Heroics, Gender Roles, "Hey Sister, Go Sis-er-a, Sis-er-a Sister"

Judges Week!


Judges 4:17-21

Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died.

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Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, go sister
Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, go sister

"Lady Marmalade" by Labelle written by Kenny Nolan and Robert Crewe from Labelle's "Love Songs"

Ah, the Judges. This reading is a part of the story the Judge Deborah and Barak. Barak was summoned by Deborah and told he would be able to free the people from the Canaanite King Jabin and his harsh General Sisera. Sisera was a true warrior, feared with reason to be feared. His reputation was vast and his reputation was earned. Barak was afraid, and who in their right mind wouldn't be?

Deborah prophesied the path to victory over Jabin and Canaan for Barak, but he was not too keen on going. He didn't want to go alone. He didn't want to go with an army. So he struck a deal, if Deborah would go, he would go. She agreed, but she told him that if she went, the glory would not go to him, but to a woman. I would guess folks thought Deborah would get the glory of the victory. Logical, makes sense. Deborah goes, she gets the glory, right? Not so fast. As we just read, the glory went to Jael.

In seminary, I had a professor who contended that Jael was a controversial figure in biblical studies because she killed Sisera with a tent peg driven east/west from temple to temple "until it went down into the ground." I love how the text continues, "he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died" like the first symptom of having your skull pierced is weariness, followed by death. She contended if she had done it with a Cuisinart, everybody would have been much happier. I don't know nearly as many biblical scholars as my professor, so I gather she had the pulse of the scholarship and the room. From my point of view, the text goes from warm milk to calm him down, a nice rug for a blankey and to hide and then a nice mutilation and he drifts off to slumberville. Then he dies. I think she may have a point.

A point we can make from this is when people's lives go beyond gender expectations, the rest of the world gets uncomfortable. Consider our biblical scholars who would have preferred she found another way to keep him asleep and wait for a big strong man to deliver the killing blow. Some come along to a new world view quickly. Some not so much.

What do I say? Men and women are different. There's no denying this no matter how hard we try. We are different. BUT, this does not mean that women cannot be heroic. This does not mean men cannot be nurturing. This does not mean we cannot transcend the stereotypes of the cultural aspects of gender. Biology? That's a different kettle of fish. But is Jael less of a woman for saving her nation? No. She just followed the call of God and the leadings of the Holy Spirit.

And anybody who thinks she wasn't ladylike should remember she did it with hospitality.

Dogfaces

Judges Week!


Judges 7:1-9

Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops that were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

The LORD said to Gideon, “The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’ Now therefore proclaim this in the hearing of the troops, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home.’ ” Thus Gideon sifted them out; twenty-two thousand returned, and ten thousand remained.

Then the LORD said to Gideon, “The troops are still too many; take them down to the water and I will sift them out for you there. When I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; and when I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” So he brought the troops down to the water; and the LORD said to Gideon, “All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you shall put to one side; all those who kneel down to drink, putting their hands to their mouths, you shall put to the other side.” The number of those that lapped was three hundred; but all the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water. Then the LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred that lapped I will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their homes.” So he took the jars of the troops from their hands, and their trumpets; and he sent all the rest of Israel back to their own tents, but retained the three hundred. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

That same night the LORD said to him, “Get up, attack the camp; for I have given it into your hand.

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Never before have I turned on you,
When you looked this good to me.

"Free for All" by Ted Nugent

What a fiasco this must have looked like. Thousands of men have come to the aid of Gideon to defeat the Midianites, but that's not what the Lord wants. If thousands of men are responsible for the victory then the victors will be full of themselves. The Lord wants to rout the Midianites using a much smaller force. Starting with 32,000 soldiers, the Lord pares the fighting force down to 300. But it's not the 300 most elite of the soldiers. This isn't Leonides and Sparta at the Battle of Thermopylae, this is Gideon and the Dogfaces.

The Lord picks the fighting force by selecting the men who drink like dogs from the river. Most people would dip a hand into the water and drink from their hand. This way a soldier can stay on his feet, alert to his surroundings. He wouldn't have to remove any of his weapons or tools. He would remain dry and be ready to fight if someone comes over the rise. This is how most people would drink from a river.

The dogfaces put their snouts in the water like a dog. They would have been on all fours. They would have been in no position to fight if something had happened. These soldiers could have been slaughtered without being able to get to their feet.

It is with these 300 men that the Lord wants Gideon to rout the Midianites. It is with these 300 men that Gideon does rout the Midianites.

These poor soldiers without enough sense to drink properly from a river are the men the Lord selects. The Lord used them for this glorious end that they would not be able to take credit for. When they got back home, the people would ask, "What do you mean they routed the Midianites? I don't know how these fools even survived!" The answer, is that it is by the Lord's hand that they triumphed. No matter how un educated in the art of war they looked to the trained eye, the Lord looked at them and said, "Never before have I turned on you when you looked this good to me."

It's not up to us, the Lord gives us talents and treasures to use for the good of God's plans. But when push comes to shove, it is the Lord who will conquer not with the best trained and equipped, but with those God ordains to succeed.

Deception

Galatians 6:7-10

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.

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Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

"Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who"

You reap what you so, what a sentence. Simple isn't it, what you plant you harvest. What you do will come back to you with dividends. The thing we miss about the reaping and sowing is that when we plant one seed, we get more than one seed in return, we get dozens and hundreds.

Plant an grain of wheat, the head will have tens of seeds on it. Plant a grain of corn, the cob will have hundreds of seeds. Plant an apple tree and thousands of apples can follow. Plant an olive tree, a tree that can live for a thousand years, and you will get millions of olives. What we plant will be reaped in droves.

So if we plant evil, we will get evil back again and again and again. It's easy to do what's not good for us, and the fruit can be tasty, but it will leave a sour stomach and a tremendous hangover. But if we sow to the Spirit, we will reap eternal life from the Spirit. What we receive is life worth living.

This shouldn't be news. In one way or another we all know this is true. Some learn it when they are young at their parent's knee. Some learn it again in Sunday School and in church. Some actually learn it in school-whether in class or playing at recess. Some learn this lesson in the streets where the pain of the lesson leaves physical scars. Then again, some who learn this lesson at home come away with scars that can't be seen with the naked eye. Some of us don't bother to learn it until it is learned behind bars. Even worse, some will never learn on this side of glory.

One thing hasn't changed though, the boss. The Creator is the ultimate judge. Humanity was created to be in relationship with God and with one another. We are called to a life of peace and joy. The Lord is our God. The Lord is the boss. Christians testify to the God in Three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit- the Blessed Trinity. Living together since before the beginning of creation, this is the new boss, just the same as the old boss.

It is by through the boss that we have an opportunity to work for the good of all, especially for those of the family of faith. So plant the good seed of faith in relationship with God and with one another. This is seed worth growing.