Feng Xiang, Mei Ruxuan Chair Professor of Law at Tsinghua University
The Book of the Prophets, translated by Feng Xiang, Oxford University Press, 2021
Former prophets and writers
The history books, namely the Hebrew Bible Joshua, the Book of Judges, Samuel, and the Book of Kings, are four chapters and six volumes. In Jewish tradition, these four are attributed to the "nebi'im ri'shonim", as opposed to "post-prophets" such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The prophets before and after them are collectively called "prophets" and are placed after the "Holy Law" or the Pentateuch of Moses and before the "Holy Book" to form the second part of the Holy Book. The history of Israel was recorded by the prophets, beginning with Joshua's invasion of Canaan/Palestine (1220-1200 BC) after the death of Moses, ending with the destruction of the temple in Babylon and the imprisonment of his people (587/586 BC) and the pardon of Jericho the King of Judah (562 BC). The post-prophet is a compilation of the preaching, teaching, condemnation, prophecy, and hymns, lamentations, satires, and other words of the prophets of the past, with the main poetic style; it is often called the book of the prophets.
The ancients wrote the Scriptures, initially using papyrus paper (reed paper). The pages are glued, the scrolls are rolled up, and slowly unfolded as you read. For ease of reading and storage, scrolls are generally not made too long (it is said that the longest surviving axis is up to 39.6 meters). This is why the scriptures are long, such as the Book of Samuel and the Book of Kings, and are divided into upper and lower volumes. In the Book of Prophets, there are "Twelve Little Prophets," in which the shorter twelve prophets are copied in one place and combined into one axis.
Readers and students often ask why the four books of the Book of Joshua and other four books are historical works, so why are they titled Former Prophets? It turns out that the word "prophet" here does not refer to the genre of content, but indicates that the holy history is a revelation of God, derived from the account of the prophet. There is a saying about the prophetic teachings: First, the Pentateuch and the Book of Job – the ancients thought that the righteous Job lived in the life of his ancestor Jacob and married Jacob's only daughter Tina (Genesis/Stone Shoulder), Feng Xiang: Genesis: A Revised Edition of Legends and Translations, Life, Reading, and New Knowledge Triptych Bookstore, 2012, p. 178), a foreign prophet who preceded Moses. But verse 8 at the end of the Pentateuch speaks of Moses' death, the burial of the Lord with his own hands, the mourning of Israel, and the succession of Joshua (Deuteronomy 34:5-12); who wrote about these things after Moses' death? It is said that it was recorded by his assistant Joshua. Joshua also wrote the Book of Joshua. Then the prophet Samuel wrote the Book of Judges, The Book of Samuel, and the Book of Ruth (Ruth was King David's great-grandmother). The Book of Kings, for its epilogue, which describes the fall of the holy city and the text is similar to the last chapter of Jeremiah, belongs to the prophet Jed Wyrick, "On the Confirmation of Authorship and the Formation of canons in Jewish, Hellenistic, and." Christian Traditions], Harvard University Press, 2004, pp. 22-25). Such a name given to the prophet was, in the eyes of the ancients, a guarantee that the words of the scriptures were true and bound to be fulfilled.
Jed Wyrick, The Ascension of Authorship: Attribution and Canon Formation in Jewish, Hellenistic, and Christian Traditions, Harvard University Press, 2004
Interestingly, there is an obvious flaw in this statement that the rabbis did not mind: the book of Samuel is less than halfway through the book of Samuel, which says "Samuel died" (1 Samuel 25:1). So who continued the rest of the text, including the story of King David after the prophet's death? There was the rabbi who attributed to David's visionary Judd or the prophet Nathan (1 Samuel 22:5, 2 Samuel 7:2, 24:11). However, according to the same logic, according to the clues of the scriptures, the undead spirit of old Samuel came up from Hades (Samuel 28 chapters, see below for details), and it does not hurt to leave us with the prophecies left to our descendants.
History books draw from a wide range of sources, including the official records of various dynasties and the writings of prophets, as well as miracles and legends, folk tales, and ancient songs and fables. There are fragments of text in the book that date back to the time of the scholars (1200-1030 BC) before Saul became king. For example, the five chapters of the Book of Judges, "The Song of Deborah", recount the story of the previous chapter, the prophetess Deborah, organized a coalition army and defeated the Iron Armored Chariot of the Canaanites at the Kishun River, with a simple language and a strong style, which is one of the earliest verses of the Bible. The main part of the Book of Samuel, the Story of King David, is widely said by scholars that the author was active in solomonism (970-931 BC) or later, approaching the oldest textual tradition in the Pentateuch, the "J" text. Mr. Bloom had speculated that the genius author was a court historian, and that the "J" text was the handiwork of a princess or noblewoman; the two were even friends, familiar with each other's writings. Thus there is a perceptible relationship between the "J" text and the story of King David (Harold Bloom & David Rosenberg, The Book of J, Grove Press, 1990, p. 36 or less). Of course, this is just a beautiful but unverifiable hypothesis.
