After
hearing the scriptures this morning, are you feeling significantly shocked?!
The text from Judges is most certainly about war and most certainly comments on God’s orchestrating it.
First
a history lesson:
This
part of the Bible – the time of the judges is a period of around 450 yrs., beginning
after Joshua’s death circa 1200 BCE. As Israel moved into Canaan there was
little interference by any strong powers from outside – like Egypt or Mesopotamia
(that would later be the Empires of Babylon, Assyria, Persia, Rome). Israel
faced new nations forming in the Transjordan, raiders from the Arabian desert,
Canaanite city-states, and the newly arrived Philistines along the Mediterranean
Sea. Conflict was localized, growing from tribal jealousies. Israel was a confederacy
of 12 tribes, loosely organized, and held together by a common basis of worship
and social responsibility – held together by their fore-bearers and their shared
covenant with God. They would meet in the
confederate sanctuary in Shiloh, and in times of crisis rise together in action
in the name of the God of the covenant. For the most part tribes did their own thing,
each having their own local chieftains or family heads.
It
was also the period of judges. A judge was a nonhereditary position given to
one upon whom rested a special charisma – an endowment of Yahweh’s, God’s,
spirit. Authority of the person was recognized by the clan and by surrounding tribes. People of the clans visited judges for
mediating legal disputes; the judges applied covenant law to peoples’ lives and
interpreted the law for specific cases.
The
judge introduced to us this morning is Deborah – Deborah a charismatic leader
who in the name of the covenant God corralled the tribal confederacy to go into
battle against the Canaanites.
This
battle has religious meaning - the
Bible text in Judges describes that it was God who lead the army out into the theatre of war
and gave victory by intervening via thunderstorm; the battle was so epic that
even the stars joined in the battle – historic and momentous the battle is
recorded in Judges 5 as an epic song with victory praise going to the God of Israel.
As
Empires rise on all sides, Israel’s
tribal confederacy faced pressure – tribes asked for a King so that they might
be like other nations. This was a shift in understanding and practice. It would
mean that tribes were no longer united by a common devotion to God and the covenant,
or necessarily sharing a common worship and social responsibility – the tribes wanted
a centralized government; where the government was what held common identity.
Faith
survived this change in understanding. Beyond the Confederacy, the voice of God
in the charisma of the judges had expression through the prophetic tradition – where
God spoke to the King, or Kings, through a prophet who reminded them/called them
back to the covenant – a covenant of relationship in worship and social
responsibility.
Move
ahead 2500 years or so, explorers set out to discover lands ‘flowing with milk
and honey;’ to take what land was ‘discovered’ in the name of God and in name
of country. Arriving in the Americas, settlers found tribal confederacies and peoples,
and in the name of God pushed people off their land, set tribes against each
other, instigated war, bought and used people to fight the other settler groups
who were also claiming the land in the name of God and country.
War
is recorded in the Bible because war has always been apart of the human
experience. And God -being part of human experience and understanding- has been
placed right alongside the tellers of the tale into the heart of the war.
War
conversation in the Bible upsets us because we want to believe that God is
better than that – better than the role humans have written God into – it comes down to ourselves, the war stories
upset us because we want to believe that we are better than that.
It
would be unfortunate to leave the conversation overshadowed with the human
preoccupation on and proclivity to war. The idea of the judges is worth taking a moment to
understand. Setting society up with a
system of judges rather than kings was God’s idea of doing something different;
having people purposefully live differently – so as not be like other nations. The focus was applying the law of the
covenant – relationship – with God, with others.
The
idea of judges was to show that there were options when facing conflict. For instance
that conflict could be resolved without violence, without bearing arms, without
going to war – that through a covenant mediator, a judge, people could embrace
reconciliation, reparation, restorative justice, renewed relationship, that
there could be negotiation even collaboration.
A
second history lesson:
Canada
just marked Remembrance Day where we take time to remember and to reflect on war.
