Category: One Year Skeptic

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Old Testament

I have noticed in the last few readings that God seemed perfectly happy to take meat and grain sacrifices that were given on random rocks. This is despite saying somewhere in the Mosaic law books that sacrifices must only be made on the official altar.

My translation titles the two sections in today’s reading as “Micah’s Idols” and “Idolotry in the Tribe of Dan”. It tells the reading of how a man named Micah creates some idols with money he gave back to his mother after taking it.

There was a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim. One day he said to his mother, “I heard you place a curse on the person who stole 1,100 pieces of silver from you. Well, I have the money. I was the one who took it.”

“The Lord bless you for admitting it,” his mother replied. He returned the money to her, and she said, “I now dedicate these silver coins to the Lord. In honor of my son, I will have an image carved and an idol cast.”

After the idol is created, Micah hires a travelling Levite to be his priest. Later, the tribe of Dan comes by and persuades the priest to take the idols and follow them. Now, given that idolatry is supposedly like the worst sin ever, you would expect for these folks to get swallowed up in the ground (like God did to the dude who looted from a city when we was not supposed to) or burned to death (like Aaron’s sons after they burnt the wrong type of incense) or bitten by poisonous snakes (like God sent when the Israelites complained about wandering in the dessert). Instead, the Bible does not even say anything to condemn any of these folks.

In fact, after persuading the priest to come away with Micah’s idols, the people of Dan successful conquer the land they were going to conquer (they burned the town to the ground, of course). After that, we read

Then they set up the carved image, and they appointed Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Moses,as their priest. This family continued as priests for the tribe of Dan until the Exile. So Micah’s carved image was worshiped by the tribe of Dan as long as the Tabernacle of God remained at Shiloh.

So they just worship it? For a good while? And the God who would murder at the smallest insult does not mind at all? That’s stretching credulity a bit much.

New Testament

Jesus and Nicodemus have a talk. Jesus tells Nicodemus that people must be born again in spirit to see the Kingdom of God. We then get some more “good = believes in Jesus”, “evil = does not believe in Jesus” silliness,

There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants

Yes, everyone who does not believe in God is an evil, horrible, depraved person. Yup, that’s right. I had a baby and a puppy and a kitten for breakfast. I also stole candy from a child and took money from the tip jar at Starbucks. All because I do not believe in Jesus. Clearly, there is no other reason to act like a decent human being. Nope, none at all.

Gah. It’s too late to take this sort of BS seriously.

Psalms and Proverbs

A pretty bit of poetic imagery,

You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens 

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Old Testament

Today we finish the story of Samson, and he does not become any more likable in the process. Samson went to try to sleep with the wife he abandoned. When he learned that her father had given her to another man, Samson decides that the best response is a combination of animal cruelty and property destruction:

Samson said, “This time I cannot be blamed for everything I am going to do to you Philistines.” Then he went out and caught 300 foxes. He tied their tails together in pairs, and he fastened a torch to each pair of tails. Then he lit the torches and let the foxes run through the grain fields of the Philistines. He burned all their grain to the ground, including the sheaves and the uncut grain. He also destroyed their vineyards and olive groves.

In response, the Philistines kill Samson’s kind of wife and her family and attack the people of Judah until they give up Samson. They do, but Samson breaks free of his bonds and kills 1000 men with the jawbone of a recently killed donkey (so it was probably still all fleshy and toothy. Eww.).

Later, Samson destroys the city gates of Gaza when he is escaping the city after spending the night with a prostitute there. Yup, God’s holy warrior Samson can sleep with prostitutes, and it is all okay with God.

Later Samson falls in love with another woman, Delilah. The ruler of the Philistines bribe her to tell them the secret of Samson’s strength. So she tries to wheedle it out of him. We then see a series of events that show that Samson is a freaking idiot. Delilah asks Samson about his strength:

Please tell me what makes you so strong and what it would take to tie you up securely. [emphasis mine]

Okay, unless they were into that sort of thing, this request should have automatically raises Samson’s flags. Now, he was not quite so stupid enough to give his secret away immediately. He lied to her three times. Each time, she tried what he said and called the Philistines to come take them. Each time he broke free. After all of this, after she tries to betray him three times, he tells her the truth: his hair is the source of his strength. How stupid is he? Does he really think she is not going to use that against him?

