Women of the Bible: The woman who killed Abimelech

Judges 9:52 Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it, and came near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. 53 A certain woman cast an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, and broke his skull.

54 Then he called hastily to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, that men not say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’ His young man thrust him through, and he died.”

Abimelech died dramatically. Judges 9 describes him as an evil man. (He wasn't the only such in Israel.)

Women of the Bible: The woman of Endor

1 Samuel 28:3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Saul had sent away those who had familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land. 4 The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 When Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh didn’t answer him by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her.”

His servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at Endor.”

8 Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. Then he said, “Please consult for me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to you.”

9 The woman said to him, “Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?”

10 Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, “As Yahweh lives, no punishment will happen to you for this thing.”

11 Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up to you?”

He said, “Bring Samuel up for me.”

12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!”

13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What do you see?”

The woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.”

14 He said to her, “What does he look like?”

She said, “An old man comes up. He is covered with a robe.” Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and showed respect.

15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up?”

Saul answered, “I am very distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me, and answers me no more, by prophets, or by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do.”

16 Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since Yahweh has departed from you and has become your adversary? 17 Yahweh has done to you as he spoke by me. Yahweh has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your neighbor, even to David. 18 Because you didn’t obey Yahweh’s voice, and didn’t execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore Yahweh has done this thing to you today. 19 Moreover Yahweh will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Yahweh will deliver the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”

20 Then Saul fell immediately his full length on the earth, and was terrified, because of Samuel’s words. There was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all day long or all night long.

21 The woman came to Saul, and saw that he was very troubled, and said to him, “Behold, your servant has listened to your voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have listened to your words which you spoke to me. 22 Now therefore, please listen also to the voice of your servant, and let me set a morsel of bread before you. Eat, that you may have strength, when you go on your way.”

23 But he refused, and said, “I will not eat.” But his servants, together with the woman, constrained him; and he listened to their voice. So he arose from the earth and sat on the bed. 24 The woman had a fattened calf in the house. She hurried and killed it; and she took flour, and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread of it. 25 She brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they ate. Then they rose up, and went away that night.

As predicted, Saul died in a battle, after his visit to the medium. Don't ask me to explain this story!

Could there have been animal death before the Fall?, 2nd edition

It is often said that the earth must not be very old, because death could not have occurred before the Fall of Adam and Eve, as told in Genesis 3. When this is said, it means death of non-humans, such as the many generations of animals that would have been needed for, say, the origin of birds from reptiles, by natural selection.

A search has led me to some web pages, all arguing, using the Bible, that there could have been, or even must have been, death of non-human creatures before the Fall. (There are also posts that deny this.)

Here they are:
"No Physical Death Before the Fall?" by Glen Kuban.

"Death Before the Fall: God Created Cellular Death Codes," by Glenn Morton.

"Creation Science Issues: Death Before the Fall of Man," by Greg Neyman. 

 "Animal Death Before the Fall: What Does the Bible Say?" by Lee Irons.

"Was there animal death before the fall?" by Jay Wile.

"Did death occur before the Fall?" by BioLogos.

I have previously posted on a related matter.

None of these take the view that there couldn't have been death before the Fall, but some of them also present reasons why some people believe that there was no such death.

See my posts on David Snoke's book, A Biblical Case for an Old Earth. Snoke argues that the Bible allows the death of animals before the Fall. Here's one such post. Click on the "David Snoke" label at the end of the post to see all of them.

This post is a revision of one from January 2008.

Thank you for reading!

 

Sunspots 860

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Christianity: Christianity Today reports on a study that shows that contemporary worship songs last for a shorter period than they used to. (In other words, they are sung for a while, then dropped.)

Relevant interviews an author who says that, according to the Bible, most views on what happens after death are wrong.

Health: Gizmodo describes some of the things we want to know about the omicron variant of COVID.

Humor:  (or something) FiveThirtyEight asks people when each of the four seasons should start. Whatever your opinion on this, it's in the minority.

Politics: NPR reports that the CIA has published a new edition of its book on the interactions between the CIA and recent presidents. The book is free. As I understand it, it does not include President Joe Biden, presumably because he is not done interacting with the CIA.

Science: Gizmodo and other outlets report on tiny constructions, made from frog stem cells, that can capture food and reproduce, in their own way. Living robots, sort of.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading. 

Sunspots 725

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity:  A Sojourners writer points out that churches for African Americans in Louisiana, burned recently, were just as sacred as Notre Dame. 

