feel 30 means fit for service - Jesus started his ministry at about age 30). "Havoth-Jair" (2334) means "villages of Jair, life-giving, living-place, wooded", etc. and perhaps it suggests the life-giving crucifixion of Christ. Jair was buried in "Camon" (7056) which means "an elevation or full of grain" (Christ offered himself up to be the bread of life); Camon comes from a root (6965) which means "a place of raising up". Judg 10:15 - we have repentance and a plea to be rescued.

Some above gleaned from The Gospel in the Book of Judges by Ian Giles, pps. 59-62.

10:15  In saying ‘we have sinned’ Israel finally came to repentance. It is not sufficient to recognise one has sinned. One has to repent as well. This is what Israel did.

DIFFERENT

Everyone has something about them that is different. It may be skeletons in the closet, life choices they have made, the part of town they live in, the friends they have, or even birth defects that turn people away. Jephthah's difference was that he was the son of a prostitute. For that reason Jephthah's brothers kicked him out of the family. '"You are not going to get any inheritance in our family," they said, "because you are the son of another woman."' (Judg 11:2)

As far as we can tell, Jephthah had not done anything wrong; he was rejected because he was different. But the tables soon turned and Jephthah's brothers were soon begging to have him back again. They chose to forget that he was the son of a prostitute and instead remembered that he was a "mighty warrior." (v.1) When the Ammonites made war against Israel, they needed a leader and a mighty warrior like Jephthah.

If we look hard enough we can see something bad in everyone. There were even people who couldn't see the good in Jesus! But if we look again we can focus on their good points, qualities and potential. Let's choose not to reject people because of their differences, but to accept them, encourage them and celebrate the good things they can give.

11:39  So Jephthah’s daughter, in doing her father’s will, is a living sacrifice. Isaac typified Jesus. She typifies the ecclesia.

10:6,10,12 We saw – Judg 2:13 etc – the repeated use of ‘served’ in the early chapters of Judges. After a number of chapters where the word is absent it returns marking the depths of the decline in Israel.

v6,13,14 First Principles>Kingdom of God>Was overturned>History of fulfilment
Go to Deut 28:49 to see more details of the history of Israel and its overturning.

10:1 Tola means worm. It is actually a maggot that when crushed oozes a crimson/scarlet liquid. This commodity was used for dying clothes. The colour of the crushed maggot is significant when we realize that it becomes a symbol for sin (Isa 1:18).

When Jesus was dying on the cross, He shouted out the first part of Ps.22:1 (Matt 27:46). He was alerting onlookers to read Psalm 22 to understand about Him.

Psa 22:6 The Spirit speaks through David, allowing Jesus to call himself a worm (tola). The shed blood of our Lord overcame (scarlet) sin as an atoning sacrifice for us (2Cor 5:21).

Job 25:6 Earlier, Job, who is a Christ-type, questions man's justification before God. He says: How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm? The second worm, representing Jesus, the Son of Man, is tola.

Isaiah describes Jesus as having been bruised for our iniquities (Isa 53:5). The word bruised is translated from the Hebrew word daka which can mean crushed. And so, the significance of the Lord’s use of worm becomes clearer.

Judg 11:1-3  - "Jephthah" (3316) means "he will open, free, whom God sets free" - Is this an echo of Christ? John 10:9 refers to Christ as the door/gate and John 8:36 refers to Christ setting believers free. "Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour" - "mighty (man)" (1368) and this same "mighty" is also a title used of Christ (Isa 9:6) and Gideon (Judg 6:12). His father "Gilead" [(1569) means "a heap of witnesses, or strong, rocky"] perhaps stands for Yahweh witnessing His son in this parable (Judg 11:10).  "The son of an 'harlot'" [Heb. "zanah" ( 2181) means "(literally) to commit adultery, harlot,whoredom, (figuratively) to commit idolatry"] perhaps reflects how mother Israel prostituted herself with idol worship (Judg 10:6-7) and compares with Christ (Matt 1:18;John 8:41) who was also conceived outside of marriage. "And Gilead's wife bare him sons" perhaps echoes Yahweh's wife being the House of Israel (Jer 3:14,20) with faithless children being scribes and Pharisees. Both Jephthah and Christ were rejected by their brethren and both are rescuers. Jephthah  fled his brethren and dwelt in the land of "Tob" (2897) meaning "goodness, to be good, good" and this may echo Christ's ascension to heaven. "and there were gathered 'vain' [(7386) means "worthless, empty"] men to Jephthah, and went out with him" perhaps suggests those who follow Christ are the base and despised of the world (1Cor 1:28-30).

Judg 11:5-11 - Jephthah's return home again from Tob perhaps echoes Christ's return in a time of need to his brothers who previously rejected him (Psa 118:22-26;Gen 45:4-7;Zech 12:9-10). Jephthah (like Christ) is made head and "captain" [Heb."qatsiyn" (7101) means "a (deciding) magistrate, prince, ruler, guide and captain"] with the expounded Hebrew meanings more accurately revealing the mission of Christ. Jephthah prayed [at Mizpeh (4709) means "watch tower" perhaps inferring God is a witness watching over"] and gives credit to God for deliverance (Judg 11:11,21,32).  "I have not sinned against thee...the Lord be judge" (Judg 11:27) perhaps echoes Christ not sinning ... though Jephthah was a judge, he acknowledges the true judge is God.

Prior to his making a vow, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah (Judg 11:29) so perhaps it shouldn't be viewed as a careless accident. An interesting question is does his daughter represent Isaac (i.e. Christ), the virgin daughter of Zion Christ meets at his victorious second coming (Isa 66:16-20;Zech 12:9-11), or perhaps both. In Jephthah's vow (Judg 11:31) there are some translation questions "and I will offer it up for a burnt offering" according to Clark's Commentary can be also rendered "or I will offer it up for a burnt offering" or "and I will offer him up for a burnt offering" with quite different meanings associated. It doesn't say his only child daughter was mourning death but rather a state of being unmarried (Judg 11:37 - so might this verse refer to those not married to the Bridegroom/Christ or might it refer to those obedient and yielding to their father's will like Isaac, the Nazarines, or Christ?) and she returns to her father (Judg 11:39) as did Christ.  Judg 11:40 - like Christ, the young woman didn't have literal children but did have those who would remember her.

Some above is gleaned from The Gospel in the Book of Judges by Ian Giles, pps. 95-103.

