Did Saul?

Have two sons named Mephibosheth? I am not sure I understand this passage in 2 Samuel 21. Anyone have any insight?

7 The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan son of Saul. 8 But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, whom she had borne to Saul, together with the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab, [a] whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 9 He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed and exposed them on a hill before the LORD. All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.

2 Samuel

2 David also defeated the Moabites. He made them lie down on the ground and measured them off with a length of cord. Every two lengths of them were put to death, and the third length was allowed to live. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought tribute.

Wow.  I just find this strange.  I don’t understand the reasoning behind killing 2/3 of the people and leaving the other 1/3.  I am  finding it interesting to read my Bible (ok, it’s Bible Gateway but still it is amazing) and to find the strangest things in it.  I am not so much amazed by the actual things but more by the fact that we (humans in 2007) have been TRAINED, BRAINWASHED, CAJOLED, etc. into believing our own little world is the “right” world.  Who do we think we are?  Why can’t we realize we can be in the world as a light and a lamp to Christ but not OF the world?  Why is this so difficult.  I know the drill, Adam and Eve ate the fruit, we are no longer in Eden…I know all of this.  What I don’t understand is how we could have come so far away from what God really wanted for us and fallen into this world full of scariness?  Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty dogone scary to read about David killing 2/3 of the people.  In fact, what I think I might be getting at is that we no longer have the fear they had back then.  No fear.  That is scary.

I Samuel 27

It is strange to read about Saul calling for a medium (psychic) to help him with his issues…he calls one and she calls on Samuel from the dead.  So weird.  I know God doesn’t want us using mediums in any form…wonder what this is all about?  First he sends them all away and then he goes to see one???  So confused!

Huh?

14 Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil [e] spirit from the LORD tormented him.

15 Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes upon you, and you will feel better.”

Ok, that confuses me?  What is the evil spirit of the God?  WEIRD!

Not sure I understand

Judges 11

29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD : “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

I am not sure I understand what would possess someone to say they will give whatever comes out of their house as as burnt offering.  Jephthah had to know it would be someone he cared for.  I know my children are Gods children He has loaned me.  It just seems strange to me.  It was his daughter, his only child and he followed through (which by the way, I also find remarkable).  Sad.  But what a man of faith he must have been to follow through with this.  I wish I could even say I would do this…I know I would struggle more than anything against this one.  

Judges 8

27 Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Isn’t it strange how something so seemingly ok turns out to be just the thing that removes you from your Heavenly Father? I know there are times when I believe I am doing “good” things…such as helping at Church, School, Friends, etc…and when I really start thinking about it and stepping back and praying, I realize if I would just stop for a few minutes, stay home more and relax, I would have a closer more secure relationship with Christ because I could be more involved with Him.  This is my interpretation of this verse.

Judges

21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.

How gross is that?  I know Deborah told Barak a woman would get Sisera but eeewww that is just nasty.  So in the Old Testament, women had a bit of power?  Interesting information.  I am SOOO not a feminist…I just find this interesting reading.  This Bible thing is pretty neat!

Luke 4

It seems to me, Luke is FAR more descriptive about Nazareth than any of the other Gospels?  And it seemed like the people in the synagogue thought highly of Jesus until Jesus told them they woudn’t because He was from Nazareth…it says ALL SPOKE WELL OF HIM…and 5 minutes later (ok, that is just my time) they are running Him out of the town and wanting him to be sent off a cliff?

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18″The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[e]

20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.

23Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ ”

24″I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27And there were many in Israel with leprosy[f] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Judges 2

10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.

How wild…a whole generation that didn’t know God.  That, to me, is absolutely weird…and yet there are millions upon millions of people who do not know Jesus…1000’s of years later!!!

Luke Chapter 3

21When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Luke doesn’t say John baptized Him.  Interesting…all of the rest of it is the same as the other books but this part is not the same.  I wonder what made Luke leave out little things…this isn’t the first thing I’ve noticed.  I am chalking it up to Luke being a physician, matter of fact about things and just leaving out the details he saw as unimportant?  Except this is the Word of God…so how does that reconcile?  That is a good question:  How are the writings of the same stories sooo different even though the stories and lives are God-breathed?  Anyone?? Victoria???