Tent pegs and riots
Last Sunday, I spoke on the story of Deborah, which can be found in Judges 4 or in Judges 5, where the same story is told again but in song. You can watch my full talk here online.
But for now, I’m going to focus on the end of Deborah’s story, when a lady called Jael kills a man called Sisera – the commander of the enemy army – by hammering a tent peg through his head.
Violence in the Bible
It is one of a number of brutal killings in the book of Judges, including…
Ehud plunging a hidden dagger deep into the belly of Eglon the king of Moab, in Judges 3
Gideon defeating the Midianites and executing two Midianite kings, in Judges 6
Abimelech dying when a woman drops a millstone on his head, in Judges 9
Jephthah who orders the killing of 42,000 Ephraimites, in Judges 11
Samson who kills thirty men to settle as bet, kills a thousand Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone and kills himself and many others when he brings down the temple of Dagon. This can be read in Judges 16.
It is all very violent, and it is all in the Bible.
The current violence in our nation
I realise that telling this story of Jael comes against the backdrop of what is currently happening in our nation.
Three young girls were killed in Southport (in a manner not totally unlike the killing of Sisera) with others seriously wounded, and families and the wider community left grieving and traumatised.
Following that, we have seen widespread disorder in towns and communities across the UK, with what can only be described as racist thugs using the events in Southport as a pathetic excuse for sowing destruction and fear in the lives of many. Some of the rioters are even making the claim that they are trying to restore ‘Christian values’ to our nation.
How are we to make sense of all this? Particularly in the light of the violence in the Bible, which often seems to be seen as part of God’s plan of salvation for his people.
To those who feel afraid…
Firstly, I want to speak to anyone in our church community who has been made to feel afraid or unwelcome by the events that have been taking place, particularly those who might not identify as ‘white British’.
I want you to know that we love you, that we deeply value having you as part of our community, that we know we are richer as a church family because of the diversity that you bring and it grieves us deeply that you might be feeling afraid or unwanted.
Part of the richness of God’s family is its diversity. We read in Revelation of a great multitude ‘from all nations, from all tribes and people and languages’ coming together to worship Jesus.
Being in Christ doesn’t remove our differences, but allows us to be united in the beauty of our diversity.
The diversity in our church is a picture of heaven on earth and something to be celebrated. If you have felt afraid, please know you are loved and please reach out – we want to stand with you in both word and deed so please let us know how we can best do that.
Welcome the foreigner in our midst
I also want to encourage all of us to be part of the solution. Christian values are to welcome the foreigner in our midst, to help the immigrant, to stand up for the marginalised, to house the homeless, to sit with the traumatised, to mourn with the grieving and to strive for unity in our diversity.
I would encourage us to do that in positive ways. I’m not sure how much value there is in getting into wars of words on Facebook or X, they usually just generate more heat than light.
But actions can change hearts. Checking in with a neighbour or someone you work with or are at school with who might be feeling fearful. Thanking shop workers, people in the NHS, workers in care homes, delivery drivers and others who may be feeling anxious about going to work. Reaching out to people in church on Sunday and midweek and asking them if they’re OK. And we can pray.
Pray for peace.
Pray of the victims.
Pray for the perpetrators.
Pray for the witness of the Christian community in the areas most impacted.
Pray for the police and our politicians as they seek to bring calm.
Our prayers are powerful and effective.
Wrestle with the Bible
We must also wrestle with the Bible. We sometimes become so familiar with the stories, particularly those in the Old Testament, which seem to affirm bloodshed and even genocide, that we don’t stop to think about how they relate to the God of love who we have come to know.
For anyone in Bracknell last Sunday I want to acknowledge that I didn’t do a good job of engaging with this complexity, for which I apologise. I only have space here to make brief comment but I want to point out three things as a starting point for any discussions.
1. We must embrace God who is at times angry against sin and injustice
Firstly, we must resist any temptation to formulate a God of the Old Testament who is violent and vengeful, and a different God of the New Testament who is loving and forgiving. Our God is both loving and merciful, and at times angry against sin and injustice. Psalm 103:8 holds those two in balance well.
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
For New Testament equivalents take a look at Romans 5:8-9 and Ephesians 2:3-5. The anger and desire for justice that I’m sure we all felt when we heard about the knife attack in Southport, is the same anger God feels when he sees injustice in this world.
Whenever we love someone, we will inevitably feel angry if someone or something hurts them, and jealous if they turn away from us to devote their attention to someone else.
If our imperfect love can result in appropriate anger and jealousy, how much more will God’s abounding and perfect love for us cause him to be angry and jealous when we are hurt, or we turn away from him?
2. We must always consider the context of what we read
Secondly, we must understand the context in which much of the Old Testament is written. Most of us live relatively peaceful and comfortable lives, with a police force and criminal justice system which we can (hopefully) rely on to protect us if we are in danger, and bring justice if we are wronged.
Life was very different for the Israelites. As we come to the story of Deborah, God’s people have been cruelly oppressed by Jabin, king of Canaan for twenty years. This oppression would almost certainly have involved rape, murder, destruction of property, theft and more (see Judges 5:30).
There was no International Criminal Court in the Hague to try war criminals like Sisera. If you had the opportunity, you would be expected to kill him, something Jael does and is commended for doing by Deborah (Judges 5:24-27).
I’m reminded here of the German theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer who got involved in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Writing from prison after the failure of the plot, he justified his actions when he wrote ‘it becomes an essential part of responsible action that the man who is without sin loves selflessly, and for that reason incurs guilt.’
He understood that at one level what he was attempting to do in taking a life was wrong, but could also be seen as an expression of selfless love as he sought to save people from the evil of Hitler.
We must be careful not to be too quick to judge Jael or Bonhoeffer without seriously seeking to understand their context, but we must also be very careful not to use their actions to justify violence in our own context.
3. Where God brings salvation through violence, we are pointed to the cross
Finally, all of these stories where God brings salvation through violence (the death of Sisera results in forty years of peace in the land – Judges 5:32) at some level point us to the cross.
The place where peace does not come through the death of a war criminal, but through the death of God’s dearly beloved Son who was without sin. A death which was not inflicted on him, but which he chose out of his great love for us. A death which did not bring just forty years of peace, but which will bring peace for all eternity in a new heaven and a new earth.
We can sometimes ‘sanitise’ the cross, getting used to seeing it as decoration on a necklace or a pair of earrings. In the death of Sisera, we are reminded of the brutality of death and that for Jesus and his early followers, it was a symbol of pain, humiliation and certain death. But paradoxically it is through that death we now receive life.
So I encourage you this week, to take time with God and pray for those who are grieving, consider how you can change hearts through action and reflect on what I have shared here. As always, I’d love to hear any comments or thoughts.