February 20, 2010 8:49 AM
Sam wrote:
Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. / Wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh / o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh...
Ever have something ALWAYS come to your mind when you read or see something. Well, if you don't recognize the lyrics above, the come from the song, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and EVERY time I read the name, Abimelech, I get this tune of the lyrics above in my mind, and I think to myself, Abimelech, Abimelech, Abimelech, Abimelech....well, you get the idea.
WHY is it? Why do we have a certain reaction over and over when we read something? I don't know the term, but the association with reading a word (or words) will sometimes just cause one's brain to reach way back in those deep dark recesses and bring something to the front lobe. This can occur, I think, because of some familiarity with that thought way back in there. Familiarity comes with repetition. Like, Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. / Wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh / o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh, or Abimelech, Abimelech, etc. There are hundreds, if not thousands or more, instances in the Bible which can make us do the same thing. We can read of David ogling Bathsheba and immediately thoughts of our own indiscretions (albiet maybe only thoughts). Remember that story? In that story, found in 2nd Samuel 11, you will find a mention of Abimelech (verse 21). But, I regress, I did not write this to show a 'common thread' between that story and the ones we are reading today about Abimelech, that just happened. And how about when the seven individuals described in the book of Acts get converted and baptized? When you read of them, do you think automatically of YOUR own baptism? What other, of the thousands available, events in the Bible tend to make you think of something in your own past every time you read it? I would be interested to know.
Okay, enough for an introduction to the chapters today, I'll continue my blog in a bit.
February 20, 2010 9:25 AM
Sam wrote:
Wow, the story of Abimelech (Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. / Wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh / o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh)..sorry, is one great and strange one. This is one mean dude. He gets a bunch of reckless adventurers to follow him and he kills is own brothers. SEVENTY of them. After this, another dude named Jotham who opposed Abimelech, tells the people of Shechem and Beth Milo a parable of trees. In this story, he uses an olive tree, a fig tree and a thornbush to make his point (can any of you tell me what that point was?). Then, continuing in chapter 9, we find Abimelech (Wee-ooh wim-o-weh) waging war with Shechem and other cities. What horrible things he continues to do! Burning alive over 1000 men and women in the tower of Shechem, and then tried to do the same in Thebez, but was miraculously mortally wounded by a WOMAN throwing a millstone down from the tower hitting him. And, of xourse, you know the story...he tells his armor bearer to kill him with a sword as he's dying so it couldn't be said that a woman killed him. What an idiot...he's still dead! People sure have strange ideas!. Glean what you may from this story of Abimelech (Wee-ooh wim-o-weh) and blog about it if you want to. Chapter 10 brings us to three other judges, the first two seemingly to be good God-fearing men, followed by Jephthah, who was not able to properly lead the people of Israel. However, he did try to get the people back to God by trying to establish a peace treaty with the king of the Ammonites. After a lengthy history lesson of the Isrealites travels with God at their helm, the king of Ammon would have nothing to do with it. So they fought. And of course, Jephthah won, but because of some stupid vow he made to God before the battle, he had to sacrifice his virgin daughter, his only child, by killing her. THAT is one strange story, but goes to prove you should never make a vow to God that you don't intend to keep. On that note, HAVE YOU DONE THAT? Have you made promises to God that you may not have kept? Have you made an oath to Him about stopping some certain sin, and yet failed to do so? Remember, you are only human, and will more than likely fall back into sin, so watch what you promise God! If you have, and if you fail, immediately go to Jesus in prayer and ask for His forgiveness. He WILL forgive you, but only if you ask for it (Those who knock, will be allowed in.)
