Tag: #sixsentencestories

The Craft of Tyranny—Six Sentence Story

To Gideon’s credit after the Lord’s victory over the Midianite raiders he had no desire to lord it over the Israelites as king. To his discredit he did take some of the gold plundered from the Midianites which helped him attract enough women to sire seventy sons. 

Although no Baal could get its hands on him, Gideon’s own greed set his family up for a fall after his death when one of his many sons, Abimelech, a bloodthirsty Nimrod wannabe, decided to craft for himself a kingdom. Abimelech made sure there was no resistance from Gideon’s other sons by slaying all of them at Ophrah except for Jotham, the youngest, who escaped to curse him from Mount Gerizim.

Abimelech’s adventures evolved shamefully until a woman fleeing into the tower at Thebez dropped a piece of millstone upon his head as he tried to burn to death those in the tower. His armorbearer, at his own command, killed him so no one could say that a woman brought about his death, but we all know what happened.

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Denise offers the prompt word “craft” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Judges 9:53-54
53 And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s head, and all to brake his skull.
54 Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A women slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

The map below centered on Abimelech’s mother’s home, Shechem, comes from the BibleMapper Blog. Ophrah where Abimelech slayed his brothers is northwest of Beth-shan just off this map. Abimelech died at Thebez after making a mess at Shechem.

Access—Six Sentence Story

The rebellion against the Midianites began when Gideon ignited the dry Asherah pole to burn the sacrifice to the Lord. The wind blew across the Israelites with the strength of a Holy Spirit revival. 

As a result Gideon gained access to a force of 32,000 men to battle the 135,000 Midianites camped in the valley below. The Midianites watched the incoming storm of Gideon’s army build up against them to the point of having nightmares that the pickings this year would come at the cost of their own lives.

On the Israelite side the Lord wanted to make sure they did not think of Him as some two-bit Baal who relied solely on their natural strengths to get things done. He told Gideon to reduce his forces to 10,000 men and then to 300 which meant at that level only the Lord could win this battle.

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Denise offers the prompt word “access” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

To find out what really happened, see Judges 6-7.

Incoming Storm

Kick—Six Sentence Story

After the service Steve approached the ministers. He told them he wanted to see people the way the Lord saw them. No one would be worth redeeming, including himself, if the Lord saw people as irreparably damaged and grave-bound as he saw them.

They prayed for him, but his head would not acknowledge even the slightest kick of sympathy toward anyone.

It took time for Steve to receive the blessing he sought. When he did the dam of darkness exploded through the love of God.

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Denise offers the prompt word “kick” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

“I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.” Henry Ward (found on worship leader Toni Bogart Syvrud’s contact card)

Stock—Six Sentence Story

Many Israelites, including Gideon’s own father, Joash, built an altar to the Canaanite sun god, Baal, near which they erected a wooden pole to the fertility goddess, Asherah. Gideon’s assignment was to destroy the altar his father built replacing it with an altar to the Lord upon which he would sacrifice the bull from his family’s stock of cattle that was as old as the seven-year Midianite oppression which the Baal couldn’t stop using the Asherah pole as dry firewood.

The next morning the men of the city were horrified to see what Gideon had done. They demanded that Joash bring Gideon to them so they could kill him for desecrating Baal’s hiding place. Abandoning his own idolatry to the point of rebelling against it, Joash told them to let that incompetent Baal avenge itself.

And that’s how Gideon became known as Jerubbaal, the man on whom Baal would have to take revenge all by its lonesome (which it could never have done).

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Denise offers the prompt work “stock” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

To read what really happened to Gideon (Jerubbaal), see Judges 6. In trying to make sense of the significance of what Gideon had done I was particularly influenced by the commentaries BibleHub offered and the Got Questions article on Baal.

A Grove of Trees Silhouetted in the Sunset

Task—Six Sentence Story

The gifts had been collected over centuries from the time of the prophet Daniel. In obedience they waited for the star, a task they felt privileged to perform, knowing it could appear any night now. When it did they hastened toward Jerusalem to worship the King and deliver the gifts.