David Rosenberg, Harold Bloom: The Book of J, Grove Weidenfeld, 1990
Biblical scholars generally accept another hypothesis in an attempt to explain why the text of Deuteronomy, especially doctrinal expressions, appear frequently in history books. According to 2 Kings 22, King Josiah of Judah, in the eighteenth year (622 B.C.), was renovating the temple in Jerusalem, and the priests found a "sepher hattorah" in the temple. Legend has it that this book is the predecessor of the Book of Deuteronomy or its core part, the "Law of Deuteronomy" (Deuteronomy chapters 12-26), also known as the Book of Covenants. Josiah then gathered the elders and priests of the prophets, "all the people are inferior and inferior," recited the Book of the Law, "made a covenant before the Lord," and initiated a centralized reformation. The main points were: unifying sacrifices, abolishing local priests and exalting the temples; demolishing the temple mounds of the cities, including the great altar of the King of Israel in bethel/God's house; purging the Canaanite idols and cutting off pagan priests. Doctrinally, it emphasizes the return to the law of Moses and the keeping of the covenant, and that kings and subjects will suffer if they disobey. This reform of Josiah was a crucial step in "purifying" the religion of Israel, resisting pagan influences, and reshaping the Mosaic tradition and monotheistic creed, thus ending the "Davidian" policy of religious tolerance, known in history as the "Deuteronomy Reformation." Since then, not only have the sacrifices been concentrated in the temple, and the faithful have prayed to face the holy city, but also the maintenance of the relationship between man and God and the unity of the nation have been cornerstoned by a new covenant. And the teachings of the saints, as well as the promises contained in the covenant, gave the suffering people hope and strength to be saved. Because in the east, the Neo-Babylonian dynasty had risen and was about to overthrow the Assyrian capital of Nineveh (612 BC) and then march westward to compete with Egypt for Canaan. Judas was crumbling.
Scholars have deduced that the "penetration" of the doctrine of Deuteronomy into history books is likely the result of revisions and edits by a "Deuteronomist" in the reform wave. Such Deuteronian texts, especially the Book of Joshua, are also common in the Book of Judges, but only the Book of Samuel is less likely to be found. From another perspective, as commentators have pointed out, the Book of Deuteronomy can also be regarded as a long preface to a history book. In view of the fact that the Book of Kings also has no shortage of Deuteronomy fragments, including interpretations of catastrophes such as the burning of the temple and the exile of the people, scholars assume that the whole book should have a second revision, that is, the "polishing" of the scriptures for the purpose of unifying the doctrinal tone. After the fall of Judah, during the Babylonian captivity (587/586-538 BC).
Table of Contents of the History Books
Because of this doctrinal framework, the rise and fall of Israel depicted in the book can be read, as religious scholars argue, as a "history of salvation" (Heilsgeschichte), in which God reveals salvation to his people, or the unfolding of his creation grand plan in the relationship between man and God. The true meaning of its mystery is embodied in one historical figure after another. But at the same time, the frame is removed, and these people are immediately reduced to vivid characters and conflicting intentions: there are prostitutes in the city of Jericho who have been blessed by harboring Israeli spies, there are generals whose heads are pierced by women's nails in their sleep; there are kings who have been abandoned by Jehovah and have to ask the witch about the undead, and there are prophets who have escaped the queen's pursuit and hidden in a cave and suddenly encountered the Word (Book 2, Judge 4, Samuel 28, 19 kings).
The historical texts of the ancestors were first about the names of the prophets, genealogies, kings, edicts, covenants, and the like, and then developed the chronicle of narratives. Truly mature, but wait until you can portray the characters, perform dialogue, analyze the success or failure, reveal the reasons, and the historical works of "not vain beauty, no hidden evil" appear, such as "Zuo Zhuan", such as "History", "On the occasion of the investigation of heaven and man, through the changes of ancient and modern times, into a family's words". The first peak and model of this historical tradition in the West is the history books of the Hebrew Bible, especially the book of Samuel.
Below we will "grasp the big and let go of the small", citing the eight main characters of the book for an examination. Starting from their stories, they introduce background knowledge and put forward questions that can be studied by the present day and have practical significance, and add a little to the theory; in this way, they care about the revelation of the holy history for the reference of the readers.
Joshua did something wrong
Joshua, the son of Nurn, was from the Ephraim tribe. He was a member of Moses' generals and close assistants; his original name was Hoshua, and Moses added a holy noun to him and changed it to Joshua (hoshea' > yehoshua', "Lord Deliverance", Num. 13:16). The name, which is transliterated in Greek as Iesous, is the origin of Chinese Jesus.
Israel's exodus from Egypt, forty years of wilderness, Joshua's many achievements, loyalty, and deep trust of Moses. Moses trained him as his successor, so he ascended Mount Sinai to listen to the Holy Law, entered the Tabernacle and talked to the Lord, and took the young attendant with him. The others, including Moses' brother, the priest Aaron, could only look out. Finally, the people came to the north of the Dead Sea, on the east bank of the Jordan River. Knowing that his destiny was coming to an end, Moses led Joshua to the priests and the whole congregation to stand before him, "as the Lord had instructed, with his hands on the top of his head," and proclaimed his "honor" or successor to the command (Num. 27:15 and below).
Moses proclaimed Joshua his successor
The book of Joshua is about how the son of Narcisse fulfilled Moses' last wish to lead Israel to conquer Canaan and divide the twelve tribes into blessed lands. Structurally, the conquests and various miracles described in the book can correspond to moses' deeds. For example, when crossing the Jordan River, the priests lifted the Ark of the Covenant to cut off the stream, and raised their staffs to Moses to divide the sea; the people set foot on the blessed land and fled Egypt from the Hebrew slaves; Joshua sent two spies to infiltrate the city of Jericho, and sent moses to send twelve chiefs to scout Canaan, and so on. From pre-war congregations circumcising in stone circles and stopping manna (bread of heaven), to expelling the natives and casting lots to the land, "all as Jehovah promised Moses" (Acts 11:23). The ancients often juxtaposed the Book of Joshua with the Five Books of Moses, collectively known as the "Six Sutras" (hexateuchos).
