Judges 9-12: These people are scary!

Honestly.  The people from the book of Judges are pretty scary.

• Jael appears to be kind and submissive, but she drives a tent peg through Sisera's head.
• Gideon has seventy sons.  And they aren't nice boys.
• Jephthah makes a very vow to the Lord, and in order to keep it, he has to sacrifice his only daughter as a burnt offering.  I want to point out that this was a very stupid vow--whatever comes out of his house to greet him when he returns after going to war.  Was he drunk?  

It's no wonder Sunday School classes skip over these lessons.
And THESE are God's chosen people?

Growing up in church, I thought the Jews were special because, well, they were special.  That somehow they earned the right to be chosen.  I've realized over the years that they weren't particularly godly as a whole, and they weren't special for any other reason except that God chose them.

And that's enough.

And I'm realizing that none of us are particularly special either.
No matter what role God chooses for us to play.
Nothing is earned.  Everything is by grace.

One other thing, and this is pretty much unrelated to what I just talked about.  Times change.
The violence in the book of Judges was normal for them, I think.  Not pleasant, but normal.

I'm really glad that times have changed, and that kind of behavior isn't normal or tolerated in the world I live in.  Honestly, those people are pretty scary.