10:16  The response to the appeal to repentance brings about a total about turn and the people, instead of serving false gods now ‘served the Lord’ contrasting the earlier use of ‘served’ in this chapter and chapter 3

10:1-6 The Judges mentioned here with no details are the back cloth to ‘Israel did evil’. The recurring theme in Judges of the people turning away from God when the Judge was dead is the focus here.

                  Mighty warrior but... ? Judg 11:1-3

Jephthah was a mighty warrior but he was the son of a harlot. in his father's house he was considered an outcast by his brothers. One can just imagine what his life was like. No mother nearby as others were; no claim of inheritance; hated by brothers. However though hated and rejected he did not concentrate on their hatred against him instead he used the strength God gave him to fight to be a warrior. He did not use his skill in warfare to fight his brothers instead when they chased him he fled away like a coward!

What a lesson his life is to us all, to me in particular. We may be an outcast where we stay, at school, at work etc because of our background, our roots, our grim past or current state but that should not nip who God has made us to be. We may have been born by a harlot but it doesn't mean we are harlots also. However pathetic our background and past may be, lets not fix our eyes on that but on what God has given us in Jesus. Born of a harlot yes but we are not harlots. We were born originals so lets think and live like originals not copies.Jephthah focused on his being a warrior and became mighty... so will we if we focus on those things that build us up, those things that add a spring to our step. What will it pay us to brood over our sad past, to seek revenge on those who ridicule us? It will only serve to destroy us and make us more miserable and lets remember; no one can win by evening the score, the best one can get is a draw.

Nothing in this life can give true joy and peace than to know that most powerful is He who is with us than those against us and he has promised us life that is life indeed, so lets hold fast to Him trusting in His faithfulness. 'So and so' may be ashamed of us as they delight in their 'so-so' achievements but our God is not a 'so-so' God He is God Almighty and He is not ashamed to be called our God!Heb 11:16

Judg 11:30-31

“And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD (Yahweh), and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”

This vow as we read here is quite irresponsible because had a dog or some other unclean animal come out, it could not be offered as a burnt offering despite the vow because the Mosaic Law of clean and unclean animals forbade it. If a neighbor, friend, or their wife, son, or daughter had come out of his home, his vow would have had no right over them.

However, the conduct of Jephthah as read in verses 14-27 indicates that he was not a heathen, and he is listed and identified with such heroes of faith as Gideon, Barak, Samson, David and Samuel in Heb 11:32-34 as one, “who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises…”!

According to ancient Hebrew scholars, the grammar of Jephthah’s vow was more in line with, “I will consecrate it to the Lord, or I will offer it for a burnt-offering.”  “It” originally read as “HIM,” i.e. YAHWEH. What Jephthah really vowed was: “Whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me-shall be the Lord’s; and I will offer HIM a burnt-offering.” Jephthah consecrated his daughter to YAHWEH, just as the prophet Samuel and Samson were consecrated to HIM! The burnt offering did not refer to his daughter. Jephthah kept his two-fold vow in separating his daughter for the LORD’s service, and being a man of faith, knew to offer an acceptable burnt offering to HIM - the "whatsoever" being any clean animal of either cattle - bulls (Lev 1:3-9); flock, either sheep or goats (Lev 1:10-13), and of fowls, either turtledoves or pigeons (Lev 1:14-17). 

Jephthah’s vow was not reckless or foolish. Vows were very common in Biblical times, and were frequently practiced as a kind of “credit card worship,” if you will, that if Yahweh would favourably intervene, the individual would be motivated to offer back something as gratitude for His favour. Numerous examples of vows are found throughout the Bible (Gen 28:20-22; Lev 27; Num 6; Num 21:1-3; Judg 13:note v. 23; Jon 1:16; Jon 2:9; Acts 18:18; cf. Acts 21:23).

Jephthah did not practice heathen idolatry in sacrificing his daughter as the heathen did, which Yahweh hated and found abominable (Lev 18:21; Deut 12:31). Likewise, in Deut 18:9-12, we read that anyone who would have done any of these things faced the death penalty! There is no way his name would have been recorded among the heroes of Faith!

Furthermore, if Jephthah’s daughter was to be put to death, it doesn’t make any sense why she and her friends (Judg 11:37) would have bewailed her virginity instead of her upcoming death! No, she bewailed the fact that her entire life was to be one without a husband and children, performing services to YAHWEH per her father’s vow (v. 38), who, in turn, was saddened because of this for she was his only child, never expecting her to come forth.  She was, nonetheless, a willing participant, being a woman of faith, and for this the daughters of Israel honoured her by celebrating and commemorating her decision for four days every year. The word, “lament” in v. 40 is incorrect. It is the Hebrew word, tanah, which conveys the idea of honouring and ascribing praise.

When Abraham would have sacrificed his son, the angel of Yahweh stopped him (Gen 22:11-12). When Saul was ready to put his son, Jonathan, to death (1Sam 14:24,42-45), the people were stirred to prevent it. They knew it would be a sin for even a king to kill an innocent person for a foolish vow! Keeping vows is a serious issue with Yahweh (Deut 23:21-23), but there were times when rash, or reckless vows were over-ruled (cf. Num 30:8-15).

There is no record here to indicate that the people rose up against Jephthah, or of any outcry because in those days it was the father’s right to give or not give their daughter in marriage. Besides, Yahweh would never accept or honour a human sacrifice. Only He was to provide a human sacrifice - His son.

How is it that Jephthah when he received the Spirit of YAHWEH (Judg 11:29-30) would immediately after make a foolish vow, which he would later regret, and even worse, in doing so, profane the very name of YAHWEH? Not everything is as “cut and dry” as it may read, or we may think. It is for this reason we must compare Scripture with Scripture and diligently search out the whole matter (Prov 25:2).

10:18   This act of cowardice – let’s find just one man and give him total responsibility – is a variation on the way that we may blame one person for the collective inaction of a group of us.

11:2      The way that the half brothers of Jephthah behaved is reminiscent of the way that Abimelech – Judg 9:5 – behaved towards his siblings. We see a systematic failure to show the love of God amongst the children of Israel at this time.

11:27  The way in which Jephthah, the man of faith, calls on God to be the judge is repeated by David – 1Sam 23:15. 

11:40 The word translated “lament” is only found on one other occasion in Scripture – Judg 5:11 – where it is translated “rehearse” so we see that mourning is not necessarily implied by the translation here.