However, Joshua "fought against the kings for many years, and none of the cities made peace with Israel" and "all by force" (Joshua 11:18-19), stories that have not been supported by archaeological discoveries to date. For example, the gateway to the blessed land, jericho, was inhabited very early, dating back to the Mesolithic age of the ninth millennium BC. In the middle of the Bronze Age, there were walled houses and shops, and the people flourished. But by the end of the thirteenth century BC, the beginning of the Iron Age, and the "invasion" of Israel, the city had been destroyed for two hundred years. Joshua's spies crossed the river and saw, probably only a small village without walls. Naturally, there is no need for the whole army to carry the ark of the covenant, blow the horn, and walk around the city for seven days to intimidate the defenders (book 6). Therefore, scholars generally say that the Hebrews entered the middle of Canaanite as a gradual process. There may be skirmishes, such as land grabs. But the norm should be for newcomers to be neighbors with indigenous people, exchange products, and even intermarry. The scriptures emphasize conquest by force and the prohibition of intermarriage, projecting later wars and religious antagonisms onto the previous era. The twelve tribes cast lots and divided the land and outlined the boundaries of the blessed land, which is a theological and idealized historical reconstruction.
Crossing the Jordan River, the Ark of the Covenant cuts off the flow.
Faith is the soul of the holy history: the expulsion of the robbers and "solitude", "the people do not claim to be among all nations" (Num. 23:9), the ideals and beliefs revealed by the prophets, like the deuteronical ethics of faithfulness, the dichotomy of holiness and custom, and the retribution of good and evil, are the hope of future generations in the exile of salvation and the restoration of Israel. The Book of Joshua can thus be called the Book of Hope.
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The Book of Joshua is both the end of the Six Classics and the head of the history books; this position is meaningful. For if we continue to read further, into the Book of Judges, and look back at the work of Joshua and the teachings of Moses, we will find another side of the holy history: warnings and reflections on the relationship between man and God.
At the beginning of the "Book of The Master", it also talks about conquest, but it is the tribes that you fight you, I fight mine, and there is no longer a unified command. Moreover, the war was not going well, and the natives could not be driven away and killed, unlike before, the "hearts of the Canaanite kings were completely dissolved" and the enemies "lost their courage" (Book 2:11, 5:1). Worse still, Joshua's greatest fear occurred in his later years: soon after Israel had "returned to his tent," the old people withered away, and the people had "not known the Lord and of all that he had done for Israel"; so they "did the evil in the eyes of the Lord and served The Baal of the Multitude" (Judges 2:10-11). How can this be? In the second generation, the pagan "evil gods" (Zambali) achieved "peaceful evolution". The admonitions of the prophets, the last words of the leaders, and the vows before the altar are all invalid. Did Joshua do something wrong?
Moses' instructions, he did. But as Jehovah's prophet and leader of his people, against Moses, Joshua did one thing—appoint a successor who would also be guided by Jehovah and filled with a "spirit of wisdom" (Deuteronomy 3:28, 31:7-8, 34:9) to unite and lead all of Israel. Instead, Joshua left behind a loose alliance of tribes; it was as if the flock had lost its shepherds, and the people were divided into their own affairs, fighting among themselves, attacking and killing each other, and being bullied by foreign tribes at every turn, as described in the Book of Judges.
Succession requires years of training and selection, which Joshua deeply understands. His own experience with Moses was clear evidence: from fighting wars, governing, issuing decrees to appointing elders, Moses laid out in advance everywhere to establish the authority of his successor. The cultivation of successors is related to the success or failure of the great cause.
Joshua should also have an assistant, not even a loyal and courageous man. Why is the successor vacant? The scriptures do not explain. We can only speculate based on some events and character relationships.
Most likely, the priestly clique, led by 'el'azar ," "God bless"), disagreed with Moses' model of succession. Joshua's relationship with the priest Eliasze was set by Moses. In establishing his successor, Moses declared that although Joshua was the commander-in-chief and was entrusted with military and political responsibilities, "he was to go before Eliassa in case of trouble, and the priests asked him with stone casting stones for the will of the Lord"; the oracle issued that "whoever goes into battle to collect troops, he will follow it" (Num. 27:21). It is also said that in the future Israel's conquest of Canaan, the division of land will be co-presided over by Eliadze and Joshua, with the assistance of a chief of each tribe, and a list of chiefs "designated by the Lord Himself" (Num. 34:17 or less) was published.
Elias and Joshua co-chaired the division
Thus, Joshua chose a successor, and if he honestly followed Moses' instructions, he would have to obtain the consent of Eliass. There was a practical reason why Moses did this, leaving the commanding power constrained by the priests.
The priesthood was hereditary; Eliasze's father was Aaron, the brother of Moses. According to the scriptures, Moses was clumsy (or that the infant Moses was adopted by an Egyptian princess and grew up in the palace, so the Hebrew language stumbled), and at first, it was up to his brother to make a "tongue" to speak to the people (Exodus 4:10-16). Aaron took advantage of his brother's ascension to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, cast a golden calf, and made another offering. Moses went down from the mountain in a fit of rage and cut down three thousand of his people who had worshipped the golden calf (exodus 32). Aaron also supported his sister, the prophetess Miriam, challenging Moses' prophetic authority, saying that it was unclean to marry a foreign woman. This angered God: Miriam grew "snowflake-like white scales" on her body, contracted leprosy, was locked up outside her camp, and wandered for seven days (Num. 12).