Finance: Catherine Rampell reports that multinational financial institutions have quickly gotten over their outrage at the death of Jamal Khashoggi.

Food: (and politics?) NBC News, and other outlets, report that the government is planning to stop regulating how many cherries are in frozen cherry pies. Seriously.

Health: (or something) Gizmodo reports that some entity poured lots of wet concrete into the London sewer system. Bad idea.

Politics: Catherine Rampell doesn't want a question on citizenship included in the 2020 census.

On the Mueller report: NPR reports that, based on Mueller's work, there were several people, associates of the President, but did not carry out his orders to do questionable things. Good for them!

Science: Gizmodo reports on the discovery of an ancient, and very large predatory mammal.

Scientific American uses an experiment which found some cell function in pig brains, a few hours after the brains had been removed, to ask questions about when, and if, to harvest organs for transplant.

Scientific American also reports that "bubble boy" disease (a non-functioning immune system) can be fixed, by correcting mistakes in the child's own DNA.

Gizmodo reports that the US Department of Agriculture is undercutting the system of peer review of scientific reports, which system has been in place for several decades, and works.
 
The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, I believe, it is public domain. 

Thanks for looking!

What the Bible does say about End Times

I'm uncertain about when what is going to happen, as regards End Times. Christ said that He was coming back, and we should be ready. He also said that even He didn't know the timing of these events. To me, trying to figure out when (or if) there will be a Rapture, when the Tribulation will be in relation to the Rapture, when, and how long the Millennium will be, and other such event timings can divert believers from the main purpose of the Gospel, and cause unnecessary conflicts with the Body of Christ. See here for a discussion of the difficulty of predicting future events, judging by scriptural fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy in the New Testament.

But (duh!) it recently occurred to me that there are things about End Times that we can be certain of, even if we don't know when, or in what order, they may occur. Here's a probably partial list of what the Bible has to say about things that will happen:

Promises of what’s to come (from World English Bible, public domain)

Reward to the faithful: Matthew 13:43a Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.

Matthew 24:45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes. 47 Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.

Matthew 20:23 He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

New, resurrected bodies: 1 Corinthians 15:42b The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body. 53 For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Earth remade: 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, 12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

Revelation 21:1 I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.

Romans 8:19 For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

Death destroyed: 1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

John 11:23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. 26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”

Job 19:25 But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.

Being with Christ: Revelation 22:2 On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no night, and they need no lamp light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, 17 then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.

Thanks for reading!

Quotation about how death is viewed in the Bible

“Psalm 104 and Matthew 6, among other biblical texts, speak of organisms eating other organisms, never once ascribing this to the fall or calling it suffering or a waste.”
- quotation from Chapter 18 in Understanding Scientific Theories of Origins by Robert C. Bishop, Larry L. Funck, Raymond J. Lewis, Stephen O. Moshier, and John H. Walton. My source is here.

Job 38-39 are “other biblical texts” that don’t call predation a waste, or a cause of evil suffering. Neither does Jeremiah 12:8-10, Amos 3:4-5, Nahum 2:11-12, or other passages.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 704

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: NPR reports on Antonin Dvořák's influence on American music, and how he tried to incorporate African-American music into mainstream classical music. Dvořák was a Czech, and he wrote the "New World" symphony.
  Ethics: A Chinese scientist claims to have altered the DNA of twin girls, so that they are less likely to succumb to AIDS, if they are ever exposed to it. Scientists and ethicists have had an almost entirely negative reaction to this news, for more than one reason, and there has been some skepticism that the result was as claimed. See here and here.

Health: (or something) Listverse describes 10 creepy things that bodies do after a person has died.

Humor: (or something) Gizmodo reports that it takes about 42 hours for an adult male who has swallowed a LEGO head to pass it through the gut. Really.

Science: Gizmodo reports that an elephant-sized mammal-like creature lived during the time when dinosaurs also lived.

Scientific American on the redefinition of the kilogram, and the likely redefinition of other measures, including the mole, the Ampere, and degrees Kelvin. This gets pretty geeky . . .


The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, I believe, it is public domain.
Thanks for looking!

The Art of Divine Contentment: An Exposition of Philippians 4:11 by Thomas Watson. Excerpt 19

The first apology which discontent makes is this; I have lost a child. Paulina, upon the loss of her children, was so possessed with a spirit of sadness, that she had liked to have entombed herself in her own discontent; our love to relations is oftentimes more than our love to religion.

