The%20Judges%20of%20Israel

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The Judges of Israel

• Khinckley1_at_yahoo.com

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Questions to Third Graders

• Why did God make mothers?
• She's the only one who knows where the scotch
  tape is.
• Mostly to clean the house.
• To help us out of there when we were getting
  born.
• Why did God give you your mother and not some
  other Mom?
• We're related.
• God knew she likes me a lot more than other
  people's moms like me.
• What kind of little girl was your Mom?
• My Mom has always been my Mom and none of that
  other stuff.
• I don't know because I wasn't there, but my
  guess would be pretty bossy.
• They say she used to be nice.
• What did Mom need to know about dad before she
  married him?
• His last name.
• She had to know his background. Like is he a
  crook?
• Does he make at least 800 a year? Did he say NO
  to drugs and YES to chores?
• What would it take to make your Mom perfect?
• On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I
  think some kind of plastic surgery.
• Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

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Parenting is a balancing act
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Neal A. Maxwell

• "Years ago, as we were driving
  home one night, I listened as my friend told
  me, through some tears, of one of those family
  challenges we all seem to face in one form or
  another. He's always been so grateful for all
  that has gone well in his family, but he's honest
  as a father and a grandfather that you should
  never assume that parenting is an unbroken chain
  of successes.
• Those experiences have given him added empathy in
  his ministry, and they are also evident in his
  very genuine inquiries about other people's
  families."

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The Eternal Template
In the Beginning We counseled together Establish
ing The Plan
Teacher
Learner
Parents Covenant 1)To Obey The Plan 2)To Train
Others
Children Covenant 1)To be taught 2) To Follow
Teach What, Why
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Israels search for a leader
Deborah
Shamgar
Jephthah
Gideon
Samson
Othniel
Abdon
Ehud
Ibzan
Elon
Tola
Jair
Joshua
Saul

• Question
• Watching the struggle in Iraq, how difficult is
  freedom for those that have never known it?

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Without proper, consistent leadership

• Judges 1
• 19 And the LORD was with Judah and he drave out
  the inhabitants of the mountain but could not
  drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because
  they had chariots of iron.
• 21 And the children of Benjamin did not drive out
  the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem but the
  Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in
  Jerusalem unto this day.
• 22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up
  against Beth-el and the LORD was with them.
• 25 And when he shewed them the entrance into the
  city, they smote the city with the edge of the
  sword but they let go the man and all his
  family.
• 27 Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants
  of Beth-shean and her towns,
• 29 Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites
  that dwelt in Gezer but the Canaanites dwelt in
  Gezer among them.
• 30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants
  of Kitron,
• 31 Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of
  Accho
• 32 But the Asherites dwelt among the
  Canaanitesfor they did not drive them out.
• 33 Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants
  of Beth-shemesh
• Judges 2
• 10 and there arose another generation after
  them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works
  which he had done for Israel.

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The Lord Arranges a demonstration

• Judges 7 1 Gideon, and all the people that were
  with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the
  well of Harod so that the host of the Midianites
  were on the north side of them, by the hill of
  Moreh, in the valley.
• 2 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that
  are with thee are too many for me to give the
  Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt
  themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath
  saved me.
• 3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of
  the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and
  afraid, let him return and depart early from
  mount Gilead. And there returned of the people
  twenty and two thousand and there remained ten
  thousand.
• 4 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are
  yet too many bring them down unto the water, and
  I will try them for thee
• 5 So he brought down the people unto the water
  and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that
  lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog
  lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself likewise
  every one that boweth down upon his knees to
  drink.
• 6 And the number of them that lapped, putting
  their hand to their mouth, were three hundred
  men but all the rest of the people bowed down
  upon their knees to drink water.
• 7 And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three
  hundred men that lapped will I save you, and
  deliver the Midianites into thine hand and let
  all the other people go every man unto his place.