Miriam and Aaron died before Moses. But Eliaze consolidated the authority of the priesthood, and his son Pinehas (Egyptian name: Black) was a fierce character. When Israel arrived on the east bank of the Jordan River and camped in Acacia Dianzi, many people sought out local girls to "commit adultery", causing Jehovah's anger and plague epidemic. Finiha broke into the boudoir and "caught the adulteress" and pierced a pair with spears: a leader of the Simeon tribe and the daughter of the Midian chief (Min 25). The evidence of the crime was presented, and in order to stop the holy wrath, Moses had to order "revenge on Midian", even though it was Mrs. Moses' hometown. Each of the twelve tribes was a thousand strong men, but the leader was not Joshua, but the priest Finiha, who "took the hallows and commanded the silver trumpet" (Num. 31:6). After triumphant captivity, Ariaze worked with Moses to draw up the rules for slaughter and purification.
So for all the sacraments, such as holy wars, land divisions, the consecration of sanctuaries, and the designation of levitical cities, Joshua asked Eliaze to cast lots (Acts 14:1, 21:1), and this system was set to be Moses' concession to the priesthood. According to the scriptures, the two appear, and it is always Eliasze in front and Joshua in the back. Trials, such as the owner/deceased father who is childless after death, and the five daughters who request to massage the Law of the West, are also headed by priests, with the commander and the leaders on their side (Book 17:4). At the end of the conquest, the two and a half tribes of Hedong returned to their territories and built a large altar, which caused dissatisfaction among the remaining tribes, believing that it was a way to challenge "all Israel". The representative who sent the representative to admonish was the leader of The Finiha, who led the ten leaders of the Hexi tribe (Joshua 22:13-14).
Thus, if the father and son of Eliazer had objected and refused to cast lots or anoint themselves, Joshua would not have been able to choose his own successor. Of course, we don't know if he had ever been a suitable candidate, but we have asked the oracle about it or won the support of the priests. The scriptures do not say. But if this matter is not successful, it must have encountered resistance, and he took into account the overall situation and gave in.
The reader may say, simply call the king. Wouldn't it be better to have hereditary throne and a blessed land? Yes, in other words, with his seniority and prestige, along with the miracles of the ark of the covenant and the sun and moon not walking witnessed by the whole people (Joshua 3:16, 10:13), and looking at the surrounding tribes, they are all ruled by princes: I am afraid that I will have this thought (1 Samuel 8:5).
During the war, Joshua prayed that the sun and moon would not go.
However, Joshua did not take this path. The ancient rabbis said that the commander had no queen, and the holy history did not contain him as having a son. But if he decides to claim the throne and pass on the throne to his son, he can adopt one, or recognize his successor as a righteous son. In the ancient custom of the Near East, the king was called the Son of God. Israel later embraced this notion, and God recognized David and Solomon as sons by anointing, and gave him an eternal covenant: "You are my Son, and you are born today— it is me." (Psalm 2:7, 89:26-27, 2 Samuel 7:14, Luke 3:22) Therefore, it is also a high religious honor to be king. If Joshua had been anointed, he could have personally officiated and chosen priests, and even reformed the canon. And the entire priesthood, like the elders and chiefs of the clan, became servants of the Son of God, greatly weakening their authority.
Joshua was not tempted by kingship and was presumably to honor the ancestral system (tribal system) and follow the teachings of Moses. Moses disparaged the monarchy as a form of foreign rule. Although he did not forbid Israel to become a king, he imposed strict moral requirements and warnings on those who coveted the throne: the king should fear God and obey the holy law, and not "be arrogant and contemptuous of his countrymen"; he should not "buy horses" or "widely place concubines, so as not to get lost", and "not to accumulate gold and silver and covet wealth". Otherwise, the throne will not be blessed and will not last long (Deuteronomy 17:15 or less). Moses made it clear that a monarchy could not be the best, lest the earthly king offend the king of heaven and lead his people astray. And this is why a hero after Joshua, the gid'on ("chopper"), refused to claim the throne.
At that time, Midian had ravaged Israel for seven years—yes, the story of the book of Numbers exaggerates, and Finiha's holy war was only a small victory over Midian, or a draw—and the people were in distress until a young man who beat wheat in manasi tribe was called, and Gideon smashed the baal altar in the village and cut down the wooden pillar goddess. He led his people, united with the brotherly tribes, drove out the invaders, and took advantage of the victory to pursue and kill four Midian chiefs. The multitudes persuaded him to become king, and his children and grandchildren ruled over Israel. But Gideon replied, "No, I will not rule over you, nor will my son; it is the Lord who rules over you (Judge 8:22-23)!" It means that the judges rose up, but were inspired by the Holy Spirit to kill the enemy before God, not to replace the only ruler of heaven and earth. This is the ideal of a tribal society.
Gideon thanked God
Gideon had many wives and concubines, with seventy sons. After the death of the priest, his son 'abimelek), the son of his stone-shouldered concubine, said that he had mobilized his uncle's family and the stone-shouldered residents, took the silver of the temple to recruit a mercenary army, raided Xiaoluzhuang, and beheaded his half-brother Yizong. The Stone Shoulders embraced him as king (Judges 9:1-6), but the regime lasted only three years. Such a bloody battle for the throne should have been something Joshua could have imagined and decided to avoid.