Of course, he gets captured by the Philistines, and they gouge his eyes out. Eventually he hair grew back, and he was able to get his final victory over the Philistines.

Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time. With one blow let me pay back the Philistines for the loss of my two eyes.” Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple. Pushing against them with both hands, he prayed, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. So he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime.

New Testament

Today we read the story of Jesus turning water to wine at a wedding feast. This story does not appear in the rest of the gospels (I am sure I will get tired of pointing that out soon enough). It also puts the relationship between Jesus and his mother in an interesting light.

The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.”

“Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions.

Unlike the other gospels, where the main interaction we see between Jesus and his family is Jesus’ rejection of them, here they seem on pretty good terms. We also see that Jesus’ mother knew of his miraculous abilities and was not afraid to boss him around.

We also read about how Jesus clears the money changers and animal sellers from the temple. This is mainly interesting because it appears at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. In the synoptic gospels, it appears at the end and is the event which causes the Jewish leaders to put real effort into having him arrested and executed.

Today’s reading ends with this little passage, which is one of those ones that you never seem to hear quoted,

Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature. No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like.

Now, the sentiment that mankind is depraved comes across often, but I cannot seem to recall anyone ever mentioning that Jesus did not trust the people who trusted in him. So remember, you may say you repent, but Jesus doesn’t trust you!

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing of particular note.

April was bloody and violent, at least the book of Joshua was. Other than that, we had more repetition. The Gospel of Luke had some variety compared to Matthew and Mark, but was still similar enough to often be tedious.

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Old Testament

Today we start the story of Samson! This is one of those stories that tends to show up (in parts) in children’s Bibles and so is more familiar than many of the stories in Judges. What strikes me as I read this story is the similarity it bears to so many of the other stories we read. Certain structures are used to pull up associations quickly and easily.

The Israelites oppressed by the Philistines for forty years. During that time, an angel of God told a barren couple that they would have a child. This harks back to the stories of Sarah and Rebecca and Rachel and forward to the story of Elizabeth. Manoah’s wife is never named, yet she is the one who talks to the angel the first time and to whom the angel appears the second time. This differs from the other stories of barren women where, if an angel was involved at all, the angel told the man of the birth. It is, however, similar to Mary’s pregnancy.

When the couple meets with the angel on his second visit, they offer to cook him food. He suggests instead that they provide it as a sacrifice. They do so and,

Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered it on a rock as a sacrifice to the Lord. And as Manoah and his wife watched, the Lord did an amazing thing. As the flames from the altar shot up toward the sky, the angel of the Lord ascended in the fire. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell with their faces to the ground.

This is similar to the beginning of Gideon’s story which we read a few days ago:

The angel of God said to him, “Place the meat and the unleavened bread on this rock, and pour the broth over it.” And Gideon did as he was told. Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and bread with the tip of the staff in his hand, and fire flamed up from the rock and consumed all he had brought. And the angel of the Lord disappeared.

The wife of Manoah gives birth to Samson, and he grew up blessed by the Lord. When he reached an age where such things would be proper, he took a fancy toward a Philistine girl. His parents protested, but he insisted,

But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.” His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.

Now, I have to say, Samson’s way of demanding that he father get him a woman because “she looks good” to him rather makes me dislike him. It makes him sound like something of a demanding jerk. The rest of today’s reading only enforces that impression. Yet, supposedly, all this is God acting through Samson. In any case, he gets what he wants.

Samson kills a lion with his bare hands. Bees later make a nest in the carcass, and Samson finds the honey. (Is honey from the carcass of a wild animal kosher?) As the wedding celebrations approached, Samson asks 30 young men a riddle,

Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing. But if you can’t solve it, then you must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing.”

“All right,” they agreed, “let’s hear your riddle.”

So he said: “Out of the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet.”

I personally think this is a rather stupid riddle, and not particularly fair into the bargain. All the riddled men get annoyed and finally persuade Samson’s wife to wheedle the secret out of him. He told her the answer, and the men answered his riddle. This rather pissed Samson off:

Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had solved his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother. So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding.

Yup, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and had him kill thirty men so that he could fulfill his side of what was rather an unfair bet in the first place. He then abandoned his wife. Tomorrow: Samson gets annoyed because his wife’s family married her to someone else after he abandoned her.

