Used Books and Judges

In Greensboro there is a fabulous HUGE used book store that I seriously could spend time in every day if I had an unlimited income. They have Zillions of used dvds and books to keep me busy for years. They also have a small free section, which usually has nothing worthwhile in it, although recently I did find 3 books that I wanted! I've purchased several dvds for $3 or $5, and I was able to get the entire Harry Potter series in hardback for $57 (which is EXTREMELY AMAZING). The other wonderful thing about this bookstore is that they will buy my books! I have been having a WONDERFUL time of taking books that I have no interest in, getting cash or store credit from them, and being able to spend it on other fun books or dvds. I've dedicated a shelf on my bookcase to books that I think I probably don't want, but want to read through once just to make sure I'm okay with selling it. I got quite a few IVP books from working on staff last year that are no use to me, so it's been fun to get some money from those.

Anyways, so the book I just finished reading to see if I wanted to sell it or not was a free IVP one called "Sex and Dating". In one chapter the author was referencing a story in Judges, and I had to look it up. If you don't know it, Judges is a HILARIOUS book of the Bible. In chapter 3 of Judges a fat guy gets stabbed with a sword, and the author writes in verse 21-22 "Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the far closed in over it." How gross and kind of awesome is that??

Along the same lines, I feel like part of 2 Kings chapter 2 should be in the book of Judges instead. "From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria." There are some crazy stories in the Bible.

Anyways, back to what I was talking about. The "sex and dating" book referenced this passages in Judges 21, which I had never noticed before. "So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, "Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, 'Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.'So that is what the Benjamites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them." I don't know how I would feel if a guy was so desperate for a wife he just ran and captured me while I was dancing in a vineyard. Ha! Just a funny story I felt like sharing.