September 3 ▪ Day 246

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 22:16
Judges 9–10
II Corinthians 3–4
Psalms 62

Verse Focus (Proverbs 22:16)

One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth
     and one who gives gifts to the rich — both come to poverty.

Meditation

Our verse focus today is interesting because it gives a different slant on what makes for a prosperous person. As Proverbs 22:16 says in the NIV, “One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich — both come to poverty.”

The attitudes that lie behind both sets of actions are often taken for wisdom in this world. Save all the money you can. Squeeze your work force; pay as little as you can possibly get away with doing. Maximize your profit by cutting expenses, especially those expenses that relate to your personnel. On the other hand, you do need to spend money to attract investors and other influential partners. Court the wealthy by giving them gifts — but beware! — you won’t impress them unless it’s also an expensive gift. The proverb may also be speaking of using bribes to grease the wheels of business.

This kind of thinking is very common in the business world. Yet these are the very attitudes that God is telling us will actually bring us to poverty, rather than increasing our wealth.

In fact, ethical business leaders will tell you that you’ll actually get greater productivity from your workforce if you pay them more and give them better benefits. By investing in the least, you actually boost your bottom line. Better morale means less turnover among employees, so you reduce your operating expenses because you no longer have to constantly find new workers. Happier employees are sick less, and they get more accomplished. Win win for everyone.

From a spiritual perspective, we can easily see what’s wrong with these kind of attitudes. Trying to get ahead by oppressing someone else will just never work. It goes against the way God wants us to behave with other people. And using bribes, or trying to use money to impress someone else — again, it’s thinking about money in completely the wrong way. Not only does it display a desire for wealth that borders on idolatrous, but it also demonstrates a belief that wealth is a function of one’s own power and actions. In contrast, the Bible teaches us that wealth is a consequence of honoring God and loving wisdom; further, it is bestowed as a gift from God and is not something that we achieve out of our own merit.

Father God, we pray that we would not be like the person who oppresses the poor to increase personal wealth, nor would be like one who gives gifts to rich people who have no need of our gifts. This kind of thinking is common in our world, but we ask that you would transform our thinking about wealth and prosperity. Give us a godly attitude. Let us seek you first and then seek to do your will in all our business decisions. Keep us from falling prey to idols of money, power, and influence. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Yesterday, at the end of our reading in the book of Judges, we learned that Gideon had 70 sons because he had many wives; he also had a son named Abimelech by a concubine who was from Shechem. We also learned that, true to form, once the judge died, the people began to revert to idolatry. And not only did they forget how the LORD had delivered them, but they also forgot how Gideon himself had helped to save them from the Midianites and the army of the East. As chapter 8 ends, verse 36 — the last verse — concludes that the Israelites “did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.”

So Judges chapter 9 tells us the story of Abimelech, Gideon’s son by a concubine. First off, does his name strike you as a bit grandiose? If you recall, “Abimelech” was the title that was used for Philistine kings. (Wikipedia seems to think that the name or title could refer to any king in Canaan.) In the Hebrew, the name is formed from the words that mean “father” and “king,” so that the name can have several different meanings. It can mean, “My father is a king,” or “Father of a king,” or even “Father-King” (implying a kind of benevolence to the king’s character and reign). While a child born to a concubine was not considered illegitimate, the child still held much lower status than the children born from a marriage. So to name this child “Abimelech” was perhaps trying to give him a sense of status over the other children in the city of Shechem, or perhaps it was trying to make him equal in status to Gideon’s sons through marriage.

As chapter 9 begins, Abimelech goes to his relatives in Shechem and he conspires with them to take over the rule of Israel. After reminding the leaders of Shechem that he himself is “your bone and your flesh (v. 2),” the leaders take money from the temple of their god. Abimelech uses this money to hire a private army of “worthless and reckless fellows (v. 4).” He then goes to his father’s house and slaughters 70 of his 71 half-brothers — only the youngest one escapes.

There is a dramatic scene where Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, curses the leaders of Shechem for acting treacherously against the house of Jerubbael. And Abimelech reigns for only three years. Verse 23 tells us, “God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech.” It’s not really surprising to find that people who deal treacherously continue to deal treacherously. But it ends badly for all of them, and the chapter concludes that God repaid Abimelech and the men of Shechem for the evil that they had done, fulfilling the curse of Jotham.

Chapter 10 briefly mentions two of the minor judges. Tola, who ruled for 23 years, and Jair, who ruled for 22 years. Then there is more commentary on how the people of Israel strayed from the LORD. As the disobedience increases, so too does their oppression. God allows the Philistines and the Ammonites to come against Israel. There is an interesting conversation between God and the people of Israel. They cry out for help, but God tells them to get help from these other gods they had turned to. But the Israelites confess their sin. “Do to us whatever seems good to you,” they say in verse 15, “Only please deliver us this day.” And so they return to serving the LORD. And once the people repent and put away their false gods, verse 16 tells us that God “became impatient over the misery of Israel.” Thus the stage is set for the next judge who will appear, which we’ll learn about tomorrow.

