Ruth

Book Written: Sometime between 900-700 B.C.

Time Period/Setting: Time of Judges; between 1200-1000 B.C.

Title:  Named after protagonist of story though Naomi is equally a central figure


The website, Catholic Womanhood, published my reflection on the Book of Ruth. You can read it here.

Samson

As my study guides point out, Samson is a familiar figure to us from popular culture, and, sure enough, I know something about him because of a song,  "If I Had My Way," on a Peter, Paul and Mary album.  The song, also titled "Samson and Delilah," was written by a blind Baptist minister and guitar player, Rev. Gary Davis, one of those blues and gospel "originals" who enjoyed a rediscovery during the folk music craze of the 60s.    The version of the song that I know is all rhythm and harmonizing and communicates some of the intensity of Samson's story.  Naturally, the account in the Bible is quite a bit more  raw and arresting than the song.

Like Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel, Samson's mother is barren and Samson's birth is special, overseen by the intervention of an angel who instructs Samson's mother not to cut the boy's hair, that he will be a Nazirite (see Numbers 6, 1-21).   Again we have a prefiguring of the angel's visit to Mary and Jesus' birth as well as a reminder that each new life is known to God and is part of his plan.

Samson has his share of adventures with women and riddles.  He first marries a Philistine woman whom he rather unceremoniously dumps when she discloses to her people the answer to the riddle that Samson poses.  Later, the pattern is repeated with Delilah.  Both women are portrayed as coquettish vixens playing on Samson's emotions by telling him that if he really loved them, he'd tell his secret.  (Everything old is new again!) 


I understand that Samson's herculean strength and his defeat of the Philistines comes from God, but Samson himself never acknowledges that until the very end of his life, Ch. 16,  v.28.  Furthermore, Samson seems indifferent where the Lord is concerned.  When he reveals his secret to Delilah, it's not clear whether he really believes his strength comes from God --that is from his hair as a result of  his consecration to God from birth---or whether he regards the Nazirite vow as empty and takes his overpowering strength for granted.   In contrast to Moses or Joshua or to another of the judges, Deborah, Samson is a bit of a brute.  In the Garrison study guide, the author asks, "Do you find it difficult to focus your reading so that you rise above the sordid in Samson's brief biography?"  Answer, yes.

Pope Benedict - Waters of Meribah

This commentary by the Pope is not directly about Moses or the Waters of Meribah, rather the Pope is awarding some prizes in theology, the science of faith, and asks whether or not this is a contradiction.  He speaks of the "double use of reason"

a use that is irreconcilable with the nature of faith and of a use that instead belongs precisely to the nature of faith. There exists, he says, the violentia rationis, the despotism of reason, which makes itself the supreme and ultimate judge of everything. This kind of use of reason is certainly impossible in the ambit of faith. What does Bonaventure mean by this? An expression of Psalm 95:9 can show us. Here God says to his people: "In the wilderness ... your fathers tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work." Here there is reference to a double encounter with God: they "saw." This, however, was not enough for them. They put God "to the proof." They want to subject him to experiment. He is, as it were, subjected to a questioning and must submit Himself to a procedure of experimental testing. 
  The particular verses go

Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your ancestors tested me and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.  (Psalms 95, 8-9)

The Pope says, "God is not an object of human experimentation."  Understanding this helps to understand God's anger at the Israelites as well as, maybe, his impatience with Moses when Moses strikes the rock rather than just commands the rock to yield water (Numbers 20).

Pope Benedict speaks on Moses' Intercessory Prayer

I've included a link to this somewhat lengthy article because I thought it would be useful for future reference and contemplation.  I couldn't absorb it all on the first reading.  Here is how the Pope sets the stage: 

Also at Sinai, when the people ask Aaron to fashion for them a golden calf, Moses prays, thus carrying out in an emblematic way the true role of an intercessor. The episode is narrated in Chapter 32 of the Book of Exodus and has a parallel account in Deuteronomy Chapter 9. It is this episode that I would like to dwell upon in today's catechesis; and in particular on the prayer of Moses that we find in the Exodus account.

