Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 18:24-27

24 So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said.

25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

26 And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

27 And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

Moses took Jethro’s counsel and chose men to be heads over different segments of the Israelite populace. We already learned that there were about 600,000 men who took part in the exodus, which would mean about 600,000 households. Assuming that a “ruler of ten” was a ruler of ten households, then there would have had to be 60,000 lowest-level rulers, 12,000 of the second-to-lowest, 6,000 of the second-to-highest, 600 of the highest, and then Moses, himself. In all, 78,600 judges to preside over the body of approximately 2 million.

Of course, every tier of judge would have had quite a burden of responsibility. Presiding over just ten households can certainly be a highly demanding task all by itself, depending on the nature of those families, while presiding over a larger population would open one up to a larger swath of issues, though also provide a buffer in the lower judges.

And let us take note that these rulers who were chosen were already of high merit, and none of them had sought for the station, because it hadn’t existed yet. They had already proved themselves worthy, just in the natural course of their lives. They had not pursued this office by a lust for status, power, or vanity. It is an oft-observed paradox that those who seek positions of power are often the least worthy of holding it, whereas those who never sought it often become the greatest leaders.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 14:1-5, 8, 10

1 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;

2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.

3 All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.

4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim;

10 And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.

I mentioned previously that we probably only hear about this war in the Bible because of how it intersected with the story of Abram. Surely there were other wars that were glossed over or left out entirely. But since we do have a record of this war, I thought it would be fitting to provide a small recap of what exactly transpired.

Lot, Abram’s nephew had gone to live in the city of Sodom, which was a vassal state to the kingdom of Elam. There were several other cities that were subservient to the kingdom of Elam as well, including Gomorrah. Eventually, several of those vassal cities decided to throw off their overlord, resulting in the ruler of Elam, King Chedorlaomer, rallying his loyal subjects and giving the rebels a sound beating. The rulers of Sodom and Gomorrah fell in battle, their cities were pillaged, and citizens that hadn’t even been involved in the fight, such as Lot and his household, were taken captive by the conquering horde.

A truth that is repeated many times throughout the Bible is that a great burden of responsibility sits upon every ruler, for the follies of a foolish king are most often paid for by his subjects. Even to this day, a wise ruler is the greatest blessing that can be given to a nation, and a foolhardy one its greatest curse.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 14:1-5, 8, 10

1 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;

2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.

3 All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.

4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim,


8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim;

10 And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.

I mentioned yesterday that we probably only even hear about this war in the Bible because of how it intersected with the story of Abram. Surely there were other wars and events that are glossed over or even left entirely unmentioned.

But since we do have a record of this war, I thought it would be fitting to provide a small recap of what exactly transpired.

Lot, Abram’s nephew had gone to live in the city of Sodom, which was a vassal state to the kingdom of Elam. Gomorrah was also subservient to the kingdom of Elam, as well as several other great cities. And at the time of this story several of these vassal cities decided to throw off their overlords. The ruler of Elam, King Chedorlaomer, rallied his loyal subjects and made war with these rebels, in which the uprising was given a sound beating. The rulers of Sodom and Gomorrah fell, and their cities pillaged. During which pillaging, Lot and his household were taken captive by the conquering horde.

There is a great burden of responsibility upon every ruler. The follies of a foolish king are most often paid for by his subjects, whether they were themselves innocent or guilty. Those of us who have the privilege of electing our own rulers should consider that a great blessing, and we should be very studious only those who are wise.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Epic Life- Matthew 19:16-17, 20-22

And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

COMMENTARY

And, behold, one came and said unto him, what shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
And he said unto him, if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Here is a story of a young man who is on the cusp of entering into a great and epic life. He is seeking the greatest life of them all, in fact: eternal life. And he has apparently already been seeking it for years, given his statement of faithfully following all of the mosaic commandments. Yet for all this he feels that something is missing. He is basically good, but he is not extraordinary. He knows there is something better out there for him and he sincerely wants to find it.

Jesus said, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come and follow me.
But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
So Jesus details the one thing he has left to do: give up the last of the world and become a disciple. Both the end of his old life and the beginning of his new in the same moment. After all, how did he hope to have a new life while still holding onto the threads of the old one?
Sadly, this was a task that the ruler was not willing to face. And he went away sorrowful, still the same man as before, or perhaps even worse for having seen his greatness and turned from it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Differences Between Knowing, Doing, and Becoming- Matthew 19:16-22

And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
And he said unto him…if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
He saith unto him, Which?
Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

COMMENTARY

…if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments
I suggested yesterday that the act of becoming is more important than the act of doing, indeed the rest of this scriptural recounting bears that out. But I do not mean to suggest that doing good is not important. Frankly no one will become a Christ-like person without doing Christ-like actions. The process generally is one does first, and in so doing gradually becomes. Hence in this moment Christ begins by asking for the doing of good, and already promises blessings for meeting that call.

All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
And yet this young man still feels that something is missing in life. He’s been checking everything off the list but still isn’t satisfied. I appreciate his honesty. It doesn’t seem that he came to boast, to have Jesus validate his perfection. It seems he authentically wanted to know what the next level of discipleship entailed.

Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor
Note the wording here. Jesus does not say “if thou wilt do perfectly,” he says “if thou wilt be perfect.” And while I still believe there is a reward for those that keep the commandments merely as a rite of duty, Jesus is teaching that there is a greater reward for those which become something more.

But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
But in this moment the young man isn’t willing to face that sacrifice. The more I think about it the more I am certain Jesus knew that giving away riches would test that man to the breaking point, which is exactly why that was called for. Because since it wasn’t in that man’s heart naturally to let go of his possessions, it was only going to occur by there being a change of heart. If giving to the poor would have been easy to the man, then Jesus would have asked him to do something else that was hard instead.

Summary
I think of my own life, and there are some commandments which are easy for me to keep and some which are hard. Take for example the commandment inherent in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: that my body is a temple and I must treat it as sacred.
Now there are multiple facets of this commandment. Partaking in illicit drugs has personally never been a temptation for me, but for a very long time I did not give my body any exercise, nor the healthy food that it deserves.
And so when God came to prick my conscience it was not to abstain from illicit drugs, I would be able to consent to that with absolutely no change of my heart whatsoever. No, instead He pricked my heart about the exercising and eating healthy food, because He knew that was only ever going to happen with a real change of heart.
Just so you know, I’d say he’s gotten about a 50% change out of me so far. I still struggle with the food aspect, but I’m not done working on my heart and certainly neither is He!