Barbarians inside the Gates by Harley Bye

Picture MC

 Barbarians inside the Walls


Text
1 Samuel 13:16-22New International Version (NIV)


Israel Without Weapons16 Saul and his son Jonathan and the men with them were staying in Gibeah[a] in Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Mikmash. 17 Raiding parties went out from the Philistine camp in three detachments. One turned toward Ophrah in the vicinity of Shual, 18 another toward Beth Horon, and the third toward the borderland overlooking the Valley of Zeboyim facing the wilderness.

19 Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!” 20 So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their plow points, mattocks, axes and sickles[b] sharpened. 21 The price was two-thirds of a shekel[c] for sharpening plow points and mattocks, and a third of a shekel[d] for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads.

22 So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.


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" Barbarians"..... any force, army, person, movement, ideology which seeks to destroy, injure, dilute and enslave the cultural, intellectual goodness of others.



1- The Old Testament has been our study, much of the Fall Sundays:

1. Barbara Duquid : Ruth and how she became an ancester of Jesus
2. Kevin Harvey : The promise of Abraham
3. On Thanksgiving : we studied the First Thanksgiving on record
4. Today we look into - The historic enemies of Israel  : the Canaanites, the Moabites, the Amalekites, the Ammonites, the Syrians

Canaanites as they were portrayed in the Ancient Egyptian "Book of Gates", dated to the 13th century BC.

The region around 830 BC. Moab is shown in purple

ref :  for the pictures : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moab, http://www.foundationsforfreedom.net/References/OT/Historical/1-2Samuel/1Samuel15/1Samuel15_01-3_Crisis.html, 

There are the Barbarians of the Old Testament- from the Jewish point of view, and God's policy was to slaughter them all- men, women, children, babies!
This policy of genocide gives many Christians a big headache; how do we read such slaughters? Did God really want this? A God of Love?


TWO VIEWS :

1. Literally- God doesn't love these barbarian tribes ; He loves only the Jews....Literal.
2. The meaning is metaphysical- These tribes are symbols of the forces, ideologies, leaders movements. that compete for attention and destroy minds and souls, and our customs and Traditions. This is the meaning of Barbarians! Enslavement...

"Free trade agreement"   " free trade treaty"
"Peace treaty"     " cultural exchange agreement" 
"Hebrews set up shrines for Western worships"


I. Today's scripture is a typical example of "Barbarians inside the walls"


The Philistines had made peace with Israel. They moved into Israel Towns, set up shops, even intermarried. They brought skills- better than Jews.


Expound :

1. workers of iron
2. importers of cloth
3. shipping routes

Materialistic goods. Forgot religious values.

A lawyer opened the door of his BMW, when suddenly a car came along and hit the door, ripping it off completely.When the police arrived at the scene, the lawyer was complaining bitterly about the damage to his precious BMW."Officer, look what they've done to my Beeeeemer!!!", he whined."You lawyers are so materialistic, you make me sick!!!", retorted the officer. "You're so worried about your stupid BMW, that you didn't even notice that your left arm was ripped off!""Oh no!", replied the lawyer, finally noticing the bloody left shoulder where his arm once was."Where's my Rolex???!!!"




Power point : The Hebrews let down their guars, slowly unnoticed at first, then almost too late. The leaders like David, Jonathan and Soul rose up to defend their religion and traditions from annihilation. They survived only by the bravery of a few, such as David and his famous fight with Goliath .

http://www.bible-stories-library.com/image-files/david_defeats_goliath.jpg

Israel- 

•  saved by a few men of unusual leadership and courage.
  
• Savec by God's inspiration.
• 
  

II.Quebec a Secular, Right Wing State = Philistines
a) Sneeze - no more "God bless you"
b) no religious symbols, public schools
c) Cross on the top of the Mount Royal  pilots on the river and in the air use cross as a guide.


III. The US experience- Ben Stein, CBS " Sunday Morning"


For help in comprehension please find here a transcrip of that commentary: 


The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning  Commentary.


Ben Stein
My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish.  And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees..  I don’t feel threatened.  I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are:  Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, ‘Merry Christmas’ to me.  I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto.  In fact, I kind of like it  It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu ..  If people want a crèche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians.  I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period.  I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country.  I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him?  I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too.   But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different:  This is not intended to be a joke;  it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her ‘How could God let something like this happen?’ (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.  She said, ‘I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.  And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out.  How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?’

In light of recent events… terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.  I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.  Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school.  The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself.  And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock’s son committed suicide).  We said an expert should know what he’s talking about.  And we said OK.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out.  I think it has a great deal to do with ‘WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.’

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell  Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.  Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.  Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on
your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they
will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.  If not then just discard it… no one will know you did.  But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards,  honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein      


http://dancalloway.com/wordpress/2009/08/ben-stein-on-cbs-sunday-morning-commentary/

Ben Stein

1. Jews and Christians tolerate each otherSynagogue Saturday and Church Sunday OK.
2. Where is the legal document that certifies that we are an Atheist Country

• not in the constitution US
  
• Canada, never debated in parliament, not signed by the Senate!  
  

3. Put another way " Where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities, but not God?  You know the next "Am idol" 


PP " Barbarians inside the walls"


4. Started in the US 30 years ago by Madeleine Murray O'hare " No more prayer in schools"  Barbarians inside the gate"


5. "No reading Bible in schools. I don't know when that law was made." Sometime between the time I was a kid and now!       " Barbarians inside the walls"


6. Dr Benjamin Spock : " don't spank the kid. It will worp his personality. Spanking is bad for self-esteem ( True). He is the expert. He must know- except, his son committed suicide. Children need discipline ( Not spanking but discipline)


7. B.F. Skinner = no restrictions. ( Tell of daughter in free crib, not even diaper, sitter changed the sheets when necessary. Note age 21she suid for neglect ." Barbarians in medical papers"

The Barbarians are amongst us.
This is nothing new, except it is more obvious today than 100 years ago.
So what is our response?

1. Keep vigilant- beware of the conditions. Quote :  -- John Philpot Curran- The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; if this fails,  servitude is once again the penalty." 
2. Support good causes- volunteer to serve. eg. Join Eric and the carolers
3. I could name more, but no. We each have our own Barbarian to face in something that is preventing you from a healthy fulfilment; David looked at Goliath found a slingshot, a stone and faced Goliath. Don't wait for a New Year's Resolution.
4. "Put Christ back into Chrismas" is  slogan as  Christmas itself. It means " keep execissive materialism out of Christmas.

Any Ideas?