Poetic and Prophetic Literature of the Old Testament
REL 301
Course Notes on some of the texts for Module 3
Balaam (Numbers, chapters 22-24) was remarkable in that he was not an Israelite. He lived in Mesopotamia, near the River Euphrates (Num.22:5), and must have been well-known as a powerful seer, because the Moabite king, Balak, wanted to hire him to put a curse on the Israelites. The land of Moab lies to the east of the Jordan, and the Israelites needed to travel through Moab in order to get to Canaan.
The Sunday School version of this passage tends to focus on Balaam hearing his donkey speak, and never takes the story to its end. As the textbook points out, the purpose of that event was probably to impress Balaam to stick to the truth, and not accept a bribe to pronounce a false oracle for the king. (Num.24:13)
After blessing the Israelites, Balaam continued to prophesy, declaring that "A star shall come out of Jacob, A scepter shall rise out of Israel" (Num.24:17)
The prophecy about a star and an Israelite king seems not to have remained in the Jewish religious tradition, but to have survived in the traditions of the lands to the east (Balaam's homelands). When the birth of Jesus was heralded by the appearance of a star, it was wise men from the East who came searching while the Jewish councilors remained in Jerusalem, (Matthew 2:1-2)
Ruth started life as a non-Israelite. In fact, she was a Moabite woman, and so would have been regarded as especially accursed (Deut.23:3-6) precisely because Balak had tried to get Balaam to pronounce a curse upon Israel.
Yet, she renounced her nationality and her people's gods, for an uncertain future as a widow in Israel. Eventually she became the great-grandmother of King David.
Deborah (Judges, chapters 4 & 5) was a prophetess in northern Israel during the time of the Judges. The Israelites were being oppressed by Jabin, king of the Canaanite city of Hazor, and the army led by his general Sisera. Deborah called upon the Israelite leader Barak to attack Sisera's army (Judges 4:6-7).
Barak refused to go unless Deborah accompanied him (Judges 4:8).
As a result, Deborah announced that God would still give victory to the Israelites, but Barak would not get any glory for the victory - instead, the glory would go to a woman. (Judges 4:9)
When the battle took place, Barak's troops had the advantage of rushing down the steep slopes of Mount Tabor (Judges 4:14) against the heavy iron chariots of Sisera's army which got bogged down in the flooding river Kishon (Judges 5:21).
Sisera jumped out of his chariot and ran for his life, going to the tent of Jael. (Judges 4:15, 17)
We are not told the nationality of Jael, only that she was the wife of Heber the Kenite. The Kenites were a nomadic people who lived mainly in the Sinai desert, but Heber had moved into northern Canaan and pitched his tent near Hazor.
We are not told where Heber was at the time of the battle, but evidently Jael was alone when Sisera came to her tent. In that society it was totally unacceptable for a man to approach another man's wife when she was alone, but probably Sisera thought that no-one would think to look for him in her tent. As an added precaution, Sisera told Jael to stand at the door of the tent and tell anyone who came by asking that there was no-one in the tent with her.(Judges 4:20)
Sisera was tired and thirsty, so Jael gave him a drink and put him under a blanket to hide and to sleep.
We know the rest of the story - Jael got a tent-peg and a mallet, and smashed the tent-peg through Sisera's head.
The Lament of David over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan
Saul was the first anointed king of Israel. During his time, the Philistines were in control of most of the coastal region of Israel, and were at war with the Israelites. Saul started out as a most promising leader, but he disobeyed God to such an extent that the prophet Samuel had to tell him that God had rejected him from being king (1 Sam.15:10-11, 16-29).
Samuel was then sent by God to anoint David as the next king, even while Saul was still reigning. (1 Sam.16:11-13) David did not challenge Saul, and in fact did not kill him when he had opportunities to do so (1 Samuel, chapters 24 & 26)
David became a fugitive from the paranoia of Saul, living in the deserts and the borderlands between the Philistines, the Amorites, and the Israelites. The Philistines continued to invade the lands of the Israelites, and eventually defeated Saul and his sons in battle on the Mount of Gilboa.
