|
The
Ammonite Uprising
by
Major Stephen Court
(Judges 10:6ff)
"It looks as
if the chief trade of Israel
had been to import deities from all countries. It is hard to
say whether it was more impious or impolitic to do this."
Matthew Henry
"The ministry of deliverance was always birthed out of a
womb of social darkness and trauma." Francis Frangipane
'Though muffled, the ear-rattling cacophony of heavy, rhythmic
thumping beat time with incessant drumming in my head. Inside,
wound in this warm, slightly suffocating womb, darkness was
interrupted by the wild flickering of dancing shadows behind
sacrificial flames. Sweat mingled with incense, and fear with
intrigue. Pungent with the odor of flesh, both living and
dying, human heaving punctuated the encompassing symphony.
Scattered among writhing bodies jutted ritualistic
paraphernalia of all shapes and sizes. Judged by the elders to
be old enough to contribute to the encouragement and
stimulation of the gods, I stood doubtful after my escort
escaped into the dancing shadows. Millennia later, the
double-dip Drive-In would offer a much less intimidating
sexual introduction. While processing these images and
questions against the rumors I’d heard, my temple prostitute
swayed into view. Hideous make-up covered her whole body, most
of which I could see, even in the eerie light. Virgin fear
beat tracks ahead of disgust as I recognized, beneath the
layers of body paint, my buddy Yitzak’s mother! I changed my
mind about helping Baal and Ashtart get together.'
Scholars disagree about what actually took place during the
ritual sexual acts of the pagan temples in which the
Israelites desecrated themselves. But you get the idea.
Put yourself in Israelite shoes. Imagine a whole generation
that had never planted a flower, let alone a crop; that had
never worried about the weather, because, odds were, the
people were picking up to leave sometime soon, anyway. The
wilderness generation of Israelites fed from the gracious hand
of God.
This Promised Land deal wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
Not only did they have to fight for the land, the Jews had to
fight with it. The nomads were settling down. And there were
decidedly no green thumbs among them.
It
was only natural that they would look around to learn how to
farm. The Hebrews looked to their neighbors, the Ammonites,
Sidonites, Philistines, and Moabites. And they learned that to
ensure a good crop, you had to placate the god of the crops.
To guarantee a fruitful season, you must mollify the god of
fertility. Evidence indicates that not only were the
Israelites eager to learn, but that their neighbors were eager
to teach them.
These neighbours imagined that their crops flourished when
Baal performed sexual intercourse with his consort, Ashtart,
or Ashtoreth, the goddess of fertility. So, to encourage the
gods along, worshippers engaged in sexual intercourse, the man
identifying with Baal, and the woman with Ashtart. Astarte had
an appetite for the young, similar to the gods of today.
The Israelites adopted this liturgy. Maybe they were too
enthusiastic! Their syncretism was temporary. Quickly it
became apparent that the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the
gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of
the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines could not be
served along with Yahweh, could not be added to a counsel of
gods that included Yahweh. They learned, as they abandoned
Him, that He is a jealous God. He sold them into the hands of
the Philistines and Ammonites.
They were shattered and crushed. Declension from righteous
standards leads to a reversion to the senses. Often perversion
squirms its way into worship. Male anatomy gets attention. If
you have sex enough then the crops grow bigger. God was angry.
God sold them into slavery. Poverty, bondage, and abuse
replaced righteousness, compassion, and justice. The revolt
against the Law was the turning point of their sexual
revolution. And for eighteen years they suffered under this
oppression, in this sin.
Then the
Israelites cried out to the LORD, "We have sinned against you,
forsaking our God and serving the Baals (Judges 10:10)." The
LORD replied, “Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let
them save you when you are in trouble!" But the Israelites
said to the LORD, "We have sinned. Do with us whatever you
think best, but please rescue us now." Then they got rid of
the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And He could
bear Israel's misery no longer. Judges
10:14-16
Upon their
repentance, God sent a deliverer to His people, and unlikely
hero. And in so doing, He offended their primitive religious
sensitivities. He sent them a Gentile whose name prophetically
promised, "Yahweh will open". Modern Jews figure that he was
an Ishmaelite. Jephthah delivered the people of Israel out from
under the oppression of the Ammonites, and into a substantial
period of peace.
The Anatomy of the Ammonite Uprising.
The watchwords of revival were repentance, solemnity,
humility, and peace.
After wandering 18 years in the wilderness of sin and
oppression, the Israelites cried out to God in repentance.
Their humble confession not only submitted to God’s justice
but also appealed to His mercy.
The children of Israel met together, probably in a solemn
assembly at the door of the tabernacle, received the
impressions of the message God had sent them, were not driven
by it to despair, though it was very threatening, but resolve
to lie at God's feet, and, if they perish, they will perish
there.
And then God
taught them continuing humility, as He devised a rescue plan
hinged on the leadership of a Gentile. But the result of
repentance, solemnity, and humility, was a period of
victorious peace, as three Israelite judges led Israel in succession to Jephthah
(Judges 12:7-15). They returned to the family. They returned
to God. They re-established the Law. They stopped their
sinning. Their society grew strong without the weakening of
sin. Blessing followed their obedience to God.
The return of peace to the Israelites brought with it the
opposites. Freedom, the rule of law, trade, support, and
opportunity were available to all. Mercy and justice became
routine aspects of Israelite life.
The Ammonite
Uprising is evocative of the various episodes the people of
Israel
experienced with different judges. Cycles of revival and
declension mark the book of Judges. Consider the depth of
impact that this revival had on society, though. No longer
were the Israelites subject to the whims and whippings of
Ammonites and Philistines. They enjoyed a national autonomy in
terms of governing and trade, customs and justice. No longer
did they have sex to help the wheat grow. No longer did they
import foreign gods. No longer did they toss their babies into
idols’ mouths. No longer did they suffer under the oppression
of a god made in their image. Now they served in the freedom
of a God in whose image they were made.
Jephthah returned
to Moses’ roots of the law. They regulated their lives
according to clean and unclean foods, clean and unclean
hygiene, good and bad sexual practice, good and bad business
practices, right and wrong ethics. Because they clean their
hands after going to the bathroom, they lived longer than
their neighbors who fell victim to disease. With each
successive revival under the Judges, Israel crawled back to the
foundation of western civilization. The word of God became,
once again, the template for the people of
Israel
on which to pattern their lives. The law became the arbiter of
moral right and wrong, instead of some foreign, fickle, raging
idol. And so divine discipline was imposed from above,
structuring their lives according to the rhythm of justice,
righteousness, and compassion so that revival had hands and
feet, and invisible people became people people.
Beyond the period of peace, the cycles are uninteresting. Four
hundred years of fluctuation teach us that when everyone does
what is right in his own eyes the result is havoc, but when
those same eyes turn toward heaven in humble obedience,
blessing will follow (Judges 21:25). That and... The face of
the earth is changed as the hearts of its people are
transformed.
|