Okay, thhis brings us to the last chapter in today's assigment. A lot of reading today, but very interesting reading. I think the story about pronouncing Shibboleth is a cool one. Obviously, because of their nationality and upbringing, any survivor from Ephraim claiming to be NOT from there, were given a speech test. (Much like Germans don't properly pronounce the English W, and Japanese are known to have difficulty pronouncing the letter R (and Elmer Fudd wrestling with the same letter), the Ephraimites obviously couldn't pronounce the SH .. Reply to this
February 20, 2010 9:30 AM
Sam wrote:
..sound. Because they could not pass this simple test, they were known to be liars, and to actually be Ephramities, and were immediately killed by Jephtath and his people. 42000 folks from Ephraim were killed in this battle and in the attempts to escape it. After Jephthah died, more judges came. Not much is said about them, but you can read what God DID think was important about them in verses 8-15 of this last chapter (12). Well, hope all have a great day....weather here in Atl is supposed to be sunny and warm (finally). See ya'll!
February 20, 2010 11:27 AM
Tony wrote:
Interesting that in chapter 7 verse 18 Gideon tells the men to shout " for the Lord and for Gideon". Yet in verse 20 they shout "a sword for the Lord and for Gideon". My first thought was why for Gideon? That sounds like pride to me and you would think that God would have a punishment for that like He did for Moses when Moses struck the rock for water instead of tapping it. Both instances make the people think it was the person and not the Lord. The second thing I noticed was the men were told to say "for the Lord and for Gideon" yet they say "a sword for the Lord and for Gideon". Bad translation or ... you decide. Again with the leader dying and they jump back to their old ways! Do we do that? Do we go astray when no one is around? Do we go places on the internet where we should not be? Do we take long second glances? Do we....you fill in the blanks. We all have something that we fight with daily, remember the Lord for He is always there, always watching and waiting for us to come with Him. Reply to this
February 20, 2010 11:40 AM
Tony wrote:
Abimelech! Wow what a character! How in the world could people follow someone who killed his own family, his own brothers, all 70 of them! I don't understand the use of the trees and the thorn bush, someone please enlighten me. Again we see pride even to the death. Abimelech has his armor bearer kill him so as not to be killed by a woman. Just a thought, but how often do we give our women the credit they are due both in private and when in groups? Reply to this
February 20, 2010 11:56 AM
Tony wrote:
Jephthah knew his history didn't he. From the escape from egypt to present day. How many of us could do that? Not me. How much did Jephthah fear the Lord? He was a very noble and honorable person with great fear of the Lord, why else would he full fill his vow? To sacrafice your only child because you promised to. I am sure there has been many times in our lives where we have made a promise to God. If You (God) do this for me I will do, or never do ....... We must be careful in what we say, don't make promises that cannot be kept. How old was Jephthah daughter do you think? Reply to this
February 20, 2010 12:00 PM
Tony wrote:
Simple test indeed! 42000 people killed at the crossing. People from their own ancestry I think. All because they thought they did not get asked to go fight. What a crazy reason to go fight your brothers. Why do you think the rulers had such short life spans in the end of the chapter? Where they old to start with? I don't know. Reply to this
February 21, 2010 12:08 AM
Dustin wrote:
Finally finished the taxes after spending most of my day not doing them and avoiding it.Feels good to accomplish something that you dread doing.
So, honestly didnt read all of what i am supposed to read. I got to the parable, as did all of you, and said "What?" and stopped and re-read it a couple of times. So i'll take a shot at it.
One day the trees went out to anoint a king.....the people wanted to anoint a king.
Thought this was interesting so i looked it up-- hold sway: To have a controlling influence; dominate.
The olive tree: Oil honors god and men-EXO 30:23-25, LEV 8:10-13 Anointing oil is Holy.
The fig tree: Was this the forbidden fruit of eden? Anyway it is said by the tree that it is Good. Anything good is Holy. Matthew 7:17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. Just guessing here
The Vine: Many great victories are celebrated with wine, because they didnt have champane(probably spelled wrong) back then. Even Jesus at the last supper had wine. So in a way i believe that wine falls under Holy some how. i found matthew 9:17Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
The thornbush: Really. Would you crawl under a thorn bush for shade. I wouldnt.....OUCH. Thornbushes hurt. I cant explain the fire thing other than the burn associated with the deep cuts you would get from the bush.