1. We must be content, not only when God gives mercies, but when He takes away. If we must “in every thing give thanks,” (1 Th. 5. 18) then in nothing be discontented.
2. Perhaps God hath taken away the cistern, that he may give you the more of the spring; he hath darkened the starlight, that you may have more sun-light. God intends you shall have more of himself, and is not he better than ten sons? Look not so much upon a temporal loss, as a spiritual gain; the comforts of the world run dregs; those which come out of the granary of the promise, are pure and sweet.
3. Your child was not given but lent: “I have, saith Hannah, lent my son to the Lord;” (1 Samuel 1. 28) she lent him! the Lord hath lent him to her. Mercies are not entailed upon us, but lent; what a man lends he may call for again when he pleases. God hath put out a child to thee a while to nurse; wilt thou be displeased if he takes his child home again; O be not discontented that a mercy is taken away from you, but rather be thankful that it was lent you so long.
4. Suppose your child to be taken from you, either he was good or bad; if he was rebellious, you have not so much parted with a child, as a burden; you grieve for that which might have been a greater grief to you; if he was religious, then remember, he “is taken away from the evil to come,” and placed in his centre of felicity. This lower region is full of gross and hurtful vapours; how happy are those who are mounted into the celestial orbs! The righteous are taken away, in the original it is, he is gathered; a wicked child is cut off, but the pious child is gathered. Even as we see men gather flowers, and candy them, and preserve them by them, so hath God gathered thy child as a sweet flower that he may candy it with glory, and preserve it by him forever. Why then should a Christian be discontented? why should he weep excessively? “Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me, but weep for yourselves;” (Lu. 23. 28) so, could we hear our children speaking to us out of heaven, they would say, weep not for us who are happy; we lie upon a soft pillow, even in the bosom of Christ; the Prince of Peace is embracing us and kissing us with the kisses of his lips; be not troubled at our preferment; “weep not for us,” but weep for yourselves, who are in a sinful sorrowful world: you are in the valley of tears, but we are on the mountain of spices; we have gotten to our harbour, but you are still tossing upon the waves of inconstancy. O Christian! be not discontented that thou hast parted with such a child; but rather rejoice that thou hadst such a child to part with. Break forth into thankfulness. What an honour is it to be a parent to beget such a child, that while he lives increaseth the joy of the glorified angels, (Lu. 20. 10) and when he dies increaseth the number of the glorified saints.
5. If God hath taken away one of your children, he hath left you more, he might have stripped you of all. He took away Job’s comforts, his estate, his children; and indeed his wife was left, but as a cross. Satan made a bow of this rib, as Chrysostom speaks, and shot a temptation by her at Job, thinking to have him shot to the heart; “curse God and die:” but Job had upon him the breast-plate of integrity; and though his children were taken away, yet not his graces; still he is content, still he blesseth God. O think how many mercies you still enjoy; yet your base hearts are more discontented at one loss, than thankful for an hundred mercies! God hath plucked one bunch of grapes from you; but how many precious clusters are left behind?
You may object, But it was my only child, — the staff of my age, — the seed of my comfort, — and the only blossom out of which my ancient family did grow.
6. God hath promised you, if you belong to him, “a name better than of sons and daughters.” (Is. 56. 5) Is he dead that should have been the monument to have kept up the name of a family? God hath given you a new name, he hath written your name in the book of life; behold your spiritual heraldry; here is a name that can not be cut off. Hath God taken away thy only child? he hath given thee his only Son: this is a happy exchange. What needs he complain of losses, that hath Christ? He is his Father’s brightness, (He. 1. 3) his riches, (Col. 2. 9) his delight. (Ps. 42. 1) Is there enough in Christ to delight the heart of God? and is there not enough in him to ravish us with holy delight? He is wisdom to teach us, righteousness to acquit us, sanctification to adorn us; he is that royal and princely gift, he is the bread of angels, the joy and triumph of saints; he is all in all. (Col. 3. 10) Why then are thou discontented?
Though thy child be lost, yet thou hast him for whom all things are loss.
7. Let us blush to think that nature should outstrip grace. Pulvillus, an heathen, when he was about to consecrate a temple to Jupiter, and news was brought him of the death of his son, would not desist from his enterprise, but with much composure of mind gave order for decent burial.

Thomas Watson lived from 1620-1686, in England. He wrote several books which survive. This blog, God willing, will post excerpts from his The Art of Divine Contentment: An Exposition of Philippians 4:11, over a number of weeks, on Sundays. 

My source for the text is here, and I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this text (and many others) available. The previous excerpt is here.
Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it. (World English Bible, public domain.)