The context of judges 1:19 is a sub context of judges 1:8.
Of course it is, and is also a sub context of the Book of Exodus, The Book of Joshua, and many other books. The context is that when Israel (the nation) went into battle God was either with them or was not. Logically to the Israelites, if they won a battle then God was with them, if they lost then naturally God was not with them, and they would have to find a reason why.
For example, it was clear that God was with Joshua and his armies when they obliterated Jericho and every living thing in the city, including women and innocent little children and babies. As Joshua 6:2 informs us:
And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
Israelites didn’t take credit for victories for themselves, it was God that was given the credit.
Even more supportive is Joshua 6:16:
And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the
LORD hath given you the city.
Israel did not win her battles, Yahweh the warrior won the battles, this was the Israelite perception of warfare.
And when they didn’t win a battle then God wasn’t with them, I mean He who can do anything simply cannot be defeated, and we know the consequences when a defeat happens, someone is going to pay.
Unfortunately for the innocent sons and daughters of a certain Achan, the very next battle did not go the Israelites way.
When they had defeated Jericho, an army of Israelites marched on to Ai, where they had their butts soundly kicked. So why did this happen if God was with them? Well He couldn’t have been with them because they lost so something must have displeased God. Lo and behold we have the culprit, wee Achan had stolen some of the treasure that was earmarked for Yahweh:
Joshua 7:1
But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD's anger burned against Israel.
Thus we have an excuse for Israel failing to take the city of Ai, Achan had angered God. So God, in His usual barbaric style, orders the execution of not only Achan, but his sons and daughters too (as well as everything he had owned).
Joshua 7:23-25
Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today."
Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them.
How do we know that this pleased God? Well He then went with the Israelites to Ai and they won the battle.
God even joined in some battles For example, in one battle He killed more Amorites with hail than the Israelites could kill with their swords!
Joshua 10:11
As the Amorites retreated down the road from Beth-horon, the LORD destroyed them with a terrible hailstorm from heaven that continued until they reached Azekah. The hail killed more of the enemy than the Israelites killed with the sword.
Joshua makes it clear that God is the champion, Israel doesn’t win without God’s help.
Joshua 3:10
And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
God was with Judah when he failed to defeat the iron chariots, the text makes this clear. If God was NOT with Judah then we would have an explanation why, as we do in the Book of Judges, things go wrong for Israel.
My only other argument is that the Bible should not be interpreted literally.
None of it?
You mean that Jesus didn’t literally rise from the dead three days after He died?
David did not literally rule over a united monarchy?
God did not literally kill the firstborn of every Egyptian family?
Jesus did not literally bring Lazarus back to life?
Do I take nothing in the Bible literally?
We don't have the autographs which means we don't have the original writing. Who knows what was removed/added to the contexts of any scriptures.
Well this depends on which version of the scriptures you read. Yes we have no original texts, we do not know who wrote any of the Old Testament books, we do not know who wrote the Gospels, but we do have different versions of some of the same books, and we can see many differences.
But the idea that God fought for Israel is not confined to one or two verses, it is a continuous thread throughout the Hebrew Bible, so it is difficult to believe that all of the references are late additions.
My only advice is to remove the limitations of your thinking.
I don’t have any limitations to my thinking, I am extremely open
minded, but not that open minded that my brain has fallen out.
I am a believer in Science. I agree with Big Bang, Abiogenesis, and Evolution.
I notice you didn’t list philosophy, which explains why you cannot see a problem with the rock/lifting paradox.
But, what you believe has no relevance to the accuracy or interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. Big Bang, evolution has nothing to do with ancient near eastern history and the contents of the Bible. You may scrape science into it as a tool of archaeology, but apart from that your beliefs are immaterial.
I, although, believe Science will one day understand God and also other forms of life that are outside of Biology.
Why does science HAVE to understand God? God is outside the realms of scientific enquiry, who actually cares about God? God is a useless concept, utterly devoid of any purpose. It would serve no good purpose to waste vast amounts of human time and resources looking for God, if we found Him what difference would it make?
If science ”proved’ that God existed and that God was Allah as revealed in the Qur’an, then Christians would still not accept that. They would come up with some fantasy that would keep Yahweh alive, just as they have always done. They would say that the scientists have been misled by Satan, and that Satan has fooled the scientists into thinking that Allah was real and all other gods are now untrue.
People who believe in fairytale characters will always find some excuse to keep that character alive.
God only exists in the mind of the believer, other than that God is a completely worthless entity.
Oh to have the mind of a fundy.
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