So to sum up, Jotham knew the people were good so why would they anoint this painful thorn in there side King? Well thats my take on the parable. I will ask some of my brothers at church tomorrow and see what else i get.
Hope you you all had a great God filled day. Reply to this
Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. / Wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh / o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh...
Ever have something ALWAYS come to your mind when you read or see something. Well, if you don't recognize the lyrics above, the come from the song, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and EVERY time I read the name, Abimelech, I get this tune of the lyrics above in my mind, and I think to myself, Abimelech, Abimelech, Abimelech, Abimelech....well, you get the idea.
WHY is it? Why do we have a certain reaction over and over when we read something? I don't know the term, but the association with reading a word (or words) will sometimes just cause one's brain to reach way back in those deep dark recesses and bring something to the front lobe. This can occur, I think, because of some familiarity with that thought way back in there. Familiarity comes with repetition. Like, Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. / Wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh / o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh, or Abimelech, Abimelech, etc. There are hundreds, if not thousands or more, instances in the Bible which can make us do the same thing. We can read of David ogling Bathsheba and immediately thoughts of our own indiscretions (albiet maybe only thoughts). Remember that story? In that story, found in 2nd Samuel 11, you will find a mention of Abimelech (verse 21). But, I regress, I did not write this to show a 'common thread' between that story and the ones we are reading today about Abimelech, that just happened. And how about when the seven individuals described in the book of Acts get converted and baptized? When you read of them, do you think automatically of YOUR own baptism? What other, of the thousands available, events in the Bible tend to make you think of something in your own past every time you read it? I would be interested to know.
Okay, enough for an introduction to the chapters today, I'll continue my blog in a bit.
God is Great!
Reply to this
Wow, the story of Abimelech (Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. / Wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh / o-wim-o-weh o-wim-o-weh)..sorry, is one great and strange one. This is one mean dude. He gets a bunch of reckless adventurers to follow him and he kills is own brothers. SEVENTY of them. After this, another dude named Jotham who opposed Abimelech, tells the people of Shechem and Beth Milo a parable of trees. In this story, he uses an olive tree, a fig tree and a thornbush to make his point (can any of you tell me what that point was?).
Then, continuing in chapter 9, we find Abimelech (Wee-ooh wim-o-weh) waging war with Shechem and other cities. What horrible things he continues to do! Burning alive over 1000 men and women in the tower of Shechem, and then tried to do the same in Thebez, but was miraculously mortally wounded by a WOMAN throwing a millstone down from the tower hitting him. And, of xourse, you know the story...he tells his armor bearer to kill him with a sword as he's dying so it couldn't be said that a woman killed him. What an idiot...he's still dead! People sure have strange ideas!. Glean what you may from this story of Abimelech (Wee-ooh wim-o-weh) and blog about it if you want to.
Chapter 10 brings us to three other judges, the first two seemingly to be good God-fearing men, followed by Jephthah, who was not able to properly lead the people of Israel. However, he did try to get the people back to God by trying to establish a peace treaty with the king of the Ammonites. After a lengthy history lesson of the Isrealites travels with God at their helm, the king of Ammon would have nothing to do with it. So they fought. And of course, Jephthah won, but because of some stupid vow he made to God before the battle, he had to sacrifice his virgin daughter, his only child, by killing her. THAT is one strange story, but goes to prove you should never make a vow to God that you don't intend to keep. On that note, HAVE YOU DONE THAT? Have you made promises to God that you may not have kept? Have you made an oath to Him about stopping some certain sin, and yet failed to do so? Remember, you are only human, and will more than likely fall back into sin, so watch what you promise God! If you have, and if you fail, immediately go to Jesus in prayer and ask for His forgiveness. He WILL forgive you, but only if you ask for it (Those who knock, will be allowed in.)
Okay, thhis brings us to the last chapter in today's assigment. A lot of reading today, but very interesting reading. I think the story about pronouncing Shibboleth is a cool one. Obviously, because of their nationality and upbringing, any survivor from Ephraim claiming to be NOT from there, were given a speech test. (Much like Germans don't properly pronounce the English W, and Japanese are known to have difficulty pronouncing the letter R (and Elmer Fudd wrestling with the same letter), the Ephraimites obviously couldn't pronounce the SH ..