The news was brought to David by an Amalekite, who had plundered the battlefield and brought Saul's crown and bracelet to David, expecting that David would be glad and would reward him. The Amalekite claimed that he himself had killed Saul, so David had him executed. Then David and his men mourned the death of Saul and his army.
Some commentators have used verse 26 to imply a homosexual relationship between David and Jonathan. To me, what David is saying seems to be that his friendship with Jonathan was deeper than a sexual relationship with a woman. David and Jonathan were both tough fighting men, who had been in battle together. They had been fighting the Philistines and others for the whole of their adult lives, and had risked their lives together. Both of them had wives (David had several wives by this time) and children, both had been fighting the Philistines since they were teenagers. Jonathan commanded part of his father's army right at the start of Saul's reign, and took on a Philistine camp (1 Sam.13:2, 14:1, 6-14), David had already killed a bear and a lion when he fought and killed Goliath (1 Sam.17:33-36). When Saul grew jealous of David, Jonathan had been a faithful friend to David, even at the risk of his own life (1 Sam. 19:1-5, 20:1-42). As the son of King Saul, Jonathan might have sought the kingdom for himself (1 Sam.20:30-31), but instead, realizing that David had been chosen by God to be the next king, Jonathan declared that he would be David's faithful second-in-command (1 Sam.23:15-18).
The Ark of the Covenant is brought to Jerusalem (1 Chron.16:7-30)
During the early years of Israel, the Ark of the Covenant was kept in a shrine at Shiloh (1 Sam.1:3).
Samuel was brought up at Shiloh, under the direction of the priest Eli (1 Sam.2:11, 3:1), and was acknowledged as a prophet (1.Sam.3:19-21). Then the Israelites went to war against the Philistines, and decided to use the Ark of the Covenant as a talisman to give them victory. They brought the Ark from Shiloh, and carried it into the battle against the Philistines (1 Sam.4:1-5)
The Philistines won the battle, and captured the Ark. Eli died when he heard the news of the Ark's capture, Eli's sons were killed in the battle, Shiloh was destroyed, Samuel became a wandering prophet, with his main home at Ramah (1 Sam.4:10-18, 7:15-17).
The Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant, and placed it in the temple of their god Dagon. But the statue of Dagon fell down before the Ark, and the head and arms of the statue broke off. A plague broke out among the Philistines, and their city of Ashdod was invaded by rats (1 Sam.5:1-6, 8:4-5). For seven months the Philistines held on to the Ark, passing it from one city to another, and all being hit by armies of rats and what might have been bubonic plague (1 Sam.5:6-6:1). Finally the Philistines had had enough, and returned the Ark, along with a 'Trespass Offering', to Israel (1 Sam.6:2-12).
The Ark of the Covenant came first to Beth-Shemsh (1 Sam.6:13-15), then was taken to Kirjath Jearim, where it stayed for twenty years (1 Sam.6:20-7:2).
Saul does not seem to have concerned himself with the Ark of the Covenant.
However, after David became king he was concerned that God should be worshipped in a more organized manner. He appointed musicians and singers to assist the priests. After David took Jerusalem and made it the capital of his kingdom, he wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant to a suitable location in the city (the Temple was not built at that time) (2.Sam.6:1-19 & 1 Chron.13:1-14, 15:1-3, 11-15, 25-29, 16:1-4).
Although David wanted to build a Temple for God in Jerusalem, the prophet Nathan had to tell him that that was not God's plan. David had been a man of war, and had shed the blood of many men. The Temple was to be built by a man of peace, Solomon, the son of David. David accepted God's ruling, and started to collect the building materials that Solomon would need. (2 Sam.7:1-17, 1 Chron.17:1-15. 29:19)
Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