But with a successor vacant, who will lead Israel? Joshua must have realized in his later years that the covenant itself did not guarantee that his descendants would follow jehovah's ways: not to intermarry with foreign nations, not to call the name of a pagan God, but to serve with all his heart the God who saved Israel from Egypt. The oath binds this generation because they have suffered and fought wars, and have seen with their own eyes the great deeds that Jehovah has done for Israel" (Acts 2:7). But their descendants are hard to say. So he took a large stone, and according to the ancestral rules, stood under the oak tree in the sanctuary of the stone shoulders, and announced to the congregation that every word the Lord had admonished us, the stone "was heard." It will testify against you if you are a false accuser of God" (Joshua 24:26–27)!
This was his last precept before "sending his people on their own roads and returning to their respective estates."
Samson's revenge
If the Book of Joshua is a "memoir" of Israel's conquest of Canaan and its victory, the Book of Judges is the opposite, subverting that good memory with a few strokes: as soon as the commander left, the tribes began to "follow the gods" and "enslave Baal and Asta." Thus against St. Will, jehovah sold them "into the hands of the enemy around them." But as soon as the people groaned and prayed, the Father took pity on him again, and "set up shophtim to save them from the hands of the plunderers." However, when the priests passed away, those people immediately "turned their heads to corruption, worse than their fathers"; "all evil deeds are the same as the path of death" (Judges 2:11 or less).
Chinese "Shi Shi" (士師), originally an official of the pre-Qin Dynasty, who was in charge of prison litigation and punishment for thieves, and gao Tao was said to be a soldier of Yao Shun; borrowed as a translated name, it refers to the tribal leader who was inspired by the Holy Spirit to teach the people on weekdays and led the enemy in wartime. Theoretically, the only condition for receiving spiritual grace is God's will. The judge is thus a qadosh without a threshold; anyone, regardless of descent, gender, class, or seniority, can rise up and receive grace, and suddenly possessed by the Holy Spirit or hear the call of the angel of Jehovah (Acts 3:10, 6:12).
The warriors are heroes, and the people sing the praises of moshia'. Traditionally, those who record their life deeds in greater detail are called masters; those who are brief are called little masters. The Book of Judges contains a total of twelve scholars, six large and six small.
But why is it that Israel has produced this set of saviors, but still cannot expel the natives, and is constantly oppressed and enslaved by the enemy? The Scriptures give two reasons: first, the congregation did not keep their oath and did not destroy the pagan altar, but instead prostrated themselves to idols, and were punished; second, God left many foreign nations in the blessed land, "not in the hands of Joshua," in order to test the people and educate future generations (Judges 2:20-23). In this way, the bloody slaughter in the Book of Judges becomes an example of the religious doctrine and moral lesson of deuteronomy: all misfortunes stem from the violation of the holy law, and are both retribution and test.
Interestingly, almost all of the stories retain historical materials of the "pre-Deuteronomy". For example, the epilogue is "The Priest of Micah": Not only did the people follow the gods, but jehovah's young priests also offered the idols of the family gods, and were not ashamed to sell their priesthood for a good price and turn their backs on the benefactor Micah. And this "economically rational man" was none other than Moses' eldest grandson, Jonathan (Judges 18:30). Obviously, this is the general mentality of the new generation of congregations in blessed land: worship of Jehovah is the teaching of the ancestors, but do not offend the gods of Canaan's new homeland.
Another example is the story of The Great Master Yekai (yiphtah, "He [the Lord] opens [the mouth]"). Before going to war, he made a vow to God: When I have defeated the children of Ammon and returned safely, the first one to come out of my house to greet me will be the Lord—and will be sacrificed as a full burnt offering (Judge 11:31). The enemy was indeed handed over to Jacques, and Ammon yielded before Israel. I didn't expect that the one who ran out to meet the master was neither an animal in the courtyard nor a slave, but a beloved only daughter! However, he has "opened his mouth" to make a wish, and the oath of witness of the holy name cannot be taken back, and must return the wish of his daughter and offer it to the altar. But why did the Father torment the Father so much that he had to sacrifice His daughter? This is the human sacrifice forbidden by the Holy Law, the bad habit of canaanites (Leviticus 18:21, Deuteronomy 12:31, 2 Kings 16:3), isn't it? It can be seen that at the time of Jeremiah, the Israelites' understanding of God was still relatively "primitive." Even the disciples, whose hearts are blown by the Holy Spirit, do not quite understand the difference between the "word of the Lord" or the "right way" of the Holy Law and paganism (Gen. 18:19, Deuteronomy 9:16, 11:28)—or do they understand it and do not care?
Jacques returned
Historically, the collapse of Israel's tribal moral order stimulated the abstraction and universalization of theological doctrines. However, the later teachings do not coincide with the character stories narrated by the scriptures, which makes the narrative of the Book of Judges full of ethical tensions, prompting people to reflect and introspect. One example of a popular population is the last of the Twelve Masters: Samson.