Needless to say, there is plenty to reflect upon when considering "Moses, the man of prayer"  as Pope Benedict calls him.

Judges

Book Written:  material gathered during reign of King David; edited in 7th-6th centuries

Time Period/Setting:   200 years, 1200-1000 B.C.,  during which Israel had no centralized authority or king

Title:   Judges or military-theocratic leaders ruled over the different tribes; word 'judge' is mentioned only once in book; not necessarily charismatic leaders 

Judges contains the line, " In those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did as he pleased,"  a line which pretty well describes our modern culture of moral relativism where moral standards are determined not by God's truth but by  "what's right for me."    Of the twelve judges described in the book, four are said to be major, and, of those, two in particular interested me--Deborah and Samson.

So,  here we have Deborah, a woman whose name in Hebrew means 'bee,'  sitting under a palm tree giving orders. What an image.  It has to be only a matter of highly unusual coincidence that Barak is the name of the  military leader that Deborah summons to fight  King Jabin's army led by Sisera.  It must again be coincidence of the highest order that Barak is a  ditherer.  My study Bible uses the words 'reluctant' and 'hesitant'  to describe our president  the man.  It's no surprise that Barak doesn't want to follow Deborah's instructions unless she goes with him.   Barak does screw up the pep to take 10,000 troops against Sisera (maybe those are the 10,000 he's planning to call back from Afghanistan in July?) and he even has the guts to pursue Sisera's chariots.   A woman, Jael, finishes the job for Barak by luring Sisera into her tent and then killing him.  

The literary subtleties of the Song of Deborah, Ch. 5, elude me but there are some beautiful verses that capture the drama of Deborah's victory.  Jael killing Sisera with a tent peg is as follows:

She put her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen's mallet;

she struck Sisera a blow,

she crushed his head,

she shattered and pierced his temple.

He sank, he fell, he lay still at her feet; at her feet he sank, he fell;where he sank, there he fell dead.  

Joshua

Book Written:  came to its present form in 7th-6th century B.C. via writings discovered while repairing temple during King Josiah's reign ;  not attributed to Joshua

Time Period/Setting:  1250 B.C. - 1200 B.C.

Title:  named after main character

I know that Joshua fought the battle of Jericho  because of  the song that I learned one summer in Bible School.  I only vaguely remember the verses, but the refrain was rousing, and I believe we clapped after each of those three Jerichos in the first line. 

Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho

Joshua fought the battle of Jericho,

And the walls came tumbling down.

It was edifying to finally understand that Joshua was Moses's successor in leading the Israelites into Canaan though not his blood relation.  Joshua was the son of Nun. 

The crossing of the Jordan and the curious placing of the twelve stones in the river bed along with the story of Rahab the prostitute were new to me, but I did enjoy the more familiar account of the way the retinue of priest-trumpeters and armed men circled the city for six days without uttering a word.  They said nothing, but blew their ram's horn trumpets the whole time.   What a scene.   After this careful build-up, they then just ran in and razed the city.  Go figure.

Shiloh, Gilgal and Shechem are discussed in my study Bible as important places for "tribal assembly." 

Fr. Baker notesthat Joshua's faithfulness to God throughout his leadership is a theme of this book, that the  conquest of Jericho is not a human victory, but a result of God's intercession, that the name Joshua is a variant of Jesus.  In terms of relating the Old and New Testaments (typology), Baker writes ". . . Joshua's conquest of the Promised Land is a prophecy of the spiritual conquest of the world by Jesus and his Church. . . . . "

Re Lot's Wife Syndrome

I read articles from the site Catholic Womanhood on occasion.  This one got my attention, but disappointed.  Is the syndrome not letting go?   You shouldn't look back?