Today I write to Jephthah and his daughter. Theirs is a heart-wrenching story and you can read it in Judges 10:17–12:7.
Continue reading Ending passivity: a letter to Jephthah and his daughter
Tag: Judges
Passion and power: a letter to Samson
Today I write to Samson. His birth story is in Judges 13, and the account of his life is in Judges 14–16. The narrative seems to pick out the most dramatic events, which makes it easy to miss that he ruled (judged) Israel for 20 years.
Continue reading Passion and power: a letter to Samson
The reward of victory: a letter to Barak and Deborah
As I mentioned last week, the list in Hebrews 11 of the cloud of witnesses is not in chronological order. So even though I wrote to Gideon last week, this week’s letter is to Barak and Deborah – who came before Gideon. Their story is in Judges 4 and Deborah’s victory song is in Judges 5.
Fair warning, both chapters are a bit gory—and I do discuss war crimes in this post.
Continue reading The reward of victory: a letter to Barak and Deborah
Jars of clay: a letter to Gideon
I’m returning to my series of letters to people listed in Hebrews 11 as the “cloud of witnesses” who went before us. Last year I got to Rahab, and this year I’m finishing by writing to those the author of Hebrews didn’t have time to cover: Gideon, Barak (and Deborah), Samson, Jephthah (and his daughter), David and Samuel.
The topic of warfare is common to all of them, and some of these men made disastrous decisions. Even so, I’m looking forward to discovering more about each of them as I write to them.
Continue reading Jars of clay: a letter to Gideon