The RCL has this written as prose, when this is a song. Sisera, who was a general oppression the tribes of Israel, had been killed in his sleep by Jael. The Kenites were not Isreali, but had been allies (on and off) since the times of Moses.
In the 16th Century the Puritans took the highlighted verse and used it as a call for action. Meroz was cursed because they did nothing… and Jael was blessed because she acted
Judges 5:19-31
19″The kings came, they fought; then fought the kings of Canaan, at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; they got no spoils of silver. 20The stars fought from heaven, from their courses they fought against Sisera. 21The torrent Kishon swept them away, the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon. March on, my soul, with might!
22″Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.
23″Curse Meroz, says the angel of the LORD, curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they did not come to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.
24″Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent-dwelling women most blessed. 25He asked water and she gave him milk, she brought him curds in a lordly bowl. 26She put her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet; she struck Sisera a blow, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple. 27He sank, he fell, he lay still at her feet; at her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell dead.
28″Out of the window she peered, the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’ 29Her wisest ladies make answer, indeed, she answers the question herself: 30′Are they not finding and dividing the spoil? – A girl or two for every man; spoil of dyed stuffs for Sisera, spoil of dyed stuffs embroidered, two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?’
31″So perish all your enemies, O LORD! But may your friends be like the sun as it rises in its might.” And the land had rest forty years.
via Daily Lectionary Readings — Devotions and Readings — Ministries & Programs — GAMC.
One of the current positions within the Church is hard pietism. The secularists would argue that one should not have any religious beliefs and that “God-botherers” should not influence public debate. This has not been accepted within the Church: our internal wrong doing has to be confronted, as it was in 1688 here:
Christians have taken this and other passages as a order to act against injustice, regardless of which branch (Orthodox, Catholic, Reformed, Anabaptist or Pentecostal). We should not sit idly by but fight against injustice. There are historic examples:Yea, rather it is worse for them, which say they are Christians; for we hear that ye most part of such negers are brought hither against their will and consent,and that many of them are stolen. Now, tho they are black, we can not conceive there is more liberty to have them slaves, as it is to have other white ones. There is a saying that we shall doe to all men like as we will be done ourselves; making no difference of what generation, descent or colour they are. And those who steal or robb men, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not all alike? Here is liberty of conscience wch is right and reasonable; here ought to be liberty of ye body, except of evil-doers,wch is an other case. But to bring men hither, or to rob and sell them against their will, we stand against. In Europe there are many oppressed for conscience sake; and here there are those oppressed wh are of a black colour. And we who know than men must not comitt adultery, – some do committ adultery, in separating wives from their husbands and giving them to others; and some sell the children of these poor creatures to other men. Ah! doe consider will this thing, you who doe it, if you would be done at this manner? And if it is done according to Christianity?
But we must always speak publicly. The declaration of Bremen addressed the issues of the secular and frankly anti Christian and neo-pagan National Socialists saying that the church must reflect the national mission.
As members of Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches we may and must speak with one voice in this matter today. Precisely because we want to be and to remain faithful to our various confessions, we may not keep silent, since we believe that we have been given a common message to utter in a time of common need and temptation. We commend to God what this may mean for the interrelations of the confessional churches.
In view of the errors of the “German Christians” of the present Reich church government which are devastating the church and also therefore breaking up the unity of the German Evangelical Church, we confess the following evangelical truths:
1. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” (Jn 14.6) “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber… I am the door; if anyone enters by me, he will be saved.” (Jn 10.1, 9)
Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in holy scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.
We reject the false doctrine, as though the church could and would have to acknowledge as a source of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other events and powers, figures and truths, as God’s revelation.
2. “Christ Jesus, whom God has made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” (1 Cor 1.30)
As Jesus Christ is God’s assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins, so, in the same way and with the same seriousness he is also God’s mighty claim upon our whole life. Through him befalls us a joyful deliverance from the godless fetters of this world for a free, grateful service to his creatures.
We reject the false doctrine, as though there were areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ, but to other lords – areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.
3. “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body [is] joined and knit together.” (Eph 4.15,16)
The Christian church is the congregation of the brethren in which Jesus Christ acts presently as the Lord in word and sacrament through the Holy Spirit. As the church of pardoned sinners, it has to testify in the midst of a sinful world, with its faith as with its obedience, with its message as with its order, that it is solely his property, and that it lives and wants to live solely from his comfort and from his direction in the expectation of his appearance.
We reject the false doctrine, as though the church were permitted to abandon the form of its message and order to its own pleasure or to changes in prevailing ideological and political convictions.
4. “You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant.” (Mt 20.25,26)
The various offices in the church do not establish a dominion of some over the others; on the contrary, they are for the exercise of the ministry entrusted to and enjoined upon the whole congregation.
We reject the false doctrine, as though the church, apart from this ministry, could and were permitted to give itself, or allow to be given to it, special leaders vested with ruling powers.
5. “Fear God. Honour the emperor.” (1 Pet 2.17)
Scripture tells us that, in the as yet unredeemed world in which the church also exists, the state has by divine appointment the task of providing for justice and peace. [It fulfils this task] by means of the threat and exercise of force, according to the measure of human judgment and human ability. The church acknowledges the benefit of this divine appointment in gratitude and reverence before him. It calls to mind the kingdom of God, God’s commandment and righteousness, and thereby the responsibility both of rulers and of the ruled. It trusts and obeys the power of the Word by which God upholds all things.
We reject the false doctrine, as though the state, over and beyond its special commission, should and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life, thus fulfilling the church’s vocation as well.
We reject the false doctrine, as though the church, over and beyond its special commission, should and could appropriate the characteristics, the tasks, and the dignity of the state, thus itself becoming an organ of the state.
6. “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Mt 28.20) “The word of God is not fettered.” (2 Tim 2.9)
The church’s commission, upon which its freedom is founded, consists in delivering the message of the free grace of God to all people in Christ’s stead, and therefore in the ministry of his own Word and work through sermon and sacrament.
We reject the false doctrine, as though the church in human arrogance could place the word and work of the Lord in the service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes, and plans.
The Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church declares that it sees in the acknowledgement of these truths and in the rejection of these errors the indispensable theological basis of the German Evangelical Church as a federation of confessional churches. It invites all who are able to accept its declaration to be mindful of these theological principles in their decisions in church politics. It entreats all whom it concerns to return to the unity of faith, love, and hope.
What does this mean for all us?
- We need to be reforming our own life. We are enjoined to love God and our neighbour, and therefore not oppress our neighbour. This is both a private and corporate struggle.
- We should make our stances clear to the surrounding community, by way of declarations and protests within the law.
- However, we should resist and refuse any move to make our message subservient to the political fashions and movements of the day, regardless of how worthy they are. The political leaders who make changes are allies for that issue. We reserve the right to oppose them, and we refuse to be cowed into some form of national or political coordination — as was the error of the German “National” church and the official churches during the oppresions of the 20th century. Our issue is diluting our faith to deal with the querulous legalities of political correctness.
- We will not retreat into quietism. We will have to be silenced.
These things are costly. Many of the people who signed the Bremen confession were killed. But if we do not reflect the truth, we lose our salt and become… a useless appendage to a failing society. For without the Salt of witness, righteousness and truth, society rots.
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it