The call of the judges to receive spiritual grace is mostly a sudden event. The samson of the Danzhi Wasp Gang (the root of the word is "sun", alluding to power), but he returned to the Heavenly Father in the womb. His mother was infertile for many years. One day, an angel appeared to her, prophesied of the pregnancy and childbirth, and said that the child was dedicated to God and was destined to take on the great task of "saving Israel from the hands of the Philistines" (Judge 13:5). Therefore, as soon as Samson Fu was born, he became a devotee (nazir), his head did not stick to the razor, he did not drink wine, and he did not eat all kinds of unclean food. He grew up to be a warrior in the mountains, blessed by jehovah and driven by the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:25). Curiously, he was indifferent to the plight of his fellow men and the oppression of the Philistines, and only wanted to find Philistine women.
He went down to the town of Tingna, took a fancy to a woman, and asked his parents to propose to him. His parents wanted him to marry a native girl, but Samson saw only the Philistine daughter. The narrator of the Scriptures: "But the parents did not understand, but this is from the Lord, and it is to find a reason to punish the Philistines." (Acts 14:4)
But this theological explanation is like Theakh's vow, a double-edged sword. Samson was a priest, a devotee of jehovah, not an ordinary person. What is the impact on the congregation if a priest and saint abandons the Holy Law for the sake of love and does not keep the holy law, and if he is caught in personal grievances? And he should have been a model of the devout life of his people.
Weddings are held in the bride's house, naturally following the customs and pagan rituals of the Philistines, and the food at the feast cannot conform to the law of cleanliness (Leviticus 11). Samson used his personal secret as a riddle and gambled with the local groomsmen on thirty new clothes. They could not guess, so they went to scare the bride and force her to cry and cry and pestered her husband to solve the mystery. Suspecting that his wife was having an affair, Samson, in a fit of rage, ran to The Scale Harbor and killed thirty Philistine warriors, stripped off their armor, and sent them to the winner as a new garment for the bet. Then he left his new wife and went back to his hometown.
The father-in-law thought he didn't want a bride, so he married his daughter to a groomsman. Lux took revenge on the Tingna people, capturing three hundred foxes, tying their tails, planting torches, and burning crops and orchards. The crowd blamed his father-in-law and threw the father and daughter into the fire and burned them. He killed him again, "with his calves spread over his thighs and cut off [a pile]" (Judge 15:8). Philistine sent troops to attack. He picked up a piece of donkey's cheek bone as a weapon, and slaughtered it like a whirlwind, killing a thousand.
Samson used a piece of donkey cheek bone as a weapon and killed a thousand.
Samson's second woman was a prostitute in Gaza-sur-Mer. Gaza belongs to the Five Cities Alliance of Philistines, and he went there to buy spring, which was really bold. But the enemy's plan to close the door and fight the dog failed. Lux got up in the middle of the night, went to the city gate, let them watch, pulled up two doors together with the latch pillars, carried them on his shoulders, and went up the mountain.
The third woman—whether she was married, widowed, or prostitute, the scriptures say nothing—lived in the Valley of the Red Grapes, but was his true love, named delilah (root harmonic: flirtatious, petite, night, corresponding to Samson/Sun Lux). But Dreula loves silver. Because the Philistine chief promised her a huge sum of money to help subdue lux, she immediately agreed. After three attempts, he pestered the master and asked him the secret of his strength, but it did not work. "He broke the [rope] that bound his arm like a slit." On the fourth occasion, the woman resorted to a trick, blaming him for not loving herself; Samson, urged by her "love", "was so annoyed to death" that he finally revealed the secret: strength in his long hair that had not been stained with a razor (Judge 16:4 or less).
Samson and Delilah
The priest could not resist the urge of "love", as if sex was the "charisma" that attracted him and drove him, and the spirit of jehovah had long been left behind. When Dreira "coaxed him to sleep on his lap" and shaved off the seven strands of long hair, she cut off not only the strength of the devotee, but also the last vestige of holiness in him.
The Philistines have come to arrest you, Samson! She shouted. He woke up from his slumber, but his arms could not move. He was knocked down by the Philistines, stripped of his eyes, and escorted to Gaza, where he was driven by a brass shackle and pushed. Slowly, however, his hair grew back. He cried out to the Lord, asking for further strength, "A report will return the enmity of my eyes." God fulfilled his prayer—the Sun Lux tore down the two pillars of the Temple of the Great Carp and died with the Philistines who watched him dance for fun, along with the chief (Judges 16:20 or less).
Samson overthrew the two pillars of the Temple of the Great Carp and perished with the Philistines.
In terms of courage or victory, Samson is undoubtedly a legendary hero. But when put into the doctrinal framework of holy history, his actions are "politically incorrect." First of all, he killed the Philistines purely for personal revenge, and several conflicts arose because of finding a woman or marrying a wife. He never took to heart the suffering of his fellow men, let alone recover the lost land and alleviate the servitude, even though God chose his "original heart" to be the savior of his people. Secondly, as a scholar and devotee, he indulged in lust and disregarded the teachings of the Holy Law; he had long been in trouble with the enemy clan who had "left his foreskin" and lived in front of the idol "decaying wood", which was a great taboo in the eyes of Jehovah. Therefore, in the light of Joshua's testament and the covenant of the stone shoulder, the sun lux's teeth will be rewarded, the innocent will be killed indiscriminately, and it also marks the decay of the priesthood, the lapse of spiritual grace, and the descent of the people of Moses into a sinful world of self-serving and selfishness—"At that time, israel had no king, and every man felt that he was right" (Judges 17:6, 21:25).
