Author: Erin Newton

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Monarchies Are Manmade Constructs

Links for today’s readings:

Read: 1 Samuel  12 Listen: (4:19) Read: Jude Listen: (4:12)

Scripture Focus: 1 Samuel 12:13-15

13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. 15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.

Reflection: Monarchies Are Manmade Constructs

By Erin Newton

Royalty is a manmade construct and antithetical to the desires of God. Yet today royalty is the object of tabloids and paparazzi, whether they are royal heirs or celebrities with royal status.

Royalty is the outworking of othering. It is created once the distinction has been made between them and us.

In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh was thought to be the embodiment of a god. The king’s voice was god’s voice. He held absolute power and inevitably exploited it.

Despite God’s warning through the prophet Samuel against requesting a king, Israel was set on being like the world around them. The set-apart people demanded conformity.

Samuel laments their decision and recounts the ways in which Israel had called out to God for deliverance only to fall back into sin and error pleading for redemption again. Like a parent who has watched a child go against their advice only to find themselves at risk of disaster, Samuel gives the only advice left: This can only succeed if you (king and community) follow God faithfully. But the reality of human nature looms large. Failure is not only warned against, it is expected.

From this moment forward, the judgment of God is on a tenuous delay. We will continue reading Israel’s history, watching as the first king, Saul, embraces sin. Israel’s second king, David, does the same through the abuse of Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. The downward spiral culminates when God delays no longer.

We are all guilty of wanting to conform to the world. We sometimes look to political or religious leaders with the false sense that this one will solve all our problems. Likewise, leaders often fall into the temptation that their words are as good as God’s. They speak in absolutes, daring anyone to disagree.

Samuel, as a prophet, stands to speak against the foolishness of his own community. And the prophets will continue to take center stage (at least in the arrangement of our Old Testament books). In reality, they were the minority voice among a community that enjoyed their worldly conformity. How different are we today?

Leaders are not gods, but we’ve blasphemously given them labels like “savior” or “messiah.” The sharp contrast necessary to maintain a hierarchy of people—a few at the top, many at the bottom—is nowhere indicated as good in God’s creation.

Our job now is to be like Samuel, interceding for our community despite our collective error.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; love and truth go before your face. — Psalm 89.14

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Dethroning Kings and Powers

Joshua threw down kings but did not take their place. God was the only king or power Israel needed.

Dethroning Kings and Powers
Read more: Forces and Powers

We don’t resist the world’s powers with worldly weapons or resist demonic powers by attacking humans.

Forces and Powers

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Rare Visions and Blind Priests

Links for today’s readings:

Read: 1 Samuel 3 Listen: (3:03) Read: 2 Timothy 1 Listen: (2:37)

Scripture Focus: 1 Samuel 3:1, 12-13

1 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them.

Reflection: Rare Visions and Blind Priests

By Erin Newton

Do you think God ever needs time to “recharge his social battery”? Is he ever at a loss for words? No, that’d be ridiculous. The God of the universe does not grow tired or weary.

So why is the word of the Lord during Eli’s priesthood a rare occurrence? Koowon Kim points out that just as Eli’s eyesight was failing, so too was his spiritual vision (1 Samuel, Asia Bible Commentary).

The text says, “There were not many visions.” So there had to be some. God was still speaking to his people, just as he had been doing during Abraham’s sojourn, Moses’s wildnerness wandering, and so on. God wasn’t suddenly mute. God’s leader simply stopped listening.

The apprenticeship of Samuel meant fresh eyes toward God. In fact, notice where Samuel was sleeping—in the temple. He was in the prime location to convene with God. However, when God called once, twice, and a third time(!), Samuel was unaware of his voice.

What exactly had Eli been teaching his young protégé? Lessons must have been centered around the liturgical duties he’d need to perform someday: sacrifices, cleansing, blessings, intercessions, burning, washing, etc. In all of his lessons, Eli must not have mentioned that God liked to talk to his own people. The priesthood for him was simply going through the motions.

But God doesn’t give up. Koowon Kim notes that God would have called Samuel over and over and over until he responded. He is that persistent with us. If Eli was going blind (spiritually and physically), God would grab the attention of those fresh eyes—someone willing to jump up in the middle of the night to answer the call of his master.

