April 25

OT – Judges 4:1-5:31
Judge #4 is Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth. Apparently, Deborah was a ‘real’ judge in the sense that she was adjudicating cases. But clearly, if a WOMAN was adjudicating, even one of such great value (and the Midrash quotes Proverbs 14:1!!! Yesterday’s proverb.), things must really be bad in Israel.
When you read the Midrash on this little gem of a story, wow! Lots of back and forth about what the verses mean.
Here is an encapsulated version of the real Midrash.
Deborah.
What I found most fascinating is the whole question of whether or not Barak is her husband. I just have to say, I have read this story countless times. NEVER did I guess that Barak could be her husband. And this is just one other example of ‘back story’ that we miss being in English ‘the wife of Lappidoth’. Wick maker. Just an amazing piece that we don’t understand in our Christian Bibles because we don’t have the Rabbis.

The commentaries on Deborah say that the Song of Deborah is one of the oldest piece of literature in the Bible. It was either written by Deborah or at least an eyewitness. The historical stuff is part of the compilation from David’s time.

NT – Luke 22:35-53
Do you find it amazing that even at the betrayal, the disciples do not understand what Jesus is saying? Pack your bag. Get a weapon. They are coming for you. Jesus meant his disciples not himself. They thought he was sticking around. They either a)didn’t listen or b) didn’t believe him. I am planning on pondering that idea tonight in my sleep. What are your thoughts? Didn’t Jesus follow through with everything he told his disciples he would do? Or did they just think all that talk about dying was double speak?

Proverbs 14:3-4
“Where there is no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest. “
Take care of your tools and your tools will take care of you. Don’t buy cheap tools. Buy the most expensive you can and take care of them. Treat your workers like gold and they will treat your customers the same way.
These were all buzzy mantras of the one management course my father made me take at UGA. He also made me take an accounting course and that was a disaster. I find it very amusing that in my job life, I do accounting and compliance work and a good bit of management. Definitely in my home life, those two are big parts of my responsibility. So, do I believe the proverb? Well, I would like not to believe. I would like to think you could start with the bare bones and create something memorable. But I have come to think that this just isn’t possible. You need a good working base. And then you need to take care of it. So, where do you get this base? Is this our education? Our home values that are instilled? Or cooperation with one another to help when and where we can?
I think I squandered a good bit of my base. I think a lot of young people do. I hope I have learned my lesson.

Peace and grace to you all.