The Whole Story

So may all of your enemies perish O Lord! But, may they who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.’ Then the land had peace forty years." Judges 5:31

Wow, forty years of peace! What a blessing! Judges has an underlining theme as it tells the saga of good and bad leaders, mostly bad. Several times throughout the book it says, “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” This always leads to disaster! Of course, bad leaders didn’t help matters.

This blessing is preceded by another, asking that those who love God be like the rising sun. The picture I get is strong, bright, reliable, and the source of light. The words about peace for 40 years and this blessing take on deeper comparative meaning when read after the first 9 words of verse 31. “So may all of your enemies perish O Lord.” And just how is the author suggesting they die? Well, the little victory song that precedes verse 31 tells of Jael, a rather strong woman who all by herself took a tent peg and drove it through the temple of unsuspecting Sisera, the baddest dude in that time. He was a horrible, detestable man who had been a curse and had killed countless innocent people. So that is the flip side of the blessing about the rising sun for those who love God. In essence, the enemies of the Lord should be lulled to sleep with warm milk and the BOOM, tent peg through the temple. Just thought you ought to know the whole story. The Bible is graphic and real.

Today, I wish a blessing on all those who love God, may they be strong like the rising sun. As for the Lord’s enemies…if any of you ever read this, I hope and pray you repent…if not…well, now you know the whole story. The Bible isn’t just a series of platitudes for the weak. It is a blessing and a warning.

In His Grace, Pastor Fred

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