Contemplative Bible Reading

2 Kings 19:35-36 (New Living Translation)

35 That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. 36 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.

In the old times, a man named Hezekiah was king of God’s people. King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded the land and swept everyone from his path. He is at the gates of Jerusalem. The outcome is predictable; it won’t end well for the people making their last stand in Jerusalem.

The unimaginable happens. 185,000 Assyrian solders die in one night. King Sennacherib of Assyria pulled up stakes and went home.

What happened? An angel killed 185,000 soldiers in one night. These were soldiers. They were big, strong, tough men. Dead. One night. Just like that.

How do you picture an angel? Soft, white, fluffy clothes, wings of glorious white feathers that glow because they are clean and soft and all that lovely stuff? How about a stone cold killer? How about blood and gore everywhere? Imagine the carnage, the filth, the odor of 185,000 dead bodies. This is a sea of corpses caused by one angel in a few hours.

Soft, cuddly, cute angel? I don’t see that here. Fear the angel of the Lord. When the angel of the Lord told the sheep herders about the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the sheep herders were “sore afraid,” i.e., terrorized. Fear the angel of the Lord.

Judges 7:21-22a (New Living Translation)

21 Each man stood at his position around the camp and watched as all the Midianites rushed around in a panic, shouting as they ran to escape. 22 When the 300 Israelites blew their rams’ horns, the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords.

This is part of the (hi)story of Gideon and a small army of 300 men defeating a huge army of Midianites. This is the account of holding torches in jars to keep them dark. Then, in a great startling moment, the 300 broke the jars, exposed the torches, and blew horns. Each horn represented a group of 50-or-so men coming at you in the middle of the night.

It was a great ruse. The Midianites were deceived. In a panic, they killed each other.

That was the story taught in Sunday School to eager boys who wanted to read that John Wayne was active in the Bible and all that action and adventure. Pow. Bam. Zoom. Crunch. And all that. Tactics were key to the victory.

Nope. As it says, “the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords.” The Lord did this. The surprise, the horn blasts, the immediate torches, surrounding the camp on all sides, all that stuff explains this event to the tactician and student of military history. That, however, is not what caused the Midianites to kill one another. The Lord caused it. The Lord did it.

This was a miracle that saved the Lord’s people from yet another invading army, from yet another earthly foe. God did it. End of explanation. And the people at the time, including what was left of the fleeing Midianite army, knew what happened.

Let’s give God the credit. Same today: let’s give God the credit.

1 Chronicles 16:21-22 (New Living Translation)

21 Yet he did not let anyone oppress them. He warned kings on their behalf:
22 “Do not touch my chosen people, and do not hurt my prophets.”

These statements are part of a song that King David wrote on the occasion of bringing the Ark of the Covenant into a special tent. David sings of the things God (mentioned as “he” in these statements) has done.

God issued a warning to the kings of other peoples in the region: do not touch my chosen people.

God, the Creator of all, chose a group of people to do something on earth to help all mankind for all time. The first person in the people was Abraham who was chosen because of the faith he displayed. The rest of the chosen people were descendants of Abraham through one particular line of descent.

The chosen people were not more capable than other people. The chosen people often fell flat on their face. They remained, however, the chosen people.

And God adds one more item: do not hurt my prophets. God sent messages to the people through these prophets. The test of, “is this guy really a prophet or just a used car salesman?” was quite simple. If the events a person always foretold came to be, that was a prophet. We aren’t talking about getting bets on football games right 55% of the time. We are talking about specific world events and being right ALL THE TIME. Don’t hurt those special people.

The result? Naw. Folks didn’t follow the command. The kings who were warned went on and did whatever they did. Suffering followed.

When God warns and commands, act accordingly. History teaches. We should learn.

Judges 3:1 (New Living Translation)

1 These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan.

This is part of the (hi)story of the people entering the land God had given them. This verses state that God had left some other nations in the land as a test to the people. This was sort of an ongoing exercise program or something so the people would stay sharp or ready or something good.

Let’s note that: God tests people.

Sounds like a good idea. We all need a little testing now and then to see if we are ready or diligent or something we should be. Perhaps I’ll help God here and do some testing myself and … N O P E

God is God. I am not. Let’s leave the testing to God. Perhaps I have missed it, but I do not recall anywhere in the Bible where I am given the authority to test other people. Aargh. I am well equipped by God to do such testing.

I think … N O P E. Leave the testing to God.

1 Chronicles 21:1 (New Living Translation)

Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel.

This is part of the (hi)story of David taking a census. Seems a normal thing to do, right? Wrong. God provided; more than enough. There was no need to, “Figure out exactly how many men we have so I can calculate whether or not to go to war or do this or do that.”

God provided enough to do what God instructed David to do. That’s the key here: God provided.

Why did David do such a stupid thing? Why did he act against the simple fact that God provided? Read the first few words: Satan rose up against Israel.

Satan acted in the affairs of nations and kings.

That was ancient, or pre-ancient or whatever we call it, times. Things are not the same today, right? Uh, not too sure about that. I mean, Satan doesn’t rise up against the USA, the UK, Russia, China, etc. Surely, we are all too sophisticated to be “rose up against” by Satan. Right? I think the answer is, “Wrong.”

I look around and I see wonderful blessings in this nation and my community. I see people loving one another and doing for one another. And then … well, there are other things I see. I won’t list them, but I see awful things that we do. Why would otherwise good people do awful things? Why would otherwise good people hate one another, spew hateful words, do hateful harm? Is it Satan rising up against us? I believe so.