There is a possible contradiction with the number of the sons of Gideon. Judges 8:30 tells us that Gideon had 70 sons, and then it tells us about the 71st son — Abimelech. When Abimelech kills his brothers, Judges 9:5 tells us that he killed 70 men. However, the youngest, Jotham escapes. Perhaps Jotham was the 72nd son? Possibly born after Gideon’s death? Or perhaps, culturally how the author uses numbers is different than how we would do so — the author uses the “total” number of sons for the number of deaths, even though he is subtracting one of that number as having escaped. Then, too, “70” may be a symbolic number rather than a literal number of sons. As seven is the symbol of completeness and perfection, “70” sons might indicate paradise — a wealth and abundance of offspring.

A detail that is implied — although not specifically spelled out — is that Abimelech was the son of a Canaanite woman. Perhaps that is why she was a concubine rather than a legal wife. When Abimelech goes to his mother’s relatives for help, the leaders of Shechem take the money from the temple of one of the Canaanite gods, again implying that they are all Canaanites rather than Israelites.

As chapter 10 describes the decline of faith in Israel, verse 6 says, “The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines.” As I read this verse, I couldn’t help but think of our own multicultural society. The world is becoming increasingly global. People from all nations and cultures are mixing and living side by side in the United States, and in most of the technologically-developed countries. We have just as many gods, faiths, belief systems, and worldviews as the ancient Hebrews had.

When I think about the time of the Judges, I think of Israel as being a kind of a lawless, “Wild Wild West” society. The people were not well-versed in the law. There was no centralized or consistent form of government. People did what they thought was right, more or less. But it was clear that most did not know God’s Word. As I read Judges 10:6 today, I am struck by the parallels between our own society and the world of the judges. It is, in some ways, an eye-opening parallel. I never thought of our society as being such a free-for-all and as chaotic as the time of the judges was. But I think, in many ways, we too are living during the time of the judges, when all people do whatever they please — whatever seems “right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25).”

2 Corinthians chapters 3 and 4 talk about the calling we have in Christ Jesus as the “ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit (ch. 3, v. 6).” Paul contrasts this new ministry to the ministry given to Moses when he received the law. The law was a “ministry of death (ch. 3, v. 7)” and a “ministry of condemnation (ch. 3, v. 9).” Yet the law was given with enormous glory. As Paul says in chapter 3, verse 11, in the CSB, “For if what was set aside was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.”

So we have a glorious ministry in front of us, one to give us hope. Yet we do our work in “jars of clay (ch. 4, v. 7)” so that we and others will truly understand that the power and the effectiveness comes from God. It reminds me of the story of Gideon and the 300 men — a ridiculous number to go up against an army of 135,000! Just so, the frailty and weakness of our bodies, the stress and pressure of our circumstances, even the impossibility of lifting the veil apart from the work of Jesus Christ — this all combines to remind us that “our sufficiency is from God (ch. 3, v. 5).”

Let’s just meditate on that for a bit. Our sufficiency comes from God. The chances of my making a difference in this world seem as minuscule as Gideon’s fighting force was. But if I’m where God wants me to be and doing what God wants me to do, there’s no telling what kind of impact God can do with my small faithfulness.

Our reading in 2 Corinthians today is almost the antidote to my recognition that we are living in our own time of the judges. Yes, it’s the Wild Wild West. Yes, we are surrounded by chaos and by false gods and by people who are darkened in their understanding. But we have the miracle of the Holy Spirit within us. Even more important, it’s not up to me to solve the chaos — I am only an instrument for God. And He is the one who gives us power, and ability, and strength to persevere and to do the things He calls us to do. Each of us has the potential to be a judge — to be a minister of the new covenant to specific individuals, and to influence our generation towards righteousness. Isn’t that what the good works God calls us to is all about?

Psalm 62 seems like the perfect prayer for us as we consider that God is the one who works in and through us. God is the one who multiplies impact. God is the one who is the source of effectiveness. God is the one who makes us competent and sufficient to the challenges we face. God is the one.

The psalmist begins in verse 1 by saying, “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.” He repeats this idea in verse 5, admonishing himself directly as he says, “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.” If we know that “the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (2 Corinthians 4:7),” what else can we do but wait upon Him?

Verse 8 encourages us to “pour out your heart before him.” Whatever the trouble, whatever the stress, whatever the fear, whatever your worries — bring them to the God of the universe, the Father of All Comfort. When you want to be filled with God’s Spirit, when your heart overflows with thankfulness at what He’s done for you, when you hunger for more of Him — again, pour out your heart to God.

Father God, I’m so thankful that you are the one who is in control. You have the power to create miracles if you desire. You have the wisdom to use chaos for your purposes. And the things that I sometimes worry about accomplishing are often things that are really in your domain. All that you require of me is to be obedient, and to be your servant. Help me to do so. Help me to do the good works you created specifically for me. Let me simply be faithful. Thank you for your steadfast love. Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. And thank you most of all for Christ Jesus, who gives us enlightenment and understanding. I pray in his name, Amen.