Lovely guy, isn’t he?

New Testament

The Gospel of John is not subtle about the role attributed to Jesus,

Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

The rest of the reading tells of Jesus gathering his disciples. It shows that even he is surprised at how credulous they can be:

As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”

“How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”

Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”

Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.

Nathanael would, I believe, be fooled by any halfway competent fortune teller.

Psalms and Proverbs

The first of today’s psalms is interesting in light of today’s New Testament reading:

Only simpletons believe everything they’re told!

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Old Testament

Today we read about Jephthah. His story is pretty much the standard one. Israel’s being oppressed. Someone rises up and defeats the enemy. That person becomes a ruler over Israel. However, there’s a catch, and a rather terrible one. While I was reading, my eyes passed over this line,

[Jephthah] said, “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

As soon as I read that, I remembered that this was that story. The story that involves human sacrifice, human sacrifice that God does not prevent nor seem to condemn. What happens is this: Jephthah wins, of course, and when he comes home,

his daughter came out to meet him, playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy. She was his one and only child; he had no other sons or daughters.

Jephthah feels anguish, but keeps his word and sacrifices his daughter after letting her mourn the fact that she is dying a virgin.

Now, I am guessing (or, perhaps, hoping) that this story never happened. Jephthah’s vow seems improbable at least; I would suspect that most people would expect the first thing to come out of their house would, with high likeliehood, be a person. I am guessing that this story exists only to provide a background explanation for this,

So it has become a custom in Israel for young Israelite women to go away for four days each year to lament the fate of Jephthah’s daughter.

But still! This is a terrible story. As far as the text lets us know, God accepts this sacrifice. At the very least, he does not prevent it. He does not send an angel to tell Jephthah to stop. He does not send a ram to sacrifice in his daughter’s place. He does not make sure something non-human is the first thing to come out to meet him.  Terrible!

Also, a bunch of minor judges ruled over Israel.

New Testament

The teachings of Jesus in John are very different from those found in the synoptic gospels. Thus, since the 1800s scholars have generally believed that only one of the two traditions could be authentic. Today, prominent, mainstream historians largely tend to discount the historical value of John. Few scholars regard John to be at all comparable to the Synoptics in terms of historical value. … The Gospel of John also differs from the synoptic gospels in respect of its narrative of Jesus’ life and ministry; but here there is a lower degree of consensus that the synoptic tradition is to be preferred.

The Gospel is anonymous, but in Chapter 21 it is stated that it derives from the testimony of the ‘Disciple whom Jesus loved’, whom Early Church tradition identified with John the Apostle, one of Jesus’ Twelve Apostles. It is closely related in style and content to the three surviving Epistles of John, such that most commentators routinely treat the four books together. Scholarly opinion is divided as to whether these epistles are the work of the evangelist himself, or of his followers writing in his name.

There is no consensus in current scholarship as to how far the material in John may derive from a historical ‘Disciple whom Jesus loved’, but it is broadly agreed that the authorship of the Gospel should be credited to the person who composed the finished text, rather than to the source of material in the text; and that this composition is to be dated around 85-90 AD, a decade or more later than the most likely dates for composition of the Synoptics.

In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.

… So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

 The rest of the reading focuses on John the Baptist, but let’s focus on the parts above. Clearly, the Gospel of John is starting out with a different slant than the gospels we have read so far. Jesus is presented as clearly being God’s son (this is ambiguous in the other gospels). Jesus is also presented as having always existed in his aspect as the Word.

The line “and nothing was created except through him” seems particularly interesting. If nothing was created except through the Word/Jesus, then evil and sin was created through him. But if Jesus was the source of sin, then the fact that Jesus’ death was supposedly able to atone for all sin almost makes more sense (ignoring the whole, question how the death of the human aspect of a divine, eternal, and all powerful being accomplishes anything any way).

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing of particular note.

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Old Testament

Yesterday, Abimelech killed all his brothers and started ruling over the Israelites. He accomplished this with the help of the people of Shechem. Today, we read about how the people of Shechem eventually rebel against him and, in the process, they both end up destroying each other. First, Abimelech destroys the people of Shechem:

New Testament

Guess what! We finish Luke today. That means tomorrow, we move on to the Gospel of John. But before that, we get to read what happens after the resurrection. If you remember, Matthew and Mark only had a little to say after Jesus came back to life. Luke has a fair bit more.