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President Hinckley

• Not long after we were married, we built our
  first home. We had very little money. I did much
  of the work myself. It would be called sweat
  equity today. The landscaping was entirely my
  responsibility. The first of many trees that I
  planted was a thornless honey locust. it was
  only a wisp of a tree, perhaps three-quarters of
  an inch in diameter. It was so supple that I
  could bend it with ease in any direction. I paid
  little attention to it as the years passed.
• Then one winter day, when the tree was barren of
  leaves, I chanced to look out the window at it. I
  noticed that it was leaning to the west,
  misshapen and out of balance. I could scarcely
  believe it. I went out and braced myself against
  it as if to push it upright. But the trunk was
  now nearly a foot in diameter. My strength was as
  nothing against it. I took from my toolshed a
  block and tackle. Attaching one end to the tree
  and another to a well-set post, I pulled the
  rope. The pulleys moved a little, and the trunk
  of the tree trembled slightly. But that was all.
  It seemed to say, You cant straighten me. Its
  too late. Ive grown this way because of your
  neglect, and I will not bend.
• Finally in desperation I took my saw and cut off
  the great heavy branch on the west side. The saw
  left an ugly scar, more than eight inches across.
  I stepped back and surveyed what I had done. I
  had cut off the major part of the tree, leaving
  only one branch growing skyward.
• More than half a century has passed since I
  planted that tree. My daughter and her family
  live there now. The other day I looked again at
  the tree. It is large. Its shape is better. It is
  a great asset to the home. But how serious was
  the trauma of its youth and how brutal the
  treatment I used to straighten it.
• When it was first planted, a piece of string
  would have held it in place against the forces of
  the wind. I could have and should have supplied
  that string with ever so little effort. But I did
  not, and it bent to the forces that came against
  it.
• I have seen a similar thing, many times, in
  children whose lives I have observed. The parents
  who brought them into the world seem almost to
  have abdicated their responsibility. The results
  have been tragic. A few simple anchors would have
  given them the strength to withstand the forces
  that have shaped their lives. Now it appears it
  is too late

Reminder Fixing or Lax parents Are not
Loving parents
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What stakes should we be using? (for
ourselves or our youth?)

• Legrand Richards "Over fifty years ago I heard
  Elder James E. Talmage tell this story. It has
  remained with me all these years. He told about a
  group of tourists or travelers in the Alps who
  were snowbound. The Lord sent an angel to a monk
  and told him about these people, asking him to go
  and rescue them.
• The answer was, 'Why?' And the minute he said
  'Why,' the angel disappeared. He went to the
  second monk and delivered the same message, and
  the answer was, 'How?' And the angel disappeared.
  He went to the third and delivered the same
  message, and the monk said, 'When?' And the angel
  remained and delivered his message.    
• "It shouldn't be for us to say, when the call of
  the Lord comes or when we understand a command
  that is given to us through the prophets of God,
  'How can we do it?' or 'Why does he ask us to do
  it?' but 'When, oh, God the Eternal Father, as
  thy son or daughter, wouldst thou have me do the
  thing that thou hast commanded?'"

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J. Reuben ClarkThe Charted Course, 1938

• The youth of the Church, your students, are in
  great majority sound in thought and in spirit.
  The problem primarily is to keep them sound, not
  to convert them.
• The youth of the Church are hungry for things of
  the spirit they are eager to learn the Gospel,
  and they want it straight, undiluted.
• The want to know about the fundamentals I have
  just set out--about our beliefs they want to
  gain testimonies of their truth they are not now
  doubters but inquirers, seekers after truth.
  Doubt must not be planted in their hearts. Great
  is the burden and the condemnation of any teacher
  who sows doubt in a trusting soul.
• These students crave the faith their fathers and
  mothers have they want it in its simplicity and
  purity. There are few indeed who have not seen
  the manifestations of its divine power they wish
  to be not only the beneficiaries of this faith,
  but they want to be themselves able to call it
  forth to work.

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Elder Eyring

• The best help that ever came to me for that
  moment came on a night years ago when President
  Marion G. Romney spoke to a group of teachers in
  the Church Educational System. I was his host
  that night
• Then President Romney simply read President
  Clark's talk and added only one sentence of his
  own in closing. That was the end of his talk. I
  knew he had prepared a talk of his own, but he
  chose to read "The Charted Course of the Church
  in Education."
• President Romney had no family member with him
  that night, so I volunteered to drive him to his
  house, about twenty minutes away After we had
  driven along for a few minutes, I asked,
  "President Romney, don't you think young people
  and the world have changed almost completely
  since President Clark gave that talk in 1938?"
  And then I paraphrased what seemed, at least to
  me, a remarkable part of President Clark's talk
• I talked with President Romney, as we drove
  along, about all the changes in morals, in
  science, in education, in the sophistication of
  young people, and the changes in their
  familiesand on and on. And that is when I
  repeated my question to him "Do you think what
  President Clark taught still describes the way we
  should approach our students today?"
• President Romney chuckled, sat silent for a
  moment, and then said, "Oh, I think President
  Clark could see our timeand beyond."