11:39   In saying that the daughter – who was his only child – Judg 11:34 – “knew no man” we realise that her father’s inheritance would not be passed down through her. She, in committing herself in service to God, saw commitment to God as more important than physical inheritance in the land – rather like Abraham who looked for a city whose make was God – Hebrews 11:Heb 11:9-10

Judg 11:32-33: What’s interesting to note about these two verses is that they are the only ones that actually deal with the battle itself, with the rest of the chapter being taken up with the circumstances that led up to it and what followed afterwards.  Surely this teaches us that these must be the aspects that are most important: i.e. how we approach a problem that faces us and how we react after we have come through it, rather than focusing solely on the problem itself.

11:13  If we cannot remember exactly where Arnon and Jabbok are on a map it will be helpful to have a look as this will help us to see the historicity of Jephthah’s point in verses 14-24.

11:27 So this is the conclusion of the argument. I have done as God said, says Jephthah, but you are resisting what God has said. So the final arbiter has to be God – hence “the lord, the Judge, be judge”. If only we could always use the testimony of Scripture to be the final arbiter in issues in our lives.

10:1 Tola here is called the son of Puah but in 1Chron 7:1they are presented as brothers.

Judg 11:30,31

“And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD's and I will offer it up for a burnt offering."

Honouring of Jephthah’s vow is a hotly debated issue. Accused of a rash vow and the abominable sacrifice of his daughter, he was condemned by the church fathers and rabbis. In v. 39 we read, “And it came to pass at the end of two months that she returned to her father; he performed upon her his vow which he vowed; and she knew no man.” LXX. Adolf Deissmann in The Philology of the Greek Bible comments: “It is one of the most painful deficiencies of Biblical study at the present day that the reading of the Septuagint has been pushed into the background, while its exegesis has been scarcely even begun.”

In Gen 22:2 God instructs Abraham to offer Isaac for a “burnt offering,” but was held back from literally doing so. A ram was substituted (v. 13), and Isaac was consecrated to Yahweh (vv. 17,18). In Heb 11:17,18, we read: “By faith Abraham when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” This reads as if Abraham actually offered up Isaac as a burnt-offering! In offering up Isaac, it was meant he was wholly dedicated and sanctified to the service of Yahweh. It was so interpreted by the inspired writer of Hebrews. It was not literal. Thus, Jephthah’s daughter too was offered as a burnt-offering, in the sense that she was dedicated to Yahweh and knew no man. This makes sense why she would have bewailed her virginity along with her companions (Judg 11:38,39). Jephthah’s daughter was a willing and obedient participant, just as Isaac was, both having received Godly up-bringing. Abraham and Jephthah are the only two individuals connected to a burnt offering of an “only” son (Gen 22:16) and an “only” daughter (Judg 11:34). Neither was literal, and both are in the Hebrews hall of Faith! Christ, God’s only son, was the only one to be literally offered up as a burnt-offering, which typified his death, and he did so voluntarily. It was the only burnt-offering that pleased God. His son never having committed sin was the only spotless, without blemish, human being that qualified for a burnt-offering (Heb 10:8-10; cf. Lev 1:3; 9:3)!

Adam Clarke’s Commentary, 1810, on Judg 11:31 has, “The translation of according to the most accurate Hebrew scholars, is this: ‘I will consecrate it to the Lord, or I will offer it for a burnt offering;’ that is, if it be a thing fit for a burnt-offering, it shall be made one; if fit for the service of God, it shall be consecrated to him. It is believed that the text read differently in earlier times: ‘Whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me—shall be the Lord’s; and I will offer Him [God] a burnt-offering.’ From v. 39 it appears evident that Jephthah’s daughter was not SACRIFICED to God, but consecrated to him in a state of perpetual virginity; for the text says, She knew no man, for this was a statute in Israel, viz., that persons thus dedicated or consecrated to God, should live in a state of unchangeable celibacy."

Jephthah’s daughter became a living sacrifice who acted out her dedication. During those requested two months, she had time to accept and envision a new purpose for her life. When we dedicate ourselves to our Father through Christ, whether single or married, we choose to become living sacrifices, dedicated and consecrated to doing the will of God whose word is true and unchangeable (Rom 12:1,2).

10:10,16 Whilst Israel had been oppressed and delivered a number of times this is the first time that the nation actually acknowledged the reason for the periods of oppression. This is the first time they said they had “sinned”.

11:16 The Hebrew for “came up” <5927> (’alah), is a common OT word but particularly in Judges. In chapter 1 the word occurs in the first four verses, “Who shall go up” (v. 1), “shall go up” (v. 2), “Come up” (v. 3), “went up” (v. 4). Jephthah’s mention of “when Israel came up <5927> from Egypt”, continues this theme. But although they had come up from Egypt, in Judges they repeatedly fail to truly spiritually ascend in their hearts. Furthermore,’alah is also often translated `offer` in the Old Testament and is used of the burnt offering, as in this chapter: “I will offer it up <5927> for a burnt offering” (Judg. 11:31), where the Hebrew for “burnt offering” <5930> is the related ‘olah. As well as Jephthah’s burnt offering there are several significant burnt offerings in Judges e.g. Gideon (6:26), Manoah (13:16-20), Israel (20:26; 21:4). This links with the theme of ascending for Israel should have shown the spirit of the burnt offering in their lives with a sweet savour ascending to God.

11:15-27           Jephthah’s recounting of the history of Israel’s taking of the land east of Jordan is his act of faith. He appeals to what God has done as the basis for his behaviour rather than simply going to battle. He was happy to let Yahweh be the judge on the matter – Judg 11:10

10:15,16 Repentance is difficult. When David committed adultery with Bathsheba it seems that it took a long time before he was willing to repent.  We do not read of Israel confessing that they had sinned in the book of Judges until here, though already God had brought events on them to “prove” them – that is to help them to see their failings. Such is the mercy of God that He is willing to wait for a repentant response.

Whilst we can take great comfort in this we should not use God’s grace as an excuse for an unwillingness to repent, or to continue in an inappropriate way – Rom 6:1-2

11:2 Jephthah we might style as a man despised and rejected of men like Jesus  Isa 53:3 -  though he became the saviour as did Jesus.

11:3-6   We might ask what it was about Jephthah which caused the elders of Gilead to seek for him to be “captain”. The records seems to be silent on that point.

