At the end of Joshua and the beginning of Judges I cried. I mourned the loss of Joshua. I say again, after you’ve spent this much time with these people and really see them as people, it’s hard to let them go.
After we got out of Joshua we moved onto Judges where we found a lot of battles. And can I just say, “Ew” with all due respect? My boys talked on and on about the sword through the bad guy’s belly and how the girl stuck the tent stake through that other bad guy. Oh my. The battle scenes in the Narnia series got nothin’ on this, y’all. “Ew” again. But then we got to Gideon. We fell in love with Gideon all over again. I {heart} Gideon. We loved how he was called a warrior while working in a winepress. We loved how God told him he did indeed have the strength to fight. We loved how God kept revealing Himself to such a doubter. We loved how God kept telling him to calm down. And we especially loved the whole clay jars, torches, loud noise scene. My kids cracked up when we read it and they wanted me to read that part again. All the confusion! Too good!
But we were rather dismayed at the ups and downs of the people of God. My kids kept saying how they couldn’t understand how the people kept falling away from God. And I gently reminded them of how many times we (and I, oh, I) fall away from Him daily. These people were real people, with real struggles. Oh, how I know the struggles.
And then we got to Samson. They were not as enamored with Samson as I thought they’d be. I thought the boys would be all about a “super strong man”. But really, the story moved so quickly to Samson’s women that he shouldn’t have married and how he told her his secrets even when she kept tricking him and they just couldn’t relate to him. They thought he was stupid. Big, strong, and stupid. Maybe so. And they were grossed by his ending. Poor Samson.
Then there were the very violent, sad last chapters of Judges. Very violent, hard to explain to the kiddos, made us very frustrated with the Benjaminites.
But Ruth. Oh sweet Ruth!! I cried nearly all the way through this sweet little book. I cried when she wouldn’t leave Naomi. I cried when she married Boaz. And I especially cried when we got to Ruth 4:16 and Naomi cuddled her sweet grandbaby. And we marveled when we read through the names that would eventually lead us to Jesus. MyOldest at one point in the story said, “I know! The people who made “The Nativity Story” the movie should make a movie about Ruth! It would be awesome!!!” Yes, it would, sweetie, I would definitely watch it! What a sweet oasis in the middle of the Judges, battles, and fighting desert!
Love and war. It’s part of life. I keep reminding the kids it wasn’t supposed to be this way. And someday we won’t need the instruments of war. Someday love will, just like in our reading, overshadow the memories of fighting. But, for now, it just is, war, is. We mourn with those lost, we hate the fighting, and we rejoice with those who fall in love and overcome the evils and sadnesses in their lives. Because, really, in the realworld.. the forever world.. love is Everything.
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