Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Judges 9 and Origen's De Principiis: Book VIII (1)

Judge 9 – Abimelech goes to Shechem to get his mother’s clan’s support for going up against the 70 legitimate heirs of Gideon (Jerubbaal).  They give him money with which he hires “worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him” (9:4). Then he goes and kills all his brothers.  Only one survives the massacre—Jotham.   

When Jotham learns that the “lords of Shechem” are gathered “by the oak of the pillar at Shechem” (9:6) he goes up Mount Gerizim and cries out to them a kind of parable about trees that go out “to anoint a king” over them—they ask an olive tree to be kind but he says, “Shall I stop producing my rich oil by which gods and mortals are honored, and go to sway over the trees?”  They ask a fig tree, but he says, “Shall I stop producing my sweetness and my delicious fruit, and go to sway over the trees?” They ask the vine, but he says, “Shall I stop producing my wine that cheers gods and mortals, and go to sway over the trees?”  So, finally, finding no one useful who will agree to reign, they go and ask the “bramble.” He says, “If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon” (9:8-15). Then he pours down sarcasm on them—if they have “acted in good faith and honor” (9:16) and treated Gideon’s house as it deserves (seeing the great service Gideon did for them in his life) in raising up Abimelech (son of the slave woman), then they should rejoice in Abimelech (embrace their bramble whole-heartedly).  But if not, then let them get fire and destruction from him to devour them.  Then he runs away.

Sure enough, in the three years Abimelech rules, an “evil spirit” comes between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem (9:23). The lords set up ambushes on the mountains and rob those who pass by. Then they gather together and plot a revolt against him under a man named Gaal.  They fight but Gaal is defeated and chased out of the land. Then in revenge on the men of Shechem who had provoked the rebellion, he “Fought against the city,” took it, “killed the people that were in it, and he razed the city and sowed it with salt” (9:45). 

Then he and his followers set the Tower or stronghold of Shechem on fire—thus fulfilling the prophetic message of Jotham. He goes on to the city of Thebez, but here he meets his doom.  A woman in the tower of this city throws a millstone onto his head and crushes his skull.  He gets his armor bearer to kill him so he won’t have the shame of having been killed by a woman to bear.  So the curse of Jotham came to be realized.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Chapter VIII – On the Angels

1 – He turns to the question of “angels” – what they are, what kind of nature and purpose they have in the grand scheme of things. Angels were believed to have particular “gifts” or purposes [LIKE THE TREES IN JOTHAM'S PARABLE]– the angel Raphael, “the work of curing and healing”; Gabriel, “the conduct of wars”; Michael, “the duty of attending to the prayers and supplications of mortals.”

He does not think they came by these jobs “otherwise than by their own merits, ad by the zeal and excellent qualities which they severally displayed before this world was formed; so that afterwards in the order of archangels, this or that office was assigned to each one, while others deserved to be enrolled in the order of angels, and to act under this or that archangel, or that leader or head of an order.”

Origen believes that beings – corporeal and incorporeal” – are assigned works “according to deserts, in accordance with [God’s] own approval and judgment.” If this is true of us, it must also be true for the “incorporeal beings” that are so much a part of the religious tradition Christianity is built on. They are placed in the scheme of things “by God, the just and impartial Ruler of all things, agreeably to the merits and good qualities and mental vigor of each individual spirit.”

Genesis 26 and Early Church Writings [Polycarp to Philippians] 9-11

Genesis 26 – A severe famine strikes the land, so Isaac moves to Gerar, where Abimelech, king of the Philistines, lives. “The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt, but do as I tell you. Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father” (26:2-3). So Isaac stays in Gerar.

But when “the men who lived there asked Isaac about his wife, Rebekah, he said, ‘She is my sister.’ He was afraid to say, ‘She is my wife.’ He thought, ‘They will kill me to get her, because she is so beautiful.’’” (26:7).

This seems to be yet another echo-story of the Abraham/Sarah story in Egypt.  Here it is Isaac and Rebekah. The NAB says this is the Yahwist version of the story the Elohist writer told in Chapter 20. It is a little difficult to see the importance these stories had in ancient times. Partly, it is to show that the hero is a man of guile – or in some cases a woman of guile (a lot like Odysseus). Guile was not a bad thing as long as it served a good purpose. But it also again tells us that our hero needs to learn that just because a king is outside the tradition and the culture, this does not mean he is a person to fear. Abimelech is a man of integrity and hospitality.

Abimelech issues a “public proclamation [that] anyone who touches [Isaac] or his wife will be put to death’ (26:11).

Isaac “harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the Lord blessed him. He became a very rich man” (26:12-13). The Philistines become jealous of him and start being aggressive towards him. Abimelech finally tells Isaac and his family to leave the country. “Isaac moved away to the Gerar Valley, where he set up their tents and settled down. But now disputes over water arise and twice more Isaac is forced to move. Finally, Isaac moves to Beersheba where the Lord appears to him and renews the covenant he has made before (26:24). So “Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord” (26:25).

When Abimelech comes to see Isaac again, Isaac’s first thought is that Abimelech wants to push him away again, but instead Abimelech says, “’We can plainly see that the Lord is with you. So we want to enter into a sworn treaty with you. Let’s make a covenant. Swear that you will not harm us, just as we have never troubled you. We have always treated you well, and we sent you away from us in peace. And now look how the Lord has blessed you!’” (26:28-29). They celebrate the arranged peace, and “to this day the town that grew up there is called Beersheba (which means ‘well of the oath’)” (26:33).