10:3-5 So all we learn about Jair, the Judge that God appointed, was that he had thirty sons to whom he gave cities. We might conclude that despite being called to a job by Yahweh he did nothing of note as far as delivering the people is concerned.

v.18 - The pride and arrogance of this statement is quite outstanding. Fancy daring to suggest that God would not save by comparing him with the gods of the nations, which of course had not saved them. There can hardly be a greater level of blasphemy than to demean the great creator of the universe to the level of comparison with any other god made by sinful men. ch.37:12 Ps.115:2-8, 135:5,6, Jer.10:10-12.

v.8 The apparent offer of two thousand Horses to Hezekiah is actually a taunt and probably indicates that Hezekiah had less than two thousand fighting men in Jerusalem at the time of the siege.

v.18-20 - We see the standard argument of the unbeliever here - the argument presented by him that does not see the great God of Israel as of any greater significance than other humanly revered entities or articles. It is very easy to be thrown by this sort of thing. We do well to obey the instructions of the king as these folk did (v.21) and say nothing.

36:1 This answers to 2 Kings 18:14. However the Kings record adds information that the prophet Isaiah does not give us.

So we might put the records together thus

:16 The offer that the Assyrian made that if Israel were to surrender they would eat 'everyone of his fig tree' echoes God's description of the peace in Israel in the time of Solomon (1 Kings 4:25). Whilst Isaiah does not counter the words of the Assyrian the contemporary prophet Micah did (Micah 4:1-5)

36:6 This is where the Assyrian intelligence was fundamentally wrong. Whilst there may have been people who trusted in Egypt Hezekiah trusted in Yahweh -and this is where the deliverance came.

Rabshakeh in the way of the man of the world, tells the peoples not to trust in the Egyptians, (V.6) Nor should they trust their God, (V.10) or in their king. (V.16) The fact is that trust must be put in the LORD.   

Rabshakeh was the epitome of pride and arrogance.  Just the attitudes Yahweh hates (Prov 8:13).

V.3  We see that Eliakim has now taken over the running of Hezekiah's household from Shebna (Isa 22:15-20).

V.17  It was the custom of the Assyrians to displace the people they conquered and replace them with other conquered people (2Kin 17:24).

V.21 This was that time to keep silent (Ecc 3:7).

History will repeat itself when Gog (the latter-day Assyrian) will invade Israel.  He will have no regard for Yahweh, the God of Israel, and will suffer the same fate as Sennacherib and his army.  Christ will completely destroy them.

When the people in Jerusalem heard the terrible words of Rabshakeh, encouraging them not to trust in Hezekiah or in the Lord (Isa 36:14-16), they must have known what the Assyrians had already done to the rest of Judea. Such words probably made sense. Then as the enemy captain went on to say that the other local gods had not been able to save their lands from the might of Assyria (Isa 36:18-20) – again it made sense.  The exhortation to us is obvious.  Words of unbelievers might “make sense”, but they are spoken without God.

36:4,5,6,15  It is all a matter of confidence and trust. Rabshakeh was waging a psychological battle for the minds of the people. Should they trust God or the might of the king of Assyria. Should they trust the God they could not see or the mighty man who they could see?

V.16 Rabshakeh attempts to soften, in the eyes of Israel, the Assyrian policy of weakening the vanquished by deporting them to other lands (2Kin 17:6). Come out, or surrender to me, then you may remain in quiet possession of your lands until you are led away to a land that is as fruitful as the land which was given to your forefathers.

The name Rabshakeh is an Assyrian title meaning chief cupbearer.  In the ancient Near-East, this was a very responsible position which held the trust and the ear of the king.  The cupbearer's job was to make sure that the king's food and drink was not poisoned. He did this by tasting the food and drink before the king ate or drank.  Thus, he literally blocked the death of the king. 

Another notable cupbearer in the Bible is Nehemiah (Neh 1:11).  This is even more remarkable since Nehemiah was a Jew serving a Persian king.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Few Jews understood Aramaic at this time, and so the Jewish leaders asked Rabshakeh to speak in Aramaic rather than in Hebrew (v.11).  Soon, Aramaic would become the common language of the region, including that of the Jews.  It was the language that Jesus used, as demonstrated by His saying Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? (Matt 27:46), and Talitha cumi (Mark 5:41), for example.
 

V.19 Sennacherib challenged Judah and Jerusalem in approximately 700 BC.  Rabshakeh made reference to the defeat of Samaria which took place twenty-one years earlier. 

The Northern Kingdom of Israel had been under attack from the Assyrians.  Shalmaneser started attacking Samaria, but it was Sargon II who finally took Samaria in 721 BC after a three-year siege (2Kin 18:9,10). 

QUESTIONS

Sennacherib's verbal attack on Jerusalem was probably, and almost certainly intended to be, just as deadly as a physical attack. In the hearing of all the people, Sennacherib's field commander attempted to demoralise the people of Jerusalem in the confidence they had in their own strength, in Hezekiah, and in the LORD their God. It is hard to know how strong the personal faith of each individual who heard this attack was, and whether it would damage their faith or not, but the field commander's words must have put a dent in their spiritual armour.

From time to time people will attack our faith or our church. Sometimes those attacks will bounce off us because our faith in those areas is strong. But at other times they will find us unprotected and can leave us questioning our faith even to the extent of wondering whether God exists at all. Attacks like this will come, whether we like it or not.

Taking Isaiah 36 all by its self leaves us with no solid answers to the verbal attack of Sennacherib. Perhaps there is a reason for this. Is it so we are left to wonder how they would react? In our wondering how they would react and whether it would impact their faith, we should also think about our reaction in similar circumstances. What if someone really touched a nerve with us? What if they degraded our faith and what they said almost made sense?

What would we think if we were in a similar position?

V.1 According to the Assyrian archives, Sennacherib took 46 cities and captured 200,000 inhabitants See also 2Kin 18:13).

V.19 Hamath was in upper Syria. It was the chief city of the Hamathites, a group that descended from Ham.  They were also closely related to the Hittites. The city was conquered at the same time as Arphad was taken. Sargon II took these cities in 720 BC.

Arphad was a city near Hamath.   

Sepharvaim was on the east bank of the Euphrates. 

v7 shows us the confusion that existed in the minds of the people between Baal and God. Baal had subtly been introduced into Jewish worship and was being worshipped as if he were the LORD. Hence the Rabshakeh's words "didn't Hezekiah take away His (the LORD's) altar?" when in fact he had taken away Baal's altar (2Kin 21:3).

36:1    By the fourteenth year of Hezekiah  Hoshea in the north had been taken into captivity by the Assyrians. So humanly speaking it would have looked as if Judah would fall in the same way.