They regretted the attention, especially from Herod, that they drew to themselves in Jerusalem by asking for directions and so they left for home right after they found the Child. After they left at nightfall Joseph, awakened by a dream, quickly rose to take Mary with her Child to Egypt using the gifts the wise men left as means of support. 

The next morning Herod went into such a rage upon hearing from his spies that the wise men were not coming back that, instead of just one Child Whom they couldn’t find anymore, he had all of the male children in Bethlehem and the surrounding area under the age of two killed.

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Denise offers the prompt word “task” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories. For what really happened see Matthew 2.

The Edge of a Pond

Jingle—Six Sentence Story

A woman walked up to Brian and told him, Sometimes all you’re asked to do is something small. Brian thought the message odd, but he heard a voice inside him say, Thank her. So, he thanked her.

After she walked away Brian wondered what just happened. 

Was the unexpected jingle of joy ringing inside him because he obeyed that inner voice and thanked her? How could something so insignificant as common courtesy have such a profound effect?

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Denise offers the prompt word “jingle” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Tiny Bird in a Leafless Tree

Challenge—Six Sentence Story

Thinking of himself as a miniscule speck on a miniscule planet lost in a non-miniscule universe challenged Brian’s mind. He hoped aliens from a galaxy far far away would come with their advanced technology to tell the world what life was all about. Only they could save him and the world he lived in.

Passing a church Brian heard people singing songs of joy because the Lord had come. He complained to the wind about deluded people who thought there was a God out there working miracles on their behalf.

At least that’s what he did until the miracle occurred which allows me to end this meaningless tale that was going nowhere as Brian suddenly stopped running his mouth and wept for joy.

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Denise offers the word “challenge” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

May the Lord bless you this Christmas season

Farm—Six Sentence Story

The Midianites loved to cross the Jordan during harvest time to raid their Israelite neighbors like a swarm of locusts. On the other hand, to the discredit of the Israelites many of them had set up altars to Baal forgetting the Lord in proud times of prosperity while expecting the Lord not to forget them when trouble came.

With the Midianites camped nearby preparing to raid, Gideon threshed wheat by his winepress trying to harvest something discretely before they trod across the land demanding all. That’s when the angel of the Lord appeared to him to tell him that he was sent to save his people and the Lord would be with him.

Gideon reminded the angel that he was a nobody, a nothing, and that his subsistence farm, thanks to those Midianites whom the Lord has done nothing about, was well below subsistence levels. The angel of the Lord knew all of that, but, considering the lesson that needed to be learnt, the weakness of Gideon’s position was one of the main reasons why he was chosen.

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Denise offers the prompt word “farm” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories. To read what really happened to Gideon (Jerubbaal) and his family especially his sons, Abimelech and Jotham, see Judges 6-9.

I am grateful to Michael Wilson who pointed out the interaction between the Lord and Gideon. Below is a map from the Bible Mapper site showing Gideon’s adventures against the Midianites.

While writing this I was also thinking of Mary (tqhousecat)’s essay Sometimes a Little is Enough.

Without Limit—Six Sentence Story

It was the night the virgin sang her lullaby.

The angel, shining with the glory of the Lord and fearful to behold, gave glad tidings of great joy. The joy was without limit. Look for the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.

Then the heavenly hosts praised God, saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

In Bethlehem we found the child.

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Denise offers the prompt word “limit” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories. For what really happened see Luke 2.

Detail—Six Sentence Story

Neil recalculated using a different ratio of aligned nuclei in his controversial water-hydrogen model. Fifteen minutes later the results gave him the number he was looking for, 7576.3, with intermediate computations validating the steps, but with an uncertainty of 21.2. He wanted a tighter uncertainty before submitting his paper to the Institute, but the main result, regardless of the uncertainty detail, was well below Hardy’s upper bound of 7670.

Neil’s wife called from downstairs, Earth to Daddy, pizza’s ready!

His daughter also called, Earth to Daddy, pizza, pizza, pizza!

Neil walked down the stairs, picked up his giggling daughter, kissed his smiling wife and led a prayer of thanksgiving over the food knowing that, whatever the uncertainty, his family had much to rejoice over.

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Denise offers the prompt word “detail” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.