In
the Bible we are shown at least five examples of either poor architecture or
substantial force applied to architecture or buildings to make them collapse.
Regardless of the plans used to build the buildings mentioned herein, God’s sovereign plans deftly outmaneuver any man-made ones. God’s plans are
the substrate for history and intrinsic to people’s salvation at a universal (plenary) level. This is critical for Christians to understand if they wish to truly understand their God. Gods ways are not our ways...even when or especially when they undo man’s
planned edifices. This includes both the physical ones (buildings) or the mental constructs
(ideas, philosophies).
This is clearly outlined and illustrated in Psalms 2 which gives a good God-centered perspective for interpreting world events.
Psalm 2:1-6 ~ Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
This is clearly outlined and illustrated in Psalms 2 which gives a good God-centered perspective for interpreting world events.
Psalm 2:1-6 ~ Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
Ephesians then shows the significance of the Lord's predestined will in man's life...
Ephesians
2:4-6 ~ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be
holy and blameless in his sight. In love He predestined us
for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his
pleasure and will…
Ephesians
2:11-13 ~ “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according
to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of
his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ,
might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when
you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
So moving to the primary focus of this post in
Judges we see the destruction or collapse of two buildings. First we see Gideon
beat down the tower of Penuel
Judges
8:17 ~ “He [Gideon] tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the
city.”
In
this incident we see the completion of the deliverance of the Lord’s people.
Gideon strips the men of Penuel of the thing they prided themselves most in…their
tower. They are then stripped of their lives. It is a day in which their
transgressions are repaid them. It is inevitable, if you are destined for
judgment by God you will receive it. Those of Succoth and Penuel had been cruel
to Gideon and his 300 men. The men of Penuel refused to give bread to Gideon
and his men when they were in pursuit of the Midianites (Judges 8:1-21). Upon his
return after the pursuit, Gideon tore down the tower there and killed all the
men of the city. Justice comes to all from a just God. In this case it comes
from Gideon. Gideon makes good on a previous threat (Judges 8:9) and proceeds
to destroy their defensive tower. I suggest that Gideon may have acted
excessively in killing the men of Penuel and possibly moved beyond the intent
of God in a vendetta type manner. Succoth’s men had been tortured but there was
little justification for killing fellow Israelites in Penuel. It sounds like a
grudge.
Later
in Judges, Samson knocked out the two main pillars of a large building and caused
it to fall, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Philistines and of Samson
himself. So not only is this a case of a collapsing structure it is also an
account of a suicide.
Judges
16:23-30 ~ “Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God,
please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may
at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.” Samson
grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself
against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. And
Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he bent with all his
might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So
the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his
life.
Wine
and drinking usually led to drunken sexual debauchery. In this incident it
leads to a sadistic form of humiliation of one of God’s judges. God will not be
mocked nor his name defamed. Many of Samson’s hardships had been of his own
doing and some punishment or chastising may have been justified or deserved. Defamation of God's holy name is not justifiable and punishment ensues. Had the mockery not crossed over to include sacrifice to Dagon, this may have
ended differently but because it is in the same context as worship to a false
god things turn dark and brooding in this narrative.
“Our
god has given Samson our enemy into our hands.”
The
implication is that their god has given them Samson. They are essentially implying
that this false deity has trumped the true God by allowing the capture and subjugation
of their power foe Samson. To falsely attribute God’s sovereignty and providence
to that of a nothingness is one of the worst forms of idolatry. It is no
different that attributing the works and miracles of Jesus to Beelzebub. The Hebrew
word to “make sport” further exacerbates this issue. They are literally laughing
at or deriding one of God’s judges (therefore God). He is literally treated like a flawed
twisted version of a freak show strongman who has lost his strength (or so they
thought). This can never end well and God draws the line here because the
mockery bleeds over to God himself. He works through Samson’s request and
destroys thousands of Philistines in Samson’s final act of judgment. Those not
killed in the initial collapse would’ve certainly been killed in the ensuing
crush of people that forms in a panic when people flee for exits or evacuate. In both cases, people are crushed to death.