36:18-20       The psychology of the Assyrians would have been powerful if the people did not recognise that their God who could not be seen was working in their lives. Likewise in our day. If we do not recognise the way that God is still working in our lives and the lives of the nations we will succumb to the thinking that men are able to control the future.

36:21  Silence can be the most appropriate response to taunts.  It is all too easy to think of a quick and cutting reply. The fact that the people trusted Hezekiah meant that the held their peace.  Do we have such confidence in our God that we leave matters in His hand? He will repay – Rom 12:19

The reference in Isa 36:2 "from Lachish" links this event with 2Kin 18:4, which tells us Sennacherib was at Lachish (nearby) laying siege to the city, when Hezekiah sent word to him surrendering:

"I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay."

The result of this was that Hezekiah sent Sennacherib the gold from the temple of God (2Kin 18:15-16). It represents a low point in the life of Hezekiah, who could see no way out of this awful situation. The implication is that this gold wasn't sufficient to pay off Sennacherib, who still sent an army to Jerusalem to take it. For us the lesson is clear, though difficult to apply practically: Trust in God, not in gold or silver.

 Isa 36.

36:10 Isaiah has already said that the Assyrian is going to be used by God – IIsa 10:5-6. However this was no licence for the Assyrian to glory and boast in his position. 

36:7    Of course the high places that Hezekiah had removed were to false gods, not Yahweh.  One suspects that the Assyrians knew exactly what Hezekiah had done but also would have appreciated that the people thought that the false gods were the ones that they should worship for that is what they had been doing.

1. is Isaiah 36-39 a historic section, prophetic section, or does it have a dual application? (2Chron 32:32).

2. Isa 36:1-2 - 2Kin 18:13-16; V2 "Rabshakeh<7262>" is an Assyrian title, "Lachish<3923>"; V2 "conduit<8585>", "upper<5945>", "pool<1295>", "highway<4546>", fuller's<3526>", "field<7704>"; 2Chron 32:2-4;  Neh 3:15 "Siloah<7975>"; Isa 8:6 "Shiloah<7975>"; John 9:7 "Siloam<4611>"; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5OaFxK14yc

3. Isa 36:3 - Eliakim was to be exalted and Shebna deposed which perhaps has allegorical significance as an echo concerning Christ and the future (Isa 22:15-25); "Eliakim<471>"; "scribe (<5608>, officially writes)", "recorder (<2142>, to mark or remember)".

4. Isa 36:6 - we can't depend on Egypt, a splintered reed of a staff, the flesh - this reminds me of the powers of sin which pierced Christ's hands and feet (Gen 3:15;Psa 22:7,8,13,16,18).

5. Isa 36:4-10,12-20 (a near prophetic summary of Rabshakeh's challenge Isa 10:5-11); V10 Sennacherib claiming rightfully (Isa 8:7;Isa 10:5-6) that God sent him; V13 archaeology confirms the existence of this particular "Rabshakeh" or commander; V15 Russia and its allies are thought by some to be the latter day Assyrian; V16 this knowledge perhaps suggests an inside spy betraying like Judas; V17 (new) "wine (<8492> perhaps suggests Christ)"; V17 is the land of bread and vineyards a hint of the millennial kingdom to come when Christ, the bread of life, returns? Vs 18-20 the Assyrian message was don't trust Hezekiah and the Lord and that Jerusalem wouldn't be delivered (Isa 37:36;Eze 39:1-7).

6. Isa 36:8,14,16,18-21 - Assyrian Rabshakeh using propaganda taunting the weakness of the Jews in Jerusalem to psychologically weaken them; V21 Jesus when surrounded by the enemy was silent too (Isa 53:7).

36:2    Given that the northern kingdom had already been taken into Assyria Hezekiah would have good reason, humanly speaking, to anticipate that he would suffer the same fate. Hezekiah, however, did not think along human lines. He was a Godly man who realised his God was able to overcome any human power. So despite his own failings he placed his trust in God and was vindicated. Can we share Hezekiah’s faith when we anticipate difficulties?

36:22    We might be forgiven for thinking that Hezekiah alone was faithful to God. However the behaviour of the men mentioned in this verse indicates that there were others who had regard to the land and God’s promises.

36:8-9  Because Judah was impoverished the Assyrians could make the empty offer. However it was the very helpless position that Judah was in which allowed the majesty of God to be seen in their deliverance.

FAITH UNDER ATTACK

"You're just weak. Religion is just a crutch for people who can't look after themselves. They think that it gives them strength - but we all know that it's just a pack of lies. Where is God when people suffer? What about all the bad things that happen in the world? If your God is a loving God, he wouldn't let that happen."

I'm probably not the only person to have heard people talk like that, trying to take away any faith that we might have. And I'm sure I'll hear more of it the longer I live. How do we keep our faith when it gets attacked with such force?

Hezekiah was in the same position. The Rabshakeh of the Assyrian army tried to play the same games with him. These are some of the things he said:

"But if you say to me, 'We trust in the LORD our God,' is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar'?" and "The LORD has said to me, Go up against this land to destroy it." (Isa 36:7,10).

Hezekiah had already experienced God at work in his life. He knew he could trust God - even if his faith was wavering. And Hezekiah knew that God would answer prayer. So he prayed and called on others to pray with him.

Our faith will come under attack. Like Hezekiah, we can find strength in what God has done in the past and pray for more strength for the moment. God is faithful. He will never let us down.
 

36:11    Shielding the people on the wall from the king of Assyria’s threats by asking that words be spoken in Syrian was a vain request. Of course the people on the wall needed to know what the presumed threat was so they could make a decision as to who they should trust. Not understanding the threat is a little like burying one’s head in the sand.

36:1 Given that the Assyrians had conquered Judah” there must have been great fear in Jerusalem. Hezekiah and the people had seen the relentless advance of the enemy. Doubtless also men ad women who had fled those cities taken by the Assyrians had terrible tales to tell of the ferocity of their enemy. God was creating circumstances where those in Jerusalem had to place their trust in God.

36:4 that the Rabshakeh could speak with Hezekiah’s men indicated that he had no fear of Hezekiah. However, whilst he felt he had the superior army he still sought for submission from Judah rather than a battle. This delay allowed Hezekiah time to communicate with Yahweh and give consideration, in the relative calm of the threat rather than from the midst of the battle.