Thanks be to God for blessings and rule.

Joshua 24:2-3a (New Living Translation)

2 Joshua said to the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your ancestor Abraham …

Joshua is talking to the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of the tribes. He is passing along what Jehovah, the God of Israel told him.

Long ago, he begins, your ancestors worshiped other gods. That is not a good opening line. I mean, your forefathers and all those folks. The current people, a million or more of them, talked about their ancestors. They revered their ancestors. And here we have it, those ancestors worshiped other gods.

I struggle to imagine the culture of the world at that time. I grew up in church worshiping the one God they called Jehovah the God of Israel. That wasn’t the world of Joshua. Joshua’s world had many well-known gods. Every mountain, river, valley, ocean, etc. had a god the locals knew by name. The locals paid homage to their local gods. I don’t know a world like that. I have never heard anyone mention the god of Virginia or the god of Louisiana. Just doesn’t happen.

That, however, was the world and the culture of that time. B U T God took Abraham and …

God changed the world. God pulled Abraham out of that life and taught Abraham to be faithful and listen to Jehovah the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel).

God changed the world. God still changes the world each day. I believe that if I open my eyes I will see God working every day in front of me. Even in this little coffee shop on Saturday mornings. Thanks be to God.

1 Chronicles 27:32-34 (New Living Translation)

32 Jonathan, David’s uncle, was a wise counselor to the king, a man of great insight, and a scribe. Jehiel the Hacmonite was responsible for teaching the king’s sons. 33 Ahithophel was the royal adviser. Hushai the Arkite was the king’s friend. 34 Ahithophel was succeeded by Jehoiada son of Benaiah and by Abiathar. Joab was commander of the king’s army.

Here is a list of King David’s close advisors and assistants. David was a successful King in the way most measure success. He gathered riches, acquired lands, and won battles. He had good advisors and assistants — for the most part.

Buried in the middle of these names is Jehiel the Hacmonite. Jehiel was responsible for teaching the king’s sons. Oops. Not good at this job. We read in 2 Samuel of the horrible actions of several of David’s sons. This actions ended in a deadly civil war, attempted coup, and what not. What’s more, those actions sowed the seeds of a division of God’s people where ten of the tribes went their own way into idolatry and sin.

Jehiel was an inept teacher. He taught poorly. We aren’t told what happened to him. Did he witness the failures of his former pupils? How did he feel later?

Teaching isn’t easy. Even the best teachers who teach the best lessons have students who go on to misdeeds. Pray for teachers. Pray for learners. Pray for all of us.

Joshua 9:14 (New Living Translation)

14 So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord.

This is part of the (hi)story of the people coming into the land the LORD had promised them. Joshua was leading them. As they progressed, they won a string of military victories. People in the land were rightly afraid.

Some people in Gibeon had a plan of deception. The plan worked. The Israelites examined the goods held by the people from Gibeon. Everything seemed in order. The deception was well crafted and was working. The Israelites believed what they saw. They did not, however, consult the LORD.

They were fooled. They were foolish.

Consult the LORD. Everything I see, taste, touch, hear, and all that tells me one thing. Consult the LORD. But, but, but… wrong. Consult the LORD. Just do it. Consult the LORD.

1 Kings 11:4 (New Living Translation)

4 In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been.

This is part of the (hi)story of Solomon. He was a successful King in many ways. He was a failure in a few, major ways. He was the son of David chosen by God to be the King. Solomon was blessed by God with wisdom.

We read here, however, how Solomon failed in his old age. Many of Solomon’s wives turned his heart to worship other gods. Let’s note that marriage and wives and such among the kings of the time was not like marriage in today’s America (in many ways).

Many of these marriages for kings were political treaties. A king would say something like, “I won’t invade your country and kill your people because your people are the descendants of my daughter. That is why I gave my daughter to you as a bride. Be nice to my daughter. Build her a palace. Build her a place of worship where she can worship the gods of my country.”

Oh, that last part. God didn’t like that last part. Solomon tripped on that last part. He had all these political-treaty wives who worshiped all these gods. Well, the thinking goes, since Jehovah, the one, true God, gave me this wife with all her gods, there must be something worthwhile in worshiping these gods. Right? Wrong.

Then we have the departed father and King David. David had many faults. David caused the death of a good man so David could have the man’s wife. David killed, and killed, and killed some more—a stone-cold killer in battle.

Nevertheless, David never turned to worship other gods. Bad things happened to David. In despair, David always turned to Jehovah the God who created all. David, stumbling and bumbling as he did, remained faithful to God.

David is a good example to follow. I stumble and bumble and all that everyday. I can always look to the one true God. Thank you God for forgiving me all my stumbling and bumbling.

Joshua 1:8 (New Living Translation)

8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

God is speaking to Joshua after the death of Moses. Pause for a moment and consider that one. God is speaking to Joshua. How? Better listen up Joshua!

God had given the people a Book of Instruction via Moses. Hey Joshua, study it. Read it day and night. Think about it. Figure out how to apply it.

The result? Prosperity and success. There are many different ways to prosper and succeed. An obvious one is money. And how about health? Family? Friends? People who live peaceably with one another and work together for common good?

Still, want to prosper and succeed? Who will answer, “Naw, I want to struggle and fail.” No one. Here are plain instructions. Step A leads to situation B. What else do I want?

Okay, I live today. I have this Holy Bible. Is it the same as the Book of Instruction? Not exactly, but it has many similarities. Do I want to prosper and succeed in several ways or other? I do. I have. There is more to come. Thanks be to God.