I am not the Old Testament scholar by a long shot, but I thoroughly enjoy teaching the Old Testament to college freshmen. In my setting I teach to students in a Christian college, many of whom probably grew up in church. Yet… they don’t know the Old Testament.

Where I have the most fun (besides Song of Songs) is Judges. It’s perverse, I know. But for me it beats any Quentin Tarantino movie by a long shot.

Judges 19 is the kicker. If I haven’t seen them freak out over Ehud stabbing the Jabba the Hutt character, or get a little queasy over Jephthah and his weird vow that cost him the life of his own daughter, the story of the Levite carving up the concubine usually does the trick.

The biggest question I get: “Why is this in the Bible?”

My biggest question back: “Why do we IGNORE this stuff?”

My answer is this: “We like our Jesus meek and mild. When Jesus mean and wild shows up, we get turned off.”

There are other answers to explore, and I know I’ll get them on Facebook as soon as I hit “post” on this blog. No problem.

I just want to register my absolute pleasure at teaching the Old Testament.