According to other historical writings the bones of all Jacob's sons were brought back and buried in Israel, in the area of their inheritances. Something to ponder...at Jesus' crucifixion.
Matthew 27:50-53
And crying again with a loud voice, Jesus released His spirit. And, behold! The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And the earth quaked, and the rocks were sheared, and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose, and coming out of the tomb after His resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Are the holy ones, raised at Jesus' crucifixion the patriarchs of the past - Abraham, Sarah, Isaac,
Rebekah, Jacob's wives and sons?
Rebekah, Jacob's wives and sons?
Judges 1:1
After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, "Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?"
God had already told them earlier that He (God) would do their fighting for them (Joshua 23). A better question for them to ask would have been, "Who will be the first to go into the land?"
The Lord answered with, "Judah is to go; I have given the land into their hands." And yet, the men of Judah asked their brothers the Simeonites to go and fight with them. Then Judah and Simeon join forces and fight for Jerusalem, a city in Benjamin's territory. They were unsuccessful in part because they were influenced with pagan culture in the land. Not so sure that Jerusalem was supposed to be burned. And where was the tribe of Benjamin? Why wasn't his tribe helping take Jerusalem?
The people were again disobedient in part and suffered the consequence of being unable to drive out some of the inhabitants of the land.
The commentary in the Chronological Bible, "The danger of incomplete conquest is the lingering presence of pagan influence." Not much difference today. The Israelites were fascinated with the pagan culture around them. Again, not much difference for us today. Many people are fascinated with paganism, witchcraft, and the occult (at times even in the Christian church portrayed as innocent events).
Judah and Simeon join forces and attack the Canaanites and Perizzites. A rather unique thing happens with a ruler named Adoni-Bezek.
Judges 1:6
And Adoni-bezek fled. And they ran after him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
This makes a person rather handicapped. He can no longer run or wield a sword or bow.
Interesting connection with the angel of the Lord in Judges 2:1-5 and the angel of the Lord in Exodus 23:20-22. Seems as if we are seeing a pattern here.
Another pattern emerges as well. The people were told to break down the altars of the pagan gods. They did not and the gods became a snare. The people wept when the Angel of the Lord revealed this to them and they offered sacrifices to the Lord. The question remains. Were they only giving "lip-service"?
No comments:
Post a Comment