Today’s Scripture Reading (December
22, 2015): Judges 2
Adolf Hitler
was present at a point in time that was really simply a perfect storm for
Germany. Germany had lost World War I. In defeat they were belittled. Economic
penalties made them poor and hungry. They no longer possessed then ability to
govern for themselves. And then Adolf Hitler arrives on the scene. Hitler was
shy, he had dropped out of school in order to paint and then promptly failed at
that. He had very poor debating skills, but he had an idea – and that idea was
that the Aryan race, of which he believed the Germans were apart, was special. IN
Hitler’s mind, history had proven it. And it would be proved again.
And so
Hitler started talking. And crowds of people who had been put down in life
showed up to hear him speak, to be told that they were special. That God had a
special plan for them. He began to point at the other races among them, blaming
them for the problems that Germany was currently experiencing. He also pointed
at political systems, assuring Germans that both Democracy and Communism were
flawed – and that they would never survive. But Germany would. In fact, Germany
would one day rule all of Europe. This was destined to be true.
And the
Germans believed. They fell in line and followed this charismatic leader,
seldom even seeming to question whether or not these things could be possibly
true. These were the things that they needed to hear. And their allegiance to
Adolf Hitler was, for the most part, unshakable until the tide began to change
and German forces began to rapidly lose ground near the end of World War II.
Adolf Hitler had believed his own agenda, and had over reached like so many
charismatic leaders before him. When it became obvious that Germany had once
again been on the losing side of a World War, their charismatic leader
committed suicide leaving his followers both confused and afraid. The
charismatic leader had instilled hope, but in the end the hope proved to be
false. And the people were left without a strong leader to follow.
The judges
of Israel were unofficial leaders that God had raised up, usually to deal with
a single issue. They had no power beyond their charisma. There was no election,
no symbol of office and no national proclamation. They simply were the ones
that God had placed in the perfect storm of the struggles of the people. The
nation itself was unconnected. There was no king, and often even tribal
leadership was weak. But God would raise up a judge, often a person with great
charisma, that could change the situation in Israel. Sometimes these judges
were a local phenomenon. The reigns of some judges overlapped with other
judges. But all of them were raised to be the leaders of the moment that God
had given the task of solving a significant problem in Israel – and all of them
entered into history at the moment of a perfect storm when something had to be
done. While Hitler used his perfect storm moment and charisma to lead Germany
into great evil, the judges, at least most of the time, used their charisma to
lead Israel into good. And as long as they were present, Israel did well and
devoted themselves to their God.
The problem
was that while the nation was good under the influence of the judge, once the
influence of the judge was removed, the people fell back under the influence of
other charismatic leaders and religions that led the people away from God. The
cycle of - struggle, relief under God’s judge, success under the influence of a
judge, and then sin after the judge’s influence was no longer present and a
return to the struggle - seemed to be perpetual within the nation. And that was
the problem
Maybe in
ancient times it can also be understood. But the birth of Jesus was supposed to
change all that. Jesus came into the world to be Emmanuel – “God with Us.” The
influence that we crave now resides inside of us. God has become our judge in a
way that Israel could not know him. And that is a game changer – for us and
those around us as we are never far from the one who influences our lives.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Judges
3
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