September 8, 2009

Texts:
Judges 1-2
I Corinthians 3

Judges:
Did you notice how Judah and Simeon are referred to here? They are referred to as brothers, and in the singular, as if it is actually telling the story of these two men. Of course, this is hundreds of years after these brothers had died, so Judah and Simeon should be read as the Tribes of Judah and Simeon.

In verse 7, the conquered king, Adoni-bezek (which means "Lord of Bezek") has his thumbs and big toes cut off as punishment. He says, "seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has paid me back". What I noticed in that is how horribly everyone (not just the conquering Israelites) treats their prisoners. What did you notice?


Corinthians:
Paul uses the word "flesh" in different ways than we do. Usually, it is a word for our earthly life and existence, in contrast to "spirit". Are we children of the Spirit? Or are we children of the flesh?
Because once you understand the gift of new life in Christ, you should be living differently than you were before. So here, when he says, "Even now you still are not ready for you are still of the flesh", it means that you have not really internalized the Good News of Jesus Christ. Because if you had, he implies, you would not be fighting over this nonsense and you'd be listening to Paul!