36:4-7 Bombastic, arrogant, Rabshakeh had many victories in battle. His previous victories emboldened him to think that taking Jerusalem would be just as easy as the previous battles he had won. However he had not taken account of Yahweh, the Creator. The other nations he had defeated had visible idols which who had no power save. Hezekiah, by contrast, had the invisible God who has unbridled power. Faith is believing that the invisible God we worship will keep His word. History teaches us that He always has. This is the confidence we have for the future

36:4 The way that the prophet describes what the Assyrians had done to the “defenced cities” would serve, for the faithless, as evidence of the might of the Assyrians. Seemingly it did not have the same effect on Hezekiah. Because of his trust in Yahweh what had happened to the cities of Judah, and for that matter, the taking of Hoshea captive, did not cause his faith to waver.

We should not let the turbulent world and its events deflect us from a confidence that our God will keep His word and send Jesus back to the earth.

36:14  Notice the emphasis “Thus saith …” on the lips of the spokesman for the king of Assyria. It is all a matter of authority and credibility. The prophet Isaiah (and others) repeatedly say “Thus said …” presenting the words of Yahweh. Whose authority was more credible? Do we place more confidence in man than we do I the words of God and His son? We might say “no” however an honest reflection on our thoughts might show that  from time to time we place our confidence in the wrong place.

36:3 two of the men named had official status in Jerusalem. Apart from that they were quite different individuals. Whilst Eliakim was faithful Shebna anticipated dying in Jerusalem at this time – II22:15-16 – not believing that God would deliver the nation from the Assyrians.

v.4-6 - Here we have a greater spiritual aspect of our Zion theme (v.6). Here we have an invitation to follow the example of our master and become stones in this living temple of our God. Remember (Col.3:4) we must be ready to appear with him in glory when he comes. Isa 28:16, Dan.2:34,45, Isa.8:14-15.

v.1 'lay aside' is a powerful Biblical injunction. It is more than a casual putting aside. It is an active dissociation from evil. [Isaiah 2:20 Ezekiel 18:31 Romans 13:12 Ephesians 4:22 Colossians 3:5,8 Hebrews 12:1 here James 1:21]

2:3 In quoting Psa 34:8 'tasted that the Lord is gracious' Peter, by the spirit, is emphasising that believers can know by experience - as David did when he fled from Achish - that God is good. One does not have to speculate about God's care. By reviewing our lives we can know that God has taken care of us.

:11 'As strangers and pilgrims' quotes Genesis 23:4. If we are 'Abraham's seed' and share his promises (Galatians 3:27-29) then we should view this life and the things that we possess as transient and not worth worrying about.

1Pet 2:11. Believers are called to live as “strangers and pilgrims”. A stranger would be an alien resident, not unlike Abraham and his seed. Gen 23:4. A pilgrim is a resident foreigner, one who lives in a country that is not their own. It is the attitude of mind of believers to day, as well as in the 1st. century. A pilgrim has no political rights and should have no real interest in what happens in this place were he is living, his interest and hopes are in the kingdom to which he travels.

1Pet 2:21. The word follow epakoloutheo (1872) means more to accompany rather than to follow. If we accompany Christ on our daily walk, then He is with us at all times. What a wonderful comfort.

2:24 Peter says that Paul's writings are Scripture (2Pet 3:16). Here he quotes one of those 'other Scriptures when he says 'Dead to sins' which quotes Rom 6:2

Peter refers to the stone that the builders rejected. The builders should have been the spiritual rulers of the day. The Pharisees were the blind leaders of the blind and were deceitful in their worship (compare verse 1). Matthew Ch 23 shows their falseness and hypocrisy. They were not building God's house, but were instead devouring widow's houses. They were spiritually dead and 'full of dead men's bones' Their house ...the temple Matt 23:38 was to be left desolate. They trusted in the hugely visible temple in Jerusalem,which Jesus tells us in Matt 24:1-4 was to be destroyed. The building that God wants is our hearts and minds. That we might make these an abiding place for his words  and develop his character in our lives.(1Pet 2:5).
Peter knew of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the words of Jesus. He refers to the end of the Jewish commonwealth in 2Pet 3:7 when the Jewish political and religious heaven and earth were to come to an end in AD 70. God is not interested in physical building, but in the development of a spiritual temple. Isa 66:1-2

2:2 The ‘milk’ quotes Isa 28:9 making the point that those brethren to whom he wrote had already learnt the gospel and experienced God working in their lives. As a consequence they should appreciate that they should lead a different life – a life described in 2:1.

2:5 I speaking of the brethren as ‘lively (living) stones’ Peter highlights a fundamental characteristic expected of believers who form part of the house of God. They are not passive but active elements of that community. Where do we fit into this pattern?

 2:2 The desire Epipotheo (1971)or the craving that Peter speaks of is a positive thing, not like most of man's cravings. Paul uses the same word in his letters; always showing the positive. An excellent example would be Rom 1:11. Paul here is expressing his desire to see the believers in Rome. This is the type of craving that we all must develop, the craving for that spiritual food that we receive from the Word, and from being with our Brethren and Sisters. 

The cornerstone was placed at the junction of two walls. Being at the base, it supported the building of two adjacent walls to become true and stable. As one wall ended, the other began.

Jesus is represented by the cornerstone. The two walls embody the old and new covenants.  Both covenants have Jesus as their foundation - the new continues where the old finished.

2:1-2    Notice the contrast between lay aside ‘guile’ and ‘desire the sincere milk …’

 2:6,7 Notice that two stones are mentioned. The ‘corner stone’ and ‘the head of the corner’. They are two different but essential stones in the building of a building. The corner stone sets the framework for the rest of the building and the ‘head of the corner’ is the stone that completes the building.

Babies only grow if they take the milk offered to them, but sometimes they need to be encouraged. So it is with us (1Pet 2:2) On occasions we need to be prompted to take the sincere milk of the word. That’s part of the work of an exhortation on a Sunday. But there are 6 other days in the week, when we really must feed on the word of God.

Never go to bed hungry.

V.5 Each brother or sister represents a stone which makes up the household of Jesus (Eph 2:22).  Each one of these stones will itself receive a white stone if s/he has been judged acceptable (Rev 2:17). This stone is a token of admittance to the kingdom. White, of course, is the colour of purity.  

The household of Jesus constitutes a holy, royal priesthood (v.9). Those admitted to the kingdom will act as priests (Rev 1:6). And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father (KJV) is better rendered: and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father (ESV).).