There are a number of stories about Jesus’ disciples meeting with him. These stories emphasize the fact that he had a physical body. The stories show him eating and asking the disciples to touch him to remove their doubt.

“Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.

Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it as they watched.

Although I cannot find a reference at the moment, I believe I read once (not on Wikipedia) that the author of Luke added these passages to emphasize that Jesus’ resurrection was a bodily one, not just a spiritual one, in response to people who were claiming that it was a spiritual resurrection.

Jesus then explained the scriptures to them and ascended into heaven. The End.

Psalms and Proverbs

Psalm 100! It is a psalm of praise to the Lord. One of the relatively few that could appear in a modern church service without editing.

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Old Testament

There’s so much in this little story!

Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “The men you killed at Tabor—what were they like?”

“Like you,” they replied. “They all had the look of a king’s son.”

“They were my brothers, the sons of my own mother!” Gideon exclaimed. “As surely as the Lord lives, I wouldn’t kill you if you hadn’t killed them.”

First, Zebah and Zalmunna are clearly sucking up to Gideon. He’s from the least important clan in his tribe. I doubt he and his family actually had the look of a king’s sons. Second, Gideon claims that he would not have killed the enemy leaders if they had not killed his family. Are we really supposed to believe that Mr. I’ll-kill-all-the-men-in-your-town-since-you-didn’t-give-me-food would have spared these two if they had not killed his family members? Instead, I am guessing that the killing of Gideon’s brothers provides something of a casting of legitimacy on his leadership, since he was the youngest (and, perhaps, it is foreshadowing what comes up next).

After this incident, Gideon lives a long and prosperous life.

Throughout the rest of Gideon’s lifetime—about forty years—there was peace in the land.

Then Gideon son of Joash returned home. He had seventy sons born to him, for he had many wives. He also had a concubine in Shechem, who gave birth to a son, whom he named Abimelech.

After Gideon’s death, the Israelites start worshiping foreign gods again (of course). Gideon’s son by a concubine decided he wanted to be king so killed most of his brothers. Side note: anyone know of good references for the roles of women in this time period and the significance of being concubine verses being one of many wives? We can infer from the context of the story that the former is of lower status, but it is hard to tell what else was being implied. But back to Abimelech, he killed his brothers, all 70 of them,

He went to his father’s home at Ophrah, and there, on one stone, they killed all seventy of his half brothers, the sons of Gideon. But the youngest brother, Jotham, escaped and hid.

Jothan goes on to rant against Abimelech. I am sure that tomorrow we will be reading about what a terrible ruler Abimelech turned out to be.

New Testament

Jesus dies. Joseph of Arimathea buries Jesus in his personal tomb. A bunch of women (“Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women”) find the empty tomb and tell the disciples about it (note that it was two women in Matthew and three in Mark). The disciples do not believe them except for Peter, who goes to look at the tomb and finds that it is empty.

Psalms and Proverbs

One of today’s psalms actually contains some wisdom!

Each heart knows its own bitterness,
and no one else can fully share its joy.

No one can ever really fully comprehend the feelings of others. Perhaps this is part of the reason ideas like Jesus and God appeal to some people. People want to be understood. The idea of being understood perfectly might be appealing.

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Old Testament

God wanted to make sure that the Israelites did not take credit for the victory that God was going to give Gideon. Therefore, he had Gideon reduce his force of 32,000 men by two orders of magnitude to a force of 300. 22,000 of the men left when they were told they could,

Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.

To get rid of the last 9700, God had Gideon divide the troops based on how they drank water from a stream,

When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.” Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream.

I suppose that is as good an arbitrary division of people as any.

Before Gideon attacked, he surveyed the enemy camp and learned that some Midianite had a dream that the Israelites would defeat them (well, it was actually about bread and tents, but that’s what it meant). From this, Gideon concluded that his victory must be certain and attacked.

