Having a fire lit underneath you can be uncomfortable: Judges

Before I get to the bible, lets talk about class. As Dr. Sexson reprimands us for our slowness in reading the bible, inability to be interesting and affinity for pursuing tv over friends, bible and reading, I look around the room and see legs start to shake. My own breathing speeds up, as I realize what a fool I have been, how I really should start getting up at 6, spend an hour reading the bible, then start my day. No more tv, no more breaks. I am an adult. I am a productive citizen, I AM an ENGLISH MAJOR (well, sort of). The class is really grooving on this idea. We can get it done, but gosh darnit we need to get going now. SO come on, let that bell ring so I can start reading that bible now, I have no time to smell the proverbial stew that Sexson is cooking, I gotta go get something done!!!!!!

Having this inspiration, this drive, is uncomfortable. Sometimes, it comes at all the wrong moments, like when I’m stuck in geography lecture. Other times, it slinks into the recesses of my mind, like when a new episode of The Office is aired. Shoot. What’s a girl to do? But then, when I finally get to the bible, I realize that this is a common problem. I come to realize, unlike Plotz, that the people of the bible struggle just like I do with that fire—they misplace it, misuse it, it gives them heart attacks and bad judgment. And that’s when I really start to appreciate it…

JUDGES

The Song of Deborah:

Two heroines in this Judges tale, as Plotz notes. My mom’s name is Deborah, I paid close attention to her story. Funny how, even hundreds of years later, removed from the religion, I can still have this attachment to a name?

Samson

“Although you are barren….you shall bear a son….the boy shall be a Nazarite to god from birth. It is he who shall deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” (Judges 13.2)

I did not know Jesus wasn’t the first or only child of god meant to be the savior of Israel. Samson, it turns out, is sort of crazy, and not so serene or compassionate, what with the killing and super-human strength, but there is still this theme. That makes me wonder about the idea of archetypes, and while this story appears over and over again in…well…stories, where is its base for real life? For human emotion or tendencies? Perhaps it is wishful thinking, or vanity, or worship. I don’t know, divine birth is very common in mythology, but where is its inspiration?

Judges was, well, repetitive. Which is the story of the world. We learn, we have peace, we forget. The lack of a reminder, no matter how strong a people may be, leads again and again to forgetfulness. Plotz is accusing of Israel and its transgressions, almost as if setting them apart, thinking that they are a special case for forgetting, for causing suffering, brutality, ect. Yet, isn’t history full of these sorts of things already? And even personal history. Again and again we forget the epiphanies we have, indeed sometimes the easy part is feeling divinely inspired—late at night, early in morning, everything becomes clear—its remembering those feelings, enacting those thoughts the rest of our day that is the hard part. We are so quick to forget.

The Bible provides a human side, a tale to tell of the tragedy of history, the downfall of man. It is archetypes, yes, but it is also a back ground, a narrative for any wrong committed and any right revealed.