It
is also interesting to note that while the Philistines are in “full mockery
mode”, Samson is in “full reverence mode.” He prays to God for the strength to
carry out this last act of judgment in verse 28. In so doing he offers heady veneration
to God by referring to God not only as Yahweh (God's holy Covenant name) but
also Elohim (one true God [plural]) and Adonai (my Lord).
There
is then the unfortunate account of Job’s family that meet their end through the
Devil’s nefarious actions. Job's sons and daughters were feasting in their
oldest brother's house and a great wind strikes the house causing it to collapse.
Job
1:18-19 ~ “While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons
and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s
house, and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the
four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I
alone have escaped to tell you.”
First
there is a theft of oxen and donkeys then fire. Then there is another theft
this time of camels and a storm which results in death of Job’s children. These
calamities are reported to Job in quick succession and he is offered no reprieve
and no respite from the onslaught of bad news. The shock is so great he mourns
for a week without a word. The first and third catastrophes were human in
origin and the second and fourth were natural. All can be viewed as simultaneously
issuing forth from a spiritual source also (Satan). We do not see a duality
here, we see a simultaneity or concurrence.
We
must realize that all the things lost here were replaceable except the lives of
the people. Being a gift from God, they are not really Jobs but rather God's. When
God calls His people home is God’s choice not ours. We are merely stewards of their
lives for a few years in youth. But, if we think in an eschatological (end
times) manner…people sort of are replaceable in the respect that they will be
seen again if they were righteous and believed in the promises of God.
Jobs
response to these tragedies is the high point of the entire book of Job. "The
Lord gives and the Lord takes away". All things are His, even the lives of our
children. We should never cling so tightly to things of this world that the
trump what God is trying to show us in our own walk to salvation through Him.
When we cling too tightly to the world and release our grip on God we lose
sight of the big picture in our nearsightedness and forget we have the
potential of all being together again with Christ anyway. The paradox is that
we cannot remove God from the center of our lives and still reach our eternal destination
intended for us in Heaven. To be with God in eternity we need to be with Him
now. As Paul said in Colossians 3…
Colossians
3:1-5 ~ “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking
the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set
your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For
you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When
Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed
with Him in glory.
In
Jesus’ parable of the foolish man’s house we see the man builds his house on
sand and it subsequently collapses when battered by rain, floods, and wind.
Matthew
7:26-27 ~ “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them,
will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and
the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it
fell—and great was its fall.”
This
is a no-brainer. It is another parable of the Kingdom in human terms. Two men.
One builds on a firm foundation, the other is a dope and builds on sand. The
point? Build on a firm foundation. Some hear the Gospel and do, some hear the
Gospel and don’t do. It is all in the hearer’s response. One man represents a
true and practical response to the Gospel and the other is a superficial faithfulness.
The true faithful response results in a fruit that is solid and sturdy. The
other is a weak and worthless response. One will withstand the ultimate test of
God’s judgment (here described as flood) but the faith of the other will
collapse. The thing that holds up the true faithfulness is that of a God-given /
God-based foundation based in the word of God and God Himself. We are to trust
in Him and the sign of doing so is to internalize His word and act on it. It is
exactly as James tells us in his epistle.
James
2:17 ~ “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
Finally,
we see that eighteen people died when the tower of Siloam fell on them.
Luke
13:4 ~ “Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him
about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their
sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these
Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans
because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent,
you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on
whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits
than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you
repent, you will all likewise perish.”
This
passage mentions two tragedies that re attributed to God’s punishment. One is an
atrocity Pilate ordered among the Jews. Pilate had misappropriated money from
the Temple treasury to finance an aqueduct. This angered many Jews who created
a large crowd in protest (a mob). Being politically
ignorant and insensitive to Jewish religious convictions, he had soldiers
dressed as civilians mingle with the Jewish mob and using concealed weapons
murdered unarmed Jews. Being as popular as He was, Jesus’ words would’ve reached
Jerusalem before He did. If he bad-mouthed Rome, he jeopardized his ministry by
siding with what amounted to a revolt. If he ignored the issue, the crowds following
Him would turn against Him prematurely before the proper time. As he did in
many cases, he turns the table on His circumstances and people that would have
otherwise hemmed Him into a corner. Jesus moves the whole issue to a much
higher spiritual level…therefore a more important context. Instead of focusing
on Pilate’s sins, Jesus focuses on the sins of those questioning Him and the
sin’s effects. He does the same in the context of the collapsing tower of
Siloam.