The Word actually hints at this. After the hero's death, "his relatives and family came down, carried him back, and buried him in Wasp Hill... Tomb of his father, Mahnoah" (Acts 16:31). Yes, the Gazans did not retaliate, did not "fight an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth", and surrounded and cut down Samson's people, nor did they hang corpses in public to desecrate the dead and his God (Book 8:29, 10:26). Instead, they allowed relatives and friends to collect the bodies and bury them. In other words, the Philistines regarded the temple tragedy and the previous slaughter of Lux as an act of personal responsibility—the love killing of a tramp, the madness of evil; and, blessed by the god of the Great Carp, it was finally over. In contrast to the children of Israel, who often went to holy war and slaughtered women and children, gazans endured grief and showed a high degree of civilization and great forbearance.
Blind Samson
So, in the savior's world, is it the punishment or the test of salvation that the Savior has put his people in the hands of such a foreign ruler?
Samuel and Saul
Saul ("asked" by [From God]) was originally the son of a solid family of the Benjamin tribe. He was anointed as king and signed to ascend the throne, which Was administered by God who sent the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 10). But then "the word of the Lord came to Samuel," and said, "I truly regret having made Saul king, for he turned his back on me and did not carry out my instructions" (1 Samuel 15:11).
The Almighty is all-knowing, the past and the future are all in front of his eyes, and there should be no regret or change of mind. The God in the Holy Book speaks of "regret" more than once, beginning with "regret for making man on earth" (Gen. 6:6, Song of Isaiah/Regret, Feng Xiang: "The Song of Isaiah", Life, Reading, and New Knowledge Triptych Bookstore, 2017). The election of Saul is an example.
But is the Father's remorse really because the king disobeyed his orders, as Samuel said?
Here's how it went. Saul, following the oracle, waged a holy war against Amalek, Israel's mortal enemy, and won a great victory, capturing King Aga. But Saul did not "forbid" (herem) and kill all the people and animals according to the law of jihad, but brought the enemy chiefs back to the stone circle, along with the captured "best cattle and sheep" and "all kinds of delicacies". Samuel rushed to question him, accusing the king of resisting the Word and "doing evil in the eyes of the Lord." Saul answered, "How dare I not listen to the words of the Lord?" I captured King Ajia, and the soldiers set aside some of the capture, because they wanted to sacrifice God in the stone circle. The Prophet went online: Does Jehovah prefer burnt sacrifices and sacrifices/ or does man obey Jehovah's commands? Of course, obedience is better than sacrifice/the fat of a ram is better than obedience. It is also said that disobedience is tantamount to pagan divination and idolatry, and that whoever despises the Word will be rejected (1 Samuel 15:19-23).
Samuel questioned Saul
Saul was very humble, and immediately confessed his mistake, saying that the sacrifice was the voice of the soldiers and the people, and he did not dare to disobey it; so he asked for forgiveness. But Samuel did not budge, prophesiing that the throne would change hands and grant a "neighbor" (i.e., David). He also said a harsh sentence: "The glory of Israel will not lie, it will not regret it; he is not like a man, and he often changes his heart." (1 Samuel 15:29) It means that the will of the Most High ("glory") has been determined, and do not take chances.
Saul was probably taken aback. Because God loves people, people can confess their mistakes and repent, and He always welcomes them. The prophet, however, did not want to pray for the king, but agreed only to be the chief priest. However, he offered human sacrifices—as if insisting on demonstrating a cruel "pagan habit" to the congregation—and he dismembered the captive King Aga with his own hands.
Samuel and Saul
After the completion of the ceremony, Samuel returned to his hometown rama, broke with the king, and "did not see Saul again until his death.". "And what the LORD regrets is that he made Saul king of Israel" (1 Samuel 15:33–35).
God said "niham," but Samuel emphasized "no regret." What's going on? Ironically, the phrase "no regrets" has a history, borrowed from a prophecy of a foreign prophet, Biran: "God is not a man who can lie, he is not like the descendants of Adam, who often changes his heart." (Num. 23:19) But Biran died under the sword of the Israelites in Midian because Finiha decided that it was Biran's "trick" to seduce her people into betraying Jehovah by the women of Acacia Dianzi (Num. 31:8, 16, Jos 13:22). Why would Samuel quote a pagan sinner to deny the Word and not allow the king to repent?
The prohibition of jihad is, according to holy law, a category of forgiveness of sins that can be corrected. On that occasion, the men did not stay, and the walled city burned down, but the women, children, cattle and sheep were taken back. The facts of the case are similar to Saul's this time. After Moses corrected his mistakes, God did not punish Finiha or any of his people (N. 31). In another case, Joshua killed the Tooth Clan in the Valley of Misfortune because the Tooth Mole had taken forbidden things for personal gain, causing Israel to break the oath of jihad (Book 7). But Saul and his men did not take captivity, but wanted to bring them back to the stone circle and perform a sacrifice "before the Lord", of a different nature. As a prophet, Samuel was supposed to intercede on the king's behalf, to defuse the wrath, to follow the example of Saint Abraham and Moses, and to appeal to the Savior's great love and covenant obligations (Genesis 18, 18:32). But he renounced the prophet's responsibility to protect and pray (Isaiah 53:12).
And the Sage repeatedly teaches that as long as the disobedient is willing to repent, the Father can repent and "take back the will and not bring down the calamity" (Jeremiah 18:8, 26:3). For the Lord "does not easily anger, but is full of love" (Exodus 34:6, Ekv. 2:13). Moreover, the king returned to the stone circle to offer sacrifices, but only obeyed the will of the people and postponed the prohibition. Before Samuel opposed Israel's establishment of king, didn't God also want him to hear the "cry of his people" (1 Samuel 8:7)?