Luther
wrote: “War is the greatest plague that can afflict humanity, it destroys
religion, it destroys states, it destroys families. Any scourge is preferable
to it.”
In
WWII the Evangelical church – that’s the Lutheran church in Germany - shock
hands with Hitler. Churches were places of flags, banners, and propaganda; and
at the same time behind the scenes- churches participated in the underground
transporting of people -Jews in particular- to get out. Churches towed the
party line hosting state dignitaries and being visibly present and supportive
of the Reich in public political gatherings. There were churches who stepped
out- sending their pastors to universities abroad to teach – but really to let
the pastors tell the truth of what was happening. Some pastors were chosen by
the government to go abroad and be spies for the authorities – do it and send back information,
failure to do so would mean imprisonment or death for them or family members. Some pastors remained in the safety of North
American university life while others went back to Germany to be with their
people. Lutheran pastor Bonhoeffer who started an illegal seminary outside the
church of the day was active in attempts to assassinate Hitler.
In
the Canadian experience of figuring out what to do, who to be during WWII: we created
internment camps for Japanese Canadians, gave Black and First Nation’s people more rights
as soldiers than as citizens, German Lutheran congregations gave up their
language so as not to be associated with their country of origin, Lutheran pastors
were tarred and feathered in small town ON. Conscription caused heated
conflicted between English and French Canada. Some chose not to fight – to stand
as conscientious objectors – like Mennonites, 7th Day Adventists,
Quakers, on the grounds of faith As the war
came to an end, the Lutheran church in Canada reached out to Displaced People
of Europe – Germans and Eastern Europeans; forming Canada Lutheran World Relief
to open the homes of Lutherans in Canada to those refugeed by war.
The
history lesson of the Lutheran Church and people of faith in WWII illustrates a
myriad of options – without any one option being wholly acceptable or wholly flawed.
The church, faithful communities, individuals were thrown into the theatre of war
-having to make choices quickly in the midst of change. How does one make such choices
and understand or see all the options? How does one faithfully weigh conscience,
beliefs, acceptable actions, duty, social responsibility, and remain able to
say one’s prayers at night? This is why
the Bible contains stories that make us uncomfortable – why we read of peoples’
experiences and how they interpret God in them, around them, through them. So
that we might have the chance to reflect should we one day have to make such
choices. And we hear it in community so that we might have conversation and
reflection together.
In
the 1980s the church went through a period where an effort was made to clean up
what was heard at church. The readings for today would definitely have been
expunged; out the door with all the great stories of lions, fiery furnaces, and
children being eaten by bears (yes that does happen in 2 Kings); all to focus
on the happy feel good stories. However, as you have heard me preach before,
those very terrible stories to a parent of the 1980s were the very stories that
placed a framework within a child’s brain.
When someone has a frame work -a black and white story of good and evil-
as one grows and starts to question because of circumstances faced in life,
then the story can change, be added to, taken away from, questioned, thought
about, gain more dimension. That is what
is happening with the adult story we hear today. All this talk of war is a
reflection of the human condition -and instead of sweeping it under the rug-
people of faith are being asked to wrestle with war, faith, relationship with
other people, solving conflict, violence, and where does God fit into all of
this.
I
have no answers this morning -outside of why I feel such texts are included in
the Bible- I don’t know what I would do in a time of war, I certainly have taken
time to reflect on it; and have much more reflecting to do. I have heard many stories from faithful people who have
experienced war, who interpret God being active and apart of the experience –
right there beside them: God present in escaping, in hiding, in fighting, in
offering mercy, or being shown mercy. I
would like to belief that those holy conversations, that my relationships with
you and our talks about how God is and how are we to be in the world; that our connection
to the God of the covenant, our common worship and social responsibility --- is
so much apart of me, that any choices I make, options I look for, are made,
trusting in this collective wisdom.
God
-involved in the human condition-
When
confronted with conflict may we have courage to seek options without violence
or war;
When
war is at our door and there are no choices that are acceptable be at our side
And
let collective wisdom be our guide. Amen.
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