One
needs to ask themselves something about this passage. Where is Jesus’ focus and
primary concern? Is it on the mingling of the blood? Is it on who was a greater
sinner? Is it on the collapsed tower? No to all. Jesus’ concern is clear and
stated twice for emphasis. He is not so much concerned with Roman
improprieties, the greatness of sins or even the physical collapse of a tower. God’s
judgment is inevitable as all men are sinners worthy of judgment. The issue is
one of judgment and whether a person takes on the punishment themselves for
their sin or whether they give it over to Christ/God. If a person does not
repent, they will invariably take the full brunt of God’s wrath come judgment
day and it will be taken on eternally. If they divest themselves of this sin by
accepting Jesus and His atoning work and His promises of salvation, they will
be forgiven the wrath to come.
Jesus
is therefore concerned about whether or not someone has repented, not who is to
blame for the tragedies. It is mentioned
in verses three and four. If there is anything I’ve learned about the Bible, it
is this: If Jesus says something twice...it is of supreme importance.
Repentance and turning to God is the route of salvation. To repent is to
acknowledge you are wrong and to accept God is correct. If He is correct, than
anything He has revealed is to be believed and understood also. This means the
Crucifixion and Resurrection as outlined in His revealed word. Death and
punishment will come to us all. The real issue is this: Who do you want to take
the punishment that you deserve? Jesus or you? You are given a choice.
Secondly,
Jesus shows that human tragedies are not always divine punishments and it is
wrong for us to assume so. Sometimes things happen as the cause and effect of a
fallen world. By deciding what is and isn’t God’s punishment in specific
instances by our measure…we end up in an unhealthy situation of playing God. We see this in ministries
everywhere nowadays. People claiming war is the specific punishment for acceptance
of homosexual marriage in the US, Hurricanes leveling cities as punishment for
the same, the Twin Towers in New York was punishment for a myriad of other national indiscretions, etc. The list is endless.
As
today, so yesterday. The tower of Siloam may or may not have been an isolated
incident. That is not the point. Is it possible they’re punishments? Of course,
but we are not to definitively say so on an individual basis since we neither
know the mind of God nor are we omniscient like God. Point being: If these are
punishments and God could end up punishing other sinners in this manner…does it
not befit the sinner (the questioners and us) to repent and seek forgiveness
for sin if this could be our possible fate? In truth, unrepentant sinners
will receive this type of punishment ad infinitum or eternally of they do not
repent.
The question is not: Why did these people die from the collapse of the tower? The question that seriously needs to be asked is: Why haven’t we all been punished already since we are all sinners? What right do we even have to live? The answer is simple: Mercy and Grace. These things are best exemplified by the Son of God nailed to the Cross. The very place we need to turn to. If God is indeed immutable (unchanging) which Scripture speaks to repeatedly (Mal. 3:6, Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Isa. 46:9-11; Ez. 24:14, Ja. 1:17), then there is rock-solid assurance in God's word and therefore His promises in Scripture. This includes the promises that tell us that by accepting the Messiah and the work Christ did on the Cross....there is eternal life.
The question is not: Why did these people die from the collapse of the tower? The question that seriously needs to be asked is: Why haven’t we all been punished already since we are all sinners? What right do we even have to live? The answer is simple: Mercy and Grace. These things are best exemplified by the Son of God nailed to the Cross. The very place we need to turn to. If God is indeed immutable (unchanging) which Scripture speaks to repeatedly (Mal. 3:6, Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Isa. 46:9-11; Ez. 24:14, Ja. 1:17), then there is rock-solid assurance in God's word and therefore His promises in Scripture. This includes the promises that tell us that by accepting the Messiah and the work Christ did on the Cross....there is eternal life.
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