Did the king faint and fail the Father? Probably not either. Soon after Saul was anointed, he united with the northern and southern tribes to rescue the people of Gancheng and defeat the snake king, winning the hearts of the people. Before the coronation of the stone circle, his relatives demanded the execution of those who refused to support the erection, but Saul treated them leniently and succeeded in uniting his people (1 Samuel 11). He then attacked the surrounding enemy tribes, conquered Amalek, and "raised his might wherever he went"; and "often fought hard with the Philistines", actively recruiting brave and good warriors (1 Samuel 14:47-52). He also served God diligently, and forbade witchcraft in the kingdom. The Lord seems to have no reproach.
Therefore, the main cause of God's regret is not Saul, but the establishment of the king, that is, a series of personnel changes that arose from the establishment of the king, including Saul's "disobedience" and the fall of Samuel.
Mother Hannah sent Samuel to the priest Orie
Shemu'el ("the name of the Great God/God") is cold and selfish, but he is keen to call for the holy name. He was the child whom his mother, Hannah, had made a wish at the pilgrimage, and was weaned and sent to the priest Ori for sacrifice to God (Samuel 1). After ori's death, Samuel encouraged his people to resist paganism and rebel against Philistine, and was blessed by the gods to be called a priest. In his later years, the enemy clan invaded and oppressed more and more, but his desire for power swelled, and he arranged for two sons who were not successful to succeed him as a soldier. As a result, they "embezzled money and bribes and perverted justice" and caused resentment to boil over (1 Samuel 8:3, Robert Pinsky, The Life of David, Schocken Books, 2005, p. 166). Then the elders of Israel came together to see Samuel and asked for kingship. The old master was very unhappy and said that it was evil. Unexpectedly, the king of heaven wanted him to obey the will of the people and accept the monarchy, even if the old disease of the congregation recurred in the future, "abandon me and serve the gods." Samuel obeyed his command, erected a handsome young Saul "one shoulder above all" and anointed him (1 Samuel 9:26 or less)—and the system of judges was destroyed.
But Samuel always tried to manipulate the new king, and it was difficult to do so (Robert Alter: Ancient Israel: The Former Prophets, W. W. Norton & Company, 2013, p. 230). The king sent troops to defend against the Philistines, but the prophet did not agree to come to the chief priest. When they met, they accused Saul of violating the commandments in his sacrifice, saying that "the Lord has found another man" to be the leader of his people (1 Samuel 13:14); this caused the army to be shaken and fled for the most part. Fortunately, God heeded Saul's prayer and gave Prince Jonathan to defeat Philistine (1 Samuel 14). But the old master still had a gloomy face, saying that he was "mourning Saul".
Robert Alter, Ancient Israel: The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: A Translation with Commentary，W. W. Norton & Company，2013
Saul eventually lost the favor of his Father, despite his honest nature and lack of judgment, and fought for his people all his life. "The spirit of the Lord forsaken Saul, and an evil spirit descended upon the Lord, frightening him" (1 Samuel 16:14 et al.). The courtiers suggested finding a pianist to drive away evil spirits; someone recommended David, the son of Jesse. So David came to the king with the triangle and waited for the anointed one who had been disturbed by evil spirits—and ascended to the stage of history.
David and Saul
Saul's fate was bumpy. Time and time again, he was taken advantage of by David, who was "cautious in his speech, handsome in his men, and with whom the Lord was with him." Whenever the evil spirit possessed him, he wanted to get rid of the piano player, but afterwards he was full of remorse and confessed his guilt and accepted punishment (1 Samuel 24:18, 26:21). At the end, Philistine came again. In the Battle of Mount Gibo, he had been cut off from the Word, and prayers, dreams, and casting lots were all null and void. He had to disguise himself and take two retinues to Dole Springs to ask the witch for the oracle. The witch did the trick to evoke the undead spirit of Samuel. Why bother and recruit me? A familiar voice came, still as harsh as before he was before, and he still held on to the Amalek affair. "Tomorrow, you and your son will be with me [in Hades]," he cursed the king. Frightened, Saul collapsed to the ground: he had not eaten for a day and a night, and had collapsed (1 Salin 28).
The witch did the trick to evoke the undead spirit of Samuel.
This time, the undead of Samuel won over his lord. The Israelite army was defeated and "fled from the Philistines, fell, and was pierced on Mount Gibo." Saul's three sons were killed in battle, and they themselves were shot by random arrows, so badly wounded that they had no hope of breaking through. He ordered his entourage to draw their swords: "Stab me, lest those who have left a foreskin come and stab me and insult me." But the retinue did not dare, for the body of the monarch was inviolable (1 Samuel 31). Yes, this is cursed by the undead, and he has always been jehovah's anointed person, the beloved leader of the congregation, in the minds of the warriors, not a waster who, as Samuel said, a "torn off throne."
Saul then took up his sword and fell on his knees." This was the first suicide recorded in the Holy Book: though rejected by the Savior, he did not abandon the people of Israel and His God to the death. Throughout the history, not many of the kings of Israel were able to do this.
Death of Saul
So, does the Almighty really regret establishing a king, does he regret making such an honest man king, or does he lament that his life is not in time, and he is disturbed by evil spirits, until he is heroically sacrificed and sacrificed to the battlefield?
Editor-in-Charge: Ding Xiongfei
Proofreader: Liu Wei