CRAVE SPIRITUAL MILK

After describing the purifying and enduring effects of the word of God, Peter tells us what the result of this knowledge and experience of the word in our lives should be. "Therefore rid yourselves of all malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation now that you have tasted that the Lord is good." (1Pet 2:1-3)

As well as getting rid of anything impure within us, we need to crave pure spiritual milk just like babies crave milk from their mothers. A newborn baby requires feeding every few hours, day and night. In fact, if a parent does not get that baby into a routine of feeding, waking and sleeping, it will want to snack constantly through the day. Any time it feels uncomfortable, a baby wants to drink from its mother, thinking that the milk will soothe its pain.

This is how we need to be with the word of God, the pure spiritual milk. It's not right to gorge ourselves on it once a day because the nutrition we could gain from it will be lost. Like a baby, let's feed regularly on the word of God throughout the day, even snacking if we can. Crave the word of God in every circumstance every day.

2:6-8 Peter, by inspiration, draws three areas of Scripture together here:-

Behold ... confounded Isa 28:16

The stone ... corner     Psa 118:22

A stone ... offence      Isa 8:14

The key stones of the building were not recognised by the Jewish leaders at any time in their history.

2:9    The ‘praises’ is the virtues which is easier to understand. Because of His calling us to the gospel we can show God’s virtue to others in our behaviour .

1Pet 2:17

"Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king."

The term, "brotherhood" is used in a broader sense. It is Strong's concordance # <81> adelphotes, "fraternity," and shows that our love to one another as a family also includes loving to participate in fellowship with one another.

To bring to the fore the magnanimity of the command to, "honour the king," Nero, the cruel and godless pagan, was Emperor at this time. He had animal skins sewn on Christians, and threw them to wild animals to be torn to death, they were impaled on stakes alive, smeared with pitch, and used as human torches for their nighttime chariot races, the women were tied to wild bulls and dragged to their death, he murdered his own mother, made candles out of her, and burned them during his festivities! Honouring such a "king" had to have been very hard, indeed!

The apostle Paul was beheaded under Nero, Peter was crucified under Nero, Epaphras, Priscilla, Aquila, Andronicus, Junia, Onesiphorus, Aristarchus, Silas, and the rest of the apostles, excluding John, were all martyred under Nero's cruel edict by 69 AD!

What we receive from the hands of our government cannot be compared! So, next time we are inclined to criticize our leaders, let us think again and obey Peter in honouring all, as hard as it may be for us in giving honour and respect to those least worthy of it, the lowest of men (Matt 5:44-45; Dan 4:17).

2:1-2    “lay aside” and “desire” shows the emotional aspect of “putting off” and “putting on” which is spoken of often in the new Testament. For example Eph 4:22,24

2:18   It is all too easy to make a distinction between those we meet as to whom we will respect. It is hard to respect those whose behaviour does not encourage respect. However the relationship between servant and master requires obedience. That obedience is because of the different status. Nor because of character

"Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good."

We have to submit to the King and government of the country we live in. This means the rules and laws of the land too (notice "every ordinance"). In some religions and factions the idea has spread that religion somehow operates outside of the law, or has its own set of rules. This is not so. The Bible tells us quite clearly to obey, and if we do so, we show the epitomy of Christian values to others (v15).

2:13-14           Society today encourages dissent. We are encouraged to voice our views and stand up for our rights. However the true believer will not. He will accept the laws and decrees of the land (unless they violate the principles of God). Paul has already made a similar point – Rom 13:1-2

1Pet 2:5

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

The King of Sparta was hosting a visiting king and boasted about the formidable walls of the city of Sparta. The story goes that, “the visiting king looked around and could see no walls. He said to the Spartan king, ‘where are these walls of which you boast so much?’ The Spartan king pointed to his bodyguard of magnificent Spartan soldiers. He said, ‘These are my walls. Every man of them, a brick.’”

The body of Christ, the ecclesia, is to be a participant not a spectator in the building of His house. God wants us to become a spiritual house, both individually, as a priest and collectively, as a holy priesthood (cf. v. 9). We are each a brick, a “living stone” and the point of our life in Christ is to glorify God, to edify or build up one another, and to study and to share with others what we have learned.

The term “spiritual sacrifices” occurs only once, and while no scriptural passage defines this term, there are several passages that describe it (Rom 12:1; Heb 11:4; Heb 13:15,16). The apostle Peter is drawing an analogy based on ancient Israel’s physical temple and physical sacrifices, of which the book of Hebrews draws numerous analogies concerning the sacrificial system of ancient Israel and how they are applied spiritually to us today - in that our house, or temple (cf. 1Cor 3:16) and our sacrifices are not physical, but spiritual.

To offer up spiritual sacrifices is to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God (Rom 12:1); it is to be good soldiers of Christ (2Tim 2:3) made fit for the Master's use - submitting our lives as He wills (1Cor 12:28; 2Tim 2:21). Let us, therefore, build what God has called us to build, and build together as we have been instructed to do to the glory of God our Father.

Spiritual Sacrifices

1Pet 2:5

It's interesting to see how we are able to offer up spiritual sacrifices "acceptable to God through Jesus Christ". Take a look at Psa 51:17 and see the definition of these sacrifices. They are a broken and contrite heart! How do we go about getting one, though? Compare this with Luke 20:17-18 (and beyond to see Jesus is talking of the chief cornerstone here - the same thing Peter goes on to talk about later in this chapter). It is better to fall onto this stone, which is Christ, and have our proud and boastful hearts broken - to have our human nature tested and measured against Christ's character. It is only then that we are able to offer up spiritual sacrifices - i.e. prayers like David's in Psalm 51. 

2:1     The words of Peter roll off the lips with ease. Do we ever consider that they may well speak of us? If we think we never manifest “guile” and “hypocrisy” we deceive ourselves. It is the “sincere milk of the word” – verse :2 –that educates our minds to recognise our shortcomings. If we fail to read it and learn from it we will not change from our hypocritical ways.

1Pet 2:9

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Peculiar is defined in dictionaries as “strange, odd, weird; unusual.” Have you ever wondered about our peculiarity? In what way are we odd, or weird? Well, the fact is that when the translators of the KJV used this word, they did not have this in mind at all! The etymology of the word, peculiar comes from the Latin word, peculiaris from peculium and referred to owning “property in cattle,” in ancient times. It comes from pecu, “cattle, flock, sheep,” or any other farm animal.

The NAS (New American Standard) version translates it as, “a people for God’s own possession.” The NIV (New International Version) has, “a people belonging to God,” and the NKJV ( New KJV) says, “His own special people.”