Reply to this
..sound. Because they could not pass this simple test, they were known to be liars, and to actually be Ephramities, and were immediately killed by Jephtath and his people. 42000 folks from Ephraim were killed in this battle and in the attempts to escape it.
After Jephthah died, more judges came. Not much is said about them, but you can read what God DID think was important about them in verses 8-15 of this last chapter (12).
Well, hope all have a great day....weather here in Atl is supposed to be sunny and warm (finally). See ya'll!
God is Great!
Reply to this
Interesting that in chapter 7 verse 18 Gideon tells the men to shout " for the Lord and for Gideon". Yet in verse 20 they shout "a sword for the Lord and for Gideon". My first thought was why for Gideon? That sounds like pride to me and you would think that God would have a punishment for that like He did for Moses when Moses struck the rock for water instead of tapping it. Both instances make the people think it was the person and not the Lord. The second thing I noticed was the men were told to say "for the Lord and for Gideon" yet they say "a sword for the Lord and for Gideon". Bad translation or ... you decide.
Again with the leader dying and they jump back to their old ways! Do we do that? Do we go astray when no one is around? Do we go places on the internet where we should not be? Do we take long second glances? Do we....you fill in the blanks. We all have something that we fight with daily, remember the Lord for He is always there, always watching and waiting for us to come with Him.
Reply to this
Abimelech! Wow what a character! How in the world could people follow someone who killed his own family, his own brothers, all 70 of them! I don't understand the use of the trees and the thorn bush, someone please enlighten me. Again we see pride even to the death. Abimelech has his armor bearer kill him so as not to be killed by a woman.
Just a thought, but how often do we give our women the credit they are due both in private and when in groups?
Reply to this
Jephthah knew his history didn't he. From the escape from egypt to present day. How many of us could do that? Not me. How much did Jephthah fear the Lord? He was a very noble and honorable person with great fear of the Lord, why else would he full fill his vow? To sacrafice your only child because you promised to. I am sure there has been many times in our lives where we have made a promise to God. If You (God) do this for me I will do, or never do ....... We must be careful in what we say, don't make promises that cannot be kept. How old was Jephthah daughter do you think?
Reply to this
Simple test indeed! 42000 people killed at the crossing. People from their own ancestry I think. All because they thought they did not get asked to go fight. What a crazy reason to go fight your brothers. Why do you think the rulers had such short life spans in the end of the chapter? Where they old to start with? I don't know.
Reply to this
Finally finished the taxes after spending most of my day not doing them and avoiding it.Feels good to accomplish something that you dread doing.
So, honestly didnt read all of what i am supposed to read. I got to the parable, as did all of you, and said "What?" and stopped and re-read it a couple of times. So i'll take a shot at it.
One day the trees went out
to anoint a king.....the people wanted to anoint a king.
Thought this was interesting so i looked it up-- hold sway:
To have a controlling influence; dominate.
The olive tree:
Oil honors god and men-EXO 30:23-25, LEV 8:10-13 Anointing oil is Holy.
The fig tree:
Was this the forbidden fruit of eden? Anyway it is said by the tree that it is Good. Anything good is Holy. Matthew 7:17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
Just guessing here
The Vine:
Many great victories are celebrated with wine, because they didnt have champane(probably spelled wrong) back then. Even Jesus at the last supper had wine. So in a way i believe that wine falls under Holy some how. i found matthew 9:17Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
The thornbush:
Really. Would you crawl under a thorn bush for shade. I wouldnt.....OUCH. Thornbushes hurt. I cant explain the fire thing other than the burn associated with the deep cuts you would get from the bush.
So to sum up, Jotham knew the people were good so why would they anoint this painful thorn in there side King? Well thats my take on the parable. I will ask some of my brothers at church tomorrow and see what else i get.
Hope you you all had a great God filled day.
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Who are the coupons?
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