At age 40, Esau takes two Hittite wives – Judith and Basemath. They “made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah” (26:35).

The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians [c. mid-2^nd century)

Chapter 9 - Polycarp appeals to his readers to hear and obey the call to holiness and follow the examples of Ignatius, Zosimus and Rufus, Paul and others so that their sacrifices not have been in vain. We do not know who these people were, except for Paul and Ignatius.

Chapter 10 – “Stand firm, then, in these ways, taking the Lord for your example. Be fixed and unshaken in your faith; care for each other with a brother’s love, and make common cause for the truth. Give way to one another in the Lord’s own spirit of courtesy, treating no one as an inferior. When it is in your power to do a kindness, never put it off to another time, for charity is death’s reprieve [citing Tobit]” (122).

He continues, encouraging everyone to “respect his neighbor’s rights, so that the heathen may have no occasion to find fault with our way of life . . . Woe betide anyone who does bring the Lord into disrepute, so impress upon everybody that they are to be as sober and sensible as you are yourselves” (122).

Chapter 11 – He speaks specifically of his sympathy for a presbyter named Valens. He didn’t understand the responsibilities of the office he had, and the note says he (and perhaps his wife) were involved in some financial dishonesty. “If a man has no control over himself in matters of this sort, how can he possibly preach it to anyone else” If he fails to rise above the love of money, he will find himself corrupted by the worship of his idol, and be classed with the heathen who know nothing of the Divine judgment” (123).

“I feel the deepest sorrow for that man and his wife; may the Lord grant them real repentance. You too, for your part, must not be over-severe with them, for people of that kind are not to be looked on as enemies; you have to restore them, like parts of your own person that are ailing and going wrong, so that the whole body can be maintained in health. Do this, and you will be promoting your own spiritual welfare at the same time” (123).

Genesis 20-21 and Early Church Writings [Mathetes to Diognetus] 7-9

Genesis 20 - A doublet of 12:10, but involving not the king of Egypt but the King of Gerar, a kingdom south of Gaza, Abimelech.  Abimelech has a dream from God revealing the truth of what Abraham is doing and he confronts Abraham.  The idea of God’s prophets being favored and being people who can intercede with God for us is reinforced here (20:7). Abraham learns that there is fear and respect for God outside his own people, so at Abraham’s intercession, God does lift the sanction he had imposed on them for their inadvertent violation of his will.

Genesis 21 - Abraham, now 100, finally has his son Isaac (meaning ‘God smiled,’ or laughed).  Sarah is also very old.  Ishmael who, by Chapter 16 reckoning would be 15 years old here is pictured as still a child (14)—on his mother’s shoulder. 

At Sarah’s request, they are banished (again?).  God promises Abraham to look after them and make a nation of Ishmael as well. This is a kind of an echo or shadow of the promise to Abraham. In the desert Hagar is reassured personally by an angel.  They go to the wilderness of Paran (on the Sinai Peninsula south of the Negev,) and there Hagar gets a wife for her son from Egypt -- remember Hagar might be Egyptian as well.

Abimelech and Abraham make a covenant and settle a dispute over a well at Beersheba, just east of Gerar.

Epistle of Mathetes [Disciple] to Diognetus

From Christian Classics Ethereal Library - http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.html

Chapter 7 – “[T]his was no mere earthly invention which was delivered to them, nor is it a mere human system of opinion, which they judge it right to preserve so carefully, nor has a dispensation of mere human mysteries been committed to them, but truly God Himself, who is almighty, the Creator of all things, and invisible, has sent from heaven and placed among men, [Him who is] the truth, and the holy and incomprehensible Word, and has firmly established Him in their hearts.”

“As a king sends his son, who is also a king, so sent He Him; as God He sent Him; as to men He sent Him; as a Savior He sent Him, and as seeking to persuade, not to compel us; for violence has no place in the character of God. As calling us He sent Him, not as vengefully pursuing us; as loving us He sent Him, not as judging us. For He will yet send Him to judge us, and who shall endure His appearing?”

They are exposed to wild beast yet they are not overcome. They are punished but their punishment leads them only to have greater numbers. “This does not seem to be the work of man; this is the power of God.”

Chapter 8 – Who of us “understood before His coming what God is?” Some said God was fire and others said water. No man has ever “seen Him or made Him known”; he has revealed himself “through faith.”

“But after He revealed and laid open, through His beloved Son, the things which had been prepared from the beginning, He conferred every blessing all at once upon us, so that we should both share in His benefits, and see and be active [in His service].”

Chapter 9 – “As long then as the former tie endured, He permitted us to be borne along by unruly impulses, being drawn away by the desire of pleasure and various lusts . . so that being convinced in that time of our unworthiness of attaining life through our own works, it should now, through the kindness of God, be vouchsafed to us; and having made it manifest that in ourselves we were unable to enter into the kingdom of God, we might through the power of God be made able.”

“He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous. . . . O sweet exchange! O unsearchable operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! That the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors!”

Having shown us in earlier times that we were not capable on our own of attaining that “life” he intended for us, he revealed to us our Savior so as to “lead us to trust in His kindness, to esteem Him our Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Counsellor, Healer, our Wisdom, Light, Honor, Glory, Power, and Life, so that we should not be anxious concerning clothing and food.”