Of course the Israelites defeated the enemies at their camp. Once the enemies were fleeing, Gideon called for help, and they chased down and defeated all the enemy. But not without a little drama. The officials of the towns of Succoth and Peniel refused to give Gideon and his men food, so Gideon said he would get his revenge on them after he was victorious. I think that is a bit unfair of him. Gideon is attacking the powerful army that has been subjecting the area. Of course the people in that area do not want to be perceived as helping him until they are certain it won’t cost them their town.

Of course, those townspeople did not account for the fact that the Israelites, or Gideon at least, could also be pretty cruel. After he won,

Gideon then returned to Succoth and said to the leaders, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. When we were here before, you taunted me, saying, ‘Catch Zebah and Zalmunna first, and then we will feed your exhausted army.’” Then Gideon took the elders of the town and taught them a lesson, punishing them with thorns and briers from the wilderness. He also tore down the tower of Peniel and killed all the men in the town.

At least he only killed all the men in the town instead of killing everyone and their livestock before burning the town to the ground.

New Testament

Pilate tries to set Jesus free. The crowd claims they want him crucified. As I pointed out one of the other times we read about Jesus’ trial, it seems awfully odd that the religious leaders were so afraid of the people yet all we hear from the people at Jesus’ trial is “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

The soldiers crucify Jesus. People mock him. Then we read about the people crucified with Jesus. In Matthew and Mark we read that Jesus was crucified with two criminals who both ridiculed and insulted him. In Luke’s version of the story, one criminal ridicules Jesus, the other acknowledges him as Lord.

Psalms and Proverbs

Exciting imagery in the first of today’s two psalms!

Dark clouds surround him.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Fire spreads ahead of him
and burns up all his foes.
His lightning flashes out across the world.
The earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.

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Old Testament

Fourth grade book report style!

So the Midianites, they were mean. Very mean. And because the Israelites did bad things, the Israelites had to deal with being bossed by the Midianites. For seven years! No fun at all. So the Israelites call out to God, and he totally sends an angel to talk to this guy, Gideon.

Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press. He was at this place called Ophrah. That’s kind of like Oprah, but not because it has an ‘h’. Anywho, so the angel told Gideon that he was a mighty hero when he said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”

He said that even though he (that’s Gideon) was just threshing wheat. That does not seem very heroic.

The angel told Gideon he was going to save the Israelites, but Gideon was all like, “but I’m the least important person the the weakest clan in my tribe.” But God’s all like, “That’s okay dude! I’ll help you.”

Gideon was kind of a doubting Thomas sort of guy, so he made God give him a sign. He cooked some goat and bread for the angel, and the angel set it on fire and then disappeared. I don’t know what he (the angel) disappeared for.

Gideon built an altar and destroyed the old one (that was an altar to Baal, who God did not like), but that made everyone really mad. God said those altars were bad, but the people liked them. But that was because the people were bad. When the people got mad at Gideon, he totally told them that Baal could defend himself. But I see people say that about God (like, God God, not Baal or anything), but he never strikes them down or anything, so maybe gods just don’t do that? But the people seemed to think that it showed that Gideon was right, so they did not kill them.

Gideon got together an army, but then he wanted God to do more miracles to prove that he was with him (Gideon, that is). He asked for something kind of weird. He told God to make a fleece (that’s like a cloth) wet when the ground was dry, and then he asked God to do the opposite the other night. God did both. But aren’t we supposed to just have faith in God? Why didn’t God get mad at Gideon for asking for a miracle? And why didn’t Gideon ask for something cool, like lasers to shoot at the enemy? That would have been awesome!

And that’s all. I bet tomorrow we’re going to read about how Gideon beats the Midianites. That will be cool, because there will be killing.

New Testament

Peter denies Jesus. Jesus is accused by the elders. Jesus stands before Pilate. Jesus stands before Herod Antipas. Wait a second… I don’t remember that part from Matthew or Mark. That’s because neither of them mention it. In both those gospels, Jesus goes from the elders to Pilate to death. Luke just adds this bit in here! Now, the other gospels do not say this did not happen, but if it were true, it’s a pretty huge detail for them to just leave out. Fortunately, we know that Luke is, at best, more like a writer of historical fiction than a historian.

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing of particular note.

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Old Testament

Unlike Shamgar, the judge got a measly two sentences at the end of yesterday’s reading, today’s judge, Deborah, gets a whole day’s worth of reading to herself. An early passage sums up the story,