We read in Eph 1:14 that we are a purchased “possession,” periopoiesis, # <4047>. We are a special possession (cf. Titus 2:14, # <4041>). We are a special people because we belong to Yahweh God and a new creation purchased by the blood of Yahshua the Messiah (1Cor 6:20; 2Cor 5:17; 1Pet 1:19. We are a “people for God’s own possession.” This is who we truly are and there is nothing odd about that, except maybe to the world.

2:15        Isn’t it interesting that a correct response silences critics. We might think that this does not always happen. However we should always endeavour to respond appropriately.

2:9      The “royal priesthood” is the Melchisedec priesthood.

2:13     I suppose we might, from time to time, feel that the “ordinances” in the country we live are probably not that important. However, it seems that however trivial they might seem, we are obliged to observe them. This includes speed limits when there does not seem to be a sensible reason for them!

2:7 It is all about perspective. Man’s attitude to Jesus will determine whether he is precious or not. Of course from God’s viewpoint he is “precious”. But what about us? We might say that he is “precious” to us but the way we live our lives will show whether we actually believe what we say about Jesus.

2:4 that Jesus was “disallowed” by men was particularly relevant to Jewish believers. It was the Jewish nation that rejected Jesus – but he is the only “stone” of God’s providing. Peter is warning against returning to the old Jewish ways in following the Law of Moses. It was Jesus enemies who accused him of not keeping the Law of Moses who finally rejected him.

2:21 the word translated “example” only occurs once in the New Testament. It is a word which is a composite f two words which carries the sense of “under writing” – like the way I which a child will copy text by copying the text identically under the original.

2:5 Isa 61:6 speaks of a time when the nation of Israel will be God’s priests. In fact that is what they were called to be at Sinai – Exo 19:6 – and now that is the status of faithful believers! If we truly appreciate this it will change the way we think and behave.

2:9 naturally speaking the difference between the dark of night when there is no light pollution and the light of a bright sunny day could not be greater.

We really do need to appreciate that this highlights the difference between either not knowing the gospel and being in fellowship with God because of an understanding of the work of Jesus.

1Pet 2:9,10

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Which in time past, were not a people; but now are the people of God: which hath not obtained mercy; but now have obtained mercy” (Cf. Rom 9:25,26).

In Exo 19:6, we read: “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.”

In Hos 2:23, we read: “… and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say Thou art my God.”  Now, in Hos 1:6-9 God said to Hosea: “…. Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah…  Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bare a son. Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.” The nation of Israel “hath committed great whoredom, departing from Yahweh” (Hos 1:2). They went from ruhamah, # <7355>, rachaam, “obtain compassion, love, mercy, pity” to Lo-ruhamah, # <3819>, Lo Ruchamah, from # <3808>, “not pitied.”

At one time the people of Israel and Judah were collectively referred to as Hebrews, but when a division occurred, Israel with ten tribes separated from Judah and went north becoming the Northern Kingdom referred to as Israelites, while Judah with Benjamin, some Levites and Simeon became the Southern Kingdom, and referred to as Judahites. Thus, the Israelites were distinguished from the Judahite tribes (2Kin 16:5,6). God chose the line of Judah through which the Messiah would come. God has, however, reserved a remnant for Himself, among the Israelites, Judahites, and Gentiles who were not called God’s people, but were chosen by God and called God’s people (Isa 1:9,10-12; Isa 49:6; Rom 9:24-29; Rom 11:24-32). There is no exclusivity (not of blood), as to whom God chooses to be His people (John 1:11-13), and they will be revealed at Christ’s second coming – “in that day” (1Tim 2:1-6; Isa 11:11,16).

Anyone who tells us the Israeli people today are God’s people, “because God does not change,” has taken this verse out of context, is unscriptural, and contradicts God and Christ! It completely misses the fact that God’s relationship with Israel was conditional on their obedience, belief, and faithfulness! The Mosaic Covenant was a conditional covenant - “if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation…” (Exo 19:5,6; cf. Heb 3:7-12; 4:11).

The nation of Israel was chosen and set apart to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests to witness to the pagan nations the true God of Israel. They were set apart for this very purpose – a holy people being a holy nation, carrying out God’s purposes. Israel accepted this without reservation agreeing with God and went into covenant relationship with Him (Exo 19:8; Exo 24:1-8. They failed miserably! This, however, did not annul the Abrahamic Covenant.

In Gen 17:4-6, we read God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and said he was to be, “a father of many nations… and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee” (plurality). Furthermore, we read in Gen 17:9,10, “And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed [from many nations] after thee in their generations.” Abraham is our example of faith and obedience and was prepared to offer his only son to God (Heb 11:17-19; Gen 21:12; Gen 22)!  It’s always been about obedience! God is faithful to His promises; they are not conditional; they will come to pass.

This begs the question who is Abraham’s seed? Christ, (Gal 3:16)! But, it doesn’t end here because the blessing of Abraham also came to us through Christ; “that we might receive the promise of the Spiritthrough faith.” This is not about any kind of faith, but about an Abrahamic faith, without which we cannot please God (Heb 11:6). “And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” (Gal 3:14,17,18).

The Israeli people today boast about their heritage and because of their unbelief reject Jesus as the Messiah just like the Pharisees did in Christ’s day (John 8:33). Jesus acknowledged the Pharisees truly were descended from Abraham’s line, but that did not make them his children, nor did it make Yahweh their Father (John 8:39,41,42,47,53-56; Rom 9:6-13; cf. Rev 2:9; Rev 3:9!  Therefore, all unbelieving Jews are not the children, or people of God, as Jesus, himself, testified! The Abrahamic Covenant was not about privilege limited to one race; it was a Spiritual Covenant in which all nations could participate because of their faith in accepting Christ. “But in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him [God].” God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34,35; Rom 2:10,12). Jews who accepted Christ are with the Gentiles in its aggregate, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, obeying and doing the will of the Father; they are the children of light reflecting His light in a grossly dark world. Scripture identifies these as citizens of the household of God, not citizens of Israel (John 1:12; Acts 10:35; Rom 10:12,13; Eph 2:19-22; Heb 11:8-40 1Pet 2:5-10; cf. 1John 1:5-9). However, the day is coming when Yahweh will make a new covenant with Israel (12 tribes) and put His law into their inward parts, even their hearts, and then He, “will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jer 31:31-34).

2:3  When we look at the title and context of Psa 34 which Peter quotes we realise that David had escaped from the Philistines when he was on the run from Saul. So David had learnt that the Lord is gracious. In like manner, if we can appreciate it, we have escaped from the power of sin due to the graciousness of God.