After him, Elon the Zebulunite led Israel ten years. Then Elon died and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. - Judges 12:11-12

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 12, 2019): Judges 12

One of the first musical influences on my life was the Canadian Rock Band “Rush.” One of the first albums that I purchased with my own money was their classic work “2112.” The first half of the album is the title track, and it tells a dystopian story where the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx have banned all kinds of unique self-expression, including music. The hero of the story finds a guitar, and begins to play it, discovering the wonderful tones that a guitar can make. The guitar solo at this point in the story, played by Alex Lifeson, is still one of my favorite guitar solos in Rock. All of this culminates in the hero taking the guitar to the priests, only to have Father Brown crush the instrument under his feet, claiming that it was this kind of self-expression that destroyed the “elder race of man.” The priest sings at this point “Just think about the average, what use have they for you.”

It is an interesting thought. First of all, who is it that numbers among the average. Maybe all of us, but then again, possibly none of us. I am convinced that each one of us is gifted in some area of our life. Part of our struggle is in finding that area where we are strong and continuing to grow in that area so that we can excel. God has somehow gifted all of us. The church is not just a building or a particular set of people. It is all of us. There are some things that I do, I think, rather well. But there are also things at which I could not be considered to be competent. There are people who I depend on in the community because they do well the things that I cannot do. This is the basic idea of the community of God.

The Judges were not anything special, and yet they were special. They were called by God to do something extraordinary out of the ordinary, or the average. And that should be all of our stories. The Judges were not kings. There was not always a Judge in control of Israel. Many Judges were regional leaders and sometimes the reigns of the Judges overlapped with other Judges. They came in various shapes and sizes, and even genders, and each had a unique purpose in the history of the nation.

And all of this is to introduce us Elon, a Judge in Israel for ten years. We know nothing about him. He is probably the Judge about whom we know the least. And so it is very tempting to think that Elon was an inconsequential Judge; that he was Rush’s “Average.” And if we arrived at that conclusion, we would some support. Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, calls Elon “Helon” and sums up his reign as Judge with these words; “Neither did Helon do anything remarkable.” But that statement is short-sighted. Elon did something to justify his inclusion in our list of Judges. Like at least some of the other Judges, he was likely the average who God used to do something remarkable. He may have had a local rather than national significance. He may not have measured up to the exploits of a Gideon or a Jephthah, but it was something that only Elon could do. And what made Elon special, and what can make us special, is that when God called, Elon said yes.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Judges 13

The Sermon "Man and the Sabbath" from the Sermon Series "The Hard Sayings of Jesus" is now online. This sermon was preached on February 10, 2019 at VantagePoint Community Church (Edmonton).