If God never tires of speaking to his people, why was the word of the Lord so rare? Based on the vision given to Samuel of the impending judgment for Eli, Koowon Kim suggests, “As it turned out, the corrupt leadership constituted the obstacles that prevented the words and visions of God from making it to the nation.”

And so it is today. Some Christian leaders are blind to the vision of God. Like Eli, they ignore “the sin they knew about” and tolerate those who yoke our God with sinful practices.

We can be Elis or Samuels: obstacles or prophets. We can snuff out the Light of the world in our lives or we listen to God calling us.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined from ore and purified seven times in fire. — Psalm 12.6

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: God Starts In The Dark

Samuel’s light that brought judgment and exposed corruption…banished his mother’s shame but shamed Eli’s wicked sons.

God Starts In The Dark
Read more: Where Judgment Falls

Samuel comes to remind us that judgment is coming for the Hophni’s, Phinehas’s, and Eli’s of the world…

Where Judgment Falls
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Tribe Over Truth

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Judges 20 Listen: (7:13) Read: Hebrews 7 Listen: (4:01)

Scripture Focus: Judges 20: 12-13, 35-36

12 The tribes of Israel sent messengers throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What about this awful crime that was committed among you? 13 Now turn those wicked men of Gibeah over to us so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.”

But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites.

35 The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and on that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords. 36 Then the Benjamites saw that they were beaten.

Reflection: Tribe Over Truth

By Erin Newton

I have stood in that precarious place, watching and waiting to see how people—people I trusted with my story—would respond. Would they believe me? What about the perpetrator’s friends? Whose side would they pick?

The burden of proof for a victim of abuse is almost unbearable. Not only has one endured abuse, but it often falls on the victim to convince others that a wrong has been committed. Sadly, some people choose friendships over accepting the grim reality that a person in their circle has harmed another human being.

When those who should purge such wickedness instead grant it safe harbor, they too become complicit.

After the heinous acts were committed against the woman in Judges 19, a glimmer of hope arises as Israel responds. Envoys were sent to Benjamin to make them aware of what happened “and give them the opportunity to acknowledge the crime, to distance themselves from Gibeah and to ensure that justice was done” (Mary Evans, Tyndale Old Testament Commentary: Judges and Ruth). Now was the community’s chance to stand for what was right, but they chose their tribe over the truth.

War ensued after Benjamin defiantly refused to support the victim. (Some see the Levite’s description of the event as an attempt to cover his own complicit nature and an attempt to make himself the victim of “lost/damaged property.” The woman was clearly the victim here and Israel was right to respond in outrage.)

Let us not forget: The Levite sent proof! Even in this scenario, it is not a question of evidence, but of morality. It is a battle between allegiance to other humans and the justice God demands.  

Through Benjamin’s refusal to listen to the envoys and to react in a way that enacted justice, they were choosing either their own collective self-image or choosing to ignore faults for the sake of some past glory they had as a tribe. The motive in Judges 20 is not stated.

What is clear in this story is this: Evil should never be allowed a foothold within the community. This goes beyond abuse. Evil of all kinds cannot be tolerated; God hates unjust scales. This means that God not only hates it when evil is tolerated, but when people discriminate against which kind of evil is punished and which kind is pardoned.

We are called to be a voice for the voiceless. Don’t choose tribe over truth.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Show your goodness, O Lord, to those who are good and to those who are true of heart. — Psalm 125.4

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Facing Ugly Truths

When ugly truths that should shock us come to light today, how do we face them?

https://theparkforum.org/843-acres/facing-ugly-truths

Read more: Allowing Injustice to Save Face

Jephthah’s vow was to his pride, not God. He saved face rather than his daughter.

Allowing Injustice to Save Face
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The Hero’s Parents

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Judges 13 Listen: (3:44) Read: 1 Peter 5 Listen: (2:11)

Scripture Focus: Judges 13:21-24

21 When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.
22 “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!”
23 But his wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.”
24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson.

Reflection: The Hero’s Parents

By Erin Newton

Samson is the Rapunzel of the Old Testament—at least relating to his luscious locks of hair. No one really thinks about his parents, perhaps we are all accustomed to granting his success as a gift from God (and his failure to the hands of his lover).

In the Bible, miraculous children are destined by God for specific purposes. The purpose of Abraham’s promised child (Isaac) was tied to the covenant already given by God. “To your offspring I will give this land” (Genesis 12). Zechariah’s promised child (John) would “bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God” (Luke 2). Manoah’s promised child (Samson) is to “take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

We often look at the joy that erupts at the news of a barren womb made fruitful. It is miraculous. But when Manoah prays to God, I can only imagine the element of shock—not because he was now going to be a father but that he was going to be tasked with raising a divinely appointed child. That would terrify me.

I’m glad Samson had both his father and his mother and that we get to see how both react. Manoah needs a little more reassurance. He tries to get the angel’s name as if that would grant him some sort of power or good luck. He delays the angel, trying to win favor by making an impromptu offering. And he is shocked when the offering billows up to heaven revealing their guest was divine.

Samson’s mother, though nameless here, has the steady demeanor of not freaking out. She meets the angel, receives the miraculous promise, and then rushes home admitting that she might have forgotten to get all the details. And when they realize the guest that was in their presence was the angel of the Lord, she has the logic and wisdom to reassure her husband that God does not promise blessing and then haphazardly kill you when he meets with you.

Once again, Judges gives us a glimpse of people having typical reactions to a very supernatural event. They are also imperfect in their faith and perhaps in their ability to raise this son (see chapter 14). But God knows this will happen. He calls them, meets with them, and continues to uphold his promises—even when they freak out.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so is his mercy great upon those who fear him. — Psalm 103.11

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: It’s in the Bible

“Well, it’s right there in the Bible, so it must not be a sin. But it sure does seem like an awful dirty trick…” — Rich Mullins

It’s In The Bible
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Embracing Uncertainty

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Judges 6 Listen: (6:15) Read: Titus 1 Listen: (2:24)

Scripture Focus: Judges 6:39-40

39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

John 14:8

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Reflection: Embracing Uncertainty

By Erin Newton

Anxiety was always part of my life, so adding it to my faith was natural.

If your early days in the faith look like mine, you repeatedly prayed for supernatural signs. I always needed God to prove my salvation was secure. Did that prayer “stick”? Maybe I should do it again.

When I read Scripture that spoke of “ye of little faith,” I was the “ye.” Paired with comments that doubting was a lack of faith, I assumed my doubt meant my faith was in jeopardy.

Unfortunately, this mindset about faith caused me to read the story of Gideon in a condescending way. Gideon, he of little faith. An Old Testament Doubting Thomas.

Susan Niditch calls Gideon our most “pleasingly insecure” hero. Yet God loves this insecure hero. He doesn’t back away from using him.

Gideon is called to save Israel from the hands of the Midianites. Despite the God-given instructions, he’s not free from his own insecurity. Has his faith faltered? Have the previous days or years following God suddenly become nullified because he asks God for a sign? And one more sign? No. Gideon the hero struggles with anxiety just like any one of us.

Philip, one of the apostles, repeats this same scenario in John 14. Jesus tells his disciples that he is about to leave them. Things are about to get a lot worse. Philip, looking for some place to alleviate his insecure feelings, says: “Show us the Father and that will be enough.” One more sign. Then I can keep going.

God didn’t hesitate to answer Gideon. Insecurity does not offend God. Jesus answers Philip by pointing out the answer has always been his presence. He was answering his insecurity before Philip realized his own anxiety.

Gideon cannot escape his insecurity. Philip is not immune to doubts. Our repetitive pleas to God to help our uncertainty is not a sign of diminishing faith. Asking for a sign is met with God’s own reassuring words, “I’ve been with you all this time.”

The indwelling of the Spirit will not erase our anxieties. (Oh, how I wish he would remove this thorn in the flesh!) Embracing uncertainty is a part of faith. But like our own fears—our best method is to embrace the overwhelming uncertainty, learning to live in the tension between the surety of our faith in Christ and the common human reaction to ask for one more reassurance.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

You are my helper and my deliverer; O Lord, do not tarry. — Psalm 70.6

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Count Your Hardships

Balanced with the various ways God provided, the anxiety-inducing “what-if” turns into the hope-filled “even-if.”

Count Your Hardships
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